( Ferdinand Porsche’s 1899 Lohner-Porsche “Mixte” gas-electric hybrid with in-wheel hub motors)

Did I save the best news for last? Hybrids bucked the trend in November, posting a healthy 21% increase over the month last year. Hybrids represented 2.7% of the new vehicle market, up from their 2.2% share in November 2008. For the first 11 months of 2009, hybrids have held a 2.8% new light-duty vehicle market share. Details and charts: Read More >

Did you know Mercedes still sells the G-Wagen here? I’d kind of forgotten about it. But sixty-eight buyers hadn’t in November. But then I’ve never forgiven Mercedes for how they positioned it here as a gangsta’ mobile. It was/is the ultimate off-roader. Oh well. GM continues to dominate this market with their big boyz. Range Rover looks surprisingly healthy. Did Tata buy low? Details: Read More >

Impala. That one word pretty well sums up this category, in terms of the heavy players. It’s the only one to break into six figures (YTD). That’s a long way from 1965, when over a million Impalas were sold. And that’s not counting Bel Airs and Biscaynes. Details: Read More >

As the world recedes, South Korea grows. First Hyundai registers double digit growth in the United States and now other automakers want a piece of the South Korean action. The Korean Times reports that Renault-Nissan announced that they will increase the amount of their South Korean parts suppliers from 28 to 100 by 2013. 108 major subcontractors took part in a conference along with officials from Renault-Nissan’s purchasing organisation.

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The whole truck category continues to stumble through this terrible year. Year to date, the Tundra (-45%) is the big loser among the big trucks. Ford can claim the big PU title, but as usual, the Chevy/GMC duo combined outsells the F-Series. So who takes the crown? The Dakota is still in free-fall, while the ancient Ranger has the smallest YTD drop. The Transit Connect has connected quite well, and is the third best seller currently among the vans. Details follow: Read More >

Are you surprised that the Versa is the segment leader? It does offer a roomy versatile package for the buck. And it reflects the reality of 2009: maximum utility for minimum price. The Fit’s a bit pricey, and is coming off a stellar 2008. The Accent and Rio’s sales combined would make the true subcompact leader, not surprisingly. Their success can be seen in the Yaris’ less-than stellar numbers. Aveo is a perpetual laggard. Mini got hit hard recently, but not as bad as Smart, which is really smarting. Chart follows: Read More >

In keeping with our Jeep theme today, let’s take a look at how its off-road capable descendants are doing. There are a couple of qualifications here. I included the Dodge Nitro because I forgot to include it in the CUV snapshot. Or where does that belong? And I don’t have the premium European brands SUVs here. Would anyone take one off-road? But then the same applies to a few of the ones here too. Analysis and chart follows: Read More >

We thought we’d seen the last of the unintended acceleration crazes come and go for good nearly two decades ago. We were wrong. Somehow, like Camaros, Chrysler bailouts and Whitney Houston, the phenomenon has clawed its way back into the American consciousness this year. Consumer Reports even devotes an entire study to the number of unintended acceleration complaints lodged against the 2008 model-year with the NHTSA. Unsurprisingly, the big winner was Toyota, with 41 percent of the complaints, Ford came in second with 28 percent while Chrysler had nine percent. But wait, how many cases were there in total? Only 166? So, of the 2.2m vehicles Toyota sold in 2008, a total of 52 complaints were lodged about a phenomenon with no good mechanical explanation… and Consumer Reports wants us to believe that this is statistically significant?

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Asiaone Motoring reports that Toyota are now pushing forward on their constructions of plants in the United States and China which had previously been put on hold. It should come as no surprise that part of the reasoning behind this decision is to meet growing demand in China. More importantly, Toyota needs to protect itself from the strong yen, a consideration that now apparently outweighs weakness in the US market.  The report says that Toyota is expected to invest and additional 100 billion yen (about $1.1b) to get these plants completed. Although these plants will increase capacity by 200,000 units, Toyota plan on halting production on lines in Japan and the UK, as the firm must still reduce capacity by 1 million units in order for this investment to work. Though the move is a clever one, it highlights the enormous pressure the world’s number one automaker finds itself under: overcapacity is bad enough, but when so much of its production is based in Japan, it deal with reduced production while paying for expansions in cheaper production zones. The upside? This plan could lead to US production of the Prius at the under-construction Mississippi plant sooner than expected.

