Porsche‘s profits rose by 25 percent in the first 9 months of the year, as overall revenue and vehicle deliveries rose by 20 and 31 percent respectively.

Cayenne sales were up 74 percent, as the SUV became the brand’s best selling model, with 43,924 units sold. The Panamera was second with 18,750 sold. Sales of the 911 sports car were down by 13 percent to 13,777, although a new model will be launching in December. Sales of the Cayenne outrank Porsche’s sports cars by an astonishing 2:1 ratio, an unthinkable statistic as little as a decade ago.

Europe remained Porsche’s strong market, followed by the United States. Chinese sales were up 82 percent and show no signs of slowing down. Porsche’s upcoming Cajun small crossover should help push sales to even greater volumes when it launches in 2013.

[Source: Wall Street Journal]

Fears that General Motors would lose former buyers of Pontiac vehicles to other brands appear to be unfounded, according to the latest data from Edmunds.

While the controversial axing of the Pontiac brand led to fears that GM would lose former customers of the brand, data shows that nearly 40 percent of Pontiac customers opted for another GM vehicle in 2011, up from 31.7 percent in 2010. Chevrolet seems to be the most popular brand for former Pontiac owners, with nearly 28 percent opting for a Chevy. Brands like Ford, Honda and Toyota have conquest rates well under 10 percent each, proving that imports haven’t been such a draw for this demographic.

[Source: Edmunds Auto Observer]

Kia is hoping to reach the 500,000 unit milestone and add 40 new dealers by 2012, as the Korean automaker enjoys increasing success in the U.S. market.

Kia Vice Chairman Hank Lee said that Kia is on pace to sell 470,000 vehicles in 2011, up from 356,258 in 2010. Lee also said that in addition to adding new dealers, stores that failed to meet Kia’s expectations would be terminated. Lee also stated that Kia is focusing on 20 key markets in the United States, but declined to elaborate on what they were. Kia’s Optima mid-size sedan has won critical acclaim, but failed to sell in significant volumes.

[Source: Automotive News]

For the second year in a row, General Motors has sold 2 million vehicles in China, with 10 weeks left in the calender year 2011.

GM reported strong demand for Buick, Chevrolet and Cadillac vehicles, up 24, 18 and 73 percent respectively. General Motors’ SAIC-GM-Wuling joint venture also reached a milestone, selling its 1 millionth vehicle in China in October of 2011. General Motors sold 2.35 million vehicles in China in 2010. That year marked the first automaker to sell more than 2 million units in what is now the world’s largest car market.

Mazda is hoping to boost sales in the United States by 74 percent, and a key component of their strategy will be delivering sporty vehicles that can turn out “real world” fuel economy numbers.

“It’s not acceptable to us have 40 mpg and sacrifice performance,” said Robert Davis, Mazda’s senior VP of U.S. operations. Rivals such as the Hyundai Elantra have had their spare tires removed and special low rolling resistance tires to help trim weight and increase fuel economy. But Mazda says that the low rolling resistance tires are noisy and reduce the vehicle’s handling characteristics.  The upcoming Mazda3 will hit 40 mpg thanks to a new engine dubbed “SKYACTIV”, while keeping the spare tire and regular rubber.

Mazda will also sell a diesel version of their upcoming CX-5 crossover, while other competitors do not offer a diesel option. Mazda hopes to boost sales to 400,000 units per year by the middle of the decade, up from 229,556 in 2010.

[Source: Automotive News]

Ford is revising their forecast for F-150 Ecoboost sales, estimating that the turbocharged 6-cylinder pickup will comprise 45 percent of F-150 sales, versus original estimates of 40 percent. Ford now estimates that the Ecoboost will sell 100,000 units this year.

The F-150 remains the best selling vehicle in the United States, and Ford was caught off guard by the Ecoboost’s popularity. A V6 option has only been available within the last two years, as the segment was dominated by V8 engines. Unstable fuel prices and a general trend towards environmentally conscious purchase choices are credited with helping Ford introduce a V6 powered F-150 in a favorable light.

