Why Dacia met a great success since 2005
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Why Dacia met a great success since 2005
- The Romanian brand Dacia, whose origins date back to the 1960s, was bought by Renault in 1998 to make it a low price brand, capable of being marketed in Romania and throughout Europe. The objective was to market a modern vehicle at 5,000 euros while remaining profitable for the company, a proposition that was non-existent on the market at the time. The French carmaker took five years to develop the first new generation Dacia, the Logan, a C-segment three-box sedan, which was launched in Romania in 2004. The following year, the Logan was marketed throughout Europe as well as in Turkey, North Africa, Russia, Ukraine and South America. The proposed price is ultimately 6,280 euros in Romania and 7,600 euros in France.
- In 2007, the Sandero, a hatchback version of the Logan, was launched, then the Duster SUV in 2010. The three models enjoyed great success in Europe, their low price protecting them from any competition. Dacia went from 170,000 vehicles produced in 2005 to 350,000 in 2011. The Dokker vans and Lodgy minivans launched in 2012 were less successful, but the Sandero and Duster continued their careers brilliantly. Dacia thus produced 480,000 vehicles in 2013, 640,000 in 2016 and 750,000 in 2019.
- Dacia nevertheless suffered from the Covid crisis in 2020 with 540,000 vehicles produced but growth resumes in 2021. In 2023, Dacia produces 690,000 vehicles and places its Sandero in second place in the European market.
- It is surprising that no carmaker wanted to directly attack the Dacia brand given the success of this brand, even if the figures show that Dacia's sales have seized those of Renault, the total of both remaining positive.
Ford Europe completes its range of electrified utility vehicles
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Ford Europe completes its range of electrified utility vehicles
- Ford Europe is simplifying its range of passenger cars (definitive or planned discontinuation of Fiesta, Focus, Mondeo, Galaxy, S-Max) but continues to develop its range of light utility vehicles (Transit Courier, Transit Connect, Transit Custom, Transit).
- After recently launching the battery electrics E-Transit, E-Transit Custom and E-Transit Courier, the American carmaker is launching the electrified version of its Transit Connect which is curiously not battery electric like the brand's three other LUVs but a plug-in hybrid (perhaps due to the commonolisation of its components with the Volkswagen group which produces the Transit Connect on its Polish site in Poznan).
- The Ford Transit Connect adopts a plug-in hybrid engine (PHEV) based on a 1.5 liter three-cylinder EcoBoost petrol engine delivering 150 hp of Volkswagen origin coupled to an electric motor allowing it to travel 110 km in purely electric use. This new version of the Transit Connect (also available in a passenger transport version called Tourneo) suggests that Volkswagen will soon adopt this engine on its own Caddy light utility vehicle, twin brother of the Transit Connect, produced on the same Polish site in Poznan.
- The launches of electrified Ford Europe LUVs are too recent to have sales figures over a long period. We can, however, specify that 2,000 battery electric LUVs were sold in Europe in 2022 and 6,000 in 2023. On the other hand, 500 PHEVs were sold in Europe in 2022 and as many in 2023. We see that sales volumes still remain very low.
The BEV 2024-2026 product plan from Volkswagen, Renault and Stellantis
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The BEV 2024-2026 product plan from Volkswagen, Renault and Stellantis
Here is the 2024-2026 product plan (vehicles not yet launched and will be between 2024 and 2026) for “battery electric vehicles” marketed in Europe for the three major European carmakers according to Inovev. Launches will need to be confirmed over the coming months.
