When I was traveling in Brazil last September, I noticed a disproportionately large quantity of the same car: Volkswagen Gol. It was unbelievable from a Western standpoint, almost every other car was a Gol.
I asked my friend in Brazil (who of course drove a Gol) about this phenomenon, and he explained that the Gol was and is by far the cheapest car on the market. Most Brazilians, if they can afford a car at all, can only afford a Gol. I don't remember the exact pricing, but I think it was slightly under $10,000, still a significant price for country where the income per capita is $7531 (from Gap Minder, 2004). There are very high tariffs for imported cars in Brazil (and apparently importing cars were banned in the 1980s), so a cars that we are used to costs at least twice as much in Brazil (the Gol is manufactured in Brazil). Apparently the Gol was so successful that it came to symbolize mobility for the masses in Brazil, and when a new airline company named itself Gol, apparently it's goal was to similarly bring air travel to the masses (of course it helps when it's named after the most revered act [goal] in their national religions [football]).
What's also interesting is that the Gol is now being marketed in China, as if it was custom designed for the Chinese market.
The second most common (and very common by Western standards) car I saw was the Ford Ka, which is similarly shaped, sized, and I presume priced.
I didn't notice this phenomenon in any of the other Latin American countries I visited: Argentina, Uruguay (where I presume has less stringent import tariffs), and Paraguay (where I presume is still too poor for ordinary car ownership).
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