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Will BYD surpass Toyota in the Brazilian automotive industry? Understand the position of businessman Sérgio Habib, owner of JAC Motors about this clash between the giants of the automotive sector.
Will BYD surpass Toyota in the Brazilian automotive industry? The first half of 2024 revealed that Toyota may not maintain its leadership in the hybrid car segment in Brazil. Previously, the brand was the undisputed leader, but now it faces stiff competition from two Chinese automakers, BYD and GWM, who are one step away from taking its place. However, in a recent interview, Sérgio Habib, owner of JAC Motors, shared a different view of the competitive scenario. According to him, the situation is more complex than it seems.
Sérgio Habib says BYD's strategy may not work
According to the businessman, when asked if BYD will surpass Toyota, he replied that there are Chinese vehicles parked in several vacant lots in the ports, stating that the brand actually imported the vehicles, but did not sell them. Sérgio Habib also highlights that Chinese BYD's strategy of increasing its sales in the automotive industry, expanding the number of dealerships, nothing will help and sales may even get worse.
“You take, for example, Cuiabá, which has a BYD dealership, which sells 50 cars, which is sensational, given that it already accounts for 5% of the market. If a new dealership opens, sales will not increase and they may even sell less than 50.”, In the businessman's words, he highlights that it is almost impossible.
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FASHION – FREE MARKET
Sérgio Habib also states that, in ten years on the market, even with the country experiencing several economic crises, model endings and arrivals, low sales and various other adversities, the Toyota Corolla sells around 60 thousand per year, with a maximum of 66 thousand and a minimum of 58 thousand. In this way, it is a vehicle with excellent resale, low maintenance and which is almost impossible for BYD to surpass it.
What do the automotive industry numbers say?
Despite Sérgio Habib's statements, when asked whether BYD will surpass Toyota, in the first months of this year, Toyota sold 10.514 hybrids in the country. The brand has two products in the category, Corolla and Corolla Cross.
Second place went to BYD, which registered 10.113 vehicles registered, compared to 9.043 in GWM. The numbers indicate that BYD will surpass Toyota, being the first automaker to achieve this feat.
However, in June, the brand that sold the most hybrids in the country was GWM, with 2.153 units, compared to 1.989 from the other Chinese brand, runner-up. Toyota took third place (1.644).
It is most likely that BYD will become the new leader in the hybrid segment. And this could happen as early as the end of this month. The main reason for the bet is not the advantage that the brand has over GWM at the moment, but rather its newest product.
Toyota is on another level in the automotive industry and it is almost impossible for the automaker to be overtaken
In the general market, without restrictions in the hybrid segment, Toyota is at another sales level, when compared to BYD and GWM. The Japanese automaker, which also has combustion-only versions of the Corolla and Corolla Cross, in addition to obtaining high volumes for Hilux, registered 91.714 copies registered in the first half of the year.
The number gives Toyota fourth place in the overall ranking of light commercial car sales, behind Fiat (leader), Volkswagen (second place) and Chevrolet (third place). BYD is tenth on this list, with 32.558 units sold.
GWM is 15th (12.731). A phenomenon that caught attention in the first half of this year was the growth of the electric car segment, an increase of 757,77% compared to the same period in 2023.
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