Daimler Production:2008

Daimler (or Mecedes Benz to the great unwashed) has been holding it's world market share of late. In 2005, 2.2% (1,350,000) and in 2008 2.3% (1,516,000). Of the 2008 figure, 1,240,000 were cars and 276,000 LCVs. 81% of MB production was in Germany in 2005 and it is now 74%, so not a vey international company when it comes to where the cars are produced. In 2008, the country breakdown:

Germany

Chrysler Production: 2008

Chrysler is a surprisingly narrow company. By that I mean it makes and sells nearly all its vehicles in North America. At times it has threatened global expansion but it hasn't done so. As to why, I can only assume it was they didn't make cars that had enough international appeal. Or perhaps didn't try very hard enough. Either way, it has ended up a case of too many eggs in one basket. Anyway,

Peugeot Production: 2008

Peugeot is the slightly larger part of PSA, or the Peugeot / Citroen company. Peugeot made 2 million cars in 2005, for 3.2% of world car/LCVs manufacturing. In 2008, it had slipped below 3%; 2.9% to be precise. Unlike the ever expanding range of vehicles within the German brands, Peugeot has settled for simply replacing models within the existing range. A careful approach, but one that will

BMW's Shame

Once upon a time BMW decided it needed to expand its interests, like many other car companies were doing. It saw MG Rover as that timely expansion. MGR was a small company with a successful tie-up with Honda. The major shareholder was BAe and Honda had a minor share. MGR shared much with Honda, crucially platforms. Its success depended on the costs saved. BMW bought BAe's share of MGR and looked

Renault Production: 2008

The French like to support their car makers and Renault has been able to rely on strong home support. Some of it's export success, especially in Europe has been garnered by sharp pricing. It was number one in Western Europe between 2002 to 2004 but profits were being hurt. Recently, Renault embarked on making money before market share, sales have fallen sharply and now the brand is 5th in WE. It

Hyundai Production: 2008

Hyundai has a very protected home market to dominate, but has struggled to establish itself on the world stage. Some success was achieved through cheap and cheerful approach, but that isn't the profitable route and the Chinese will soon be entering that end of the market. Recently Hyundai has been improving quality and image, while still retaining a slight price edge on the comparable opposition

A Wee Fuel Solution

A scientist at Ohio University has developed a catalyst capable of extracting hydrogen from urine. Gerardine Botte claims the device uses significantly less energy than is needed to extract hydrogen from water and says it could power hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in the near future. One of hydrogen’s biggest stumbling blocks to use as an alternative fuel is the amount of energy needed to produce it

Suzuki Production: 2008

Suzuki is a company that would like to have global success but struggles to get there. It suffers from a range of vehicles built around small SUVs and small cars. Not the range to achieve much, in fact it overachieves when you look at the range. Its success is based around two markets, Japan and India. Outside of those countries, it is generally a small player.

In 2005, Suzuki made 2.07

Nissan Worldwide Production By Nation: 2008

In 1999, with Nissan facing severe financial difficulties, it entered an alliance with Renault. The outcome of that is that Nissan is 44.4% owned by Renault and 15% the other way around. The two companies work closely in "develop synergies while conserving the corporate culture and identity of each brand". Nissan sales include its upmarket Infiniti brand, which is produced mainly for the North

Honda Production: 2008

Honda is an independent car company that has shunned mergers and buy outs. It hasn't got into manufacturing commercial vehicles either. For all that it is successful by building cars with good engines and reliability.
In 2005, Honda made 3.3 million vehicles and by 2008 4.3 million, so it is going the right way. World market share was up in the same period from 5.4% to 5.9%. Japanese production

Lotus Evora

This new model is named after a city in Portugal. Évora is inland from Lisbon and a town of some interest to visit. But I digress. How good is this new car? I haven't driven one or even seen one in the metal but comparing test reports soon gives an idea of what is hot and what is not about a given vehicle.
Starting with the outside, it looks good, very good in fact. Stylish, purposeful and

VW Production: 2008

VW has been relentless in it's sales growth. It has been adding to its range of models, been aggressive in marketing and has a reputation for building solid cars too. But perhaps the main factor has been its dominance in the world's fastest growing major market, China.

