Can The 2011 Saab 9-5 SportCombi Make A Difference?

Let's assume for the sake of analytical enjoyment that Saab will survive these months of turmoil and come out as a pseudo-stable automaker. 

The 9-3 is an old horse. The 9-4X is a good looker but must fight for sales in a fiercely competitive segment where a handful of players have established themselves as go-to premium products. The new 9-5 sedan is unique in a way no Saab has been in years, but it hasn't had much of an opportunity to catch on in the marketplace.

Saab sold just 93 9-5s in the United States in May. Mercedes-Benz sold 62 E-Class sedans for every 9-5 sold last month. Even the Cadillac STS was a more likely purchase than the 9-5.

Yet here we have the Saab 9-5 SportCombi, a vehicle I wouldn't hesitate to call one of the most beautiful new wagons the world of automobile manufacturing has to offer. Can it do anything to stem the tide at Saab? Long before the recession, long before its former parent's problems, Saab sales were tumbling hard and fast. That's borne out by the chart you can scan below. Can a wagon, of all things, be the change that will turn Saab from a dying marque into a powerful luxury rival for, at the very least, Volvo? 

No, probably not. 

2011 Hyundai Sonata 2.0T Limited Driven

Reviewing the very quick, rather luxurious, and relatively handsome 2011 Hyundai Sonata 2.0T Limited is an exercise in avoiding excessive references to those three subjects. The Sonata is quick. It is loaded. It looks freaking good. 

We could spend many paragraphs discussing the impact of the Sonata's turbocharged 2.0L and its 274 horsepower; 269 lb-ft output. Then we'd move along to the part of the conversation where we'd go on and on about the wide angle of the rear-view camera, the spaciousness of the heated rear seats. Hundreds of words later it would finally be time to address the artistry of those aggressive wheels.

But you already knew the turbocharged Sonata was stupendously motivational. The torque plateau stretches from 1800-4500 rpm, and the feeling at about 3800 revs is assertive yet pleasantly relaxed. Speed is easy in this car. And this is the Limited with Navigation, a $33,499 car in Canada, so you anticipated a quality interior. The exterior, of course, is the aspect with which you've grown the most accustomed. Whether you like it or not, there's no denying it has personality, and most of its rivals don't. 

Does the Sonata 2.0T provoke enough of a response in the viscera to make you want one? Is there enough performance present to consider the midsize Hyundai turbo a performance sedan? If not, or even if so, is there more to the 2011 Hyundai Sonata 2.0T Limited than a wonderful engine? Read GoodCarBadCar.net's review after the jump.

More Hyundai Sonata 2.0T Pictures Can Be Seen In The Flickr Slideshow Below

Let's begin by answering the third question. Inside the Sonata, the seats are comfortable, rear leg room is plentiful, and the overall design is attractive and functional. But to say the Sonata 2.0T is more than an engine and defend that belief by describing the interior would miss the point. That's because the Sonata's 2.0L turbo is itself more than just a high-horsepower ringer under the hood of an Accord/Camry alternative. 

By times the mid-range torque transforms the Sonata into an old-fashioned American cruiser. It also has an appetite for revs, thriving when go-pedal marries carpet. And when it isn't pushed, this is a car which, in MY2012, will be rated at an incredible 34 miles per gallon, up one from the MY2011 2.0T. Is the Sonata 2.0T an engine, nothing more? Well, if so, it's three engines in one.

To call the 2011 Hyundai Sonata 2.0T Limited a sports sedan in the same vein as the BMW 3-Series would be a mistake, however. Sportiness requires, quite frankly, more than speed. The 2.0T has both speed, sure, and an ability to really grip, but it's not a small car, and it isn't all that comfortable being pushed harder, and then harder again around roundabouts. Have some discretion, ease off slightly; and the Sonata is converted back into elegant cruise mode, where the ride is always unaffected and a simple squirt of the throttle never results in torque steer. 

