Honda and Mitsubishi not in Top 10 of Bestselling cars in 2012

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http://motoring.asiaone.com/Motoring/News/Story/A1Story20130107-393774.html

According to the Land Transport Authority, the top five most popular makes in the first 11 months of last year were no surprises.

The top five were:
1. BMW
2. Mercedes-Benz
3. Toyota (including Lexus)
4. Volkswagen and
5. Audi

Together, the five accounted for 67.3 per cent of the year's total new car sales.

Only for the rich

One out of three new cars sold last year was either a Beemer or a Merc.

It is a trend that emerged about four years ago, when rising COE premiums (on the back of shrinking quotas) drove buyers and sellers of bread-and-butter cars to the sidelines.

They were simply unable to compete with the luxury and premium brands for COEs.

So, the top five were not a big surprise.

What is more interesting is in the sixth to 10th positions.

They are, in descending order:
6. Hyundai
7. Volvo
8. Nissan (including Infiniti)
9. Kia and
10. Peugeot

It would be the first time that Peugeot is in the top 10 ranking.

And it would also be the first time that Honda is absent. The Japanese brand had always been among the top 10 bestsellers in recent decades.