For the second consecutive month the
Fiat Palio was the best selling car in its segment in
Brazil, while the Fiat Strada pick-up consolidated its
position at the top of the light commercial category. It
has been an impressive year for Fiat Automòveis, the
Brazilian arm of Fiat Auto, as it celebrates 30 years of
manufacturing in the huge South American nation and it
rolls out a new US$1 billion investment programme.
Fiat Automòveis continues to lead the Brazilian new car
market overall, with 323,000 unit sales for the year up
to the end of October, followed by American giant
General Motors who have notched up sales of 296,000 for
the first ten months. Volkswagen are in third place
(295,300) while the Ford Motor Co holds a very distant
fourth (113,900). With a series of automotive factory
strikes, mostly affecting VW, now out of the way
Brazilian car production rose month-on-month by 10.9
percent to 226,393 units for October. Domestic sales
were up by 10 pct on September to 175,255 units, while
exports (860 million euros) rose a pleasing 6.1 pct on
the previous month.
During October the Fiat Palio hatchback sold 16,968
units, putting it comfortably ahead of the VW Gol
(16,031 units) for the second month in a row. Third
place went to the Chevrolet Celta, which accounted for
11,776 registrations in the hotly contested segment,
followed by the Fiat Mille (Uno) and the VW Fox. However
for the year to date the VW Gol is still the overall
leader, having racked up 150,415 sales compared to
127,338 achieved by the Palio thus far.
|
 |
|
During October the Fiat Palio hatchback sold 16,968
units, putting it comfortably ahead of the VW Gol
(16,031 units) for the second month in a row. |
|
|
 |
|
For the second consecutive month the
Fiat Palio (above) was the best selling car in its
segment in Brazil, while the Fiat Strada pick-up
consolidated its position at the top of the light
commercial category. |
|
|
In the medium-size saloon segment in Brazil the Toyota
Corolla was the market leader (3,395) during October, ahead
of the GM Vectra (2,402)
which surprised the market in squeezing in ahead of the
Honda Civic (2,322). For the year to date the Corolla is
the best seller in its category (28,567), ahead of the
Vectra (26,151) with the Civic (23,819) in third place.
In the commercial vehicle segment Fiat again ruled the
roost, the Strada pick-up leading sales for the second
consecutive month. With a strong proportion of the
higher-margin "Adventure" models included in the total,
the light pick-up, which has recently been given a
facelift, accounted for a robust 4,098 units, well above
last months total sales of 3,383 units. The Strada's
traditional rival, the Ford EcoSport, held onto second
place with 3,743 registrations. For the year to date the
small Ford SUV is in pole position though with 35,033
sales, just under a thousand units ahead of the Strada
(34,067).
by Claudio Perlini
|
|
|
|