In other words, take corners like you would in a 323i and you'll probably be sufficiently impressed - most certainly with the way the Sonata pulls out of those corners. Drive like you're in an M3 and you'll think the Sonata 2.0T lacks finish. The steering, for example, alerts you to nothing and possesses a larger dead zone on centre than I'd expect to find in a 5-year old pickup truck. 

All Photo Credits: Timothy Cain
©www.GoodCarBadCar.net
All Photos Captured By  HTC Desire Camera Phone 

Finally, determining the response this child of the Stellar conjures up is easy. I want one. 

If, after driving a turbocharged Sonata, you don't want one, it'll be because you want a totally different type of vehicle, or because you're willing to pay a lot more money. In the Sonata's segment, rivals for this top-of-the-line car include the $35,390 Honda Accord EX-L V6 Navi and the $38,340 nav-equipped Toyota Camry XLE V6. Another Canadian favourite, the Ford Fusion, is $32,099 when the SEL V6 is fitted with navigation. Keeping it in the Korean family, the Kia Optima SX has a $33,695 MSRP. Up a notch in prestige but down in power, the BMW 323i starts at $34,900, and the Mercedes-Benz C250 bases at $38,800. 

Then again, you could have the Sonata 2.0T without leather and high-tech kit for just $28,999, or without navigation and the rear-view monitor for $31,749. 

Regardless, most traditional 2.0T alternatives aren't exciting. They fail to spark an ounce of yearning. That the 2011 Hyundai Sonata 2.0T is a mainstream midsize sedan you'll want at all is an achievement. That the engine, of all things, might make you want it badly is a testament to Hyundai's rapid ascendency, the sort of climb which results from being able to play much more than just the value card.

Thanks to Steele Hyundai in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and

Bob Brown for arranging this 2011 Hyundai Sonata 2.0T test drive.

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Ford Motor Company Sales In America - May 2011

Sales of Ford Motor Company vehicles totalled more than those of any other automobile manufacturer in May 2011... except for General Motors. GM's May sales have already been completely covered in four separate charts. Now FMC's sales figures - and Ford's in particular, America's most popular individual brand - are shown with their respective share of the brand's volume in the charts below.

Lincoln's pitiful performance in May is more clearly understood once you realize only 3.9% of all Ford Motor Company sales occurred in the luxury brand's showrooms. The MKS, MKT, and Navigator posted year-over-year declines. Lincoln was America's seventh-most-popular premium automotive brand in May as sales fell 4.6% to 7399.

FMC's own Blue Oval brand had seven models which out-sold the whole Lincoln brand last month. Ford's car division found its biggest percentage boost in the Focus as the 2012 model helped deliver a 31.7% increase. The Ford Explorer was up 135%. Ford Mustang sales plunged 35.4%; Ford Edge sales dropped 30.6%.

The Ford brand sold 184,130 vehicles, up 5.1%. Ford Motor Company as a whole was down 0.25%. Take Mercury's 9128 May 2010 sales out of the equation and Ford/Lincoln - FMC's two current brands - were up a combined 4.7%. To keep Lincoln from becoming the next Mercury, an extinguished brand, Ford is going to spend $1,000,000,000 to reinvigorate their luxury division.

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General Motors Sales In America - May 2011

No automobile manufacturing conglomeration sold more new vehicles in the United States in May 2011 than General Motors. In the first five months of 2011 General Motors sold 1,046,275 automobiles in the United States. That's up 18.5% from the same period in 2010.

May sales, however, were down, at least at Cadillac and Chevrolet. That's not to say there wasn't reason to celebrate at the Bow Tie division. The Chevrolet Malibu was the best-selling car in America last month. But sales of the dying DTS are tailing off; Escalade sales were down; and the SRX fell slightly, hindering chances for growth at Cadillac where the CTS was up 22.9%. And back at Chevrolet, Silverado sales fell by 5281 units. Sales of other big Chevys - the Avalanche, Tahoe, Traverse, Suburban, and Express - were all in decline, as well. If Chevrolet was simply a car division, we would be saying sales rose 5.8%.

