For the past few months, sanctions against Iran for their nuclear ambitions have sidelined PSA and Renault from the Persian market. Behind the scenes, General Motors outmaneuvered PSA despite their one-time alliance allowing them to muscle their way into aan emerging market via loophole abuse and an unknown quantity of Camaros. With GM out of the way, however, PSA would now be free to regain their footing once sanctions were lifted.

PSA won’t be alone in the upcoming battle, of course, as their compatriots at Renault have plans to return to Iran to reclaim what was lost, and then some.

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For the second consecutive year, Toyota is the No.1 automaker in the world, followed by General Motors and Volkswagen.

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As the yen weakened against the dollar for a second consecutive year, Honda, Nissan and Toyota all set production records in their North American plants in 2013, according to Automotive News.

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With the first month of 2014 sales nearly wrapped up, we’ll soon get our first look at how the Jeep Cherokee has fared, following the initial shipment of delayed units. Much has been made of the Cherokee selling 10,000 units in November and 15,000 units in December: it was a great storyline for Chrysler to promote in the run-up to NAIAS, and one for the hometown media (in both Detroit and Toledo) to rally around. Left out of the cheerleading was the fact that these figures accounted for the 25,000 units reportedly sent to dealers in one fell swoop. Can you say “pent up demand”?

But even if the Cherokee continued to sell at that pace – say, 15,000 units per month as an optimistic projection, where would that place it in the larger picture of the small crossover segment?

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One of the main criticisms of Generation Why is the lack of hard data to support this column’s ongoing thesis: that the lack of interest in car ownership among millenials is related to economics, rather than any sort of anti-car/pro-environment/pro-urban ideological shift among young people. Now, a key study from Deloitte confirms our initial hunch: young people want cars, but cannot afford them, and the notion of a car-free future, with walking, cycling and transit replacing the automobile (whether privately owned or shared via a service like Zipcar) is an unrealistic fantasy that somehow continues to have currency.

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Chrysler Group LLC CEO Sergio Marchionne threw down the gauntlet for Jeep during an interview on Detroit’s WJR-AM at the 2014 Detroit Auto Show, proclaiming that the Rubicon-rated brand will move 1 million units onto the trails and highways by the end of this year.

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Despite rapid SUV/crossover sales growth and the continued ascent of the pickup truck market, slowing passenger car sales were a drag on the Canadian auto industry in December 2013. Sales of utility vehicles jumped more than 20%, trucks were up 10%, and even full-size minivans were up 10%.

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In a sign that the 21st Century could belong to China after all, Porsche’s head of sales and marketing Bernhard Maier predicts that the United States will finish second on the podium to China as far as 911s and Macans are concerned by the end of 2014 at the earliest.

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The 234,066 extra new truck registrations in 2013 came about despite the loss of 70,077 sales from trucks that had either died off, been discontinued, or were on hiatus in 2013.

Excluding the Chevrolet Avalanche, Chevrolet Colorado, GMC Canyon, Suzuki Equator, Ford Ranger, and Dodge Dakota from the equation results in a 16.4% year-over-year increase in truck sales.

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For the sixth time in seven years, the best-selling utility vehicle in America was the Honda CR-V. 2013 marked a record high for U.S. CR-V sales, as the current smallest Honda crossover climbed above 300,000 units for the first time.

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In move sure to disappoint industry analysts and journalists alike (us included), General Motors will no longer hold monthly calls regarding their sales in the United States.

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In 2013, for the twelfth consecutive year, the Toyota Camry was the best-selling car in America.

Although it lost some of its sway in the growing U.S. automobile market, Camry sales grew in 2013, rising 3598 units over the course of 2013’s twelve months. 2013 marked the seventh time in the last decade that Toyota USA sold more than 400,000 Camrys in a calendar year. No other passenger car nameplate has topped 400,000 units in any single year during the last decade. According to the Automotive News Data Center’s tally, the Camry accounted for a little more than one out of every 20 cars sold in the United States in 2013.

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December sales of automobiles and light trucks in the U.S. were up slightly from last year, but failed to meet analysts’ predictions due to winter storms and some sales being pulled forward in a strong November. Nissan led gainers, up 11% while GM had the worst year to year performance, down 6%. Most automakers closed out the year with an increase.

The seasonally adjusted sales rate also came in below expectations. The SAAR fell in December to 15.4 million from November’s six-year high of 16.4 million. Last year’s SAAR for December was 15.2 million so it’s a slight improveent. Most analysts predicted a 15.6 million unit SAAR for the month. Overall, December sales were up 0.2% from last year and for the year deliveries were up 8% to a total of 15.6 million units, the best year since 2007. Car sales were up 4% while light truck sales rose 11% on the strength of CUV and large pickup sales. This is the 5th straight year of increased sales since the industry cratered at 10.4 million units in 2009.

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Detroit’s triumvirate of General Motors, Chrysler and Ford are on pace to gain market share at home against their European and Asian competitors when the final numbers for 2013 are released later today, thanks to American consumers finding the Detroit Three’s offerings more attractive than what the competition has to offer.

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2014 may only be a day old, but it’s already shaping up to be a rough year for Hyundai and Kia as they prepare to increase global sales by just 4 percent this year, the lowest and bleakest forecast for the Korean duo since 2003.

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