Tata Invests In Jaguar Land Rover

Research & Development (R & D) is an expensive part of car making today. Technologies are moving at a pace, safety now needs to be nanny like, emissions and fuel efficiencies are paramount, not to mention new market segments that you need to be in or miss out on growth. When Ford sold Jaguar/Land Rover, R & D was about £400 million, this year (2011) under Tata it will be c. £1 billion. That is

Renault Worldwide Car Sales By Model: 2010

I'm not a follower of Renault in particular, but I am impressed by the openness of the company. The figures below are from Renault itself, which I find refreshing. Many car companies guard their sales achievements jealously, as if the opposition will find something out to their harm. Of course they know that if the competition is doing its job, it knows all this already. So why be so secretive?

Renault Worldwide Car/LCV Registrations: 2010

The Renault Group of Renault, Dacia and Samsung has an unusual mix of registrations around the world. It relies heavily on France and Europe, is strong in North Africa and Iran, as well as Latin America. On the other hand, it is all but non-existent in the increasingly important Asia/Pacific region and does not contest the North American market at all. The Samsung brand sells well in Korea, but

Jaguar XF/XK Sales By Country: 2009

The Jaguar XF has been a success story for the marque since it replaced the lovely but aging S-Type at the end of 2007. 2009 was a tough year but the XF did very well considering the downturn. Below is a sampling of sales by country from around the world.

1 UK 10,108
2 USA 8,487
3 China 1484
4 Germany 1,398
5 Italy 1,213
6 Spain 761
7 France 709
8 Belgium 604
8 Canada 604
10 Russia 578
11

Vehicle Sales Paraguay: 2010

While only 20,200 cars were sold in Paraguay in 2010, less than 3,000 were in 2002, so this is a small car market. Data is hard to obtain for this land locked South American land, but here it is.

Kia was top in 2009, but had to yield to Chevrolet in ’10. In fact Chevy moved up four places to achieve top spot. Unfortunately a year to forget for Nissan though, actually managing a decrease.

In

Vehicle Sales Peru: 2010

It’s hard to believe that only 12,500 vehicles were sold in Peru in 2003, yet by 2010 120,800 were. Obviously this is a fast growing economy. I believe that in times past, many used cars were imported which may have kept the 2002 figure so low.

Toyota has been numero uno for many years, although current market share is down on earlier this decade. The two Korean brands have improved to be well

L R Freelander Sales By Country: 2009

When first released, the Freelander (LR2 in some markets) was a runaway success. Many more brands have joined the segment since, so the Freelander has had to fight for it's fair share of sales. A fine vehicle indeed, if somewhat understated.
While not covering all countries, sales listed below do cover many markets of where the Freelander is sold. It's still a hot model in the UK and Italy,

L R Discovery Sales By Country: 2009

The Discovery (LR4 in some markets) is a fine looking vehicle. It's definitely masculine, but with class to please the feminine gender. On the sales front, it hasn't done as well as it's class deserves and I'm not entirely sure why. Maybe it is just too practical for some.
The sales as listed below are not comprehensive, but doe covers many markets of where the Discovery is sold. You can see it

R Rover / Sport Sales By Country: 2009

The Range Rover can only have so much appeal, due to it's size and cost. The RR Sport on the other hand adds has a broader appeal and is a hot seller. Both the models are so very popular in the US, where larger vehicles are common. In some markets such vehicles are less practical, their size counts against them.
This isn't a comprehensive list, but covers many markets of where the Range Rover

L R Defender Sales By Country: 2009

The Land Rover Defender is an icon. It's impossible not to love this vehicle, don't you think? It doesn't sell in very large numbers, but keeps on selling at a very consistent rate. It cannot be sold in North America due to legislation. Sales by country appears below. This isn't a comprehensive list, but covers many markets nevertheless. It is popular in Italy and in Pakistan, the latter where

E-Type Jaguar 50 Years Young

The Jaguar E-Type is 50 years old this year. It was my favourite car when I was a lad. The style was amazing back then, and it still looks good today. Class is like that, it has style that doesn't date. The E-Type is a permanent exhibit in New York’s Museum of Modern Art and Enzo Ferrari stated it was “the most beautiful car in the world.” Says it all really.


Production figures I have found at

Top Brands In Europe By Country: 2010

These are the European markets that various brands are top in. A number in brackets after the country indicates the position in 2009. No number means no change.

VW - 7:
Austria
Germany
Litchtenstein
Lithuania (3)
Luxembourg
Netherlands
Norway (2)
Switzeraland



Toyota - 5:
Bulgaria
Estonia
Finland
Greece
Iceland
Latvia





Renault - 5:
Belgium
France
Portugal
Slovenia
Turkey



Ford - 4:

Car Production Japan: 2010

Generally Japanese car making is stable and therefore predictable. Of course, the economic downturn upset the apple cart in Japan as elsewhere. To show this point, Japanese car production peaked in 2006, when 9,750,000 cars were made. It hit a very low point in 2009, when it fell to 6,850,000. Things improved in 2010 as production rebounded to 8,300,000.

