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January Surprise: GM China Up 22.3 Percent, Sub 1.6 Liter Segment Holds
Less than two weeks ago, GM China hinted that their sales may have risen more than 20 percent in January. This was seen as a good omen, because most pundits (except this one) had predicted a miserable...
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Chinese Car Sales: Bubble? What Bubble?
China’s prognosticated car bubble does not appear to experience its prognosticated burst. One by one, Chinese sales numbers for January are coming in, and none of them are bad. According to The Nikkei...
View ArticleChinese Auto Sales: The AP Does It Again
The China Passenger Car Association reports that sales of passenger cars rose 12.6 percent to 965,238 units in January, says the Associated Press. However, as explained in my small lecture on the use...
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Chinese Car Sales: The Big Get Bigger, The Small Not So Much
More Chinese sales numbers for January are coming in as China slowly begins to return from the Chinese New Year holidays. We are keeping a wary eye on the January numbers. They are seen as an...
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Auto Industry Sets New World Record In 2010. Will Do It Again In 2011
While we were focused on the U.S. market in 2010 and were happy that it awoke from the dead and went above 10 million, the world quietly left carmageddon behind itself and set a new record: 72 million...
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Finally, The Official Number For China In January 2011: Up 13.81 Percent
The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers finally has returned from the Chinese New Year festivities and got around to counting the real official sales number for China in January 2011....
View ArticleFebruary Sales Seen Up Around 20 Percent
Three usually reliable research organizations agree: When automakers release February sales this coming week, they will be strong. Analysts see a sales increase of about 20 percent, and a SAAR in the...
View ArticleJapan In February 2011: Boro-Boro
It’s that time of the month again. Super-efficient Japan traditionally is first out of the gate with previous month sales numbers. Lately, there have been some who regret that efficiency. For the...
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America In February 2011: Return Of The Buyers, Bigtime
“The consumer is back to the showrooms,” said Brian Johnson, an analyst with Barclays Capital to the Los Angeles Times. No kidding. The consumer is back with a vengeance. February new cars sales were...
View ArticleChina In February: GM Up A Little, Toyota Down A Little
More and more journos wish China would become like America. As in America of 2008: Pop, crash, fizzle. The current meme is that the 18 plus million car sales can’t possibly go on and that the Chinese...
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Germany In February 2011: New Car Sales Up 15.2 Percent
Germany is busy digging itself out of a – mostly mathematical – hole. According to data released by Germany’s Kraftfahrtbundesamt, registrations in February were up 15.2 percent compared to February...
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China’s February Sales: Down For A Change?
The Chinese passenger car market did something highly unusual in February: It declined. If the data of the usually not highly reliable China Passenger Car Association is to be believed, that is. They...
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China In February 2011: Vehicle Sales Up 4.57 Percent
In a press conference in the late Chinese afternoon, China’s CAAM announced its official February sales numbers. The Middle Kingdom kept face and avoided a loss. China’s vehicle sales rose 4.57...
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J.D. Power Predicts Strong March, Sees Production Trouble Ahead
J.D. Power sees a strong March in its crystal ball, powered by real-time transaction data of 8,600 retail franchises throughout the United States. However growth is expected to be much more sedate...
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As Goes GM, So Goes China. Where Do They Go?
In the (OMG) 7 years I have lived and worked in China by now, I have learned not to take the first two months of the year all too seriously. After all, according to the Chinese calendar, the first two...
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China In March 2011: Up 5.36 Percent
Beijing’s war on the ICE notwithstanding, auto sales in China rose by 5.36 percent in March. That is the headline from a Sunday afternoon press conference held by the China Association of Automobile...
View ArticleApril New Car Sales: The Last Hurrah?
Forecasts for April U.S. new vehicle sales differ widely amongst the industry soothsayers this month. J.D. Power expects total light-vehicle sales for April to come in at 1,147,300 units, 13...
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China In April 2011: Down!
