Finland Top 4 Brands : 1956-59

I have car sales for the land of lakes that go back to 1956, thanks to Autoalan Tiedotuskeskus. Things were fluid back then, with brands up and down quite dramatically. There were also some different brands around too. For the different ones:

In the chart below, 'Mosk' stands for Moskvitch which basically means Moscovite. They were a solid car made for tough Russian roads and sold well back at

Sweden Top 4 Brands : 1980-89

1982 Volvo 345.  The 300 series ran from 1976-91


While Volvo remained the most popular choice for Swedish car buyers in the 1980's, Saab was starting to struggle holding second place. Ford came back with a vengeance, and Opel remained a strong seller. VW fell from grace in this period.

The low point of this period was 1981 when there were 188,500 sales for the total market. It then peaked in

Hydrogen Power A Step Closer

Aggressive styling and detailing


I mentioned in an article recently about future fuel options hydrogen or fuel-cell powered cars (FCVs) that can be seen by clicking here. Well, it just got a little closer with the Japanese government getting behind helping set up the FC dispensing infrastructure and subsidies for the cars themselves.

The benefits of FCVs is they emit water from the exhaust

Nissan Leaf Price Slashed In NZ

So quiet and clean even the wildlife didn't hear or get a whiff of it


You would think that 'clean, green' New Zealand would be promoting cars that were environmentally friendly such as electric. Most power here is hydroelectric which is ideal for such cars. Unfortunately no, but as a free market economy, cars with electric propulsion have to go it alone. The price has been prohibitive and

Britain's Biggest Private Car Collection For Sale

 Britain's biggest private car collection is for sale for £100m.

James Hull has filled a number of warehouses with cars from the past 80 years. Due to health issues the owner James Hull has decided to move them on. It seems he would like to keep the collection intact if possible. I would imagine he would get more individually but for sentiment I can see why he wants it that way.

The 450 car

BMW Cutting Costs

BMW is quite profitable, as are premium brands generally. There are differing reports on the amount that is wished to be saved, however it seems they they do want to cut costs. If you are making solid profits, why the need to do so? I can think of a few reasons that are behind the move.

Main reason: It seems to me to be tied to the bragging rights of being the biggest premium brand by unit

Sweden Top 4 Brands : 1970-79

Julie Andrews discovers the Volvo 244. Quite an ugly car


The 1979s was a steady time for the top 4. The two local makes took charge, taking about 40% of the total sales. Ford, GM and VW were left fighting it out for the other two spots. The top 4's share of the total is shown at the extreme right of the chart, which remained stable.

A success story at this time in Sweden was Mazda. They

Nissan e-NV200 Van

The e-van in the usual Nissan aqua blue


Vans in Europe are generally diesel fuelled, an engine that is robust and economical. However, Nissan is lobbing into the market a Spanish built Nissan electric van. The maker claims lower running costs, better handling and reduced emissions. Lower costs are the fuel, but mainly through less maintenance expense. The battery is placed low and centrally

Subaru WRX vs VW Golf GTi Performance

Google Blogger playing up again, like happened this time last year. If I cannot post, it will be another time of few articles coming through. This from the company that wants to bring us driverless cars. Scary. 




The WRX looks like it means business...


I was reading the NZ Autocar magazine for May 2014. In it was a head to head comparison between the above mentioned vehicles. As I will never

Honda Europe's In A Hole

The first generation Civic was cute and fun


It's hard to know what the top brass in Honda are thinking. Once a brand known for small, fun little cars to one that now does conservative. For car buyers in Asia and North America, conservative is obviously good as sales are solid there. In Europe and Australasia it is not a good thing, as sales flounder.

Honda's European market share for January

Sweden Top 4 Brands : 1960-69

The Volvo 145 with the company's squared off styling...


The 1960's saw sales grow strongly in Sweden as it did across Europe. Sales in 1960 were 160,000 and 255,000 by 1969. A 275,000 peak was made in 1965.

Volvo no longer was fighting for top spot as it had a sizable cushion between it and second. VW was strong for the early part of the decade but fell away toward the end of it. Opel was

Getting Electric Cars Out There

The Tesla S is selling well, but can't afford to hit a wall


One of the problems of electric cars is enough charging stations. Another one is economies of scale; making enough battery packs and cars to make them profitable, yet affordable to consumers. So how do you assist electric cars to become cheaper to buy, more user friendly, and as a consequence, more accepted?

The usual way in the car

Italy Top 4 Brands : 2000-13

The Fiat 500L is selling well


In the final in this series going back to 1960, we have seen the massive lead of Fiat fall to more reasonable levels. It still is the main brand in its home nation. Fiat had over 76% in 1960, with 291,000 sales. The sales are not that different but the market share is very different.

Of the others, GM has gradually slipped in this decade and a bit, and may not

Sweden Top 4 Brands : 1950-59

1959 Volvo Amazon. A nice looking car for its day


Thanks to the good folk of BilSweden, we can have an insight into the Swedish car market back in the 1950s. Sweden didn't have a dominant local brand such as VW in Germany and Fiat in Italy. Therefore, the changes in positions in the top 4 are greater, especially that coveted top spot.

Ford (Germany and UK combined) started out top but fell

Italy Top 4 Brands : 1990-99

Opel Corsa a strong seller in Italy

Moving into the 1990s with a new data supplier, we see that Fiat is alone as the only local brand now in the top 4. The big winner was GM's Opel brand as it came from nowhere to be the second largest brand. Ford and VW had their moments but GM finished ahead for the decade.

The extreme right column shows the top 4 market share and one has to say the trend

GM Ellesmere Port, UK 50 Years

Canal boats passed through this port many years ago and it now houses the National Waterways Museum with the largest collection of canal boats in the world. I have a connection to the town of Ellesmere Port I won't bore you with here, bu it caught my eye when I found out that the GM car plant located there is 50 years old. I wrote about the plant back in 2005, found by clicking here.






The

Renault/Nissan Want In On Top Three Spot

The Nissan Juke & Renault Captur 


The top three car makers, Toyota, GM and VW Group are a clear top three in car making numbers. They are all about or close to 10 million vehicles made in 2013. Back some way is the Renault/Nissan Alliance at just over 8 million.

When the Alliance was formed in 1999, it was Renault that was the stronger. Nissan then became the more successful of the two and

Italy Top Four Brands : 1980-89

The Lancia Prisma


Sales history of cars can be patchy. It can also vary if different sources are used to put a timeline of sales together. The sales I found changed dramatically form 1989 to 1990, as you will see when that is released in due course. It is put together with due diligence and the highest accuracy possible. Bearing that in mind....

The 1980's in Italy had a more settled feel to

Mitsubishi Model To Become A Fiat?

The L200 heading Fiat's way?


Hot on the heels of a recent article I wrote suggesting more co-operation between manufacturers regarding model sharing comes this. Fiat is likely to take the L200 pick-up truck (also named Triton) and sell it in Europe and Latin America. It wouldn't go to North America because the US slaps import duty on trucks such as this one made in Thailand.

Some may say

The RR Evoque 'Knock Off'

 It is generally known that Chinese car makers want western car making technology. While other nations are just happy to have manufacturers set up factories and run them themselves, it is not so in China. Car firms are told if they want to sell cars in China, they have to not only make them there, but also form a 50/50 joint venture partnership with a local company.



The reason was surely so