The problem Japanese car brands have is

Honda Retreats On The Sales Front

Honda was the fifth largest car maker in the world in 2009. However, the company is clearly moving away from volume. Honda made 3.9 million cars in 2008, and 3.0 million in 2010, by my reckoning, a drop from 5.9 to 4.5% world share. I haven't got 2010 figures yet, but 2011 may see a big slide.
In Korea, Honda was the leading import brand for 2008, in January '11 it was 7th! A sampling of

Jaguar's Future: 2013 Forward

I wanted to write about Jaguar's future plans. I don't know how sure Jaguar themselves are on some details, but the media contradict each other on this subject. If Jaguar want confusion about its future model lineup and timing of new model releases, it is a case of job well done.

So what is planned? In 2012 the XF will have an update of with new front end treatment updated rear, with some

Car Sales Bentley: 2010

Bentley car production meandered along until 2004, when the Continental GT was released. 6,900 GTs were made in that year. When the Flying Spur was added in 2005, a total of 9,000 FS and GTs were made. Heady numbers indeed for such an exclusive brand. The economic meltdown cooled things off somewhat, but they still prove to be a popular choice amongst the well heeled.

Below are sales for

Car Sales Aston Martin By Country : 2010

Getting Aston Martin sales is not easy, and the company even declines to give worldwide sales figures. So what I have gleaned, I will share and I'm sure deep down CEO Dr Bez will smile with approval.
Aston Martin were selling 600-700 vehicles in the 1990's, then moved over the 1,000 mark as the new century commenced. Sales increased quickly after 2003, until a peak of 7,000 in 2007. The

UK's Net Car Production: 2010

Many nations do not make cars, but simply import them. That makes them a 100% net importer. Of the car making nations, they vary as to whether they are a net importer or exporter of cars.

Taking the UK as an example, it imports more cars than it makes, thereby becoming a net importer. On average for the last ten years, the UK has imported about 35% more than what it has exported. It could have

Car Sales Korea: 2010

Local brand Korean sales are not that easy to get, and can have some variance as to how they are read. Statistics I have managed to put together, for the Korean market in total, indicate a modest 5.9% increase in 2010. Hyundai took a bad hit, with many models such as the Santa Fe, Genesis and Grandeur well down. Kia had a good year with the new K5, K7 and Sportage all hot. I’ve put together a

Car Sales Uruguay: 2010

In 2003, just over 4,000 cars were sold in Uruguay, in 2010 nearly 43,000! This is by far the best sales figure for the last decade I have records of.

Chevrolet is easily the top brand here, with a 92% increase…until you notice China’s Chery brand going from 13th to 5th with a 340% increase. Chinese brands are really making a mark here. Are the Uruguayans unaware how bad Chinese brand cars are

Vehicle Sales Colombia: 2010

Colombia had strong vehicle sales for 2010. Several years ago, sales were under the 100,000 mark, but now they are over 250,000, with a 42.8% increase on the preceding year. The top three have been so for many years now, with almost 60% of the market between them. This despite the fact they all lost market share during the year. Chrysler and Ssangyong both climbed five places in the rankings,

Car Sales Romania: 2010

Car sales in Romania were 315,000 in 2007, but in 2010 were a comparatively miserable 106,000. Local brand Dacia dominates but European brands are strong also. Neither Japanese nor premium brands are in the top ten, although BMW had a strong year. Hyundai managed a -59% and Kia -89% for an annus horribilis for the Korean duo. Many small brands are not included in the sales total it seems, not

Car Sales Thailand: 2010

The figures below are for cars only, not even SUVs. Including commercial vehicles and SUVs bring total sales to 800,000. Either way, what they show is the domination of Japanese, especially Toyota and Honda with over 70% market share between them. Nissan and Mazda bring the top four share to nearly 90%, the rest feeding on crumbs.

As for the car market as a whole, it has grown very fast. Only

Car Sales India: 2010

One brand that has stood out in the Indian market for so long is Suzuki (Maruti). Hyundai and Tata have been following in 2nd and 3rd for about as long. Those three marques have 80% of the total sales. Below that it is quite volatile, as new makes enter the market and jostle for position. This country has huge potential and is growing quickly. Suzuki got in early and has a massive advantage and

Vehicle Sales Venezuela: 2010

In 2007, nearly half a million cars were sold in Venezuela, in 2010 only 125,000. The reasons are debatable but the fact is the market there has fallen greatly in the last few years. Some brands have gone altogether off the sales chart since the sales fall, others might as well have.

GM has done really well in its overall share of the market. The top four brands have over 80% of the market,

Car/Light Truck Sales USA By Nameplate: 2010

I earlier published sales by company for the US, but this is by the nameplate, or the brand they sell as. This way we see that Ford is the best selling brand in America and that the Toyota nameplate dropped two places in 2010. The two Korean brands continued their rise while GM’s Buick and Cadillac both did very well too. It's nice to see Land Rover doing well Stateside.

This year also saw the