In 2005, VW had 5.2% of the world's car/LCV market, in '08 6.5%. Sales have gone from 3.3 to 4.3 million. On top of that

Triumph Motorcycles

I have never owned or learned to ride a motorbike. My father did and had several scrapes with cars. One day, a lady pulled out in front of him and he hit her front tyre. He sailed over the bonnet and landed on his head on the road. Helmets are lifesavers. Mum put her foot down and said no more bike riding for dad. That was the end of that. There is a side to me that would like to ride and

Freelander Does It Tough

Recently I commented on a four way shootout of smaller SUVs and the Freelander won the contest. Now I have just read in my August 2009 Top Gear NZ magazine about a similar head to head. It was the Audi Q5, Volvo XC 60 and the Land Rover Freelander. They were taken around the Flinders Ranges in South Australia on dusty roads. Nothing too serious but testing all the same.

The conclusion was that

Ford Production: 2008

Ford has not been having the best of times lately. It has had to negotiate reduced benefits for its workers in the US and cut back production as sales declined. Back in 2005, Ford had 9% of the world’s car/LCV market but that dropped to 7% in 2008. That is nearly 1 million units less! The 2008 total was 4.75m. 51% of the cars/LCVs were made in the US in 2005, but by ’08, that crashed to 33% or

GM Production 2008

GM understandably had a sales slump in 2008, as it swaggered from one crisis to another. Therefore, for car/LCV sales, 2007 production of 9.2 million slid down to 8.15m for 2008. That's a worldwide market share drop from 13.3% to 12.3%, in production terms. GM has been moving production away from mature markets to emerging ones, which is cost effective. US plants now makes 28.6% of cars/LCVs,

UK Engine Production

While UK car making has slipped over the years, its engine production has increased. In 1999, 2.1 million engines were made. 50% Ford, 13% Nissan, 11.5% MGR and 9.5% Land Rover. Since then GM, LR and MGR have all ceased UK engine production and BMW has come in. So what is the situation today (2008) in Old Blighty with regard to who makes what?

1) Ford; two plants, Dagenham, c. London, and

Cash For Clunkers/Scrappage Schemes

In Europe, governments have tried to stimulate car sales with incentives to get people buying them in greater numbers. The German market has gone through the roof, such is its success. In other markets the reaction has been more moderate, although these schemes do get Joe Citizen into showrooms in larger numbers. Some manufacturers have gone beyond what the government offers; to sweeten the

Toyota/Lexus Steady

In 2005, Toyota/Lexus had 11.4% of the world's car/LCV market. It went to 12.1 in 2006 but 2007 and 2008 saw it steady on 12%. In that time (05-08), its Japanese component of unit manufacturing has gone down from 50% to 47.3%. USA car making has also gone down, from 18.1% to 14%, which surprised me. Canada from 4.4% to 3.6%, the UK from 3.8% to 2.7%. Meanwhile, Thailand is up from 6% to 7.2% and

JD Power Performance, Execution and Layout (APEAL) Study

You may be thinking that a survey on Performance, Execution and Layout (APEAL) would be done by people with nothing else to do with their time. Apparently, "vehicle models achieving high APEAL scores have been shown to benefit from faster sales, less need for cash incentives and higher profit margins on each vehicle sold".
So there, it does matter. How did various brands fare?

Luxury brands,

The End Of The Line For The X-Type

Ford commissioned the X-Type to take Jaguar into serious volume territory. The problem was they were in a hurry achieve this goal. The end result was a reasonably stylish car, if not quite the style a Jaguar car needed. Ford didn't understand Jaguar. It pushed fleet sales at the expense of profit, which hurt resale values. That damaged the reputation of the X-Type to private buyers and it never

New 2010 XJ Jaguar Revealed

I could say all sorts of things about the new XJ. However, it has basically the same underpinnings as the previous one. You see, the last one was brilliant underneath but was covered by a traditional body, which appealed to older buyers. That didn't cut it. As Jay Leno said at the unveiling, you can sell a young man's car to an old man, but you can't sell and old man's car to a young man. Now

Aston Swanning Around With Toyota

Aston Martin customers often have a small car as well to zip around in, so why not make it an Aston? AM are in a feasibility study with Toyota sell a small Aston based on the clever iQ car (Pic above). Some say it sounds silly but I don't for the following reasons:

1) It will drop the average carbon emissions per car for AM.

