New Vehicle Market Share By Brand In The UK - February 2011

Vauxhall, with 310 Chevrolets on its side, saw its market share rise from 12.6% in January 2011 to 16% in February on the backs of five models which made it onto the list of the UK's Top 10 Best-Selling Cars list. Though the UK car market fell by 7.7% compared with the same period of 2010, Vauxhall sales jumped 23.4%. Meanwhile sales at Ford fell 23.9%. Mercedes-Benz sales rose 38.4%; Nissan sales were up 37.3%; Saab was up 90.5%; and Lotus sales improved from 18 in February of 2010 to 59 in February of 2011. Hooray.

Overall then, Vauxhall was easily the best-selling car brand in the UK in February, though Volkswagen's vast conglomeration and Audi's tremendous popularity in the UK helped the VW Group's market share rise from 19.6% in January to 22.1% in February. The Volkswagen brand itself was up 6.1% to 7569 sales in February. Audi was the best-selling luxury brand and fourth-ranked brand overall on a 27.9% increase which saw sales rise to 3783. Third-ranked Ford posted sales of 7542, some 3965 ahead of fifth-ranked BMW. 

Honda came in at tenth position with a 23.2% jump and total sales of 2049. Hyundai and Toyota were just beind with respective sales of 2032 and 1956. Then came Renault, Skoda, Kia, Fiat, Mazda, and Mini, after which sales dropped to fewer than 900 per brand. Nissan finished the month in seventh with 2881 sales, just behind Peugeot's 3052, but just ahead of Mercedes-Benz's 2661 and Citroen's 2499.

Related From GoodCarBadCar.net
UK New Vehicle Market Share - March 2011
UK New Vehicle Market Share By Brand - January 2011
Top 10 Best-Selling Cars In The UK - February 2011
New Vehicle Market Share By Brand In Canada - February 2011
New Vehicle Market Share By Brand In America - February 2011

Top 10 Best-Selling Cars In The UK - February 2011

Showing significant improvements over February 2009, the UK new car market displayed signs of restoration in February 2011 despite a 7.7% drop from February of last year. The SMMT expects an uptick in motor vehicle sales in the latter half of the 2011, but we should expect declines in year-over-year figures over the next few months. February is not the ideal month for selling cars in Great Britain - just compare the best-selling car's total this month (the Golf's 2709) with the best-selling car's total from last month (the Focus's 7582) for evidence of that fact.

Most striking in the table below is the fact that half the list is made up of Vauxhalls. Two Vauxhall MPVs, the moderately size Zafira and small Meriva, hopped into the Top 10, a feat not seen since GoodCarBadCar.net began tracking UK Best Sellers. The family-sized Insignia, small Astra, and smaller Corsa built a track to the top, yet none could out-perform the interminable sixth-generation Volkswagen Golf. 

Ranked fifteenth in overall U.S. car volume in February, the Ford Focus isn't the force in America that it is in the United Kingdom. This could change when America's Focus is finally switched out for the updated Euro Focus that's remained a dominant force for Ford's UK success. The Ford Fiesta, last year's best-selling car in the UK, was not even among America's Top 20 Best-Selling Cars.

Rank	Car	Status	February 2011	Last Month	February 2010
#1	Volkswagen Golf	↑	2709	4110	2586
#2	Vauxhall Corsa	↑	2617	4363	2391
#3	Ford Focus	↓	2483	7582	3035
#4	Ford Fiesta	↓	2404	5844	3236
#5	Vauxhall Astra	↓	2036	4510	2524
#6	Vauxhall Insignia	↑	1842	2236	n/a
#7	Vauxhall Zafira	↑	1705	n/a	n/a
#8	Volkswagen Polo	↓	1570	3010	1900
#9	Nissan Qashqai	↑	1367	2108	n/a
#10	Vauxhall Meriva	↑	1367	n/a	n/a

*Source: MTI, SMMT

Related From GoodCarBadCar.net
Top 10 Best-Selling Cars In The UK - March 2011
Top 10 Best-Selling Cars In The UK - January 2011
Top 10 Best-Selling Cars In The UK - 2010 Year End
Top 20 Best-Selling Cars In America - February 2011
New Vehicle Market Share By Brand In The UK - February 2011

Fiat Halifax News

The vast majority of GoodCarBadCar.net readers aren't from Canada. The vast majority of Canadian GoodCarBadCar.net readers aren't from Nova Scotia. Nevertheless, in deference to the homeland, this post is all for GoodCarBadCar.net's Halifax readers, with some gossip that might interest observers from away.

