Total car and light truck sales as a whole went up about 10% in 2011 compared to 2010, an increase of over a million extra sales compared to last year bringing the grand total to just shy of 12.8 million. While the industry posted higher sales on average, 2011 will certainly be remembered for the lost market share of traditional powerhouses Toyota and Honda along with their respective luxury divisions. Natural disasters in Japan and Thailand reduced inventory for both Honda and Toyota and thus hurting sales, but ever stronger competition played a role as well. In the end Lexus was the biggest loser as it sales shrunk by 13.4% while Honda and Acura saw loses of around 6%. Both manufacturers should easily top 2011 sales in 2012 but new products for both manufacturers will be vital to improve upon 2010 sales level. At the other end of the spectrum Jeep posted incredible sales improvements over the entire year on its way to a 44% improvement. Kia and Hyundai continued to gain market share with improvements of 36 and 20 per cent while Volkswagen posted a 26.3 per cent improvement thanks to its "Americanized" Jetta and Passat models.
2011 also marked the first full year of mainstream electric transportation available for sale as the all electric Nissan LEAF found 9,674 customers while the range extending Chevrolet Volt enticed 7,671 buyers. While the Volt sold less for the year it has been outselling the LEAF the last few months winning December 1,529 versus 954 for the LEAF. We'll see how far electric vehicles will increase their market share in 2012 with new arrivals such as the Ford Focus.
Taking advantage of retreating Lexus sales throughout the year Mercedes and BMW are both withholding their official sales figures in a bit of election style "too close to call" race for the number one luxury spot. Don't expect things to be Iowa close but stay tuned for updated results tomorrow once Mercedes and BMW both officially announce their figures.
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