For a change, GoodCarBadCar.net is publishing the full model-by-model breakdown of every GM vehicle on sale today. Each pie chart you see below can be clicked upon for a larger review.

Remember, wrapped up in GM's 1% year-over-year drop were the May 2010 sales of 1517 Hummers, Pontiacs, and Saturns. Discount those brands and GM's core four - Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC - were down to 221,192 from 221,893, a neglible 0.3% decline in a market which dropped 3.7% from May 2010.

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New Vehicle Market Share By Brand In Mexico - March 2011 Year To Date

With market share in the first three months of 2011 at 26.4%, Nissan (and corporate partner Renault) are more dominant in Mexico than General Motors or Ford are in the United States; more dominant than Volkswagen and its group partners are in Great Britain. In quarter one of 2010, Nissan/Renault's market share in Mexico was 25.4%. And if March 2011's 26.5% market share is anything to go by, Nissan/Renault are on the upswing, setting aside any production/supply issues that may have become apparent for Nissan, Mexico's favourite car brand, in the spring.

Compared with Q1 of 2010, General Motors has slid a full percentage point from its former 19.2% hold on the market. Volkswagen, Audi, Seat, and Porsche have improved their portion from the 15.6% the quartet achieved in the first three months of 2010 to 17.3% this year. We've already explored the difficulties facing Ford when ranking all this chart's automakers and a few others in an earlier post.

Before studying the chart below, keep one other fact in mind. Through March 31st of 2011, the luxury auto brands for which Mexican sales data is known owned just 2.7% of the Mexican new vehicle market. Those same nine brands held 6.6% of the U.S. new vehicle market in the first quarter of 2011. 

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Mexico Auto Sales By Brand - March 2011 Year-To-Date

Through the end of March 2011, no automaker had sold more automobiles in Mexico than Nissan. In fact, the year-to-date Mexico Auto Sales rankings below show that Nissan's nearest rival, the whole sum of General Motors, was 12,350 units behind Mexico's favourite brand.

In March, the Mexican auto market grew 15% year-over-year to 75,126. These year-to-date standings reflect the brand-by-brand reflections of a market which improved by 12% in the first three months of 2011 to 210,903 sales. In the first quarter of 2006 the Mexican new vehicle market was 530,221 sales strong. Q1 volume shrunk to 460,399 in 2007, 432,478 in 2008, 300,564 in 2009, and 188,994 in 2010. So yeah, there's improvement, but compared with what Mexican auto dealers are accustomed to, 2011 can only be considered good because 2010 was so bad.

To be a seller of one of the eight brands which have again suffered declining sales must be awful. (08/25/11 update separates Ford from Lincoln, altering some of this analysis.) It's worth noting that Ford passenger car sales are up 53.7%. It's the Blue Oval's truck/SUV division that brought the brand down. Sales of non-car Fords fell from 15,600 to 13,297 in Q1 of 2011. The story is reversed at Honda where car sales are down 24% and CR-V/Pilot/Odyssey/Ridgeline sales are up a combined 32.2%.

Though there are fewer automakers reporting sales for this post, there are brands you'll notice in this group that you won't see when The Good Car Guy publishes monthly rundowns for Canada or the United States. Renault and Seat stand out; scroll down and you'll spot Peugeot and Isuzu. There isn't much excitement in Mexico's Renault, Peugeot, or Isuzu showrooms, but the Golf GTI-related Seat Leon Cupra is a gorgeous and aggressive 240-hp hatch you'll want to test drive on your next visit to Tijuana or Puerto Vallarta.

The brand-by-brand breakdown of Mexican Auto Sales through the first quarter of 2011 can be viewed in the table below.

