Category Blog

Details: Published: 06 September 2022

Production

European plants and their capacity rate of use of the five months of 2013

- Inovev has conducted for the first five months of 2013, two tables of 20 European plants with the highest rates of use and 20 European plants with the lowest utilisation rates.

- The plants with the highest rate of use are characterized by the renewal of a successful model (Wolfsburg with the VW Golf VII, Ingolstadt with the Audi A3 or Munich with the BMW 3 Series), the introduction of a new model (like the Rastatt and Kecskemét plants with the new Class A along side the Class B), extending the model range of a carmaker (The Halewood plant of the Tata Group and the range Rover Evoque or the Opel Adam at Eisenach), the transfer of a vehicle inside the same group (the PSA Poissy plant and the Peugeot 208 and Citroen C3).

- Plants with the lowest utilization rates are characterized by either a planned closure (PSA with the Aulnay plant and Ford with Genk), or waiting for a new model (future Citroën Villaverde, future Fiat and B-segment Jeep in Melfi ...), a planed shutdown or transfer of a vehicle (the Fiat-Chrysler Cassino plant) or the production of a vehicle on declining segments (Renault-Nissan with Scénic produced in Douai), or model failure and oversizing the production plant (Dresden with the VW Phaeton).

Data source: File #12 - European production versus plant capacities

Contact us: info@inovev.com

Details: Published: 06 September 2022

Production

In Europe between 2007 and 2012 the tables have turned

- Which are the plants that have declined the most in terms of production volume and those who were able to significantly increase their production volume between 2007 and 2012?

- Plants that declined the most in volume are all located in the West or South of Europe:

-The PSA Aulnay (-93%) due to the transfer of the C3 production to the Poissy factory;

-Renault's Douai plant (-56%) that produces minivans and suffered from the drop in sales of this segment;

-The Renault Flins plant (-52%) because of the production transfer of the Clio to Turkey (Bursa);

-The Ford plant in Valencia (-51%) because of the production transfer of the Fiesta and Focus to Germany;

-The PSA Vigo plant (-46%) that produces the C4 Picasso that has reached the end of its cycle and is soon to be renewed;

-The Fiat Melfi (-65%) and Mirafiori (-63%) that suffered from falling sales of the Fiat factory;

-The GM Bochum plant (-39%) because of the transfer of the Opel Astra to Rüsselsheim in addition to sales decline of the Opel Zafira.

- The situation is different in Eastern and Northern Europe. Thus, the British Sunderland plant has seen its production volume increased by 44% between 2007 and 2012, thanks to the success of the Qashqai and Juke SUVs. Further east, Bratislava plant (50%), Zilina (101%) of Nosovice (which did not exist in 2007), Bursa (41%), Trnava (21% )and Leipzig (38%) plants took advantage of the arrival of new models on on their assembly lines.

Data source: File #101 - Worldwide production detailed by models

Contact us: info@inovev.com

Details: Published: 06 September 2022

GM is going to build a plant in China in order to manufacture Cadillacs

- Apart from its partnership with SAIC-Wuling for minibus, General Motors sells its products in China under three different brands: Buick, Chevrolet and Cadillac. Buick and Chevrolet are made locally by the Chinese automaker SAIC. Cadillacs are imported from North America (mainly USA).

- In 2012, the group sold 697,000 Buick, 30,000 Chevrolet and 689,000 Cadillac. To meet the Premium market development in China and in order to compete with other brands, General Motors also wants to produce in China its premium brand Cadillac, once again with its partner SAIC.

- To achieve this goal, General Motors has started the construction of a new factory in Shanghai, China, which will produce Cadillac models for the Chinese market. The site will have a production capacity of 160,000 units per year and will start operations in 2015.

- The American manufacturer has announced its ambition to occupy 10% of the Chinese market of the Premium range by 2020, four times more than at the present. General Motors has recently indicated that it intended to introduce a new Cadillac model in the Chinese market each year until 2016, to bring the brand sales from 30,000 units in 2012 to 100 000 in 2015.

Data source: File #101 - Worldwide production detailed by models

Contact us: info@inovev.com

Details: Published: 06 September 2022

Vehicle production in France will remain higher than in England

- Until the late 60s, England was ahead of France in terms of car production volume. While production in France continued to grow in the 70s, 80s and 90s, Britain experienced a serious crisis in its automobile industry, which was responsible for the disappearance of a dozen major brands (Austin, Morris, Triumph, Hillman, Sunbeam, etc.).

- In the 2000s, French manufacturers relocated an important part of their production, which mechanically weakens the volume of production conducted in France. At the same time, in England, the arrival of Japanese manufacturers (Toyota, Nissan, Honda) and the recovery of local carmakers such as Mini (BMW), Jaguar and Land Rover (Tata Motors) had the effect of boosting production in England, even though GM and Ford were steadily reducing their implementation. In 2012, the gap has never been so narrow between England and France (since 1970) for the above : 1.6 million vehicles produced in England against 2 million in France.

- In the future production in France, however, will remain higher than in England. Indeed, France has an installed production capacity of 3 million vehicles per year and different announcements by carmakers call for a revival of production on French soil. At the same time, the installed capacity in England does not exceed 2 million vehicles per year and their are no new plant openings and no plant projects have been announced. Theoretically, therefore, there cannot be a strong growth in the automobile production in England in the coming years.

Data source: File #101 - Worldwide production detailed by models

Contact us: info@inovev.com

Details: Published: 06 September 2022

Opel is going to produce the Corsa in Belarus

- Opel will produce the Corsa in Belarus from (CKD) collections imported from Germany Eisenach and from Zaragoza in Spain. Let us recall that the Corsa celebrated its 30th anniversary last year and is now in its fourth generation.

- -The 7000 units which will be assembled annually in the Minsk plant from 2014 will be for the Belarusian market but firstly for the Russian market (about 95% of production).

- Indeed, part of Opels production in Russia is for the Opel Astra, the Meriva, Insignia and Zafira (48 500 models in total in 2012), but no Opel Corsa, probably due to the lack of capacity in Kaliningrad (factory owned by Avtotor producing several brands) and secondly, the best-selling model in Belarus does not exceed 1,250 units per year.

- In 2012, Opel sold in Russia 6764 Corsas, which corresponds to the industrialization plan provided for the Corsa in Belarus.

- The production of the Corsa will be done with a partnership with Unison JSC, a Belarusian manufacturer. Their collaboration agreement runs until 2017 with an option to add the following new models.