Not content with being the best selling compact car and third best selling passenger car in the United States, the Honda Civic is not only Canada’s best selling car for 2012, but it absolutely crushed the competition – outselling the #2 Hyundai Elantra and #3 Toyota Corolla combined.

Both of those cars mustered only 4736 units, while the Civic sold 4928 units – and that’s without the year-end blowout lease specials where Honda offered a $0 down, 48 month lease at 0.9 percent interest, allowing punters to walk away with a Civic LX sedan for $199 a month. Of the top 10 cars offered for sale, 9 were compacts, with the Toyota Camry being the sole mid-sized offering. Let’s see what happens when the Elantra GT and Elantra Coupe go on sale – as it is now, 20 percent of Elantra’s sold are Elantra Touring models.

Fans of the station wagon rejoice – Chevrolet has a new product for those of you seeking an alternative to the Volkswagen Jetta SportWagen, in the form of the Chevrolet Cruze station wagon.

While Europe and Australia will get this vehicle, Americans will be shut out, as Chevrolet has officially denied that we’ll get the Cruze station wagon. The same 1.4 turbo, 1.6 and 1.8L gasoline engines and 1.7 and 2.0L diesel engines will carry over from the sedan and hatchback, as well as Chevrolet’s MyLink infotainment system. At 184 inches long, the Cruze wagon is about three inches longer than the sedan (and 7 inches longer than the hatchback that we also don’t get) while offering 17.6 cubic feet of cargo room with the seats up and 52 with the seats down. Look for the official real at the Geneva Auto Show in early March.

Subtract two doors and a back seat from the Kia Soul and add a 250 horsepower and all-wheel drive and you have the Kia Track’ster concept. The initial sketches of the Track’ster were pretty underwhelming, but this car looks much better in photographs. A one inch longer wheelbase and a Brembo brake system with 14 inch rotors up front, 13.6 inches in the back and a combination of 6 and 4 piston brake calipers (front and rear) add to the Track’ster’s spec sheet. Instead of the rear seats, there’s a compartment for spare tires and safety gear like helmets.

Hang on to your hairplugs. The 2013 Ford Shelby GT500 has the same 650 horsepower supercharged 5.8L V8 making 600 lb-ft of torque. But unlike the 200 mph coupe, the ‘vert will only top out at 155 mph. The vert does get 6-piston Brembo brakes, a carbon fiber driveshaft, an upgraded clutch, electronically adjustable Bilstein shocks and a Motley Crue Greatest Hits CD in the Shaker audio system.

The 2013 GMC Acadia gets a pretty mild update, with cosmetic changes playing the biggest role here. A new “center airbag”, which inflates via the right side of the driver’s seat (to protect passengers from an opposite-side impact) is also featured. The two changes are not quite the major redesign that was expected. We’ll have live shots later in the day.

New car sales in China imploded in January. This will be the message when the official data by the CAAM are announced. Which should happen any minute.

The signs are ominous: Yesterday, GM China, TTAC’s in-house leading indicator, announced (in a way) that sales in January had been down by 8 percent. Then, China’s largest carmaker SAIC said that its January was down 8.5 percent. Today, the China Passenger Car Association told China Daily that the car market in China had nosedived16.5 percent from a year earlier to 1.17 million units in January. Late in the afternoon in Yokohama at Nissan’s quarterly earnings conference, Nissan’s Corporate Vice President, Joji Tagawa proudly pronounced that Nissan sales “declined only 16 percent” in China, while the Chinese car market as a whole registered “a negative 28 percent,” and isn’t that wonderful?

Whoa!!!! What’s going on?

Is the sky over China finally falling? It sure looks like it. Unless you are one of the 1.3+ billion chosen few who own a Chinese calendar. Then you would know that for the better part of January, China was closed.

It happens every year. A phenomenon called Chinese New Year causes hundreds of millions to travel, to set off fireworks, and to paralyze commerce for weeks on end. Officially, Chinese New Year started on January 2012 and lasted a week. Unofficially, it can last a month. Picture Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, Hanukkah and Ramadan all rolled into one, and you’d be covering only a tiny part of what is Chinese New Year.

