More Brazil cars run on alcohol

Brazil's carmakers sold more vehicles adapted to run on alcohol last year than conventional petrol-driven models, motor industry figures show. "Flex-fuel" cars, which run on any combination of ethanol and petrol, took 53.6% of the Brazilian market in 2005.

Brazil has made ethanol-driven cars for 25 years, but they have not outsold conventional ones since the late 1980s. Brazil produced a record 2.4 million vehicles last year, 1.7 million of them for the domestic market. In all, 866,267 flex-fuel cars were sold in Brazil in 2005 against just 328,379 the year before, the Brazilian motor manufacturers' association Anfavea said.

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