UK Auto Sales By Brand - January 2012

In January 2012, Ford was once again the United Kingdom's leading automaker as Blue Oval sales rose 2% to 20,061, or 15.6% of all new vehicles sold in the UK. Volkswagen and its numerous brands led the way in terms of market share, reaching 20.8%, up from 19.3% in December. General Motors, by way of its core brand Vauxhall and its increasingly popular Chevrolet brand, sold 14,174 vehicles. That equates to 11% of the market, down from 13.8% in December. Ford market share, by the way, rose from 12.3% in December 2011.

Establishing which brands are premium and which are mainstream is more challenging than ever, but the challenge is even greater when examining UK sales. Still, based on accepted practices, Audi was the best-selling luxury vehicle manufacturer in overall volume as sales reached 8563 in January 2012, good enough for fourth overall. BMW, 2011's year end leader, fell 28% from January 2011 levels to 6249.

Kia beat its parent company Hyundai by 216 sales. Land Rover out-sold Honda. Renault is quickly becoming a much smaller company in the United Kingdom as its range was recently cut in half. January sales fell 28% to 2802. UK sales at Renault's Japanese partner, Nissan, were 2.2 times stronger. 

For all you once read about fancy WRX Subarus in UK car mags, the brand is now terribly weak on the other side of the Atlantic - Porsche sold nearly twice as many cars in January. Czech Republic-based Skoda was Volkswagen's leading value brand, beating Spain's Seat brand by 1288 sales. 

As more evidence that Brits enjoy locally-produced efforts, consider that Jaguar sold 915 cars in the United Kingdom in January 2012. That's only 70 units down from what Jaguar achieved in the United States in January despite the fact that the U.S. market was 7.1 times the size. In other words, if Americans bought as many Jaguars as Brits did, Jaguar's U.S. sales total in January would have been closer to 6500 than 1000.

For a look at the 10 best-selling cars in the United Kingdom in January 2012, click here. Links to previous versions of this post can be viewed below the table which lists January volume beside a column which compares January's volume with the same from a year prior. The market share chart above can be expanded with a click.

Rank	Automaker	January 2012	%  Change
#1	Ford	20,061	+ 2.1%
#2	Vauxhall	12,110	- 20.9%
#3	Volkswagen	11,589	+ 5.0%
#4	Audi	8563	+ 3.1%
#5	Peugeot	7282	+ 6.4%
#6	Nissan	6285	+ 21.5%
#7	Mercedes-Benz	6273	+ 20.8%
#8	BMW	6249	- 28.4%
#9	Toyota	5756	+ 3.6%
#10	Kia	4282	+ 38.1%
#11	Hyundai	4066	+ 2.3%
#12	Citroen	4041	- 21.2%
#13	Skoda	3718	+ 21.5%
#14	Land Rover	3492	+ 38.0%
#15	Honda	3263	- 17.5%
#16	Fiat	2886	+ 16.0%
#17	Renault	2802	- 27.5%
#18	Seat	2430	+ 1.3%
#19	Volvo	2373	+ 12.2%
#20	Chevrolet	2064	+ 120%
#21	Mazda	1784	- 18.5%
#22	Mini	1595	- 1.2%
#23	Suzuki	1185	+ 10.9%
#24	Jaguar	915	+ 6.9%
#25	Lexus	741	+ 58.0%
#26	Mitsubishi	555	- 27.0%
#27	Alfa Romeo	538	- 9.6%
#28	Porsche	409	+ 13.6%
#29	smart	385	+ 89.7%
#30	Subaru	224	+ 23.8%
#31	Jeep	158	+ 97.5%
T32	MG	107	+ 5250%
T32	Bentley	107	+ 42.7%
#34	Chrysler	98	+ 75.0%
#35	Aston Martin	63	+ 14.6%
#36	Abarth	49	- 37.2%
#37	Ssangyong	43	+ 1333%
#38	Maserati	36	- 2.7%
#39	Perodua	35	+ 12.9%
#40	Infiniti	33	+ 6.5%
#41	Lotus	23	+ 21.1%
#42	Proton	23	- 32.4%
#43	Saab	4	- 99.1%

Source: Automakers, MTI & SMMT
Red font indicates declining year-over-year sales, bold indicates a so-called premium brand

