UPDATE 1-Brazil April car sales fall first time in 5 months

Tue May 5, 2009 10:41am EDT
SAO PAULO, May 5 (Reuters) - New car, truck and bus sales in Brazil dropped 13.6 percent in April from March as consumer demand waned after four straight months of gains, national dealers' association Fenabrave said on Tuesday.
Sales fell to 234,382 units in April, Fenabrave said. Compared with April 2008, sales declined 10.3 percent.
Brazil is a major market for global automakers such as Italy's Fiat SpA (FIA.MI), Germany's Volkswagen AG (VOWG.DE), U.S.-based General Motors Corp (GM.N) and Ford Motor Co (F.N). Asian and French manufacturers are also boosting their presence in Brazil, Latin America's largest economy.
Fiat led Brazil's market in April with 58,227 cars and light trucks sold, followed by VW with 52,699. GM sold 40,615 units and Ford 24,124. (Reporting by Gabriela Mello, writing by Elzio Barreto, editing by Gerald E. McCormick)