New Kids on the Block Become Important to Their Brands
July 21, 2009
By Michelle Krebs
Some of the newest vehicles introduced in the first half of 2009 are quickly becoming extremely important to their brands, according to an analysis by Edmunds.com
.
The crossover Audi Q5 has soared to become the No. 2 bestseller for the Audi brand behind the A4 upon which it is based. Though its sales numbers sound low at 5,670 sold in the first half, the Q5 now represents a whopping 17 percent of Audi's total sales.
Likewise, the quirky little Soul is fast becoming the soul of the Kia brand. Kia sold 11,174
Soul models during the half, and it now represents nearly 12 percent of of all Kia sales.
The similarly quirky, squarish Nissan Cube has not become as significant to Nissan as the Soul has to Kia. Nissan has sold 3,882 of the Cubes, which represents less than 4 percent of Nissan's total sales. However, Nissan is much larger than Kia in terms of sales volume with more breadth to its product portfolio.
The Chevrolet Camaro is sizzling hot in sales, having sold 9,300 in the month of June -- far beyond GM's expectations. For the half, GM sold 15,397 Camaro models. More important as an image car, the Camaro represents less than 7 percent of all Chevrolet sales.
New Kids on the Block
Make | Model | Percent of Make | Sales |
Chevrolet | Camaro | 6.9% | 15,397 |
Kia | Soul | 11.9% | 11,174 |
Audi | Q5 | 17.3% | 5,670 |
Nissan | Cube | 3.5% | 3,882 |
Source: Edmunds.com
Analysis by Edmunds.com analyst Ivan Drury.
Photos by Manufacturers
1 - Audi Q5
2 - Kia Soul
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 2:42 PM under Analysis , Companies | Comments (1) | digg this | Seed Newsvine
GM could have sold twice that number if it had built enough to start with.
Meanwhile, Buicks and Cadillacs are gathering dust.
Posted by: billddrummer | July 21, 2009 at 9:07 AM