While in August it was tudo azul, September brought some clouds to the previously céu de brigadeiro. Sails dropped 1.75 percent on the month (falling to 291,409 vehicles sold). This is the first time this has happened since May. According to Fenabrave’s President Sérgio Reze (in declarations to Brazilian communications giant Globo’s news portal g1.com) this was due to September having one less sales day than August. As giant Brazilian web provider UOL points out, the silver lining in the clouds is that on the year the market is still up by 7.12 percent (good for a grand total of 2,368,932 sales).
That’s what the suits are saying. My take? Well, I think the new Uno effect is starting to hurt less. Other manufacturers have by now absorbed the shock and are slowly but surely recomposing their margins by lifting prices ever so slightly and accepting that their cars are selling less. As the Uno’s declared raison d’être is to topple the Gol, only VW is still on full war footing, keeping their car aggressively priced and marketed. In Brazil, higher prices mean reduced sales. I’ll guess the market won’t be growing significantly on the month anymore. On the year the figures will look good though, as sales have reached a new threshold. That’ll keep the suits happy and give them a reason to say all’s fine and dandy.
As to the hotly contested first place? The Uno suffered its first sales drop since launch. The gap though keeps narrowing. Last month it was 1,761 cars. This month it’s down to 1,458. The Gol hangs on, but the battle is far from over.
Brazil’s Best Selling Cars (numbers courtesy of UOL)
| Rank | Make / Model | September Sales | August Sales | YTD Sales | Change in Rank |
| 1 | VW Gol | 25,338 | 25,855 | 208,421 | — |
| 2 | Fiat Uno | 23,880 | 24,094 | 154,124 | — |
| 3 | Chevy Celta | 14,011 | 13,330 | 112,036 | +1 |
| 4 | Chevy Corsa/Sedan | 13,948 | 13,448 | 98,410 | -1 |
| 5 | VW Fox/Crossfox | 12,709 | 13,209 | 104,823 | — |
| 6 | Fiat Strada | 10,660 | 10,945 | 83,436 | — |
| 7 | Fiat Palio | 9,509 | 10,516 | 104,850 | — |
| 8 | Ford Fiesta | 9,280 | 9,726 | 66,371 | — |
| 9 | Fiat Siena | 8,605 | 9,328 | 89,962 | — |
| 10 | VW Voyage | 7,422 | 7,573 | 57,982 | — |
Comments: Just one change in rank. Except for the Chevy cars, all others sold slightly less than the month before, which adds credence to the one less sales day effect. However, the numbers show sales have stagnated. The big news is that OTY, the VW Fox will pass Fiat’s Palio (Fiat’s bleeding, more on that below) and take fourth position next month. The Gol x Uno battle is still too close to call, but the Gol is showing strength.
Top 10 Brazilian Car Makers Ranked by Sales and Market Share (numbers courtesy of g1)
| Rank | Manufacturer | Units Sold September | Market Share | Units Sold August | Market Share | Change in Rank |
| 1 | Fiat | 66,810 | 22.93% | 69,703 | 23.50% | — |
| 2 | Volkswagen | 59,659 | 20.97% | 61,902 | 20.87% | — |
| 3 | Chevrolet | 58,962 | 20.23% | 55,525 | 18.72% | — |
| 4 | Ford | 27,130 | 9.31% | 29,424 | 9.92% | — |
| 5 | Renault | 15,376 | 5.40% | 16,729 | 5.64% | — |
| 6 | Honda | 9,587 | 3.29% | 10,411 | 3.51% | — |
| 7 | Hyundai | 9,179 | 3.15% | 8,958 | 3.02% | +1 |
| 8 | Toyota | 8,130 | 2.79% | 8,068 | 2.72% | +1 |
| 9 | Peugeot | 7,722 | 2.65% | 9,254 | 3.12% | -2 |
| 10 | Citroën | 7,373 | 2.53% | 7,445 | 2.51% | — |
Comments: No excuses this time. Fiat is hurting. Sales dropped for the third straight month, which means that the new Uno is causing damage to all of Fiat’s small models. Initially, Fiat was not hurt, but now it is. It hasn’t helped Fiat’s case that they are in the middle of changing all their cars to the use of the new E.torQ engine. This gave them an excuse to bump up the prices. The market has not taken kindly to this. Fiat (unofficially) said they expected that the new Uno would help them get a 25 percent market share. The new Uno has been selling very well, but not enough to carry the rest of the line. Achtung Fiat!
The clear winner this month was GM. They increased market share by more than a percent. VW better watch out. In fact, according to Brazilian automobile industry watcher autoinforme.com, VW and GM were neck and neck until the last day of the month. This caused both of them to give special conditions and special pricing to earn bragging rights. The result was that the last day of the month was a record day (21,710 cars sold). For that day VW led in sales (4,863), GM came in second (4,302) while Fiat lagged in third (4,253).
Further on down the list, Peugeot was the big loser. Why? End of the free air con sales promotion. Again, in Brazil, the key to win sales is lower prices. Or, include attractive content (like A/C) for free. This will get your customers excited. Just remember yesterday’s commercial.
Do you have numbers for the Alfa Romeo brand specifically?
Morea:
The number is 0. Yes zero. At least officially as Fiat no longer officilally imports the brand. You might have an odd sale here and there becuase it’s possible in Brazil to import outside the “factory”. But that takes going to an indepedendent shop and placing an order. They’ll bring it in for about 4 or 5 times what it cost abroad. And it also usually takes more than 6 months. I’ve seen Challengers, Camaros and Mustangs in Brazil for example. All were brought in unofficially by these independent shops for very rich people.
As to Alfa, Fiat imported them from about 1995 to 2005. With ever declining numbers. When tha market opened up, Fiat with its usual agility, was the first to jump in on the wagon. They brought in thousands of 164s. These sold briskly and became a rich man’s trophy. Meanwhile, BMW, MB and Audi were testing the waters, waiting for a consolidation. After about 6 months the government did an about face and reduced the import tarriff dramatically (to about 7% if I remember correctly). Suddenly if you had an Alfa 164, you saw its value drop like a stone.
You see, Fiat brought it in when the government made possible importation. But the tarriff was crazy high (like more than 50%). again, suddenly, without warning there was the reduction. The people who had bought the Alfas were not pleased. And Alfa was tarnished in relation to its buying public. Almost deathly so.
However, there ‘s hope. I just read on Auto Esporte’s website that Alfa may import the 159 in its new generation. Foe me, an alfisti since day one, I can’t wait, even if I can’t buy it, I’ll sure try to wrangle a drive from the maker!