Mercedes built its second US assembly plant

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Mercedes built its second US assembly plant

 

- Mercedes operates since 1997 an assembly plant in North America. This plant, located in Tuscalooosa (Alabama), has a capacity of 300,000 vehicles per year and manufactures:
- for the whole world: the SUVs GLE (ex-ML) and GLS (ex GL).
- For the North American markets:  the sedan C-Class  since 2014, the Sprinter and the Vito (called Metris USA.

- Due to the saturation of the Tuscaloosa plant (Inovev estimates the output of the plant to reach 350 000 vehicles in 2016), Mercedes has decided to shortly transfer the 40,000 Sprinter and Vito made each year in the new plant that is currently under construction in Charleston (South Carolina). This new plant will produce up to 40,000 trucks a year, but its capacity can be doubled if demand requires it or the carmaker would decide to add a mid-range pick-up.

- North American pickups and vans markets are indeed growing. Regarding trucks, the range offered in North America by manufacturers is increasingly composed of European models. Nissan produces in USA the NV200 since 2011, Ford the Transit since 2014, FCA the Fiat Ducato since 2014,  Mercedes the Sprinter since 2010 and the Vito since 2016.

16-19-10   

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Breakdown of car production by USA State

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Breakdown of car production by USA State

 

- Into 12 million vehicles (PC + LUV) produced in the US in 2015, nearly 8 million were light trucks (American segmentation: SUVs, minivans, pickups, vans) and slightly more than 4 million were passenger cars (American segmentation: sedans, station wagons, coupes, convertibles). The production of light trucks exceeded that of passenger cars in the early 2000s and the gap between the two volumes has grown steadily since.

- The production of GM, Ford and Chrysler represents only 52.5% of US production in 2015, whereas it represented nearly 100% even in the 80s.

- Formerly concentrated in Michigan (around Detroit), US production has gradually migrated to a dozen other states, especially since the arrival of Japanese manufacturers (in the 80s) and German manufacturer (in the 90s). This change was accompanied by a wave of plant closures at GM, Ford and Chrysler in Michigan.

- Result: Michigan now accounts for a quarter of US production (2.9 million units) against almost 100% into the 80's. It lost almost two thirds of its production volume compared to 1970.

- Ohio became the second producer of state vehicles and now produces almost as much as Michigan (2.7 million units), thanks to Honda and Nissan. Michigan and Ohio account for 45.5% of US production.

16-20-1   

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The worldwide market for electric vehicles (BEV and PHEV) in 2016

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The worldwide market for electric vehicles (BEV and PHEV) in 2016

 

- In 2015, 548,000 pure electric vehicles (BEV) and plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEV) were sold worldwide (including 207,000 in China, 189,000 in Europe and 115,000 in the US), against 300,000 in 2014 (+82%)


- In the first half 2016:

- 307,000 vehicles were sold, only an increase of 12% over the first half of 2015. Two thirds of these vehicles are BEVs and one third PHEVs.

- BYD dominated this market (43,244 vehicles sold), before Tesla (29 403), Nissan (28,884), BMW (21,147), Mitsubishi (17,705), Volkswagen (17,030), Renault ( 15,481) and BAIC (14,584). These eight brands represent by themselves 56% of sales of BEVs and PHEVs worldwide.

- The ten best-selling models are: Nissan Leaf (27,151 units), Tesla Model S (22,378), BYD Tang (19 134), Mitsubishi Outlander (15,308), Renault Zoe (11,982) Chevrolet Volt (11,124 ), BAIC E-Series (9,977), BYD Qin (9,633), BMW i3 (9,303) and BYD e6 (9226). These ten models account for 47% of sales of BEVs and PHEVs worldwide.


- As for the year 2016, Inovev forecasts a market of 615,000 units, representing an increase of 12% compared to 2015.


16-19-9   

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Could in future FCA give up the brand Chrysler?

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Could in future FCA give up the brand Chrysler?

 

- Chrysler brand has met serious difficulties on the US market for several years. It has also disappeared in other regions in favour of Lancia, which itself is endangered. Its global sales decreased from 800 000 units in 2005 down to 400,000 in 2014 and 300,000 in 2016.

- Inovev does not foresee any improvement in 2017. On last March, production of MPV town &Country was stopped. And then FCA announced it will not manufacture any more its 200 sedan in December (100 000 vehicles have been sold in 2016), without planning any successor. Only two models  in the Chrysler range will survive in 2017: the 300 sedan, which dates back to 2011 and whose future is uncertain, and the Pacifica minivan launched in March. But this model Pacifica could also be proposed under the Dodge brand, which would significantly hinder the career of Chrysler.

- FCA has developed the brand Jeep, taking advantage of the overall SUV market growth. However it failed to position the brand versus other brands of Chrysler Group. Same positioning problems were also encountered for other brands of the group, such as Lancia.

- And, conversely to GM, FCA has not managed to benefit from the Chinese market growth.

- The aim of FCA is now  to increase sales of Dodge and Ram (former pick-up branch of Dodge) without building new plants, which directly threatens the existence of the Chrysler brand.

-  Alfa-Romeo seems the FCA group brand which is in the better position to take up the market which would be left by Chrysler.

16-19-8   

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Buick China is from now on exporting vehicles to the United States

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Buick China is from now on exporting vehicles to the United States

 

- The Buick brand (branch of GM group) produced last year nearly 1.2 million cars worldwide, doubling the volume recorded in 2005.
Buick manufactures currently vehicles in the United States, Canada , Korea, Poland, and especially in China, which now represents its main market: 1 million sales of 1.2 million global sales in 2015 (which rose by 7.5% compared to 2014).


- Its current range includes nine different models (including seven made in China):

- Manufactured in China: Excelle, Verano, Encore, Envision, Regal, La Crosse, GL8.

- Manufactured in NAFTA region: Verano, Regal, La Crosse, Enclave.

- Manufactured in Europe: Cascada.

- Manufactured in Korea: Encore.


-It is to note that the Verano, Regal and La Crosse are manufactured both in China and NAFTA region. In 2016, Buick launched the Envision SUV in the US, a year after its introduction on the Chinese market. This model (4,67m long) is positioned within the range between the Buick Encore SUV (4,28m long) and the Enclave SUV (5,13m long). It is only made in China, on the assembly lines of GM-SAIC at Yantai (East coast of China) and is exported to the United States.


- Inovev forecasts 50,000 annual sales of this model in the United States (163,000  were sold in China last year). This is the first time that a model manufactured in China will be so much exported to the United States.


16-19-7   

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  1. European production of LUVs gets back to its pre-crisis levels
  2. The Chinese market for electric vehicles (BEV and PHEV) in 2016
  3. Own make of Dongfeng (excluding JVs) sold 600,000 PC + LCV in 2015
  4. Renault would think of transferring the Clio produced in France to Slovenia
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