Car/LCV Sales Russia By Brand : 2001-04

Sales data for Russia today is quite accessible but go back to this time and it is not so much. In fact prior to 2001, I don't have much at all. There are many readers from Russia that come to this blog so if anyone from that region can let me know where I can find older sales statistics, please drop me an email rdc1234@gmail.com.

Lada was totally dominant back then with Western makes just

Have Some Fun

I recall some years back doing some work for a company that had a boss from Germany. I noticed the staff at the company seemed a bit fearful of him because he could get very angry if things were not done his way. The following comparison is between what I saw of this man and VW.

I wasn't an employee but in my work there I made a decision that got him angry and he really yelled at me. A short

Mature Market Vehicle Production : Japan

Japan is seen as an industrial miracle of post war years. They set about systematically improving their products and searching for markets to sell in. They cooperated in a way the west would think was uncompetitive. It worked and Japan became a leading car making country.

As volumes reached numbers that could lead to a consumer backlash overseas, they set up factories to avoid that. If

Car Sales France By Brand : 2010-14

The Nissan Qashqai has sold well in France


The car market in France has been subdues for the last few years. Seeing as the big three French car makers rely so heavily on local support, it has hit them. Added to that they have collectively slipped just below 50% of total sales. Renault had 40% of sales in 1980, 30% in 1994 and now under 20%. That has been a common pattern for many top selling

Denmark Car Sales By Brand : 1985-89

The Opel Kadet was part of the successful GM range at the time

I am unsure why car sales fell so much in in Denmark during the late 1980's  but I assume it was because of government intervention in the form of taxes. This would have helped the balance of payments which is something that Denmark always has to wrestle with. If I am correct, then the high taxation of cars worked.

GM Opel led for

Mature Market Vehicle Production : Italy

The 127 model, when Fiat made desirable, fun cars


Italy is known for design and flair. It has injected these qualities into its cars, well most of the time. No one always gets it right. Looking at the Italian car industry is a lesson in how to do things and and how not do them as well.

As Europe picked itself up from the horrendous events of mid-century, car making was soon a major part of

The Giant Awakens From A Nap

The Camry is such a conservative car, I fell asleep looking at it. 
Toyota can do better


Toyota was driven to be number one and achieved that for the first time in 2008. For 2011, GM temporarily took the mantle back when Toyota faced some challenging problems. Toyota then took it back but realised it had become distracted by the goal to be at the top. Reliability for one thing suffered and

Car Sales France By Brand : 2005-09

Dacia is finding its way nicely around France


French brands still dominate but there was a drop in their share from 58 to 54%, still an amazing amount. Ford and GM took different directions as Ford had a strong run but not Opel. Toyota had a roller coaster ride as it went up but fell back to where it started. Fiat clawed back what it had been losing in recent times, while French owned Dacia

Mature Market Vehicle Production : Australia

A fair dinkum ute, for anyone who hasn't seen one


Figures vary with sources so what is exact data is unknown. However, what I have is close and gives an accurate picture. It shows how the industry has gone down. The volumes were good by 1960 standards but didn't kick on. It was based around large cars which were suited to a big country. Some factors then went against it.

First, exports were

Car Sales France By Brand : 2000-04

The 2004 Citroën Xsara Picasso


Sales were very consistent through this period, with the 2 million mark being passed in each year. The top three French brands held just under 60% of all sales, which was very high. VW had a poor run at this time and perhaps it needed help with it diesel engines but help was on its way (tongue in cheek). Fiat had a poor few years as did Rover which was running

Mature Market Vehicle Production : Belgium

The Volvo XC60 is made in Belgium


Belgium is a nation that has no car brands of its own but still a sizable industry...well it did. The chart below shows that over a million vehicles were often assembled in a year. However, with the departure of SEAT, VW and GM, volumes weren't the same. Ford has now left too, meaning that for 2015 only Volvo and Audi cars will still be made there. Some

Jaguar Sales By Nation: Jan-Sep 2015 (Exclusive)

Jaguar is about to grow rapidly in sales. The XE is arriving in a dealer near you or will soon. The new XF is at hand as is the all new F-Pace crossover. Things are moving swiftly. I all of that the UK is having a strong run of sales, now accounting for about 30% of sales, although sales fall off at the end of the year in Britain so the final 2015 result will be a bit lower than that.

