UPDATE 1-Brazil car sales rise a 2nd straight month in Jan

Wed Feb 4, 2009 8:20am EST
(Repeats to additional subscribers) (Adds tax breaks, previous months sales)
SAO PAULO, Feb 4 (Reuters) - New car and truck sales in Brazil rose 1.53 percent in January from December, the second straight month of gains, as consumers took advantage of government tax breaks to buy automobiles at cheaper prices, national dealers' association Fenabrave said on Wednesday.
Sales in the first month of 2009 reached 197,524 units, but were down 8.13 percent compared to January 2008, Fenabrave said.
In December, sales had surged 11.5 percent after the government slashed industrial taxes on new cars and reduced financial taxes on consumer loans.
That was the first gain after a 25.7 percent plunge in November and 11 percent drop in October as the credit crunch and global financial crisis spilled over into Latin America's largest economy.
Brazil is a major market for global automakers such as Italy's Fiat SpA (FIA.MI), Germany's Volkswagen AG (VOWG.DE) and U.S.-based General Motors Corp (GM.N) and Ford Motor Co(F.N). (Reporting by Vanessa Stelzer; Writing by Elzio Barreto, editing by Dave Zimmerman)