In the last couple years, an upheaval in the U.S. automotive industry wreaked havoc on the dealer networks of General Motors and Chrysler. This resulted in Carroll Pontiac Buick GMC Hummer closing up on the Bedford Highway and Forbes Chevrolet Cadillac permanently vacating the premises on Portland Street. McPhee, the owner of Forbes as well as its own GM dealership and Halifax Chrysler, was royally messed up. Steele Chrysler moved in to take over Bayers Lake-based Halifax Chrysler. This you know.

As for the Fiat connection, well, this is where it gets interesting. Nova Scotia's only Fiat franchise was awarded to Halifax Chrysler. After speaking to a couple sales reps in Bayers Lake, however, I learned that Chrysler Canada/Fiat/Sergio Marchionne wasn't happy with the showroom situation out there. Carroll's old store on the Bedford Highway, right beside Atlantic Acura, had been closed for a while. Steele Chrysler's showroom on Kempt Road is a terrible affair. As you might've then guessed, Steele Auto Group will be taking over the spot on the Bedford Highway for Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep. 

The 500, incidentally, will be parked right where Hummer used to be in its own Fiat-specific corner.

Now things get interesting. Fiat Canada sold nine cars in the waning days of February, surely all of which were pre-sold Prima Edizione 500s. Halifax Chrysler will be getting three Fiat 500s, all of which are fully loaded $22K+ cars, all of which are sold, two of which were sold to "Italian brothers". It's likely that the handover won't even be dealt with in Bayers Lake. After the 500s roll off the truck, they'll be taken to one of Steele's more urban locations where the sale will be finalized. Apparently one of these first three 500s sold is going to Halifax's first owner of the first-generation smart fortwo, a car this owner still has. Allegedly.

Saying he'd been in close contact with Fiat - which I'm guessing doesn't mean Fiat HQ in Turin - this once-upon-a-time Fiat salesman who is no longer eligible to sell a 500 says fewer than 2000 500s have been built for Fiat's North American dealers at this point. While he's certain that'll change rapidly, the thought of 50,000 continental Cinquencento sales, let alone 50,000 annual sales solely in the U.S., still seemed impossible once he considered the limited appeal of one specific model. 

This great new Chrysler 300 every reviewer seems to admire so? Chrysler Canada dealers can't get their hands on them, says this salesman, at least not dealers in this locale. Same goes for all 2011 Chrysler/Dodge cars. Minivans and trucks? There've been tons made, tons sold, and many more are on the way.

The Good 12-winning Jeep Wrangler will be promoted with big incentives come mid-April. So for the 900 or so Canadians who plan on buying a Wrangler in March and haven't yet done so, I tell ye wait. Wait on that.

The 2012 Fiat 500 is currently featured on the Canadian website with 5.99% financing. So you might want to wait on that, too, potential Fiat buyers. The 500 is another Good 12-winning product from Chry... er, Fiat... oh, whatever ya call it. Says my "source" (attempting to speak like a reporter is so tedious), Fiat wants to ramp up the 500 slowly so they can see how buyers react to different trim levels before they decide to build thousands of 500s in Lounge trim when Sport or Pop is more sought after. Supply, therefore, will be weak for some time.

Patience, grasshopper. Patience.

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Popular Car Market Share In America - February 2011

America's 20 best-selling vehicles were slightly more dominant in February 2011 than in January and are ever so slightly more car-oriented, as well. 13 of the 20 most popular vehicles in February are cars. That's up from 12 in January. 

Still the most successful seller, the Ford F-Series' market share dropped from 4.4% in January to 3.8% in February. Still, 38 out of every thousand automobiles sold is.... impressive, to say the least. F-Series sales were up 14.1%. The best-selling utility vehicle in the USA was only the eighth best-selling vehicle overall. Honda CR-V sales jumped 61.4% in February. Only three other utility vehicles found their way onto the list of America's 20 Best-Selling Vehicles in February 2011.

As for cars, there's no doubt the $19,820-$26,675 2011 Toyota Camry is helping Toyota get its groove back. 25.5% of the Toyota brand's year-over-year increase came as a result of 10,660-sale addition in Camry sales. 

Related From GoodCarBadCar.net
Popular Car Market Share In America - March 2011
Popular Car Market Share In America - January 2011
Top 20 Best-Selling Cars In America - February 2011
New Vehicle Market Share By Brand In America - February 2011
Top 10 Best-Selling SUVs In America - February 2011
Top 5 Best-Selling Trucks In America - February 2011

Top 30 Best-Selling Luxury Vehicles In America - February 2011

Falling off this month's list of America's 30 Best-Selling Luxury Vehicles are the Lexus GX460 and the Good 12-winning Porsche Cayenne. BMW's 3-Series fell from second to fifth on a 28.5% year-over-year drop and a 15.5% drop from January 2011. BMW was the most popular luxury brand in the United States in February, helped by a strong 5-Series performance (ranked 7th below, up 86.6% from February 2010) and the BMW X3, up 466.1% now that the appealing second-generation SAV is available.

