Opel expects a slight increase in its share of the European LCV market
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- Opel expects the European LCV market to grow by 60% by 2022 but for now, Opel only hopes for a slight increase of its market share ranging between 5% and 6%. For Opel, this represents a sales target of 150 000 units in 2022, against 80 000 units sold in 2013 (i.e. an 8% increase per year for the next nine years).
- In the first quarter of 2014, the European LCV market rose by 9.6% after falling by nearly 37% between 2007 and 2013 (from 2.30 million to 1.45 million units). Opel hopes for a reboot of the European LCV market from 2014 to 2022, according to the manufacturer by this deadline the market should reach its 2007 levels.
- Inovev also foresees a growth in the LCV market by 2022, but lower than that put forward by Opel: the market should not exceed 2 million units in 2022, thus not quite regaining its 2007 levels.
- Opel announced it will strengthen its presence in the Eastern Europe LCV market and increase its sales across the European continent without expanding the range of its LCV (three models, including two originating from the Renault brand - the Vivaro and Movano - and a third model - the Combo - originating from Fiat). Last year, Opel accounted for approximately 5% of the European LCV market, ranking itself in seventh position in a market dominated by PSA (28%) and Renault-Nissan (24%). In a market where rankings are stiff, Opel's goal is wise and it seeks a stable market share for its LCV.
Read more... Opel expects a slight increase in its share of the European LCV market
Last attempt to save the Lincoln brand
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- The Ford Group has implemented a last attempt to save its luxury brand Lincoln, whose survival proves difficult even after the sale of Volvo, Jaguar, Land Rover, Aston Martin and the demise of the Mercury brand that might have been a competitor to the Lincoln brand. However, this hasn't changed anything.
- Lincoln ranks in tenth position among world premium brands, far behind Cadillac (7th), Infiniti (8th) and Acura (9th). The Ford luxury brand has fallen gradually from 200 000 annual sales in the years 1998-1999-2000 to only 100 000 in the years 2011-2012-2013, with most of its sales originating from North America.
- Several plans have been implemented to revive the Lincoln brand in the last fifteen years. All have failed.
- A new bailout was decided in 2014 to settle permanently in the Chinese market, the worlds first automobile market (in terms of growth) and soon to be the first premium car market. At first the models will be exported from the USA and in a second time, they will be made in China.
- For this purpose a new model was unveiled at the Beijing motor show in April 2014. a concept foreshadowing the new generation MKX crossover (segment D) was presented. The latter was only sold in North America and was launched in 2006 and restyled in 2010. This is currently the best selling Lincoln model after the MKZ sedan.
Nissan has opened its first plant in Brazil
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Renault will export the Captur from Spain to China
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Read more... Renault will export the Captur from Spain to China
The Solihull plant will manufacture for the first time a Jaguar car
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- The Tata Motors Group currently has three plants in Europe, all of which are in Britain, one in Solihull (capacity: 200 000 vehicles per year), the second in Halewood (capacity: 200 000 vehicles per year) and the third in Castlebromwitch (capacity: 90 000 vehicles per year).
- The group has chosen to manufacture the future Jaguar XE (segment D) on the site of Solihull. This model scheduled for summer 2015 will be the first Jaguar made on this site. Two main factors have contributed to this choice: 1 / This site is the one out of the three that has sufficient unused production capacity (about 50 000 in 2013) 2 / New Land Rover models which are to be produced in Solihull will share their platform with the future Jaguar XE.
- A third factor has been taken into account: Land Rover plans to start producing vehicles in China at the end of 2014 (130 000 per full year). Currently, however, Land Rovers sold in China are mainly exported from the Solihull plant. It is therefore certain that at the launch of the Chinese Land Rover plant (built in JV with Chery), shipments from Britain (and therefore Solihull) will gradually decrease, leaving additional capacity in Solihull (according to Inovev, approximately another 50 000 units per year in addition to the existing free capacity).
Read more... The Solihull plant will manufacture for the first time a Jaguar car