Best Selling Cars – Matt's blog

Honda CR-V. Honda grabs 12.7% of the Malaysian market this month.

* NOW UPDATED with the Top 45 All-brands ranking! Click on title to see *

The Malaysian new car market is down 9% year-on-year in January to 50,273 registrations. According to the Malaysian Automotive Association (MAA), the decline is due to aggressive sales promotions at the end of the year which meant customers registered their new vehicles before December 31. Normally, December is a challenging month for the car companies because many customers may order their new vehicles but prefer to have them registered in the following month, when the year of registration can be a new year. This, however, did not occur in 2014. The outlook for February is not expected to be better due to the long Chinese New Year holidays which will bring the the number of selling days down for the month.

Normally available only twice a year, Malaysian car website has published brand data for January. Is this the first step towards a return to detailed monthly data for Malaysia – including models rankings? Let’s hope so. If Perodua (24.1%) and Proton (19.4%) still largely dominate, their January market shares are frankly lower than their FY2013 levels. Toyota rounds up the podium again but with 13.1% of the market it is now threatened by Honda up to a fantastic 12.7% vs. 7.9% in 2013. Other great performers this month include Ford at #7 and 2.2% vs. 1.6% in 2013, Kia at #8 and 1.8% vs. 1.1% and Suzuki at #13 and 1.4% vs. 0.8%.

Previous post: Malaysia Full Year 2013: Perodua tops, Nissan and Honda jump

Full January 2014 Top 45 All-brands Ranking Table below.

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Audi TT Quattro

Now/if you have recovered from the Geneva 2014 Hypnotic Photo Report, here are 13 (other) Photos to remember from the Geneva Motor Show this year, married in colour pairs. Click on any picture to enlarge. Enjoy!

Renault Twingo

Renault Twingo

Citroen C1

Jeep Renegade

Volvo Concept

DS 5LS

Hyundai Intrado Concept

SsangYong XLV Concept

Toyota Aygo

Volkswagen T-Roc Concept

Skoda Yeti

Audi TTS

Lamborghini Huracan

This is Part 2 of a special series on the Geneva Motor Show 2014. You can see Part 1 (an exclusive interview with Qoros) here. The most hypnotic photos among the 500 I took at the Geneva Motor Show, with a special mention to the all-new Lamborghini Huracan. Click on any photo to enlarge. Enjoy!

Lamborghini Huracan detail

Maserati Alfieri

Maserati Alfieri

nanoFlowcell Quant

Lamborghini Huracan

Lamborghini Huracan detail

Infiniti Q50 Eau Rouge

Maserati Ghibli

Lamborghini Aventador

Suzuki Swift

* See the Top 10 best-selling models and brands by clicking on the title! Thanks Zsolt *

New car sales in Hungary are up a magnificent 30% year-on-year in February to 5,017 registrations, which prompts questions around the amount of re-exports inside the European Union at stake here… Brand-wise, Hungary is one of the only countries in the world to still crown Opel at 679 sales and 13.5% share just above Ford (13.4%) and Volkswagen (13.2%). In the models sales charts, the Skoda Octavia sells almost double any other competitor at 368 units and 7.3% while in 2nd position the Suzuki Swift is up 6 spots on January and virtually comes back from the dead. Once ultra-dominant and the best-seller in the country from 2005 to 2008, the Swift had fallen by the wayside in the past 5 years. Could 2014 be the year of its renaissance? Answer in a few months…

Previous month: Hungary January 2014: VW Polo and Ford Mondeo up

One year ago: Hungary 2 months 2013: Opel Astra and Skoda Yeti shine

Full February 2014 Top 10 models and brands Ranking Tables below.

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No launch date yet for the new generation Honda City in Pakistan.

* See the Top 13 best-selling local models by clicking on the title! *

Sales of locally produced models in Pakistan are up 1% year-on-year in February to 12,789 registrations, bringing the year-to-date total to 26,699 units, up 5% on 2013. Import data is still unavailable for Pakistan but with very high import duties they still represent a tiny portion of new vehicle sales in the country. The Toyota Corolla remains the most popular model with 3,141 sales and 24.6% share and sees its advantage over the Suzuki Mehran (a 1984 Maruti 800) thaw from 7.8 percentage points in January to just 2.1 this month at 2,874 units and 22.5%. The Suzuki Cultus (a 1989 Swift), remains #3 at 10.5% share while the Honda City is up one spot on January to #4 and 10.1% even though the new generation, already available in neighbouring India, has not hit Pakistan yet.