[Source: Wall Street Journal]

A contracting economy and a governmental push to limit the number of new cars in certain metropolitan areas has led luxury car makers like BMW, Audi and Mercedes-Benz to offer discounts of up to 20 percent on their cars in China.

While the three car makers are hoping to post record sales numbers, many “aspirational” buyers, who gravitate towards vehicles like the BMW 3-Series and Mercedes-Benz C-Class, are holding off on big ticket purchases amid fears of an economic slowdown. Those models can command discounts of as much as 20 percent.

Municipalities like Beijing have limited the number of license plates being issued, as a means of curbing congestion and pollution, while Chinese banks are tightening up on lending. Both factors are having an unfavorable effect on new car sales, and the OEMs are hoping that discounts kill keep things moving.

[Source: Automotive News]

Volkswagen‘s Up! city car will go on sale in the United Kingdom for £7,995 up to £11,180 ($12,422 to $17,371) with deliveries starting in the spring of 2012.

A range of 1.0L three-cylinder gasoline engines will power the Up! with power ranging from 58 to 73 horsepower. The base Up! will be quite spartan but will come with features such as an MP3 input jack, a full suite of airbags and body-colored bumpers. Premium versions will get a navigation system, alloy wheels and power mirrors.

For more information on the Volkswagen Up, please visit http://www.vwupforums.com/

[Source: Auto Express]

Surging volumes and a lag in Japanese output helped Hyundai surpass Honda as America’s fifth largest automaker in 2011, selling 522 more units (from both Hyundai and Kia combined) than Honda did through September.

Analysts cite Honda’s inventory disruption due to Japan’s natural disasters in March as a leading cause of the change in rankings. While Honda was crippled by a lack of parts inventory and forced to disrupt their normal production schedule, Hyundai carried on virtually unaffected.

While Honda’s new Civic and CR-V may help narrow the (currently) small gap, there are still 3 more months of sales results to be analyzed and we won’t truly know the full story until January 1, 2012.

[Source: Left Lane News]

The Smart fortwo might be the butt of jokes Stateside, but the city car has managed to move 500,000 copies worldwide after launching in its second generation four years ago.

Sales this year are up 6.6 percent, and an electric version is due to launch in the spring of 2012. While other version of the Smart, such as the ill-fated forfour fourseater, haven’t fared well, Smart is looking to expand their horizons by launching products like an electric bicycle in the coming years.

Kia will hold off on expanding its production facilities and sales targets in favor of improving the quality of its vehicles, CEO Lee Sam-ung told Automotive News at a launch event for its new Rio hatchback.

“Quantitative growth is important, but qualitative growth is also important. We plan to focus on improving product quality and our brand,” said Sam-ung. Industry analysts worry that limited production capacity will be the biggest factor stunting Kia’s future growth. Sam-ung set a goal of 2.5 million vehicles sold in 2011, and wants to boost Rio sales from 110,000 in 2011 to 260,000 in 2012.

Sam-ung also said that Kia will get an all-electric compact car in 2015, one year after Hyundai launches their own model.

[Source: Automotive News]

A report by Roland Berger Strategy Consultants claims that by 2015, Brazil will be the world’s third largest auto market, with China and the United States occupying the first and second slots respectively.

Brazil will displace Japan as the third largest market, as sales are expected to double to 6.6 million vehicles by 2020. The report also claims that Chinese and Indian auto makers will export vehicles to Brazil en masse and could grab 10 percent of the market by 2020. Volkswagen, Ford and Fiat have long enjoyed market dominance in Brazil, but a flood of cheap cars from China and India could radically alter the balance of market share in an economy where merely having a car is seen as a major step-up from two-wheeled transportation.

