2012 sales pick up where 2011 left off.

As expected, January 2012 auto sales rose, maintaining a trend that unfolded in 2010 and picked up in 2011. Volkswagen reported a sales increase of 47.9 percent, recording …

Toyota’s luxury brand should return to pre-earthquake levels

Luxury Sales
Lexus sales fell in 2011 so much so that BMW and Mercedes-Benz finished 1-2 in the U.S. luxury market. Lexus has been the leading luxury make …

Record Chevrolet sales propel GM to the top of the heap.

Even without Toyota being affected by a devasting earthquake and tsunami that hammered the automaker in 2011, GM was on track to retake its position …

All-new RWD sports car bolsters the Subaru brand.

Tucked in with all the releases at the Los Angeles Auto Show this past November and also on display at the auto show in Detroit this month is …

12.78 million sales & 10.3 percent increase.
Updated: 11:17 a.m.; January 5, 2012
December 2011 auto sales figures are in, enabling us to gauge the month and year just ended. As expected, the news is generally good …

Industry sales jump by 14 percent over November 2010.

There isn’t anything pretty about statistical information. Unless you’re a statistician.
We’ve been reporting U.S. auto sales for several years now, in keeping with our “auto trends” theme. …

Sales continue to rise for an industry in recovery.

Chrysler and Volkswagen paced October’s U.S. auto sales, rising 27 and 36 percent respectively. Together with all manufacturers reporting, sales rose by 8 percent for the month …

Sales of new cars in the United States rose by 9.9 percent for September 2011 reports Autodata Corp. General Motors continued to put some distance between itself and second place Ford with its sales rising …

Online ordering and your Toyota PHV Prius.

The Prius family continues to expand with Toyota introducing a plug-in version of its standard Prius model this month. This vehicle, which seats five passengers, is expected to deliver …

Auto industry receives a pleasant 8 percent sales bump.
Chrysler, General Motors and Ford enjoyed double-digit sales increases in August 2011, rising 28, 18 and 11 percent, respectively. The three traditional U.S. automakers were behind a …

Popular selling sedan receives a nip/tuck.

When car manufacturers consider a next generation model, designers are given two choices: present an offering that is evolutionary or one that is revolutionary. The seventh generation Toyota Camry, a …

Living large in Michigan.
“Auto Trends” is on the road today, visiting with the Ford Motor Company in Dearborn, Mich. After a busy summer around the home office preparing for and covering “Plug-In 2011″ which came …

Competing automakers agree to work as equal partners.
Rumors that the Ford Motor Company and Toyota Motors might someday merge have surfaced in recent years, but that talk has proven to be mere speculation. However, the …

Potent V-6 engine powers this handsome midsize sedan.
PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – Lexus made good use of a Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance crowd to unveil the next generation of its GS sedan, a five-passenger midsize luxury …

Korean models set the pace again.
Automakers doing business in the United States have tabulated sales for July 2011, with reporting data through August 1 included.
U.S. auto sales for July 2011 returned mostly flat although Hyundai, …

Year end new car deals loom large.

Not since the “Great Recession” was at its lowest point have we heard chatter of larger than life incentives. In early 2009, as Chrysler and General Motors were fighting …

Finally, the Smart Fortwo has some competition in the wide open A segment or microcar sector. The Scion iQ, sold as a Toyota elsewhere, goes on sale in October 2011 in California with a gradual …

Audio music courtesy of the world wide web.

Internet radio is a hot commodity, allowing listeners to tune in to stations from all around the world. Pandora, an Internet radio service provider launched on the web …

Toyota crossover will offer an electric option in 2012.

LOS ANGELES — Electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla Motors and global automotive giant Toyota have inked yet another deal reports Bloomberg. [1] Tiny Tesla, which is the first …

By Harrison Card
Toyota introduced the Prius over 10 years ago. Since then they’ve become the poster child for the hybrid movement, selling a lot of cars. However, the Prius is becoming something of a grandfather …

Buzz makes for an interesting consumer perceptions tool.
The Ford brand has been recognized as truly buzz worthy, a brand that has played the social media fiddle better than any other make, at least that is …

Nissan faces stiff head winds as it seeks more customers.

Nissan USA has ambitious growth plans for the American market, as it seeks to increase its market share from 8 to 10 percent as reported by …

June sales recover, but still fall short of expectations.
Auto sales rose by 7 percent for June 2011, recovering from May’s decline, but still fell short of predictions. As expected, Toyota and Honda continued to feel …

Reordering of the luxury market takes shape.

Lexus’ long-term reign as luxury brand leader is over, at least for 2011, but perhaps for the long haul. Dependent upon its Japanese manufacturing base to supply vehicles which …

Nissan steps back to move forward.

Vehicle electrification is a challenge for automakers. The technology is available, but consumers are largely spurning hybrids and electric cars, sticking with gas-powered vehicles. Car manufacturers, seeing the enormous costs …

By Harrison Card
Super Lexus puts a halo on this luxury brand.
Toyota’s portfolio in the late 1980s and early ‘90s included an array of exciting performance cars ranging from the Corolla GTS to the all-conquering Mark …

Chrysler Outsells Toyota and Honda.

RALEIGH, N.C. — As expected, May 2011 auto sales decreased for the month, reflecting ongoing supply problems in Japan following a devasting March 11 earthquake and tsunami. Toyota sales fell by …

Chrysler’s decision to produce a small pickup truck will force Ford, GM and others to follow suit.
Slumping Sales
Sales of small pickup trucks have been falling steadily over the past decade despite higher fuel prices and …

Save money on your new car purchase thanks to fresh incentives.

If you’ve been shopping for a new car over the past month or so, you may have been disappointed to find that some of the …

Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc., has announced the opening of the first pipeline-fed hydrogen fuel station in the United States.1 Working in collaboration with Air Products, Shell, South Coast Air Quality Management District and …

2011 BrandZ Top 100 brands list is released
Toyota has reclaimed its position as the most valued car brand in the world, moving past BMW in the 2011 version of BrandZ’s Top 100 “Most Valuable Global …

Automakers provide financial relief to affected areas.
Toyota Responds
Toyota Motors operates several manufacturing facilities in the United States including plants located in Mississippi and Alabama that are not far from where a series of tornadoes ripped …

The cut off date for recording April 2011 auto sales was May 2, 2011, and the news coming in today from most car manufacturers has been positive. As expected, sales rose for the month despite …

By Jason Lancaster
In 2010, Ford Motor Company managed to trim away or consolidate 3.6 percent or 163 of its Lincoln and Ford dealers. Yet despite these closures, Ford and Lincoln enjoyed a 19 percent annual …

U.S. auto sales for March 2011 continue to show promise although the momentum seen in February seems to have slowed a bit. Higher fuel prices, global uncertainty and a tepid economic recovery are factors which …

Japan’s recovery from a cataclysmic series of earthquakes and a tsunami is a slow process as sheltering the homeless and finding and burying the dead takes precedence. Nuclear reactors leaking radiation threaten to deepen the …