The year 2025 has already brought a lot of news, the next one will be no different and will have a sequence as big — or bigger — of launches
All manufacturers installed in Brazil announced in 2024 billionaire investments for the coming years, focused on new platforms and electrification. Cars take time to develop, so the fruits are coming little by little. 2026 has a good number of releases in store.
Let’s focus here on the national cars that will arrive in 2026. If it follows the pace of 2025, the launch schedule will be full, especially with this wave of new Chinese brands.
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This new competition is forcing established brands here to move faster. Some of these launches that we will have in 2026 will already be hybrids or will have electrified versions on the way. See the top five.
Fiat will complete 50 years of production in Brazil on July 9, 2026. The celebration of this milestone will be with the beginning of a new family of compact cars, which will debut the CMP platform at the Betim (MG) plant and a new visual identity of the Italian brand.
The car that will start this has no definite name, but it will be the Brazilian version of the Fiat Grande Panda. It will have some differences when compared to the Italian model and will use the 1.0 Firefly turbo or aspirated engines here.
The Brazilian Fiat Grande Panda will be one of the brand’s most important launches in recent years. It is expected to premiere in July 2026 during the celebrations.
Fiat has already confirmed that it will have an unprecedented car per year until 2030, the Big Panda will be the first. From it we will have the new generations of Pulse, Fastback and Strada, the fifth element could be the new Toro made on another platform.
Volkswagen has confirmed that it will have an evolution of the MQB platform in Brazil and will produce hybrid cars. One of them will be shown in 2026, but here we will highlight another launch: the compact pickup that will replace the Saveiro.
For now she has no name, but the Autos Segredos portal found that one of the most quoted is Therion. This pickup truck will have a formula similar to that of the Renault Oroch and Chevrolet Montana, being derived from an SUV to have a full-bodied size compared to the Fiat Strada.
The differential of the Therion will be the rear suspension with semi-elliptical springs, as in the Strada. This is a sign that Volkswagen wants to catch that audience that buys a compact pickup truck for work, the same one that guarantees the rival as the sales leader.
It will also have a 48-volt mild hybrid system, becoming the first flex hybrid. This could be the first pickup to be able to upset the reign of the Fiat Strada.
The entry-level SUV segment seems to be lucrative, as all brands seem to want to enter it. Even with the success of the Renegade, Jeep will have the Avenger positioned below it.
This will be the brand’s fourth national model and the first made outside the factory in Goiana (PE). The Jeep Avenger will start production in Porto Real (RJ) in the first half of 2026.
It uses the CMP platform and the only factory in Brazil ready to use this architecture is the one in Rio de Janeiro. Under the hood will be the 1.0 turbo with a 12-volt mild hybrid system.
The Jeep Avenger will be a competitor to the Fiat Pulse, Volkswagen Tera, Renault Kardian, Honda WR-V and Chevrolet Sonic. It will be an option for those who want a Jeep and prefer a smaller car than the Renegade.
Renault began a new phase in Brazil in 2024 with the launch of the Kardian. The SUV debuted a new modular platform, the 1.0 turbo engine and the dual-clutch transmission, in addition to the image of greater sophistication than that of Dacia’s old Romanian projects.
This new platform and the gearbox have already been used by the Boreal, a medium SUV packed with technology and quite spacious. In 2026, the brand’s big launch will be a pickup truck made on this base, the Niagara.
It has already been shown as a concept during the launch of the Kardian and has reappeared at the Motor Show. The look is very reminiscent of the Boreal and the size is similar to that of a Ford Maverick, giving a clue to the positioning.
The reality is that it will be above the Oroch and could be the first strong competitor to Fiat Toro, which has reigned alone since 2016. The Niagara will have a 1.3 turbo engine, may come with all-wheel drive and will have hybrid versions. We don’t know if all this will come as early as 2026, but the platform already allows all this.
Chevrolet celebrated 100 years of production in Brazil in 2025, but it didn’t bring much national news to celebrate it. It will have a new model produced in Gravataí (RS) in 2026, the entry-level Sonic SUV.
The model is derived from the Onix and follows a similar formula to the Pulse: the body is the same as the hatch, but the front and rear have been redesigned to look like a new car.
In the case of the Sonic, it will also have an extension on the rear floor and a more domed trunk lid to increase the volume of the compartment. This created a more inclined porthole, pulling a little towards the coupe SUV style.
The Sonic will have the 1.0 turbo engine we know, but we don’t know if it will be the Onix’s multi-point injection or the Tracker’s direct injection. The transmission will be manual or automatic, both with six gears.
The interior of the Sonic will be different from the one used by the Onix and may have unprecedented equipment in the national line. This should be Chevrolet’s last launch on this platform, as the brand has signed an agreement with Hyundai to use Korean platforms in the next compacts.
