New GoodCarBadCar Feature - Select the make and model in the top right of this GCBC page and you'll be served a results page showing more than 60 monthly and yearly sales figures forevery model on currently on sale. December 2011 and year-end 2011 updates are complete. U.S. Auto Sales By Brand posts are complete, as are the Canadian versions. U.S. Best Seller lists are complete, Canada's are underway. U.S. segment breakdowns are done.

6/07/2011

2012 Fiat 500 Sport Automatic Driven

There's a girl I know well who, upon seeing your new houndstooth shoes, will likely say, "Those are fun." She'll say so very enthusiastically.

In 1994, I rode what was the tallest and fastest wooden roller coaster in the world, The Rattler, at Fiesta Texas in San Antonio. It was fun. My spine never recovered.

On the rare occasions that the whole Cain family is together, four or five of us will play Scrabble. We place letters on a board in word form. We calculate points. We argue about rules that have been set in stone for decades. And we manage to have fun.

After returning from a long vacation in Îles de la Madeleine and Prince Edward Island, a bunch of Fiat 500s had suddenly appeared out of thin air (also known as Toluca, Mexico, 8750 feet above sea level). Setting aside GCBC’s Sales Stats theme for a day, I had to drive the new Fiat 500. Had to. What could possibly be more fun than starting the work week by testing an Italian hatchback? Read on after the jump for a lengthy Driven review of the 2012 Fiat 500 Sport Automatic.

6/06/2011

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

With a slight sales increase and tumbling sales in many rival showrooms, Ford was able to grow its UK auto market share from 13.4% in April to 14.3% in May 2011. The two best-selling cars in Britain were both Fords: the Fiesta and Focus. Ford sold 120,020 new vehicles in the United Kingdom through the first five months of this year, more than any other brand. 18% of those sales, or 21,581, came about in May. 

Without its Lincoln luxury brand assisting - without assistance from any former PAG ally, either - Ford can't compete with the Volkswagen Group's overall strength. Volkswagen itself was up 13.9% in May on strong sales of the new Passat (Britain's tenth-most-popular car). Alongside, Audi sold 9081 vehicles, up 2.3%. Skoda was up 21.4% to 4484. SEAT sales slid 6% to 2421. Porsche jumped 33.8% to 642. Bentley doubled its volume, improving to 110 sales, comparing quite favourably with Aston Martin's 88 sales and Lotus's 30.

Vauxhall outsold the VW brand on a 6% sales rise. Together with Chevrolet's 807 sales, General Motors found 19,646 buyers in Great Britain last month. GM's share of the market dropped a full percentage point from April, nevertheless. Volkswagen's market share decline from April was worse than GM's. BMW/Mini grew its share of the market, as did Peugeot/Citroen, Hyundai/Kia, and Jaguar/Land Rover. 

Not visible in the chart are a few of the weaker performers. Suzuki sold 953 cars in the UK in May. Subaru sales rose 19.5% to 264. Mitsubishi was up 81.6% to 888. Mazda sales plummeted 36.7% to 2060. Volvo was down 4% to 2851, but that was more than Honda's 2835-unit total. Volvo made up the largest chunk of the brown "other" slice in the pie chart below with 1.9% of the British new car market in May 2011.

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

Expanding its year-to-date lead over its larger sibling by 1643 units, the Ford Fiesta has sold 42,814 copies in Great Britain so far this year. Fiesta sales jumped 23% in May 2011 as Ford Focus sales dropped 10% from May 2010 when it was the best-selling car in the United Kingdom. 

Overall, Britain's new car market was down 1.7%, a much better performance than what we've seen over the last year. Ford, by the way, was up 1.3% to 21,581. Vauxhall, Volkswagen, BMW, Audi, Nissan fell in line behind Ford as the second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth best-selling brands. All posted year-over-year sales increases in May. All landed a vehicle on the best-sellers list, as well, all save for Audi. The A3 was Britain's tenth-most-popular car at this time last year.