Now comes the really interesting part: Last year, Chinese New Year fell into February. With the result that February 2011 was a dud, car-wise, after January had been stellar.  This time around, we compare an emaciated January with a prior year January on steroids. Next month, it will be different, when sales will be compared to the dud month in the prior year. Which causes Rao Da, secretary-general of the passenger car association to glibly remark that he expects an increase of around 30 percent in February.

All I can recommend: Ignore any numbers coming from China in January or February, especially percentages.

Fisker Automotive has laid off a total of 66 people, including 20 at a former GM plant in Delaware, and another 40 contractors in California. The layoffs come as Fisker attempts to re-negotiate loans from the Department of Energy that were contingent on Fisker meeting sales targets for its Karma sedan, which Fisker failed to do.

While the DOE loaned Fisker $509 million, Fisker has only $193 million so far. The money was earmarked to help engineer a new vehicle, dubbed the Nina. Fisker had hoped to employ 2,000 people at the Delaware plant. The Karma has been hampered by a series of delays and false starts, leading to speculation that the project was little more than vaporware. Fisker is also pursuing private equity financing in lieu of government loans.

The Volkswagen Phaeton is supposed to be the definition of understated refinement, a Patek Calatrava in a world gone mad for Hublot Big Bangs. Someone in Toronto, Canada didn’t get the memo.

Sporting some truly awful accouterments, like a black-accented hood, Canadian Tire-spec 20″ alloys and a home-brew red brake caliper paintjob, the Phaeton would be nothing more than a tacky oddity if it weren’t for the fact that it’s, well…a Phaeton. Poorly modified luxury cars are nothing new, but a Phaeton is absolutely bizarre given its discretion and bloated-Passat looks. In a world all about image, this would be the last choice for the kind of underclass yob that modifies 4-door sedans in this style.

What possesses someone to buy a Phaeton with the intention of making it look like a Yardie drug dealer’s 1994 Acura Vigor? With 77,000 miles and an asking price of $19,000, this Phaeton would be a good deal if it were a clean, one-owner car not being sold at a sketchy “Buy Here, Pay Here” lot in one of Toronto’s crappier neighborhoods.

The small crossover segment is heating up, with the Honda CR-V, Ford Escape and Mazda CX-5 squaring off as this year’s new entrants in an already crowded field. Starting at $20,695, the CX-5 will get class leading fuel economy numbers of 26/35 mpg thanks to the SKYACTIV 2.0L 4-cylinder engine – and a 6-speed manual gearbox.

A 6-speed automatic and AWD will set you back another $1,400 and $1,250 respectively. The Touring model costs  $23,895 and $25,145 for FWD and AWD respectively while the Grand Touring runs $27,045 and $28,295 for the GT AWD. A Technology package, featuring items like in-dash TomTom navigation, pivoting HID headlights and rain-sensing wipers adds another $1,185 ($1,325 for the GT model, which also adds keyless entry) while a Bose stereo/moonroof package is $1,130. A destination charge of $795 is not included in the price.

The Honda Civic is moving up its planned refresh of the 2013 Civic to fall of 2012, after just over a year on the market. The confirmation came at a Honda dealer meeting, and the refresh will apparently go beyond just cosmetic changes inside and out.

Despite being panned by critics, sales of the Civic remain solid. The Civic was America’s third best selling car in January 2012 even with parts and inventory shortages related to natural disasters in Thailand and Japan, and the best selling compact car. While Honda sold “only” 221,000 Civics in 2011, the Chevrolet Cruze only managed to sell 231,700 cars, and the Corolla/Matrix, lumped together, moved 240,000. Critical favorites, like the Ford Focus, managed 175,000 (and 45 percent of Foci were sold to fleets anyways).

I’ve managed to book both an Si Sedan and an EX sedan for a week each in April. I’ll have a 2000 Civic and my grandma on hand to help evaluate just how good (or bad) the 2012 Civic is. But for Honda to restyle their crown jewel after roughly a year on the market suggests that something is amiss at the Big H, even if consumers don’t seem to care.

How do you say “grace, pace and space” in Mandarin? Jaguar Land Rover is apparently partnering with Chinese automaker Chery to build cars in China. While an announcement wont come until April’s Beijing Auto Show, the two companies have applied for permission from China’s regulators.

Jaguar Land Rover sales are up in China by 92 and 63 percent respectively, and the country is on pace to become one of the top 3 markets for both brands. Locally built cars would avoid hefty import duties and allow for extra supply. Some smaller displacement engines for Jaguar (such as the 2.2L diesel) will be necessary to help boost sales, and don’t be surprised if we see a crossover at some point in the future.

