FAW is no more, hail Bestune! FAW, which stands for First Automotive Works, is China’s oldest vehicle manufacturer, owned at 100% by the Chinese government. Created in 1953, the company started producing trucks in 1956 and passenger cars in 1958 with the Hongqi, which has since been given its own…
The CX-5 (+118%) helps Mazda up 45.8% in Mexico this month. The Mexican market keeps its decline to a minimum in March at a slim -1.2% year-on-year to 117.135 units, which could signal a return to form later in the year. The YTD tally is down -1.5% after three months…
The Toyota Hilux holds 8.9% of the South African market in March. New vehicle sales in South Africa drop -3.1% year-on-year in March to 47.718 units, with passenger cars down -5.6% to 30.348 while light commercials gain 1.9% to 14.994. The rest of the market goes to medium and heavy…
The Kia Stonic is the most popular vehicle in Cyprus in March. Thanks to our partnership with SEMO Cyprus and INNOSOFT, we can share with you today Cyprus data, and the freefall continues with March sales down an abysmal -53.5% year-on-year to 887 units, leading to a year-to-date volume down 34%…
Volkswagen sales shoot up 35.5% year-on-year in Guadeloupe. New passenger car sales in Guadeloupe, a French overseas archipelago located in the Caribbean Sea home to 398,000 inhabitants step up 5.6% year-on-year in 2018 to 17.620. Peugeot (+3%) remains comfortably in the lead with 16.6% share while Renault (-1.8%) skids down to…
Citroen posts the largest gain in the Martinique Top 6 in 2018. New car sales in Martinique, a French overseas island located in the Caribbean Sea home to 380,000 inhabitants, gain 5.8% year-on-year in 2018 to 15.700 units (our 2017 article featured sales including light commercials). Peugeot (+10.8%) frankly outpace the…
Hyundai breaks into the Top 5 brands in French Guiana. For only the second time on BSCB, we can share with you official sales data for French Guiana (simply Guyane in French), a French overseas territory located on the Atlantic Ocean coast in South America, west of Brazil (see map…
One in five passenger cars sold in Mayotte in 2018 is a Dacia. Today we add a new market on BSCB! New car sales in Mayotte, an overseas French territory located North of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean and home of 256,000 inhabitants, are up a strong +8.9% to 1.412 units. The…
The Fiat Panda is the best-selling vehicle in Greece in March. New car sales in Greece skid down a harsh 13.9% year-on-year in March to just 9.518 units, tilting the year-to-date tally into negative territory at -1.8% to 26.289. As it was the case last May and after falling as…
The Kia Sportage (+46.9%) is the best-selling passenger car in New Zealand this month. New vehicle sales in New Zealand skid down -5.4% to 13.271, leading to a Q1 tally down -3.7% to 38.855. Toyota (-29.9%) continues to freefall but holds onto the brands pole position at 12.8% above Ford…
Honda sales surge 54.7% year-on-year in Singapore in March. The Singaporean new car market is back in positive territory in March at +3.4% year-on-year to 7.239 units, leading to a year-to-date volume up 15.2% at 20.506. Honda (+54.7%) roars back into the pole position, also leading YTD (+38.1%) and knocking…
Renault dominates the Uruguayan market again. It's not a good start of the year for the Uruguayan market in freefall in March at -23.8% to 3.145 units leading to a Q1 volume down -20.6% to 9.253. Renault (-8.7%) scores the smallest decline on the podium leading to a mammoth 18.8% share,…
Chinese EV maker Bordrin at the Shanghai Auto Show. The Shanghai Auto Show opened earlier this week in an uncertain climate for the Chinese new vehicle market. As we have noted in our Q1 2019 update, wholesales of passenger cars in China have now endured 9 consecutive months of year-on-year…
14 of the 17 best-selling nameplates in China in 2019 so far are sedans vs. just 9 a year ago. The Roewe i5 ranks #2 Chinese sedan. The year started pretty atrociously for wholesales in China but the market could now be on the mend: from January down -15.8% and…
As per the BSCB tradition, after covering March sales in detail, it's now time to focus on the all-new locally produced launches so you can stay on the bleeding edge of the the fastest-evolving automobile market in the world. Note this update is based on wholesales figures, and sometimes new…