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2011 disasters knock Toyota into 3rd place

(NEWSER) - General Motors is back on top of the world less than three years after its bankruptcy and restructuring. The company is once again the world's top-selling automaker, with 9 million sales worldwide in 2011, almost a million more than second-placed Volkswagen. Toyota, which took top spot from GM in 2008, fell into third place after production cuts caused by the earthquake and tsunami in Japan and flooding in Thailand. More»

Honda's Acura makes the list twice

(NEWSER) - Autoblog runs down the list of the 10 worst-selling cars of 2011, including:

1. Honda's Acura RL ($47,700): 1,096 sold
2. Hyundai Azera ($25,495): 1,524 sold
3. Mitsubishi Lancer Sportback ($18,395): 1,548 sold
4. Acura ZDX ($46,020): 1,564 sold
5. Toyota Land Cruiser ($68,920): 1,662 sold

BMW edges out Mercedes-Benz for crown

(NEWSER) - The Beamers win: BMW has earned the honor of being the top-selling luxury brand of car in the US for 2011, reports the Wall Street Journal . It takes the title from Toyota's Lexus, which had dominated for a decade but never quite recovered from the March earthquake and tsunami in Japan. This year it came down to BMW and Mercedes-Benz, and the crown was so coveted that neither side wanted to report first, notes Bloomberg . Finally, Mercedes announced sales this morning of 245,192. BMW followed a few hours later and beat the total by about 2,700 vehicles. More»

Chrysler, VW saw huge gains

(NEWSER) - Americans may be worried about the economy, but they still need to get where they’re going. Auto sales beat expectations last month, rising 14% to 994,721, their fastest sales pace since August 2009, reports the AP . Chrysler led the pack: The automaker’s sales jumped 45%, Reuters reports. Close behind was Volkswagen, whose sales soared 41%; Hyundai, Nissan, and Ford also saw double-digit gains. More»

Retro car's sales had slowed to just 5,500 this year

(NEWSER) - The PT Cruiser was the unexpected smash hit of 2000, evoking images of Al Capone and tommy guns with its sleek retro lines, and catapulting its way to be Chrysler's sales juggernaut, with some buyers paying thousands more than the sticker price to get their hands on one. But a decade later, the quirky idea hasn't been refreshed or expanded upon, and sales have slowed to the point that the last PT will roll off the assembly line on Friday, reports the LA Times . More»