Fiat will delay the launch of a B-segment Jeep, designed to slot below the Compass and Patriot. Instead, the Fiat version of the car will take precedence and launch in 2013.

The rest of the world will have to wait until Q2 of 2014 for the new baby Jeep. The new Fiat will replace the Sedici, derived from the Suzuki SX4, which sold only 14,800 units in 2011. The baby Jeep will apparently be “Trail Rated” despite its effete underpinnings, and will share its platform with the Fiat 500L as well as the new Sedici replacement. Fiat is re-tooling their Mirafiori plant to build the vehicles, as the Sedici is currently built in Suzuki’s Hungarian factory.

Toyota announced its consolidated (i.e. including Daihatsu and Hino) 2012 sales plan today. It causes intensive head-scratching at other automakers, especially in Wolfsburg. Toyota plans to raise its 2012 global sales by a whopping 21 percent to 9.6 million.

In 2011, Toyota fell to place three behind GM and Volkswagen. In December, and  again a week ago, we opined that Toyota would probably shoot for anywhere between 9.4 and 9.6 million this year. Toyota shoots for the top range. Consolidated, Toyota budgets for an ambitious 30 percent gain in Japan, and an 18 percent increase elsewhere.

The 9.6 million budgeted by Toyota are more than the 9 million that earned GM its number one ranking in 2011. GM is not standing still either. GM would need only a 7 percent gain to retain its top spot – if Toyota delivers on plan.

It looks a little different for Volkswagen. Volkswagen reported 8.2 million for 2011. It could be 8.4 million if they end up adding trucks made by Scania and MAN. Volkswagen would have to increase its 2012 pace by 18 percent to beat an on-budget Toyota. That would be tough given that Volkswagen is heavy in Europe (expected to contract in 2012) and China (expected to go sideways or down in 2012.) Gains of the Volkswagen Group in 2011 were 14.3 percent.

This year, the race for the top spots should be quite interesting. Unless the sky falls somewhere, that is.

One month is far too premature to make any predictions about 2012′s sales race, but we still got our hands on the data, thanks to independent analyst Timothy Cain. As usual, the Ford F-Series and Toyota Camry were the top dogs.

The top 5 best-selling cars were the Camry, followed by the Nissan Altima and the critically panned Honda Civic. The Toyota Corolla and Chevrolet Impala rounded out the Top 5, though I’d bet my life on the vast majority of Impala sales being fleet-based (Cain claims that it’s impossible to get the data, but GM mysteriously stopped publishing it some time ago, once reports on the fleet/retail breakdowns were being published by analysts such as himself). Just missing the cut is the Chevrolet Cruze.

On the truck side (or shall we say, truck/utility) the F-Series, Chevrolet Silverado and Honda CR-V are atop the podium, followed by the Dodge Ram and the Ford Escape. The re-designed CR-V is evidently off to a strong start, and it will be interesting to see how buyers take to the 2013 Escape when it launches later this year.

Check out the full breakdown here

Some of the B&B doubted the veracity of early renderings, but it turns out they were accurate. This is the Fiat 500L, the car that’s supposed to boost Fiat sales here in the USA and carry on the legacy of the very unique looking Multipla. Despite carrying the “500″ moniker, the 500L, like the Multipla, is a B segment car.

The 500L uses the Fiat Punto’s platform and delivers what Fiat calls the “…feel of a small SUV on the road”. Conventional logic suggests that any sporting pretensions should be put to bed with that statement. Further buttressing the “function follows form” ethos is another quip stating  that the 500L is “…is a ‘first car’ for those who won’t settle for anything less than Italian style.”

So, does that mean that the 500L is a starter car for yuppies too proud to buy a Chevrolet Sonic? Fiat gave only vague plans for engines, but a TwinAir powerplant (not for American consumption) and a 1.4L Multiair engine were mentioned – hopefully it’s not the asthmatic naturally aspirated version. It’s still astounding to think that Europe will get a 7-seat version of this car, when it’s only a couple feet longer than a regular 500.