[Source: The Truth About Cars]

BMW has for a fifth straight month, held the top spot in its sales lead over Mercedes-Benz and Lexus, delivering the most luxury models in the U.S. BMW has been able to hold this position thanks to the deliveries of the new 5-Series and X3 SUV. The German automakers U.S sales rose 6.5 percent last month compared with a year earlier, to 20,815. This accomplishment has allowed to automaker to move in closer to being 2011′s top-selling U.S luxury brand. Lexus currently holds that impressive position and has done so for 11 years straight.

Both Mercedes-Benz and Lexus have both dipped in sales but for different reasons. Mercedes-Benz fell 1.9 percent to 18,477 in August but Lexus dropped seven percent to 18,103 due to continuing inventory disruptions caused by the March earthquake and tsunami.

“This has been a very strange August for our industry with both difficult news and unfortunate events — consumer confidence down and an earthquake, hurricane and floods in the Northeast,” Jim O’Donnell, head of BMW of North America, said in a statement.

So far, BMW has increased sales by 12 percent through August to 155,929 and Mercedes-Benz is up 6.1 percent in U.S sales to 148,409. Lexus has dipped 17 percent to 120,652 but the March disaster must be taken into account.

[Source: Automotive News]

Times have been difficult in the past four months for the giant Japanese Automaker, Toyota. With four consecutive months of sales declines, a 13% drop to 129,482 units in August alone, actions are in order for a much needed rebound.

This action will come in the form of the redesigned 2012 Toyota Camry, now set to deliver ahead of its original October 3 launch date and will be available in dealerships by mid-September. Confident and excited of the new model’s potential, Jeff Bracken, Toyota’s VP of Sales, confirms that production of the new Camry will begin at their Kentucky plant in only a matter of days.

As far as the outgoing Camry is concerned, Bracken tells media that the “sell-down is going extremely well.” Bracken also revealed that we should also expect a redesigned Yaris to arrive in showrooms later this month, as well as a new, taller Prius V for October.

GALLERY: 2012 Toyota Camry

[Source: Autonews]

Click here to read AutoGuide’s 2012 Toyota Camry Review

Toyota officially launched the all-new Camry last week, and Nissan took advantage of this situation in a very 21st century method of subterfuge.

When the sedan was unveiled, Toyota found that the word “Camry” had been acquired on social media service Twitter by rival Nissan North America. Anyone searching the Camry on Twitter during the launch, would receive a tweet regarding product news from Nissan.

Nissan took advantage of the fact that it knew Toyota would launch the Camry with special attention to Twitter. Nissan discovered that the key word Camry had not been locked up so it purchased what Twitter terms a “Promoted Tweet” allowing the automaker to acquire a selection of search terms for 24 hours that included “Camry”, “Toyota Camry” and “mid-sized car”.”Toyota blew it,” crowed one Nissan manager. “They simply didn’t protect their intellectual property.”

Nissan has become increasingly competitive especially against Toyota. U.S sales of the Altima are up more than 18 percent through July, compared to Toyota’s 8 percent Camry fall. The decline was primarily a result of inventory issues stemming from the March 11 earthquake. The Camry has been America’s top selling passenger car for 13 of the past 14 years. The Camry vastly outsells the Altima, but Nissan has been making up ground in recent years.

Check out our full review of the Camry here!

GALLERY: Toyota Camry

[Source: Automotive News]

Toyota’s all-new Camry will blitz the US market to regain sales lost after three years that included a recession, recalls and an earthquake. The new Camry was unveiled on Tuesday and is the first of 20 new and refreshed Toyota, Lexus and Scion models arriving by early 2013. Along with the Camry, Toyota this year will add the hybrid Prius v wagon, revamped Yaris subcompact, Scion iQ minicar and a modified Tacoma pickup truck.  Vehicles to be released in 2012 include, a plug-in version of the Prius, compact Prius c hybrid, a new Lexus GS sport sedan, a battery powered RAV4 and a rear-wheel drive Scrion FR-S sports car. Toyota is determined to keep the Camry the top seelling passenger car, a position that has been held by the model for 13 of the past 14 years.