Previous post: Pakistan: 1995-2013 Historical Data now available

Previous month: Pakistan January 2014: Toyota Corolla takes its distance

One year ago: Pakistan February 2013: Toyota Corolla keeps the lead

Full February 2014 Top 13 models Ranking Table below.

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Skoda Fabia

* See the Top 135 best-selling models by clicking on the title! *

* See the overall Germany February 2014 post here *

As is the tradition on BSCB I share with you today detailed Private Sales (PS) data for Germany. These rankings are always a little controversial because of the definition of a ‘private sale’ in Germany. Are counted as private the cars sold to private buyers. Demo cars, rental cars and long-term leases are not counted as private along with cars sold to companies. This explains the fact that as cars become more expensive, their Private Sales ratio tends to drop: a lot of them are actually on a long-term lease, which can be argued is a private ‘sale’. In January 75,575 new vehicles were sold to private buyers in Germany, that’s a 36.1% PS ratio compared with 37.9% over the Full Year 2013. This month the VW Tiguan climbs to 2nd spot below the Golf and above the Polo.

92.9% of Chevrolet Trax buyers in Germany are private this month.

In spite of its age, the Skoda Fabia is up 4 spots on January to land at an excellent 4th place with 1,644 private sales vs. #21 in the overall ranking. Like last month, the Dacia Sandero is the most popular “true” foreigner (meaning if we exclude Skoda and Seat) with German buyers, ranking #12 with an always outstanding 88.3% PS ratio. Other great performers at the PS ratio game include the Chevrolet Trax (92.9%), Dacia Duster (84.5%), Dacia Logan (83.4%), Honda CR-V (81.7%) and Chevrolet Captiva (81%). The success of Chevrolet can be explained by the hesitation of leasing companies to invest in a brand that will soon disappear from Europe.

Less than 15% of Opel Astra buyers in Germany are private so far this year.

At the other end of the scale, less than 10% of BMW 5 Series buyers are private this month (9.8%), with models in a similar situation including the Audi A4 (10.4%), VW Passat (10.6%), Audi A6 (11.5%) and Ford Mondeo (11.7%). Finally Opel continues to struggle with private buyers in Germany, with the Corsa owing its surge to 5th place in the overall German ranking to non-private purchases (only 13.3% of buyers are private) while the Astra is at 13.4% and the Insignia at 13.7%.

Previous month: Germany Private Sales January 2014: Opel Mokka up to #4, Dacia Sandero #6

One year ago: Germany Private Sales February 2013: Renault Twingo in Top 10!

Full February 2014 Top 135 models Ranking Table below.

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Mazda3

* See the Top 227 models & Top 40 brands by clicking on the title! Thanks www.cartube.co.il *

Exceptional dynamism for Israeli new car sales in this start of 2014: up 19% year-on-year in February to 21,256 registrations, which brings the year-to-date total to 48,465 units, up 23% on 2013. Hyundai remains the favourite carmaker in the country thanks to 2,635 sales and 12.4% share however Toyota is only 17 units below this month at 2,618 sales and 12.3%! Mazda is up one spot on January to round up the podium at 2,009 units and 9.5%, kicking Kia down to #4 with 1,918 sales and 9% while Skoda is up a very robust 4 spots to #5.

Mitsubishi Attrage

Model-wise, the Toyota Corolla enjoys its 7th month in a row in pole position with 1,515 sales and 7.1% share with the Mazda3 confirming its resurrection by remaining #2 thanks to 936 units and an improved 4.4% share. Other great performers this month include the Skoda Octavia up 4 spots on January to #4, the Ford Focus, leader over the Full Year 2012, back up 19 ranks to #5, the Mazda CX-5 breaking into the Israeli Top 10 for the first time at #10, the Mitsubshi Attrage up an impressive 21 spots to #11 and the Subaru Impreza up 6 to #13 vs. #53 over the Full Year 2013.

Previous post: Israel: 2005-2013 Historical Data now available!

Previous month: Israel January 2014: Mazda3 resurrects back to #2

One year ago: Israel February 2013: Toyota Corolla and Mazda6 impress

Full February 2014 Top 227 All-models and Top 40 All-brands Ranking Tables below.

