Best Selling Cars – Matt's blog

Toyota Wish

* See the Top 25 best-selling brands by clicking on the title! Many thanks to Michael *

In Singapore at this stage I only have access to brands ranking but the trends are interesting enough to deserve a full article on here… 2,272 cars were sold in the country in April, bringing the year-to-date total to 9,782. While over the full year 2011 BMW ended 9 years of domination by Toyota to lead the brands ranking, over the first Quarter of 2012 it was the turn of Mercedes to hold the pole position with an outstanding 18.4% market share.

BMW 3 Series

However the situation looks like it’s getting back to normal albeit very slowly, with Toyota reclaiming the #1 spot in April with 431 sales and 19% share, ahead of BMW at 16.3%, Volkswagen at 12.3% and Mercedes at 12.1%. Year-to-date, Mercedes is still king with 17% share, just above BMW at 16.4% while Toyota rounds up the podium at 13.5%. Note Toyota sales include Lexus.

This astonishing evolution of the Singaporean market is due to the Certificates of Entitlement (COEs), a government program meaning residents of Singapore have to bid for the right to buy a motor vehicle, with the number of certificates deliberately restricted. In April 2012 COEs prices went up again, to S$91,000 for cars over 1,600cc, roughly the same as the car price itself, and only the very rich can afford to buy a new car in Singapore these days…

Lamborghini Aventador

And this is illustrated further down in the brands ranking. Notice Audi at #5, Porsche at #12 with 1.9%, Land Rover at #13 with 1.6%, Jaguar at #19 and 0.9%, Lamborghini at #24 and Ferrari at #25, both with 7 sales in April.

Previous post: Singapore Q1 2012: Mercedes new leader, podium 100% German

Previous year: Singapore 2011: BMW ends almost a decade of Toyota domination

Full April 2012 Top 25 Ranking Table below.

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Mercedes C-Class

* See the Top 10 best-selling brands by clicking on the title! Many thanks to Michael *

The Singaporean car market is up 9% year-on-year over the first 3 months of 2012 to 7,510 registrations. There is only brands data available but the ranking is so unique that it deserves a full article on here… After BMW interrupted 9 consecutive years of Toyota domination in 2011, Mercedes is now the new best-selling brand in the country with 1,385 sales in 3 months for a huge 18.4% market share! The Mercedes C180 Kompressor 1.6l is the brand’s likely best-seller and could well top the Singaporean models ranking…

BMW 3 Series

The prevalence of luxury models atop Singapore car sales is due to the Certificates of Entitlement (COEs), a government program meaning residents of Singapore have to bid for the right to buy a motor vehicle, with the number of certificates deliberately restricted. In April 2012 COEs prices went up again, to S$91,000 for cars over 1,600cc, roughly the same as the car price itself, and almost as much as the record S$110,500 reached in 1994, having for result that only the very rich can afford to buy a new car in Singapore these days…

Porsche Panamera

BMW is down to #2 with 1,237 units and 16.5% share. Official rankings place Toyota in third position with 888 sales but these include 191 Lexus models, bringing Toyota down to #4 with 697 units and 9.3%, below Volkswagen with 860 sales and 11.5%, meaning the whole Singaporean brands podium is 100% German! Other great performances include Audi at #5 and 6.2%, Volvo at #7 and 3.7% and Porsche at #11 and 1.9%…

Previous post: Singapore 2011: BMW ends almost a decade of Toyota domination!

Full Q1 2012 Top 10 Ranking Table below.

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2012 BMW 3 Series

* NOW UPDATED with the Top 40 best-selling brands: click on title to see! Thanks Michael *

The strength of the Singapore car market is dictated by the price of Certificates of Entitlement (COEs), a program initiated by the government in 1990 to limit car ownership and the number of vehicles on the country’s roads. The system means residents of Singapore have to bid for the right to buy a motor vehicle (including motorcycles), with the number of certificates deliberately restricted. In 2011 even fewer COEs were made available, resulting in higher premiums reaching over S$70,000 for a larger car, almost as much as the car price itself.

As a result the Singapore car market is down 33% on 2010 at 28,270 registrations, and premium makes behaved much better, buyers of such cars being less sensitive to the price increase.

