Lada Samara in Kazan, Tatarstan Russia – September 2013

Over the next few weeks I will be taking you on a trip through Trans-Siberian railway, stopping along the way in various Russia, Mongolian and Chinese cities to observe the vastly different car landscapes each time. The last stop was Moscow in Russia, we are now off to Kazan, 800 km East of Moscow in the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia.

Russia, Mongolia and China not your thing? That’s fine, you can check out 174 other car markets on my blog.

Now that Russia’s biggest cities and their twisted car parks are out of the way, I figured Ladaland would start. And judging by the car landscape of the countryside I saw from the train approaching Kazan, it is definitely the case, with around 75% of vehicles being Ladas… To know more, jump in!

If you can’t wait for the next report, you can follow my trip in real time here.

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Over the next few weeks I will be taking you on a trip through Trans-Siberian railway, stopping along the way in various Russia, Mongolian and Chinese cities to observe the vastly different car landscapes each time. The first stop was St Petersburg in Russia, we are now off to Moscow!

Russia, Mongolia and China not your thing? That’s fine, you can check out 174 other car markets on my blog.

Back to the Trans-Siberian and Moscow. Jump in!

If you can’t wait for the next report, you can follow my trip in real time here.

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Over the last couple of weeks I have been backpacking my way along the Trans-Siberian railway, hopping on and off the train and discovering surprisingly different car landscapes along the way. Today I begin a long-term series that will  look at and analyse the cars present in each city I passed.

Each time I took the train or bus I moved between 800 and 1000 km so it’s really like finding oneself in a different country altogether, even though I stayed in Russia for the first two weeks of my trip. I’m not sure yet how many parts there will be in this series as I haven’t finished the trip yet! I hope you’ll enjoy the reports as much as I did creating them.

Russia, Mongolia and China not your thing? That’s fine, you can check out 174 other car markets on my blog.

Back to the Trans-Siberian. Our first stop is St Petersburg, Russia. Jump in!

If you can’t wait for the next report, you can follow my trip in real time here.

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Car-free Paris, France.

Last time I annoyed you with my stats, we went through a worldwide whirlwind for the July 2013 Roundup. Today we focus on Europe, where apart from one main island of growth (literally and figuratively: yes I am speaking about you the UK), the new car market recession seems to know no end.

Not interested in the old, grumpy continent? That’s totally fine, I have prepared something else for you: you can check out sales stats for 176 additional countries and territories on my blog. Go on, I think you’ll like…

Back to Europe.

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What better way to finish one month and start a new one than going through our traditional World Roundup? None, I know.

Enough of the world? That’s fine, I knew some of you would feel that way, and I’ve prepared something else: you can check out new car sales data for 176 additional countries and territories on my blog. Go on, you know you want to!

Now if you want to know what happened worldwide in the magical world of car sales, jump in!

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After California, today we study the most popular cars in another territory of the United States: the unincorporated territory of Puerto Rico.

Couldn’t care less about what cars sell well in a Caribbean Island? Rude! But that’s ok because you can check out new car sales data for 176 additional countries and territories on my blog. Go on, you know you want to!

Back to Puerto Rico below the jump!

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After travelling the world, we come back to California today to check out which cars are the most popular here.

And I’ve got one word for you: Japan, Japan, Japan.

California too close for comfort? That’s ok because you can check out new car sales data for 176 additional countries and territories on my blog. Go on, you know you want to!

For the detail of what sells and what doesn’t in California, jump in below!

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At last the much anticipated Worldwide June 2013 Roundup is here!

After exploring how the Chinese carmakers are faring outside of China, today I give you the much awaited World roundup for June 2013.

The whole world at once makes your head spin? That’s ok, I prepared bit by bit versions for you: you can check out a thorough halfyear 2013 summary for each the Top 20 biggest new car markets in the world here.

Back to the world. Who made the worldwide headlines in June?

