Australia March 2011: Commodore #1, Lexus CT200 & Chery land Now with the Top 65 best selling models

Lexus CT200h

* Now with the Top 65 best selling models in Q1 2011: click on ‘Read more’ at end of post *

At 93,984 registrations, Australian car sales are down just 1% year-on-year in March. The Holden Commodore stays #1 at 4,170 sales and 4.4%, but the 2011 leader is still the Mazda3 at 11,159 units and 4.5%, thanks to another strong month at 3,979 sales and 4.2% in March (#3).

The Toyota Hilux takes the 2nd place only 140 sales behind the Commodore. Just behind the Toyota Corolla, the Holden Cruze is up 1 spot at #5 with a strong 3% share, and the Mitsubishi Triton is up to a brilliant 8th position. The Lexus CT (223 sales) and the Toyota FJ Cruiser (209) both appear for the first time in the Australian ranking.

March 2011 will also be remembered as the month Chinese brand Chery started in the country, launching the first Chinese passenger cars in Australia. The Chery J11 SUV (aka Tiggo) delivers 166 sales and the J1 (aka Face) lands 53 buyers. In the meantime the Great Wall V240 ute continues to grow, #64 in Q1 at 989 sales.

A few new models perform well in Q1: the Ford Fiesta is #17, the Hyundai ix35 #28, the Nissan Dualis multiplies its share by two at 1% and #31, the Mistubishi ASX is #50 and the VW Polo #57. With the discontinuation of the the Falcon model last year, the Ford Mondeo is now the default Ford station wagon and is up to #39.

March Top 10 & 1st Quarter 2011 Top 65 Ranking Tables: see ‘Read more’ below the Chery J11 pic.

Chery J11

Taiwan March 2011: Toyota Corolla back to #1, RAV4 #3

Toyota RAV4

New car sales in Taiwan are up an explosive 58% in the first Quarter of 2011 at 106,191 registrations, and in March alone, imports are up 70% at 9,411 units.

The Toyota Corolla reclaims the title of best-selling car in Taiwan with 3,862 sales and 10.9% share, ahead of the Nissan Tiida at 1,590 sales and 4.5%. The all-new Toyota RAV4 climbs onto the podium with 1,477 units and 4.2% whereas the Nissan Livina stays strong in 4th with 1,436 sales and 4%.

Other good performances include the Hyundai ix35, up 7 spots and #14 with 707 sales and 2% and the BMW 5 Series at #22 with 435 units and 1.2%.

Full Top 25 Ranking Table below.

Latvia March 2011: Golf #1, Renault Scenic & VW Caddy in Top5

VW Caddy

* See the Top 50 best selling models by clicking on ‘Read more’ below *

At 1,902 units over the first 3 months of 2011, new car sales in Latvia are up 132% on 2010 and 45% on 2009 but are still a far cry (-68%!) from the 5,934 registrations achieved in Q1 2008.

Stable on top, the VW Golf leads the way again and improves its market share over last year at 5.2% thanks to 98 sales. The Renault Megane takes the 2nd spot at 4.7% share, followed by the Ford Focus at 3.6%.

3 models deliver explosive growth to land in the Top 10 over the period: the Renault Scenic is up 50 spots to reach the 4th place with 64 sales and 3.4%, the VW Caddy gains 30 spots to #6 at 59 sales (3.1%) and the Suzuki SX4 grows by 53 spots to #8 at 54 units (2.8%). Notice the Lexus RX at #17, the Nissan Juke at #18 and BMW X6 at #19.

Full Top 50 Ranking Table below.

Mexico March 2011: Seat Ibiza at its highest

Mexican consumers continue to buy more new cars than last year, a total of 75,125 units in March, up 15%. The Nissan Tsuru reclaims the pole position, just: with 5,406 sales (7.2%) it is 95 units above the VW Clasico at 5,311 (7.1%).

The Nissan Tiida Sedan at #3, Chevrolet Aveo at #4 and VW Nueva Jetta at #5 are all stable vs. last month. The best performance goes to the Seat Ibiza this month: it is 9th with 1,365 registrations, its best ever volume in Mexico.

Full Top 10 Ranking Table below.

Panama March 2011: Toyota Hilux leads, Nissan Navara strong

Nissan Frontier

After a very strong showing by the Hyundai Tucson IX late last year, the Toyota Hilux reclaims the title of best selling vehicle in Panama over the first 3 months of 2011 with 693 sales, 127 units above the Tucson.

The Hyundai Accent GL is stable in 3rd place, the Nissan Navara is up 4 spots at #4 with 386 sales, same as the Toyota RAV4, #5 with 383 sales. The Hyundai Elantra reappears in the Top 10 at #7.

Full Top 10 Ranking Table below.

China March 2011: FAW Xiali N-Series grabs the pole position Discover the Top 150 best selling models

FAW Xiali N5

* See the Top 150 best-selling models by clicking on ‘Read more’ at the end of the post *

The Chinese car market continues to take a breather after the extravagant growth of 2010, up 5% in March at 1,828,500 vehicles and 8% over the first quarter at 4,983,800. Passenger vehicle sales are up 6% in March at 1,347,600 units.

For the first time since the launch of the N5 last year, the FAW Xiali N-Series takes the lead at 24,060 sales, and by the same token climbs to #1 year-to-date at 64,250 units. The VW Lavida drops to #2 at 22,265 sales and #3 in 2011 at 62,605 sales, and the veteran VW Jetta is #3 at 21,419 but #2 in 2011 at 63,033.

