Brazil August 2019: Volkswagen (+14.4%), Citroen (+41%), Chery (+64.2%) defy largest market drop in 30 months (-3.5%)

The T-Cross breaks into the Brazilian Top 20, helping VW up 14.4%.

New light vehicle sales in Brazil surprise with a year-on-year drop in August at -3.5% to 230.718 units for only the 2nd drop in the past 28 months alongside last March (-0.2%) and the largest decline since February 2017 (-6.8%). The year-to-date volume remains however comfortably in positive at +8.7% to 1.711.797 units. The Top 2 brands defy the negative market: Chevrolet (+1.9%) edges up to 18.4% share just as Volkswagen (+14.4%) scores the largest gain in the Top 10 to hit 17% share vs. 15.3% so far in 2019. In fact no other Top 10 carmaker manages an uptick, with only Jeep (-2.4%) outpacing the market, Renault (-4.1%) and Hyundai (-5.7%) resisting ok but Nissan (-21.8%), Honda (-17.6%), Toyota (-12.1%), Fiat (-9%) and Ford (-8.4%) in difficulty, even though the latter steps up to #5 YTD. Just outside the Top 10, Citroen (+41%) flies off, as does Chery (+64.2%) once again the best performer in the Top 20.

No surprises atop the Brazilian models ranking: the Chevrolet Onix (+2.9%) celebrates 4 full years at #1 and a 49th consecutive monthly win (no interruption since August 2015). The Ford Ka (-9.7%) is back above the Hyundai HB20 (-22.7%) for #2, both nameplates falling way faster than the market. The Hyundai Creta (+25.9%) posts the largest gain in the Top 12 and breaks into the Top 10 for the 2nd time ever after last November (also #9), it is followed by the Renault Kwid (+18.8%) stuck at an excellent 5th place, the Chevrolet Prisma (+18.5%) down two to #6 and the VW Gol (+18.4%) up two to #4. The Fiat Strada (+9.9%), Fiat Argo (+6.4%) and VW Polo (+4.1%) mean the remainder of the Top 10 is entirely in market-defying positive. Below, notice the Ford Ka Sedan (+51.8%), Chevrolet Spin (+39.6%) and Renault Sandero (+38.2%) posting rare big size gains, while the VW T-Cross breaks into the Top 20 for the first time at #20, crushing all other new launches: the Citroen C4 Cactus at #53 (-10), Chery Tiggo 5x at #62 (+1) and Chery Tiggo 7 at #85 (-9).

Previous month: Brazil July 2019: Toyota (+28.2%), Jeep (+27.2%), Chery (+147.5%) lift market up 11.4%

One year ago: Brazil August 2018: Jeep, Chevrolet Onix break records Chery up 122%

Full August 2019 Top 20 brands and Top 150 models below.