Brazil's peculiar automobile market has bred a new type of vehicle so successful that carmakers are already selling it in other developing countries and considering exporting it to Europe.

Call it the sport-utility vehicle on a diet, or the anorexic Hummer. The Palio Weekend Adventure, the EcoSport and the CrossFox all were born in at style conscious country that demands good design at inexpensive prices.

What makes them ready for a trundle down dirt roads of the country's vast interior or splashes along beaches are elevated suspensions, tough-looking accessories and all-terrain tires.

Small sizes and their transmissions, which mainly come in two-wheel drive -- instead of the costlier four-wheel drives marketed in the United States -- models keep them cheap. They sell for about $13,000, a third or half as much as a typical four-wheel-drive SUV available in Brazil.

Three of the major carmakers here have created affordable off-road vehicles. They are not designed for heavy-duty bushwhacking but instead fun trips down bumpy gravel roads.

Fiat added rough-and-ready styling to its small Palio Weekend wagon several years ago and quickly created a sales bonanza with the muscled up Adventure version, which accounts for half of the wagon's sales in Brazil.

Ford then launched its EcoSport, which looks like a slimmed down version of a typical SUV, and was designed from the ground up in Brazil. The vast majority of the EcoSports it sells are two-wheel drive, a company official said.

In January, Volkswagen will introduce the CrossFox, a tougher version of the Fox model. That new subcompact is being prepared for export to Latin America and Europe.

"We have been selling the Palio Adventure in Mexico since the middle of this year and we are studying selling it in other markets, including our home market," Cledorvino Bellini, Fiat's head for Latin America, said at Sao Paulo's biennial carshow, which started this week.

Exports of simple cars like the Volkswagen Gol have risen sharply in recent years, selling to places like China. But now Brazilian automakers are adding value to small cars.

The innovative designs have generated additional cash from exports as Brazil exports higher-value goods. In the first nine months of this year, vehicle exports rose 23.9 percent, while the value of exports jumped 49.5 percent, according to Brazil's association of vehicle manufacturers.

+

Brazil's peculiar automobile market has bred a new type of vehicle so successful that carmakers are already selling it in other developing countries and considering exporting it to Europe.

Call it the sport-utility vehicle on a diet, or the anorexic Hummer. The Palio Weekend Adventure, the EcoSport and the CrossFox all were born in at style conscious country that demands good design at inexpensive prices.

What makes them ready for a trundle down dirt roads of the country's vast interior or splashes along beaches are elevated suspensions, tough-looking accessories and all-terrain tires.

Small sizes and their transmissions, which mainly come in two-wheel drive -- instead of the costlier four-wheel drives marketed in the United States -- models keep them cheap. They sell for about $13,000, a third or half as much as a typical four-wheel-drive SUV available in Brazil.

Three of the major carmakers here have created affordable off-road vehicles. They are not designed for heavy-duty bushwhacking but instead fun trips down bumpy gravel roads.

Fiat added rough-and-ready styling to its small Palio Weekend wagon several years ago and quickly created a sales bonanza with the muscled up Adventure version, which accounts for half of the wagon's sales in Brazil.

Ford then launched its EcoSport, which looks like a slimmed down version of a typical SUV, and was designed from the ground up in Brazil. The vast majority of the EcoSports it sells are two-wheel drive, a company official said.

In January, Volkswagen will introduce the CrossFox, a tougher version of the Fox model. That new subcompact is being prepared for export to Latin America and Europe.

"We have been selling the Palio Adventure in Mexico since the middle of this year and we are studying selling it in other markets, including our home market," Cledorvino Bellini, Fiat's head for Latin America, said at Sao Paulo's biennial carshow, which started this week.

Exports of simple cars like the Volkswagen Gol have risen sharply in recent years, selling to places like China. But now Brazilian automakers are adding value to small cars.

The innovative designs have generated additional cash from exports as Brazil exports higher-value goods. In the first nine months of this year, vehicle exports rose 23.9 percent, while the value of exports jumped 49.5 percent, according to Brazil's association of vehicle manufacturers.

(From Reuters, October 21, 2004)

__________