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19 AutoData | May 2018 all ages. So it can be said that the SUV is a fairly democratic option in this analysis”. The Nissan director also points to good demand for Kicks by people with disa- bilities in the PCD range: “We started to explore this segment with the launch of a specific version of a lower taxation”. SUV’S ATTACK Aware of the growth of the segment in the domestic market and aware that it arri- ved late to the party, Volkswagen prepares “the biggest sport utility vehicle’s attack in its history”, in its own words. In addition to the investment of R$ 2 billion to develop and produce T-Cross in Paraná, including factory expansion, manufacturing moder- nization, certification and validation tests, local parts development and personnel qualification, other novelties in the range are on the clipboard of its engineers. “Therewill be twenty launches by 2020, five of them totally new SUVs, such as T- -Cross”, confirmed Pablo Di Si, president and CEO of Volkswagen South America. In total, the company currently invests R$ 7 billion in the country. The first to reach the dealerships was the TiguanAllspace, imported fromMexico andwith the same T-Cross MQB platform. It offers options with five and seven seats, inaugurating this second option in the VW SUVs. Another carmaker that bets heavily in SUVs is Chery, from Caoa, the one who brought Tucson to Brazil: the national Tiggo 2 is already in the Caoa-Chery dealerships and, if the executive’s expectations are confirmed, it should close the year with 9 thousand units sold. In the launch of the model the CEO Márcio Alfonso bet that the price, lower than the rivals, can seduce those consumers who wants an SUV in their garage. On the other hand the production of T- -Cross and its arrival in the Brazilianmarket, in addition to exports to the main markets in South America, Central America and the Caribbean, are scheduled for the first half of next year. With the new team of SUVs that target the country, both domestic and imported will not be exactly a surprise if this range to become very soon the best-selling in the market: in percentage terms, following the Fenabrave criteria, the difference for first place in the first quarter was only 4 per- centage points - a year ago this difference was a little over 6 points, in a way, entry- -level models were still in second place by a mere 0.1 percent point advantage. The difference of the SUVs for the small hatches in March, in an isolated way, was only 0.7 percentage point. It’s almost there In March, in an isolated way, the difference of SUVs for small hatches was less than one percentage point Disclousure/Jeep

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