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Formula 1, Clean Energy, and the Largest Companies
Welcome to Latinometrics. We bring you Latin American insights and trends through concise, thought-provoking data visualizations. It’s great to have you on board.
Today’s charts:
Formula 1 in Mexico
How green is Latin American energy?
LatAm’s biggest companies in 2010 vs. 2021
Take a look at our favorite comment from last week at the bottom; it’s about the safety of Nissan Versas from a person involved in an accident.
Racing 🏎️
There are a lot of Formula 1 fans in Mexico, and its popularity has been growing year after year. Drivers such as Sergio Perez and Esteban Gutierrez helped increase the sport’s popularity during the last decade. But Google Trends data suggests that the two primary catalysts for F1’s boom in the country were 1, the return of the Grand Prix in Mexico City; and 2, Netflix’s “F1: Drive to Survive”.
When the American corporation Liberty Media bought the F1 Championship in 2016, it set on a mission to expand the F1 brand into new markets and increase its popularity in the US. So far, the strategy seems to be working.
As the F1 2021 season concludes, news stories have been coming out about the sport indeed making it big in the US. For the US, it’s just the beginning; for Mexico, the rise has been much more dramatic.
Energy ⚡
Even though there’s no denying that Latin America has a long way to go to become more sustainable, the continent is greener than you may think.
Perhaps the region owes a hat tip to Brazil: 86% of its massive amount of electricity comes from nuclear or renewable sources. Most of it comes from its rivers in the form of hydropower, a source with no greenhouse gases. Hydropower is also Latin America’s biggest electricity source. Whereas this energy source is not always perfect since it can be bad for some ecosystems, it’s still a means to progress towards the world’s ambitious plans of curbing global warming.
Not all countries are blessed with rivers, so they must look for their electricity elsewhere. Other clean sources of energy include wind, solar, and the more controversial, nuclear. Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina are the only countries in LatAm that generate some energy with nuclear power plants. While nuclear energy has been mostly abandoned around the world due to some catastrophic accidents, prominent figures like Bill Gates and Barack Obama have come to its defense in recent years.
Business 💰
Last week’s Nubank IPO is the latest sign of a boom in Latin American unicorns, as a growing number of tech companies are becoming the region’s most valuable and most profitable for investors. As of Friday’s market close, the Brazilian fintech’s market cap became the 6th highest and surpassed all other banks in the continent.
However, it’s also astonishing to see how the market cap of the old players has shrunk to a fraction of what it was. Perhaps the shrinking valuations indicate exciting tech companies’ boom and the replacement of the old monopolies. It’s no wonder money is flowing in to fund startups across LatAm.
These new players have become the favorite in their respective markets, outpacing older industries that dominated the region’s economy. A key example of disruption has been Argentina’s Mercado Libre, which has flourished amidst an exploding demand for e-commerce that’s just beginning.
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Until next week. 👋🏽
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Comment of the week from our Nissan chart on Reddit:
Comment of the Week (Reddit)
Translation:
A few years ago, I was driving a Versa and collided head-on, as seen in that video. There was a total loss of both parties, the airbags came out, and they had to take out the other driver with special tools. The other car flipped, and the firefighters arrived. And frankly, the only things that happened to me were some burns on my wrists from the airbag and some chest pain from the tightening of the seat belt.
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