Kenya December 2012: Toyota Land Cruiser most popular

Thanks to the hard work of Rutger I am able to share with you some very rare data about the Kenyan new vehicle market, up a shy 1% year-on-year in 2012 to 12,798 units. This is the “the slowest growth since 2009 when reduced economic activity due to the post-election and global economic meltdown cut orders by 20%”, says local website Business Daily Africa. General Motors East Africa, mainly distributing Isuzu light and heavy commercial vehicles, maintains its lead over the Kenyan market with sales up a robust 9% to 3,421 units for a 26.7% market share. “We had a lot of orders for our Isuzu buses last year. We could not supply all the units in 2012 and the strong order book is keeping us busy in this first quarter,” says Rita Kavashe, GMEA’s managing director.

The saloon car market has come under serious attack from imported second hand vehicles over the past 5 years, increasing the pressure on Toyota, up just 3% at #2 with 3,099 sales and 24.2%, and CMC Motors, which deals in Land Rover, Volkswagen and Ford models, down to #5. Model-wise, in December the Toyota Land Cruiser takes the lead with 108 sales and almost 10% share, followed by the Mitsubishi Diesel 9-tonne truck and the Toyota Hilux Double Cab.

Kazakhstan Full Year 2012: Lada Priora and Samara on top

The Kazakh new car market is on fire in 2012: up an out-of-this-world 114% on 2011 to a record 95,313 registrations! Its previous best was 60,513 before the financial crisis in 2007, but experts see the market grow by a further 40% in 2013 with a long-term objective of 280,000 annual sales… Lada dominates the charts with 40.6% of the passenger car market vs. 35.4% in 2011 and 2013 should be even better for the Russian carmaker: its share was up to 44% over the last Quarter of 2012. The Lada Priora is king thanks to sales up 3-fold vs. 2011 to 11,994 and 12.6%.

Jordan February 2013: Hyundai Elantra in the lead so far

Jordanian data is very rare so let’s enjoy it this month! 5,113 new vehicles found a buyer in the country in February, bringing the year-to-date total to 9,390 units. As we found last time we had access to Jordanian data, the models ranking is totally dominated by Korean cars, with 9 in the Top 10 and 17 in the Top 20. The Hyundai Elantra is in the lead both in February with 793 sales and 15.5% share and year-to-date at 1,217 units and 13%. The Hyundai Accent takes the 2nd spot in February at 11% share but is #3 year-to-date at 10.1%, below the Kia Frontier at 10.9%. The Hyundai Tucson is up 9 ranks to #4 with 342 sales and 6.7%, ahead of the Kia Cerato at 5.7% and the Hyundai Santa Fe at 5.1%.

Japan Kei cars April 2013: Daihatsu Move makes a move

Sales of new Kei cars are up 1% year-on-year in Japan to 152,000 registrations, bringing the year-to-date total to 738,153 units, down 1% on 2012. And this month we get the third different #1 model in as many months, with the Daihatsu Move stepping up to pole position for the first time in over 2 years (since February 2011 exactly) thanks to 18,601 sales, up 54% year-on-year. It still however ranks #2 year-to-date at 79,394 units vs. 85,983 for the Honda N-Box, #2 again this month with 16,382 sales, down 3%.

Jamaica 2012: Toyota keeps stranglehold on the market

Thanks to Myk I am able to give you an update on the Jamaican new car market in 2012. The significant event at the start of the year is the arrival in 2nd place behind Toyota of ATL, the Jamaican distributor of Audi, Jaguar, Land Rover, Volkswagen and Honda. Honda is still ATL’s biggest brand with 113 sales over the first 2 months of 2012 but VW is catching up fast with 81 units sold, thanks notably to the Amarok which has received a warm welcome in Jamaica, capturing over 25% of the midsize pick-up truck segment.

Italy April 2013: Citroen C3 Picasso & VW Up! at highest ever

New car sales in Italy endure their 16th consecutive month of year-on-year decline in April, down 11% to 117,625 registrations which brings the year-to-date total to 474,308 units, down 12% on 2012. The top of the models ranking is back to its traditional self this month, with the Top 4 most popular models being identical to the 2013 year-to-date and Full year 2012 rankings: the Fiat Panda (8% share) is followed by the Fiat Punto (5.5%), Lancia Ypsilon (4.5%) and Fiat 500 (3.9%). The Renault Clio is back up 4 spots on March to a shiny 5th place and is now #6 so far in 2013 vs. #12 in 2012.

Israel April 2013: Hyundai i35 edges past Ford Focus

New car sales in Israel are up a very healthy 20% year-on-year in April to 17,274 registrations, bringing the year-to-date total back into positive at 74,525 units, up 1% on 2012. This month the Hyundai i35 (aka Elantra) edges past the Ford Focus to become the most popular model in the country thanks to 953 sales and 5.5% vs. 937 and 5.4% for the Focus which holds onto its 2013 year-to-date pole position at 4,512 units and 6.1%. The Hyundai i30 is also in great shape, up 3 spots on March to land on the third step of the podium with 808 sales and 4.7%.