Best Selling Cars Around The Globe: My 50 Questions For 2013
Now that the Top 150 most popular vehicles around the globe are out of the way and 2013 has finally arrived, I thought I would ask 50 questions for this New Year… If you know the answer please feel free to comment! And also post yours…
Can’t be bothered about the New Year and wish you were in 2012 still? That’s fine, you can check out the best-selling cars in 2012 in 171 countries and territories in my blog. Yes. That many.
Back to my questions…
And the first one is:
1. Will Chery crack Europe with the Qoros GQ3?
2. Will the Hyundai HB20 or Chevrolet Onix threaten the VW Gol’s supremacy in Brazil?
3. Which Passenger Car will top the Chinese year-end ranking?
4. Will General Motors, Toyota, Hyundai or any other major manufacturer announce the creation of a low-cost brand outside China? Will Nissan unveil a low-cost Datsun range as planned?
5. Will the new BYD F3 and Chery QQ make 2013 the year of the renaissance for local models in China?
6. Will Kaili, Volkswagen’s low-cost Chinese brand, finally be launched? If so will it be more successful than GM’s Baojun? Nissan’s Venucia? Honda’s Linian? Ciimo?
7. Will the Mokka and Adam help Opel towards recovery?
8. Will a BMW or Mercedes break into the UK year-end Top 5 for the first time?
9. Will the Renault Duster break into the monthly Top 5 in Russia? India?
10. Will the Dacia Dokker dominate the French LCV market, the biggest in Europe?
11. Will the Nissan Altima or Honda Civic threaten the Toyota Camry for the Passenger Car crown in the US?
12. Will the new generation Chevy Silverado threaten the Ford F-Series in the US?
13. Will the Ford Focus pass the Toyota Corolla to become the world’s best selling car at year-end?
14. Will Great Wall succeed in the UK? Will it launch in another major European market?
15. Which of the Peugeot 208 or Renault Clio IV will finish the year #1 in France? Will they top another European country or will their success be restricted to their home country? Check out my forecast for the 2013 France models ranking here.
16. Will the VW Golf be threatened by anyone in Europe? Clio? 208? Fiesta? How many countries will it dominate?
17. Will Italy, Greece, Portugal, Croatia and Spain fall further into recession?
18. Will Europe stagnate or decline?
19. Will Peugeot/Citroen survive? Will Opel survive? Will the GM/PSA alliance thrive? Will Honda merge with another carmaker?
20. Will the Toyota Corolla top the Australian year-end ranking for the first time? Check out my forecast for the 2013 Australian models ranking here.
21. Will Indonesia and Thailand continue their explosive growth?
22. Which markets will be the 10 engines of growth?
23. Will the VW Up! go further up and reach the German/European Top 10?
24. Will the Peugeot 2008 and Renault Captur succeed or flop?
25. Will Mercedes, BMW and Audi continue their implacable growth in Europe?
26. Which of Mercedes, BMW or Audi will be the #1 premium brand in the world?
27. Will PSA end up selling its Peugeot 301 and Citroen C-Elysée in Western Europe to avoid grey market imports like Renault had to do with the Dacia Logan?
28. Will the new Mercedes A-Class beat the BMW 1 Series and Audi A3 in Europe?
29. Will Hyundai reach 10% of the Brazilian market as planned?
30. Will Russia become the #1 car market in Europe, passing Germany?
31. Will the Nissan Qashqai finish the year in pole position in Spain?
32. Will Renault launch the Lodgy in Indonesia? The Dokker? A no-frills Modus? – just my suggestions
33. Will the 500L, 500X and 500XL get Fiat back on its feet in Europe?
34. Will the new generation Jetta and Santana be more successful than their predecessors in China?
35. Will Renault sell more cars in Brazil than in France?
36. Will the 2nd generation Dacia/Renault Sandero-Logan be more successful than the first?
37. Will the Skoda Rapid replace the Octavia in pole position in Czech Republic? Slovakia? Poland? Ukraine? Hungary?
38. Will the all-new Skoda Octavia beat the all-new VW Golf in Switzerland?
39. Will Great Wall place one of its locally-produced models #1 in Bulgaria?
40. Will Chinese manufacturers continue their worldwide expansion and open more plants in new countries?
41. Will Hyundai pass Toyota in Africa? Will it continue to grow as fast in Europe? Worldwide?
42. Will Toyota stay #1 in the world?
43. Will the Volvo V40 rank on the Swedish podium at year-end?
44. Will the new Holden Commodore stabilise the nameplate’s sales in Australia?
45. Will Mazda sell more cars in Australia than in Japan?
Honda N-One
46. Will Honda sell the N-One in Europe?
47. Will the Maserati Kubang finally go on sale? Please?
48. Will Kia place one model in the worldwide Top 10?
49. Will the Hyundai Santa Fe break into the monthly US Top 20? Top 10?
50. Which from the US or China will gain more ground?
And these were my 50 questions for 2013.
What are yours?
Let’s reconvene on January 1, 2014 for all the answers…
Matt Gasnier, based in Sydney, Australia, runs a blog named Best Selling Cars, dedicated to counting cars all over the world.
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26. Which of Mercedes, BMW or Audi will be the #1 premium brand in the world? All three are chasing volume now. How much longer will they be considered "premium" brands?
"44. Will the new Holden Commodore stabilise the nameplate’s sales in Australia?" No. Firstly, and less importantly, it isn't really new. Far more important is the general trend of sales of D/E segment sedans against time, it is an unstoppable downward trend, with a lot further to go yet. The same trend has already been seen and gone to its conclusion in the USA. Thirdly, the competition from overseas will continue to take advantage of Australia's ludicrous exchange rate (as they should). If Charlie Chucklehead wants to pay a 20% premium for his car that is his right, but at some point he's going to be thinking he's been taken for a ride. There is a fourth reason but I don't want to make the fanbois here cry.