Brazilians learn to love big powerful cars; Brazil set to be world’s 2nd largest SUV market

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Brazilian market traditionally has more than half its sales concentrated in small cars. Still, this year SUVs (all-terrain vehicles) have gained the leadership position, with 370,500 units sold through July.

The volume represents 39.6% of all cars and light trucks sold in the country, one percentage point ahead of the previous leaders, hatchbacks.

SUVs are sportier, sit higher, have more space and a larger trunk, are equipped with more technology, and some have all-wheel drive – attractions that appeal to customers worldwide.

Although they are more expensive than conventional hatchback and sedan models, Brazilians’ preference for this segment has grown for nearly 19 consecutive years.

Over the next four years, SUV sales will rise by 12.2% in Brazil, the highest percentage increase among the top seven global markets.

The segment’s market share will rise from 39.6% this year to 46.3% in 2025, according to a study prepared exclusively for Estadao by consulting firm KPMG using data from LMC Automotive.

This will make the country number two in the world with the highest presence of SUVs in its sales, behind the United States, whose increase will be 2.1% between this year and 2025, when it will reach a share of 56.9% SUVs in the local market.

The United Kingdom will pass Brazil with a share of 46.2%, followed by China (43.2%), France (42.1%), India (34.9%), and Japan (21.7%).

“Everything indicates that Brazil will be the land of SUVs,” says Ricardo Bacellar, in charge of automotive at KPMG do Brasil. However, he points out that slightly more than half of consumers should buy another type of vehicle, either because they don’t like SUVs or don’t have the money to buy them since it’s a more high-end product.

Space, comfort, and looks were what made systems analyst Michelle Pirotello, 43, choose an SUV when she switched cars last month. Previously, all the cars she had were hatchbacks.

“I use the car to go for walks, to take my 10-year-old son to school, to go to the supermarket, and nothing is as tight in this car as in the others,” says she, who lives with her family in São Caetano do Sul, in the ABC suburb of São Paulo, and bought a Hyundai Creta.

Michelle says that the SUV, because it is taller, “is the little girl’s dream” and that she has no intention of returning to hatchbacks. Her husband Alfredo, she says, has always preferred sedans, “but now he always wants to drive my car.”

BEST SELLING SUVs IN BRAZIL IN 2021

The success of SUVs in the Brazilian market is no mere impression: for the first time, the category – which gathers favorites such as Jeep Renegade, Hyundai Creta, and VW T-Cross, for example, to the Rolls-Royce Cullinan, worth R$6.3 million – led sales here.

According to the National Federation of Automotive Vehicles Distribution (Fenabrave), SUVs already corresponds to 39.36% of the sales accumulated until June this year. In turn, the small hatches are second, with 23.56% of the consumer preference, while the entry-level category has 15.41% of the market (and, together, they still have 38.97% of the total).

Check out the ten best-selling SUVs of 2021

1 – Jeep Renegade – 40,607 units;

2 – Hyundai Creta – 33,493;

3 – Jeep Compass – 32,554;

4 – VW T-Cross – 29,179;

5 – Chevrolet Tracker – 27,125;

6 – VW Nivus – 19,935;

7 – Nissan Kicks – 19,169;

8 – Honda HR-V – 18,746;

9 – Renault Duster – 12.950;

10 – Toyota Corolla Cross – 10,313.