Rank	Automaker	Jan-Mar 2011	% Change
#1	Nissan	50,647	+12.1
#2	General Motors	38,297	+5.4
#3	Volkswagen	30,227	+19.8
#4	Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep	20,222	+7.2
#5	Ford	19,038	+0.2
#6	Toyota	12,884	+23.3
#7	Honda	8683	-0.1
#8	Mazda	6671	+25.5
#9	Renault	4988	+79.1
#10	Seat	4669	+54.7
#11	Mitsubishi	2748	-11.8
#12	Suzuki	2152	+2.7
#13	Peugeot	1622	+1.5
#14	Mercedes-Benz	1611	+33.7
#15	Audi	1583	+34.5
#16	BMW	1519	+12.5
#17	Mini	681	+29.5
#18	Fiat	440	-33.9
#19	Lincoln	428	-32.4
#20	Acura	365	-1.9
#21	smart	323	+76.5
#22	Isuzu	320	+70.2
#23	Volvo	305	-11.8
#24	Subaru	187	+10.0
#25	Porsche	137	+87.7
#26	Land Rover	119	-11.9
#27	Jaguar	14	-50.0
#28	Bentley	1	level

Source: MAMA & ANDC

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Auto Sales By Segment In The USA And Canada - May 2011

The pickup truck segment made up a smaller portion of the overall U.S. new vehicle market in May 2011 as minivans remained equal and cars also were responsible for a smaller slice of the pie. Indeed, SUV/CUV/Crossovers held 29.1% of the overall U.S. automobile market, up from 28.4% in April.

America's best-selling utility vehicle was the Ford Escape, sales of which were up 8.9%. Of course, the majority of new vehicle buyers opted for traditional passenger cars, the most popular of which were midsizers from Chevrolet, Nissan, Ford, and Hyundai. And though truck sales shrunk in terms of their effect on the whole market, America's best-selling vehicle line was still the Ford F-Series, despite a 15%  sales tumble.

Cars are more popular than trucks or SUVs in Canada, too, but the margin is much narrower. In fact, that margin was narrower in May than it was in April when cars held 48.2% of the overall Canadian new vehicle market.

SUV/CUV/Crossover sales grabbed 28.7% of all Canadian auto sales; that's up from 28.2% in the previous month. Minivans grew their portion; truck sales shrunk slightly as a percentage of all new vehicle sales. Canada's best-selling car in May was the Hyundai Elantra. The best-selling SUV was the same as America's: the Ford Escape. Ford's F-Series was Canada's best-selling truck. The market share of the country's 20 best-selling vehicles is explored in this chart. 

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Mini USA Sales In May 2011 - The Countryman Is Necessary

BMW, America's most popular luxury auto brand in May, has been selling Mini brand cars in the United States since the 2002 model year. Initially, Mini sales were much higher than BMW forecast; the German executives hadn't realized just how easily a retro British hatchback could capture attention in the U.S.A. Mini sales were then boosted by the introduction of the less practical Convertible and more practical Clubman in later years. 

Then, just a few months ago, Mini began offering the Countryman for sale, a few days before The Good Car Guy drove it. It's hard to call the Countryman an SUV, not just because that term has increasingly been replaced by relatively meaningless crossover designation, or simply CUV. Calling the Countryman a crossover or CUV is a stretch, too. But it is a 4-door Mini with overtly rugged styling and a bigger cabin. Whatever you call it, it's now hugely important to BMW's Mini brand.

That fact becomes more obvious when studying the first chart below. In May, the Countryman accounted for about three out of every ten Mini sales. That's more than the Mini Convertible and Mini Clubman combined. The second chart tells the story of the first five months of 2011 wherein Countryman sales started with a gradual ascent as supply came on stream. By May 31st, 27.3% of all new Minis in the USA were Countrymen/Countrymans.

Don't go confusing the Countryman with the Honda CR-V or even the Volkswagen Tiguan. VW, for instance, sold nearly twice as many Tiguans as Mini sold Countrymen/Countrymans in May. And for every Mini Countryman sold, Honda sold 9.5 CR-Vs last month, and it was a bad month for the CR-V.

