BMW unveiled the fourth generation of the Mini
- Details
First signs of improvement in the French, Spanish and Italian markets
- Details
- The European market has significantly improved during the second half-year of 2013 in comparison with the first half-year of the same year (+3.3% in the July-October period against -6 , 5% in the January-June period). It is mainly the South countries - who had experienced a sharp drop in registrations in the first half of the year (mainly France , Italy and Spain ) – which have improved their performance in the second half-year.
- In France for example, three recent months (July, September, October) turned positive compared to 2012, while the first six months were strongly negative (-11 %).
- In Italy , the improvement is less noticeable even though the last four months show a decrease of 4 %, while the first six months fell by 10%.
- In Spain, the improvement in the second half-year is very clear ( +28.5 % in September and +34.4 % in October ), while the first six months were negative (-5 %). The Faconauto (Association of Spanish dealers ) expects 715,000 registrations in 2013 against 700,000 in 2012, the first annual increase since 2010.
- Southern markets - which weighed heavily on the Europe-as-a-whole performance - are now on the road to recovery. These three countries represent a third of registrations of Western Europe and 30% of those of the European Union.
Read more... First signs of improvement in the French, Spanish and Italian markets
Why are Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi working together?
- Details
- In the U.S. market Mitsubishi sales have declined substantially over the past decade, tothe extent that its presence seems unsure in the medium term. The marketing of Mitsubishi models using a Samsung base (segment C and segment D), should replace the Lancer (segment C) and Galant (segment D) that are no longer popular models. The Japanese manufacturer could thus relaunch it's sales on this market without investing in the development of new models. As far as Renault-Nissan are concerned, the Samsung SM3 and SM5 are only sold in South Korea and Europe (under the Renault brand) and this would therefore increase the groups' sales.
- Mitsubishi is a step ahead in the field of Kei Cars, historically marketed in Japan, but has not successfully developed sales of its electric vehicle (I-Miev). Renault-Nissan for its part is not present in the field of Kei Cars but has a mastery of the technology of electric vehicles thanks to the Nissan Leaf and Renault Zoe. This cooperation is thus complementary in order to market an electric Kei Car.
- Renault-Samsung has underexploited production capacity in Korea (Pusan) which could be optimised with the exporting of the SM3 and SM5 models to America. Mitsubishi on the other hand, has underexploited production capacity in Japan that could be used for the manufacturing of small models for the Renault-Nissan group (including electric Kei Cars).
Read more... Why are Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi working together?
The evolution of global production of the first 12 carmakers
- Details
Read more... The evolution of global production of the first 12 carmakers
The Ford Ka could have offspring
- Details