Belgium Top 4 Brands : 2000-2013

The Renault Captur. The brand was 2nd in 2013


By now, it was European brands dominating. Then once GM Opel went, VW and three French marques battled it out. The year with the most sales was 2011 with 572,200 and the lowest was 2003 with 458,800.
2013 finished with 486,100 so that was 86,000 units down in two years. 2014 should see things improving economically and car sales up.

The extreme

Peugeot Worldwide Car Sales By Model : 1998-2013

Looking through statistics like this gives a feel for a brand. It's recent history is an important part where it is today. So let's look at the chart below by model. I had to knock a zero off the model numbers to fit the chart in. The model sales figures are in hundreds, the total figure thousands.

200: This super-mini series was made up of the 205 and 206 models in 1998. The 207 arrived in 2006

Belgium Top 4 Brands : 1990-99

The 1999 VW Polo 


The 1990's were very settled for the major car brands, with only four logos sharing the top 4 places, with the exception of 1999. The decade started strongly with sales well over 450,000 per annum, but then hit a bump mid-decade and fell away to as low as 358,900 in 1995. Belguim went through it's worst recession since WWII. Things then improved and by 1989 489,600 cars were

Hyundai Worldwide SUV/MPV Sales By Model : 1994-2013

Hyundai is more the car making brand within the group compared to Kia. Yet a couple of models sell well within the SUV range. The MPV side has withered though, probably not a bad thing as Kia do a few of those anyway. The percentage of SUV/MPVs is shown to the right of the chart below. Now a breakdown of the models.



The Tucson (ix35) a top seller


ix35: Better known to many as the Tucson, it

Belgium Top 4 Brands : 1980-89

The Ford Escort was popular in Belgium


Sales data for Belgium is hard to find, so I have cobbled together data as best I can. FEBIAC is the source for such, and they are cautious about letting too much out.

Belgians like their cars. For a small nation, they buy them in large numbers. Over 399,200 new cars were bought in 1980. In 1983 it slipped to 338,900 but bounced back to 439,800 by 1989.

BMW Global SUV Sales By Model : 2000-2013

In the year that BMW sold Land Rover to Ford, it released it's first SUV. BMW has since spread itself across the SUV range with new models. Now just over a quarter of BMW brand sales are from these four models. I have to say I didn't like the X6 when it came out and still don't. I wouldn't call its sales strong either, so maybe others feel the same way. All the others seem to have been worth the

Finland Top 4 Brands : 2000-13

VW Golf a top seller in Finland...


From  the year 2000 when 134,600 cars were sold, to a peak of 148,200 in 2005 to the economic slump that took sales down to 89,100 in 2009. That was all in one decade! The only note to make was that camper vans were excluded in the last figure, not that it made much difference. It would have been 90,600 if included. Sales climbed back to 124,500 in 2011 and

BMW Global Car Sales By Model : 1997-2013

A 2009 BMW M3 


BMW car sales (excluding SUVs) is shown below in the chart. Resent success in China has really boosted sales. The exteme column to the right shows how sedan car sales have slipped as SUV models have arrived. Still, over 70% of sales are for cars as of 2013.









Yr
3 Sr
5 Sr
1 Sr
7 Sr
6 Sr
4 Sr
Z Sr
8 Sr
Cars
Tot
%


97
337.8
228.8
-

Finland Top 4 Brands : 1990-99

The decade started off with this fine model Corolla...


The decade started with 139,000 sales, but fell away to a mere 55,800 by 1993. Apparently had an economic crisis during this time where GDP dropped about 14% and unemployment leaped from 3 to 20%. You can see the effect from 1990 to 1993 on the chart, where Toyota maintained market share but sales plunged.

Things then improved and sales

Chinese Brands Struggling?

From what I understand about the Chinese car market, it is divided into two. There is the joint venture between a foreign car maker and a local company with the overseas side not able to own more than 50% of the company. They manufacture cars together almost exclusively for the local market, in more affluent areas. Then there are local companies who have gone it alone making cars, selling in the

Kia Global SUV/MPV Sales By Model : 1994-2013

Having gone through Kia car sales previously, we now look at SUVs and MPVs. The percentage figure to the right is for SUV/MPVs as compared to total Kia sales including cars. Considering the number of models shown below, the percentage of all Kia sales isn't that high.

