Brand new car for R$13,000, gasoline for R$1.70: what the car market was like when Brazil won the World Cup

Volksweagen Sport from 2002 was the model that made reference to the World Cup
publicity / Volkswagen
Brazilian fans live with a 24-year fast without winning the World Cup. Going back to 2002 means remembering good football and also having a shock of reality.
Brazil in 2002 had no social networks - Facebook and the late Orkut would only be created in 2004. The iPod was still in its infancy and there were no smartphones.
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At most, there was the snake game on a Nokia cell phone. And this device, when it fell to the floor, was capable of cracking the tile.
The Brazilian automotive market was also very different. Therefore, g1 brought together some curiosities from 2002 to remember those times.
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New car for a cell phone price
The cheapest car in Brazil in July 2002 was the three-door Fiat Uno Mille powered by alcohol (see below why it wasn't called ethanol yet), sold for R$13,577.
But let's be fair: corrected by the National Consumer Price Index Broad (IPCA), the model would cost the equivalent of R$55,589 today.
Several versions of the Fiat Mille were marked by low prices in the 1990s and early 2000s
Disclosure / Stellantis
Another important fact is that, according to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), the average Brazilian income was R$636 in 2002. Corrected by IPCA, the value today is equivalent to R$ 2,604.
The hatch had a 1.0 aspirated four-cylinder engine and produced 61 hp. As standard, it offered green windows, three-point rear side seat belts and... that's it. Headrests on the rear seat, electric locks and electric windows were part of a package that cost R$671.
Rear window wiper, washer and defogger, in addition to manual internal rear view mirror control, cost R$424. The metallic paint added R$294 to the final price.
The most curious option was the air conditioning. At Uno Mille, you had to pay R$2,407 to have the cabin air-conditioned. This was equivalent to almost 18% of the car's value.
Alcohol out, ethanol in
Chevrolet Onix ECO 2027 uses exclusively ethanol in the tank
Disclosure / GM
In 2002, gas stations used the name "alcohol", and this continued without question for decades. In 2008, some entities linked to the sugar-energy sector began to defend changing the name to ethanol.
The argument of the Sugarcane Industry Union (Unica) was that the slogan "Alcohol and driving don't mix", used in the Dry Law campaign, confused the public.
In addition, the National Agency for Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels (ANP) wanted to standardize the nomenclature for align it with the international market.
"The word alcohol is a generalized name [there are several types of alcohol] and ethanol is a specific product, with greater commercial value", said Haroldo Lima, president of the ANP at the time.
Standardization only came in December 2009, through an ANP resolution, and came into effect throughout Brazil in 2010.
In a time of expensive fuels, it is worth remembering that a liter of gasoline cost R$ 1.77 in 2002. Ethanol cost R$0.94 and diesel cost R$1.07. The data is from the ANP.
Another curiosity: when Brazil won its fifth championship, there were no flex-fuel cars on the market yet. The first was the Volkswagen Gol, launched in 2003.
Volkswage Gol Trend 2002
publicity / Volkswagen
Leader during the penta
Speaking of which, between 1987 and 2013 the Gol was the best-selling car in Brazil. In the year of its fifth championship, the hatch ended 2002 with 208,300 units sold.
In Europe, the best-selling car was the Volkswagen Golf, with more than 587,000 registered units, followed closely by the Peugeot 206.
In the United States, the best-selling car of 2002 was the Toyota Camry, with more than 434,000 units. Among all vehicles, however, the leadership went to the Ford F-150, which registered more than 813 thousand units that year.
Champion pickup truck
Fiat Strada had its first facelift in 2002
Disclosure / Stellantis
In 2002, the Fiat Strada was the best-selling pickup truck in Brazil, with 26,053 registered units. The volume represented around 40% of the compact pickup truck segment.
In 2026, the story has not changed: the Fiat pickup truck sold more than 142 thousand units and accounted for more than 67% of the segment.
But it is necessary to contextualize: today compact pickup trucks have changed their level. The focus became almost exclusively on work.
For those looking for a pickup truck for private use, there are more equipped versions of the Strada, but mainly models such as Fiat Toro, Renault Oroch and Chevrolet Montana. Soon, the market will also see the arrival of the Volkswagen Tukan and BYD Mako.