Kelley Blue Book was right when, a week ago, it predicted that 900,000 cars would be sold in January. It was 913,284, up 11 percent over January 2011. The SAAR, or seasonally adjusted average rate (= if the rest of the year would be as good as January, how much for the year?) climbed to 14.2 million. That blew all estimates and will become interesting when we analyze the analysts tomorrow.

GM saw its first minus since May last year. They said it’s because of a strong January 2011. Automotive News [sub] says that “a year ago, GM’s sales were aided by generous discounts.”

Chrysler (+44 percent), Mazda (+68%) and Volkswagen (+40 percent) surprised. BMW (+ 6 percent) and Mercedes (+ 23 percent) handed in their homework on time.

Data courtesy Automotive News [sub]

I may be the only auto journalist who hates the Cadillac CTS-V Wagon. Funny, because I like station wagons. And I like the CTS-V. A lot.

At the CTS Coupe launch in June of 2010, a Cadillac exec told me that only 5 were needed to be built to break even, making it effectively a wonderful bribe for journalists. Say nice things about GM products (and hell, maybe even bash the competition) and you can have one of these for a week. Or a year.

I’ve only seen one privately owned CTS-V Wagon ever. By comparison, I’ve seen three separate Mercedes R63 AMG wagons, a vehicle that could only be ordered, not purchased off the lot. It wasn’t long before even menswear fashion bloggers were driving this thing for a week, delivered to their door with a tank of gas and insurance provided. The world kept on buying Camrys. CTS sales were marginal.

Taking a page out of Cadillac’s PR playbook is Mercedes-Benz. A friend of mine uploaded the above Facebook photo – a brown E63 station wagon. The E63 wagon is a special order car. You cannot just walk in and buy one off the lot. The one pictured above is obviously a press car, so somebody at Mercedes PR knew exactly what they were doing – AMG customers, as a rule order their wares only in silver, black or white. So why brown? Simple, car geeks love brown. Liking brown cars gives you a weird, hipster-like status. Precisely because brown cars are considered repulsive to society at large, those who pledge allegiance to brown cars must be true enthusiasts to love such an obscure hue.

Our first review of the $111,665 Teutonic Turd (really, that’s what it looks like) comes from the world’s foremost expert on high performance  wagons. A cursory glance at the article suggests that the E63 wagon is awesome. I may be the only auto journalist to have never driven an AMG car at 10/10ths on an autocross course, but I do know that nightclub floozies from the Commonwealth of Independent States absolutely adore them.

While we at TTAC mock the idea of flying “social media influencers” on charter jets across the country, there’s actually a much cheaper way of bribing social maladroits to say nice things about your company – give them a press car that’s tailored to their geeky, self-satisfied sense of sophistication. Having manufacturers send ringers into the press fleet is nothing new, but tailoring press cars just to suit the tastes of a very small cadre of automotive autistics is something that hasn’t been seen before.

The broader issue here has nothing to do with ethics, or Motor Trend’s relevance, but the evolution of PR tactics in an age where someone with 1,000 Twitter followers (half of them bots for X-rated wbesites) can be considered someone of influence. Pandering to the automotive press used to mean sending call-girls up to their rooms on press trips. Now it means ordering a very narrow interest presser in the hopes that it pays dividends in future.

Is $111,665 really such a big sum to ensure some good press? Compared to the millions of dollars spent on advertising, marketing, PR and/or damage control when one of your execs is caught committing dipping into company funds for personal uses, or bribing 22 foreign governments it’s not such a big figure. Or maybe a drive in the E63 means that your products will get good press, your competitors will get slagged and all of that will help you capture some imaginary, arbitrary bragging rights?

I saw Dave Chapelle in 2007, right after his “breakdown”, and during the performance, he explained why he turned down Comedy Central’s $50,000,000 offer. Dave said that the execs wrote the check and then metaphorically “laid their dick across the table, over the money. To get the money, I’d have to grab their dick, lift it up, and take it.” We all know Dave didn’t take the money. But someone took the keys to the E63.

Even though it’s been revived more times than Pete Doherty, the Volkswagen Bluesport roadster is apparently back on track at the insistence of Uli Hackenberg, VW’s chief engineer.

Hackenberg feels that the upcoming Toyobaru twins and the Mazda MX-5 will fuel demand for more sports cars on the lower end of the market. While dealers felt that the market was too small to justify the Bluesport, Hackenberg feels that the demand has been artifically supressed due to a lack of options.