But that's beside the point. Mini doesn't introduce models intending to take over mass market segments. Anyhow, we're studying the Countryman's impact on the Mini fleet. This leads us to discover that, without the Countryman in May, Mini would've been down 3.4%. So far this year, the Countryman has helped Mini post an 18.7% improvement. But without the Countryman, Mini's year-over-year jump is just 6.3%, not nearly as healthy as the overall new vehicle market's 14% improvement. 

Perhaps more stressful to BMW's Mini executives is the declining interest in the Convertible and Clubman. In 2011, sales of the Mini droptop are down 26.2% (May was even worse at -40.5%) and the stretched Mini is off 19.4% (again, May was worse at 27.5%). Fortunately, the Countryman is here and sales of the regular Cooper and Cooper S Hardtop hatch are up 25.6% through five months. Also, the 2012 Mini Coupe isn't far off. That'll further assist Mini in its quest for niche market domination over Scion and Fiat.

Mini is now a vital part of the BMW family. In terms of overall volume, the Mini brand did more for BMW USA in May than any other product line save for the 3-Series. More than two in every ten BMW USA sales in 2011 have been Minis of one variety or another, as you'll see in the chart below. BMW sold 5604 SAVs in May, admittedly more expensive vehicles than what you see on the Mini side of the showroom. But the Mini family topped the BMW SAV family, not an easy task, regardless of their respective price points.

The BMW Group's May 2011 market share in the United States was 2.5%. By itself, Mini's market share last month was 0.55%, some way better than the 0.37% Mini owned in Canada in May. However, it's worth mentioning that the Mini Countryman has an in-showroom rival in Canada that's not present in neighbouring America: the X1. Mini found 178 Canadian Countryman buyers last month; BMW sold 298 X1s. Also, sales of the rest of Mini's fleet were down 25.3% in Canada, but the brand was up 10.2% because of the Countryman's introduction.

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Large Luxury Car And Large Luxury SUV Sales In Canada - May 2011

Amidst the normal conversation The Good Car Guy begins relating to the popularity of large luxury SUVs in contrast to large luxury cars, some facts are set aside for the sake of brevity. So hear this instead.

Canadian sales of BMW's 7-Series dropped 37.5% in May 2011. That drop only equals 24 units, true, but it takes the 7-Series down to a level only slightly better than half Mercedes-Benz's S-Class/CL-Class total of 72. Sales of the biggest Benzes were down 7.7% last month.

The reinvigorated Audi A8 is way up on last year's figures: 250% in May and 592% year-to-date. But the A8 reached just 14 sales last month. That's fewer than any of its competitors, even the beleaguered Lexus LS, sales of which improved in May but remain down on the year. Sales of another reinvigorated luxury limo, the Jaguar XJ, were up 767% in May 2011, and nearly doubled up on the A8.

On the large SUV front, the most popular luxury competitor fared better this year than last. Mercedes-Benz GL-Class/G-Wagen sales rose 11%. Cadillac Escalade sales nearly remained level, falling to 92 from 87, the figure achieved during the same period last year. 11 of those 87 Escalades were EXTs, which can be seen separately in the truck sales chart here. Sales of the regular-wheelbase Escalade sport-ute were up to 58 from 54. 

Toyota Canada didn't sell any Land Cruisers in May 2010; this year there were 15 of these un-marketed vehicles sold. Range Rover sales were static. Infiniti QX56 sales rose from 13 to 18, a 38.5% jump. The Lincoln Navigator was up 18.8%. Sales of the Land Cruiser-related Lexus LX were down 31.3%, however.

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Small Luxury SUV Sales And Midsize Luxury SUV Sales In Canada - May 2011

BMW's Canadian dealers are having no problems getting people into the brand new X1. Slightly smaller than the recently redone X3 and only slightly less expensive, the X1 improved its sales total from 105 in April to 298 in May 2011. Year-over-year, X3 sales jumped 19.5%. The more popular Mercedes-Benz GLK was up 17.3%. The next-best-selling vehicle in the small luxury SUV segment was the Audi Q5. It posted 29% gains. 

