Audi creates a new brand in China
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Audi creates a new brand in China
- Audi was one of the first premium carmakers to export its cars to China and then to produce them locally, from the beginning of the 1990s. The German brand with the four rings was helped in this by its owner Volkswagen, which had also established itself in China in the early 1990s. Audi quickly became the most widespread premium brand in China and even gained entry into the country's senior administrations and other ministries.
- Audi's production volume grew steadily until 2014, reaching 645,000 vehicles assembled that year. Increasingly competing with BMW and Mercedes, Audi began to see its production fluctuates between 2015 and 2023, from 625,000 to 725,000 units per year. In 2024, its production volume will be closer to 600,000 units (according to Inovev estimates), the lowest figure recorded since2014.
- To revive its sales on the Chinese market, Audi has chosen to create a new battery electric brand called AUDI (in capital letters) freed from its four rings and with a car exterior design totally different from current Audis. Presented as a world premiere at the Guangzhou Motor Show in November 2024, the first AUDI E concept comes under the form of a 4.87 m long profiled SUV that places the vehicle in the E segment.
- The model, designed in collaboration with the Chinese carmaker SAIC (owner of the MG, Roewe, Maxus brands), is equipped with two electric motors with a total power of 570 kW and a 100 kWh battery allowing a range of 700 km according to the CLTC cycle. This model announces a whole range of new battery electric vehicles from the new AUDI brand.
The Mercedes CLA, GLA and EQA have grabbed market share of the A-Class
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The Mercedes CLA, GLA and EQA have grabbed market share of the A-Class
- The Mercedes A-Class has had two very distinct eras, the first running from 1997 to 2012 when the A-Class was a small B-segment MPV that had mixed success, and the second running from 2012 to 2025 when the A-Class had become a C-segment sedan competing with the Audi A3 or BMW 1 Series.
- This new generation of the A-Class was very successful, going from 100,000 units in 2012 to 250,000 in 2019, the peak of production of this model in Europe (it was then the second generation of the A-Class sedan launched in 2018). Since 2019, that is, since the launch of the second generation of the CLA (three-box version of the A-Class), the A-Class has continued to decline, going from 250,000 units in 2019 to 216,000 in 2020, 174,000 in 2021, 146,000 in 2022 and 126,000 in 2023. During this same period, the CLA saw its production volume increase to 91,000 units in 2023.
- To complicate the situation of the A-Class, the launch in 2019 of the second generation of the GLA SUV (derived from the A-Class) and its battery electric version EQA in 2021 will bite into the sales of the A-Class. To summarize, we can say that the A-Class has been competed from 2019 both by its CLA three-box version, by its GLA SUV version and by its battery electric EQA SUV version.
- It is interesting to note that the cumulative production in Europe of these four models has only decreased since 2019, going from 450,000 units in 2019 to 372,000 in 2020 and 370,000 in 2023. Mercedes plans to end the A-Class in 2025.
The Mercedes GLC has now largely supplanted the C-Class
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The Mercedes GLC has now largely supplanted the C-Class
- The various generations of the Mercedes C-Class (D-segment sedan) have consistently been among the brand’s best-sellers, at least in Europe, until the mid-2010s. From 2015 onwards, the launch of the Mercedes GLC SUV (based on the C-Class) took an increasingly large share of the brand’s European sales, competing the C-Class. As with many carmakers, the sedan customer base gradually shifted to SUVs, and sales of the GLC eventually overtook those of the C-Class in Europe in 2018.
- In addition, exports of the C-Class to China have gradually declined as they have been replaced by local production. The gap in sales and production between the GLC and the C-Class has continued to grow in Europe ever since. From 25,000 units in 2018, it rose to 47,000 in 2019, 70,000 in 2020 and 110,000 in 2023.
- In 2023, only 77,000 C-Classes were produced in Europe (in Bremen, Germany) while the production of the GLC (in the same factory) reached 187,000 units. In 2024, there is no upheaval in terms of production. As a result, the replacement of the C-Class planned for 2028 becomes problematic.
- The launch of the EQC in 2019, which is the battery electric version of the GLC, has not really moved the lines. In low demand (it will never exceed 20,000 units per year), the EQC is definitively abandoned at the end of 2023. It should be replaced in 2026 by two different EQCs (a sedan and an SUV). As for the Mercedes GLC, it has become the brand's most produced model in Europe since 2022.
The BMW X1 now largely overtakes the 1 Series
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The BMW X1 now largely overtakes the 1 Series
- Launched in 2004 and renewed several times, the BMW 1 Series is a C-segment premium sedan competing with the Mercedes A-Class and Audi A3. The first-generation X1 SUV derived from it was launched in 2009. The first X1 SUV didn’t overtake the 1 Series sedan in terms of sales, which was however achieved with the generation of the X1 that appeared in 2015.
- While in 2016, the production volume of the X1 and 1 Series was practically identical (180,000 units for each model), the following years saw the gap between the production of the two models increase, in favour of the X1 SUV. From 0 units in 2016, this gap increased to 20,000 in 2017, 30,000 in 2018, 48,000 in 2019, 74,000 in 2021 and 114,000 in 2023. The production volume of the X1 reached 220,000 units in 2023, compared to 180,000 in 2021 and 2016.
- At the same time, the production volume of the 1 Series sedan collapsed: from 180,000 units in 2016, 172,000 in 2017, 155,000 in 2018, 131,000 in 2019, 124,000 in 2020, 104,000 in 2021, 81,000 in 2022. The year 2023 marks a slight progress (106,000 units), but far from the figures of 2006-2016.
- The BMW sedan customer basis has shifted mainly to SUVs as with many other carmakers. There is already talk of not replacing the 1 Series launched in 2024 and which should continue its career until 2030. BMW seems to be proceeding in the same way as Mercedes, which will abandon A-Class (C-segment) next year.
The gap between the production volume of the VW Golf and the Audi A3 has never been so small
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The gap between the production volume of the VW Golf and the Audi A3 has never been so small
- The Volkswagen Golf, which remained the most produced and best-selling car in Europe for several decades, began to decline in 2017, when the Volkswagen T-Roc compact SUV was launched, which took over the engines and dimensions of the Golf to within a few centimetres. This model, produced and sold at 200,000 units per year between 2018 and 2023, certainly took a bite out of the Golf, while the slightly more imposing Tiguan SUV produced between 2007 and 2016 had not really bothered the Golf.
- The second generation of the Tiguan SUV (produced between 2016 and 2023) took a bigger bite out of the Golf, but it was mainly the launch of the eighth generation of the Golf that accentuated the decline of the model. This generation had little success.
- Finally, the launch of the 100% electric Volkswagen ID3 and ID4 in 2020 impacted part of the Golf's sales (around 100,000 units per year) because part of the Golf's customer base was undoubtedly convinced by the electric engine.
- If we add together the transfer of part of the Golf's customer base to the T-Roc and the second-generation Tiguan, as well as the failure of the eighth generation of the Golf and the launch of the ID3/ID4, we can explain the drop in sales of the Golf, which gradually fell from 762,000 units in 2016 to 627,000 in 2018, 536,000 in 2019, 328,000 in 2020 and 255,000 in 2023.
- As a result, the Golf has come close to the figures recorded in Europe by its Premium version, the Audi A3, which has indeed fallen by half between 2016 and 2021, going from 300,000 to 150,000 units per year, but this 50% drop is much lower than that recorded by the Golf, which reached almost 75% during the same period (a loss of 555,000 units). In 2023, the Audi A3 was produced at 172,000 units.
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