Well.

It seems like the bigger the areas I cover (March worldwide roundup anyone?) or the longer the rankings I talk about (Top 265 best-selling models in the USA over Q1 2012, Top 318 best-selling models in Europe in 2011 and Top 100 best-selling models in the World in 2011) the happier you are.

And that’s what I want.

You. Happy.

So I have more and more data in store for you. Don’t worry, when you think I will have exhausted every possible avenue I will still have more. Because that’s what I do all day, counting cars. So you can count on me.

And to follow-up on Bertel’s appetizer earlier today I give you the Top 265 best-selling models in China in April. Just another month in Chinaworld: two new brands launched, 10 new models, and we’re only talking about the cars produced locally…

Not interested? Fine. There is more data (told you) for 159 additional countries for you to visit in my blog, all one by one. Click. The link. You will love it.

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“On a clear day,” John Z once famously wrote, “you can see General Motors.” The day has yet to come, however, when the works of GM will be made plain to the mortal man. Consider, if you will, the bizarre story of the “Theta” platform in the United States. It’s a huge success; the Equinox and Cadillac SRX (which, we are assumed, is totes different from the Equinox, but we will will discuss that contention below) combined for about a quarter-million sales in 2011. It’s a perfect example of the way GM is supposed to work nowadays: there are two platform variants with very little visual similarity combining to provide high volume in one model and high profit in another. Theta is NAFTA-friendly, with the cheapie being made in Ontario and the luxury model in Mexico. The two models are generally well-reviewed. The obscurity, stupidity, and thrown-darts decision-making which used to characterize the General are nowhere to be seen. What’s to criticize, even here at TTAC, where we typically cast a jaundiced eye on the RenCen fire drill?

Well, there is the minor issue of a third Theta, which is as perfect an example of GM’s undiminished ability to screw things up as the other Thetas are of the company’s ability to get things right.

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TTAC commentator Kenzter writes:

Sajeev,

I recently picked up a 1969 Cadillac Sedan Deville. It was one of those once-in-a-lifetime deals you only hear about, like my uncles cousins sister is selling her deceased husbands garage queen for pennies on the dollar deal.

My problem is, the Automatic Climate Control (a $550 option!) does not work. The only settings that trigger any response are FOG and ICE. Even then, I can only hear the blower motor and just barely feel air from the floor vents. Where to begin the troubleshooting?

Thanks,
Kenzter

Sajeev answers: (Read More…)

A lot of the Opel news seen below emanated from an all hands meeting at Opel’s ancestral home in Rüsselsheim. Opel CEO Karl-Friedrich Stracke explained the restructuring plan for Opel. According to German media reports, Stracke delivered more questions than answers. According to Reuters Germany, “the management of the lossmaking GM subsidiary did not contribute to a heightened confidence of employees.” The impression is that the management has no plan. (Read More…)

With all the rumors about German-built Citroens and re-badged French MPVs, it’s time to do what North American car lovers do best; cast a greedy eye upon vehicles we can’t get, and talk about how much we’d like them.

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With Opel’s fortunes in the toilet and Chevrolet vehilces gaining ground in Europe, Opel brass are looking at an obvious solution – stop building Chevrolet products in South Korea and start building them in Europe.

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Suckers come in all shapes and sizes.

They can be a young guy with college loans in his mid-20’s who is charged $800+ for a $100 repair. Or an elderly couple on a fixed income who is encouraged to sign on the dotted line with a malevolent seller.

Every single American has probably been a sucker at some point in their lives when it comes to cars. Young, old, smart, not so smart, confident, fearful… and in all cases, struggling with the unfamiliar. Our society is not one that de-fangs the predators or educates the victims. It is a debtful and litigious one that encourages money to be thrown into every which direction but personal accountability.

Or does it? Frugality is supposedly the in thing these days… and cars are now kept longer than ever. As a life long debt hater, I would like to think that there are far fewer suckers than before. Especially when it comes to cars.

But the numbers tell me otherwise.

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“…as some men try to be proud of their defects, he extracted an ornament from an inconvenience, and vanity produced a grotto where necessity enforced a passage.”

So Johnson wrote of Pope. It’s always best to face the truth and do one’s best with it. Thus, in this TTAC-reader-contributed image, we have a FIAT Seicento — the absolute exemplar of “crappy Euro commuter” — and, rather than a Valkyrie or guy with a Fast and Furious sword on the side, we have the humble snail. Slow is good! Ask any hipster.

An article in Automotive News lavishing praise on the Chrysler/Fiat merger of equals marriage inadvertently spilled the beans on a couple upcoming products from Marchionne’s minions.

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Remember the rear-window louver craze? Thanks to the large numbers of Daytonas and Lasers that clung to life long enough to enter junkyards in this second decade of the 21st century, we can relive the Louver Era! (Read More…)

Tesla Motors has almost used up funds from a Department of Energy loan program – but the startup car maker also says that they’ll start paying back the money at the end of 2012.

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The tempo of Porsche’s global growth slowed to 7.2 percent in April on sales of 12,588 units. This is down from the 12.6 percent gain the folks from Zuffenhausen racked up from January to April. “What do you expect, European malaise,” is the knee-jerk reaction.

The surprising malaise is elsewhere, further east, much further east. (Read More…)

Some of you are probably tired of the continuous reporting on car sales in China. Executives of the world’s biggest carmakers think otherwise. Without China, their companies would be also-rans. General Motors for instance says it sells more cars in China than back home. January through April, GM reports 972,369 sales from the Middle Kingdom, versus 821,707 in America. Getting a firm hand on sales in the world’s largest car market is important, but difficult. The tear out from a table published by Reuters illustrates this vividly – to the numerically unchallenged. (Read More…)

1963 Chevrolet Viking 60 cabover trucks are not vehicles that you’ll see in everyday 21st Century life. Viking cabovers were pretty rare even in 1963. Odds are that survivors such as this one are very slim. (Read More…)

Has Mini’s over-propagation of vehicles gotten so bad that we’re actually cheering when a new special isn’t a silly two-seater or pseudo-crossover? The Mini John Cooper Works GP may be overpriced, but at least it’s got its heart in the right place.

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