Hints: two French and two Czech…

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Finally the much anticipated Worldwide May 2013 Roundup is here! First a bit of overview of the largest markets with a very contrasted picture this month: China (+9%), the USA (+8%) and Brazil (+10%) are all up significantly while Japan (-9%), Germany (-10%) and Russia (-12%) all have full brakes on.

If last month the Toyota RAV4 was under the spotlight, in May we witness an interesting trend across a few European countries: whether it is a coincidence or not is something that will become clearer as the year goes by, but it would appear that European consumers have been very patriotic this month…

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This is the last Part of a 5 Part-series about how the Chinese car manufacturers are faring abroad.

You can check out Part 1 about Africa here, Part 2 about Latin America here, Part 3 about Eastern Europe here and Part 4 about Asia here.

The first 4 Parts in this series have shown Chinese manufacturers securing the less developed markets in each region as springboards to expand further. Less developed means smaller and less sophisticated but also less regulated as far as pollution and safety are concerned. These last two aspects have been the main barrier to the Chinese carmakers’ entrance in mature markets to date, and specific strategies have had to be developed to address this. This is why I am grouping all ‘mature markets’ in one article, independent of their geographic location…

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This is Part 4 of a 5 Part-series about how the Chinese car manufacturers are faring abroad.

You can check out Part 1 about Africa here, Part 2 about Latin America here and Part 3 about Eastern Europe here.

In the first 3 parts of this series we have observed that Chinese carmakers have managed their expansion into Africa, Latin America and Eastern Europe by securing less developed markets and using them as anchor points for a more widespread presence in these regions. In this context it’s interesting to note that in their own ‘backyard’, Asia, the same strategy has not been met with the same success, with only a handful of small markets in the region ‘cracked’ so far..

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This is Part 3 of a 5 Part-series about how the Chinese car manufacturers are faring abroad.

You can check out Part 1 about Africa here and Part 2 about Latin America here.

As illustrated in Africa and Latin America, Chinese manufacturers have been working extra-hard below the radar to secure less developed markets that will form the bulk of global car sales growth over the next couple of decades. Their approach to Eastern Europe is very similar. There are currently three Chinese assembling hubs in the region – in Russia, Ukraine and Bulgaria – acting as a very convenient springboard for further expansion throughout the continent, including all the ex-USSR nations and potentially Western Europe…

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This is Part 2 of a 5 Part-series about how the Chinese car manufacturers are faring abroad.

You can check out Part 1 about Africa here.

If Chinese carmakers have started exporting to Africa in the early 00′s, they set foot in Latin America even earlier, with JAC starting to export trucks to Bolivia back in 1990. Similarly to the strategy they adopted in Africa, the Chinese have initially focused on the less developed car markets in the region. They are now in the process of stepping up their involvement by launching in the bigger, more mature markets like Argentina and Brazil.

In fact, the foundations the Chinese have built in secondary Latin American car markets are potentially their strongest in the world so far…

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Today we inaugurate a 5 Part series about how Chinese carmakers are setting themselves up for success abroad. Each day of this week I will publish a new Part for the series. I hope you enjoy it!

For the first time in the history of car manufacturing, Chinese carmakers have sold 1 million cars outside of China in 2012. They are now relying more and more on export markets to boost their bottom-line, especially as conditions have worsened for local passenger cars at home over the last couple of years. However, as I described in my article “China: How local brands may finally find their mojo at home“, the Chinese are learning how to sell low-cost overseas and apply these strategies at home, making themselves more competitive in the process.

In fact, while the long-dreaded Chinese ‘invasion’ of the West European and American car markets is still a long way off, Chinese manufacturers have been working extra-hard under the radar to secure less developed markets that will form the bulk of the global car sales growth over the next couple of decades.

And this is why they will win…

First case in point, Africa.

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After California, let’s go all the way to the East Coast and the Big Apple because I have some exclusive, rare and detailed car sales data for New York!

One thing is certain, New York loves Japan and Honda… and not so much cowboys pick-up trucks…

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