The Fiat Punto will not be replaced
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The Fiat Punto will not be replaced
- After much procrastination and many project definitions that could have led to the replacement of the Fiat Punto by a new model produced in the Fiat plant in Tichy (Poland) for labor cost reasons, the management of the FCA group has announced that they have decided not to replace this B segment sedan that was once one of the best-selling models in Europe. From 450,000 sales recorded in Europe in 2006, the Fiat Punto dropped to 300,000 sales in 2009, then 150,000 sales in 2012 and only 50,000 sales in 2017.
- The management of the FCA Group believes that competition is too fierce in Europe in the B segment, a segment that, according to them, generates little margin. In addition, they believe that SUVs, where sales are growing, will make up more than 40% of the car market in Europe within five years, compared to 30% today. They conclude that under these circumstances, a B segment sedan project would be useless, or even counterproductive.
- As a result, the existing Fiat 500L and 500X will continue to play their role in B segment, but no Punto-style sedan will be added. The Fiat Punto should therefore end its career in 2018 or 2019, with no follow -on vehicles. As for the Fiat 500L and 500X which together totaled 200,000 sales in 2017, they will be restyled and replaced, in the same way as the Fiat 500 (A segment) which remains with the Panda (A segment) the most produced Fiat model in Europe.
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Geely acquires 9.7% of Daimler Group
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Geely acquires 9.7% of Daimler Group
- Chinese automaker Geely, owner of Volvo Cars, but also of London Taxi Cars (LTC) and Lotus, which recently took a stake in Proton (49.9%) and Volvo Trucks (8.2%), has just acquired a 9.7% stake in the German Daimler Group. Geely, the first independent Chinese automaker, becomes the largest shareholder of Daimler (Mercedes, Smart, AMG), before a Kuwaiti public fund (6.8%) and the Renault-Nissan group (3.1%).
- Geely has not revealed their intentions regarding this new acquisition, but Inovev believes that the Chinese could be interested in the technologies of the parent company of Mercedes, especially concerning electric motorization (for cars, vans and trucks) and autonomous cars (satellite connectivity with internet). This transfer of technology could be of interest to Geely's subsidiaries, such as Volvo Cars, LTC, or Lotus.
- At the same time, with this new participation, Geely has gained presence at the world’s leading truck manufacturer (Daimler) while being already a shareholder of the world’s second truck manufacturer (Volvo Trucks). Perhaps there could be a desire to eventually merge the two major global truck manufacturers?
- Geely's participation in Daimler, however, raises two questions: what will be the future of the partnership between Daimler and BAIC in China and the future of the partnership between Daimler and Renault-Nissan in Europe?
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The 2018 Geneva Motor Show focuses on electric motorization
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The 2018 Geneva Motor Show focuses on electric motorization
- While the 2017 Frankfurt Motor Show focused mainly on SUVs (article published on September 26, 2017), the 2018 Geneva Motor Show focused on electric cars, for both series cars and concept vehicles.
- Of the 20 main innovations of the Geneva Motor Show recorded by Inovev, 6 were electric cars or concepts and 3 others will be available in electric version in addition to their thermal version. In addition, 6 more will be available in hybrid version. In total, 15 cars out of the 20 main novelties presented at the 2018 Geneva Motor Show will be available either in electric version or in hybrid version.
- In terms of bodywork, only 7 novelties among the top 20 were SUVs, while 11 new products were sedans, a situation that had not occurred on such a scale for several years now. Manufacturers have made the effort to present new sedans this year, while this type of vehicle, sailing against the tide, continues to lose market share across the world.
- In terms of nationality, nine of the 20 main novelties are from German manufacturers (with a big effort from Volkswagen on the electrical concepts, and from Daimler on the series cars), four are Korean, two are French, two are Japanese and two are Swedish.
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The Buick brand will disappear in North America
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The Buick brand will disappear in North America
- The Buick brand will disappear from the North American markets, where it had flourished for over fifty years. The General Motors Group has announced that they will no longer sell Buicks in North America as of the 2019 model year, which means the brand is soon history on this continent. Buick is expected to survive in China, where 1.2 million Buick were sold in 2017.
- The Buick brand was born in 1903, was integrated into the GM group in 1908, where it was positioned between Oldsmobile and Cadillac in terms of price. It reached its peak in the 1980s, with a production record in 1985 (1 million units), before collapsing just after that date. This period corresponds exactly to the beginning of the implantation of the Japanese manufacturers in North America (Honda in 1983, Nissan in 1985, Toyota in 1986, Mazda in 1988, Mitsubishi in 1989, Subaru in 1990). American OEMs lost a lot of sales to these companies.
- The GM group has already had to abandon the Oldsmobile, Pontiac, Saturn brands between 2000 and 2010. It had retained the Chevrolet, Buick, Cadillac and GMC brands, but it was clear that the Buick brand was the most fragile on the US market. Today, GM has resolved to remove this brand in North America, which since the sale of Opel was seriously threatened, as most Buicks sold in North America were derived from Opel models.
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Tesla Model S beats its German rivals on the European market in 2017
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Tesla Model S beats its German rivals on the European market in 2017
- For the first time, the Tesla Model S is ahead of its German F-segment rivals on the European market in 2017. It sold 16,132 units (+ 30%), against 13,359 Mercedes S-Class (+3 %), 11,735 BMW 7 Series (-13%) and 5,557 Audi A8 (+ 13%). The Tesla Model S had already dethroned these German F-segment models in the US market (since 2015), but until now, never in Europe.
- It can be seen from the two graphs below that the Tesla Model S has become the best-selling F segment sedan on both the European and American markets in a very short time - only five years - while its three German competitors have much longer commercial careers, the first Mercedes S-Class having been launched in 1965, the first BMW 7 Series in 1977 and the first Audi A8 in 1994.
- Of the 4 best selling F-segment sedans in the world, the Tesla Model S is the only one with a 100% electric motor. German manufacturers have every reason to reflect upon the success of the Tesla Model S sedan on the high-end market and on the possibility of designing and marketing a new F-segment electric sedan, that could compete with the Model S, themselves . The customer is undoubtedly ready for this type of vehicle but the question is whether the German manufacturers are ready ...
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Read more... Tesla Model S beats its German rivals on the European market in 2017
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