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As an appetiser before we go into the February brands and models rankings in detail for China, CAAM announced today that February sales were up 18% year-on-year to 1.6 million units, a much larger improvement than the one registered in January (+6%). Sales were boosted by great performances from foreign manufacturers such as Ford (+67%) and Toyota (+43%). Reversely, Chinese carmakers saw their market share decline at home for the 6th consecutive month. The Chinese new light vehicle market is up 11% year-on-year so far in 2014 vs. a CAAM prediction of 8 to 10% in the Full Year. Source: www.boursorama.com, many thanks to my dear Dad for the tip.

The Great Wall Hover H6 misses the Bulgarian Top 10 for 8 sales this month.

* See the Top 162 All-models and Top 29 brands by clicking on the title! Thanks Kaloyan *

New car sales in Bulgaria are up 9% year-on-year to an estimated 1,925 registrations, bringing the year-to-date total to 3,645 units, up 10% on 2013. As a reminder Bulgarian data is always to be taken with a pinch of salt as a large portion of new car sales in the country never make it to local roads but are re-exported elsewhere in the EU. See here for more on this phenomenon. In this context, brand-wise Dacia reclaims the top spot it held over the Full Year 2013 thanks to 225 sales and 11.7% share but this is not enough to dislodge Volkswagen from #1 year-to-date at 364 units vs. 375. Ford, Toyota, Skoda and Renault follow. #2 in January, the Ford Fiesta becomes the best-seller in Bulgaria this month with 99 sales and 5.1% share.

The Ford Fiesta is the best-seller in Bulgaria this month.

The Nissan Qashqai is kicked down to #2 equal with the Dacia Sandero at 90 units and 4.7% while the Kia Sportage is down 2 spots to #4. Excellent showing of the Dacia Duster up 14 ranks to #5, the Renault Clio IV is back up 35 spots to reclaim a spot in the Top 10 at #8 but the big event in the Bulgarian models ranking this month is the progression of the Great Wall Hover H6, assembled locally, up a mammoth 86 ranks to stop 8 units short off a spot in the Top 10 at #11 with 2% share, instantly becoming the brand’s best-seller here.

Previous month: Bulgaria January 2014: Nissan Qashqai and Ford Fiesta impress

One year ago: Bulgaria February 2013: Toyota Auris triumphs

Full February 2014 Top 162 All-models and Top 29 brands Ranking Tables below.

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Mercedes E-Class

* See the Top 176 All-models and Top 38 All-brands by clicking on the title! *

New vehicle sales in Hong Kong are up a brilliant 28% year-on-year in February to 3,945 registrations, bringing the year-to-date total to 8,066 units, up 17% on 2013. Brand-wise, Toyota continues to reign with 902 sales for a 22.9% market share, followed by Mercedes at a fantastic 15.7% share thanks to 619 units while Nissan is up 7 spots on January to round up the podium with 330 sales and 8.4% of the market. In the models ranking, for the first time since last August the Mercedes E-Class (leader over the Full Year 2012) is back on top with 212 sales and 5.4% share, however this is not enough to dethrone the Toyota Hiace even though the latter tumbles down to #9 this month. So far in 2014, E Class sales add up to 311 vs. 384 for the Hiace.

Toyota Crown LPG Taxi. Picture by neeravbhatt, all rights reserved.

Bolstered by a dynamic flow of orders from taxi companies, the Toyota Crown LPG Taxi remains #2 with 189 units sold, while the BMW 3 Series shines: up 5 ranks on January to #3 with 160 sales and 4.1%. Other great performers in Hong Kong this month include the Nissan Serena up 18 spots to #4, the Mitsubishi Lancer back in the ranking directly in 5th place, the Mercedes S-Class at #7 vs. #54 over the Full Year 2013, the Nissan Elgrand up 22 spots to #10 and the Mercedes CLA up a further 7 spots to a best-ever (and world-best) 17th position. Finally, notice the arrival of the Maserati Ghibli at #142 with two units sold.

Previous post: Hong Kong (China): 2010-2013 Historical Data now available

Previous month: Hong Kong (China) January 2014: Mercedes S-Class up to #3!

One year ago: Hong Kong (China) February 2013: BMW 5 Series leads

Full February 2014 Top 176 All-models and Top 38 All-brands Ranking Tables below.

Read more…