Honda CR-V

The Buick Excelle is solid in 4th place at 19,242 units, above the Ford Focus in very good shape at #5 with 18,247 sales. The BYD F3 continues to slide down, #10 this month and #5 year-to-date. The best selling SUV is the Honda CR-V, up 13 spots on February at #11 with 15,156 sales.

The Nissan Sunny continues its progression and ranks 13th with 13,865 units changing hands, the ChangAn Benben Mini is holding very well at #21 and the Mazda6 gains 48 spots at #24 with 12,104 sales.

Full Top 150 Ranking Table below.

Germany March 2011: Opel Astra and Skoda Fabia shine

* Now with the Top 200 best selling models: click on ‘Read more’ at the end of the post *

The German car market is definitely back on track, up 11% in March at 327,911 registrations. Unsurprisingly, the VW Golf is in the lead at 7.5% share, and it is followed this month by the Opel Astra, up 2 spots on February with 9,242 sales and 2.8%.

The VW Polo at #3 and Passat at #4 are slightly weaker this month, and the Opel Corsa is stable in 5th place. The Skoda Fabia delivers the best performance of the month, up 12 spots at #6 with 7,075 sales and 2.2% share. The Mercedes B-Class is also handling extremely well at #9 with 6,212 units.

Mercedes B Class

The only foreign model in the Top 20 is the Nissan Qashqai, up 4 spots at #20 with 4,638 sales, the Hyundai i30 (#22) and Toyota Yaris (#31) follow. Notice the Ford C-Max up 27 spots at #27 with 3,056 sales. A few all-new models appear in the ranking: the Toyota Verso-S at #117 with 625 sales, the Citroen DS4 (17 sales), Audi Q3 (13), Hyundai Veloster (4) and Lexus LFA (3).

Full Top 200 Ranking Table below.

France March 2011: Citroen C3 and Dacia Duster beat records

Citroen C3

* See the Top 100 best selling models by clicking on ‘Read more’ at the end of the post *

As cash-for-clunkers orders had a March 31 delivery deadline, this is the final month of artificially boosted sales for the French market at +6% and 257,631 registrations. In March and possibly for the first time ever all cars are under 5% share, and the models ranking is very eventful:

Just below the Renault Clio, best seller for the 3rd month in a row, we find the Citroen C3 in 2nd position at 12,565 units and an outstanding 4.9% share. That’s three C3 nameplate records beaten all at once: best volume ever (beating 8,656 in Dec 2010), best position ever (beating #3 in Aug 2006) and best market share ever (beating 4.5% in May 2005).

The Peugeot 207 drops to 3rd at 4.7%, hurt by the exceptional performance of its older sister the Peugeot 206+, at its best position ever in 4th place with 3.5% share. The Renault Megane and Peugeot 308 follow.

Dacia Duster

For the first time, the Dacia Duster ranks in the Top 10 in France, at a remarkable 7th place with 6,634 sales and 2.6% share. All these figures are new records.

Citroen C4

The Citroen C4 new generation jumps into the Top 10 for the first time at #9 with 6,300 sales and 2.4%. Other good performers include the Nissan Micra at #32, the Chevrolet Spark at #33 and the Peugeot 508 at #35.

Full Top 100 Ranking Table below.

Greece March 2011: Corsa in the lead, new Micra in Top 10

* See the Top 50 best selling models by clicking on ‘Read more’ at the end of the post *

Car sales in Greece are not looking any brighter: still down 55% in March at 8,258 registrations and 43% year-to-date at 25,256.

The Opel Corsa is #1 for the second time this year with 398 sales and 4.7%, followed by the Ford Fiesta at 374 sales (4.4%) and the Ford Focus boosted by the new generation, up 10 spots over February in 3rd at 362 units (4.2%). The Toyota Yaris, still #1 year-to-date, is 4th this month.

There are a few great performances this month: the new Nissan Micra breaks into the Top 10 at #10 with 184 sales and 2.2%, the Audi A1 climbs to #17 with 128 sales and 1.5% and the Nissan Juke is 24th at 107 sales, for the first time above its big brother Qashqai at 98 units.

Full Top 50 Ranking Table below.

Switzerland March 2011: Golf & Octavia on top, Jazz #11

Honda Jazz

* Now with the Top 100 best selling models: see ‘Read more’ at end of post – thanks Ausrutherford for the tip! *

Over the first 3 months of the year, the Swiss car market is up 11% at 72,853 registrations. The podium is unchanged: the VW Golf stays on top with 2,560 sales, but sees its market share go down from 4.1% in Full Year 2010 to 3.5% now.

On the contrary, the Skoda Octavia, at 2,018 sales, improves its share this year at 2.8% compared to 2.6% last year. The VW Polo is stable in 3rd position with 1,558 units sold (2.1%). Excellent performance of the Renault Clio, up 9 spots in 4th place with 1,268 sales (1.7%).

The VW Touran (#6), VW Passat (#8), Honda Jazz (#11) and Ford Kuga (#13) also improve a lot. Notice the Audi A1 at #25, the Nissan Juke at #28 and the Porsche Cayenne up 23 spots at #100!

Full Top 100 Ranking Table below.