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18 May 2018 | AutoData MARKET » TRENDS factors, for offering comfort, technology and safety. They are big cars, with plenty of internal space, good visibility and high suspension”. Like his colleague fromNissan he also argues that “it influences the taste of Bra- zilians for SUVs the high versatility of use on different occasions and types of terrain, whether paved roads or dirt roads”. Honda closely follows Jeep: HR-Vwas the second most sold model in the seg- ment in the first quarter, almost tied with Compass - the difference, according to Fenabrave, was only 150 units. In the list by brand Honda also ranks second, with 16%. “HR-V is already the sales leader of the Honda brand in Brazil, andwe believe there is still room to grow”. THE SIZE OF THE MARKET Six years ago, in 2012, the sales of SUVs did not even reach 10% of the Brazilian car market: just over 270 thousand of the 3.1 million marketed in the country. Last year, sports utilityvehicles accoun- ted for 22.3% of local sales, or more than double that compared to 2012. The licen- ses for the segment in 2017 totaled 414.5 thousand units, up 37% compared to 2016, when Brazilians bought 302.5 thousand SUVs. Thus, last year they reached the record for the segment, which until then had grown at a much lower rate - andwas even reduced in volume from 2015 to 2016, although always gaining participation in the total amount. From January to March 2018 the seg- ment has already advanced another 35% compared to a much lower growth, 15%, in total sales of automobiles. Executives believe that this pace should continue until the end of the year but they do not unders- tand that the expansion of the segment is coming to an end. “The SUVmarket has potential to grow and I find it premature to put a deadline on this public interest”, says Oliveira fromHon- da. “The success of the SUVs is a global phenomenon perceived a fewyears ago in several global regions, such as Europe and the United States. The CR-V, for example, is the best-selling sports utility on the US market in the last twenty years”. Such a demand by the CR-V there even limited the supply of the model, imported fromMexico, in Brazil: Hondawill bring only five hundred units per year of the model, its top of the line in that segment. Gomez, from Nissan, bets that many Brazilian consumers of hatches and small sedanswillmigrate to an SUV in the coming years: “I can not say how far this segment is going, but we have models like Kicks that are very efficient in fuel consumption and which offer a lot of technology”. The difficult is to trace a minimally ac- curate profile of the Brazilian SUV buyer. For Silvestri from Jeep, it’s early to label the consumer, who migrates from almost every other segment. “Potentially, it is al- most everyone: a man or woman over 35 years old, from classes A and B”. For Oliveira the very attributes of SUVs help pulverize the profile: “Modern and adventurous design can attract both young people and parents. About comfort and inner space are themes taken into con- sideration by men and women of almost Moving to the top First trimester: participation in market sales by segment. Segment 2018 2017 Small hatch 28,2% 27% SUVs 24,3% 20,8% Entry-models 18,7% 20,9% Small sedan 13,6% 14,7% Medium sedan 7,5% 8,3% Compact sedan 2,6% 2,4% Monocab 1,9% 2% Grandcab 1,1% 1,5% Hatch médio 0,7% 1,3% Large sedan 0,5% 0,4% Medium SW 0,4% 0,3% Sport 0,1% 0,1% Large SW 0% 0%