The Smart Fortwo has succeeded in establishing itself as a “trendy” city car

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The Smart Fortwo has succeeded in establishing itself as a “trendy” city car
 

- The Smart Fortwo, established in 1998, has launched in a trend for urban chic and "fashionable" city cars (European segment A)with its two seaters, its small size, its customization and its high price (compared to its size ).


- Originally scheduled for a production of 200,000 units per year (on the French site of Hambach), the Smart Fortwo saw its objectives diminished by 50,000 units per year towards 2001-2002, in other words to 150,000 units per year.

 

- The model was not far from achieving this second objective in 2008 (140 000 units), partly tanks to its launch on the US market. Since 2010, the Fortwo has maintained its sales at 100,000 units per year.


- The Smart Forfour(European segment B) which should have broaden the Smart range ( 2004 onwards) was a commercial failure, because this model lost the uniqueness of the Fortwo while entering in a extremely competitive market (European segment B cars) with lower prices or with a stronger image.


- The Fortwo has seen in recent years the arrival of new competitors making the most of the trend for "fashionable" city cars:

§The European segment A, micro and city cars with the Toyota IQ (a failure for now ) and the Fiat 500.

§The European segment B, with the BMW Mini, the Citroën DS3 and more recently the Audi.

13-15-4

 

The South African market has not yet found back its 2005-2006 levels

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The South African market has not yet found back its 2005-2006 levels
 
- The South African market (Passenger cars sales in South Africa) had broken its record in 2006, with more than 470,000 vehicles sold (against 400,000 vehicles sold in 2005 and 300,000 vehicles sold in 2004). Severely affected by the 2008-2009 financial crisis, the South African market lost 45% of its volume between 2006 and 2009, then rebounded well from 2010 on, to finally  overpass 300,000 vehicles sold in 2011 and 350,000 vehicles sold in 2012.
 
- It is to be noted that South Africa was since ever the largest automobile market of Africa, but its dominance is now being challenged by Algeria (around 350 000 Passenger Cars in 2012).
 
- Concerning carmakers, the VW group (which also produces in South Africa), remains the market leader in 2012,  with a 27% penetration rate. Toyotagroup has progressed significantly over the past five years. It  comes now in second position  with a 18% market share. GM and Ford groups, former market leaders, have lost much influence, and occupy now only respectively 9% and 7% of the market.

13-15-9

 

In China, DS is a completely different brand from Citroën

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In China, DS is a completely different brand from Citroën
 

- In 2010 in order to compete with the premium brands, Citroen launched in Europe the DS range, starting with the C range (C3, C4, C5).


- In Europe, the Citroën C range cars and the DS range ones are marketed in the same dealers and produced in the same PSA plants.


- In China, following the advice of their local partners the DS range will be completely separated from the Citroën brand. This division means that:

§ they will be sold in separate dealer networks

§ a separate production plant will be set up via the CAPSA joint venture (newly created between PSA and Changan)

§ They will have a separate booth at the next Shanghai Motor Show alongside with Audi, BMW , Mercedes, and many others.

 

- A concept car foreshadowing the future leisure SUV DS-X will be unveiled at the event.


- The vehicle should be produced in 2014 alongside the DS3, DS4 and the DS5 in the CAPSA plant located in Shenzhen.


- Citroën C Series are produced in China in cooperation with another partner : Dongfeng(DPCA joint venture established in 1990 between Dongfengand PSA).


13-15-2

 

The Czech and Slovak markets have resisted well to the 2008-2009 crisis

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The Czech and Slovak markets have resisted well to the 2008-2009 crisis
 
- Notable exceptions in Eastern Europe, the Czech Republic and Slovakia have seen their automobile market resisted well to the 2008-2009 crisis. Even Poland does not display such level of growth.
 
- The Czech Republic has even set a sales record in 2012 (174 000 units sold against 133 000 in 2007), while Slovakia was supported in 2008 and 2009 by scrappage schemes which have led to record sales in 2009 (75,000 units against 60,000 in 2007) but kickback in 2010 due to the stopping these bonuses.
 
- The Slovakian market has started to grow again, in 2011 (68 000 sales) and 2012 (69 000 sales).

- Without the 2008 and 2009 scrappage schemes the Slovak market would probably have set a sales record in 2012, like the Czech market . These bonuses therefore have accelerated the growth of a market whose trend was on the rise.

- Concerning carmakers, there is a domination of the Volkswagen group, thanks to the strong and old presence of the Czech brand Skoda which has 31% of the Czech Republic market share in 2012 and 23% of the market share in Slovakia

 


13-15-3

 

The blooming European SUV market.

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The blooming European SUV market.
 
- The SUV market has grown significantly in recent years, particularly in Europe, where it now represents 15% of passenger car sales whereas it only represented  12.6% in 2011 and 10.3% in 2010 (1.9 million units in 2012 ).
 
- Carmaker’s product range has also increased significantly , in three distinctive categories, small SUVs ( segment B ), compact SUVs ( segment C ) and large SUVs (D and E segments ).
 
- European carmakers of premium cars are particularly active in this market, their sales are rising rapidly following an increasing models supply, but Japanese and Korean SUV manufactures are still predominant in Europe.
 
- Thus, Nissan is the leading seller of SUVs in Europe (ahead of BMW, VW and Dacia) thanks to its Juke and Qashqai models.
 
- In 2013, 2014 and 2015 18 new SUV launches of different brands (listed below) are scheduled, not to mention luxury brands such as Bentley and Maserati who are considering launching their own SUV range.
 
- Over the past three months have emerged, the Renault Captur and Peugeot 2008in small segment of SUVs and the Range Rover Sport in the segment of large SUVs, Toyota's RAV4 and Suzuki's SX4 in the segment SUV category.

- These 18 new models should represent a sales volume of 750,000 units a full year.

13-15-1

 

  1. Honda will build a second assembly plant in India
  2. Bajaj plans to produce 60 000 RE-60 per year in a first phase
  3. Citroen launches a new C4 sedan with trunk in Russia
  4. Toyota IQ has failed to make a breakthrough on the world market
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