Apparently these press images were embargoed until tomorrow… and yet here they are. But who, you might ask, would risk being boarded by Volkswagen commandos in order to deliver these images to the huddled masses, yearning for a a glimpse of the new blandness? Oh right, it says Auto Express on the picture. According to the embargo-running Brits, this is the first Jetta to be more than a Golf with a trunk: thanks to VW’s new modular architecture, the wheelbase has been extended for more rear-seat legroom. More details when Volkswagen is good and ready, likely sometime tomorrow.

2000 Honda Insight 5MT CVT (49/61/53)

2010 Toyota Prius (51/48/50)

1986 Chevrolet Sprint ER 5MT (44/53/48)

1990-1994 Geo Metro XFI 5MT (43/52/47)

1986-87 Honda Civic Coupe HF 5MT (42/51/46)

1994-95 Honda Civic Hatchback VX 5MT (39/50/43)

2006-2010 Honda Civic Hybrid CVT (40/45/42)

2010 Honda Insight CVT (40/43/41)

2001-2003 Toyota Prius CVT (42/41/40)

1989 Chevrolet Sprint/Suzuki Swift 5MT (38/45/41)

Keep in mind that this list [via our pals at Autosavant] is for EPA ratings, adjusted to the new post-2008 methodology (city/hwy/combined). Luckily, the EPA also accepts real-world mileage submissions from citizen-motorists to help illustrate the whole “your mileage may vary” thing. That list is after the jump.

(Read More…)

TTAC Commenter Charles T writes in:

Any chance you could do $30-$40k entry-level luxury, ie BMW 3-series and everyone else gunning for a piece of that pie? For completeness sake, include cars that normally aren’t positioned against the 3-series despite being a similar price (Lexus ES and Lincoln MKZ, for example) just as a sense of their relative market sizes; I’d be curious to see how the sporty vs unsporty dichotomy plays out in the real world.

(Read More…)

We like to think of TTAC as something of the thinking (wo)man’s car blog: sure, we’ll try to drive the hot cars, but we’ll be just as interested in their history, sales and cultural context as their 0-60 time. One of the ways we like to help contextualize these, the most emotional artifacts of our material culture, is by breaking them down into their unforgiving sales numbers. In addition to our now-normal monthly binge of sales graphs, we will try to bring you one graph per day, illustrating a previously unexplored view of the market for automobiles. Today, we start with Luxury Crossovers, a segment invented by its current chapion, the Lexus RX.

What will tomorrow’s Chart Of The Day be? Email us at editors@ttac.com, and let us know what models, segments or brands you want to see compared.

TTAC’s May sales analysis can’t stop, won’t stop, with this look at medium and large non-luxury SUVs. Only GM made real progress over May 2009’s numbers… everyone else is lucky to be treading water here.

Ford and Chevy blew the lid off our 30k-unit graph limit… don’t count the big trucks out just yet.

We may love compact pickups here at TTAC, but apparently we’re in the minority. On the other hand, if the segment had some fresh blood, this graph might look a bit different…

Minivans, microvans, cargo vans. If it has rolling rear doors, you’ll find it here.

The big surprise in this segment? The fact that Nissan’s Versa has quietly become America’s top choice in the B-segment. All of a sudden we’re anxious to find out what percentage of those sales are of the sub-$10k stripper version. But even if that percentage is high, it wouldn’t mean that this segment sells on price alone. After all, Kia’s Soul is steadily gaining fans despite costing more compared to the competition than Kias usually do. In short, upscale does work… even for budget brands in a budget segment.

TTAC’s May sales analysis rolls on with this peek at the mid- and full-size crossover segment, which still looks to be waiting for a definitive competitor. But with other segments growing faster than this one, don’t expect a huge investment here anytime soon.

These cars may never go off the road, but it’s also beginning to look like their sales won’t go off the rails any time soon either. Kia’s Sportage was the big year-over-year loser last month, but it’s about to be replaced with an all-new model. The battle continues…