The Alfa Romeo Giulietta: 2010 Version

I must say that Alfa Romeo is a mere shadow of yesteryear. The brand has been hurt by poor reliability and substandard cars bearing the name. Now has arrived the 2010 Giulietta and I must say it is a looker. Does it have the precision of its Germanic competition? No. But where it wins hands down is in style. When a beautiful woman walks past a man, he has to notice. While one can hardly compare

Vehicle Production France: 2010

French total vehicle production was consistently around the 3.6 million mark in the early to mid 21st century, including 3.2m cars. It then slid to 2 million by 2009 (1.8m cars). There was an 8.6% rebound in 2010, but still only 2.2 million (1.9m cars). Not surprisingly, it is a few French marques that contribute the bulk of those figures, as you can see below.

Car Production 2010 France:

Automotive Conundrums

A definition of a conundrum includes an insoluble, or difficult problem. I have a few automotive ones I would like to air.

Audi styling: I find it confusing and bemusing that Audi can make cars that all look much the same and so boringly styled, yet people actually buy them. As an example, take the A1. You could have a fun MINI, a trendy Citroen DS3 or even a funky Fiat 500, but surely not the

Toyota UK: Burnaston & Deeside

Back in 2007, one of my first posts was about Toyota Flintshire, Wales. Now for Toyota UK in total. Toyota's decision to establish a manufacturing operation in Europe was announced in 1989 and Toyota Manufacturing UK was established in December that year.

Why did Toyota build plants in Europe?: Toyota believes in a policy of localising its vehicles to meet the specific needs of Europe’s varied

Longbridge Is Back

Once the largest manufacturing plant in the world, Longbridge in Birmingham, England is making cars again. Chinese firm SAIC bought the rights to MG Rover cars in 2005 and started making the cars in China as MGs and Roewes. Now they are going to make MGs there, starting with the 1.8L MG 6 hatch back (pictured).

Now I would suggest that if you are thinking of buying a Chinese branded car, don't

JD Power Customer Service Index 2011

The JD Power & Associates 2011 US Customer Service Index Study delivered this list of thirty three car brands, Notice everyone of the top ten are premium brands. No surprise there really. The bottom thirteen are either US or Japanese brands that are generally large volume sellers in the US. Is it a case of the more cars you sell, the less satisfaction the customer feels? The list:

Lexus 846

Fuel Prices

(For this article I will use the term petrol to describe fuel used in cars).Petrol is a finite substance and internationally humans are using it at an increasing rate. If things continue as they are, demand will cause shortage and that will put pressure on prices. We can do nothing about the reserves of petroleum, but a little about how much we need. Personally, I drive a vehicle with low fuel

Britain's Own Volume Brand

Italy has Fiat, Germany VW, Japan has several. What are they? A volume producer of cars that local people can identify as theirs. The UK used to have British Leyland, before BMW screwed things up with BL's outgrowth MG Rover (see the article by clicking here). So what volume brand does Britain have? Some could say Jaguar / Land Rover but they are rather pricey for the majority of UK citizens.

Car Production Italy/Spain: 2010

Italy: In 2001, nearly 1.3 million cars were built in Italy. It declined slowly until 2008, when it then dropped 28% to 660,000 and then held its own in '09 thanks to the scrappage scheme supporting small Fiats. Reality hit in 2010, when such schemes ran out and production sank to under 600k. Only the Fiat group make cars here.

Make-Incr/Decr
Fiat 337,000 -22%
Alfa Romeo 120,000 +18%
Lancia

Ambitious Nissan Europe

Around the world, Nissan plays second fiddle to Toyota. In 2009 Toyota made 7,250,000 vehicles, while Nissan 2,750,000. Quite some difference. However, one thing Nissan is improving on is making more interesting cars. Look at the Qashqai (Dualis) - Juke and compare those with Auris/Corolla - Avensis. The Nissans are pushing boundaries, while Toyota models are solid but boring. So if there is

Car/Light Truck Production USA: 2010

First Car Production: 2010
 



US car production isn't as high as you may think. Imports of cars are quite high and Americans generally prefer light trucks anyway. GM has been the king of car making but Toyota took top spot in 2009. It didn't last long as GM is again the top of the tree for 2011. Otherwise the production ranking of car makers remained the same as the year before.

The overall

Top Brands Worldwide By Country: 2010

These are the Asian, Pacific and African markets that various brands are top in. A number in brackets after the country indicates the position in 2009. No number means no change.

Toyota 13:
Australia
Brunei
Gabon
Indonesia
Japan
New Zealand
Philippines
Saudi Arabia
Singapore
Thailand
Taiwan
UAE
Vietnam

Hyundai 2:
Egypt
Korea

Suzuki 2:
India
Pakistan

Volkswagen 2:
China
South Africa (2)

One

Top Brands In The Americas By Country: 2010

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


GM - 7:

Chile
Colombia
Ecuador
Paraguay (4)
Uruguay
USA
Venezuela




Toyota - 5:

Dominican Rep
Guatemala
Panama
Peru
Puerto Rico



One each:

Fiat:
Brazil
Ford:
Canada (2)
Nissan:
Mexico
VW:
Argentina



Summary: The Americas

You Want Car Statistics

From July of 2010, Google allowed Bloggers the ability to see statistically what is going on regarding visitor hits. What I have learned is:1) This blog has been gaining in popularity. In July to December there were a total of 5,300 hits or nearly 900 per month. In January just over 2,500 and the short month of February over 2,700! 2) Many of the hits for the last two months have been for blogs

New Nissan Juke A Hit In Europe

Nissan Europe have been singing about the success of its new Juke model. Its looks polarise people, but it is different and distinctive. In an automotive world of blandness, that is a plus for me. Some points of note from the press blurb:

From its European release in September 2010, 32,000 sales were quickly chalked up (44,000 were made in a partial year's production). It has now received a 5