The Honda CR-V, soon to be the middle rung on Honda’s crossover ladder, was America’s best-selling SUV in January 2015.

This was the CR-V’s fifth consecutive month atop the SUV/CUV leaderboard. 2014 was the third consecutive year that the CR-V led the category on an annual basis.

• CR-V accounted for 26% of Honda brand sales

• Pilot sales nearly doubled, YOY

• Jeeps grab three top 10 spots for tenth time in eleven months

Perhaps of more interest than the CR-V’s position relative to its peers is its new-found dominance in Honda showrooms.

Although the CR-V didn’t outsell all non-pickup trucks in January as it did during the previous two months, the CR-V was Honda’s most popular model for the fourth consecutive month. (Read More…)

If you’ve ever read a book on the automotive industry, you’ll note that many of them provide you with narratives behind the scenes of some of the industry’s most important moments. Once Upon a Car tells of the US government’s decision to bail out General Motors and Chrysler in 2008 and the steps taken by those companies to rebuild themselves. Go Like Hell covers the challenges faced by the Ford Motor Company in its quest to beat Ferrari at the 24 Hours of LeMans, describing how $1 billion could be spent on a racing program in the 1960s. Though these books provide the readers with some interesting subjects to think about, only a few of the automotive industry books that document the background behind important corporate decisions will actually make their audience laugh.

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In January 2015, for the second consecutive month and the fourth time in the last six months, the Toyota Camry was not America’s best-selling passenger car.

But after holding the title in October and November – and the 2014 calendar year – the Camry ceded the crown to a sibling, not a rival, in January.

• Four top sellers post YOY improvements

• Hyundai held out of top 10

• Sixth-ranked Civic posts seventh consecutive decline

Sales of the Toyota Corolla jumped 20% to 27,357 units, 8658 more than the number of sales reported by the next-best-selling small car, Honda’s Civic.

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Look for the leading presidential candidates to sing corn ethanol’s praises, louder than ever, in 2016. A bipartisan coalition of Iowans, called America’s Renewable Future, is gearing up to make it happen.

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With 17.6% of the U.S. market in January 2015, General Motors increased its market share from January 2014’s 16.9% but slid back from December’s 18.2%.

GM car sales slid 7% to account for just 32% of the automaker’s January volume. Light trucks at General Motors – including a pickup range that grew its sales by 42% – jumped 36%.

The big loser? That’d be the Koreans. Hyundai and Kia combined to own 8% of the U.S. market in January 2014, a figure which fell to 7.2% in January 2015. New vehicle sales rose 14% in America last month, year-over-year. Hyundai volume rose to a record-setting January level of 82,804 sales, but the 1% gain severely trailed the industry. Kia sales were up a little more than 3%, although the brand’s car division slid 3% on falling Optima and Cadenza volume.

Timothy Cain is the founder of GoodCarBadCar.net, which obsesses over the free and frequent publication of U.S. and Canadian auto sales figures.

Starting in April, France will encourage diesel drivers to replace their oil burners with electric power through an incentive up to €10,000 ($11,422 USD).

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Volkswagen USA reported a 59-month low in Jetta sales in January 2015, just the second four-digit Jetta sales month in the last four and a half years, and a narrow ten-unit year-over-year overall brand improvement.

The Volkswagen brand sold 23,494 vehicles in January 2014, down 19% compared with January 2013’s output.

January 2015 sales were up 0.04% compared with January 2014 – which was the tenth of 18 consecutive year-over-year monthly U.S. sales declines – but, rather obviously, were down 19% compared with January 2013 levels. (Read More…)

Though the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says funding is needed to boost staffing, some in Congress aren’t so sure on the proposal.

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In one of those confusing branding moves that’s up there with the baffling Toyota Corolla Tercel, Ford decided to name a Torino-based midsize car the LTD II while keeping the regular full-sized LTD. This went on for the 1977 and 1978 model years, and then for 1979 the “big” LTD went to the Panther platform and sold alongside LTD IIs for that year. Why? Well, that’s like asking why Henry Ford II refused Soichiro Honda’s offer of cheap CVCC engines for the Fiesta a few years before! Anyway, here’s an extremely green first-year LTD II wagon (not a Country Squire, which was based on the larger “regular” LTD) that I spotted in Northern California a couple weeks back. (Read More…)

I recently had the opportunity to attend the Philadelphia Auto Show, where I found myself sitting in a shiny, new 2015 Ford Flex. For those of you who aren’t up on your modern Fords, this is the one that looks like a port-a-potty tipped on its side.

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Chevrolet’s Bolt EV will go into production in 2016, along with an Opel variant.

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The Ontario government has sold their remaining stake in General Motors for $1.1 billion.

Oh, and #Technologyandstuff

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EV and PHEV manufacturers may have fared well in Western Europe last year, but further gains in the market aren’t likely for some time to come.

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While visiting a dealership is de rigueur for most, an increasing number of consumers are turning to technology to buy their cars.

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U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said on Tuesday the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration needs more staffing to keep pace with recalls.

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