
06 March 2025
Estonia Car/LCV Sales : 2025 (Jan-Feb)

05 March 2025
Aston Martin Global Deliveries : 2023/24
Well, since you've asked Aston Martin explained why. It's been due to what is called product transformation as volume lowered as the new Vantage, upgraded DBX707 and V12 Vanquish were intoduced. Volume improved in Q4 which would confirm that. I've already noticed stronger sales in 2025. They also mentioned some supply chain disruptions.
So in Q4, the UK and Americas increased while the rest wasn't so bouyant as they await the arrival of new models. Overall Q4 wholesale volume increase 8% as production increases.
04 March 2025
Sweden Passenger Car Sales : 2025 (Jan-Feb)

VW is up 58% already and has 14.9% share so is keeping in touch with the leader. Toyota is down 13% and Kia +5%.
Subaru was up 262% YTD but was down 97.5% in February so I don't know what's going on there. Tesla is down 43% for the year which is a common occurence for the brand so far. Maybe a large shipment is due in March.
Cupra was up 127% with the Tavascan and Terramar the reason for the upturn. Citroën is going the other way, down 67%.
Finland Passenger Car Sales : 2025 (Jan-Feb)
Further down, Mercedes-Benz registrations are down a third but Polestar is up 500%. Peugeot, Dacia and Renault have doubled their sales YTD.
BYD arrived during 2023 and MG during 2024 and while both have settled in OK, Chinese brands are not prominent.
01 March 2025
NZ Pick Up Sales : 2022-25 (Jan-Feb '25)

Pick up vehicles are popular here, suiting the outdoor leisure lifestyle and are sought after by tradesmen. Japanese models dominate, US and European brands have a few representatives but China is starting to make inroads.
The Toyota Hilux (picture above) was last top in 2013 but since then it has been the Ford Ranger on top. Ford's sales superiority is under threat with two months of 2025 having passed. There is a new tenth generation Hilux coming soon so the old ninth generation getting a sales spurt and taking the lead surprised me.
Mitsubishi, Nissan and Isuzu are always in the mix behind the top two. Mazda was also in the mix but has pulled the plug on a relatively new pick up sourced from Isuzu. It's now in run out mode. That's another surprise.
The rest are small selling models except for one new brand that is making big waves in a short period of time. That's the hybrid BYD Shark (see pic below chart). I live in a smallish town in NZ but already and I'm seeing Sharks on the road. Pick up truck owners are a loyal bunch but BYD is winning over customers.
RHD conversions of US sourced trucks are gaining traction in Australia and some are coming across the Tasman Sea. RAM and Chevrolet are two that make that journey. However, Toyota has no plans to bring the Tundra over and the Ford F-150 is unconfirmed as far as I know.
Data source: Thanks to NZTA. Photos: Toyota & BYD NZ.
22 February 2025
UK Truck Registrations : 2024

Truck registrations in the UK have been going well and 2024 was also a good year, despite a 3% dip in the total. There aren't many brands involved - ten in all - with most being European.
The leader is DAF Trucks (picture above) which is how the SMMT names it but I've gone with its UK name, Leyland DAF. The vehicles are sourced from the UK plant in Leyland, Lancashire, and from Europe. It's the third consecutive year market share has fallen, albeit only slightly on each occasion. It has maintained five digit sales volume every year since 2014.
Then comes some heavy hitters from Europe before the first of two Japanese brands in the form of Isuzu and Fuso, the latter owned by Mercedes-Benz. In between them is Dennis Eagle (pic below), a UK based maker of waste management trucks. The 956 registrations was the best result since 2013 and the second best this century.
Data source: SMMT.
UK Bus Registrations : 2024

By the term bus, it surely includes vans with seats with the vans over a certain size. Hence, we see Ford and Peugeot leading the way in 2024. I'm interested in the full sized bus but that is how the data is supplied.
Registrations were up an impressive 70% but still only the best year since 2016. The 'Diff' figure below is for market share change so any brand in yellow would have increased volume but not kept up with the surging market. Overall, the best result since 2017 when nearly 8,800 were registered. I'm not sure why there was a dramatic fall after that. At least it's returning to better numbers.
Of the local companies, Alexander Dennis (picture above) managed an increase in share and the highest sales figure since 2019. Northern Ireland based Wrightbus (picture below)- which are leaders in hydrogen buses - reached 850 units registered, 2017 the last time that figure was bettered. BYD are not a UK brand but the bodies on their buses may be provided by Alexander Dennis.
For imports, diesel buses have a 16% duty and electric 10%. The latter seems too low to protect local manufacturing and imports from China could prove disrupters for local manufacturers. That probably needs a review to provide some help to protect domestic electric bus manufacturing - which use Chinese made chassis' anyway - but unlikely to happen. The 2025 figures may have some different brand names included, assuming they will be reported.
Data source: SMMT.
21 February 2025
Serbia Passenger Car Sales : 2025 (January)

Škoda claimed one sale in five, down slightly on the 2024 total. Hyundai and Renault were well up but when registrations are of a more diminutive nature, change is more drastic.
Jeep is an example of that, leaping to sixth spot but it would be surprising if that could be maintained through the year. VW and Kia will be hoping for better times for the rest of 2025.
The best selling model for 2024 was the Škoda Octavia as one would expect with the penetration the brand enjoys.
Data source: Serbian Association of Vehicle and Parts Importers and Cube Team.
Picture source: Škoda Facebook, Serbia.
19 February 2025
Iceland Pick Up Sales 2020-24
The Icelandic market isn't big but it has a rural ruggedness and at times harsh conditions. Ideal for vehicles best suited to that and pick ups would without doubt be included among them.
Nearly 700 were sold in 2017 but since then the numbers have been regressing. I'm not sure of the reason but there were still 305 sold during 2024. The Toyota Hilux made up two thirds of the total. Some of the units sold are of the large kind, the RAM 3500 has been very popular for example.
How sales go in 2025 will be interesting.
Picture source: Isband (link click here). Data source: Samgongustofa.
10 February 2025
Kia Korea Model Production : 2024