Our patent pending GM China sales oracle saw it coming: GM China was down in April, therefore, the whole Chinese market had to be down in April. And so it was – by a hair: April new vehicle sales in...
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Europe In April 2011: New Car Sales Down 4.1 Percent
If you are looking for a growth market for cars, don’t look to Europe. In terms of car sales, the Old Country is going sideways with a negative bias. In April, sales of new cars in the EU was down 4.1...
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May U.S. Sales Forecast: Cloudy In Japan, Sunny In Korea
TrueCar released its May 2011 sales forecast. At this time in the calendar, these forecasts, based on real transactional data, usually come close to reality. For May 2011, TrueCar expects new light...
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May Sales In Japan Drop 37.8 Percent – Foreigners Save The Day
Sales of new cars, trucks and buses in Japan dropped 37.8 percent from a year earlier in May, data released by the Japan Automobile Dealers Association show. It could have been worse. Sales totaled...
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Europe In May 2011: Signs Of Life
Europeans are either tired of their old cars, or the effects of the cash for clunkers largesse are finally getting digested, or both. Whatever the reason, new passenger car registrations increased by...
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Off-Lease Consumers Add Fuel To New-Vehicle Demand
New-vehicle sales are on the rise due not only to demand originally held back by the Great Recession, but by consumers coming off of their leases for their next latest and greatest. Automotive News...
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Szakaly: CAFE Targets Will Curb US Auto Sales Beyond 2018
The federal fuel efficiency mandates now in place to guide automakers toward a fleet average of 54.5 mpg by 2025 may curb United States auto sales after 2018, according to a leading economist speaking...
View ArticleSubaru Grows a Better Backbone
Subaru’s next generation of models will ride atop a platform that is stiffer, less prone to body roll and can incorporate a variety of propulsion sources, Motor Authority reports. The new modular...
View ArticleOctober Sales: Looking Good So Far
Most of the smaller makers reported October sales yesterday as the nation went to go vote. The big ones decided to wait until today: The Detroit 3, Toyota, Honda, and Nissan. Yesterday’s numbers looked...
View ArticleChina In October 2010: Up 27.1 Percent
This will disappoint those who were hoping for a cooling-off of the Chinese auto market. Chinese automakers in China shipped 1.2m passenger cars to dealers in October, up 27.1 percent from a year...
View ArticleEurope In October 2010: Hangover
New car registrations in the 27 countries of the EU crashed by 16.6 percent to 1,027,036 units in October. That according to the latest statistics of the European manufacturer organization ACEA. The...
View ArticleYou Are Looking At The U.S. Car Market
What is the difference between the November U.S. car market and my wife? The answer is: None. Edmunds says the U.S. annual sales rate for new vehicles in November will be essentially flat from the...
View ArticleJapan In November 2010. Down 30.7 Percent
The Japanese are usually first to report last month’s sales numbers. This time: Very bad. New car sales in Japan fell 30.7 percent in November. After Japan’s generous subsidies were withdrawn, the...
View ArticleGermany In November 2010: Phew
Did you hear that sound? That was a sigh of relief coming from Germany. Germans are buying cars again. In November, they bought more cars than in October 2010, and even more than in November 2008....
View ArticleLuxury Cars: And The Winner Is – Totally Up In The Air
We’ve been following the race for the #1 luxury brand in the U.S.A. for quite a while with rapt attention, and have been predicting all along that it will come down to the wire. It looks even more so...
View ArticleSales In India Brisk
Domestic car sales in India rose 21 percent from a year earlier in November. India is no China yet. But as its per capita GDP has crossed the magical $1000, car sales are waking up with a vengeance....
View ArticleChina In November 2010: Up 29.3 Percent, Probably Higher In December
Passenger car sales in China jumped 29.3 in November as people rushed to lock in incentives set to expire at the end of the year. Demand will most likely be even stronger in December. In November, the...
