Hyundai up 46%, Nissan up 30% and all GM core brands positive

It's pretty easy to stage a comeback when a prior year's monthly sales are so dismal, but that still doesn't dull the sheen off what happened last month for auto sales in the U.S.

Not surprisingly, Hyundai continues its winning ways with the largest increase in sales by volume at 45.91 percent. Newcomers to the I Know How To Sell Cars In A Down Market list include Nissan, up 19.94 percent, and Mercedes-Benz, up 19.11 percent. Subaru and Kia again perform flawlessly, posting gains of 23.95 and 18.27 percent, respectively.

Perhaps more interesting is the fact that all four core brands of General Motors (Chevrolet, Buick, Cadillac and GMC) posted positive sales numbers last month, and in the case of Buick rose 14.78 percent. Ford also continued to stay positive, but just barely posting 2.02 percent gain for the brand against a 0.04 decrease for the motor company. You can blame that on Lincoln and Mercury, both of which were down.

As the U.S. auto industry continues to claw its way out of this recession, the Chrysler Group is seemingly being left behind. Of the multi-brand companies we follow, the Pentastar performed the worst (-25.45 percent). The next worst performer, BMW Group, was down only 7.54 percent. With sales down only 8.09 percent, the Dodge brand was the company's best performer.

*Brands and companies are displayed in descending order according to their percentage change in volume sales. There were 23 selling days in November 2009 and 25 selling days in November 2008, so the change in monthly sales volume will be different than the change in the average daily sales rate (DSR) for each brand/company.

DuPont has released its annual Color Popularity Report, and for the first time has converged data from across the globe to create a worldwide report on how we, as a species, prefer our cars to be colored. OK, maybe that's a bit hyperbolic, but the new worldwide report confirms that Black, Silver and White reign supreme regardless of borders. The three colors are tightly packed in North America, where White is most popular at 17.8 percent with Black (17 percent) and Silver (16.8 percent) not far behind. Europeans, however, like the sleek look of Black at 27 percent compared to Silver at 19.9 percent and White falling pretty far behind at 10.2 percent. Different regions like different colors, but these three remain at or near the top across the board.

Who knows why car buyers the world over seem averse to all the colors of the rainbow. Not us. While we dig a nice metallic Silver, other colors like Red, Blue and even shades of Green have a way of teasing out a car's personality better than the grayscale stuff. If you were shopping for a new car (or are), what colors are at the top of your list? We've included a poll below to see if our audience thinks anything like a DuPont customer.



[Source: DuPont]

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Every state in the union is facing huge budget deficits and a number have turned to license plates as a way to raise some fast cash. First was New York, which recently unveiled a new "Empire Gold" license plate. The catch? Any citizen who wants to legally drive is required to buy one when his or her current plates expire. And they're more expensive than the old ones to boot.

Speaking of boots, Texas is also planning to raise funds with license plates, but in this case it's totally optional. The Lone Star state recently unveiled a spate of new vanity plates on MyPlates.com that cost between $55 and $195 smackaroos. The selection is as large as the state itself (and its hats) including standard Lone Star plates in crazy colors like hot pink and orange (Texas calls them Lone Star Pink and Lone Star Orange), as well as an Old West-themed plate and other Texassy designs.

Sure, $195 for a vanity plate is a lot, but the money's divided between the state and its two partners in this joint venture: Pinnacle Technical Resources of Dallas and Etech Inc. of Nacogdoches. Regardless of the three-way split, the state is reportedly guaranteed $25 million over five years. Hey, if it'll help keep a few extra public school teachers employed and essential services in tact, then its worth living down the fact that your state now offers a hot pink license plate.



[Source: USA Today via Star-Telegram]

Soon Buick will have an entire lineup of competitive vehicles with the Enclave, all-new LaCrosse and soon-to-arrive-from-Europe Regal. Since the latter model is basically a direct port of the Opel Insignia, its success may help General Motors decide whether or not to snag a fourth model from another overseas market. The likely candidate is this car, the next-gen Buick Excelle that is currently sold only in China.

