Honda's Insight Hybrid

Honda has introduced a Prius competitor in the Insight. It looks like a Prius but does not have the same sophistication in hybrid technology. The advantage to that is that the Honda product is much more affordable. In NZ, the Prius is a third more expensive.

So is it worth buying a hybrid car such as the Honda Insight? For me, the jury is still out on that. It certainly is a way forward but in

Belgium's GM Antwerp Plant To Close

When GM decided to reduce capacity in Europe, panic ensued. The German government aggressively acted to ensure it wouldn't be there. UK production is already small and perhaps fearing lost sales in GM Europe's largest market saved Ellesmere Port's plant. Poland seemed safe with lower wages, Spain felt vulnerable but it was Belgium where the axe fell (Astra cars are made there). After spending

Sales Figures That Embarrass

There are some sales figures that are embarrassing to certain manufacturers. They won't talk about them for obvious reasons, but I will. All the figures quoted are for the first nine months of 2010.

I'll start with Porsche, a brand recently crowing about sales successes which, considering the ever widening range of vehicles they make, are disappointing. In Denmark, where about 122,000 cars are

Car Statistics Appeal

When I was young, I remember reading a Motor magazine from the UK that had comprehensive car sales in Britain by make. I was fascinated by them. I now use the Internet to find such data for countries everywhere I can. I now have a comprehensive collection of car sales statistics, a small percentage of which I use as a basis for articles I write. Western countries openly publish stats for the

Toyota Retreats In Europe

Toyota has been in aggressive growth mode as it ruthlessly hunted down GM to be world number one. Europe was an area where it was weaker than most, so it set about changing that. Therefore, through the 21st century, it relentlessly gained market share in Europe, and by 2007, reached 5.6% share and nearly 900,000 sales (source ACEA; minus Russia). Since then, it has slipped. For the first nine

Lincoln To Muscle Up

Ford has been remiss in not looking after the Lincoln - Mercury brands particularly well. Mercury is finished but Lincoln will now try to muscle in on other premium brand's sales. The problem Lincoln has it that it is only a slightly more posh Ford, nothing else. It doesn't have the cache of Euro - Japanese marques in that segment, in fact not even compared to GM's Cadillac.

Nevertheless this