Brazil Full Year 2023: Fiat Strada #1 again, VW Polo storms into 2nd place, Chinese advance

The VW Polo is the 2nd best-selling vehicle in Brazil in 2023.

The Brazilian new light vehicle market gains 11.3% year-on-year in 2023 to get back above the 2m annual mark at 2,179,363. For reference the pre-pandemic 2019 result was 2,658,927, and the all time record is 3,634,421 reached in 2012. So we are still at very low historical levels. Fiat (+10.5%) holds onto the brands top spot, roughly matching the market with an excellent 21.8% share vs. 11.1% at home in Italy. Volkswagen (+28.2%) impresses and snaps the 2nd spot overall of Chevrolet (+12.6%) which still manages decent growth. Volkswagen peaked at 19.3% share in July but never threatened Fiat in the monthly charts. Toyota (+0.5%), Hyundai (-0.8%) and Renault (-0.4%) are all stable which is an underperformance in the current context while Jeep (-7.7%) is frankly in negative but manages to stay in 6th place just above Renault. Nissan (+35.2%) overtakes Honda (+27.1%) to #8. On top of Chery (-10.1%) at #12, two additional Chinese carmakers make their appearance in the 2023 Top 20 brands: BYD is up to #15 and even ranked #10 in December, and GWM is up to #18, peaking at #15 in December.

Over in the models ranking, the Fiat Strada (+7.2%) secures a third consecutive year as Brazil’s best-seller but sees its market share thaw slightly from 5.7% to 5.5%. The big story this year is the thunderous arrival of the new VW Polo (+1257.8%) near the top of the charts, at #2 precisely, whereas it ranked at #52 in 2022. The Polo was meant to replace the Gol and has succeeded so far, ranking #1 in June, July and December when it peaked at 18,000 sales and 7.6% share which are the largest by any model this year. The Chevrolet Onix (+19.7%) regains some strength, back above the 100,000 annual units in third place while the Hyundai HB20 (-7.6%) and Chevrolet Onix Plus (-0.5%) both lose ground to #4 and #5 respectively. The Fiat Mobi (+0.9%) is also down one spot to #6, distancing the VW T-Cross (+10.9%) and Fiat Argo (+4.2%). The Hyundai Creta (+5.1%) returns inside the Top 10 at #10. The Chery Tiggo 5X (#40) is the best-selling Chinese model above the GWM Haval H6 (#45) and Chery Tiggo 8 (#47). Notice also the BYD Song Plus landing at #53 and the BYD Dolphin at #54.

Previous year: Brazil 2022: Fiat Strada and Hyundai HB20 repeat atop stable market (-0.8%)

Two years ago: Brazil 2021: Fiat and Strada take control in stable market (+1.2%)

Full December 2023 Top 20 brands and Top 135 models below.

Full Year 2023 Top 20 brands and Top 100 models vs. Full Year 2022 figures below.