Toyota Tundra in front of the Potala Palace, Lhasa. After Shanghai, Manzhouli in Inner Mongolia and Kunming, Dali and Lijiang in Yunnan, we finish our Chinese exploration following the Shanghai Auto Show on a high note. After many years of anticipation and missed opportunities because of how convoluted the permit process is, I…
All the Chinese cities and regions explored by BSCB since 2013. Over the past 7 years, BSCB has been lucky enough to visit no less than 45 Chinese cities and regions spread all around the country. We came back with extensive Photo Reports so you can discover how the car…
The Renault Kwid ranks #4 in Colombia. Thanks to a very robust month of May up 8.3% to 22.298 units, new car sales in Colombia are back into positive territory year-to-date at +1.6% to 96.721. Now that Renault (+18.8%) has wrestled the #1 brands YTD title off Chevrolet (-6.9%), it…
My rental Peugeot 301 in Manzhouli, Inner Mongolia. We are back for a new series of China Test Drives as securing my temporary Chinese driver's licence for a second year in a row enabled me to rent two cars in two different provinces and test drive 9 more at dealerships.…
The GAC NE Aion S has landed in China. After analysing May wholesales in detail, we now focus on the all-new locally-produced launches for the month, so you can stay up-to-date on the fastest-evolving automotive market in the world. Note this update is based on wholesales figures, and sometimes new…
Honda sales are up 18.1% in a market down -16.4% Far from building up on the signs of recovery the market showed earlier in the year, Chinese wholesales fall even deeper into depression in May with their steepest year-on-year drop so far at a ghastly -16.4% to 1.912.600 units, marking…
Toyota sales are up 60.2% to an ultra-dominant 33.6% share in Hong Kong. New car sales in Hong Kong soar 29.8% year-on-year in March to 3.314 units, leading to a year-to-date tally up 18.4% to 9.320. Toyota (+60.2%) continues to vastly outperform the market at 33.6% share, almost 3.5 times…
Chana CX70 in Lijiang After Shanghai, Manzhouli in Inner Mongolia and Kunming and Dali in Yunnan, we proceed on our Chinese exploration following the Shanghai Auto Show. Next stop is Lijiang, still in Yunnan province, roughly 200km north of Dali, and then we push a further 100km north to the famous…
Toyota sales surge 59.8% year-on-year in a market down -17.1% Thanks to our partnership with cartube.co.il, we can share with you today May brands data for Israel, models data is now a quarterly occurrence. It's a very difficult month for new car sales in the country at -17.1% to 21.375 units,…
Wuling Hongguang V in Dali old town After Shanghai, Manzhouli in Inner Mongolia and Kunming in Yunnan, we continue on our exploration of Chinese regions following the Shanghai Auto Show. This time we travel 350km west from Kunming to reach the small town of Dali on the shores of the Erhai…
Haval H6 Coupe near Kunming After Shanghai and Manzhouli in Inner Mongolia, we continue our exploration of China following the Shanghai Auto Show and now fly all the way down north near the border with Myanmar, Thailand, Laos and Vietnam to the Yunnan province. We start with the province's capital,…
Bestune T77 in Manzhouli, Inner Mongolia. This is the second stop in our 2019 exploration of China following the Shanghai Auto Show. You can consult the 1st stop Shanghai here. We are now in Manzhouli in eastern Inner Mongolia in the north of the country, at the border with Russia…
The Skoda Octavia is now the best-selling vehicle in Austria YTD. The Austrian new car market reels in May at -6.1% year-on-year to 30.574 units, leading to a year-to-date volume down -7.4% to 143.380. Brand leader Volkswagen (-24%) is hit particularly hard but remains on top at 14.7% vs. 9.8% for…
The Mitsubishi Triton is one of 5 pickups in the May Top 6. New vehicle sales in New Zealand fall a painful -13.5% year-on-year in May to 12.259 units, leading to a year-to-date tally now down -4.9% to 61.715. In the detail, passenger cars/SUVs freefall -17.8% to 7.624 this month…
Peugeot sales soar 109.7% in Romania in May. New car sales in Romania leap up 12.6% year-on-year in May to 13.011 units, leading to a year-to-date tally up 20.3% to 57.538. Homegrown leader Dacia (+5.5%) fails to match the market growth, resulting in a weak 25.3% share vs. 30.6% YTD. Volkswagen…