This whole Red Bull - Spyker thing. Comments?

Ciro Pabón · Post 24 Apr 2007, 20:41

After watching the headlines today about Toyota surpassing GM as the largest vehicle manufacturer in the world I could not resist to include GM and Ford figures in the graphs I made about world vehicle sales and world car sales.

Toyota surpases GM in first quarter 2007

I bet this can convince anyone that racing (at NASCAR and F1) it's not the same magnet it used to be for marketing.

World vehicle sales, including GM and Ford, 1998-2005

World car sales, including GM and Ford, 1998-2005

I had no idea that Toyota had produced more cars than GM since 2001 and that Honda's number of cars sold was so close to Ford in 2005.

GM and Ford produce a relatively small number of buses and trucks: the difference between cars and vehicles at these two brands is because of small trucks sold (SUV).

Source: OICA (Organisation Internationale des Constructeurs d'Automobiles or International Organization of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers, http://www.oica.net/ )

ds.raikkonen · Post 25 Apr 2007, 10:38

Ciro Pabón wrote: I had no idea that Toyota had produced more cars than GM since 2001 and that Honda's number of cars sold was so close to Ford in 2005.

GM and Ford produce a relatively small number of buses and trucks: the difference between cars and vehicles at these two brands is because of small trucks sold (SUV).

Well Ciro,yu have nt been following the auto world closely lately...this has been around for quite some time...Toyota even entered NASCAR with its 700bhp V8 Camry..(but of course yu know that)...in India,Chevy is doing good....otherwise GM has been a failure coz Opel was nt doing well

Ciro Pabón · Post 25 Apr 2007, 19:34

ds.raikkonen wrote:Well Ciro,yu have nt been following the auto world closely lately...this has been around for quite some time...Toyota even entered NASCAR with its 700bhp V8 Camry..(but of course yu know that)...in India,Chevy is doing good....otherwise GM has been a failure coz Opel was nt doing well

What do you mean GM is doing good in India? I understand that total production in 2005, in India, by GM was less than 30.000 vehicles in a market of over 10 million cars sold.

Wasn't Opel production terminated in March 2006 in India?

ds.raikkonen · Post 26 Apr 2007, 08:28

Ciro Pabón wrote: Wasn't Opel production terminated in March 2006 in India?

yup..it was terminated somewhere in the begining of 2006..following dismal sales..for instance... Suzuki sells nearly 45k units(varied)in one month alone...the new Suzuki Swift 1.3(which wuz inspired from the Concept S) is also doin good..GM actually introduced Chevy just bfor taking back Opel for good...they switched the Opel Corsa & Astra with Chevy Aveo & Optra(Lasetti)
boy oh boy..if the GM & Renault-Nissan merger had been successful, they wud ve thrashed Toyota by miles!..sad it did nt..

ds.raikkonen · Post 26 Apr 2007, 08:32

Ciro Pabón wrote: What do you mean GM is doing good in India? I understand that total production in 2005, in India, by GM was less than 30.000 vehicles in a market of over 10 million cars sold.

yeah..well..relatively well than other competitors other than Suzuki,TATA & Hyundai..India isnt exactly a huge car market ya know

checkered · Post 20 Sep 2007, 15:13

Just to revive

an "older" issue, Spyker is still pushing ahead with its customer car complaint. The recent "spygate" developments will have a fallout effect on this issue too, but the team is still pushing forward in this respect too even if McLaren's fate has served as a sort of an unexpected subsidy to smaller teams.

Spyker press ahead with arbitration action (autosport link)