Škoda Citygo vs Daihatsu Siron

Do they look similar to you?

The Sirion has been around several years, the Škoda is just being released. To my eye, when I saw it, I thought Sirion. The pics I chose are not ideal matches, such as two door / four door and colours. Despite that, the basic shape is very similar to me. Which means that the Daihatsu was an advanced design when released. I think Škoda could have done something

Range Rover Evoque vs BMW X1

NZ car magazine NZ Autocar did a comparison between the above cars in its Jan 12 issue. Seeing as the X1 for many would be the benchmark for the best small SUV, and the Evoque is the new kid on the block, a worthwhile comparison.

First up, it said the Evoque was the car with all the style. Not hard when compared with Germanic style, which let's face it doesn't really exist. There wasn't much

Land Rover Sales By Country: 2011

Land Rover had a very good 2011 with sales up in almost every country. The new Evoque will compliment the rest of the range nicely in 2012, making for yet another record year. In some countries, LR has commercial sales which I have yet to confirm. Those nations have the the whole entry italicised. For example, Italy has a substantial number of such sales and as I cannot yet add them, shows a 16%

LR Defender Sales By Country: 2010

In many European nations, some Land Rovers are classified as commercial vehicles. In most but not all cases, it would be a Defender model. When sales are released by model, the commercial sales are not always included. Therefore, below you see two lists, the first Defender sales as released and the second unspecified commercial LR sales.

1 Italy 1,571
2 Germany 817
3 Spain 789
4 South Africa

GM World's Biggest Vehicle Maker: 2011

I wrote a while back about who was likely to be the world's biggest vehicle maker for 2011. Well it all came true. Of late, it has been GM and Toyota battling it out for supremacy. Both sides accepted how the other counted its sales. Now the VW Group has joined the calculations. Suddenly VW isn't happy how GM counts its figures, it wants them counted in such a way that makes them top in 2011. VW

Jaguar XK Sales By Country: 2010

The XK is a stunning vehicle. It effortlessly consumes miles and does it with style. I would imagine many of the US sales are in California, perhaps many seen cruising in Rodeo Drive. It probably deserves to sell in larger numbers than it does in many countries, but those who do purchase such a vehicle get something rather special.

1 USA 2,137
2 UK 1,641
3 Germany 487
4 Italy 136
5 Canada 117
6

Range Rover/Sport Sales By Country: 2010

The Range Rover has always been a solid seller and continues as such. However, it has been easily outsold by the Sport model since its introduction. There will always be those who like the regal Range Rover, but the Sport brings a dynamic edge to the genre.

First up, the RR Sport:
sales that I have found

1 USA 12,347
2 UK 8,508
3 Italy 3,214
4 Germany 1,745
5 Russia 1,543
6 Australia 1,356
7

Jaguar XJ Sales By Country: 2010

Big, luxury barges do not sell in the numbers they once did. Luxury SUVs have taken much of the market from them. However, in some countries they still are popular, such as China. Unfortunately I am unable to find anything for China on model breakdown. What I have been able to sniff out is below:

1 USA 4,278
2 UK 1,827
3 Germany 545
4 China 256
5 Russia 225
6 France 201
7 Italy 194
8 Belgium

Jaguar XF Sales By Country: 2010

The XF is the best car in its class. It is beautiful, refined and handling is superb. Even in this class, most of its competitors are sterile offerings. Not this cat. The downside to it is it arrived with too many alternatives missing. A small diesel has taken ages to arrive. The shooting brake model is still to come, and no 4wd option is available. For these reasons, and the fact that Jaguar

LR Discovery Sales By Country: 2010

The Discovery, or LR4, is a vehicle of contrast. It is rugged, yet refined; butch, but smooth. It gives you the best of both worlds and for that reason the best selling LR in markets such as Australia and South Africa.

1 UK 8,295
2 USA 7,122
3 China 5,796
4 Russia 2,347
5 South Africa 2,210
6 Australia 1,754
7 Brazil 1,729
8 Germany 1,137
9 Spain 996
10 Italy 925
11 Canada 522
12 Belgium 460

LR Freelander Sales By Country: 2010

The Freelander is a fine looking, fine performing SUV. It is a small vehicle for North American tastes, but does well elsewhere. Countries that I have been able to find sales data are listed below. If anyone can add to the list, please contact me directly or leave a comment.