Not yet available in the United States, and perhaps not about to be, the BMW X1 starts at $38,500 in Canada. It's fitted with a 241-hp 2.0L turbo. The X3 (with similar power generated by a different engine) costs $3400 more, or $8400 more if you want the 300-hp powerplant. Though the X1 isn't as awkward in person as it is in pictures, it's still hard to imagine anyone buying it because it's pretty. And strangely enough, there are plenty of good looks to go around in this segment, from the handsome GLK to the curvier Q5 to the edgy Land Rover Range Rover Evoque, soon to be introduced.

For a better-looking BMW SAV, check out the X5, 300 of which were sold in Canada in May. That's down 21.1% from May 2010 levels. The dreadful BMW X6 found 93 buyers; down 6 units from May 2010.

Audi Q7 sales, meanwhile, were up 44.7%, and Mercedes-Benz M-Class sales fell 6.2%. But those aren't the only German players. Sales of the $48,440-$63,135 2011 Volkswagen Touareg jumped 195% and sales of its corporate sibling, the Porsche Cayenne, a Good 12 winner, rose at a 303% clip.

Despite production and supply struggles, the generally more popular Japanese competition for these German vehicles remained more popular in May. Lexus RX sales plummeted 27.8% and Acura MDX sales plunged 23.6%, but nothing in the chart below topped them. By the way, 64 of those Lexus RX sales were of the RX450h variety. Sales of the hybrid luxury crossover were down 26.4% in May.

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Small SUV Sales, Midsize SUV Sales, Large SUV Sales In Canada - May 2011

The revamped 2011 Compass is making up for the losses Jeep is suffering as Patriot sales continue to fall. In Canada, the Patriot was down by 397 units in May 2011; Compass sales rose by 231. Year-to-date, Patriot sales are down 15.2%, or 600 units. During the same period, Compass sales have risen 32.1%, or 639 units. Jeep Wrangler sales also improved in May, up 22.5%, and are up 24.9% this year. In all, Jeep sold 4708 utility vehicles last month, up 16%, as the SUV-only brand made up 19.3% of all Chrysler Group sales and 3.2% of the overall new vehicle market. 

Of course, there were small utility vehicles with greater volume than Jeep could muster in May. Compared to the 3515 Jeep sales you'll see in the first chart below, Ford sold 4468 Escapes. Hyundai/Kia sold 6316 smallerish utility vehicles, a figure which includes the slightly larger but very competitively priced Hyundai Santa Fe and Kia Sorento.

Hyundai and Kia SUV sales drop off once you reach higher price points and longer wheelbases. Hyundai Veracruz sales were actually up 42.7% in May but still only totalled 157. Ford sold eight Edges per Veracruz. And Veracruz sales are down year-to-date from 548 in 2010 to 468 this year. 

That's not to say the Hyundai Veracruz was at the bottom of the heap in May, not quite. Mazda CX-9 sales fell to 92 from 100. Though Nissan Pathfinder sales were up 37.4%, the Veracruz had it and the Nissan Xterra beat, too. Dodge's Nitro is certainly no direct Veracruz rival, but while discussing poor sellers, it's worth mentioning that Nitro sales fell by a single unit in May and are down 62.3% in 2011.

As for the Kia Borrego, well, it's a rare Hyundai/Kia vehicle that can't find buyers in any great quantity. Canada's large SUV segment is dying a gradual death, and the Borrego is the undesirable option in the field. Down 52.2% in May and 58.2% in the first five months of the year, the Borrego trailed the Nissan Armada, the segment's next slowest seller, by 28 units in May, and was behind the best-selling Chevrolet Suburban by a far greater margin. Though presumably a fleet favourite, Suburban sales (down 56% in May) occurred more than eight times for every Borrego sale.

In May 2010, there were 1109 of these sport-utility vehicles sold in Canada. This year, despite improved figures reported for the Nissan Armada (up 100%), Ford Expedition (up 20.1%) and GMC Yukon XL (up 44.3%), these eight vehicles found only 747 buyers.

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