Brazil April 2018: Largest year-on-year gain this decade at +37.8%

The Kwid helps Renault up 70% to 4th place overall in April.

* See the Top 20 best-selling brands and the Top 150 models by clicking on the title *

This is it: the Brazilian new car market is back in the swing (samba?) of it: a 37.8% year-on-year surge in April to 209.995 units marks 12 months of year-on-year gains and the biggest surge since we started following Brazil monthly on BSCB in September 2010. YTD volume is now up 20.4% to 737.282 units, the highest at this time of year since 2015 (860.262). Once again Chevrolet trails the market but still gains 27% to 16.1%, over one percentage point below its YTD level of 17.3%. The next three manufacturers all vastly outpace the market: Volkswagen is up 61% to 14.4%, Fiat up 52% to 13.4% and Renault is the most impressive with a 70% surge to 9.6% share at #4, its best score since last September (#4 and 10.6%). Ford (+38%) and Hyundai (+21%) are both knocked down one spot vs. last month by the French manufacturer, while Toyota (+24%) and Honda (+4%) underperform but hold onto their March ranking. Jeep (+34%) is back above Nissan (+83%) in the tail end of the Top 10. Further down, notice Volvo (+107%), Kia (+81%), BMW (+60%) and Land Rover (+57%) whereas JAC (+20%) steps out of a Top 20 without any Chinese brand for the first time since last October and only the fourth time in the past 20 months.

The Fiat Cronos is up 13 spots on March to #23.

The Chevrolet Onix unsurprisingly remains the most popular nameplate in Brazil, and by far: despite underscoring the market at +31% it holds a strong 7.9% share vs. 4.6% for the Hyundai HB20 back to #2 nationally both this month and YTD. The Ford Ka (+32%) and Chevrolet Prisma (+44%) follow while the Renault Kwid is the best-selling recent launch (<12 months) in the country at #5 overall like in March, with the VW Polo following at #7 (-1) and the Fiat Argo at #12 (+1). Two sedans based on the latter two hatches and launched in the last days of 2017 vastly improve this month: the VW Virtus is up 6 spots to #18 and the Fiat Cronos up 13 to #23. The Chevrolet Tracker (+280%), Kia Sportage (+169%), Nissan Frontier (+141%), VW Amarok (+127%), Renault Captur (+112%) and Mitsubishi ASX (+104%) also impress.

Previous month: Brazil March 2017: Chevrolet struggles, Volkswagen, Renault and Nissan up

One year ago: Brazil April 2017: Chevrolet up, VW and Fiat down in market down 3.2%

Full April 2018 Top 20 brands and Top 150 models below.