Borgward will double production capacities in 2018
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Borgward will double production capacities in 2018
- Borgward, which was relaunched by China's BAIC last year, will double its production capacity in China from 201,000 vehicles a year in 2017 to 360,000 a year in 2018. Since last fall, in its Miyun plant (in the suburbs of Beijing), Borgward has been producing the BX7 (D Segment SUV), at 6,500 units a month (i.e. 80,000/year), and will launch the BX5 (segment C SUV). Several other models will subsequently be launched.
- In addition, Borgward confirms the construction of a factory in Germany in 2017, located in Bremen, the historic site of the Borgward brand, which manufactured more than one million cars between 1931 and 1961.
- The brand intends to return to Europe with 100% electric vehicles. The first model produced in Bremen will therefore be a 100% electric version of the BX7. The Borgward plant in Bremen will be the first automotive production site created in Germany since the opening of the BMW and Porsche factories in Leipzig some fifteen years ago. The new Borgward plant in Bremen will be calibrated for a production of 10 000 electric cars a year, i.e. a volume twice that of the recently closed plants of Great Wall in Bulgaria or MG in Great Britain.
- The challenge for Borgward is whether European customers will consider them as either a German brand or a Chinese brand, which will make for very different results.
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Baojun+Wuling produce more than Opel+Vauxhall since 2012
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Baojun+Wuling produce more than Opel+Vauxhall since 2012
- Since 2008, the US group GM owns 44% of Wuling, the Chinese manufacturer of minivans. The Baojun brand, created by Wuling and dedicated to sedans, SUVs and MPVs, dates from 2010. The Wuling and Baojun brands are integrated in the GM group since the early 2000s.
- In 2016, the Baojun and Wuling brands produced and sold 1,865,000 vehicles (including 1,070,000 Wuling and 795,000 Baojun), compared to 1,798,000 units in 2015 and 1,580,000 in 2014. Although Wuling sales have experienced some decline since 2015 (due to the absence of SUVs in its range), Baojun brand sales largely offset this decline.
- In 2016, Wuling and Baojun accounted for nearly one-fifth of the GM's global sales, and have been steadily increasing over the past ten years (5% of GM sales in 2006, 14% in 2010 and 19% in 2016). At the same time, the European Opel-Vauxhall business has continued to decline (18% of GM sales in 2006, 15% in 2010 and 12% in 2016). In addition, the growth potential of vehicle sales in China is much higher than that of vehicle sales in Europe, which means that Wuling and Baojun's share of overall GM sales will continue to increase in future years. It could soon reach one in four.
- The two market evolutions explain among other factors why GM decided to focus on these Chinese brands and to cede the Opel and Vauxhall European brands to PSA.
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Lexus will launch a C segment SUV in 2018
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Lexus will launch a C segment SUV in 2018
- The Toyota CHR, C segment SUV with hybrid engine (engine identical to that of the Prius IV), was launched in September 2016 in Europe. This new model, manufactured in Turkey, allowed the Japanese manufacturer to extend its European SUV range downwards, while the latter was composed of RAV4 (segment D) and Land Cruiser (segment E).
- The CHR sales are booming in Europe (already 30,000 sales in Europe in the first three months of 2017, at an annual rate of 120,000 units). Continuing its policy of extending its line-up, Toyota will launch a C segment SUV for its Premium brand Lexus.
- The European range of Lexus SUVs currently consists of the NX (D segment) and the RX (E segment) models. The future model, to be launched in 2018 and whose commercial name will be UX, will include the Toyota CHR platform and its hybrid engine. Most of the Lexus models sold in Europe are hybrid versions.
- The new UX model will take over the Lexus CT sedan at the end of its career (launch in 2010), which has not been very successful in Europe (7,500 sales in 2016 compared to 9,500 in 2015). The UX model will compete directly with the C segment Premium SUVs, such as the Infiniti QX30, Mercedes GLA, Q3 / Q4, BMW X1 / X2 and Volvo XC40.
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Renault aims to produce 400 000 cars in Iran in 2020
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Renault aims to produce 400 000 cars in Iran in 2020
- The Renault group has had less presence on the Iranian market than the PSA group. It is mainly as of 2007, with the arrival of the Logan (Tondar) on the Iranian assembly lines, that the Renault group really increased its presence in the country. From 15,000 units produced in 2007, production gradually reached 95,000 units in 2012, a figure that was lower than that of the PSA group at the same time.
- However, Tondar production continued at a slower pace in the years 2013-2015 (40,000 units per year) whereas PSA was forced to cease production during this period.
- In early 2016, to expand its range, Renault started production of the Sandero in Iran. Renault's production in the country then surpassed 100,000 units/year for the first time, to reach a volume of 108,000 cars. PSA, which had restarted production in Iran in 2016, reached a volume of 233,000 units produced in the country, double the volume of Renault.
- Renault is counting on the arrival of the Duster and Kwid on the Iranian assembly lines to exceed 200,000 units in 2018 and 400,000 per year in 2020, thus approaching the PSA group (20% market share against 26% for the PSA group at that time). Inovev predicts 330,000 units produced in 2020 (see graph).
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Iran is once again a crucial market for PSA
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Iran is once again a crucial market for PSA
- The PSA group has re-started its official production in Iran in 2016 (after a forced break in 2012): 233,000 cars (Peugeot 206 and 405 destined for the local market) were built last year in Tehran, in the Iran Khodro factory, the leading Iranian manufacturer.
- The Peugeot 206 and 405 currently being manufactured will be gradually replaced on the assembly lines of Iran Khodro by the more recent Peugeot 208 and 301, and soon after the 2008 SUV.
- The increase in production volume will thus be faster than PSA had planned, as it is expected that 340,000 units will be produced in 2017, 350,000 in 2018, 360,000 in 2019 and 370,000 in 2020. Figures do not include the local production of Citroën which should total 50,000 units in 2018, 100,000 in 2019 and 150,000 in 2020.
- Overall, according to Inovev, the PSA group is expected to manufacture 340,000 cars in Iran by 2017, 400,000 by 2018, 460,000 by 2019 and 520,000 by 2020, which is more than 10 percent of the group's global output.
- These forecasts may nevertheless become less ambitious in the event that the Iranian market is held back by a possible renewal of tension between the US and Iran.
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