Brazil July 2018: Ford Ka up, Fiat Toro breaks records, market up 16.6%

August 7, 2018
Matt Gasnier

The Fiat Ka is up 32% to 2nd place, pushed up by the crossover-looking Freestyle variant.

* See the Top 20 best-selling brands and Top 155 models by clicking on the title *

New car sales in Brazil leap up by a very strong 16.6% year-on-year in July to 208.551 units, marking 15 consecutive months of gains and lifting the year-to-date volume up 14.2% to 1.335.746. These are the highest July and YTD scores since 2015 when the market was at 219.410 and 1.489.243. 8 of the Top 10 carmakers in the country post positive growth, however leader Chevrolet (+5%) loses market share again whereas Volkswagen (+39%) lodges another spectacular gain. Nissan (+56%), Renault (+49%), Jeep (+28%) and Ford (+28%) also outpace the market in the Top 10 while Fiat (+14%) and Hyundai (+6%) advance slower but Toyota (-4%) and Honda (-1%) hit the brakes. Large gains are a lot rarer further down with Volvo (+114%) and Chery (+47%) the only truly impressive carmakers when Land Rover (-22%), BMW (-15%) and Mitsubishi (-13%) sink by the double-digits.

The Fiat Toro breaks its volume and share records this month in Brazil.

There’s no end in sight for the Chevrolet Onix domination in the Brazilian models ranking, the nameplate enjoying a 36th consecutive month as the local best-seller – no interruption since August 2015 which was the first time it ranked #1 – albeit growing slower than the market for once at +11%. The Ford Ka (+32%) is back above the Hyundai HB20 (-2%) for the third time this year after January and March and at #4 the VW Gol (+6%) reclaims the title of best-selling Volkswagen above the Polo (#6) for only the second time this year after last May. The Fiat Toro (+24%) breaks its volume (6.226) and share (3%) records to stay inside the Top 5 for the second consecutive month – and ever.

The newly launched Yaris lineup can’t prevent Toyota sinking 4% in a market up 16.6%.

Below the Fiat Strada (+63%), Argo (+69%) and Jeep Compass (+29%) all frankly beat the market towards the tail end of the Top 10 but it’s the Renault Kwid (+1541%) now celebrating its first year in the Brazilian market that impresses the most. Among other recent launches, the VW Virtus (#15) is down one spot on June, the Fiat Cronos (#20) is up two to a new ranking record as are the Toyota Yaris Hatch (#27) up 66 and the Toyota Yaris Sedan (#59) up 100. The Volvo XC40 (#79) also breaks into the Top 100 for the first time while the Chery Tiggo 2 (#68) is the new Chinese best-seller in Brazil above the Chery QQ (#86) and JAC T40 (#89).

The Chery Tiggo 2 is the new best-selling Chinese nameplate in Brazil.