RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The model produced in Brazil for 41 years in different versions will be replaced by the Polo Track as of 2023, a different version of the current Polo which will become the brand’s starter car (the cheapest). In its trajectory, it was the sales leader for almost 30 years and the most exported model by the manufacturer.
The Gol currently costs between R$67,800 (US$12,240) and R$83,400 and it is mostly sold to the fleet or rental market. “The new laws demand increasingly safer cars with lower CO2 emissions,” says Volkswagen Latin America CEO Pablo Di Si.
Among the equipment to be mandatory in all new cars is the stability control (ESC), for instance. The Kombi was discontinued because it was unable to be equipped with airbags. The end of the model’s production had been heralded by the market, but the confirmation and date were announced on Friday, November 5, by Di Si during the presentation of the brand’s new R$7 billion investment plan in the region, between 2022 and 2026.
However, the company has not yet announced whether it will be able to use the name Gol for another model in the new family that starts with the Polo Track, to be produced at the Taubaté (São Paulo) plant, where the Gol and the Voyage sedan are currently produced.
From January through October, 51,035 Gol units were sold, placing it the 8th best-selling car in the country and Volkswagen’s best-placed in the ranking. Next comes the T-Cross, with 51,008 units.
DECLINING SEGMENT
The entry level compact car segment is among those that have lost the most sales share in the Brazilian market in recent years. This is partly because most companies ceased to launch products in this segment, due to their low profitability, and began to focus mainly on SUVs, currently sales leaders.
Volkswagen launched 5 SUVs in the previous investment cycle, also worth R$7 billion, 2 of which – Nivus and T-Cross – are produced in Brazil and the Taos, assembled in Argentina.
“It’s true that consumer preference is shifting more to SUVs, which doesn’t mean that the entry-level segment is going to disappear,” Di Si says. “It will have a smaller share, but still interesting.”
With a much higher financial return for manufacturers, the segment sold 540,900 units this year (through October), the equivalent to 42.4% of all cars sold in the country. On the other hand, the entry segment sold 178,800 units, or 14% of the total.