#MattGasnier

After spending some time in Israel, Botswana and Malta over the last few weeks, we are back in Asia this weekend to visit flooded Bangladesh.

If the sight of flooded streets is becoming too much for you, that’s okay, I have thought of you and prepared info about car sales in 155 additional countries that you can explore in my blog, so click away!

Now back to Bangladesh. With over 140 million inhabitants living in a country significantly smaller than Florida, you’d expect traffic jams to be commonplace, and they are indeed.

It’s just that the streets are not filled with the cars you’d expect from a country relatively similar to big neighbor India…

Over the last few weeks we have traveled to Haiti, Mongolia, Israel and Botswana. Given it is the middle of Summer in the Northern Hemisphere, I thought this weekend we could stop in sunny Malta…

If you’re more interested in Maltese terriers, then you are on the wrong website… OK fine, this might be yet another country dominated by Toyota so if you have had enough that’s OK, I thought that could happen and have prepared info about car sales in 155 additional countries that you can explore in my blog, so click away!

No official sales figures for Malta but you know me, that’s not enough to discourage me…

After Norway, Haiti, Mongolia and Israel, we are off to a safari in Botswana, so I can share with you which cars complete with lions and elephants to be king of the savannah…

If you’re of the view that wild animals belong to the zoo or you just couldn’t care less about yet another Toyota-dominated country (fair enough!), that’s ok I have been thinking of you and have prepared info about car sales in 155 additional countries that you can explore in my blog so click away!

Yes I said it, Toyota (and lions) own Botswana’s streets…but what models exactly are the savannah’s favorites?

Over the last month we have gone to Afghanistan, Norway, Haiti and Mongolia… Hope you’re not too jet lagged because today we are flying to Israel. שלום!

If you live there, have been there or simply are not in the mood today, I have your back: there are 155 additional countries to be explored in my blog so click away!

Now those of you who have been following these weekly posts for a while are already familiar with the car landscape of neighboring countries like Egypt and Syria. Well, Israel is another beast altogether, with a set of popular brands unique in the world…

After Afghanistan, Norway and Haiti, I will continue to surprise you and get us all to Mongolia for our next stop. Yes Mongolia, and why not? Some of you have already expressed strong interest in that particular country so I didn’t feel I could wait any longer to let you know all about the best selling cars there…

Now let’s be honest, hands up who has been to Mongolia?

Thought so. So get yourself over the jump and discover all about yak-replacements… Now if you live there (serious. if you do, please say hi!) or you are yaked out, there’s always my blog where 155 more countries are covered…

So.

Landlocked between Russia and China, you would assume the Mongolian car landscape would be a mix of…

After Afghanistan and Norway, we fly over the Atlantic to land in Haiti so I can share with you where the car market is, 18 months after the devastating earthquake of February 2010.

If you were a tourist in Haiti or part of the emergency personnel flown to the island for the earthquake, then you may already know which cars are popular there (although it would have been the least of your worries!) so I suggest you go directly to my blog where I cover 154 other countries all around the planet. You will love it, I promise!

Right so the huge reconstruction effort the country has to go through means pick-ups, or work horses as they are sometimes called, are the favorite choice for anyone who has enough money to purchase a new vehicle. But which ones are the most successful?

Yes I am back! And after Saudi Arabia, we are staying in the (Greater) Middle East to go to Afghanistan.

Now if you have been to Afghanistan already to fight the war or something, you would already know by now what cars are most popular there so I suggest you check out my blog where I cover 154 more countries. Enjoy!

Alright so there are no official car sales figures for Afghanistan, but the country is famous for one thing…

After Libya, Yemen, Iran, Syria and Egypt, we are back in the Middle-East this weekend to visit Saudi Arabia. A (very dangerous) Saudi specialty is drifting a la ‘Fast and Furious’ in traffic-filled streets, as you can see in the video above. Do not try this at home please!

Now if you’re not interested in knowing more about car sales in Saudi Arabia, then I am very disappointed in you. But there are two things you can do: check out the 19 countries we have already explored each weekend by clicking here, or explore the 154 other countries available in my blog.

One thing I bet you didn’t know is that Saudi Arabia’s tastes for cars are very similar to America’s…

After Libya, Ivory Coast and Egypt, we are back in Africa this weekend to explore Nigeria.

