Car Production France By Brand : 2013

The Toyota Yaris is made in France


In France car making has needed to rationalise to survive. To prop up a business with discounting in order to keep up volume looks good on paper. However, when the bottom line is being eroded or into red ink territory then something has to be done. That means building cars people want, then sticking to a price that makes money.

In France due to all sorts of

Volvo V40 CC D4 vs Mercedes GLA 200 CDi

Premium compact SUVs are catching on. Many want the versatility that they offer combined with a little class, at the expense of value for money. Still the prestige of the badge is worth it, they tell me. These two were put head to head in the NZ Autocar magazine, so what did they find. First to summarise the combatants.

V40 Cross Country D4. NZ$63,000. 2L 4 cyl diesel, 6 speed auto.

GLA 200 CDi

VW Brand Car Production By Model : 1990-99

Going back to the 1990's shows how much brands can change in not that many years. They can also have regional differences that we are not aware of. Both of these scenarios apply to the VW brand of car sales. We will go through the models one by one with some explanation.

1) Golf. This model has been around since 1974, now up to the 7th generation. It replaced the original Beetle but the latter

Scotland Top 20 Models : 2000-13

The Vauxhall Corsa has been top in Scotland every year since 2007


Scotland has its own car society, and the accompanying chart below is available from the Scottish Government website. It show sales for the top 20 models. So what has taken place north of the border in the 21st century?

French models seem to be the major, consistent losers. Renault gave up discounting too much and went more

West European Car Production By Nation: 1990-2013

Since 1990, global car making has grown but not in Western Europe. Car sales for the region are fairly flat these days, so that doesn't help. Some production has moved to lower wage Central and Eastern Europe too. The massive uptake of car ownership in places such as China, India and Brazil has been met by local production. So Western Europe, the birthplace of cars and long a major car making

Greece Top 4 Brands : 2000-13

Toyota Yaris 

While Greece grew quite strongly economically from 2000 to 2007, car sales remained between 260-290,000 sales per annum. When the crisis hit in 2008 that all changed. Problems with government debt and weakness with the economy hit the nation hard as we all know. Now car sales were in free fall, only levelling off in 2012 and 2013 just under the 60,000 mark. That is a slump of

Ecuador Vehicle Sales By Brand : 2013

The capital city Quito


Ecuador means equator in Spanish which is where it is located and it has around 15 million people. It seems to be doing well economically, so car sales are quite robust, although down over the past few years. Petroleum is a major source of revenue and export earner. Bananas, flowers and cocoa among other produce is exported.



The Chevrolet Aveo

Like many Latin

Greece Top 4 Brands : 1990-99

Toyota had a great decade in Greece


The unpredictable sales continued in Greece through the 1990's, with only Toyota and Fiat represented every year. The top four occasionally had less than a third of the sales at times, not common in car markets. Despite all the movement, only three brands held the top spot in this decade.

In 1990, 115,300 cars were sold, but in two years it was up to

Lancia Production By Model 1994-2013

The Ypsilon model needs broad shoulders


If Alfa Romeo have had problems, spare a thought for Lancia. The once proud marque has also suffered from lack of investment. This year it was decided that the brand would only be sold in Italy and rebadging Chrysler models as Lancias would cease. Only the Ypsilon will continue and one has to wonder about what happens when the exisiting model reaches

Car Ideas That Inexplicably Never Made It

Even the best of ideas can fail. Below are some classic examples of failures in the automotive world that cannot easily be explained.



For the extrovert. Be seen arriving.




Minimalist. Not sure mad scientist look works though.




I think used to get to an island at low tide in the UK. Huge potential




Excellent visibility. Just avoid gravel roads.




Weigh anchor me hearty. Fantastic.

Alfa Romeo Production By Model 1994-2013

This data is not available anywhere else in its scope that I know of. It covers 19 years (20 when I can get 2013 data). I have not got into Italian production history before but have been going through data to put it together. All AR cars below were made in Italy. Now for a brief description.

Giulietta/147/146/145/33: This small car range for AR starts in the chart below with the 33 which ended

Jaguar XE Coming Soon

There are already articles out there about the car, the likely engines, it's lightness etc. I am sure it will be a nice drive. The thing is many car journalists will take it for a spin around a test track when it is available early next year for evaluation. They will then tell you if it is as good as the opposition.

I hate to say this but that shows you how you shouldn't take any note of them.

Greece Top 4 Brands : 1980-89

The 1980 Datsun Sunny. The brand was dominant in 1980 Greece.


Total sales were up and down in the 1980's. From 35,700 in 1990 it went to 80,000 in 1982. Another low was 1987 with 50,500 but 1989 was up to 85,600. Brands changed places with a regularity rarely seen. Nissan was the only solid performer through the decade. Fiat started on second, fell away to 15th in '84 and back to 3rd by

Volvo Worldwide Sales By Model : 2000-13

Volvo have put much into making their cars as safe as possible. They were also known as making boxy looking cars. They have kept with the safety and moved toward more rounded, stylish vehicles. Has it worked? Sales over this period have not moved much while the German competition has.

A major reason for this is Volvo didn't get much penetration in China. It is now fixing that quickly with new

Hyundai Worldwide Car Sales By Model : 1994-2013

This is a lot of data, but I decided to put it into one blog. Here are the brief descriptions below. The chart shows sales in hundreds.

Avante/Elantra/Stellar: These compact car models make up the best selling of the brand over these years.



Hyundai have come a long way since the Stellar


Verna/Accent/Excel: Another important model for Hyundai, a subcompact sized vehicle.

i40/Sonata/Marcia: