VW Lavida in Lijiang, Yunnan. After test driving the Wuling Hongguang, #1 in China from 2013 to 2017, the logical next step is to get a feel of 2018's overall leader the VW Lavida. I was able to do exactly that in Lijiang in the Yunnan province earlier this year. Originally launched…
Wuling Hongguang in Dali, Yunnan. It's time for me to test drive the car that is responsible for bringing mass mobility to an entire nation: the Wuling Hongguang. Originally launched in 2010, no less than 4 million of them have been sold in China since, dominating the country's sales charts…
Dongfeng Fengon ix5 in Kunming We continue on our Chinese dealership test drives with the Dongfeng Fengon ix5, previously Fengguang and aka Glory outside of China. This is Dongfeng's first coupe SUV, a red hot format in China at the moment that seems to be the perfect blend of SUV…
Jetour X70 in Dali. After reporting on my rental Peugeot 301 and Hyundai Celesta, it is now time to relate my visits to Chinese dealerships and all the quick test drives that resulted. From 5 in 2018, the number of new Chinese cars I was able to get my hands…
Our Hyundai Celesta near Tiger Leaping Gorge in Yunnan. After trying out a Peugeot 301 in Inner Mongolia, we now fly the entire width of China to land in Kunming, the capital of the Yunnan province. We will attempt to visit the province's highlights during a 1.263 km loop with…
Opel sales are up 121.8% year-on-year in Morocco in June. The Moroccan new light vehicle market is almost immobile in June at -0.03% year-on-year to 12.991 registrations, as a Passenger Car decline (-1.6%) is compensated by very strong Light Commercials sales (+15.7%). Year-to-date, total sales are down -11% as the…
A new Suzuki Alto has landed in Pakistan. Thanks to PAMA we can share with you June sales of locally-produced light vehicles in Pakistan, a fair representation of the market as very high taxes make imports negligible. Sales slow down their fall in June at -5.2% year-on-year to 17.561 units, leading…
The new X3 (+96.8%) helps BMW up 7.4% so far in 2019. New car sales in Germany edge up 0.5% year-on-year over the First Half of 2019 to a round 1.849.000 units, the largest H1 tally in Germany since 2000. Business fleets gain 3.3% to 1.179.662 units and 63.8% share…
It took a while, but the VW T-Roc is now well and truly established at home. After a splendid 9.1% surge in May, the German new car market falls back to earth at -4.7% year-on-year in June to 325.231 registrations due to three fewer working days than in June 2018. Adjusted for…
Renault Clio sales are up 121.9% year-on-year in Romania in June. The Romanian new car market surges 15% year-on-year in June to 14.082 units, lifting the year-to-date tally up 19.2% to 71.620. Dacia (-1.1%) is left out of the national growth and falls to 26.8% share, a full three percentage…
Peugeot sales soar 34.6% year-on-year in Bulgaria in June. The Bulgarian new car market is almost immobile in June, losing just one unit year-on-year to 4.061 registrations which brings the year-to-date tally up 8.8% to 23.041. Dacia (+24.2%) surges 3 spots on May to reclaim the brands pole position it…
The Citroen C3 Aircross could be headed towards its first annual Top 10 finish at home. This article has been updated with the Top 42 brands, Top 275 models and Top 10 private sales. The French new car market edges down -1.8% over the First Half 2019 to 1.166.443 units,…
The Renault Clio V ranks #11 at home in June. Picture largus.fr. This article has been updated with the Top 40 brands, Top 270 models and Top 10 private sales. New car sales in France skid down -8.4% year-on-year in June to 230.965 units (the third highest June result below…
Audi sales are up 16.2% in Hong Kong in April. The Hong Kong new car market drops a harsh -8.9% year-on-year in April to 2.959 registrations, meaning the year-to-date tally is now down -4.9% to 12.280, note 2018 monthly data has been updated with additional data which wasn't included before.…
We conclude our series of quick test drives of the best-selling SUVs in the world in preparation for our upcoming review of the new generation Toyota RAV4. These are in no way exhaustive but just to get a feel of the competition. After the unconvincing Nissan X-Trail and the impressive Honda…