All these stories seem small when contrasted with Cadillac's strong performance. The CTS posted a 124.3% sales increase and came within spitting distance of being crowned America's most popular luxury vehicle in February. Right behind the Good 12-winning CTS was the Cadillac SRX and its 55.3% jump. Back in 16th and 24th you'll find Cadillacs. One can imagine how strong Cadillac would be if the STS was a viable 5-Series/E-Class alternative: STS sales were up 56.3%, but that only indicates a 187-unit climb to 519 measly sales. (Cadillac failed to sell a single STS in Canada in February.)

Of course, Cadillac's terrific performance in February was perhaps overshadowed just a little by Buick. The Good Car Guy doesn't include Buick as a premium nameplate eligible for this table, but Cars.com's Kicking Tires blog (for whom The Good Car Guy contributed this week) looked at Buick's February beating of Lexus in some detail.

Rank	Car	Status	February 2011	Last Month	February 2010
#1	Lexus RX	↔	6567	5881	5694
#2	Cadillac CTS	↑	6033	4362	2690
#3	Cadillac SRX	↑	5502	4236	3542
#4	Infiniti G	↑	5492	4324	3542
#5	BMW 3-Series	↓	4872	5763	6817
#6	Mercedes-Benz C-Class	↑	4479	4172	4245
#7	BMW 5-Series	↓	4212	4350	2270
#8	Mercedes-Benz E-Class	↓	4203	4759	4043
#9	Acura MDX	↔	3845	3127	3266
#10	Acura TSX	↑	2794	1941	2123
#11	Audi A4	↑	2770	2483	2660
#12	BMW X5	↓	2646	3038	2959
#13	Lexus ES	↑	2598	2215	2349
#14	Acura TL	↑	2447	1592	2410
#15	Hyundai Genesis	↑	2441	1783	1762
#16	Cadillac Escalade	↓	2202	2259	2072
#17	Lexus IS	↓	2081	1992	1991
#18	BMW X3	↑	1987	1075	351
#19	Mercedes-Benz M-Class	↓	1924	2484	1655
#20	Mercedes-Benz GLK	↓	1853	1625	2126
#21	Lincoln MKZ	↔	1775	1574	1761
#22	Lincoln MKX	↔	1636	1546	1452
#23	Audi Q5	↓	1539	1584	1060
#24	Cadillac DTS	↔	1512	1365	611
#25	Mercedes-Benz GL-Class	↓	1472	1518	1368
#26	Acura RDX	↑	1344	993	850
#27	Volvo S60	↑	1247	1042	17
#28	Volvo XC60	↑	1184	966	667
#29	Infiniti M	↑	1178	877	817
#30	Audi A5	↓	1142	1054	1029

Source: Manufacturers And Automotive News Data Center

Related From GoodCarBadCar.net
Top 30 Best-Selling Luxury Cars In America - March 2011
Top 30 Best-Selling Luxury Cars In America - January 2011
Top 20 Best-Selling Cars In America - February 2011
Top 10 Best-Selling SUVs In America - February 2011
U.S. Auto Sales By Brand - February 2011

Top 5 Best-Selling Trucks In America - February 2011

It's true, The Good Car Guy covers truck sales more exhaustively in a bar Graph later on in the month. For now, this display of America's five (six, sort of) best-selling trucks is similarly telling.

Ford's unbeatable F-Series was up 14.1% in February. The Dodge Ram increased by an astounding 81.6%. Though Toyota Tundra sales jumped 28.2%, Tacoma sales fell 5.4%.

Then there's General Motors. Together, the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra were up 66.3% on a 60.1% Silverado increase and an 85.8% Sierra bump.

Through two months of 2011 the GM full-size duo is ahead of Ford's F-Series by 8868 sales. The Dodge Ram is up 53% on the year but its two-month total is less than the F-Series and Silverado found in February. America's Top 5 Best-Selling Trucks from February 2011 can be seen in the chart below.

Related From GoodCarBadCar.net
Top 5 Best-Selling Trucks In America - March 2011
Top 5 Best-Selling Trucks In America - January 2011
U.S. Auto Sales By Brand - February 2011
Top 20 Best-Selling Cars In America - February 2011
Top 10 Best-Selling SUVs In America - February 2011