Mini's appearance here with its vast range of models doesn't actually stretch across the whole brand. In addition to what you see in the best-sellers list, Mini sold 1123 Countrymans (Countrymen?) in May. Why isn't the Mini listed here as the Cooper, then? Well, for one thing, even the Countryman uses the Cooper tag. But of greater importance in the British market is the fact that not all Minis sold Across The Pond are Coopers. There's the Mini First, the Mini One, the Mini One D, along with a Mini One Convertible, a Mini One Clubman, and the Mini One D Clubman. There are variants besides these; and even the Countryman range is expansive. Sales of the mini Mini fell 9% in May. Overall Mini was up 24% thanks to the introduction of the Countryman. 

The United Kingdom's 10 Best-Selling Cars for May 2011 can be scanned in the table below.

Rank
Car
Status
May 2011
Last Month
May 2010
#1
Ford Fiesta
8135
6755
6619
#2
Ford Focus
6492
4843
7163
#3
Volkswagen Golf
5541
4973
4314
#4
Vauxhall Corsa
5368
4888
5950
#5
Vauxhall Astra
5011
4900
6734
#6
Vauxhall Insignia
4205
3912
n/a
#7
BMW 3-Series
4058
3133
3732
#8
Mini
3139
n/a
3445
#9
Nissan Qashqai
3083
3738
3359
#10
Volkswagen Passat
2981
2720
n/a
Source: MTI, SMMT

Related From GoodCarBadCar.net
Top 10 Best-Selling Cars In The UK - June 2011
Top 10 Best-Selling Cars In The UK - April 2011
Top 10 Best-Selling Cars In The UK - March 2011
Top 20 Best-Selling Cars In America - May 2011
New Vehicle Market Share By Brand In The UK - May 2011

6/03/2011

Luxury Auto Market Share In America - May 2011

Nearly 45 out of every hundred premium brand vehicle sales in America in May occurred in Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Audi dealerships. Excluding expensive vehicles which wear mainstream badges - cars like the Chevrolet Corvette, Nissan GT-R, and Hyundai Equus - there were 113,558 luxury brand automobiles sold in May 2011. That figure includes the Automotive News Data Center's estimates for Rolls-Royce, Maybach, and a handful of others.

German automakers led the way last month as sales at Lexus, Acura, and Infiniti stores plummeted on post-March 11th difficulties.

Compared with April, Lexus market share in the U.S. luxury segment fell from 14.7% to 10.8%. Acura slid from 9.7% to 7.9%. Infiniti's lower volume and smaller decline meant its market share loss wasn't quite as significant. Meanwhile, BMW climbed 15.6% in March; Mercedes-Benz produced gains of 5.9%; Audi was up 13.6%; and Porsche jumped 50.4% to 2817 sales, 45% of which were Cayennes. One other thing to keep in mind: because of rounding, Maybach is displayed in the chart as the possessor of absolutely no market share. Automotive News estimated, however, that Maybach sold 4 cars in May, down 20% from the same period of a year ago.

As a collective fighter of the common man's machine, the 113,558 sales produced by 20 brands represented in the luxury auto market share chart below accounted for 10.7% of the overall new vehicle market. That's up from 10.3% in April but down slightly from 10.8% in May 2010. 

6/02/2011

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

The BMW 7-Series and Volvo XC60 joined the list of 30 best-selling luxury vehicles in America in May, taking the place of the Acura RDX and Porsche Cayenne. For the first time in 2011 the BMW 3-Series reacquired its position as America's favourite premium brand vehicle. This means the Lexus RX350/RX450h falls back to second spot as sales of America's most popular luxury utility vehicle fell 36%.

The abundance of red font in the table below is no mistake. 17 of America's 30 best-selling luxury vehicles suffered from declining sales when compared with May 2010. That goes for vehicles as different as the #1-ranked 3-Series (down 16%) and the defunct 26th-ranked Cadillac DTS (down 34%). 

