Brazil January 2020: Chevrolet Onix Plus smashes Prisma record in third market drop in past 6 months (-3.1%)

The Chevrolet Onix Plus holds 4.7% of the Brazilian market, a new record.

New light vehicle sales in Brazil are giving us another sign of plateauing in January with sales down for the third time in the past 6 months at -3.4% to 184.125 units. Chevrolet (-3.1%) almost matches the market to easily remain the most popular carmaker in the country with 19.1% share vs. 17.9% over the FY2019, while Volkswagen (+5.1%) signs the only year-on-year gain in the Top 9 but remains close to its historical share level at 16%. Fiat (-1%) golds well at 14.1% of the market with Renault (-5.6%) holding onto the 4th spot it hit over FY2019 above Toyota (-7.8%) in difficulty. Unusually, Nissan (+8%) is the best performer in the Top 10 with Honda (-14.9%) and Ford (-11.2%) tumbling down and Hyundai (-2.3%) and Jeep (-2.7%) roughly following the market. Below, Chery (+68.7%) is stuck at a record #12 spot it has now hit 4 times in the past 5 months, the highest monthly ranking of any Chinese brand in Brazil. Land Rover (+14.3%), Volvo (+12.6%) and BMW (+11.4%) perform best in the Top 20 while Ram surges 301.4% to a record #21.

Model-wise, the Chevrolet Onix (-7.3%) enjoys a 54th consecutive monthly win (no interruption since August 2015), followed like in December by its sedan variant the Chevrolet Onix Plus lodging a new share record at 4.7%. It is the third time in the past five months and the past 35 years (!) that Chevrolet holds the Top 2 spots in the Brazilian models ranking, after the outgoing Prisma ranked #2 in September. Note the Onix Plus has already hit levels that the Prisma could never reach in its 20 year-career, with its highest share being 4% achieved in runout mode last September. The Ford Ka (-8.6%) closes the podium above the Renault Kwid (+26.3%) in outstanding shape and a struggling Hyundai HB200 (-9.6%). The Fiat Toro (+31.4%), VW Gol (+21.4%) and Fiat Strada (+13.1%) all defy the declining market with double-digit gains inside the Top 10. The VW T-Cross (#17) tops recent launches again but drops 9 spots on December, it is followed by the Chery Tiggo 5X breaking into the Brazilian Top 50 for the first time at #50 (+6).

Previous post: Brazil Full Year 2019: Chevrolet Onix #1, Renault up to record #4, Jeep, Chery shine in strongest market since 2014 (+7.8%)

One year ago: Brazil January 2019: Renault (+46.6%), Jeep (+26.1%), Toyota (+15.4%) strong in market up 8.7%

Full January 2020 Top 20 brands and Top 150 models below.