China’s vehicle demand is shifting from the East towards the West

China’s PC market, which is divided into 4 regions namely East, Central, Northeast and West, has been led up until now by East provinces. In this region, PC sales rose from 2.94 million units in 2008 to 7.68 million units in 2013. In Central and West China, where personal income has been on the rise thanks to economic growth, PC sales reached 6.25 million units in these two regions.


Whereas the strong growth of 49% in 2009 experienced in the East went down to 13.4% by 2013, which indicates a shift in market demand from East China to West China (20% growth in 2013). This phenomena was boosted by the vehicle purchase regulations established by Eastern Chinese cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Tianjin in response to worsening air pollution.


In West China, SUVs reached a high with 29.7% market share in the first quarter of 2014. A market share way higher than in other regions due to its landscape which is very well suited to SUVs.


More an more manufactures are establishing their plants in Central and West China, such as VW, Hyundai and PSA alongside increasing sales network in this region.

 

14-21-11  


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Honda’s production in China reached 790 000 units in 2013

Honda Motor company’s 2013 vehicle production volume went up 26.6 percent year-on-year to 788 689 units in China. Although Sino-Japanese relations negatively affected production volumes in the first half of 2013, brisk demand coupled with the launch of fully-revamped China-exclusive models resulted in a record high production.

In order to anticipate the market expansion in China, Honda Motor aims to actively increase its production as of 2014. Current capacity is set at 870 000 units and should increase to 1.01 million units by 2015. In the first half of 2015, Guangzhou Honda is going to launch a new production line at the Zengcheng plant to increase its capacity to 120 000 units.

Looking at Honda Motor’s production in China by joint venture, Dongfeng Honda went up 14.2% to 325 842 units. Thanks to the growing demand in SUV vehicles the production of the CR-V went up 12.9% to 191 735 units. On the other hand the Spirior (segment D sedan) that has reached the end of its model cycle, dropped 38.5% to 7 561 units. The production of the Civic also declined in 2013.

Following China’s strengthened fuel consumption and emission regulations, Honda Motor is responding to rising demand to eco-friendly vehicles in the medium to long term. In 2016 the carmaker plans to start a local production of HEVs (Hybrid Electric Vehicles). Up until now all Honda Motor HEVs were imported directly from Japan, this local production will also enable the company to reduce vehicle sale price.

 

14-21-10  


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European electric vehicle sales (PC+LCV) in 2014

Sales of electric cars are rising in Europe (+33%) in the first semester of 2014 compared to the first semester of 2013. The sales of electric cars in Europe have reached a volume of 11 399 units in the first quarter of 2014, against 8 570 in the first quarter of 2013. We can therefore expect an annual volume of 34 000 units (Inovev forecasted 30 000 units at the beginning of the year).


France is the only country in the region to decline over this period. E.V (electric vehicles) registrations decreased from 4 968 units to 3 514 over the period (-29%), France thus lost its leading position in this segment in favour of Norway (6 796 sales against 1 645 units the previous period + 313%). Although it is still too early to forecast a trend, particularly because the decrease can be the cause of the differential treatment given to long term rental or leasing with a purchase option.


In Germany, they increased from 1 488 to 2 456 units (+65%), driven by the Mitsubishi Outlander and the launch of the BMW i3. English registrations increased from 510 to 2 592 units (+212%) and could continue to grow with the two year extension of the subsidy and its increase which should boost the purchase of electric vehicles. Other European countries did not exceed a thousand sales in the first quarter 2014, but nevertheless showed growth.

 

14-21-9  


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2013 ranking of models manufactured in the greatest number of plants

In order to market their vehicles worldwide, carmakers have the choice to either manufacture models in dedicated plants and export them, or they can manufacture them directly in the regions where they are sold (CBU or CKD). Which are the models whose production is the most scattered over the world?

By analysing the 15 vehicles that are produced in the greatest number of plant across the world, we can already note two trends: the strong presence of Japanese manufacturers and the lack of German manufacturers. Japanese manufacturers have a strong market share in Asia and America but also the Middle East, which leads them to establish their production sites locally. German manufacturers prefer to export their vehicles from Germany even for Chinese and American markets.

By model, the Toyota Corolla is the world's premier vehicle with a production spread over 8 plants in Japan, China, India, Turkey, the US, Canada and Brazil. The Honda CRV is also a world wide produced vehicle, since it is manufactured in 7 factories in Japan, China, India, the US, India and Mexico. It must be noted that Renault's entry-level model, the Logan, is the most global vehicle of the Renault-Nissan group, with production focused in developing countries (Brazil, Russia, India, Iran, Romania and Morocco).

Beyond the number of plants used to produce a vehicle, it is interesting to relate to production volumes. The ratio between the production volume / number of plants, shows that the Ford Focus is the model which has the highest volume (an average of 200 000).  Naturally these volumes are more driven by production in China, Germany and the US, than production in Russia and Argentina.

 

14-21-8  


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Mitsubishi is going to supply cars for Dodge in Mexico

Segments A and B are among the most significant segments in Mexico since they represent an annual volume of almost 300 000 sales, namely 27,5% of the global market.

For 14 years, Dodge (FCA group) locally sold a rebadged Hyundai, the Dodge Attitude (Hyundai Accent) and a Hyundai i10 (not renamed) both from segment A and B.

The FCA group decided to end its partnership with Hyundai in favour of Mitsubishi that will provide the model currently manufactured in Thailand and sold in South East Asia, the Attrage. This model will be rebadged under the Dodge name for the Mexican market and will be imported from Thailand.

Dodge sold 14 250 Hyundai i10 in Mexico in 2013, while the Dodge Attitude is no longer sold since the end of 2012 (7 703 units sold in 2012).

With this new partnership, we can estimate that the objective of Dodge is selling at least 15 000 Attrage in order to compensate for the loss of the i10. The Thai plant that will produce the Mitsubishi Attrage had a capacity of 200 000 units in 2013. Up until now it produced 155 000 Space Star (segment A) and thus could produce 15 000 Attrage for Mexico and at least 30 000 units for the South Asian market.

 

14-21-6  


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