BMW Group still top premium automaker
BMW LONDON
Just as it has beat out rival German luxury brands for the first nine months of 2011, the BMW Group continued as the world's best-selling premium automaker through September.
With 1.23 million BMW, Mini and Rolls-Royce vehicles sold, BMW Group sales are up 16 per cent compared to this time last year.
For the month of September, the company's core BMW brand saw sales rise 9.3 per cent to 128,446 units, putting it ahead of German rivals Mercedes-Benz (2 per cent gain to 120,982), and Audi (sales up 17 per cent to 120,200).
The automaker says sales of its X3 and X1 crossovers and 5-Series models continue to drive the sales growth.
In Canada, combined BMW and Mini sales are up 10.5 and 13.1 per cent, respectively, totalling 25,894 vehicles since January of this year.
In second-place, Mercedes-Benz and Smart brands have sold 24,043 vehicles through September.
Sitting solidly in third-place is the Volkswagen Group’s Audi brand, with sales of 13,313 vehicles — up 17.7 per cent.
Rounding out the top-five best-selling luxury brands so far in 2011, Honda’s Acura sits in fourth-place with 10,710 (down 13.6 per cent), while Toyota’s Lexus finished in fifth-place, with sales of 9,875 units.
Dodge Grand Caravan on chopping block?
Italy’s Fiat recently gave an update of future product plans for its U.S.-based Chrysler Group and it could be a “good news, bad news” scenario for Canadian Chrysler/Fiat dealers.
The “good news” is that Fiat is more willing to launch future Dodge or Chrysler subcompacts in Canada than the U.S., Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne told Automotive News.
“I can introduce them in Canada and Mexico [sourced from] other places in the world, but I would never centre the U.S. as being the single largest driver of volumes. It won't happen.”
The decision against offering Chrysler and Dodge subcompacts in the U.S. contradicts the company's November 2009 product plan that called for Fiat-based small cars.
Except for the two-door Fiat 500, U.S. Chrysler dealers will be left with no competition against subcompacts like the Chevrolet Sonic, Ford Fiesta, Honda Fit, Hyundai Accent, Kia Rio, Mazda2 and Toyota Yaris.
The potential “bad news” is the departure of the Dodge Grand Caravan — the third best-selling new vehicle in Canada — as part of Fiat’s “Project Genesis,” a plan to end model duplication in dealer showrooms.
Under the new plan, a mid-sized crossover will replace the Grand Caravan minivan and Dodge Avenger mid-sized sedan in 2013.
This will leave the next-generation Chrysler Town & Country, due in 2014, as the only minivan in Chrysler Group showrooms.
The loss of the Dodge minivan can’t make Canadian dealers very happy.
T
hrough September, with 39,798 copies sold, the Grand Caravan only sat behind the first-place Ford F Series and second-place Dodge Ram pickup on the sales charts, while only 3,177 Town & Country minivans have been sold so far this year.
Marchionne also confirmed a second Dodge crossover is planned to replace the current Journey. It will arrive after 2014.
At least Dodge will be getting a new model to replace the Caliber compact hatchback that was cancelled for 2012.
The Fiat-based small Dodge sedan is expected to debut at next January’s Detroit auto show.
Chevrolet has plans for ‘Spark city car’ EV
During the same week that its Chevrolet brand is celebrating its 100 years as an automaker, parent General Motors CEO Dan Akerson confirmed the brand is adding a second electric vehicle to complement its existing Volt.
Akerson said the Chevrolet Beat EV GM, unveiled in June and which sells in India, will also become available in the U.S. and renamed the Spark EV.
The pure-electric, two-door hatchback (the Volt uses a gas engine to recharge its batteries on-the-fly once they run dry) is based on the gas-only 2013 Spark city car that is coming to North America in late 2012.
According to reports at Greencarreports, the Spark EV will be sold mostly in California to meet that state’s requirements for EV sales, with annual sales targeted at 2,000 units.
If based on how well the Volt is selling, the low-volume approach with the Spark EV may be more realistic.
Just going on sale in Canada now, the extended-range plug-in gasoline-electric hybrid Volt has been on sale in the U.S. since last December.
GM has said that it plans to sell about 10,000 Volts by the end of 2011, but through September, only 3,895 Volts have made it into customers’ hands.
GM to replace Colorado pickup, Trailblazer SUV
Just as GM’s Chevrolet brand is conforming plans for its zero-emissions Spark EV, the automaker is forging ahead with replacements for its Colorado small pickup truck and long-gone Trailblazer mid-size SUV.
Based on a global body-on-frame, rear-wheel-drive mid-sized truck platform that was launched last week in Thailand, GM confirmed a North American version has been planned as the next Colorado.
The new truck is larger than the current compact Colorado, but smaller than the full-size Silverado.
The new Chevy truck is available in two- and four-wheel-drive and extended-cab and crew-cab models in Thailand.
GM didn’t provide any powertrain, pricing or availability details, or if the vehicle will form the basis as a replacement for the current Colorado’s GMC Canyon platform-mate.
Both GM small trucks are slated to end production in their U.S. plant by June 2012.
In addition to a new Colorado, Autoblog.com is reporting that the same platform could form the basis for a resurrected Trailblazer mid-size SUV, last on sale for 2008.
The report said Chevrolet officials confirmed a new Trailblazer SUV will be unveiled Dec. 10 at the Dubai Motor Show.
Chevrolet did not announce where the new Trailblazer will be built or in which markets it will be sold.
Source: Wheels