Brazil in 2012: Fiat Celebrates Early For Fear That VW Will up! Them

Palio Weekend already got a facelift, the new Palio wagon won't be out until 2014. It's not clear if the Linea will be facelifted in Brazil as it bombed. It might get replaced by the Viaggio. It's not exactly true that Fiat has nothing to counter the up! with. There are already rumors of a new model built from the old Palio platform. Not sure if it's just a makeover of the Palio Fire or a new model all together, but Fiat seems to be prepared.

@Magnusmaster Hello automaniak and Magnusmaster! Everything is in a flux right now. Indecisions abound. Rumors have it that both Palio Weekend and Strada will not be placed on the new platform that underpins New Uno and Palio/grand Siena. However, that doesn't man they'll die. They probably will live on many years using the old Palio platform with many a facelift. Seems Fiat is in talks with Suzuki and they might go that route and just make a small CUV/SUV (a la Duster/EcoSport) and derive a PU from that. BTW that rumor gains credence with the continuation of Sedici. Or Palio WE and Strada skip a generation and come back next year. Linea too is not in concrete yet. From what I feel (more than what I know), they'll facelift it. Viaggio will come but only in 2015 or even 2016. Linea will then be placed in its real category and fight the likes of Honda City and Polo sedan. Addded thise two to the car provisionally called City to be built in new factory in Pernambuco also coming in 2015, which will be the real up! fighter, 2015 and/or 2016 will be the product onslaught from Fiat. In those years Fiat do Brasil (and by extension Fiat Latin America) will be radically different. So 2013, 2014 is rather bleak for Fiat. Almost surely VW will pass them and GM will come very close. Magnusmaster, on your last assertion, I haven't heard anything. Like I said the real up fighter will come from Pernambuco. But it is interesting. Maybe the death of the Mille will come sooner than expected? I mean know from lowliest to highest Mille, Palio Fire, Uno, Palio, Siena, Idea/Punto, Linea, Bravo. Hard to see where a new car would fit unless Mille is eliminated. As Mille will probabbly die in 2014 due to airbag mandatory, in 2015/2016 the new line will look like this City, Uno, Palio, Siena, Idea(?)/Punto(?), Linea, Bravo (?), Viaggio. As you see lots of question marks. But it'll be interesting

Right, I forgot about 'City' car ! (3 door, small city car) It's very important, also destined for Europe as entry level below Panda. Polish factory Tychy wait for this car so much as they just fire 1/3 of workers due to lower production (Fiat 500, Ford Ka, Lancia Ypsilon)as new Panda was moved fm Poland to Italy. Noticed you omit 500 + Freemont in Fiat model range. I think they are important cars adding some volume for Fiat Brazil.

@automaniak I forgot the 500 and Freemont as I was thinking in terms of local production. Nothing definite yet but the Freemont has been rumored to be starting next year. It's a very expensive car though, so it will never rock the charts, but it helps Fiat's brand, as it is a well accepted prestige car. The 500 is even in Brazil (the land of small cars) a niche car. But it also gives Fiat some prestige. Both 500 and Freemont are imported from Mexico and now are subject to quotas. As Fiat has a factory in Brazil, its case is different from Kia's for example. Though it can import the cars, the numbers and taxes on them depend on a complicated formula. Basically the government uses the tax as an incentive, and the more locally sourced content in the car, and the more the company invests in local R&D, the greater the number of cars it can bring in and the lesset the taxes it must pay on thse cars.

I think both 500 and Freemont are quite successful in Brazilian market this year, even in compare to some local production. They add volume, market share and, you are right, some prestige for Fiat. Jan-Nov 2012: Palio Weekend 17.311 Fiat 500 - 14.885 Freemont - 10.754 Bravo - 9.429 Linea - 7.590 I thought Brazil and Mexico have free trade agreement, no duty and quotas. Is it more complicated ??

@automaniak Brazil basically redeclared the terms of the deal with Mexico as soon as Mexico had managed a financial surplus. Brazil was exporting to Mexico simple, small cars while more sophisticated cars were coming in from Mexico. Brazil made money off of Mexico for many years, when the balance became negatice, the government reacted. I know lots of people here have a knee-jerk reaction: Gov intervention bad! But the truth is that due to Mexico's proximity with US, makers chose to make better cars in Mexico. The local industry was slowly becoming obsolete as Brazilians and the surrounding markets accepted the simpler cars. In an effort to make car makers produce here, the gov took this action. In short: quotas for Mexican imports, high taxes for cars coming from anywhere else. Brazil only import freely from Argentina now.

@automaniak While proximity to US is a plus for Mexican production, the bigger factor is the free-trade agreement with US and Canada (NAFTA), which allows cars to be exported duty-free to those countries -- plus Brazil (until recently), Chile, Peru, EU, Japan and a number of smaller Latin American countries. Most of those countries will charge duty for Brazilian exports, making manufacturing in Brazil less attractive. But Brazil has chosen a different path under Dilma Rousseff ...