1 UK 15,562
2 China 10837
3 Italy 4,674
4 Russia 3,946
5 USA 3,649
6 Brazil 2,580
7 Spain 2,419
8 Germany 2,326
9 France

Car Sales Uruguay: 2011

Car sales are booming here, well above the average of last decade. Two sizable increases over tha past two years have seen to that. Chevrolet is the big brand in this small South American country. VW cannot even get close, standing a distant second. Chinese brand Chery only came to the market here in 2008 and is already 3rd with 6.6% of total sales. I'm picking (no pun intended) Chery will

Vehicle Sales Colombia: 2011

Colombia has a low ratio of car ownership, yet suffers traffic jams. It seems the problem is an under developed road system. The government would like to restrict car ownership through auctioning registration plates Singapore style. That won't take cars off the road, but rather increase the age of cars in use. Improving roading is expensive though.

As for car sales, GM has always been top here

Car Sales Chile: 2011

GM maintained its grip down here, with both Korean brands losing ground slightly to the general. About 1 in 5 cars sold here are for the leading brand, and won't be changing anytime soon. As far as I can tell, this is easily the best year for car sales.

1 GM 46,800 12%
2 Hyundai 29,200 0%
3 Kia 24,300 12%
4 Suzuki 21,000 16%
5 Nissan 17,500 3%
6 Toyota 17,400 -7%
7 Samsung 8,500 37%
8 Mazda

Car Sales Lebanon: 2010

They are a year late, but finally some data to assimulate. A strong showing came from Korea taking 1st and 3rd. Otherwise, brands from different regions are all mixed up, without preferences toward any region in particular. 1 Kia 6,494 66%2 Nissan 5,663 -18%3 Hyundai 4,152 75%4 Toyota 3,103 -30%5 Chevrolet 1,338 -2%6 Mitsubishi 1,287 36%7 Renault 1,145 -23%8 Peugeot 970 -35%9 Mazda 946 47%10 BMW

Car Sales Europe: 2011

ACEA figures (below) reveal that 1,357,500 cars were sold in Europe (less Russia) in 2011, down 1.4%.

VW took top spot with 12.4% penetration, up from 11.2% in the preceding year. While VW makes some good cars, the Passat for example is exceedingly ordinary, yet it is doing very well for the brand in Europe. This debunks the myth that buyers in Europe are always discerning, but rather badge

UK Vehicle Production: 2011

2011: UK car production was up 5.8%, from 1,270,000 in 2010 to 1,344,000. I was thinking it would be more, but it was and OK result. BMW's building the Countryman in Austria due to capacity restraints in the UK, and Honda reducing sales in Europe had a dampening effect. For the situation in data:

Nissan - Juke, Note & Qashqai : 480,500 / +13.5%

Land Rover - All models : 238,200 / +33%

MINI -

Car/LCV Sales RSA: 2011

I earlier published car sales for South Africa, and someone asked about including Light Commercial Vehicles too. So here it is. The first set of figures are LCV sales only. Toyota is the top brand by far. AMH do not release figures by brand.

1 Toyota 52,423 10%
2 Nissan 22,825 3%
3 GM 18,303 17%
4 Ford 14,746 1%
5 Isuzu 13,228 22%
6 VW 8,759 205%
7 Mazda 3,772 -2%
8 Mitsubishi 1,559

Car/LCV Sales Denmark: 2011

Another bouncy year for car sales here, with VW finishing up this winner of Denmark's version of musical chairs. With an amazing 60% increase in one year emphasises how things change. Then Ford managed a decrease when the overall market went up so strongly, surrendering a sizable lead in the process.

10/11/Brand/Sales/Inc-decr
4 1 VW 21,900 60%
1 2 Ford 18,700 -1%
2 3 Peugeot 18,300 21%
5 4

Car Sales Austria: 2011

This years sales in Austria may well be an all time record. It is a nation that prefers to buy European, especially German. The best Japanese make comes in a lowly 15th. VW achieved its best market share since 2001 and best sales since 2000. Renault got its best haul of units sold since 1999, assisted in part by Dacias being included under the Reggie logo. In case you were wondering, 5,256

Car Sales Singapore: 2011

Car sales were numerically low in Singapore, due to fewer permits (COE) issued to buy them. Cars have high duty and the cost for the COE is steep, so it makes average cars uneconomic. Those who can afford all this can also buy a better class of car, so the market is being taken over by premium marques. This is obvious from the data below:

10/11/Brand/Sales/Inc-dec

3 1 BMW 4,959 5%
2 2 Mercedes

Jaguar / Land Rover Total Sales: 2011

JLR had a good year in 2011. Below I have broken down the figures supplied to the media by JLR.

