Toyota Corolla GR Production Expansion

Toyota has for the majority of its UK production history assembled two models. That hasn't been the case since 2018 when the last Avensis rolled out of the plant. The Burnaston, Derby facility has been under utilised for some time now but that is going to be addressed to some degree. Cue the Toyota Corolla GR.

For the article about Toyota UK reaching 5 million cars produced, please click here.

Toyota has been producing Corolla GR for a few selected markets, the reason being the Japanese assembly line is limited in terms of volume. Now the UK plant will also take on manufacturing the model from mid 2026. Initially, it will complement Japanese assembly but may in the future become the sole producer.

As the Corolla is already made at the UK plant. I thought it would be simply a case of running it down the same production line. However, a new production line is being set up especially for the model. There will still be a cost benefit from already making the Corolla there, so a logical move by Toyota.

I can see the model being popular in the UK and Europe, a region that has always appreciated driver focused cars. Nothing much has been given away regarding which markets will be getting it but Europe is surely going to figure large in the plan. We will have to wait and see what transpires.

Land Rover UK Historical Market Share

I have no history with the marque whatsoever. I may have driven in one many years ago but that's it. Yet I'm keen on them and like their design styling. 

Land Rover got into volume as new models were added. By the time 2001 arrived, there were four in total. Three were for to the passenger car segment and one was mainly a light commercial. The figures below are compared against all vehicles sold in the UK. 

In 2001, LR were taking 1.6% of the total. The fact that the data includes cars, trucks and buses, none of which LR compete with, it was not a bad result. The Evoque was released in 2011 and that noticeably lifted the volume as it quickly became the best selling model.

Another lift came with the Velar's release in 2017 and the same thing for the new Defender in 2020. There was a slight dip after that but a recovery came almost immediately. Current share is nearly double over the period below, thanks to  a wider range of models and the premium 4x4 SUV market is quite a popular one. 

A Defender Sport model is apparently on the way. It's reported to be a smaller and more affordable than the current Defender. That would be a model that would surely fit nicely into the range as other LR models head more up market.

Commercial sales are not that large for LR. They were 13% of the total sales in 2001 and were just under 9% in 2024. Two years ago, it was under 6% so a growth in that area of late. 

Morocco Passenger Car Sales : 2025 (Jan-July)

Registrations were up 35% in July and +35% YTD so exceeding 2024 should be a doddle and even a record year as well is possible. Renault and its Dacia brand combined have taken 40% of the market. They assemble vehicles here which allows them that sort of dominance. Morocco is the largest producer of passenger cars in Africa. 

Data source: Aivam.

Thailand Top 40 Passenger Car Model Sales : 2024

In a market down 22%, minus figures in the '+/-' column were always going to be prolific. Toyota is the dominant player and that is shown in the list below. The Yaris tops the list, with the hatch and saloon variants combined. The Mitsubishi Attrage city car is to the right and sales held up well.

Pick up trucks are big here but the data below excludes those not classed as passenger cars. Despite that, they still figure prominently below. The D-Max is very popular, although that didn't stop sales halving. The Yaris Cross (picture at the top) arrived and in its first full year is already up to third. That's 91,000 Yaris variants in total, or put another way, 18% of the total passenger cars market! 

Data: DLT Thailand. Photos: Toyota & Mitsubishi Thailand.

Thailand Passenger Car Sales: 2024

Figures from Thailand often cover all vehicles but here I kept it to passenger cars only which took some time to extract. It's also a bit late for 2024 but I've been spending some time trying to catch up with this sort of time consuming data collation

With the total market down 22% for the year, few managed to increase their volume. As the Diff column here is measuring market share, there is some green colour to reflect that. Improving your share in a depressed market is an important achievement.

There is import duty to limit imports, which is almost the default setting in Asia when car  manufacturing takes places. That means those that manufacture here dominate the market. Toyota has over a third of the market with Honda and Isuzu the other two main brands. The advantage of a Toyota is that it completes your life...apparently.

The figures include pick up trucks, many of which are sold as passenger cars and they are popular. So brands that have pick ups in their range do well. Chinese brands are arriving but I assume to have a strong presence here, they will need to set up assembly plants to avoid the import duty.  

Data: DLT Thailand. Photos: Toyota & Ford Thailand.

Aston Martin Global Deliveries : 2025 (H1)

Aston Martin continues to deliver exceptional cars to discerning motorists, those who are stirred but never shaken. The model above is the Vanquish, 

US tariffs for the UK are capped at 10% up to 100,000 units per annum, an amount Land Rover achieves on its own. How marques like Aston Martin are supposed to get any relief is something that doesn't appear to have been considered. 

Added to that, well established and extremely stiff tariffs China applies to luxury cars are something they have to contend with. One definition of trade is the commercial exchange of goods and services to achieve mutually beneficial purposes and economic growth. 

Regions: For the first half of 2025, deliveries were down 4% which was a good result all things considered as exports to the US were held back for a period. Assuming stock on hand helped the Americas region, its sales were actually up 2%. Maybe the next quarter will be negative. 

The Europe (excluding the UK), Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region was down 20% and Asia, Pacific -9%. The UK managed a healthy 28% increase for 20% of the total or put another way 1 in 5 deliveries.

Models: It would be nice to have more detail but I appreciate what they do provide, which is much more than what most of their competitors do.

