Brazil May 2015: Ford Ka on podium, Honda HR-V superstar

Never had the Ford Ka nameplate managed to rank that high in Brazil.

* See the Top 20 best-selling brands and Top 120 models by clicking on the title *

New car sales in Brazil take another harsh beating in May, down 26% year-on-year to 204.978 registrations, pulling the year-to-date total down 20% to 1.065.252 units. As it has been the case for the best part of the last year, the Top 3 manufacturers in Brazil fare even worse than the market, with Fiat (-35%), Chevrolet (-37%) and Volkswagen (-40%) accelerating their demise. This is the result of years of neglect and much hungrier manufacturers commending a smaller market share starting to really have an impact: Ford (-4% thanks to the Ka), Hyundai (-14% thanks to the HB20) and Toyota (-11% thanks to the Corolla) markedly improve their market share in the country. Premium German manufacturers buck the trend: Mercedes is up a spectacular 40%, Audi up 4% and Mercedes up 2%. Further to this, two carmakers make history this month in Brazil.

The Honda HR-V is the best-selling vehicle outright in Rio de Janeiro.

For Honda, we are witnessing a much more momentous evolution since the Japanese manufacturer started producing the HR-V baby SUV locally a couple of months ago. In a market down 26%, Honda sales are up 22% to 13.033 units, going from 3.9% share a year ago to 6.4% today, now at throwing distance from Renault (7%) and Toyota (7.2%) for the 6th place overall. All this thanks to the HR-V: for its 2nd full month of sales it ranks #12 overall with 4.997 deliveries vs. 2.824 for the Ford Ecosport and 2.516 for the Renault Duster, two vehicles held responsible for the start of the SUV craze in Brazil. Even more impressive: the HR-V reportedly is the best-selling vehicle outright in Rio de Janeiro! (Source: Autoblog Argentina).

Jeep Renegade

The second manufacturer to make history is American four-wheeler specialist Jeep. And as it has been the case in the whole of Europe so far this year, it all comes back to one new model: the Renegade. The first Jeep to be manufactured in Brazil (in Goiana, Pernambuco), the Renegade was responsible for Jeep entering the Top 20 brands in Brazil for the first time in its history last month (#17 with 814 units0). This time Jeep is one spot away from crashing the Top 10! Thanks to 2.794 Renegades finding a new home (placing it at #27 in the models ranking), the American manufacturer shoots up to #11 brand overall in-between Mitsubishi and Citroen…

Hyundai HB20 – Never had a Korean nameplate ranked that high in Brazil (#2).

Over on the models rankings, the Fiat Palio is crowned for the 10th time in the past 12 months despite sales down 30% year-on-year to 10.469 units. The Hyundai HB20 is up one spot on April to reach its best-ever ranking at #2 with 8.848 sales (-9%) and the Ford Ka (8.348) does exactly the same, jumping onto the podium for the first time in the nameplate’s 18 year-career – its previous best being #5 last November and in December 2008. The Chevrolet Onix (-30%) drops two ranks to #4 ahead of the VW Gol (-47%) and Fiat Strada (-42%) while the Toyota Corolla remains inside the Top 10 thanks to the new model.

Previous month: Brazil April 2015: Honda HR-V and Jeep Renegade take off

One year ago: Brazil May 2014: Renault Sandero up to best-ever 6th place

Full May 2015 Top 20 brands and Top 120 models below.