Land Rover Start Indian Manufacturing

Land Rover has just officially opened its first assembly plant in India at Pune. The facility will assemble the Freelander 2, sourced as completely knocked down (CKD) kits from Halewood, Liverpool, U.K. The Pune factory will be overseered by two experienced manufacturing and quality managers who have moved to India from the UK.

With German competitors already assembling vehicles in the country,

North America - Europe Brand Comparison 2010

Nth America and Europe car markets (without the Russian region) are very similar in size. Both are between 1.3 and 1.4 million sales, Europe the slightly larger. After that, the similarities are less common. Top end luxury brands are quite alike but the more mass produced a vehicle, the greater the differences. Europe has more brands on sale, many that do not make it to the US. The chart below

Most Popular Model: Europe 1996 - 2010

Comparing top ten models within Europe for the last 15 years shows that there was not much change. Only 16 models have that distinction. 4 models were there every year and all the cars listed below were there at least 10 times (see Col 2). Only 4 have been number one (see Col 3), the VW Golf 9 times. Col 4 shows the highest ranking reached, the GM Corsa only reaching 4th as its best spot.

The Times They Are A Changin'

You better start swimmin' or you'll sink like a stone. For the times they are a-changin'.


Those words of that classic song certainly applied to the US car industry. Their 'Big Three' car makers were once at the top of the tree but poor management saw them plunge, so far in fact that two recently got government bailouts to save them and the other just avoiding that fate.


For the loser now

Car Sales Lotus: 2010

Lotus makes light sports cars, with emphasis on lightness and handling. The owners, Proton, have big plans to increase the range of vehicles (I wrote an article on this not so long back, you can find it under labels 'Brand Britain'). So how are Lotus sales doing currently? Below are some markets for 2010. It is not comprehensive, but rather a list of what I know of some of the larger markets:

1

Nissan Sales Booming

In the fiscal year 2010, Nissan's global sales reached a record-high level. Nissan's global sales increased 19.1%, with vehicle sales growing from 3.515 million to 4.185 million units. For the full year, overall global market share was 5.8%. Sales figures to note:

China 1,024,000 +35.5%
U S A 966,000 +17.3%
Europe 607,000 +19.3%
Japan 600,000 -4.7%
Others 709,000 +28.2%

Some things I

Toyota Doing It Tough

I commented some time back about Toyota making too many cars in Japan. It didn't matter when the Yen was held to an artificially low level. Recent monetary upheavals have scuppered that policy. Now with slumping domestic sales and market share, a strong Yen, the fall out from the Tsunami and VW closing in quickly on the world's largest car maker, tough decisions must be made.

One of those

Jaguar On The Move

I was reading and article in at detnews.com quoting some 'experts', some saying Jaguar was in fine fettle, while others thought it was doomed. The negative ones said Jaguar needed volume to succeed, the kind the German brands generate. Certainly volume can help with profits but that is so simplistic, as there is much, much more to it. When Jaguar was making its biggest sales, it was raking up

Land Rover On The Move

Having considered Jaguar, now for Land Rover. LR already has five models with a sixth about to arrive, the Evoque. The range will be quite broad at that point. It would be nice to go below the Freelander but I'm not sure there is a business case for that. LR is profitable, but this is something that they has to keep working on, as it doesn't take much to sink into the read in the highly

The Car And The Real Person

If you want to know what someone is really like, watch him or her drive a car. People can be polite when moving around others in a crowded area, be polite in letting others through a door first or when negotiating around a supermarket with a shopping trolley. But when they get into the car, does that considerateness continue, or do they become belligerent and intolerant?

The fact is people who

Conservative Car Buying

Many people would probably think that when buying a new car, they are broad minded. Some are no doubt, but not many. I say this by looking at car statistics. If people are indeed open minded about their car choice, then we would see more fluctuation between brands on sales charts. The reality is that in any given country, certain brands dominate a segment year after year, and others consistently

Sinking Saab

If you click on 'Brand Sweden' to your right, there you will find an article I wrote "Can Saab Survive?" I really could not see it lasting long, and felt surprised that anyone would risk money with it. Well now suppliers are not getting paid and withholding stock until they do. Saab's are getting back in production again by raising more capital. To do so, Spyker sold a 30% stake to Chinese firm

The Uncertainty In GM Car Making

I must be a cautious person by nature. I don't just read something and swallow it. Recently the BBC quoted GM Europe chairman "The future of car making in the UK could be in danger if the industry fails to develop a British-based supply chain." It was a strong statement but something does not seem right about it. Nissan, Toyota and Honda all make cars in the UK and never talk of pulling out. They