1. Volkswagen:
- 2024: Audi Q6 E-Tron, Porsche Macan EV
- 2025: Audi A6 E-Tron, Porsche Boxster/Cayman EV, VW ID2, Skoda ID2, Audi A2 E-Tron, Cupra Ateca, Cupra Raval
- 2026: Audi A3 E-Tron, Porsche Cayenne EV
2. Stellantis:
- 2024: Citroën e-C3, Peugeot e-3008, Peugeot e-5008, Opel e-Grandland, Opel e-Manta, Fiat Panda-e, Alfa Milano-, Lancia Ypsilon-e
- 2025: Citroën e-C3 X, Opel e-Frontera, DS 3 E-Tense, Lancia Delta e, DS7 E-Tense
- 2026: Citroën C5 Aircross E-Tense, Opel e-Corsa, Peugeot e-208, Peugeot e-2008, DS8 E-Tense
3. Renault:
- 2024: Renault 5 E-Tech, Renault 4 E-Tech, Renault Scénic E-Tech, Alpine A290
- 2025: Alpine A410
- 2026: Alpine A110, Renault Twingo E-Tech
Do vehicles marketed by smartphone companies have a future?
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Do vehicles marketed by smartphone companies have a future?
- Chinese smartphone makers, such as Huawei and Xiaomi, have started investing in the automotive sector. Their expertise in high-technologies and experience manufacturing consumer products could potentially give them a competitive advantage in the automotive sector. However, it is important to note that the automotive industry is very complex and competitive, with many established players and strict regulations to follow. Traditional carmakers have a long history, technical expertise and well-established manufacturing infrastructure, giving them a significant competitive advantage. Also the trend is for smartphone producers to create a strong partnership with an existing automobile carmaker rather than creating a new vehicle on their own. The smartphone company Huawei thus made a partnership in 2021 with the carmaker Seres. Together they developed the range of AITO models (see below). In February 2023, Huawei and Seres further strengthened their alliance by signing a new contract to develop a new flagship BEV vehicle. The objective is to produce one million vehicles by 2026.
- For its part, the smartphone company Xiaomi, after exploring the route of building a vehicle on its own (SU7 – see photo below), sought to establish an association with an automobile carmaker. Production of the Xiaomi SU7 will initially be carried out at BAIC.
- For the moment, we can only observe the evolution of sales of AITO, the only brand linked to a Chinese smartphone carmaker (Huawei) currently in activity, before the arrival of Xiaomi. Produced by the Seres group (formerly Sokon), AITOs increased from 78,000 sales in China in 2022 to 104,000 in 2023 and potentially more than 300,000 in 2024 (59,000 sales over 2 months 2024). But at the same time, sales of Seres brand models fell from 109,000 in 2022 to 68,000 in 2023 and potentially less than 100,000 in 2024 (15,000 sales over 2 months 2024). It thus seems that the AITO brand has replaced the Seres brand and that it is starting to take market share to the competition from 2024. The sales potential in 2024 for the AITO and Seres brands reaches 400,000 sales, or 2.3 times the cumulative volume of 2023 and 2.1 times the cumulative volume of 2022. In 2021, the AITO brand did not yet exist and neither did the Seres brand.
American startups have difficulties to achieve their goals
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American startups have difficulties to achieve their goals
The American star-ups American producing battery electric cars are all experiencing significant financial difficulties today due to sales that are far too low compared to their expectations.
1. Fisker: the Californian carmaker which would like to be Tesla's rival would have delivered only 5,000 battery electric cars for a production of 10,000 units. Fisker, which is facing difficulties to find new investors, plans to lay off 15% of its workforce. The company's salvation could come through a partnership with a large carmaker. But so far, none have come forward. Fisker hopes to be able to sell 20,000 battery electric cars worldwide in 2024.
2. Lucid: the American carmaker which markets the Air sedan is also experiencing financial difficulties, having overestimated its sales potential in a Amercian BEV market which is less dynamic than expected and which is plagued by a price war initiated in particular by Tesla and Chinese carmakers. Lucid sold 6,000 battery electric cars in 2023 while the carmaker initially expected 20,000 units. Lucid has decided to lay off 18% of its workforce (i.e. 1,300 people). The carmaker hopes to be able to sell 10,000 battery electric cars worldwide in 2024.
3. Rivian: Like Fisker and Lucid, the carmaker Rivian is experiencing significant financial difficulties. Despite the sale of 50,000 battery electric cars in 2023, Rivian has incurred a lot of debt due to an overestimated market and is revising its forecasts downward for 2024, i.e. 50,000 global sales expected, compared to 100,000 initially forecasted.
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