Some 2.79 million motor vehicles were sold in Brazil last year, 8.65 percent more than the year before and the most since 2014, the China News Service (CNS) reports, citing the Brazilian association of automobile dealers, Fenabrave.

The Chinese state-run news agency says the number of saloon cars and light commercial vehicles sold rose by 7.65 percent to about 2.66 million.

The report says the number of trucks sold rose by 33.12 percent to about 101,700.

Fenabrave forecasts that the economic recovery and increasing purchasing power in Brazil will increase annual sales of automobiles by 9.67 percent this year.

The greatest number of motor vehicles sold in Brazil in any one year was about 3.8 million, in 2012, CNS says.