Related From GoodCarBadCar.net
UK Auto Sales By Brand - February 2012
UK Auto Sales By Brand - 2011 Year End
UK Auto Sales By Brand - December 2011
UK Auto Sales By Brand - January 2011
Top 10 Best-Selling Cars In The UK - January 2012

UK Auto Sales By Brand - August 2011

21 out of 43 car companies competing for sales in the United Kingdom suffered declining sales in August 2011. The overall market, however, was up 7.3% as the five most popular automakers found more buyers this August than last. Ford led the way with 8552 sales (+18%). BMW was the UK's best-selling premium brand with 3873 sales, just 99 ahead of Audi. 

Apart from drastic declines and great gains made by brands which sell fewer than 100 vehicles per month in the United Kingdom, the best improvements in August were put up by Chevrolet, Mini, Alfa Romeo, and Porsche. On the flip side, Dodge and Daihatsu sales fell from 18 and 3, respectively, to zero. Ssangyong sales very nearly went poof. Lotus was down 55%. Renault, for a reason hopefully not related to the disappearance of desirability, slid 44%. That was enough to take the French brand back to 14th spot, behind three automakers which it leads in year-to-date terms. 

Half of all Nissan UK sales in August were Qashqais. The Focus and Fiesta accounted for 71% of all Ford sales. 65% of Vauxhall's volume can be found by looking at Corsa and Astra sales. Outside of the Golf, Passat, and Polo there were only 1250 Volkswagen sales left for the Beetle, Eos, Fox, Jetta, Phaeton, Scirocco, Sharan, Tiguan,Touran, and Touareg to share.

In other words, residents of the United Kingdom have a group of favourite cars and they stick with'em. Precisely one-third of all new vehicles acquired in the UK last month were from the list of Top 10 Best-Selling Cars. That list will be published momentarily. For now, August 2011's UK Auto Sales By Brand report can be viewed in the table below.

Rank	Automaker	August 2011	%  Change	Year To Date	YTD  % Change
#1	Ford	8552	+18.0	171,278	-6.9
#2	Vauxhall	6980	+11.8	150,641	-3.7
#3	Volkswagen	6238	+28.2	114,209	+0.6
#4	BMW	3873	+1.3	72,543	+14.5
#5	Audi	3774	+18.9	73,736	+12.0
#6	Peugeot	3149	-9.4	60,998	-14.0
#7	Citroen	2904	-5.5	43,429	-6.3
#8	Nissan	2651	-0.6	58,611	+5.8
#9	Toyota	2201	-1.0	45,099	-21.3
#10	Mercedes-Benz	2147	+13.8	49,789	+11.2
#11	Hyundai	2016	+34.1	37,529	-13.5
#12	Kia	1777	+21.4	33,524	-14.6
#13	Skoda	1742	+35.6	29,347	+8.4
#14	Renault	1657	-44.0	42,096	-31.6
#15	Fiat	1402	+34.3	27,167	-21.2
#16	Mini	1399	+85.8	28,457	+12.7
#17	SEAT	1022	+14.8	22,250	+7.1
#18	Honda	985	-31.2	29,874	-25.5
#19	Mazda	930	-38.5	19,962	-31.6
#20	Volvo	650	-2.6	20,672	-17.1
#21	Suzuki	630	+4.7	12,401	-5.7
#22	Chevrolet	489	+115.4	8429	-5.8
#23	Land Rover	381	-27.2	22,454	-10.2
#24	Alfa Romeo	334	+81.5	7516	+65.7
#25	Porsche	197	+57.6	3653	-16.0
#26	Mitsubishi	191	-23.6	6789	-4.6
#27	Jaguar	188	-32.6	8042	-21.2
#28	smart	150	-38.5	3263	-34.1
#29	Lexus	133	+17.7	4561	+11.1
#30	Saab	92	level	3774	+27.3
#31	Chrysler	78	+178.6	444	-50.4
#32	Aston Martin	45	-19.6	710	-1.5
#33	Jeep	40	+25.0	1227	-0.3
#34	Abarth	38	-25.5	818	-10.1
#35	Bentley	36	+44.0	716	+7.7
#36	Subaru	34	-27.7	1601	-34.1
#37	Perodua	31	-8.8	378	-30.1
#38	Proton	22	-38.9	333	-39.5
#39	MG	21	+133.3	184	-15.6
#40	Infiniti	13	-25.5	202	+112.6
#41	Maserati	13	-31.6	270	-14.8
#42	Lotus	9	-55.0	272	-24.0
#43	Ssangyong	1	-80.0	11	-94.7

