2021 Global Auto Sales: Interesting Observations

Among major car buying countries, India showed a stupendous 26.8% growth.

BHPian amol4184 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

I was browsing for my daily dose of automotive news and came across this Autocar UK article from last week.

There are some observations that I thought you guys might find interesting. I have listed a few but I am sure there are many conclusions to be drawn from the data.

• Among major car buying countries India showed a stupendous 26.8% growth. Next best is Canada at 7.7%.

• Toyota managed to sell an unbelievable, almost 1 million units of each : Corolla and RAV4. That makes Toyota the number one seller in the world, unsurprisingly. These two fit the definition of cash cow perfectly. And Toyota doesn't seem to stop finding ways to milk those names. There is now Corolla Cross in the market, a C-SUV based on Corolla. Corolla incidentally is the # 1 seller in the world narrowly beating RAV4.

• RAV4 is propelling itself to new heights every year. It is world's best-selling SUV, outselling Honda CR-V comfortably.

• Honda CR-V is global # 3. Honda Accord is not in the top 10 but Camry is, at number 4. Only other Honda is the Civic at # 6.

• 7 of the top 10 are Japanese cars. No European car in the list. Wuling HG Mini is the 10th highest selling car in the world.

• Despite slump in sales, VW managed to be global # 2. Narrowly outselling Honda. They aren't big sellers in the USA . Toyota USA outsells VW USA 5 to 1. Globally too, the difference between #1 and # 2 is eye opening. Toyota sold 2.78 million more cars than VW. Rest of the line up is close to each other. Dethroning Toyota isn't going to be easy unless they butcher their EV though process in the next decade.

• Hyundai is proving itself year on year. Last year it became world # 4 seller ahead of Ford and Nissan. Incredible feat in my opinion. Kia, India's newest darling isn't far behind either. They occupy 7th slot in the top 10 list.

• With SUVs being all the craze across the globe, 6 of the top 10 cars are still sedans or share their name with SUVs/Hatchbacks based on them. E.g. Corolla has Corolla Cross and hatch. Civic has Civic hatches.

• Jeep sold 1.22 million SUVs. Solid number for SUV specialist whose cars aren't exactly brimming with tech like Japanese or Germans. But it has a strong base across the world that keeps on buying them. The pedigree is strong. However the cutesy little Renegade isn't even in top 5 for the parent group Stellantis. As a brand though, Jeep is the biggest for Stellantis.

• Ford F150 keeps bringing incredible sales thanks to North America. It is worlds 7th largest selling vehicle ahead of Toyota Yaris and is the only truck in the top 10.

• Ford Mustang is world's top selling sports car, followed by (rather surprisingly) BMW 4 series. The top 10 list has a few other affordable fun cars in it, like Mazda Miata and Chevy Camaro. Hopefully king of fun per penny ratio cars like BRZ and GR86 will make an appearance next year.

• Corvette and even more astonishingly Porsche 911 outsold Camaro and Miata. Both of these cars are touted as easy to live with and can be used as every day cars despite offering super car like performance. These numbers seem to confirm that belief.

• Out of top 10 sports cars, only 1 is Japanese - the Miata. Rest of the list is filled with American and German cars. I remember days of JDM sports cars. Toyota is paying attention to their GR division now but I don't think we will have heydays of ICE Japanese sports cars back.

• BMW outsold MB to take lead in premium brands. It sold approximately 4 times as what Lexus sold. Clearly, outstanding reliability, maintenance, resale do not hold much importance once you move up the ladder. Hyundai is tasting success with Genesis too. Within first year of global launch, the brand is neck to neck with Porsche.

• China is world's top market for premium cars, easily outselling USA.

• Tesla, a newbie compared to everyone in top list managed to sell so many Model 3s that it is the 5th most sold car in the world. Model 3 isn't cheap and yet beat every other (and cheaper) alternative.

• Apart from Model 3 at the top of Evs, Tesla also has model Y at 4th position globally. VW and Renault have their players in the list too, while majority is filled up by Chinese vehicles.

• Bucking the trend, Tesla Model X which is a massive SUV, is the least selling model in the line up. Outsold by Model S sedan by a vast margin.

• Most of Tesla's growth came from China. The country seems smitten by Tesla.

Here's what BHPian CarNerd had to say on the matter:

India is the top market for Suzuki cars infact Suzuki is surviving because of India! About 50% of Suzuki's global sales come from India.

Read BHPian comments to get more insights and information.