Recently snapped by spy photographers while undergoing testing with very little camouflage, the next-gen Excelle will adopt GM's Delta II small car platform that also underpins the new Chevy Cruze and Opel Astra. It's more closely related to later, however, as previous generations have been not much more than rebadged Astras. Just because Buick could sell the Excelle in the U.S., however, doesn't mean it should. Would the market really accept a Buick this small, especially when the Cruze is on sale across the street? Time will tell but you can let GM know what you think now in the comments.



[Photos: KGP Photography]

Today the wraps were officially removed from the 2011 Cadillac CTS Coupe, the first two-door from Caddy since 2002. The coupe is the latest model to join the burgeoning CTS lineup, which also includes the sedan that started it all, the 556-hp CTS-V super sedan and the more recent CTS Sport Wagon. The coupe, however, is by far the most visually distinct CTS, sharing only its instrument panel, console, headlamps, front fenders and grille with the sedan. Though its wheelbase is the same as the four-door's, the coupe sits two inches lower and stretches two inches less from tip to tail. The best touches are the hidden B-pillar, flush door handles, center-mounted dual exhaust, and a windshield and back glass that are raked at impossibly steep angles.

While the exterior screams excitement, the coupe's mechanicals are what we've come to expect from the CTS, which ain't a bad thing. The standard engine at launch will be General Motors' direct inject 3.6-liter V6 producing 304 hp and 273 pound-feet of torque. Expect 17 mpg city/26 mpg highway when paired with GM's optional Hydra-Matic 6L50 six-speed automatic and 17/25 with the standard Aisin six-speed manual. Both rear- and all-wheel-drive are available, as are two handling packages: a Performance package with 18-inch wheels and a Summer Tire Performance package with 19-inch wheels, summer tires and larger brakes. Cadillac also confirmed that a V-Series variant will be sold sometime 2010.

The 2010 CTS Coupe is being referred to by GM as the focal point of Cadillac going forward, and it certainly anchors an incredibly strong and varied CTS lineup. There are plenty of competitors out there, however, just waiting for the CTS Coupe to throw its first punch, including the incredibly competent BMW 3-Series coupe and Audi A5. From this first look at things, they should brace themselves.



[Source: Cadillac]

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For the first time ever, Motor Trend announced the winner of its annual Car of the Year award this afternoon live via webcast. Though the field of 23 contenders was highly competitive this year (follow the jump for a complete list), we guessed immediately that the winner was a Ford as soon as the webcast came online. How'd we know? The fact they were broadcasting the announcement from Ford World Headquarters in Detroit was a not-so-subtle clue. The Fusion, Taurus and Mustang were all in the running, but it was Ford's redesigned mid-size sedan, the Fusion, that took home the coveted Golden Calipers.

In retrospect, the choice is a solid one and not all that surprising. The Fusion was extensively reworked for the 2010 model year and features a new exterior design, new models and new powertrains. Ford offers a four-cylinder model, two strong V6 options and a full-on parallel hybrid variant, which means buyers should have no trouble finding a Fusion that fits their needs. And indeed they have, as the Fusion has already broken its own yearly sales record – with two months left to go.

Like MT, we're big fans of the Fusion here at Autoblog, and even have high hopes that one day it could be the domestic car that knocks the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord from atop their perches as the best selling cars in the States. That said, this Ford still has a long way to go. Toyota has sold nearly twice as many Camry models as the Fusion so far this year, and the Accord and Nissan Altima are still flashing their taillights at Ford's CoTY winner. It's not just demand, as Ford doesn't even have the production capacity at the moment to match Camry sales, and it doesn't help that the Mercury Milan siphons off a few potential Fusion customers, as well.

Nevertheless, this is less about what the Fusion could be in the future than what it is today: the 2010 Motor Trend Car of the Year. Congrats to Ford and the Fusion team.





[Source: Motor Trend]

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