Chile May 2020: Flaring COVID-19 infections keep market stuck at -72.2%

Brilliance soars 109.5% in a market down -72.2%.

COVID-19 total cases have seen an exponential rise in Chile in the past two months, going from 2.738 as of March 31 to 16.023 as of April 30 and 113.618 at the time of writing. In the past week, Chile ranks 6th globally for new cases at 31.339 behind only Brazil (172.195), the USA (151.587), Russia (61.035), India (58.854) and Peru (43.009). In this context, lockdowns and business closures are extended and the new car market is stuck at -72.2% year-on-year in May to 8.681 units, pulling the year-to-date tally down -40.9% to 93.772.

Chevrolet (-60.2%) resists markedly better once again and soars to 13.1% share vs. just 10.8% so far in 2020. Nissan (-66.5%) is up 5 spots on April to #2, knocking Suzuki (-70.2%) down to #3. Toyota (-72.3%) overtakes Hyundai (-78.4%), Kia (-78.2%) and Peugeot (-74.3%) while Ford (-72.3%) returns inside the Top 10. Chinese carmakers (-68.3%) once again outpace the market to 16.3% share, led by MG (-64.5%), JAC (-66.2%), Changan (-70.2%) and Great Wall (-67.6%). Brilliance (+109.5%)  scores the only year-on-year gain in the entire market while Porsche (-50%), Skoda (-53.5%), Maxus (-58.2%), BMW (-58.9%) and Opel (-63.6%) resist ok.

Previous month: Chile April 2020: Chevrolet (-64.4%), Chinese (-65.5%) fare better in market down -72.8%

One year ago: Chile May 2019: Chevrolet and Suzuki top market down for 4th consecutive  month (-11.7%)

Full May 2020 Top 55 All-brands ranking below.