Kia made 1.46 million cars in Korea last year. That was down 3% on 2023. The top three all improved but most of the rest didn't. The Tasman pickup and EV4 will add their presence to the lineup so they should give things an uplift.
I believe the K3/Cerato may be on the way out as to the Mohave due to slow sales and to make way for the new models on the production line.
Data source: Kia.
09 February 2025
Kia Plant Sales By Nation : 2024
Kia made 3 million passenger cars and SUVs in 2024. It manufactures in six countries with close to half made at home. If the CKD kits* are also originating from Korea (and I assume they do), then just over half. The rest is fairly evenly spread between plants. 250,000 to 350,000 covers all of them.
China was the first overseas production facility back in 2002 but in recent years the volume has dropped substantially as is the case with other manufacturers. In the last two years production in China has made improved.
The USA (since 2010) and Slovakia (2006) are both around 350,000 cars per annum. India (2019) was down this year and Mexico (2016) was steady. The latter has started making a model for Hyundai but is not counted here.
*The 'CKD' I believe are cars made from knocked down kits but due to the content being split between facilities, not attributed to either. The model(s) involved are not given either. That's how I've read the data provided but it doesn't clearly specify if that is so.
Data source: Kia.
Spain Passenger Car Sales : 2025 (January)

There are two brands that Spaniards call their own, SEAT and the spinoff Cupra marque. Both were down on share in January with the former on 8th and the latter 16th. Early days of course.
Some Chinese brands are making their mark here. BYD is at 19th, with Omoda just two places behind it. Several others are scattered further down the list.
08 February 2025
Italy Passenger Car Sales : 2025 (January)
Dacia reached its highest penetration ever at 8.6%. Regular readers will know I'm all for a value product so good to see one with essential features but not excess ones.
VW hit its lowest share since 2009 when Fiat had just over a quarter of the market. At least the VW Group can take heart knowing Audi reached an all time high at 5.1%.
Italy has some local brands with Chinese connections in the form of DR Motors, Evo, EMC and Sportequipe.
France Passenger Car Sales : 2025 (January)

Registrations were down 6% in January. Peugeot, Renault and Citroën each recorded an increase in market share. Last year they had 36% of the market when combined and in January 40%.
Toyota especially but also Daicia increased their portion which makes you wonder who were the losers.
Mercedes-Benz lost nearly two thirds of its share and Tesla well over half. DS was down 49% and Fiat -46%.
The bizarre result of the month goes to Land Rover which sold over 10,000 vehicles last year but only recorded one sale in January. I did a web search but couldn't find an explanation.
07 February 2025
Portugal Passenger Car Sales : 2025 (January)

Netherlands Passenger Car Sales : 2025 (January)

Registrations were down 4.6% for the month. Kis first went to the top in 202, then returned in 2024. It has established a strong case for remaining there through 2025 although early days of course.
With the Netherlands encouraging electric cars, brands that have invested well in that area are well represented here. One that didn't do well in January was Tesla, down at 15th after finishing 4th in 2024.
In view of the above, where are the Chinese brands that have put so much into the electric car? Well, they aren't proving that popular in the Netherlands, so far at least.
The top selling models were:
06 February 2025
Portugal Top 50 Models : 2024

Peugeot is the best selling brand in Portugal so is well represented at the top of the list. The 2008 is second, 208 fifth and the 308 seventh.
Tesla did well here for the year with the Model 3 third and Model Y sixteenth. The Nissan Juke's sales were 138% and that took the model up to tenth.
In case you're wondering what the Hyundai Kauai is, it's the Kona model that was renamed to avoid causing any offence.
New Zealand Passenger Car Sales : 2025 (January)
Registrations held were the same as January last year but volume is well short of recent better times. Still, with later model used cars arriving in numbers not too dissimilar to new, the choice is there to save.
Australia Car/LCV Sales : 2025 (January)
Mazda CX-5 1,872
05 February 2025
Argentina Passenger Car Sales : 2025 (January)

Iceland Passenger Car Sales : 2025 (January)

Toyota and Hyundai were next with then a drop to Tesla with Mercedes-Benz and Land Rover come next. Some Chinese brands have emerged, such as Xpeng and Ora.
The top models were:
For Iceland 2024, just click the titles below:
Data source: Samgongustofa. Picture source: Kia Iceland.
European Nation Electric Car Sales : 2024
The size of the market has to be factored in when looking at the list below. Germany has been the leader numerically as it is the largest car market. It took over from Norway in 2019 but has now been passed by the UK in 2024, albeit by a tiny margin.
Government subsidies ended in Germany in 2023 and that is the reason for the 27% drop which goes to show that BEVs aren't that popular when they have to meet the market without government sweeteners.
The UK has become the leading BEV market in 2024, reaching just under 20% of total sales. In Germany it was just 13.5% and Italy 5.5%. In contrast, for Norway it was 89%, Denmark reached 51.5% and the Netherlands 35%.
All this data excluded hybrid cars. As far as I know, the EU hasn't set a date to end their sale although the UK has 2035 as a target date. Of course, dates and targets are flexible.
Data ACEA. Picture VW.