Best Selling Cars – Matt's blog

French car sales dropped less than expected in November at -11% (193,970 registrations), bringing the year-to-date total to 2,023,410 (-2%).

The Renault Clio is the best selling car in France for the third month in a row with 10,732 sales (5.5%) vs. 10,627 for the Peugeot 207 (5.5% also). This brings the two cars unbelievably close year-to-date: 114,056 sales for the 207 vs. 114.034 for the Clio! The 207/Clio fight has never been so close!

In 3rd, the Renault Megane delivers its best 2010 market share at 4.2%, ahead of the Twingo, stabilising around 4% over the last quarter. Excellent performance of the Peugeot 206+ in 6th with 2010 best 6,180 sales, and the Peugeot 107 in 11th with 2010 best 4,157 sales (2.1%).

The Dacia Duster climbs to best-ever 17th with 3,241 sales, but still has a 6 month-waiting list so should be ranked higher if demand was met. After an outstanding October score, the Citroen DS3 falls back to #18 with 3,177 sales, still double the score of the Mini however.

There are two newbies in the Top 50: the Citroen C4 II is #38 with 1,366 sales and the Nissan Juke is very solid at #39 (1,362) and could enjoy the same success as the Qashqai.

For more commentaries and Full Top 75 Ranking Table, click on ‘Read more’ below the C4 II picture.

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Georgian consumers were very fast to shed their Soviet past: there are virtually no Ladas anymore in the streets of the capital city Tbilisi. The Toyota Corolla should take the lead of the sales ranking in 2010, followed by the Hyundai Tucson and the Toyota Camry.

Other successful cars in Georgia include the Nissan Tiida, Toyota RAV4, Mitsubishi Pajero and Hyundai ix35. There are also a lot of second hand 1991 Opel Astras and various Mercedes in the streets.

Street Scenes below. Read more…

Street Scene in Yerevan, Armenia. Picture by ls2_zed. All rights reserved.

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Lada dominates Armenian car sales, with the 2104/2105 very likely to be the best-seller, and the 4×4 (aka Niva) also doing well in spite of its old age.

The other successful models in Armenia are the Toyota Corolla, Suzuki Grand Vitara, Dacia Logan and Toyota Camry.

Interestingly, a lot of taxis in the capital city Yerevan are Iran Khodro Samands, imported straight from Iran, and Volgas 3110 from Russia.

More street scenes and street videos below. Read more…

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The Kyrgyz market is very similar to neighbour Kazahkstan, and should place the Toyota Camry on top on the sales ranking, ahead of the Toyota Prado and Land Cruiser. Old Ladas are still dominant in rural areas but should not appear in new car sales.

A few UzDaewoo Nexia (as police cars) can also be seen, as well as some new gen Toyota Corolla.

Street Scenes and Video below.

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Daihatsu Tanto Custom

In November, the Daihatsu Tanto regains the lead of the Japanese Kei cars ranking with 13,217 sales, ahead of the Suzuki Wagon R at 12,881 sales. Year-to-date, the Tanto is #1 too with 180,716 sales vs. 180,177 for the Wagon R.

2010 could very well be the first time in 8 years the Wagon R doesn’t top Kei car sales. The rest of the ranking is very quiet this month with the Top 7 identical to the 2010 ranking.

Full Top 20 Kei cars and Top 15 commercial Kei cars Ranking tables below.

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Two cars have been dominating the Turkmen market for many years now: the Toyota Camry (starting with the 1996 generation) and the Lada 2105. These two models add up to almost half the cars in circulation in the capital city Ashgabat.

More street scenes and street video below.

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Lada 2104 in Azerbaijan

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Azerbaijan’s streets are filled with various generations of Lada 2104/2105′s and this model should still be the best selling car in the country in 2010.

Other very successful cars here are the Hyundai Sonata, Kia Cerato Forte, Toyota Camry, UzDaewoo Nexia and Nissan Almera Classic (aka Samsung SM3).

Hyundai has cracked the Azerbaijani market: on top of the Sonata, the Santa Fe, Tucson, Elantra and Accent are also popular in the country. More street scenes below.

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Very small car market in Gambia, and the observation of the streets of the capital city Banjul reveal a likely domination by the Mitsubishi L200, with the Toyota Corolla and Hyundai Tucson also strong sellers.

This is speculation only so please do get in touch if you have more information about the Gambian car market.

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Solid numbers in Australia with +2% year-on-year in November at 87,342 registrations and +12% YTD at 948,487. 2010 will be only the third year in history the Australian market is above 1 million units.

In November the Toyota Corolla is #1 for first time in 2010 with 4,536 sales and 5.2% (its best share since July 2009), ahead of the Holden Commodore (3,771 – 4.3%). The very first time the Corolla was on top of Australian monthly sales was in September 2005, and it has been #1 at least twice in the following years: 2006 (2), 2007 (3), 2008 (2) and 2009 (3). In 2010, the model slipped to #4 overall and #2 in its category behind the Mazda3.

With its exceptional November performance, the Corolla jumps back up to #2 overall (behind the Commodore) and leader of its category.

The Holden Cruze gains two spots over October at #5 with 3.1%, both its best position and best share to date, reaching both for the 2nd time in 2010. It is only the second time in 5 years (with September 2010) that Holden places 2 models in the Top 5.

Full Top 10 Ranking Table below.

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Vintage American car in Cuba. Picture by Walter Lo Cascio. All rights reserved.

The Cuban car market structure is a fascinating testimony of the country’s last 60 years history. Its famous 1950′s American cars (60,000 are still in circulation), relics of the pre-revolutionary period, are now outnumbered by over 100,000 Ladas, the most visible legacy of the country’s Cold War alliance with the Soviet Union.

Lada in Cuba. Picture by Tom Eversley. All rights reserved.

More recently, Hyundai seems to have reaped the title of best-selling brand in Cuba, with the Hyundai Accent the probable Cuban best-seller, and the i10 and Santro also doing very well, especially with rental car companies

Hyundai Accent, possibly 2010 Cuban best-selling car, thanks to popularity with rental companies.

Lastly in 2009, government and police have started replacing their Ladas with Geely CK’s, symbolizing Cuba’s recent closer ties with China, with as much as 1,500 units imported in H1 ’09.

More commentaries, striking street scene pictures and informative street videos are below, click on ‘read more’ just below the Geely CK picture.

Police Geely CK, La Habana, Cuba 2009

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