Manufacturers page updated to 2005
After a lot of research, I have finally updated the Manufacturers page to 2005 production / sales figures. When you read the figures, please don’t forget I spent a lot of time to search for the data, including searching in manufacturer’s press release and reading dozens of annual reports.
During the research I found most Western car makers are willing to disclose details of their sales and production data, especially Germany car makers, which reveal production figures for each models. Japanese car makers are not so transparent. Hyundai group even revealed contradictive data. However, worst of all is Proton, which is so far yet to provide sales or production data for 2005. Its annual report is also the only one in the car industry without giving the very important unit sales or production figures. Instead, it spent dozens of pages to introduce its board members and top managers (like advertisement). From these tiny things you can see a corporate culture and forecast its future.
Old reports recovered
Good news ! as you know, I lost most of the old reports because I didn’t save them until last year. Now thanks to the advice by a reader, I can recover most of the reports from Internet Archive server http://web.archive.org. There are reports for 132 model families already recovered (although most photos are not recoverable). I will put them in The Graveyard after edited.
The following reports are unrecoverable:
BMW 8-series
Chrysler JA series – only brief report found
Chrysler Sebring old
Chrysler Voyager
Fiat Punto I
Fiat Coupe
GM Chevrolet Lumina
Honda EV-Plus
Honda Civic (pre-2001)
Honda Acura CL (pre-2000) – only brief report found
Lancia Dedra
Mazda 929 – only brief report found
Mercedes C-class / C43 AMG old
Mercedes E-class old
Mitsubishi Lancer (pre-2001)
Nissan 200SX / 240SX
Opel Sintra
Subaru Vivio
Toyota Tercel
Toyota Lexus LS400
Toyota Previa
Toyota Soarer / Lexus SC
Venturi Atlantic 300
Fortunately these early reports were not very well written. Apart from 8-series, Fiat Coupe and Venturi Atlantic 300, I don’t feel much regret of losing them.