In the first year of new safety rules here in Brazil, aged models were phased out – VW Kombi, Fiat Mille and Gol Mk IV so 2014 year kept rivals Fiat and Volkswagen on tenterhooks until 31 December to see who had the market leader.
At issue was the threat to the Gol’s 27 years of leadership, succeeding the Brazilian Beetle as the best seller ever.
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This backstage wrestle undoubtedly included the usual and risky marketing strategy called ‘rappel’ here to figuratively describe the daring action of mimicking sales by registering unsold cars for statistical purposes only and within the dealer network.
Car rental companies and other fleet owners also play in this battle. It’s easy to by comparing peak sales of a model in last month of the year to the inevitable huge sales slump in January.
With a difference of just 385 cars, the Palio and Palio Fire tallied up 183,741 units to the now-solitary Gol Mk V’s 183,386, a trend observed throughout most of 2014.
VW refused to give up and tried to avoid defeat in the last month of the year.
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By GlobalDataIt is usual in Brazil for different generations of the same model to co-exist, such as the Chevrolet Celta and Corsa (re-christened Classic here), sometimes retaining the same nameplate and sometimes not.
In a direct comparison the Gol Mk V outsold the contemporary Palio nearly two-fold. The Palio Fire clearly helped to knock VW model down. After all it was a battle of two models against one.
Also, in January the German brand faced its first strike in nine years at the São Bernardo do Campo (SBC) plant in the Greater São Paulo area, which was opened in late 1959 and is the oldest of the three VW factories in the country (there is an engine plant, too).
The region’s metalworkers union and the company reached an agreement and dismissals were halted in lieu of lower wage raises until 2019.
According to the union, Volkswagen committed to manufacture three new models in SBC, two on current architectures. The automaker has announced only the Jetta so far and has not confirmed other products for this factory.
Yet it is taken for granted there will be a cargo van derivative based on the Saveiro pick-up in order to compete with the Fiat Fiorino and to try to inherit loyal Kombi customers.
There are doubts however on the third product, if it will ever appear. Speculation is for the T-ROC crossover, a MQB concept that would surf on the ever taller wave of the Brazilian market’s SUV segment.
What is widely known is the MQB flexibility capable of giving birth to new products from any Volkswagen plant around the globe, SBC included.
Another possibility, more viable, is the Gol Mk VI, planned for 2017, to use the future Polo’s MQB to become a world model positioned between the Up and Polo, possibly bearing the Gol nameplate for all markets.
Current Gol (Mk V) production is split between SBC and Taubaté plant, 120 km/75 miles east of São Paulo City.