View ArticleOfficial: China Will Beat U.S. All Time Sales Record: 18 Million Cars This...
Last year in October, I predicted that China would overtake the U.S. in car sales in 2009. The comments could not haven been more uncomplimentary. By the end of 2009, China did beat the U.S. 13.6 to...
View ArticleEuropean Car Sales, November 2010: Slowly Crawling Back To Normal
With the effects of the various scrapping incentives across Europe slowly working themselves out of the system, the worst appears to be over in Europe. According to the official numbers of the ACEA,...
View ArticleSanta Claus Rally: Powerful December Seen For Cars
Data coming in from their 8,900 reporting dealers throughout the United States prompt J.D. Power to predict a strong new car December. “It appears that 2010 will end on a high note,” said Jeff...
View ArticleChina: 18 Million Cars This Year. But What about Next?
“The next 24 months will be tough for us,” said Soh Weiming, Volkswagen’s company’s executive president for China, to Bloomberg. Is Volkswagen running scared in China? Will the bubble finally burst?...
View ArticleIndia: The Next China
As far as total sales go, India is no China. 1.43 million units were sold on the subcontinent last year, a bit more than a tenth the cars the Chinese had consumed in the same year. But India is revving...
View ArticleDecember Sales Expectations: Best Month Of The Second Worst Year Since 1982
Edmunds expects December car sales to be the highest of any month of this year. They figure that approximately 1,127,000 units will have changed hands when the month ends. This represents a 10.2...
View ArticleQuote Of The Day: Hyundai Disses GM Without Even Mentioning GM
“Hyundai Motor Co. and its affiliate Kia Motors Corp. sold a combined 1.1 million vehicles in China last year, becoming the second largest auto seller in Asia’s biggest car market, the companies said...
View ArticleNew Car Sales Japan 2010: Up 7.5 Percent, But This Year Looks Ugly
When it comes to new cars, trucks and buses, Japan’s can look back at the first sales increase in seven years. Sales rose 10.6 percent in all of 2010, powered by the generosity of the Japanese...
View ArticleGermany In 2010: Back To Normal?
German new car sales pierced the previous year line for the first time this year. In December, Germans bought 6.9 percent more cars than in December 2010. However, this is more due to a moderate...
View ArticleBRICS To Overtake Developed Nations By Car
Scotia Bank in Toronto has an insightful and resourceful car analyst, Carlos Gomes. Whatever he writes is worth reading. He expects car sales to rise and the “United States and the euro zone to climb...
View Article2010 New Car Sales Around The World: Mostly Up (With Exceptions)
New car sales around the world are mostly rebounding – except in the markets where they had been artificially stimulated last year. This list will be continuously updated as new data becomes available....
View ArticleNew World Record: China Sells And Makes 18 Million Vehicles In 2010
It’s official: China’s Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) announced that in 2010, Chinese bought 18,061,900 vehicles, an increase of 32.37 percent over 2009. Automobile production rose to...
View ArticleHyundai 4th Largest Automaker, Overtakes Ford
According to data published today by Ford, the company sold 5,313,000 units worldwide “to wholesale” (i.e. out of the door.), up 447,000 units or 9.19 percent. With Volvo eliminated, the growth was...
View ArticleThe Sky Over China Is Not Falling: GM January Sales Up 20 percent
The oft predicted collapse of the Chinese market does not seem to happen. GM is the canary in the Chinese coalmine, and January, the month before the Lunar New Year festivities, is a key selling month....
View ArticleJust How Bad Are Car Sales Going to Get?
As the industry stresses about the new vehicle market taking it easy for the foreseeable future, there’s one aspect of it that’s of particular concern: car sales. After dominating the field for so...
View ArticleStudy: U.S. Driving Distances May Have Already Peaked, What About Ownership?
North America has changed immensely under the pandemic. The government tested what it could get away with under the premise of health-and-safety-related lockdowns; countless small businesses have gone...
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