If Volkswagen does go ahead with the project, expect Audi or another subsidiary (SEAT? Skoda?) to market their own sports car using the platform. The big question is whether Porsche will go back on its word and create its own version, or cede the lower tier to its downmarket cousins.

The year starts on a high note, at least when you are Chrysler. Chrysler reports a jaw-dropping 44-percent gain in domestic auto sales. Also up: Volkswagen, up 48 percent to 27,209 vehicles. Nissan sales in the U.S. are up 10.4 percent to 79,313.

Ford is up 7 percent to 136,710 units, driven by record sales of the Focus. Analysts had expected between 8 and 9 percent.

GM’s sales are down 6 percent to 167,962 units. Cruze and Sonic helped lift Chevrolet’s sales by 13 percent.

By the end of the day, analysts expect the report to print a 6 percent total market gain for January.

Stay tuned for more reporting as the numbers roll in.

Panther fans, grab your heart medication. Cadillac and Lincoln will be unveiling their entrants into the livery car market next week at the International LCT show in Las Vegas, based on the front-drive Cadillac XTS sedan and Lincoln MKT crossover.

The “W20 Livery Sedan Package” appears to be a trim level on its own, with distinct extended wheelbase and sedan chassis variants offered later this year. The W20 looks like  comes loaded with every option available, including the Brembo brake package. Lincoln has previously shown their MKT livery car concept. For my money, nothing beats a nice Signature L. The full press release is below.

Cadillac, Premier Sponsor at 28th Annual International LCT Show Produced by LCT (Limousine, Charter and Tour) Magazine, Set to Debut New Livery Vehicle

LAS VEGAS, NV–(Marketwire – Jan 26, 2012) – Annual International LCT Show produced by Bobit Business Media, with media sponsor, LCT (Limousine, Charter and Tour) Magazine announced a Premier Sponsor, Cadillac, will debut new their newest livery vehicle during the event, taking place February 13-15 at the MGM Grand Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.

Cadillac jump-starts a changing limousine market with a long-awaited premier luxury sedan it hopes will catapult it ahead of longtime livery rival Lincoln. Once unveiled Feb. 13, the Cadillac XTS will go head-to-head with other luxury brand sedans in the industry. Buyers will need to choose between the multiple luxury sedan offerings and the crossover-styled MKT Town Car that Lincoln is showing.

While a successor to the former DTS/DeVille line of luxury sedans, the XTS heralds a revamped design that emphasizes a sportier, younger luxury image suffused with advanced technology and intuitive connectivity. “This new vehicle will help dispel some of the myths out there about Cadillac,” said Ray Bush, Cadillac Professional Vehicles Program Manager. “The Cadillac of old was from the standpoint of large, floaty vehicles. Cadillac has moved away from that with its new products launched over the last 10 years. The XTS will further that with outstanding ride characteristics that compare favorably with Cadillac vehicles of the past.”

Standard features include: illuminated door handles, push-button start, Brembo brakes, rear vision camera and obstacle detection, and OnStar. Optional features include: Navigation system; a Luxury Package with a memory driver’s seat, heated/cooled front seats and a premium audio system with surround sound; and a Rear Comfort package with heated seats, side-window and backlight sun shades and Tri-zone HVAC controls.

The XTS “W20 Livery Sedan Package” will be unveiled in the Cadillac booth at the International LCT Show, with the extended sedan and limousine chassis available later this year. Special pricing and incentives are expected be announced at the show as well. All vehicles for the chauffeured transportation industry are covered with PVPP extended warranty for 3 years or 150,000 miles, whichever comes first.

For more information on the International LCT Show, visit www.LCTSHOW.com.

An Egyptian sheikh has declared Chevrolet products “haram” (or forbidden, in Arabic) but the culprit this time isn’t the “Zionists”. It’s Christians.

According to the sheikh, the Chevrolet bowtie logo looks too similar to a cross. Egyptian TV presenter Amr Adeeb railed against the silly fatwa, noting the extreme, delusional narcissism of the sheikh by rhetoricallly asking

“As if the people who came up with the logo were thinking that we want to put this special logo on the car just to piss us [Muslims] off?”