2) Beats a small car called a Citroen, Ford or Suzuki. I mean to say

Car Production Belgium: 2008

Belgium is a net exporter of vehicles, that is it makes more than is sold in the country. In 2001 Belgium made 1,060,000 cars and 130,000 commercial vehicles. In 2008, it had dropped to 680,000 cars and 44,000 commercials. That is a drop of 39% in unit volume. With a high paid workforce and no indigenous carmakers, Belgium is at the mercy of decisions made far away.

So which brands are made

X3 vs Q5 vs XC60 vs Freelander

For the May 2009 issue, NZ Autocar put these Euro SUVs head to head to find the best. This is how they ranked them:

Fourth: The biggest selling of them, the BMW X3 came dead last, easily. It was considered, too expensive, too small and ugly. Why would the X3 be so popular then? People buy a badge. They get ripped off but hey, a fool and his money is soon parted.

Third: The rest were closer but

Nissan Qashqai Scores Highly in J.D. Power Satisfaction Survey

Nissan's compact Crossover the Nissan Qashqai (Dualis) has been rated 11th overall in the JD Power/What Car? 2009 UK Vehicle Ownership Satisfaction Study of 101 models, its first appearance in the survey.
With a rating of over 81% the Sunderland-built Nissan Qashqai rated 3rd in the SUV category and also higher than all of its traditional C-segment competitors including the Honda Civic,

LDV's Demise

Recently a company in Malaysia were talking of buying LDV vans but they have pulled out. It now seems they will wait until it goes belly up and buy it cheaply through a receiver. Then they probably will move the operation to Asia. LDV seem to make a good product but it is a pity they couldn't have better distribution network, perhaps in tandem with a car maker. The volumes they make are not

Hybrid Cars

I was reading about new hybrid cars, how they will revolutionise the propulsion of cars. It seems that electric cars do not have the range people want and battery producers would have trouble making enough batteries anyway. Hydrogen needs a fuel distribution system in place and require a large tank fitted to hold it. Ethanol is less efficient than petrol per litre and in pure form does not like

The Underrated X-Type

Cars sometimes get treated unfairly whilst others get nothing but good said of them. When the Jaguar X-Type came out, it was criticized by the British press for using a Ford platform. Audi share platforms with Skoda, but the same journalists remained silent on that. What hypocrisy from the British media, a group I distain immensely anyway.

The X-Type was a car to take Jaguar from a boutique

LDV

LDV make vans. They were originally part of BLMC, and ended up a specialist van maker all on it’s lonesome. Then current owner Russian Oleg Deripaska, who also owns GAZ, Russia’s second largest car producer, bought it and things looked rosy. The financial situation has since soured and LDV has been badly hit by recession in Britain, which is where it sells nearly all its vans. LDV suspending

Japan - Cars Rated

Starting with Japan, the largest car maker in the world. They have many successful car companies. Toyota, Nissan, Honda, Mitsubishi, Mazda, Suzuki and others are known everywhere.

2007 Production: 9.9 million cars and 11.6 m vehicles in total.

General perception: Reliability, well made, good value, average handling, fuel efficient and safe (read dull) styling.

I say: All the above is correct.

South Korea – Cars Rated

The Hyundai/Kia Company dominates but there are a few other brands manufacturing there.

2007 Production: 3.7 million cars and 4.1 m vehicles in total.

General perception: Cheap prices, value for money but not quite up to the standard of Japanese and European cars. Dull designs and poor drive appeal.

