Brazil November 2014: Fiat Palio achieves the impossible

Fiat Palio Fire Way

* See the Top 140 best-selling models and Top 20 brands by clicking on the title *

New car sales in Brazil are slowing down their decline in November at -3% to 279,826 registrations, however the year-to-date total is still down a disappointing 8% on 2013 to 2,975,179 units. In the brands ranking, Chevrolet (-1%) is getting dangerously close to Fiat (-8%) this month at 17.5% vs. 18.9% while knocking Volkswagen down to #3 year-to-date. There is a healthy amount of manufacturers actually improving their sales YOY in November: Ford is up 6%, Hyundai up 10%, Toyota up a very impressive 24%, Honda up 1%, Nissan up 22%, Mitsubishi up 8%, Mercedes up 29% and Audi up an extravagant 99%.

Fiat launched the Palio back in 1996 to topple the VW Gol. Mission (almost) accomplished at last!

The models ranking is the theatre of a once-in-a-20 years event. Thanks to 15,399 sales in November (+11% year-on-year) vs. 12,024 for the VW Gol (-41%), the Fiat Palio lodges a 6th consecutive month at #1 and overtakes the Gol to also become #1 year-to-date for the first time in its 18 year-career. The Palio adds up to 160.784 sales after 11 months vs. 159.207 for the Gol. This is a truly historical moment for Fiat: the Italian manufacturer launched the Palio back in 1996 with the sole aim of dislodging the VW Gol from its pedestal, and they are now only one month away from achieving this in a Full Year. The last time the VW Gol did not top the annual Brazilian ranking was in 1994 (the Fiat Uno did), meaning if the Palio maintains its lead for one more month, it will break 19 consecutive years of Gol rule! In fact the Gol has been the #1 car in Brazil for 26 of the past 27 years, with the previous #1 nameplate to rank #1 before the Uno being the Chevrolet Monza in 1986…

The Chevrolet Onix beats its volume and market share records this month in Brazil

Just as we recover from this momentous event, another one is happening just before our eyes: as if being beaten by the Palio for the first time wasn’t tough enough, the VW Gol also ranks below another nameplate who’s unashamedly targeting it this month. Exactly two years after its launch here, the Chevrolet Onix is up an imposing 40% YOY to break both its monthly volume and share records at 14,484 sales and 5.2%, ranking at a best-ever 2nd place overall for the 2nd straight month. The Onix thus outsells the Gol for the third month in a row, and ranks 4th year-to-date vs. #8 in 2013.

The Ford Ka is now among Brazil’s 5 most popular nameplates.

The third star of the month is the Ford Ka, whose new generation is lifting the nameplate to record heights: it is up more than 7-fold on the previous model last year to break into the Top 5 for the first time at #5 and 10,748 sales and 3.8% share. This is simply the Ka nameplate’s best-ever monthly ranking of its 18 year-career, only equalled once in December 2008 (#5), and only the third time it ranks within the Top 7 along with October 2009 (#7).

Lifan 530

Further down, other great performers include the VW Saveiro up 54% to #8, the Renault Sandero back inside the Top 10 at #9, the Hyundai HB20S breaking its ranking record at #13 (previous best: #15 last March), the VW Up holding strong at #16, the Toyota Etios hatch up 63% to #23 thanks to the Cross variant, the Chevy Cruze sedan up 114% YOY to #26, the Ford Ka sedan up 27 spots to #37 for its 2nd month in the charts, the Lifan X60 up 16 ranks on October to lead the Chinese attack at #74, the Mercedes GLA200 already the brand’s 2nd best-seller at #91 and the Lifan 530 breaking into the Brazilian Top 150 for its 2nd month on sale at #130, helping lift the Chinese brand to a best-ever #18 overall.

Previous month: Brazil October 2014: Fiat Palio on verge of historical achievement

One year ago: Brazil November 2013: Chevrolet Prisma nearly inside Top 10

Full November 2014 Top 140 models and Top 20 brands Ranking Tables below.