Honda will build a second assembly plant in India
 
Honda accounts today for 2% of automobile production in India, far behind the four leaders: Suzuki: 30%, Tata: 21%, Hyundai-Kia: 16%, Mahindra: 8%. The Honda vehicle leader on the Indian market is the low-cost vehicle Honda Brio, a competitor of Toyota Etios.
 
Honda announced that, in order to increase its position in India, it would build a second assembly plant, a project that he had suspended because of the 2008-2009 financial crisis. After having set up a first assembly plant and several automotive component factories, Honda plans to integrate the new assembly plant into  its Tapakura site , in the state of Rajasthan, in 2014. The production of this new assembly plant will reach 120,000 units per year, double the current total currently produced in the  first assembly plant.

The carmaker will also launch five new vehicles in the next two or three years to strengthen its position in India.

 

13-14-9

 

Bajaj plans to produce 60 000 RE-60 per year in a first phase
 

Bajaj Auto is an independent Indian  manufacturer of two-wheelers and three- wheelers.


Its strategy is now to develop and produce four-wheel  vehicles. It initially associated with Renault  in this objective but the project failed..


Bajaj Auto plans to produce 5000 units per month of its small car RE-60 in Aurangabad, east of Bombay (60 000 vehicles per year).


Small RE-60 (four-seaterquadricycle) is part of a new category of small cars, which is subject to under-development  specific standards and regulations. Bajaj Auto says it will take a few months to finalize the classification of these new vehicles.


The Tata Nano is also expected to enter this new category of vehicles positioned below the segment A (Suzuki-Maruti 800, Hyundai i10). For the time being, Inovev name this category A-.


This class A-(cheaper than Japanese Midget = K-cars according to the Japanese segmentation is expected to grow in the coming years, on some emerging markets with limited purchasing power. Renault ,inparticular,  plans to launch a new model in this category.


 

13-14-10

 

Toyota IQ has failed to make a breakthrough on the world market
 

The Toyota IQ, one of the shortest vehicle in the car market, could not prevail in any country. Positioned as a competitor of the Smart Fortwo, but with three seats instead of two, the Japanese model was proposed at a price (13 500 to 17 500 Euros) probably too high to allow it to compete efficiently with  the Smart (10 000 to 15,000 Euros). The IQ was designed to address the small urban chic car clientele, but the model was probably considered too expensive .


For a price lower than the IQ, Toyota offers the Aygo (9500 to 12 500 Euros). For a price similar to the IQ, Toyota sells the Yaris (13 200-19 500 euros), with more roominess. The Audi A1 which is also a chic supermini  is not much more expensive (17 000-25 000 Euros) and offers much greater roominess and a more rewarding, image ,  as well as  the Mini (16 000-30 000 Euros ).


While the carmaker had set a target  of 100,000 sales per year (annual sales level of the Smart Fortwo), the Toyota IQ has never overpassed 60 000 vehicles per year and quickly fell down to less than 20,000 vehicles per year.

 

13-14-8

 

Citroen launches a new C4 sedan with trunk in Russia
 
Citroën will launch a new sedan (compact sedan with trunk) C4 onto the Russian market. This model should take on board the main features of the sedan C4 assembled in China and South America. This model is expected to match the Russian market demand better. The similar Peugeot 408 (compact sedan with trunk, based on the Peugeot 308) has recently taken over the 308 with some success  in this market. The Citroën sedan C4  with trunk should likewise gradually replace the Citroen sedan C4 with  hatchback (11,440 such vehicles sold last year in Russia – to put in perspective with the sales of 9543 Peugeot 408 and 9461 Peugeot 308-).
 
In 2012, 32,859 Citroën vehicles were produced in Russia (against 25,574 in 2011) and 44,420 Peugeot (against 45,310 in 2011). In total, PSA sold 77,279 vehicles in Russia in 2012 (against 70 884 in 2011).

The French group owns since 2010 a local plant located in Kaluga in which it produced 35,000 vehicles in 2012 (all exclusively for the Russian market).

 

13-14-7

 

The Fiat Group might decide to no longer produce passenger cars of Fiat brand in Italy
 
Fiat is negotiating with several banks to refinance a credit line of around 2 billion euros for its merger with Chrysler. Fiat, which owns 58.5% stake in Chrysler, aims to buy the 41.5% stake held by the UAW (via the fund VEBA) before 2014. This purchase is part of the merger of Fiat and Chrysler Group, pushed by Sergio Marchionne today CEO of Fiat and CEO of Chrysler.
 
This merger would be accompanied by a strategic plan aiming to locating Premium model production in Italy and low cost model production in Eastern Europe.
 
Thus, the Fiat Panda and Punto models could be again offshored  to Eastern Europe (in Poland or Serbia), while  the Alfa Romeo, Lancia, Jeep, Ferrari and Maserati models would continue to be produced in Italy.

No passenger cars of Fiat car brand would be any more manufactured in Italy.

 

13-14-5

  

 

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