You'll see more on the subject in the coming days in this section of GoodCarBadCar.net, but in case you miss it, check out the BMW X3 and its competitors. Forging ahead in second-generation form with a 229% year-over-year increase, the 16th-ranked X3 was undoubtedly strong, but seeing off the Audi Q5 (up 9%), Mercedes-Benz GLK (up 22%) and Volvo XC60 (up 43%) couldn't have been easy. Every sale in the small luxury SUV segment is a battle worth fighting. The same could be said for the 3-Series' segment, where the Volvo S60 roared ahead of the Acura TSX and Lexus IS with a year-over-year sales bump weighing in at 2404%.

Oh, and if you don't appreciate the inclusion of the Hyundai Genesis, or the Chevrolet Corvette for that matter, next up would be the Porsche Cayenne, followed by the Lincoln Town Car.

Rank
Car
Status
May 2011
Last Month
May 2010
#1
BMW 3-Series
8117
7452
9659
#2
Lexus RX
5847
7802
9116
#3
Mercedes-Benz E-Class
5751
5342
5476
#4
Mercedes-Benz C-Class
4936
5232
5089
#5
Cadillac CTS
4288
4220
3489
#6
BMW 5-Series
4201
3668
2289
#7
Cadillac SRX
3910
4380
4081
#8
Infiniti G
3851
3855
4777
#9
Acura MDX
3824
3912
4064
#10
Audi A4
3192
3328
3189
#11
Hyundai Genesis
2769
2648
2480
#12
BMW X5
2684
2360
2661
#13
Lincoln MKZ
2523
2546
2040
#14
Volvo S60
2405
1972
1
#15
Lexus ES
2400
3493
5115
#16
BMW X3
2350
2277
715
#17
Audi Q5
2222
1437
2037
#18
Mercedes-Benz GLK
2214
1927
1814
#19
Acura TL
2197
2887
2925
#20
Mercedes-Benz M-Class
1928
1990
2264
#21
Mercedes-Benz GL-Class
1885
1623
1736
#22
Cadillac Escalade
1786
1733
2033
#23
Acura TSX
1751
3105
2808
#24
Lincoln MKX
1734
1859
2040
#25
Lexus IS
1715
2640
3247
#26
Cadillac DTS
1496
1906
2263
#27
Audi A5
1438
1437
1757
T28
BMW 7-Series
1386
760
624
T28
Volvo XC60
1386
1220
972
#30
Chevrolet Corvette
1304
1454
1428
Source: Manufacturers And Automotive News Data Center

Related From GoodCarBadCar.net
Top 30 Best-Selling Luxury Vehicles In America - June 2011
Top 30 Best-Selling Luxury Vehicles In America - April 2011
Luxury Auto Market Share In America - May 2011
Top 20 Best-Selling Cars In America - April 2011
Top 10 Best-Selling SUVs In America - April 2011
Sporty Car & Premium Sporty Car Sales In America - May 2011

6/01/2011

New Vehicle Market Share By Brand In Canada - May 2011

149,034 new vehicles were sold in Canada in May 2011. Only 46.6% of those sales were passenger cars. General Motors, Ford Motor Company, and the Chrysler Group (excluding Fiat) found 72,041 buyers, the majority of sales came about in dealerships which fly foreign logos. For a complete rundown on brand-by-brand volume, click here.

As for market share, GM, Ford, and Chrysler all owned more of it in May than in April. Toyota's share of the market fell four percentage points to 8.1%. Hyundai/Kia improved, as did the Volkswagen Group, although only slightly. In fact, "other brands", a group made up by Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Subaru, and Mitsubishi most notably, moved up nearly a full percentage point in May. Quite clearly, the losses at Toyota and Honda didn't all go the way of the domestics. South of the border, General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler (excluding Fiat) held 49.6% of the market in May.

Ford, Canada's favourite brand, has sold over 100,000 vehicles so far this year. Counting Lincoln, the Ford Motor Company nearly made its way to 107,000 sales. The Dearborn, Michigan-based company has increased its market share in Canada from 16% at this time last year to 16.6% through five months of 2011.

Not in the last eight years has there been a May as bad as May 2011 for automakers competing in Canada. New car sales last month were also significantly lower than April and March's totals, as well.