Fiat
Automóveis is improving the standard equipment safety
features package across the range of the new Palio as it
tries to eat into the Brazilian sales advantage of the
new B-segment hatchback's main rival, VW's Gol.
Only launched last
November, the new second-generation Palio is based on
the Fiat Group's widely used 'Small' architecture, with
cost rationalisations being made for its emerging market
application. The new Palio is offered on the Brazilian
market in six different versions.
The Palio Model Year
2013 will come to the Brazilian market this month with
the Attractive 1.4, Essence 1.6 16v and Essence Dualogic
1.6 16v, all now coming as standard with Fiat's local
market HSD (High Safety Drive) package which consists of
two front airbags and ABS with EBD. The new Palio's
enhanced 'Sporting' version has been equipped with the
HSD kit as standard since the new year.
The new Palio is
tasked with tackling VW's Gol at the upper end of
B-segment and although the arrival of the new version
has eaten into some of its German rival's sales, the gap
is still wide. The new Palio's case isn't helped by Fiat
have two very similar sized cars on sale in Brazil. The
new Uno (wheelbase 2,376 mm, length 3,770 mm, width
1,640 mm, height 1,490 mm) and the new Palio (wheelbase
2,420 mm, length 3,790 mm, width 1,670 mm, height 1,490
mm), are both based on the same architecture and share
engines, leaving the Palio to push into the more premium
end of B-segment to avoid the Uno stripping out too many
sales.
For the most recent
month, March, the Palio reached thirteen and a half
thousand sales to take a 4.7 percent market share; that
was two thirds of the Gol's share which added up to a
7.4 percent market share. However the top spot overall
in the market went to the Uno with more than twenty
three thousand sold. The first-generation Palio saw its
sales disintegrate as expected when the new Uno arrived
on the Brazilian market and the new Palio has to rebuild
its market position. For the year-to-date the new Palio
has thirty six thousand sales, twenty two thousand
behind the Gol which has a 7.6 percent market share
compared to the Palio's 4.7 percent.
The new Palio MY2013 is priced as follows: Attractive
Palio 1.0 - R $ 31,290; Attractive Palio 1.4 - R $
35,590; Essence Palio 1.6 16V - R $ 39,350; Essence
Dualogic Palio 1.6 16V - R $ 41,880; Palio 1.6 16V
Sporting - R $ 41,310; Palio 1.6 16V Sporting Dualogic -
R $ 43,830. The entry version of the first-generation
Palio is still produced to slot in under the new model
and is counted in the data.
