The Truth About Cars » Top Ten

Europe’s Top Ten In May 2012

Bertel Schmitt — Fri, 22 Jun 2012 12:37:54 +0000

Europe’s car market is slowly swirling down the drain. Sales in May were down by 8.7 percent. Five months into the year, the market is down 7.7 percent.

Europe’s best-selling cars are impacted disproportionately. Eight out of ten suffered double-digit percentage losses. Only one car managed a slight increase in May.

Europe’s Top 10 Models, May 2012

Make & Model	May_12	May_11	% YoY	May YtD_12	May YtD_11	% YtD
VOLKSWAGEN GOLF	41,420	47,904	-13.5%	200,640	213,986	-6.2%
FORD FIESTA	28,611	32,660	-12.4%	145,616	163,033	-10.7%
OPEL CORSA	26,771	30,126	-11.1%	120,310	138,839	-13.3%
VOLKSWAGEN POLO	24,087	32,463	-25.8%	135,428	157,992	-14.3%
OPEL ASTRA	23,149	29,341	-21.1%	106,786	133,697	-20.1%
FORD FOCUS	22,611	26,983	-16.2%	117,247	119,662	-2.0%
RENAULT MEGANE	21,817	21,258	+2.6%	87,885	107,396	-18.2%
RENAULT CLIO	21,244	25,386	-16.3%	108,012	136,745	-21.0%
FIAT PANDA	19,300	19,402	-0.5%	84,890	91,688	-7.4%
VOLKSWAGEN PASSAT	17,836	23,902	-25.4%	89,635	99,744	-10.1%

According to data released by Yato Dynamics, Volkswagen’s Golf (-13.5%), and Ford’s Fiesta (12.4%) retain their first and second places, despite double digit losses. The only gainer is the Renault Megane. Up 2.6%, it managed a place in the Top 10.

Outside the Top Ten, Toyota Yaris, Audi A6 and Mercedes B-Class recorded significant increases in sales during May. New models such as the Volkswagen Up, Audi Q3 and Peugeot 208 also had solid sales last month.

Europe’s Top Ten Cars Euro-Trashed In April

Bertel Schmitt — Thu, 17 May 2012 09:08:01 +0000

Yesterday, we brought you the bad news about European auto sales in April. You are a gearhead, you don’t care about market share and percentiles, you care about cars! Here is how cars fared in Europe in April. Are you safely buckled-up?

Europe’s Top 10 Models, April 2012
Make & Model	Apr ’12	Apr ’11	YoY	YtD ’12	YtD ’11	YoY
VOLKSWAGEN GOLF	37,151	42,492	-12.60%	159,773	166,083	-3.80%
FORD FIESTA	25,927	28,444	-8.80%	117,108	130,305	-10.10%
VOLKSWAGEN POLO	24,193	31,476	-23.10%	111,615	125,529	-11.10%
RENAULT CLIO	20,604	22,336	-7.80%	86,946	111,359	-21.90%
OPEL/VAUXHALL CORSA	20,338	24,357	-16.50%	93,838	108,713	-13.70%
OPEL/VAUXHALL ASTRA	20,019	24,445	-18.10%	84,129	104,356	-19.40%
FORD FOCUS	19,677	21,008	-6.30%	94,547	92,679	2.00%
FIAT PANDA	17,268	16,724	3.30%	65,516	72,280	-9.40%
BMW SERIES 3	17,171	14,707	16.80%	53,928	53,001	1.70%
VOLKSWAGEN PASSAT	16,863	22,315	-24.40%	72,379	75,842	-4.60%

It’s a carnage in Europe’s Top Ten, brought to you by JATO Dynamics. Forget about the EU market tanking by 6.9 percent. If your name is Martin Winterkorn and your bread and butter models were euro-trashed by the double digits, then your white hair will turn a little whiter.

The performance of Opel’s supposed volume models also is no reason for joy. Ford’s offerings hang in there with the overall market.

As we get into the summer months, this is likely to get worse. Keep those belts on.

Chinese Revolution: BYD Bumps FAW

Bertel Schmitt — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 15:13:12 +0000

As my revered colleagues at China Car Times rightly remark, “March is the first full month of car sales after the Chinese New Year where the majority of dealerships are closed for around two weeks, thus stunting growth of that month, but March is always a very busy month with many customers flush with cash after the New Year.” That’s why everybody who knows the Chinese car industry has a sharp eye on the March numbers. And that’s why everybody gasped when total vehicle sales in China climbed 55.79 percent from March a year earlier. Something else happened. A revolution.

For the first time in recorded history, a privately held company removed a state-owned joint venture from the podium of China’s largest auto makers. And it wasn’t even a car maker. It was an alleged battery maker, BYD. The March rankings are as follows:

Shanghai VW
Shanghai GM
BYD
FAW-VW
Beijing Hyundai
Dongfeng Nissan
FAW-Toyota
Geely
Chery
Chang’an Ford

BYD sold 68,129 cars in March alone, which is a 99.3 percent increase over the same Month in the previous year.

All that with BYD’s famous electric cars? Electric cars, my eye. Their top seller is the ICE powered (powered by a Mitsubishi Orion engine, to be precise) F3. It is so much a Corolla look-alike that Wikipedia boasts under the “Maintenance” heading: “Many of the BYD F3 body parts are interchangeable with the Toyota Corolla platform.”