Volvo S60

For the first time since 2002, Toyota is not the best-selling brand in Singapore, dethroned this year by BMW with sales up 5% to 4,959 units and a huge 17.5% market share. Mercedes ranks 2nd with sales down just 11% to 4,166 units and 14.7% share. The BMW 5 Series is the best-selling car in the country with 1,830 sales. As far as I know, Singapore is the only country in the world where BMW is #1.

Toyota is down 49%, from 6,930 sales and 15.7% share in 2010 to 3,562 and 12.6% this year. It is followed by VW and Audi faring rather well at -8% and -4% respectively, Hyundai at -47%, Kia at -67% and Honda at -71%. Volvo is only the 2nd brand in the Top 10 to see its sales increase at +2% and 835 units at #9.

Jaguar XJ

Notice also Porsche at #12 with 584 sales and 2.1% share, Jaguar at #14 with 389 units and 1.4%, Ferrari at #25 with 92 sales, Maserati at #26 with 91 units, Bentley at #30 with 60 sales, Lamborghini at #31 with 49 units, Rolls-Royce at #35 with 39 sales and Aston Martin at #38 with 25 units.

Previous post: Singapore August 2011: BMW and Mercedes fight it out

Full Year 2011 Top 40 Ranking Table below.

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2012 BMW 3 Series

* See ‘Read more’ for the Top 20 best-selling brands! Thanks to Michael for the tip *

It’s been nearly a year since I last gave an update on Singapore, so it’s about time for another one. Only brand rankings are available, courtesy of Michael, the Singapore Land Transport Authority and Bloomberg. Surprise on top: BMW leads the ranking year-to-date 2011 with 3,173 sales and a massive 16.6% market share, ahead of Mercedes at 2,738 units and an equally impressive 14.3%. Only in Hong Kong would these two brands reach similar levels…

Mercedes CLS

In August Mercedes is #1 at 15.8%, followed by Toyota at 14.7% and BMW at 13.6%. The only other brand to be over the 10% share mark is VW at 10.8% YTD and 12.4% in August. Audi, Hyundai, Honda and Kia are also strong, with Nissan and Volvo rounding up the YTD Top 10. Another prestigious brand at a surprisingly high level is Porsche in 11th position YTD with 460 sales and 2.4% share.

Previous post: see the Singapore October 2010 article here.

Full August and 8 months 2011 Top 20 Ranking Tables below.

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Launched in February 09 (October for the Koup) and just #4 in 2009, the Kia Cerato Forte is the best-selling car in Singapore over the first 10 months 2010, when including the Koup sales.

The Toyota Corolla Altis is #2 for the third year in a row, and the Hyundai Avante (aka Elantra), best-seller in 2009, drops to #3. Official figures don’t include Mercedes and BMW models but it is speculated that the E Class and the 5 Series could feature as high as #3 and #4 respectively…

Top 6 ranking table below.

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Only #8 in 2008, the Hyundai Avante (aka Elantra) manages the impressive feat of taking the top spot in Singapore in 2009, passing ahead traditional strong sellers Toyota Corolla Altis and Vios. The newly launched Kia Cerato Forte is already the 4th best selling car in the country, ahead of the Toyota Wish and Camry. 2009 Top 10 Ranking Table below.

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In an ever-changing Singaporean car market, the Honda Civic becomes the country’s most popular model in 2008 with 5,663 units sold. The Toyota Corolla Altis comes second, ahead of the Toyota Vios with 3,936 sales. The Nissan Latio is 4th with 3,066 registrations. The best selling non-Japanese model is the Hyundai Avante (aka Elantra) coming at #8 with 2,349 sales.

#2 in 2006, the 2001 Mitsubishi Lancer manages to grab the top spot in the 2007 Singaporean best selling cars ranking, thanks to aggressive price promotions. The Toyota Corolla Altis drops to 2nd spot, whereas the new generation Honda Civic lands in 3rd position.

Toyota Corolla Altis in Singapore October 2007 ( I took the picture during one of my trips there)

In 2006 the Toyota Corolla Altis has a comfortable margin on top of Singaporean car sales with 10,910 registrations and 11% of the market. The Mitsubishi Lancer is #2 at 6.8% followed by the Nissan Sunny at 6.7% and Toyota Vios at 6.5%. Note the 6th position of the Nissan Lation (aka Tiida) at 4.3% and the 15th place of the BMW 3 Series at 1.3%. 2006 Top 15 below.

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