JLR Combined:

Period / 2011 / 2010 / Inc-dec
December 31,000 21,350 +45%
Tot Yr 274,300 232,450 +18%


Land Rover:

Period / 2011 / 2010 / Inc-dec
December 26,250 17,000 +54%
Tot Yr 223,600 178,600 +25%


Jaguar:

Period / 2011 / 2010 / Inc-dec
December 4,700 4,300 +9%
Tot Yr 50,700 53,850 -6%

Car Sales Serbia: 2011

Car sales took quite a hit in 2011 and now this is the 4th consecutive year of decrease so things are a bit difficult.

Car maker Zastava became FAS in 2009 (Fiat Automobili Srbija), which makes an obsolete Fiat Punto car. Fiat sales then basically stopped in 2010, but picked up again this year. FAS sales took off for a couple of years, but have fallen badly in 2011, perhaps due to the ending of

Car Sales Ukraine: 2011

After the sales boom and bust of the last decade, the market had a strong growth to it. Lada now has its lowest market penetration that I know of, and Hyundai will take top spot very soon you would think. Opel was 8th as recently as 2006, but now they fight just for a top 30 spot. Chinese brand Chery crashed from 6th to 15th. It was a good year for European sourced vehicles, as they happily

BMW MINI Sales By Country: 2011

I'm not keen on BMW cars, nor do I understand their seeming obsession with being the largest selling premium brand. However, they have been very good at handling the MINI marque. In 2011 196,000 (69%) of MINI sales were of UK sourced models, and 89,000 (31%) came from Austria. Where did they sell? I have a fairly comprehensive list: 1 USA 57,511 +26%2 UK 50,138 +14%3 Germany 40,345 +28%4 France

Car Sales Slovenia: 2011

The car market here has proved very consistent. It hasn't had the recent 'boom and bust' cycle of other countries. They have one car plant (Renault - 200,000 made in 2010), and that brand naturally enough leads sales. European marques dominate, but not premium ones.

Jaroslav from the Czech Rep suggested increase/decrease figure were more useful than market share, which you can roughly tell for

Car Sales Greece: 2011

To say that the Greek economy is in a mess is comparably to the statement 'one legged ducks swim in circles'. It would be nice to say that there is light at the end of the tunnel, but there isn't. However, many in Greece seem to think the world won't let them collapse, and in that they may have a point. There is a fear of a domino effect.

Whatever the outcome, the car market is imploding. That

Car Sales Romania: 2011

Car sales were down in 2011, reflecting challenging economic circumstances. Local brand Dacia continues to rule the roost in its home market, although with a decreased share of it. Premium brands all did well, despite the downturn.

1 Dacia 23,600 28.9%
2 Volkswagen 8,700 10.7%
3 Skoda 7,600 9.3%
4 Renault 6,900 8.4%
5 Ford 4,800 5.9%
6 Opel 4,550 5.6%
7 Chevrolet 2,950 3.6%
8 Toyota 2,750 3.4%

Car Sales Lithuania: 2011

Getting any sales data from Lithuania has always been difficult. In fact I do not even have 2010 figures to compare with 2011, except for five brands. If anyone can help with 2010 or earlier, it would be appreciated.

The market had a 48.5% increase, after a couple of very poor years. VW consolidated its top spot and Nissan lifted into 2nd, but from what position I do not know. Its Qashqai model

Vehicle Sales Venezuela: 2011

It seems the government here plays a major role in what is allowed to sell, mainly locally made. Many brands have disappeared off the scene in the last couple of years. Whatever the politics, people still want vehicles and this is what sold in 2011:

1 GM 44,000 36.5%
2 Ford 26,000 21.5%
3 Toyota 10,100 8.4%
4 Chrysler 9,700 8.0%
5 Hyundai 7,850 6.5%
6 Mitsubis 6,350 5.3%
7 Kia 5,600 4.6%
8

Car Sales Latvia: 2011

The economic downturn of a few years ago really hurt this Baltic State, but 2011 saw a sharp reversal of fortune, for the better. Sales up nearly 80% must have been a much needed boost for car importers and dealers.

VW took a massive leap forward and accounted for one in five cars sold. Toyota, top brand from 2002 to 2010, wilted badly. Nissan jumped from 13th to 3rd, so things suddenly happen