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SUVs: competition grows even more in 2023

Manufacturers launch special series and versions to sustain sales

By George Guimarães | 4/11/23 | Translated by Jorge Meditsch

Sport-utilities, the largest internal market segment, was marked in 2022 by a unit-by-unit dispute. The difference between the leader, Chevrolet Tracker, and the runner-up Volkswagen T-Cross, was just 0.8%, a little more than 5 thousand units.

In 2023, maybe with a change of one or another model among the leaders, the level of competition should be the same or even higher, considering the first quarter numbers.

The Jeep Compass led in the period with 15,556 units, followed by the Hyundai Creta with 15,424. Third-placed, the Chevrolet Tracker had 14,996 deliveries and the fourth in the ranking, T-Cross, 14,168.

The difference among them was almost nothing. Considering working days from January through March, the daily average of SUV deliveries this year was about 2.2 thousand vehicles. Therefore, the difference between the first and fourth in the ranking corresponds to sales of just half a day.

Among the 162.1 SUVs sold, the leader’s share was just 0,9% higher than the T-Cross’. And it was reached thanks to March’s performance, when the Jeep’s model sold almost seven thousand units and surpassed the Creta, first in February. In January, the Tracker occupied the highest place in the ranking.

Each month, more competitors arrive to dispute among a list with more than fifty national and imported models. Offering frequent novelties has been the manufacturers’ strategy to sustain or expand sales in the segment.

New special series and differentiated versions are increasingly getting frequent. Some of them are limited to a few hundred units, but all play the same role, getting attention to the brand or a model that has been in the market for some time.

Even the Tracker, which still celebrates the lead in 2022 and was third in the first trimester this year, will get this week two new versions: the sporty RS and the Midnight, which like many competitors and Chevrolet vehicles, abuses black details and finishing.

“While the Tracker RS adds a bolder and younger image, the Midnight appeals to a more sophisticated image with sobber and neutral hues”, explains Rodrigo Fioco, GM South America’s Product Marketing director.

Besides style details, the two versions differ in the engines: the RS has the 133 cv 1.2 turbo, and the Midnight has the 116 cv 1.0 turbo. Both models have a six-speed automatic transmission. The sporty version carries standard full-led headlights and sunroof.

Although the models are already on GM’s website, the manufacturer has not yet released their prices. They will probably be close to the current top-of-line Premier 1.0 and 1.2, which cost R$ 147.2 thousand and R$ 160 thousand. Not much cheaper or more expensive.

In such a disputed segment, there is no margin or need for great efforts to offer something different, especially regarding prices.

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George Guimarães

Jornalista com passagens por jornais, revistas, tevê e assessoria de imprensa, é especializado na cobertura do setor automotivo há trinta anos, período em que já viu (quase) de tudo da indústria, seus produtos, mercado, cadeia produtiva, tecnologias e políticas industriais.

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