2009 Was The Year Of The Underdog, But Will These Players Continue To Out Pace The Competiton in 2010?

As 2009 wraps up we can all look back and breathe a collective sigh of relief that the worst may be behind us.  This tumultuous year brought us the failure and resurrection of two giants, and the untimely and painful death of several other marques. 

But with every battle there is always a victor, and those considered to be minor players in a good market, can yield surprising resilience in a tough one.

Such is the case with these three players that in spite of it all, have succeeded far better than their competition. 

First off was Hyundai who in spite of all of the carnage around them forged ahead and posted a respectable sales increase in a horribly down economy.  Hyundai seems to be on the verge of defining a new segment between mainline and upscale further blurring the lines between the near luxury and luxury segments.

The second choice for 2009 is Subaru posting impressive gains in both sales and market share in 2009 while staying true to their roots and letting value do the talking.

Third in this case is Audi, the luxury car segment's misfit. They took on 2009 aggressively with a huge increase in advertising and a flurry of models that finally made the consumer sit up an take notice.  The end result here was a significant increase in market share from a relatively minor player.

Arguably these 3 underdogs are now poised to make historic gains in 2010, but who will come in to their own, and who will fail to grasp the brass ring and succeed?

Will Hyundai chisel away at the market in 2010 and create a niche in between mainline brands such as Toyota and luxury brands like Mercedes?

Will Subaru continue to show increases in the niche market they have created, where value and engineering take precedence?

Will Audi finally establish itself as a serious presence in U.S. market as they position themselves for leadership of the global luxury market?

OR

Is there another underdog we may have missed that may blow everyone else out of the water in 2010?



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