Is it any surprise that the same religious authorities who condone flying jetliners into buildings think like petulant, narcissistic children? Apparently, the Chevrolet Cruze is a pretty bitchin’ car in the Gaza strip, and Saudi Arabia has gotten small-block Chevrolet Caprices (aka Holden Commodores) for years. If there are any Arabic speakers above familiar with the Egyptian dialect, feel free to translate Adeeb’s rant against the fatwa.

Over the past few weeks, I have taken you on trips through The Entire World (yep!), France, Germany and Czech Republic. This week we fly over to the Sultanate of Oman…

Now if sand, rocks, blue sky and very sugary candy are not your thing, I don’t believe you – but hey that’s fine because I have prepared 159 additional countries for you to visit in my blog, so don’t be shy and click away!

Oman consumers have decided: they will only buy one brand of cars…

…well almost.

168,789 new vehicles were registered in the Sultanate of Oman in 2011, that 61 per thousand inhabitants, compared to 41 in the USA.

For most of the year the Toyota Hilux was the best-selling model in the country, but a weak month of December due to Thai supply issues brought it down to #2 with 18,996 sales and 11.3 percent market share.

The massive Toyota Land Cruiser, an icon in the Persian Gulf region, finishes the year as the best-selling model in the Sultanate in 2011 with 19,444 units sold and 11.5 percent market share.

In third place we find a Toyota: the Land Cruiser Pick-up sells 13,896 units for a 8.2 percent market share

In 4th position is a… Toyota, the Prado at 6.3 percent,

The 5th best-selling model this year in Oman is a… Toyota, the Hiace at 3.8 percent. Did I mention Oman loves Toyota? No? That’s awkward because the #6 best-selling model is also a Toyota, the Corolla at 3.6 percent share…

… as well as the #7: the Camry at 2.9 percent.

Yes, you read it right! The 7 best-selling models in Oman in 2011 are all Toyotas! Talk about a love story…

But wait there are also non-Toyotas in the ranking: first of them is the Kia Cerato at #8 with 4,485 units and 2.7 percent but it is the Nissan Sunny (#9 at 2.3 percent) that reached the highest monthly ranking for a non-Toyota in Oman this year at #4 in December.

Notice also the Lexus LX at #13, bringing the Land Cruiser family’s market share in Oman to an insane 28 percent!

Oman 2011 Top 30

You can see the Oman 2011 Top 100 best-selling models Ranking here.

Now for the golden nugget so you can shine at posh dinners this year: Oman is one of four countries in the world with Bahrain, Qatar and possibly Somalia (my estimation on that last one) where the Toyota Land Cruiser is the best-selling model!

Over and out for this week!

Thanks for listening.

Matt Gasnier, based in Sydney, Australia, runs a blog named Best Selling Cars, dedicated to counting cars all over the world.

Starting in March, the Chevrolet Volt will be eligible to use the HOV lane on California highways. The catch? You have to buy a new Volt to use the carpool lane.

General Motors added a secondary air-injection pump to the Volt’s catalytic converter in order for the Volt to meet certain emission requirements. The Volt will also qualify for a further $1,500 in tax credits as well as the HOV lane sticker. Any Volts sold before the new package comes into effect are shut out, and GM has been strategically reducing allocation of the cars to prepare for the launch of the revised Volt.

With Audi offering an A4L in China, BMW naturally has to get in on the act. Now that a new, locally made 3-Series is debuting, BMW will offer a 335Li for customers who want to be driven, rather than drive the…erm…Ultimate Driving Machine.

The car will be made in collaboration with local joint venture partner Brilliance. The 335i was apparently an import in previous generation, but the 335i will be made locally. While the A4L starts at RMB272,800 (about $43,000 USD), pricing for an E90 3-Series (not the F30 pictured above) starts at RMB299,800 ($47,000 USD) all the way up to RMB626,200 ($99,000) for an imported 335i. Expect the new F30 cars to start below RMB300,000.

Ditching the codename of “Ellezero” Fiat has given their new crossover the anti-climactic “500L” nameplate. And while Europe will get a three-row version with 7 seats, Americans will get the five seater only.

Fiat thinks that North Americans won’t buy a 7-seater as small as the 500L – and they’re probably right. At a 23 inches longer, the 500L is about the size of a Mini Countryman. Power will likely come from the 1.4l MultiAir engine in North America, with Europe getting a TwinAir variant as well as a diesel. Based on the size of this car, the third row will be great for buckling your child’s stuffed animals in – humans need not apply.