The UK new car market was up a strong 14.8 percent in April.
UK’s SMMT says that April registrations stood at 163,357 units, and that registrations in the first four months of 2013 grew 8.9 percent to 768,555 units. However, even the SMMT warns not to read too much into this. Read More >
Canadians registered just under 172,000 new vehicles in April, more than in any April since 2008. Through the first quarter of 2013, auto sales in Canada were down 1.9%. Imports, by which we mean non-Detroit brands, were suffering the most. Including Toyota, Hyundai, Honda, and Kia, nine Asian brands had posted year-over-year declines at the end of March.
One of the bigger stories of 2013 has so far managed to escape the news cycle. I’m not exactly sure why Nissan’s announcement of significant reductions on the MSRP of new cars hasn’t gotten more coverage, but I’m also not 100 percent sure of Nissan’s motives either.
Germany’s new car sales were up 3.8 percent in April, says Germany’s Kraftfahrtbundesamt. This is the first time in nearly a year that German car sales were in plus territory. In France, an April loss of 5.2 percent already was feted as the turn-around. Has the European bottom been reached? I don’t think so. Read More >
Soon after TTAC’s article on General Motors’ new model make over, the naysayers were out in force. Commenter jpolicke for example suggested selling GM stock if its future relied on engineering coming from South Korea. However, signs abound that this time around GM is finding its way. Let’s examine some of the pros and cons:
We already thought Bloomberg might have abandoned its monthly analyst poll. We could not find one for March, and finally found one for April – after a lot of looking. It would have been a shame if the table would have gone AWOL. This month, the race was extremely tight, and most analysts – at least the ones who had the guts to make forecasts for the D3 and not just for the SAAR – came very close to the actuals. Read More >
The situation in Europe is so desperate that a 5.2 percent drop of French car sales in April gave reason to rejoice. “The plunge seems to be halting after the double-digit declines of previous months,” Francois Roudier, spokesman of the French CCFA industry association, told Reuters. Read More >
This is the list of America’s best-selling car in the month of April and in the first four months of the year, as compiled by Reuters. Read More >
April is Detroit month. Strong sales of pickups and crossovers bring double digit gains to Detroit while other brands lag. Final table, courtesy of Automotive New [sub]. Read More >
The Lincoln MKZ has come in for a fair amount of abuse from the automotive press, particularly here at TTAC. The Cadillac ATS, on the other hand, has the press literally doing flips.
In April of 2013, however, the American consumer chose the MKFusion LOLZ Edition over the Autobahn-bred Cadillac CTS. And the American consumer chose the Steer-The-Script-Disaster-Chunky-Butt-Mobile over the even more sporty and awesome cancer-curing ATS.
Luckily, the two Cadillacs together managed to outsell the MKZ. By a little bit.
What’s this mean?
April sales in Japan were up 1.5 percent in April, with sales of kei cars lagging behind resurging regular cars while imports surprise. Read More >
Detroit delivers on the double digit growth rates predicted by auto analysts for April.
TTAC has learned that the Ford has delayed the new full-size Transit van until Model Year 2015. This leaves Ford without a next generation full-size van to compete against the updated Sprinter and the Fiat-based Ram Promaster.
Jac Nasser, the former head of Ford, is warning that Australia’s car industry has passed the point of no return, and expects to see it die within the next few years.
When automakers report U.S. April sales tomorrow, they will be up strongly for the sixth month in a row. The U.S. auto industry’s annual selling rate will be 15.25 million vehicles in April, according to economists polled by Thomson Reuters. Here is why: Read More >
Recent Comments
TMA1 - Well they’re bringing the 320 to America – maybe the 2-series equivalent is on its way.
Junebug - Wow, great story!
Luke42 - Bland cats for a bland lifestyle. Hey, I resemble that remark! :-)
smartascii - “…a pogo-stick ride, an infotainment system from the last decade and interior materials that are “good from far, but far from good”....
Doug DeMuro - This was me and I’m glad you remember it because I found that bit of writing particularly brilliant, namely because it was 100 percent...
danio3834 - “In Canada the best selling mid size, so far this year, is the Ford Fusion.” Definitely. You see a lot more 200s and Fusions in...
Doug DeMuro - slance66 – personally, I find it better, but that’s off-point. You’re forgetting the major aspect where it’s NOT worse,...
TMA1 - Every time I see this car pictured, I think, “the new MX-5!” Why is the center console sooooo wide? It’s intruding into the driver’s legspace...
SV - I wonder how Derek managed to get into Ford and see the new Mustang before everyone else. Since, you know, that’s the only way his statement has...
Eric - Precisely. Jag did not build this car to win car-mag shootouts.