Features
2 Jan 18

LatAm’s top 10 best-selling cars in 2017

The stable economy in most Latin American countries last year helped Chevrolet retain its title for the best-selling car in the region for the second year in a row, much of it due to upticks in car sales in Brazil and Argentina, the regions first and third largest automobile fleet markets.

From January-November of 2017, the most sold car in LatAm was the subcompact Chevrolet Onix, according to a 28-country study carried out by automotive research and data group Focus2Move.

Made at the Gravataí plant in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, the US automaker sold a total of 209,725 cars in the 11-month period, up 35.7% year-over-year.


2018 Chevrolet Onix (CREDIT: Chevrolet)

The five-door hatchback was first launched in 2012 to succeed the Chevrolet Corsa and some versions of the Celta. It is a front-wheel drive vehicle with a five-speed manual transmission that comes in two engine options, being the 1.0 (80hp) motor and the 1.4 (106hp) motor. 

Its sedan version, known as the Prisma, is distributed in selected markets.

Ranked No. 2, the subcompact Volkswagen Gol, was actually Brazil’s top seller for 27 consecutive years (from 1987-2014), according to the research group. 


2018 Volkswagen Gol (CREDIT: Volkswagen)

As for Latin America, a total of 146,928 units were sold last year (up 34.7% y-o-y), thanks to the second round updates made to the car’s third generation model. Gol, which was first launched in 1980, comes in a hatchback or sedan. It was ranked No. 4 in 2016.

Meanwhile, the third most sold car in 2017 was the subcompact Ford Ka which saw 137,599 sales, up 33.9% from 2016.  Also coming in a hatchback or sedan, it was first made available in Brazil in 2014, followed by launches in Mexico and Argentina. Ka was ranked No. 6 in 2016.


2018 Ford Ka (CREDIT: Ford)

Wrapping up the top 10 were the Renault Sandero (118,448 units sold), Nissan Versa (115,713 sold), Toyota Hilux (111,974), Toyota Corolla (97,706), Hyundai HB20 (97,543), Chevrolet Prisma (92,657), and Nissan March (77,869).

The only two which sold less cars last year than in 2016 were the Hyundai HB20 and Nissan March. Their sales dropped by 14.5% and 1%, respectively.

In terms of the auto group selling the most vehicles, coming out on top was Renault-Nissan which had three cars in the top 10. The group sold a total of 312,030 units, being Renault Sandero, Nissan Versa, and Nissan March.

Finally, the model showing the highest increase in sales year-over-year was the compact SUV Hyundai Creta. It sales jumped nearly 10-fold to 50,140 units from 5,323 units.

 
2018 Hyundai Creta (CREDIT: Hyundai)

 

Authored by: Daniel Bland