German luxury brands renew records in Brazil

The luxury auto market appears to be an island of prosperity in the midst of numbers, on average, increasingly negative of the auto industry. In the first five months of the year, when the national consumption of vehicles fell 5.5%, the three German marks that spearheads the premium segment-BMW, Audi and Mercedes-Benz-renewed record sales in the country, with high that, in the case of Audi, enough to reach triple digits.
The tax benefits granted by the new Brazilian automotive regime in Exchange for investments in the country have given these brands able to compete with similar models of local automakers. In theory, the dollar more expensive than a year ago would firepower of imported automobiles, but free of surcharge in the tax on industrialized products (IPI) applied to imported, premium brands have become more aggressive in discounting and promotions.
On the heels of a campaign in which his entire line was sold with financing of up to 20 months without interest-after 50% input-and discounts that came to pass 10%, last month was the best in the 20 year history of Audi in Brazil.
Within ten days, between 16 and 25 may, the brand's dealers network had extended opening hours and still offered, depending on the model, discounts of 20% in the first year of the insurance of the vehicle and 20 months of free maintenance. Consumers who took advantage of the campaign might, for example, buy a A4 for $ 114.9 million, R $ 14.3 million less than the list price.
The result was that Audi sold the record of 1.3 million cars in may, which amounted to over 5 thousand units, another record, its volume of plates issued in this year. That is more than double compared to 2.3 million cars in the first five months of 2013 and also above the volumes that the brand had a decade ago in Brazil, when it produced the model A3 shared with Volkswagen's factory in Parana.
"The market is difficult, but we can grow as a result of the combination of factors such as a portfolio of products desired by the Brazilian consumer, a network of dealers motivated and more aggressive in marketing activities," says the President of Audi in Brazil, Jörg Hofmann, which replaced the mark of four rings in advertising campaigns on broadcast television, after more than a decade out of that media.
For this year, Audi's goal is to overcome the mark of 10 million cars sold in the Brazilian market. The same objective is pursued by competitor Mercedes-Benz to beat the record of 2011. Until may, the Mercedes registered growth of almost 15% in sales of imported cars in the country, totaling just over 4.2 thousand units.
BMW, leader among premium automakers, advanced 24.5 percent in the same period, arriving at the House of 6 thousand vehicles in the Brazilian market, fourth largest in the world, but that still crawls in the luxury segment.
In common, the three brands, in addition to the German origin, are investing to produce in Brazil, which gives them a considerable quota to import cars without the extra 30 percentage points of IPI while build their factories.
The free portion of the surcharge amounts to one-fourth of future capacity. As an example, Mercedes-Benz, which will take in São Paulo State line able to mount 20 thousand cars per year, can import annually, 5 thousand cars without the IPI-or nearly 10 thousand additional when it includes the quota that the automaker already was entitled as a manufacturer of trucks.
That was the way found by the Government to give to business viability of new entrants, while closing the door to any marks without plans to invest in the country.
Together, BMW, Audi and Mercedes, and the British Jaguar Land Rover, invest $ 2.4 billion in factories in the next two years, will add annual installed capacity of 102 thousand cars. Therefore, these groups have no choice but to continue renewing record marks in sales.