I say: The prices are rising, as is the quality. They still are good value. Saying you drive a

France – Cars Rated

Two companies and three brands along with a Japanese car plant make up the French car industry.

2007 Production: 2.6 million cars and 3.0 m vehicles in total.

General perception: Flair, diving pleasure, interesting and unique styling along with cheap interiors and dubious build quality.

I say: The perception is spot on although they are improving quality and reliability. However, there is a

Aston Martin

Aston Martin is a manufacturer of luxury sports cars, in Gaydon, Warwickshire UK. The name is from the name of one of the company's founders, Lionel Martin, and from the Aston Hill speed hill climb. It was founded in 1913 by Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford. Martin raced specials at Aston Hill near Aston Clinton, and the pair decided to make their own vehicles and produced their first car in

Number Ones 2008: Asia/Pacific

If you know anything about car sales, you will know that Toyota is now number one in the world in unit sales. It's home ground is obviously Asia and it has taken the area well and truly in both overall sales and number ones. So let's see the list:

Toyota (8)
Australia
Japan
New Zealand
Philippines
Singapore
Thailand
Taiwan
Vietnam

Suzuki (Maruti) (2)
India
Pakistan

Honda (1)
Indonesia

Hyundai

MINI: Sales 2008

MINI managed a 9,500 growth in 2008 or a 4.3% increase. With a new cross mini coming in 2009, it should manage 2008’s sales total. The USA really took to the MINI in 2008 while the British didn’t as much. Maybe the suicide door on the right side of the Clubman didn’t help. Whatever the reason, the US went from less than 19% of all MINI sales to over 23%, while the UK went from 21.5% to 17.5%.

Land Rover Sales: 2008

In the mid 1990’s, Land Rover made about 100,000 vehicles a year. Then it went to about 150,000 pa through to 2004. The next two years saw about 175,000 made, before exploding to 233,000 in 2008. That constant improvement came to an end in 2008, with production dropping to about 189,000. It’s second best year but clouds are building on the horizon. Initially in 2008, some European markets hit

Jaguar Sales: 2008

Jaguar grew in sales by 8% in 2008, from 60,500 to 65,350. The XF, the S-Type replacement, was the reason for the success. A new XJ is coming this year too which should improve the excellent car with the conservative styling.In 2003, 70% of Jaguars were sold in the US and UK. Now that is just above 50%, a much healthier ratio. The Middle East/North Africa is excluded from the chart, but sales

Number Ones 2008: Americas

Not a comprehensive list but what I have. GM dominates and it is a weak area for Japanese brands. Nissan nearly took Mexico but just missed. Otherwise things do not change much.

GM (9)
Canada
Chile
Colombia
Ecuador
Mexico
Paraguay
Uruaguay
USA
Venesuela


Toyota (5)
Dominican Rep
Guatemala
Panama
Peru
Puerto Rico

Fiat
Brazil

VW
Argentina

Number Ones 2008: Europe

VW is the top brand in Europe, followed by Ford, Opel, Renault and Peugeot. Toyota is 8th. So it is no surprise that VW has the most markets in which it stars as the most popular brand. Amazingly Toyota is 2nd when it comes to number ones in European countries despite its 8th position overall. See the list below and please note (N) denotes 2008 was a change from 2007.


VW (9)
Austria
Belgium

How Much Does It Matter? : Sales 2008

When a car company posts sales increases, it is greeted by the press as proof of success for that company. How much does it matter to have ever increasing sales? Jaguar is an example of why it is often deceptive. Around the 1990’s, Jaguar was making around the 40,000 cars per year. Then Ford pushed for increase in sales and between 2001-04, the average production was slightly over 120k. That

USA: Sales 2008

With sales down 18% on 2007 (or 2.9 million units), ’08 was a shocking result. December was down 36% (500,000 cars) alone. This is a massive drop in sales and has got to be hurting all car makers who do good business in the US. Sales for '08 are the worst since 1992. GM is still easily on top, with Toyota and Ford coming up 2 and 3.

Winners: Hard to find but Subaru getting a 0.3% increase