GM Generali

Generali (AQEU:GM)
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General Motors do Brasil Ltda., a subsidiary of the Detroit auto maker, said it has furloughed workers again, putting 900 on paid leave Thursday.

The move comes at a time when recent car sales have shown signs of a recovery, and it could mean that corporate executives are seeing those sales slow once again.

"All of the car makers, GM included, have to readjust somehow to the new reality in these credit markets," said Andre Beer, a Sao Paulo-based sector consultant who spent 15 years as a vice president of GM in Brazil.

"Layoffs are not out of the question, but it is still too soon for that. The recent increase in car sales is not enough to offset the problems caused by this crazy banking crisis," Beer said about U.S. and European bank woes.

A press officer at GM in Sao Paulo said the corporate headquarters in Detroit wasn't pressuring its successful Brazil office to downsize.

Across the sector, January motor vehicle sales rose 1.5% over December, according to the National Motor Vehicles Manufacturers Association, or Anfavea.

In the first two weeks of February, car sales rose 11.2% to 88,507 units compared with the same two-week period in January, while pickup and SUV sales rose 37.7% to 20,751 units, according to the National Motor Vehicles Dealership Association, Fenabrave.

Last week, GM said it was producing around 2,500 cars and trucks daily, below 2008's peak.

Brazil has been a profit winner for General Motors Corp. (GM). As sales have slipped in Europe and the U.S., car sales for GM in Brazil broke records for two consecutive years.

Rivals Volkswagen AG (VLKAY) and Fiat Spa (FIAZY) said last week that all of their workers had returned from paid leave.

-By Kenneth Rapoza, Dow Jones Newswires; 55-11-2847-4541; kenneth.rapoza@dowjones.com