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.
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
Nissan has opened its first plant in Brazil
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PC Global production is expected to reach 90 million units in 2020
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- PC Global production is expected to reach 90 million units in 2020. Inovev grouped in its calculations PC based on the European car classification and incorporated North American vehicles considered as "light trucks" (minivans SUVs and crossovers), but which are recorded as PC in all other regions of the world. The ranking is thus globally harmonized.
- Since 2005, except for two years of global financial crisis in 2008 and 2009 car production has grown steadily between 3% and 6% per year. Nevertheless two catching ups took place, one in 2010 (+23.6%), which followed two years of decline (-2.6% in 2008 and -10.8% in 2009), the other in 2014 (+7.0% provided by Inovev) following a year 2013 marked by a growth two times lower than in 2012.
- Inovev nevertheless expects a slowdown in global car production starting from 2015 (+4.3%) which should gradually decline to about 2% per year starting from 2018.
- In this context, the automotive industry will continue to move from the West (Europe) to the East (Asia), with China accounting for 25% of world production in 2013 will represent 30% in 2019. Europe (EU) accounted for 20% of world production in 2013 will account for 19% in 2019.
Read more... PC Global production is expected to reach 90 million units in 2020