The US is

Car Sales France By Brand : 1995-99

Toyota had a good period in France


Through this period, the three French brands maintained a strong share of the market, for the period a combined 59, 56, 56, 57 and 57%. Below them VW established itself in 4th, overtaking the two US makes. Mercedes Benz did well too, getting into the top 10. Toyota had a great period but not so Nissan. MG Rover was now in decline but Land Rover and Jaguar

Car Sales France By Brand : 1990-94

Rover cars went well in France at the time.


The economy at this time was struggling and car sales reflected that. Despite Renault sale dropping, it did manage to gain market share, while Peugeot was slipping. Fortunes varied between brands. VW had a poor run while Rover was doing remarkably well. Nissan increased by about 50% but Toyota slipped slightly. Mazda lost over half its sales during

Mature Market Vehicle Production : Canada

228,000 Rav4 trucks were made in Canada during 2014


Many within Canada believe the domestic car industry will be lost. Recently Toyota decided to move Corolla production to Mexico and replace it with a higher value vehicle. The fact that Toyota will continue manufacturing pacifies no one. What they don't get is that higher priced cars can be made in Western nations and be profitable. So has

Mature Western Nations & Car Making

Historically, most cars were made and sold in what we would call the Western world. Sales have more recently been down in this area of the world while the growth has been elsewhere. Car production is moving that way too. What are some reasons?

Wage costs are lower in non-Western lands. Mainstream cars are price sensitive, especially small ones. Lower remuneration helps the bottom line. Even

Car Sales France By Brand : 1985-89

The Renault Clio on a rainy day. Sold really well 


Sales grew storngly in France through this period. Both Renault and Peugeot had slight market gains but Citroën was down and Talbot went altogether. Some makes did really well while others didn't seem to benefit from the buying spree. All the Japanese brands struggled to make headway.

One brand I noticed was Ebro, a Spanish company that made

VW Passat vs Mazda 6

Head to head comparisons are popular. I know when I see one in a magazine or web page I like to find out who won. The thing is that it is just an opinion and not necessarily an unbiased one either. We are all prone to that and car testers are as much as the average motorist, if not more. They may feel the pressure that a negative review will bring from a car company.



The swooping styling is

Car Sales France By Brand : 1980-84

In the early 1980's sales were growing in france, until 1984 when they hit a speed bump. This was due to government introducing measures to curb increasing external debt. Car sales dropped nearly 13% that year, although Renault did worse with a 23% fall. Reggie had 40.5% share in 1980 but only 31% in 1984. On the other hand, Peugeot had lifted its slice of the pie from 15.7% to 18.1% in the

Car Sales France By Brand (Local) : 1974-79

The Simca/Chrysler/Talbot Horizon  


I would have liked to add more brands but as what I had was inconsistent, I went with what is basically French brands and 'Others' which is foreign makes. I may add more detail if I can find yearly figures for other brands.

Renault was well ahead back then with about a third of all French sales, easily outselling all imported brands combined. Peugeot

UK Car Industry: Summary

The Land Rover Discovery Sport


The UK is running up huge trade deficits and it looks to the car industry to try rectify that. It particularly fares badly in the trade imbalance with Germany, the largest supplier of cars to Britain. Without being too scientific and detailed, I looked at the volume of production both for cars and engines, unit value per car and R&D. The results of all the top

VW Group Fallout

A nice, clean family being sold a dirty diesel


VW's slogan is "Das Auto", or "The Car". A car that some feel cheated over, because they were spending their 'hard earned' on a promise that turned out to be a lie. Audi's slogan is "Vorsprung Durch Technik", meaning "Advancement Through Technology". No one knew - outside of VW - that the advancement was through cheating tests.

A brand name is

UK Car Industry: #8 & Below

Below the volume car makers come numerous car companies. I will address some of these that have some size worth noting.



Oh, I think I'll have the red one thanks


Bentley. 10,600 cars made is good volume. They are also in the super luxury class so contribute well beyond the unit figures suggest. Design work is done at Crewe and all the engines are made there too.

Production share (car) of the

UK Car Industry: Jaguar #7

Jaguar only made a medium and large car plus a large sports car. That was it. There was a ceiling to that range that would keep Jaguar in the boutique size of car maker. Hard to be profitable doing 75,000 p.a even in the premium quality range. Something had to be done.

The XE was the first answer and it is doing the business already. Motoring scribes are already saying that it is a great