Brazil

On July 23, it was announced that the OEM Seres stopped its operations in Brazil after a year of initiating activities in the country.

According to the Brazilian Association of Electric Vehicles (ABVE), only eight units were sold during the first half of 2024, five of the SERES 3 and three of the SERES 5.

In October 2023, the company estimated to sell 50,000 units in South America following a business model like Tesla’s, with a completely online sales process. Shortly after, two dealerships were opened, one in São Paulo and one in Rio de Janeiro, promising to open more, but no more details were given about the plan.

Currently, Seres announced that it is working to establish a dealer network. This change has caused delays in the arrival of new units due to high demand in China and the lack of homologation capacity in Brazilian laboratories.

It is expected that, in the next 90 days, the company will provide more information about its future plans in Brazil.

(Multiple sources on July 23, 2024)

On June 15, it was announced that as part of the Mover (Green Mobility) program, the Brazilian government and automotive sector companies plan to reduce taxes on new vehicles by recycling old models. The proposal entails that for each used vehicle removed from circulation, car manufacturers would receive a discount of 2.5 percentage points on the IPI (Tax on Industrialized Products) for five new units of the same size and segment as the recycled vehicle.

This initiative aims to enhance energy efficiency and reduce the environmental impact of vehicles by both eliminating old models from use and ensuring the proper recycling of their components, including metals, plastics, and fluids. Additionally, the strategy is expected to make new vehicles more affordable for the public and accelerate the country's market transition towards greener energy.

By encouraging the recycling of old vehicles, the program hopes to achieve significant environmental benefits and support the production of more energy-efficient new vehicles, contributing to Brazil's overall sustainability goals.

(Multiple sources on July 15, 2024)

On July 10, it was announced that Mercedes-Benz has moved its spare parts logistics activities to the new Spare Parts Distribution and Logistics Center in the HGLG logistics condominium in Itupeva, Brazil.

This new center was opened thanks to the subcontracting of Penske Logistics in the HGLG logistics condominium in Itupeva city. This company will now take care of the storage and distribution of spare parts for Mercedes Benz instead of the OEM itself.

The facility houses approximately 45,000 items from the spare parts portfolio, with 8 million components in stock and 1.5 million spare parts distributed monthly to the domestic market and over 50 countries. The center spans 45,000 square meters of usable space within a total area of 234,000 square meters, featuring 12 warehouse modules, 126 docks, and 4 forklift access ramps.

(Multiple sources on July 10, 2024)