Colombia Full Year 2019: Renault (+14.7%) soars to first victory since 1986, places 5 nameplates in Top 6

The Renault Kwid topped the Colombian charts for 3 straight months in 2019.

Discover 30 years of Colombian Historical Data here.

31/01/20 update: Now with Top 165 models.

The Colombian new vehicle market enjoys a second straight year of gains in 2019 at +2.7% to 263.684 registrations, the largest annual volume since 2015, however weak November (-8.8%) and December (-7.2%) upended the annual gain and are a bad omen for 2020. Passenger cars (-3.5%) are the only segment in negative at 126.800 and drop below the 50% share mark at 48.1% vs. 51.2% in 2017. SUVs gain 4.8% to 87.131 and 33% share vs. 32.4% a year ago and pickups soar 15.4% to 17.837 and 6.8% share vs. 6%. By origin, Colombia (-12%) remains in the lead with 68.537 sales but sees it share thaw from 30.4% to 26%, followed by Mexico (-9.5%) at 43.759 and 16.6% vs. 18.8% now threatened by Brazil (+66.7%) at 42.133 and 16% vs. 9.8%. South Korea (-6.5%) drops to 24.521 units and 9.3% share vs. 10.2%, Europe (+20.9%) soars to 21.554 and 8.2% vs. 6.9% ahead of Japan (+1.8%) at 18.036 and 6.8%, Thailand (+5.4%) at 12.417 and 4.7%, China (+2.7%) at 10.576 and 4%, Argentina (+22.7%) at 7.771 and 2.9% and the U.S. (-21.4%) at 6.963 and 2.6%.

After missing out on the annual pole position for just 175 units in 2018, Renault (+14.7%) easily overtake Chevrolet (-6.8%%) this year thanks to the largest year-on-year gain in the Top 9, hitting 21.6% share which is over 10.500 units and a full four percentage points above the American carmaker at 17.6%. Renault’s win in December marks its 15th #1 finish in the past 16 months. Most strikingly, this is Renault’s first annual Colombian win since 1986 or a very long 33 years. Also very surprisingly, apart from the Renault-Chevrolet switchover, there are no changes in the Top 12 brands. Hyundai (+14.2%), Toyota (+14.2%), Mercedes (+9.9%), Volkswagen (+6.1%) and Suzuki (+4.1%) also gain volume whereas Ford (-12.9%), Nissan (-6.9%), Mazda (-5.1%), Kia (-4.7%) and BMW (-1%) hit the brakes. Further down, Kenworth (+270.8%), Scania (+81.2%), Volvo (+64.3%), JMC (+54%), Citroen (+49.6%), Hino (+29.9%) and Honda (+16.9%) are the most impressive.

Model-wise, the Renault Sandero (-11.6%) wins 2019 with less than 100 sales more than the the Renault Logan (-14.3%) with the Sandero Stepway (+0.5%) ensuring the podium is 100% Renault. We have indeed started separating Sandero and Sandero Stepway variants in 2019 as this is the way sales are reported in Colombia. Note this would have meant the Chevrolet Spark (-41.1%) was #1 in 2018. Renault actually places 5 nameplates in the Top 6 with the Duster (+6%) at #5 and the all-new Kwid at #6 but leading the monthly ranking outright in September, October and November, only missing out on the December top spot because of stock shortages. Instead, the Chevrolet Onix (+78%) took the lead for the first time ever in December and ends 2019 in 4th place. The Chevrolet Beat (+22%) and Mazda2 (+10.8%) also shine in the Top 10.

Previous month: Colombia November 2019: Renault Kwid 3peats at #1, Toyota (+22.8%), BMW (+60%) resist first market drop in 7 months (-8.8%)

Previous year: Colombia 2018: Renault up to just 175 units off Chevrolet, places Sandero #1 for third straight year

Two years ago: Colombia 2017: Renault Sandero repeats win, market down 6.1%

Full Year 2019 Top 30 brands and Top 165 models vs. Full Year 2018 figures below.

Full December 2019 Top 30 brands and models below.