Toyota’s best year for the Camry was in 2007 with 473,108 units sold. However, through July, Camry sales slipped 7.8 percent to 174,485 from a year earlier. Hyundai has been very successful with the Sonata up 27 percent in sales during the same time frame. Nissan’s Altima has gained 17 percent to 153,182 during the same time period as well.

Camry’s have the largest owner base of any midsize sedan in the U.S with Toyota estimating that there are over 6.8 million of them on American roads. Toyota has also slashed the price on the 2012 model, as the company hopes to entice those who might be thinking about moving away from the automaker to look at other car brands.

The four-cylinder 2012 Camry LE with an automatic transmission has been priced at $22,500, $200 cheaper than last year. The SE model is also $1000 cheaper, selling for $23,000. The top-of-the-line XLE has been lowered by $2000, to $24,725 (all of these models are equipped with the four-cylinder engine).

Camry is symbolic of Toyota’s success, CEO Akio Toyoda said in a speech Tuesday marking the start of production of the model in Georgetown, Ky. ”This is an opportunity to show the world what Toyota is all about,” said Toyoda, grandson of the automaker’s founder. “I can introduce the new Camry with 100 percent confidence,”, he said.

GALLERY: 2012 Toyota Camry

[Source: Automotive News]

Chevrolet‘s European product line is mostly comprised of re-hashed Korean products that started out life as Daewoo products. But with the introduction of the 2013 Malibu, Chevrolet is hoping to change things a little by offering what it sees as a “premium” product for its European flagship.

The European market Malibu 164 hp 2.0-liter gasoline or a 169 hp 2.4-liter diesel four-cylinder, more in line with European offerings that favor small engines for both tax and fuel efficiency reasons. On the other hand, the Malibu is a physically large vehicle compared to competitive sedans, and consumer reaction to such a vehicle is unpredictable.

[Source: Automotive News]

Car buyers are choosing panorama roofs instead of convertibles. Ford has reported that sales of vehicles with panoramic roofs are increasing. Almost half of buyers purchasing the Explorer and Edge SUV are purchasing the option. About a third of Flex buyers are also buying the same skylight paneled cars.

Convertible sales have also decreased accordingly. Traditionally, drop top sales accounted for 1.8% to 2.0% of the automarket which is down to 1.2% to 1.4%, according to information firm R.L Polk & Co. For a comparison, the best selling convertible this year was the Chevrolet Camaro with 7,540 sales. The 2011 Explorer has already sold almost 25,000 vehicles equipped with the panoramic roofs. One reason for this success is that consumers are turning to more practical vehicles and finding that the panoramic roof is a good compromise.

Ford also has its own theory as to why the glass roofs are a hit. “We are seeing more buildings utilizing glass structures because letting natural light in is a popular architectural trend,” said Sheryl Connelly, Ford’s manager of global trends and futuring.  “This trend has crossed over to the automotive industry, and Ford’s Vista Roofs open the car to more sunlight which keeps drivers energized and gives the luxurious feel customers desire.”

[Source: LA Times]

Porsche sales in China increased 5 times as much this July compared to last year’s, with the Cayenne selling especially well.

Porsche moved 2,484 cars in the month of July: while it might not seem like much, considering Porsche’s total of 10,722 vehicles worldwide, it’s still 5 times more than what they sold in July of 2010. Most of these cars were Cayennes, in Asia as well as worldwide: 5,483 cars around the world, or an increase of 16.1% compared to last year. Panamera sales also increased 2.5% from the same time, to 2,352.

So far, Porsche moved 71,381 vehicles from January to July. But SUVs and sedans were the bulk of it—overall sales in Europe dropped a significant 38.3%, and the sports car market caught onto the 911′s impending replacement: 1,666 examples of the Porsche icon were sold, for a drop of 35.1%. The Boxster and Cayman dropped 22.9% during that same year, with almost the same amount as the 911 sold (1,221 cars). If sales trends continue like this, Porsche will soon break into the Class 6 medium-duty truck business.