Volkswagen Gol Sport was launched in 2002
publicity / Volkswagen
Without the name of Copa
In 2002, as Volkswagen did not have the rights to the competition, it could not use the designation "Copa" in Gol. The solution was to name the version Sport and adopt the Solar Yellow tone as its exclusive color.
The hatchback came with a 1.0 naturally aspirated gasoline engine, which generated 76 hp and 9.7 kgfm of torque. The list of standard equipment included power steering and rear window wiper with defroster. Electric locks and windows, for example, were optional.
In 2026, Volkswagen sponsors the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) teams. The model alluding to the competition is the T-Cross Seleção, which has an interesting equipment list and looks with phrases and stars.
Volkswagen T-Cross Seleção: SUV will only be sold until the World Cup
China is still far away
The 2002 World Cup was played in South Korea and Japan, and Japanese and Korean brands were successful here. Chinese cars were not even considered in Brazil.
BYD only produced heavy vehicles and only launched its first car in 2005.
JAC Motors, which arrived in Brazil in 2011 promising to revolutionize the national market with the J3, also operated in the truck segment. Its first passenger vehicle was the Refine van, launched in 2002.
GWM and Geely were founded in the 1980s and only started producing passenger cars in the late 1990s.
Chery emerged in 1997, while subsidiaries Omoda and Jaecoo were born in 2022 and 2023, respectively.
The scenario in 2026 is very different. Between January and April this year, almost half of the vehicles imported by Brazil came from China. In April alone, more than 17% of sales in the country were from Chinese brands.
The first Ford Ecosport was shown in 2002 and arrived in stores in 2003
Disclosure / Ford
No SUV
According to data from the National Federation of Motor Vehicle Distribution (Fenabrave), 43.1% of vehicles sold in Brazil in 2025 were SUVs.
In 2002, this segment was practically irrelevant in Brazil. The offer focused on large sports utility vehicles and models derived from pickup trucks. The best-selling imported model in the year of the fifth championship was the Mitsubishi Pajero, with 4,028 units.
The story began to change precisely at the 2002 Motor Show, when Ford presented the first generation of the Ecosport.
Derived from the Fiesta, the model arrived in stores in 2003 and inaugurated the most affordable SUV segment in Brazil, based on compact car platforms.
Same recipe is still applied today in SUVs such as Fiat Pulse, Chevrolet Tracker, Renault Duster, Citroën C3 Aircross, Volkswagen T-Cross and others.
The Chevrolet Tracker already existed on the market in 2002, but it was a twin brother of the Suzuki Grand Vitara
Disclosure / GM
Interesting menu
If today the automotive market has the feeling of being "more of the same", in 2002 there were several options that today seem curious.
In the year of the penta, it was possible to walk into a Volkswagen dealership and take home a Santana or a Parati Turbo. For those who needed to work, the Kombi remained firm and strong in the brand's catalogue.
Those nostalgic should remember that, in 2002, it was still possible to buy Alfa Romeo models in Brazil. The 166 sedan had a 3.0 V6 engine with 226 hp, automatic transmission and independent rear suspension. The price of US$59,000 is even scary in 2026.
Chevrolet was already selling the Tracker here in 2002, but the SUV was, in practice, a Suzuki Vitara with different details and emblems. At the beginning of the duo's trajectory, the engine was a 2.0 turbodiesel with 87 hp supplied by Mazda.
In 2002, however, another 2.0 turbodiesel engine entered the scene, this time from Peugeot. The engine produced 108 hp and 25.5 kgfm of torque.
Fiat Toro passes through the Stellantis production line in Goiana, Pernambuco
Disclosure / Stellantis
Market grew
In 2002, Brazilians bought almost 1.4 million cars, according to data from Fenabrave. In 2025, the national market registered more than 2.5 million registrations.
National production also grew: it went from 1.7 million vehicles in the penta year to more than 2.6 million last year.
Two curious data appear in the yearbook of the National Association of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers (Anfavea). The estimate for 2002 was a circulating fleet of 18.4 million vehicles in Brazil.
In 2024, the most recent year available in the document, the estimate is that Brazil will have more than 40.3 million vehicles in circulation.

Source: G1