Source: Automakers, MTI, SMMT

Related From GoodCarBadCar.net
UK Auto Sales By Brand - August 2012
UK Auto Sales By Brand - September 2011
UK Auto Sales By Brand - July 2011
UK Auto Sales By Brand - June 2011
Top 10 Best-Selling Cars In The United Kingdom - August 2011
New Vehicle Market Share By Brand In The UK - August 2011
U.S. Auto Sales By Brand - August 2011
Canada Auto Sales By Brand - August 2011

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

Through six months of 2010 19.5% of all auto sales in Mexico belonged to General Motors. This year that figure dropped to 18.6%. 10% was Chrysler's number at this point last year; this year it's down to 9.6%. Ford Motor Company's Mexican auto market share has also dropped, from 10.5% to 9.6% in Dearborn's case.

To which automakers did the Mexican market fly? Before we get to that, it's important to understand that on pure volume terms, General Motors sales were up 6.2% in the first half of 2011. Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep was up 8%. And excluding Lincoln, Ford was up 3.6%. 

More to the point, however, Nissan's decent 14.4% year-over-year gain and dramatic Renault's 42.5% jump resulted in market share which grew from 25.5% in the first half of 2010 to 26.7% in the first half of 2011.

Smaller companies like Seat (part of the Volkswagen Group in the chart below) made inroads as well. Climbing from 1.7% to 2.1% on its own, Seat helped the VW Group/Porsche improve by two percentage points to 17.6%. European brands owned 20.8% of the overall Mexican automotive market at the halfway point last year. In 2011, that number jumped to 23.3%. Audi, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz - Mexico's three most popular premium brands - accounted for 5.2% of the total market's 42,159 new sales.

In the first six months of 2011 the Mexican auto market was worth 413,126 new vehicles. That's just one for every 272 residents of Mexico. In the United States, for example, a market which isn't doing all that well of late, new vehicles were acquired by one out of every 49 residents. 

That's an astounding contrast, one which can be traced back to a battle in which wealth challenges poverty and wins. But there's more to it than the impoverished state in which many Mexicans live. Consider the peso prices of cars. The gorgeous Peugeot RCZ pictured above is priced from $499,900 in Mexico, equal to $39,947 USD today. In the United Kingdom, not the cheapest place to buy cars, the Peugeot RCZ starts at £21,245, equal to $34,543 USD today. An Audi S4? That'll cost you about $66,000 USD in Mexico, $61,000 USD in the UK, or $47,300 in the United States. The 2011 Chevrolet Suburban starts at the equivalent of $49,000 USD in Mexico; just $41,335 in the U.S.

The chart below doesn't deal with such discrepancies, however. Take 413,126 Mexican auto sales, divide them up, and this is what you get.

CLICK THE CHART FOR A LARGER VIEW

Related From GoodCarBadCar.net
Mexico Auto Sales By Brand (With Market Share Chart - September 2011 YTD
Mexico Auto Market Share By Brand - Q1 Of 2011
Mexico Auto Sales By Brand - 2011's First Half
U.S. Auto Market Share By Brand - June 2011
Canada Auto Market Share By Brand - June 2011
UK Auto Market Share By Brand - June 2011

Top 10 Best-Selling Cars In The UK - October 2010

As was the case in September, declining car sales in the United Kingdom are only declining in the face of artificially inflated car sales from October 2009. Britain's Scrappage Incentive Scheme boosted new car sales so current numbers appear underwhelming. The facts: new vehicle registrations in the UK fell 22.2% in October 2009. The Society Of Motor Manufacturers And Traders Limited, SMMT, believes new car sales will show declines in November and December, too, but the overall market in 2010 should end up with greater numbers than in 2009.

131,495 new vehicles were sold in the UK in October. There were 123,154 new vehicle sales in Canada in October, based on these figures. Automakers in the United States sold 950,145 new vehicles according to Autoblog. The nameplates which made up those sales are very, very different. In the UK, two companies represented in the Top 10 don't even sell vehicles in North America.

