The Kia Rio scores its first ever podium finish in Kazakhstan. Despite declaring a state of emergency on 15 March and placing the cities of Nur-Sultan and Almaty in quarantine on 19 March, the Kazakh new car market is unaffected by the COVID-19 pandemic so far, with March sales shooting…
After January 2019 (world car market) and April 2019 (Chinese market), BSCB and I are featured for the third time in French newspaper Le Monde, one of the most important and widely respected newspapers in the world according to Wikipedia. The article, published in yesterday's edition (dated March 23) explores how different…
The Toyota Aygo is up 82.8% year-on-year in a market down -60.7%. Greece increased COVID-19 related restrictions all through March, starting with national school closures in affected areas (March 10) and retail closures (March 16) and culminating in a nationwide lockdown from March 23 onwards. As a result the new…
Chevrolet Silverado sales are up 25.7% in Q1 in a market down -11.9%. 11/04 update: Now with Mercedes, Jaguar and Land Rover data. March is the month the coronavirus pandemic upended the US economy. From just 100 confirmed cases as of March 1, the number of infected US citizens surged…
France has been under strict lockdown since March 17. 09/04 update: Now with Top 305 All-models. 07/04 update: Now with model info for private and business channels. 01/04 update: Now with Top 80 models. First European March results are here and as expected the losses are heavy, impacted by coronavirus…
The Tyrolean ski resort of Ischgl was placed in quarantine on March 13. 9/04 update: Now with Top 20 models. As early as March 1, the Tyrolean ski resort town of Ischgl was identified as a major European coronavirus hotspot, and Tyrolean authorities placed the town in quarantine on March 13. A…
Skoda sales in Russia soar 41.7% in March. Anticipating a significant price increase due to a weakened currency, Russian buyers somewhat "stockpiled" on new cars in March with sales up 4% year-on-year to 162.321 units, only the 4th positive month in the past year. As a result the Q1 volume…
The GMC Sierra (+4.5%) is up to third place in Canada in Q1. Picture caranddriver.com As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, by mid-March all of Canada's provinces and territories had declared states of emergency with various degrees of movement restrictions, and travellers from all countries including the U.S. were banned…
The Honda Fit hits its highest ranking at home in over 5 years at #2. Apart from school closures, international travel bans and of course the postponement of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, as of March 31 Japan had been relatively unscathed by the COVID-19 pandemic, even being hailed as…
Peugeot sports the slimmest drop among the Top 13 brands. The closure of non-essential businesses across Ireland from March 13 as a measure to prevent the spread of the coronavirus means Irish new car sales fall -63% year-on-year in March to just 6.173 units, leading to a year-to-date tally down -20.4%…
Some parts of Italy have been under quarantine since late February. With a red zone established in eleven municipalities in the province of Lodi as early as 21 February, extended to a large part of Northern Italy including Milan on March 8 then to the entire nation on March 10, the Italian…
Ram breaks into the Mexican Top 10 brands in February. 25/03/20 update: Now with actuals for Top 40 All-brands and Top 300 All-models. In February new vehicle sales in Mexico manage their first "true" year-on-year uptick in almost 3 years (since May 2017) at a shy +0.3% to 104.328. Indeed…
The Toyota Rush is now inside the Malawi Top 10. New vehicle sales in Malawi gain 3.2% year-on-year in 2019 to 1.830 units. Toyota (+16%) tightens its suffocating grip on the market even further this year, improving to 56.8% share. In contrast, Nissan (-7.2%), Ford (-8.7%), Tata (-16.4%), Kia (-22%)…
The Renault Logan is the best-selling vehicle in Colombia in February. The Colombian new vehicle market soars 11.1% year-on-year in February to 20.547 units, leading to a year-to-date volume up 13.1% to 38.974. In the brands ranking, Renault (+20.8%) continues to widen the gap with its archenemy Chevrolet (+3.3%) while…
First win for the VW Golf in a year in Austria. Picture carmagazine.co.uk The Austrian new car market sinks -10.9% year-on-year in February to 21.067 registrations, pulling the year-to-date tally down -10% to 44.026 units. Volkswagen (-25.4%) behaves a lot worse than the market but easily remains atop the brands…