Sportage: This compact SUV started in 1993 and is still going with the same name! The first model amazingly shared a platform

Kia Global Car Sales By Model : 1994-2013

Trying to collect sales by model over such a period is difficult. Putting SUVs and MPVs in the list as well would have been too much, so cars alone come first. The percentage figure to the right is for cars as compared to the total. Understandably the figure dropped quickly as cars became the less obvious choice, but then China came along and they like the more traditional vehicle configuration.

Doing Automotive Business In China

The culture of China is very different to the West. They may be building modern cities, driving cars in ever greater numbers and using modern technologies. In other ways things are not the same. How an antitrust probe is being conducted is proof positive of that.

You would think market forces would bring car prices to a fair level but it seems not. Brand spare parts can be heavily overpriced

Hyundai Sales By Model : 2010-13

As things got better for the world economy, Hyundai took full advantage. Sales raced away with some startling results for some models.


The Avante/Elantra benefited over the period 10-13 by it's US facility ramping up production. Second placed Verna/Accent was especially helped by production in Russia from 2011 and Brazil 12/13. The i35/Tuscon was helped by gains in China and Czech Republic

Finland Top 4 Brands : 1980-89

The popular Nissan Cherry


Finland became more settled with the top 4 brands in the 1980's. Sales rose consistently through the decade, starting from 103,100 in 198 to 176,800 in 1989. There was an increase in every year except a slight drop in 1983.

Two Japanese brands took turns at the top, no doubt reliability a major factor in a harsh climate. GM Opel took over from Ford as the US

Top 10 Models/Brands Belgium: 2003

Distinctive rear end I must say. Like Beyonce.

In 2003, this was a French car paradise. With a strong French speaking community I assume playing a part, six of the top eight models were from that nation. The Megane II was European car of the year in 2003.

Second placed 206 was five years old by this time but still selling strongly. The 2002 car of the year - the 307 - came in third.



The

Hyundai Sales By Model : 2006-09

The i30 was made in Korea, China and the Czech Rep at this time


Hyundai continued its march up world sales charts despite the world's economic woes. More models was a big reason with the i10 and i20. A push into China with the Elantra saw production for that model go from 120,700 in 2007 to 411,100 by 2009. It's total share of Hyundai car/SUV sales went from 18 to 26%. The figures below are

Finland Top 4 Brands : 1970-79

The Fiat 127 was popular in Europe


Without a home brand, things are often more fluid. This is certainly he case with Finland with four top brands in the ten years considered here. Fiat was never below second over this decade, but otherwise it was in constant flux.

In 1973, 118,000 cars were bought which was the best year. Way back then Nissan was Datsun and that marque was top by 1979.

Hyundai Sales By Model : 2001-05

The Elantra (Avante) from 2004


When I first saw Hyundai's sales data, I didn't even try to decipher it. It made me wonder why put such historical data out in some detail, then present it awkwardly. Did they not want people to analyse it? Eventually I gave in and simplified it. At time though, I wondered why I had started, but finally got there. The next thing was to present it here. I decided

Trade Deals vs Protected Markets

There are some car producing nations that allow imports in with low or no restrictions. There are others that protect their domestic industry with high tariffs. Which is better? Well it depends on the size of the country but let's look at a few examples.

Australia: For years it had duty to protect a car industry based around large cars. Relatively low volumes and high manufacturing costs were

Vehicle Production USA By Make : 2013

Car production rose strongly in the USA for the year of 2013. Honda did especially well with the Civic while Hyundai had a sizable increase in Elantra production. Mazda and Mitsubishi dropped out of car making in the States and Tesla arrived with a bang.

Utility vehicles were the better performing, especially if you take out large trucks which seemed not to do well. Ram did well for Chrysler and

Sweden Top 4 Brands : 2000-13

The Volvo S/V60 was the 3rd best selling car in 2013


Generally, the top 4 share of the market has dropped in most nations in recent years. It hasn't in Sweden and it seems maybe VW's closing in on Volvo has been the reason. Will VW ever be the top brand in this country? It's hard to say but the home make will have to fight hard to fend them off.

Audi has effectively replaced the virtually

Vehicle Production Brazil By Make : 2013

The Gol sells well in Brazil...




Brazil is viewed as a land of promise for car makers. Car production increased a modest 5%, while commercial vehicles jumped 23%. As there are tariffs on imported vehicles from most nations, local car plants are essential to have any meaningful sales penetration. Because most of the production is for the domestic market, volumes by maker are quite uniform.