Brazil August 2014: Fiat Palio delivers an 18-year career first

The new Renault Sandero has finally landed in Brazil.

* See the Top 150 best-selling models and Top 15 brands by clicking on the title! *

The Brazilian new car market is falling deeper and deeper into recession with a very tough 17% year-on-year drop in August to 259,152 registrations. This means the year-to-date total now stands at 2,121,543 units, 10% or 223,000 sales less than at the same time last year… Difficult times indeed. In the brands ranking, below Fiat far ahead at 21.5% share, Volkswagen takes advantage of a particularly weak month for Chevrolet (-34% to 15% share) to now rank #2 year-to-date at 375,925 units vs. 368,168 for the American manufacturer. Renault is back above Hyundai but the Korean carmaker keeps the 5th spot year-to-date at 148,901 sales vs. 147,249. Notice also Toyota up a great 10% to 6.4% share vs. 5.6% ytd.

The Fiat Palio does this month what it never had since its original 1996 launch…

Model-wise, we witness a career-first for the Fiat Palio: for the first time since the nameplate’s original launch back in 1996, it manages to hold the Brazilian monthly pole position for 3 consecutive months thanks to 14,305 sales and 5.5% share. It is the 7th time the Palio ranks first in Brazil after November 97, September 06, October 06, August 07, June and July 2014. However its advantage over the traditional #1, the VW Gol, thaws from 1,642 units last month to just 105 in August. It looks like there won’t be a 4th month at the top in a row for the Fiat nameplate after all… The Fiat Strada jumps back onto the podium with a very strong 12,850 sales and 5% share, up 10% year-on-year, while the Fiat Uno is creeping back up the ladder at #4, kicking the Chevrolet Onix and Hyundai HB20 to #5 and #6 respectively.

Honda Fit

Now that the new generation has finally hit Brazilian shores, the Renault Sandero is up 5 ranks on July to reclaim its spot inside the Top 10, the VW Saveiro lodges another very solid month at #11 (+10%) as does the Toyota Corolla lifted by the new generation and up 47% to #14. The VW Up maintains itself inside the Top 15 for the 4th consecutive month at #15 and the Honda Fit takes off at +67% on August 2013 to #16 thanks to the new model.

2015 Ford Ka

Further down the sales charts, the newly renamed Fiat Weekend (aka Palio Weekend) breaks into the Top 50 for the first time at #48 with 1,245 sales while the Chery QQ snatches back the best-selling Chinese car title away from the Lifan X60 thanks to sales up 9% at #86 vs. +33% and #96 for the X60. The Chery Celer (#102 and +90%), Chery Tiggo (#107 and -1%) and JAC J3 (#111 and -61%). Finally, after many months of wait, the Ford Ka starts climbing the ladder again thanks to the new model now in dealerships: up 68 spots on July to #88 but the road will be long: sales are still down 78% year-on-year in August… We will also soon welcome for the first time a Ford Ka sedan in the Brazilian ranking…

Previous month: Brazil July 2014: Fiat Palio #1 again, Chevrolet Onix at VW Gol level

One year ago: Brazil August 2013: Fiat Siena shines in market down 23%

Full August 2014 Top 150 models and Top 15 brands Ranking Tables below.