Chrysler’s Ram truck brand will expand its advertising into Wal-Mart stores throughout the U.S. this fall. Dodge Ram advertisements will be in thousands of Wal-Mart stores and will integrate Mossy Oak camouflage, another of Ram’s partners into the promotion. ”We recognize the alignment between truck buyers, the hunting/fishing lifestyle and Wal-Mart,” said Marissa Hunter, head of Ram advertising. “We are working on promotion that brings all three together.”

Ram will also be launching two new commercials today, for its “Code of the West” advertising campaign. Marissa Hunter commented on the commercials saying, “The role of these spots is twofold. First, continue to create overall awareness about the capability of the full Ram lineup. Second, do so in a manner that inspires consumers to think differently about the Ram Truck brand.”

Fred Diaz, CEO of the Ram brand said that through the first seven months of 2011, Ram brand U.S sales were up twenty-five percent. He expects sales to continue to grow for the rest of the year. ”The fourth quarter always represents a key selling season opportunity for commercial business which historically increases commercial sales by up to 50 percent.”

Check out the commercial after the jump!

Continue Reading…

Diesel sales have vastly improved through the end of July, up 38.5 percent, compared to the same seven- month cycle in 2010. Volkswagen has been leading the sales with the Jetta TDI and Golf TDI.

Volkswagen sold 5,206 Jetta TDI models in July, bringing the diesel powered sedan’s year-to-date total to 56,717. On the other hand, the Golf TDI did not perform as well, with only 966 units being sold, but did land second place among all diesel vehicles sold in the U.S. Bringing up the rear, in third place was the BMW X5 xDrive35d with 562 units sold.

Through the first half of the year diesel sales have had a significant advantage, with sales of hybrids suffering due to limited supply as a result of the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Still, the Prius managed to move a total of 74,427 units year-to-date, well ahead of the Jetta TDI.

[Source: Hybrid Cars]

Audi isn’t the only German company trumpeting its sales figures: crosstown competitor BMW set a record of its own last month, with 129,094 cars moved off its lots.

Those lots include BMW, MINI, and Rolls-Royce cars, with the latter surely being a drop in the figurative bucket. BMW Group counts all of these cars together to achieve this sales figure, which represents an increase of 7.6%.

“We have just reported the most successful July sales ever,” said Ian Robertson, a BMW board member, “the best ever sales result for the BMW Group. We are clearly benefitting from a very attractive product line-up which is finding success with customers right across the globe.”

BMW wants to set a record year for 2011, and they’re looking forward to reaching a 1.6 million sales figure by the end of the year. In America, sales increased in July 2011 from 26,120 vehicles from July 2010′s figure of 23,390, or 11.7%, netting it the title of best-selling premium carmaker in America. Chinese growth was triple that: a 36.1% increase from 13,852 to 18,858 cars.

Germany had about the same level as the year before—a 0.8% increase, but at least it’s not a slide. And in markets like Brazil, Russia, India, and Korea, sales increased by double-digit percents.

American consumers buying the Fiat 500 are choosing pricier packages and customized options. The mid level Sport ($17,500) model accounts for almost half of the model’s sales in the first five months of the Italian brand in the U.S.

The top level Lounge ($19,500) model represents 20 percent of sales which features bigger wheels, leather seats, satellite radio and a glass roof. ”A lot of what we’re seeing is customers really want to build their car,” said Laura Soave, head of the Fiat brand in North America. ”Customers are willing to wait the six to eight weeks to get the one they want.”

Sergio Marchionne, CEO of both Fiat and Chrysler, aims to merge both automakers to reduce costs and generate over $142 billion by 2014. Chrysler predicts selling more than 50,000 500′s annually in the US. Fiat has delivered 7,982 500′s in the US since March and has sold 3,038 units in July.  Fiat will open 130 initial dealerships and hopes to attain its sales target by 2011. The 500 is built in Chrysler’s factory near Mexico City.

[Source: Automotive News]

Click here to read AutoGuide’s 2012 Fiat 500 Review and discuss this story at Fait500Owners.com