This is the Hyundai ix20, a a European-style subcompact MPV in the style of Honda’s Fit. Or, more precisely, in the style of Kia’s Venga. In fact, the similarities between the new Hyundai and its Kia-branded predecessor are strong enough to hint at a future of GM-style brand differentiation issues for the Korean concern.  And here’s the real irony: both cars share a platform with the Kia Soul, an American-style B-Segment MPV (possibly the only car to fit that description). Couldn’t Kia have rocked the Soul and left the ix20/Venga segment to Hyundai? Or was the Venga simply too good-looking to die? Either way, these two taught twins are a bit close for comfort.

Over the long haul of the Pony Car Wars, Ford’s Mustang has set the standard to which all others aspire. Having handily outsold the old F-Body Camaros (to say nothing of the nearest import-equivalent, the Nissan Z), Ford reigned alone over the declining muscle-coupe segment for much of the last decade. But the Pony Car cannot thrive alone, and the Mustang couldn’t keep its sales from sliding ever further… it needed some competition. Now, rather than fighting for pieces of a shrinking segment, the Camaro, Challenger and Mustang have been able to grow their sales together, revitalized by the renewed Pony Car Wars. Though our simple volume projection shows the Camaro on track to take the Pony Car crown from the Mustang, the short-term trends indicate a close battle to the finish this year. Hit the jump for summer sales comparisons…

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Over the last 24 months, the Mercedes R-Class has motivated a mere 6,469 Americans to plunk down $50k+ for a Mercedes-badged non-minivan. Now that it’s received a much-needed facelift that removes most of the slug-inspired design cues, will it sell any better? From the ash heap of history, the Chrysler Pacifica has recorded a “no” vote. What say you?

First of all, TTAC doesn’t exactly hate Suzuki. The SX4 and Kizashi are fun little cars that don’t generally get the cred they deserve. But Road & Track’s assertion that

Suzuki’s huge success following the introduction of the Kizashi this past year should only get better in 2011

is about as misleading as they come. Even by the most generous measure, 15,331 total brand sales over eight months does not equal “huge success.” In fact, R&T’s blatant Suzy-boosting has given Autosavant‘s Chris Haak pause to reconsider the way things work at the Buff Books. He writes

Call it naïveté, call it giving folks the benefit of the doubt, call it whatever you want to.  But as a long-time buff book reader (I subscribed to Motor Trend continuously between 1987 and July 2010, or about 23 years), I never paid much mind to critics that accused media outlets of providing favorable editorial coverage for certain manufacturers and vehicles in return for advertising dollars.  Is the Motor Trend Car of the Year award driven by the best car, or by the best advertiser?  I’d always assumed that these magazines would take the high road and provide a fair and accurate description of the industry and its vehicles so that their readers could make informed choices when considering how to part with their hard-earned money.

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Gimmicky sales techniques are tough. On the one hand, Hyundai’s 10 year warranty and Assurance buy-back program have helped it become one of the fastest-growing auto brands in the country. On the other, Chrysler’s free gas giveaway, “lifetime guarantee” and its latest, the “regret-free purchase” offer, have all come and gone without materially moving the needle for the beleaguered automaker. In fact, cars.com reports that just 21 buyers opted for the option of returning their Chrysler within 60 days instead of a financing deal. Which makes sense: people buy Chryslers because they’re cheap and they offer lots of incentives. If we’re honest, the option of returning a car because it is of lower quality than the competition shouldn’t really appeal to deal-minded consumers. Which is why only Ram now offers the “regret-free” deal, while the rest of Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge’s nameplates have loaded back up on incentives. It’s clearly what brings the customers in.

In the interests of truth, we feel compelled to point out that this is not, in fact, the 2011 Jaguar XJ. But considering the damn thing had hardly changed in 35 years, it’s easy to understand why the Detroit News thought it could get away with just slinging up a photo of the previous year’s model. And though that may have worked for the better part of the last four decades, now that Jag has a truly new XJ, it’s just cruel. Or sloppy. Either way, it’s plenty ironic.

GOTD’s brief mental health break is over, with our breakdown of sales in the biggest car segment in America: Midsize family sedans. The big news is that no model (save the Chevy Malibu and Hyundai Sonata) outdid its August ’09 number, thanks to the Cash For Clunkers effect a year ago. The other big lesson: things are getting tight at the top of the D Segment food chain. Based on these numbers, the capacity-constrained Sonata seems to be separating from the pack, leaving a big clump of nameplates stuck near the 18k mark. Based on the last several months, Hyundai could be one Sonata volume bump away from having the best-selling midsize sedan in America… just when it was beginning to seem like the Camccords would never be challenged. More chart action after the jump.

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The de-Ramification of the Dodge brand took another important step today, as Dodge previewed its new Ram-free logo. Similarly, the new 2011 Durango (on which the updated logo appears) has also had the Ram taken out of its Rama-lama-dingdong… er, technical underpinnings. Once a big BOF bruiser, the Durango has had a unibody makeover along the lines of Ford’s Explorer, making 2010 the year of the Cross-retro-ver. But will the old SUV brands remain relevant after becoming poster boys for automotive and cultural excess back when gas prices spiked? More importantly, does anyone actually like the new Dodge badge?