I was watching the classic British gangster film “The Long Good Friday” the other day. For those not in the know, it’s a story about how Harold Shand, the kingpin gangster of London, struggles to keep his grip in the London underworld when the IRA try to muscle in on his patch. I won’t spoil it for you, but suffice to say, it isn’t pretty. Shortly after watching the film, I came across an article in the Wall Street Journal detailing yet another Toyota quality problem. From Floormatgate to the 110,000 Tundras which allegedly rust prematurely, to this most recent headline, “Corolla and Matrix face U.S safety probe,” there’s clearly something rotten in Toyota City. Much like the aforementioned Harold Shand, Toyota built an empire on the foundation of quality and reliability, but now, subsidence and rot are affecting that foundation. The question for the Best and Brightest is this: Are Toyota in danger of losing their crown of quality and reliability in the minds of consumers? Or are these recent cases statistical outliers that car buyers take for granted?

The Toyota Aygo, which is the (in-all-but-styling) identical twin of the Citroen C1, is a fine little car, and when I tested it in 2007, I found most everything about it likeable. Packaging, finish, styling, handling, pleasure of driving: the Aygo/C1 turned out to be a thoroughly modern and enjoyable car for a bare-bones price. Only the ride struck me as a bit harsh. I certainly didn’t complain about the revvy, pleasant-sounding and parsimonious engine either, so you might be surprised to hear that I like the electrified version of the C1 just as well. Or, with qualifications, even more. What the heck do I mean? Please bear with me, and I’ll tell you.
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Semantics! What do you call the Flex? Ford thinks the mini-van label is taboo. So is a FWD Flex more of a CUV than an AWD Sienna? What’s the Mazda CX 9? I happen to think the Journey is a replacement for the discontinued short-wheelbase Caravan. Does it really matter? Chrysler is still dominant, especially when the Journey is included. The Odyssey is the bestselling single nameplate, but obviously the Chrysler twins have it beat. But the Chrysler off-shoot VW Routan is croaking. And the Flex is not exactly flexing any serious sales muscle. And I included the Mazda CX 7 here to confuse you further because I forgot it with the CUVs. Rather than argue about it, let’s just come up with a new name for the whole category that included CUVs and MPVs. Chart follows: Read More >

The Lexus RX, the originator of the genre, held the lead in November sales. With the help of strong Venza sales, Toyota is the manufacturer leader of this category overall. The Chevy Traverse is the sales leader YTD. The category showed strength in November, as part of the overall shift back to larger vehicles after the crisis and C4C driven spurt of smaller cars in previous months. I have also included vehicles that are not typically considered CUVs, like the Grand Cherokee and the Explorer, because they certainly compete for sales in this category, in their current softy incarnations. Chart after the jump: Read More >

There are some cars that no one will appreciate… but the owners. A bad brand name. Fatal and expensive defects from times past. Even a body style made of a designer’s frump can turn a brilliant vehicle into a showroom relic. This week I majored in buying unloved cars. Seven cars. Seven sins. More than likely seventy-seven plus days on the pavement.

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News that GM is selling a control-shifting single share in GM Shanghai to its Chinese partner SAIC was the toads-from-heaven flourish at the end of an epic week for the RenCen. The day after the last of GM’s lifer CEOs left the building, Opel’s CFO followed suit. One management re-organization and a rough LA Auto Show later, came this symbolic surrender of GM’s largest market for a measly $85m. Accompanied by news that The General would buy out Suzuki’s stake in CAMI for an estimated $46.5m, no less. Oh yeah, and something about India. Freshly-minted CEO and notorious rattlesnake killer Ed Whitacre isn’t about be accused of not trying to shake things up. The only question is where will everything land?

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