Sports cars were up 2%, the DBX SUV (picture to the right) flat at 0% and what Aston Martin calls 'Specials' (which I have labeled Valkyrie) were down 85%. The Valhalla is coming in Q4 so Specials should get a lift. 

AM is using what they refer to as a "disciplined approach to production and stock optimisation". This is important to achieving profitability in any business and luxury car making is no different. So delivery numbers are not the focus of AM. 

Data & picture source: Aston Martin.

The Valhalla is pictured below. If you are thinking of securing one, only 999 will be made so don't dilly-dally. 

Australia Pick Up Sales : 2025 (Jan-Aug)

Pick up trucks or utes as they are sometimes called are popular in Australia. Previously there weren't always a lot of models to choose from but that is changing and rapidly. 

In Australia converting US trucks to right hand drive has increased choice although the conversion puts them at the high end of the price range.

Chinese sourced models are arriving in greater numbers and making waves. The BYD Shark is a new entrant in 2025 that is immediately enjoying success and JAC has hit the road too. In addition Kia has now entered the fray.

Ford (with the top selling Ranger) and Japanese models are not going to have it all their own way in future. How much difference the new arrivals make is still to be determined.

Please note: 2024 is for a full year.

Data source: VFACTS. Photos: JAC & Kia Australia.

France Passenger Car Sales : 2025 (Jan-Aug)

Registrations were up 2% in August but down 7% YTD. Renault, Peugeot and Citroën each recorded an increase in market share. Last year they had 36% of the market when combined and YTD 39%. 

Dacia increased its portion which keeps it in third place. Toyota and VW both lost a place in the rankings due to Citroën's mini revival. Mercedes-Benz has fallen from 3.0% to 2.5% so far this year. Tesla is in a worse position, the drop in this instance from 2.4% to 1.4%. Fiat is down to 1.2%, well short of last year's 2.0%.

Land Rover sold over 10,000 vehicles last year but only 141 this year. I did a web search but couldn't find an explanation. My guess is it may be something to do with fines for excess emissions. There are French visitors to the site and if you could explain, plese leave a comment. You don't have to register to do so. 

The top selling models were:

Renault Clio - 66,910

Peugeot 208 - 47,720

Dacia Sandero - 44,169

Peugeot 2008 - 37,572

Peugeot 3008 - 27,614

Dacia Duster - 26,908

Citroën C3 - 26,567 (picture above)

Renault Captur - 25,349

Toyota Yaris Cross - 22,150

Renault Symbioz - 21,241

For 2024 articles, simply click on the links below:

By brand.

Top 50 Models.

Data source: AAAData. Picture Source: Citroën.

Serbia Passenger Car Sales : 2025 (Jan-July)

Registrations were up 32% in July and +11% YTD. Škoda claimed in excess of one sale in five, down slightly on the 2024 total. Toyota and Renault were well up but well short of the leader. Getting data for Serbia isn't that easy, so a shout out to the source below. 

Data source: Serbian Association of Vehicle and Parts Importers and Cube Team. 

Picture source: Škoda Facebook, Serbia.

Iceland Passenger Car Sales : 2025 (Jan-Aug)

Registrations for August were up 27% and up 27% YTD as well, on what was admittedly a poor 2024.  Kia has taken a clear lead and one would imagine will hold on to it. The photograph is from Kia, Reykjavik and it seems like a large dealership. 

Toyota is next with then a drop to Tesla, Dacia and Hyundai. Land Rover does well here and I presume most suited to the country. Some Chinese brands have arrived, such as BYD and Xpeng but overall the locals have stayed with the more established brands. 

The top models were:

Tesla Y - 657

Kia Sportage - 552

Dacia Duster - 506

Toyota RAV4 - 374

Kia Ceed - 261

Hyundai Tucson - 261

Kia EV3 - 257

Kia Sorento - 255

Suzuki Vitara - 229

Škoda Kodiak - 228

Land Rover Defender - 215

For Iceland 2024, just click the titles below:

Top 50 models

Brand Sales

Data source: Samgongustofa. Picture sources: Kia Iceland, Tesla.

Great Minds Think Alike

I was walking past a pick up truck yesterday and said to my other half how there is no way I'd consider such a vehicle due to its excessive length. 

I questioned why it had to have such a long front nose and that for all its size, the rear tray wasn't that big. As a packaging exercise, I opined it was a big fail. There must be a better way.

Then today I came across the Telo MT1. OK, so it's more a city car with a useful rear tray. Yet how many people buy a humungous pick up when all they need is something with the same basic attributes, contained within much smaller dimensions. Well, here is an answer.

It has the same footprint as a three door MINI which admittedly isn't that mini, but that's still impressive. It seats five, uses electricity to propel it along the road and longer, flatter items can be pushed into the cab when extra length is required. 

So an idea with potential. They haven't disclosed where it will be built but it seems it will be outsourced to a manufacturer. Perhaps Tesla may be up for it as it would make a change for them to make a pick up that people actually want to own. (The Telo website link).

NZ Pick Up Sales : 2024-25 (Jan-Aug)

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. Some of the names may be unfamiliar

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 was under threat earlier in the year but normal service appears to have been resumed. 

There is a new 10th generation Hilux coming so the old outgoing ninth generation surprised me by its strong sales. 

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). 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. 

Please note in the chart the 2024 figures are full year.

Data source: Thanks to NZTA. Photos: Toyota & BYD NZ.