Brazil 6 months 2012: Palio up 63%, Chevy Cobalt best newcomer

Chevrolet Cobalt

* See the Top 100 best-selling models by clicking on the title! *

Given we are now halfway through 2012, I will write a specific post exploring the year-to-date models ranking and their year-on-year evolution for the Top 10 biggest car markets in the world. First one to be covered is Brazil. Brazilian car sales take a bit of a break over the period at -0.3% year-on-year to 1,632,483 registrations. The Top 2 models are far from being a surprise: the VW Gol and Fiat Uno lead again, however it is interesting to note that they both lose significant ground compared to 2011. -13% for the Gol which sees its market share drop from 8.9% a year ago to 7.8% now, while the Uno is at -11%, going from 8.1% to 7.3%.

Fiat Palio

The relaunched Fiat Palio is logically the best performing model in the Top 10, gaining 6 spots and 63% on what was its worst semester ever last year to land in third place with 77,270 sales and 4.7% share. The VW Fox/CrossFox also excels at +19% in 4th place, while the Renault Sandero breaks into the Top 10 for the first time in a cumulative ranking at #9 with sales up a very impressive 37% year-on-year. On the down side, both the Chevrolet Celta (-17%) and Corsa Sedan (-19%) lose significant ground, potentially due to the launch of the Chevrolet Cobalt, the best performing newcomer in the Brazilian market over the period, landing directly at #12 with 31,259 units and 1.9%.

Hyundai Veloster

Other great performers over the period include the Honda Civic up 72% and 14 spots to #18 and the VW Jetta up 170% and 37 ranks to #34. Apart from the Cobalt, there are no less than 13 other newcomers in the Top 100, demonstrating how dynamic the Brazilian market is. The Nissan March arrives directly at #19 with 21,619 sales and 1.3%, the Chevrolet Cruze is #22 at 18,995 units and 1.2% and the Renault Duster is #24 with 18,109 sales and 1.1%.

Further down, we find the Nissan Versa directly #37, the Fiat 500 at #40, the Fiat Freemont at #55, the Ford New Fiesta at #69, the Hyundai Elantra at #78, the Peugeot 308 at #85, the Chevrolet Cruze Hatchback at #87, the VW SpaceCross at #91, the Mitsubishi Lancer at #96, the Range Rover Evoque at #97 and the Hyundai Veloster at #99.

As far as Chinese models are concerned, it’s a consolidation period with the JAC J3 still best-seller but at -5% to #64 with 5,066 units while at the same time last year it was just launching. The Chery QQ was also just launching last year and is a more adequate +176% to #67 with 4,975 sales. The JAC Turin stays #3 Chinese with stable sales at #89, followed by the Hafei Towner at #108 (+0%), the Chery Face at #111 (-22%) and the Hafei Ruiyi at #113 (-53%).

Previous post: Brazil June 2012: Renault Duster and Nissan March at record heights

One year ago: Brazil June 2011: VW Gol and Fiat Uno both strong

Full 6 months 2012 Top 100 Ranking Table below.