Innovation changes the game in retail a

The arrival of two low-cost vehicles with a lot of aggregate technology has changed over the past 12 months, the scale of the competition between Brazilian automakers in retail. When launching your first car, Hyundai went on to be a major force. Already GM, with Onix, managed to not only circumvent the arrival of new competition, but also leave behind Fiat and Volkswagen on sale at dealerships.
In August last year, Hyundai was not even in the ranking that considers the plates issued to cars sold in the National Federation of retail distribution of motor vehicles (Fenabrave). Today is the fifth Brazilian automaker and came to pass Ford for two months. Already GM, traditionally the third runner-up, went on to lead the list.
Industry experts say that the technology was the factor that weighed to change the scale of the competition in the dispute by customers at dealerships. Is a simple reasoning: grew by over who was most innovative. The GM undertook a bold initiative: took traditional models movement-including Corsa, Zafira and Meriva-and launched six new products last year alone. According to sources of the automaker, largely responsible for "turning point" was even the Onix-today the leading car maker's sales.
However, all automakers are aware of the need to innovate. Volkswagen, the more lost retail market over the past 12 months, says he is about to make a major renewal of its line. Among the vehicles expected by the market are the new Santana and the new compact Up!. Concerned predict what goes on in the minds of consumers, automakers go far beyond the simple market research. Fiat already has up to a team of anthropologists to try to anticipate the new aspirations of customers.
Ford also had to do their homework and renew the line to come out of one of its worst stages in recent years. The antidote to market loss was the "rejuvenation" of the new Fiesta, which began to be manufactured in Brazil and suffered a considerable cut in price. "Hit the price is key. Your car can be great, but if the cost-benefit ratio is not attractive, the consumer will not buy it, "explains Ford's Vice President for Latin America, Rogelio Goldfarb.
According to the Executive, the automaker understood that a car needs to reflect a lifestyle. Fiesta's proposal is to attract the young audience that values technology. The vehicle-today the leader of the automaker's sales-helped the company return to the level of 10% of the Brazilian market. In 2012 and 2013, the participation of the company in sales in dealers came to stay at 7% for a few months.
Meet a specific consumer demand is essential to the success of a car, according to Paulo Roberto Garbossa, consultant of the ADK. He says that the car Exchange client need to realize a clear differential, which can be in design, technology or on the power of brand. "The person buys a new car to cause reactions. If the model does not leave the neighbor jealous, nothing good to change the car. "
Rotation
Despite the "dance of the chairs" of the market have shown the emergence of GM in retail, it is common for certain releases from changing the sales ranking. That's why experts say that a success is not sufficient to ensure the position of a company in the long run. Because, with the market eager for news, all the automakers know that the window between a release and another needs to be smaller.
In this sense, the Director of the Center for Automotive Studies (CEA) and former President Ford, Luiz Carlos Mello, States that the position of Hyundai is more fragile than that of GM, for example. "Hyundai has one national model, while GM revamped the entire line. Then, if the interest in the Onix decrease, it can work with other vehicles, "explains the expert. "The Vw lost market, but this may change with the arrival of new cars."
The acceleration of the launches is inevitable, according to Marcelo Cioffi, a partner at PwC consulting responsible for the automotive sector. To the consultant, the consumer is more attentive to market movements and especially the embedded technology in vehicles. "I think the choice of a car will resemble that of buying a smartphone: to be able to pay a little more, the client will certainly require increasingly differentials."