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Ever wonder what Brazilians are buying? Well, Fenabrave (Brazilian Federation of Vehicle Distributors) breaks down the market into 16 rhymeless and reasonless categories (in technical terms). Being that, nowadays, some cars really are difficult to categorize, you could say that this breakdown at least helps you see how dealers market their wares.

Fiat walks away as the winner in 4 categories. Volkswagen and Chevrolet both take 3 wins. Honda leads in 2 categories, while Ford, Hyundai, Renault and Toyota all come out on top once.

The number behind the car is the Brazilian unit sales in 2011. Full listing with pictures after the jump.

Entry Level:
VW Gol – 293.454
Fiat Uno – 273.537
Chevrolet Celta – 149.044
Fiat Palio – 105.794
Ford Ka – 63.764

 

Small Hatch:
VW Fox and Cross Fox – 121,588
Ford Fiesta – 86,204
Renault Sandero – 81,780
Chevrolet Agile – 73,255
Chevrolet Corsa – 41,954

 

Medium Hatch:
Fiat Punto – 36.547
Hyundai i30 – 35.717
Ford Focus – 27.611
Chevrolet Astra – 21.554
VW Golf – 15.515

 

Small Sedan:
Chevrolet Corsa Sedan (Classic) – 125.777
Fiat Siena – 90.167
VW Voyage – 87.210
Chevrolet Prisma – 51.063
Renault Logan – 39.086

 

Compact Sedan:
Honda City – 24.637
Peugeot 207 – 19.045
Ford New Fiesta – 13.074
VW Polo Sedan – 12.939
Ford Focus – 8.357

 

Medium Sedan:
Toyota Corolla – 53.147
Honda Civic – 22.962
Kia Cerato – 20.688
VW Jetta – 14.085
Fiat Linea – 12.258

 

Large Sedan:
Hyundai Azera – 8,412
Hyundai Sonata – 7,757
VW Passat – 2,161
BMW 320 – 1,513
Audi A4 – 1,507

 

Compact Station Wagon:
Fiat Palio Weekend – 22,853
VW SpaceFox – 20,502
VW Parati – 4,835
Hyundai i130 SW – 3,957
Peugeot 207 SW – 3,135

 

Large Station Wagon:
Renault Mégane Grand Tour – 9,810
VW Jetta Variant – 1,908
VW Passat Variant – 131

 

Mini Minivan:
Honda Fit – 28,761
Fiat Idea – 26.053
Chevrolet Meriva – 22.252
Kia Soul – 17.926
Nissan Livina – 16.684

 

Large Minivan:
Chevrolet Zafira – 7.744 unidades
Citroën C4 Picasso – 5.230
Citroên Xsara Picasso – 4.431
JAC J6 – 2.503
Kia Carens – 810

 

Small Pickup Truck:
Fiat Strada – 118.579 unidades
VW Saveiro – 71.212
Chevrolet Montana – 45.830
Ford Courier – 7.706
Peugeot Hoggar – 5.655

 

Large Pickup Truck:
Chevrolet S10 – 42.818
Toyota Hilux – 33.259
Mitsubishi L200 – 22.140
Ford Ranger – 14.988
Nissan Frontier – 13.680

 

Van:
VW Kombi (Bus) – 24,802
Fiat Ducato – 13.415
Hyundai HR – 10.331
Kia K2500 – 10.029
Renault Master – 7.395

 

Small Van:
Fiat Fiorino – 18,009
Hafei Towner – 5,434
Fiat Doblò Cargo – 4,299
Chana SC – 2,803
Hafei Minivan – 1,683

 

SUV:
Ford EcoSport – 38,530
Hyundai Tucson – 18,023
Mitsubishi Pajero – 17,022
Citroën C3 Aircross – 16,717
Honda CRV – 16,282

[Editor’s remark: Marcelo dumped this in my inbox with the advice that I “may want to put some pictures in to illustrate it.” Marecelo, a newly minted dad, suffered from “short time.” It was left to this editor to pick the right picture. Folks, the only thing I know about Brazilians sadly is deemed NSFW.

Picking pictures in a language one does not speak, and from a country where generations of cars can coexist in the showroom, is an engraved invitation for disaster.  Most likely, half of the pictures in tyhis list are wrong.

This is where YOU come in. Right the wrongs! In the comments, please place links to pictures (do NOT post the picture itself) of the correct car (Brazilian spec.) Please peer-review. The one with the most CORRECT links wins the coveted

TTAC Get Out Of Jail Free Card

 The holder of this card may disregard all TTAC commenting rules for a full day. The lucky holder can flame, use dirty words, call us biased all day long – for one day. Obrigado. BS]

If you believe, well, TTAC, then minivans are “deeply uncool.” The criminal element in Japan begs to differ. Toyota’s HiAce minivan was the most stolen automobile in Japan in 2011, says The Nikkei [sub]. The next most stolen cars in Japan are from Toyota also: The Celsior sedan and the Land Cruiser SUV take the second and third position on the podium of infamy. Let’s investigate …

Most stolen cars 2011

	U.S.A.	Japan	Germany
1	1994 Honda Accord	Toyota HiAce	Toyota Lexus RX 400 Hybrid
2	1995 Honda Civic	Toyota Celsior	BMW M3 Coupe
3	1991 Toyota Camry	Toyota Land Cruiser	VW Caravelle T4 2,5 TDI

As the table shows, Japanese cars are the stars on Grand Theft Auto the world over. Thieves in the U.S. seem to have a strange attraction to ancient Japanese iron. In Germany, Lexus is not doing so well, except with the Autodiebe, who improve their green creds by purloining disproportionate numbers of the Lexus RX 400 Hybrid. And what’s that in Germany’s #3? Another minivan of sorts.

Meanwhile, back in Japan, the Aichi prefecture, where Toyota’s head office is located, appears to be a hotbed of criminal activity. It is the prefecture with the most auto thefts in Japan.

(Note: The methodologies of these statistics differ, the results should not be directly compared.)

The stuff those crafty engineers in Stuttgart come up with to keep our eyes off the road.

And just in case you are stuck in traffic in [geolocate your position] …

Why don’ t you tell the world on Facebook and Twitter that you are stuck in traffic in [geolocate your position]?

(It is not true that mbrace 5.0 will automatically Twitter back: “Me too!  Stuck in  [geolocate your position]!!!” This one will require no driver interaction, absolutely hands-free.)