Uruguay 4 months 2013: Chevrolet down, Chery and FAW up

FAW V2. FAW is now among the Top 10 most popular brands in Uruguay.

* See the Top 20 best-selling brands by clicking on the title! *

While writing my summary article about how Chinese carmakers are setting themselves up for success in Latin America, I realised I hadn’t updated you about the Uruguayan car market for over a year. And a lot has changed since my last article so a new one is overdue. After gaining 3% in 2012 to reach a record 53,233 registrations, new car sales in Uruguay are up a further 9% to 16,744 units over the first 4 months of 2013. The big news is the fragmentation atop the market, with leader Chevrolet going from 25.3% share in 2011 to just 15.7% so far in 2013 while #2 Volkswagen has dropped from 12.1% to 10.9% in the same period of time.

Reversely, Nissan is up from 5.9% to #3 and 8.1% and Fiat is up from 6.6% to 7.6%. But the main source of interest in the Uruguayan car market is how well Chinese manufacturers are doing. In fact, Uruguay could potentially be the country in the world where they have the strongest market share at 25.3% of passenger cars so far in 2013! If a 6.6% share allowed Chery a world-best third position in 2011, it improves on this score in 2013 thanks to 1,136 sales and 6.8% but ranks “only” 5th. FAW is the second Chinese brand to ever break into the Uruguayan Top 10 at #10 so far in 2013 thanks to a market share up a full percentage point on 2012 to 3.9%.

Further down, Geely is up from #14 and 1.8% in 2012 to #12 and 2.6%, Great Wall is up from #16 and 1.6% to #14 and 2.2%, DongFeng up from #17 and 1.5% to #16 and 1.7%, Haima up to #19 at 1% and BYD down from #15 and 1.7% to 20 and 0.9%. 19 additional Chinese manufacturers are officially present in the country: Anchi, Brilliance, Chana, Changhe, Effa, Foton, Gonow, Hafei, JAC, JMC, Lifan, MG, Orient, Shineray, Wuling, Xinkai, Zna, Zotye and ZX Auto!

Previous post: Uruguay Full Year 2012: Chery now third best-selling brand!

4 months 2013 and Full Year 2012 Top 20 brands Ranking Tables below.