The first thing you need to know about Nigeria is that it produces more films than Hollywood: around 200 movies every month! – most of them straight to video. So as an appetizer I couldn’t resist giving you a scene from ‘The Power of a Kiss’ (see above video). Notice the very posh Toyota FJ Runner and Honda Element towards the end…(the private US-to-Nigeria-car-import business is doing very well, thank you.)

Now if you don’t like waiting for hours in traffic, then Lagos, Nigeria is not for you, so I humbly suggest you explore one of 154 other countries I cover in my blog. I trust there will be one to suit your taste.

Nigeria is by far the most populous country in Africa at 155 million inhabitants but only 45,000 new cars changed hands in 2010. That’s the same amount sold in China in one day, but a slow, lazy, middle-of-the-week day, not a super-charged Saturday…

If I only had one word to summarize Nigeria it would be, wait for it, Toyota! But happily I have been allowed more than one word to describe this country. Thanks TTAC!

We haven’t visited Europe since the UK Royal Wedding, so this weekend we are off to troubled Greece. Car sales are in free fall there since the 2008 financial crisis, and it makes for a fascinating market. Please wear at helmet at all times.

If you have already visited one of the many stunning Greek islands and have already counted all the cars there, that’s ok, there are 154 more countries to visit in my blog, and I can tell you it is άριστη (awesome)…

After a high of 290,000 units in 2000, the Greek car market has been on a long-term downtrend during the last decade, giving us a very volatile models ranking: in the last 10 years. There’s only one car that managed to stay on top of Greece’s best-seller for three consecutive years: The unflappable Toyota Corolla.

We have been to Africa already in our Round the World whirlwind adventure, in Libya, Yemen and Ivory Coast, but this weekend it is time to visit Egypt, where the ‘middle-eastern revolution’ movement has started.

Alas. the data revolution is delayed. In Egypt, we are again faced with the now familiar issue of having no official sales data. By now you would all know that this was not going to discourage me, however, this time I didn’t even need the help of my old mate YouTube because I have actually BEEN to Egypt, lucky me!

Now if you have been to Egypt too and already know all there is to know about which cars the pharaohs drive everyday, that’s ok, there are 154 more countries to explore in my blog, so either run to your mummy, or go, check out the blog. OK and now I will stop with random Egypt/pyramid/Cleopatra-related wordplays. I promise.

And as usual I will cut to the chase and tell you that if you were to remember just 3 words about the Egyptian car market they would be:

Chevrolet, Hyundai and Speranza.

Speran-what? I know.

After Argentina, Brazil and Mexico, we are back in the Americas this weekend, but we’ll go off at sea into the Caribbean islands to visit embargoed Cuba. Yes, I know you were waiting with trepidation to know which cars our Cuban friends are most fond of…

After Libya, Yemen and Iran, we are back in the Middle-East this weekend in Syria because let’s face it, this is where world news happens at the moment and the car expert that you are has to be aware of which cars are the best-sellers in the region so you can show off while watching the news: “That’s a Kia Cerrato Forte, right behind that cloud of teargas.”

Great Britain two weeks ago. Albania last week, enough of Europe. Pakistan has been in the center of world news for a little while now, so it is time to explore what are the best selling cars in that country.

Now if you don’t want to hear one more word about the (spoiler alert!) Toyota Corolla and would like to know about the best selling models in 154 other countries, you’ve come to the right place: you can explore these countries in my blog. Very enjoyable! Yes, I promise!

The Pakistan Automobile Manufacturers Association has been compiling sales of models produced locally since 1998. Not that long ago, I grant you, but it’s better than nothing! And given the tough restrictions imposed on all imported car, really, the locally produced models are the only ones that count so we’ll be staying pretty close to the truth…

If I only had 30 seconds to summarize the Pakistani car market structure it would still be ok because I’d only have to say Toyota Corolla and Suzuki Mehran…

But I have a bit more time so I can dwell on the details.

After Great Britain’s official (an royal) figures last weekend, now is the time to explore a country that doesn’t have any official car sales data available. And what better time to go back to basics and look at the alphabet and where it all began: the letter A. So this weekend we are going to Albania.

And why not?

Now if you want to know about the best selling models in less obscure countries in the world, you’ve found the right place. There are 154 other countries to explore in my blog. You will enjoy it. That’s an order.

The reason why I wanted to stop in Albania for a while during our round the world tour is that the Albanian car market is very particular.