Car Sales Malaysia: 2010

Two local brands, Peredua (pic below) and Proton (above) dominate proceedings in Malaysia. Proton was the leader until 2006, when its arch nemisis took over. Now Proton is coming back and closing in quickly on Perudua in the early stages of 2011. Proton was started in 1983, and was Malaysia's only car maker until Perodua arrived in 1993. Proton was initially tied up with Mitsubishi, using that

JLR To Ramp Up Chinese Sales

I do not give the Chinese car market much attention. Statistics out of that country are variable and usually only include locally built cars. As to why someone does not take charge of it and release consistent, relevant data of all sales by each brand shows how far China has to go to being an open, transparent nation. I saw some figures showing VW sold 1.47 million cars in China in 2010, and GM

The Audi Range zzzzzzz

Above are the Audi models A1, 3, 6 and 8. To me these cars are as dull as car design gets. They all look much the same. Of course, a car maker should have a theme that ties the brand together. Audi has that gaping grille, unattractive in its own right. However, to then have them all much the same shape, only different sizes, defies logic. To make matters worse, people are buying them in large

Car Sales 2010: Scotland

The Scottish car market slipped slightly in 2011. Ford lost share by nearly 3% with a 23% drop in sales. Renault and Nissan strengthened their respective positions, while Toyota didn't fare so well. Both BMW and Audi gained four places without increasing sales because brands above them stumbled badly.

Brand/Sales/Share/Inc-dec
1 Vauxhall 27,100 15.3% -6
2 Ford 20,400 11.5% -23
3 Volkswagen

Car Sales 2010: Wales

Wales is part of the UK, and car sales in that country come under the UK total. I have separated Welsh car sales for this analogy. Premium brands do not do as well here as the UK as Britain's wealth is centred around south east England. Overall, Wales saw a slight downturn in sales for 2010. Renault climbed three places while Toyota dropped three. Kia rose by four and Audi five places. Fiat,

Car Production Germany: 2010

Despite the vagaries of world car sales of late, German car sales have held up fairly well. VW has always been the main producer, but things below have moved around. Mercedes fell from 2nd in 2007 to 4th in '09, coming bacik to third last year. BMW was 2nd in 2008, but now is 4th. Audi were 5th in 2005 but is now 2nd. Of course, this doesn't represent total production, but rather domestic. Some

Buying A Used Car From A Supermarket

In the UK, Tesco supermarket chain has started to sell used cars online. A potential purchaser goes to the website where pictures and a brief video are available to view. The RAC mechanically inspect the car and it comes with a one month RAC warranty. By buying directly from Tesco, the costs are reduced from source to consumer. Most cars will come from the fleet sector, have one previous owner,

Who Are You?

When Google recently enabled me to see data about the hits this blog was receiving, it proved illuminating. I would like to share that with you now.During the first month of July 2010, 22 hits per day seemed good. It has climbed month by month and so far in April 2011, there have been 275 hits per day! That is a more than a tenfold increase so I guess word gets around. Anyway, where do all you

Vehicle Production GM Europe: 2010

GM European production saw the bowing out of the Antwerp, Belgium plant in 2010. The other four nations will continue producing vehicles for "The General" in 2011. GM Europe vehicle production by model and country as below:

Corsa:
Zaragoza (Spa) 223,500
Eisenach (Ger) 136,500
Total Corsa: 360,000

Astra:
Gilwice (Pol) 141,500
Ellesmere Port (UK) 108,000
Bochum (Ger) 71,500
Antwerp (Bel) 44,500

UK Car Production: Top 15 Models In 2010

Nissan has been the top car manufacturer in the UK since the year 2000, however it hasn't had the top model before...Until 2010 that is, when they finally did get the 'most made' model to go with largest manufacturer tag. The six years previous it had been the BMW MINI, but the Qashqai went past the MINI with consummate ease in 2010. It looks as if the Qashqai could now stay there for a while as

Holden Car Manufacturing

Holden is GM's name down under in Australasia. Holden's car making in Australia is based around the large Commodore model. The problem is large cars sales are on the decline in this area. For example, in 2001 132,000 Holdens were made in Australia, in 2009 (the last year I have data for) only 54,000. That was a bad year all round but you get the idea. The numbers are shrinking.

Big Holdens are

Luxury Cars Are So Unreliable

When you part with your money to buy an expensive car, you expect it to be reliable. That monetary outlay should translate to it staying on the road. Well, whether buying a BMW, Mercedes, Land Rover or - as in the picture - a Lamborghini, expect plenty of repairs. Almost certainly the faults will be to do with the 'high tech' elements of these cars. I assume many buyers put up with these

Luton Van Plant Goes On

In 1905, Vauxhall Motors opened the largest car plant in the United Kingdom in Luton. Over the years cars and commercial vehicles poured out of the facility. However, production reduced as British industry declined. Today, only vans are made at the Luton plant, which currently employs around 1,170 staff and has a capacity of approximately 100,000 units. It now operates as GMM Luton, and produces