Automobile Sales Brazil

The economic woes of Brazil have sent auto sales plunging and the impact is being felt in the United States and Europe, where manufacturers have recently come to count on the high growth and profits produced in the region, the world's eighth-largest car market. Predicting that Brazil's automobile sales will fall 17% next year, Merrill Lynch said Monday it expects the slump, combined with the lesser impact of Southeast Asia's own set of problems, to cost General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co.

The economic woes of Brazil have sent auto sales plunging and the impact is being felt in the United States and Europe, where manufacturers have recently come to count on the high growth and profits produced in the region, the world's eighth-largest car market. Predicting that Brazil's automobile sales will fall 17% next year, Merrill Lynch said Monday it expects the slump, combined with the lesser impact of Southeast Asia's own set of problems, to cost General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co.