This month, rather than writing up an analysis on each product, for which you should check earlier versions of this post, we'll show you the direction in which the vehicle is trending compared with September 2010. These are the Top 10 Best-Selling Cars In The United Kingdom.

#10 - Renault Clio: 2786
↑↑↑
The Clio is most commonly seen in the North American media as a hot hatchback derivative, the Clio 200 or the old mid-engined Clio V6. In reality, most Europeans buy this Ford Fiesta competitor with less than 100 horsepower.

#9 - Mini: 2876
↓ from 7th

#8 - Nissan Qashqai: 3175
↑↑↑

#7 - Vauxhall Corsa: 3574
↓ from 2nd

#6 - Vauxhall Insignia: 3811
↓ from 5th

#5 - Ford Focus: 3888
↓ from 4th

#4 - BMW 3-Series: 3955
↑↑↑

#3 - Vauxhall Astra: 4472
↔

#2 - Volkswagen Golf: 5230
↑ from 6th

#1 - Ford Fiesta: 6024
↔

Related From GoodCarBadCar.net
Top 10 Best-Selling Cars In The UK - October 2011
Top 10 Best-Selling Cars In The UK - November 2010
Top 10 Best-Selling Cars In The UK - September 2010
Top 10 Best-Selling Cars In The UK - August 2010
Canada Auto Sales By Brand - October 2010
U.S. Auto Sales By Brand - October 2010

100 FAVOURITE CARS - PART IX

There are days when lunchtime rolls around that I do not feel like eating pizza. These days are rare; few and far between, if you will. At the same time, there are days when the hour of writing arrives and the advent of a new supercar excites me not at all. I'm in the mood for something.... oh, I don't know, with less than 200 horsepower? Perhaps narrow enough to be used on the narrow downtown streets around GoodCarBadCar Towers, possibly high enough to exit the parking garage without undue harm?

This is the reason you'll find automobiles of all types on The Good Car Guy's 100 Favourite Cars list. The AC Shelby Cobra, Bugatti T35, Mercedes-Benz G-Wagen, and the eighth car you'll read about below have little in common but remain near and dear. Have a look through the slideshow and the explanations below for cars 81-90.



MORGAN AERO 8: If retro harks back to another time, what do you call something that drives like a modern car but does much more than hark back? Call it the Aero 8.
NISSAN CUBE (GEN2): Before the Cube hit North American shores, Nissan had the design down pat. The second-gen Cube was Japan's design gift to the world in 2002.
NISSAN SKYLINE GT-R R34: Not that the new GT-R isn't desirable; but the older Skyline-based car was a brusque and bellicose steroid-infused speed machine and distinctly more enticing.
PAGANI ZONDA: In all its forms - C12, C12S, F, and R - the Zonda is a unique creation. Priced obscenely, the Zonda is the thinking man's alternative to the Bugatti Veyron.
PORSCHE 911 2.7RS '73: Before Porsche decided its customers needed 450 horsepower to be happy, the 2.7RS was a delectable device meant for charming roads into servility.
PORSCHE CARRERA GT: Ridiculously difficult to drive and frankly rather powerless compared with its contemporaries, the Carrera GT was beautiful and characterful.
RENAULT CLIO V6: Imagine Honda taking out the rear seats of a Fit, installing the Accord's 268-bhp V6, converting the car to rear-wheel drive, and selling it. Your inability to imagine it goes to show how flavourful the Clio V6 really was.
SMART FORTWO: Every car could be better. The fortwo could be a little bit better in a lot of areas. But by being so close to bang-on in every area, it is the perfect car for the right person.
SUBARU IMPREZA WRX (BUG-EYE): Sometimes it's the nasty imperfections which allow us to see shining examples of virtue. See the Impreza's front end and compare with on-road dynamics.
SUBARU LEGACY 2.5GT WAGON (GEN4): A "sleeper" or a "Q-car" travels by unnoticed. In reality, its competence would shock the common man and please the enthusiast. So it was with the turbocharged Legacy wagon.

100 FAVOURITE CARS

1-10

11-20

21-30

31-40

41-50

51-60

61-70

71-80

91-100