The Japanese “Big Three” automakers all saw significant sales drops in August, thanks to similarly large increases in August 2009 sales spurred by Cash For Clunkers. Toyota/Lexus/Scion sales fell 34 percent, as Camry and Corolla crashed down from insane C4C volumes of 54,936 and 43,061 respectively. Only Avalon, Sienna, 4Runner/FJ Cruiser and Sequoia gained year-over-year last month for the Toyota brand, while lower-volume Lexus models like HS, LS, SC, GX and LX were the firm’s sole luxury gainers. As a brand, Scion sold only 4,012 units. Honda’s Accord and Civic mirrored the Camry/Corolla’s drop, as Odyssey and Pilot were the only Honda-branded gainers. Acura RL, MDX and RDX were all up on the month, and Honda/Acura ended up with a 33 percent decline overall. Nissan saw sales growth from Maxima, Titan, Xterra, Pathfinder, Armada, and Murano.Conversely,  G37 Coupe and FX were the the only Infiniti models failing to outperform August 2009 sales, resulting in an overall 27 percent drop. Full numbers after the jump…

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Subaru and Hyundai/Kia have been two of the strongest-growing brands in America over the past year or so, but even their momentum wasn’t enough to prevent “uh-oh” moments this month. Subaru sales fell 23 percent, despite another strong showing from Outback (+37%, 8,053). Forester and Impreza, which launched Subaru to a 52% sales jump last August, were down  39 and 42 percent respectively. Hyundai was another big winner in last year’s C4C sales glut, and its volume was down considerably by comparison last month. Accent and Santa Fe were down by 50 percent or more, but the redesigned Sonata did manage to nearly double its August 09 volume. Even Genesis was up (as was Tucson), but Hyundai still ended the month with a 11 percent overall sales decline. The biggest contributor: Accent, which sold 3,844 compared to 10,099 in August 2009. Kia fell about 23 percent, as Forte, Sorento, Sedona and Soul gains were offset by huge declines in Rio, Spectra, Optima and Sportage. Full numbers after the jump…

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Sales of Ford, Lincoln and Mercury vehicles fell 10.7 in August, as Ford’s success in last August’s Cash-For-Clunkers sales binge hurt year-over-year comparisons. And though that gives Ford a good excuse for its first year-over-year monthly sales decline since September 2009, the Blue Oval was down compared to last month as well (157,503 compared to 166,092). Mercury continued its death spiral, falling 22.5 percent, but Lincoln clawed back for a 9.4 percent bump. But things at Ford live and die by the Blue Oval brand, which was down 10.5 percent. Trucks performed best for the Ford brand, climbing 5 percent, but Utes were down 26.6% and Cars dropped 15.7 percent.

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Chrysler was one of the few firms that didn’t see much of a bump from last August’s Cash-for-Clunkers programs (due, it claimed at the time, to inventory shortages), and as a result it’s one of the few firms that actually increased sales this August. The Chrysler brand still dropped 4 percent, with only Sebring (+79%, 4,498 units) and T&C (+26%, 9,472) posting year-over-year gains. Jeep saw improvements across its nameplates (for a total volume increase of 17 percent), with only Grand Cherokee (-17%, 6,393) and Commander (-74%, 348) failing to beat their August 2009 numbers. Dodge was up 8 percent, with Caliber (+32%, 5,347), Nitro (+66%, 2,505) and sportscars leading the way. Both Ram (+8%, 18,995) and Dakota (+55%, 1,583) were up, but declines in Sprinter sales dragged Ram-brand sales down to a mere five percent increase. Unlike GM however, Chrysler did not release its fleet sales numbers. On the other hand, Chrysler Group did finally meet its 95k monthly “survival volume,” selling a total of 99,611 vehicles. By Chrysler standards, that’s as good as sales news gets. Full numbers after the jump…

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Sales of GMs core brands dropped 10.6 percent in August compared to their Cash-For-Clunkers-fueled August 2009 performance, but overall sales were down 25 percent. Because the C4C program helped The General shift more value-oriented models, Buick was up 66 percent, Cadillac was up 83 percent, and GMC was up 12.3 percent, while Chevrolet shed 21.5 percent.

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We don’t just want it to be seen,” said Jeff Eggen, Ford’s car experiential marketing manager, speaking about the Fiesta’s appearance in “Diaries.” The idea is to “have a second element or a third element” rather than just a placement on a TV program, “where we can engage with the fans outside of the show with additional content

While AdAge raves over Ford’s “product placement plus” marketing scheme for the Fiesta, actual customers for the Mexican-built subcompact are starting to get testy. The Fiesta’s Facebook page is home to several customer complaints about slow delivery of Fiesta, and Ford has already sent out $50 Mastercard gift cards to waiting customers. But in the letter accompanying the gift cards, Ford blamed hurricanes for Fiesta delays… and it turns out there’s more to the story than that. The Freep reports that 6,000 Fiestas were delayed last week due what Ford’s Mark Fields calls “a part-quality issue.”
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