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Aston Martin LOST £24.6 million in 2012

The Aston Martin Vanquish (pictured) launch in 2012 contributed to AML’s losses We reported just the other day that Aston Martin had axed the Cygnet after woeful sales, and it’s not just the Cygnet that hasn’t been selling well. In fact, Aston Martin sales in 2012 – 67,500 units – was still 42,500 down on its pre-recession sales levels of 110,000 cars in 2007 and that lead to yet another loss. Aston Martin has posted pre-tax losses for 2012 of £24,6 million on sales of £461.2 million for 2012, a worsening position over 2011 which saw losses of £21.2 million.

Hyundai i30 SR – a taste of Sporty Hyundai

Hyundai in Australia has revealed the Hyundai i30 SR, an i30 with a 2.0 litre petrol engine and a sportier edge. Hyundai in the UK defaults to its diesel engine offerings across almost its entire range, with the Golf challenging i30 offering only a 1.4 litre petrol with a very modest 98bhp apart from the diesel offerings. But Hyundai in Australia marches to its own beat and has rather bigger ambitions for the brand than Hyundai exhibit in most of the rest of the world, with thoughts about a Hyundai ‘Genesis’ luxury brand (although that seems to have come to nought so far) and their very own ‘Sporty’ take for the Hyundai range in the ‘SR’ model.

Chevrolet UK has its best ever year

Now admittedly, Chevrolet UK is not starting from a point of market dominance in the UK, but any manufacturer who has managed to increase sales in 2008 is obviously doing something right. Chevrolet UK has announced that in 2008 it managed to increase its market share in the UK by 12.5%, from 0.76% to 0.86%, with total sales for the year of 18,372 cars (which is only a smidge higher than 2007, but the lower total sales for the UK Car market in 2008 meant a significant increase in market share for Chevrolet). Chevrolet Cruze - Launches in the UK in 2009 These are not figures that are going to frighten the pants off Ford and Vauxhall, but they are an indication that a certain part of the car buying public in the UK are looking at price as a major factor, and are prepared to sacrifice a degree of driving joy to get in to a new car at a lower price.