The US market of light vehicles is down 17.7% over 9 months 2020
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The US market of light vehicles is down 17.7% over 9 months 2020
- The American car market (USA) for passenger cars and light trucks (considered as passenger cars in Europe and China) fell by 17.7% in the first 9 months of 2020, compared to the first 9 months of 2019, while the decrease reached -22.5% over the first 6 months of 2020, -21.9% over the first 5 months and -20% over the first 4 months, compared to the same period of 2019. There is therefore clearly an improvement in the American market since last July.
- Still positive in February 2020 (+ 10.3%), as it was not yet impacted by the coronavirus crisis, this market swung into the red from March 2020 (-36.9%) and this trend was amplified in April (-46.1%) before returning to a smaller drop in May (-28.7%) and in June (-25.3%).
- The US market benefited a 6.2% increase in September 2020, the first month of growth since last February. With a drop of 17.7% over 9 months, we can now expect a better shape US market in the second half of the year.
- The US market could end the year with an 11.5% drop. It is also highly probable that the lost sales between March and June 2020 will not be caught up, neither this year nor next year.
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Read more... The US market of light vehicles is down 17.7% over 9 months 2020
Inovev forecasts 15,000 units per year of the new Seat El Born
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Inovev forecasts 15,000 units per year of the new Seat El Born
- Seat has started marketing in recent weeks its El Born model, an hatchback rebadged version of the Volkswagen ID3. These two battery electric vehicles (BEV) are produced at the Zwickau plant, alongside the Volkswagen ID4 and its future Seat and Skoda rebadged models. Audi BEVs could also be produced on this plant.
- The Seat El Born will also be available under the Cupra brand, the new Volkswagen group brand from the Seat brand (the Cupra models were initially more sporty versions of the Seat).
- The Seat El Born and Cupra El Born are based on the VW Group MEB platform, specifically dedicated to BEVs of the VW group main stream brands (VW, Skoda and Seat) and to C & D segment vehicles from Audi. The Porsche brand as well as Audi's E (e-tron GT) and F segment models use and will use the J1 platform (with the exception of the Audi e-tron, which is already based on an MLB evolution platform).
- The battery installed in these models can allow up to 500 km of autonomy according to the carmaker. But other versions with a less powerful battery will be available in 2021, with a range of 400 km for one and 300 km for the other. These models will be cheaper to buy. In fact, the product range organisation is a copy of what Volkswagen is doing with ID3 and will likely do on the ID4, which has just started its production.
- The Seat El Born is expected to be priced slightly lower than the Volkswagen ID3, while the Cupra El Born is expected to be slightly higher.
For now, it's not clear what will differentiate a Seat El Born from a Cupra El Born. It would be interesting to see what will be the Volkswagen Group approaches of an sporty electric sedan. Inovev forecasts 15,000 units per year of the new Seat El Born (including the Cupra versions) at the Zwickau site.
For now, it's not clear what will differentiate a Seat El Born from a Cupra El Born. It would be interesting to see what will be the Volkswagen Group approaches of an sporty electric sedan. Inovev forecasts 15,000 units per year of the new Seat El Born (including the Cupra versions) at the Zwickau site.
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Like VW, Ford is ditching diesel on its B-segment cars
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Like VW, Ford is ditching diesel on its B-segment cars
- We recently saw in one of our Auto-Analyses that carmakers were in the process of switching their A-segment cars from thermal engines to electric engines, diesel engines having disappeared for several years on this type of model.
- More recently, the Volkswagen Group announced that it was phasing out diesel engines from its B-segment cars, primarily the Volkswagen Polo.
- Other carmakers had already done the same, such as Toyota with its Yaris, Nissan with its Micra and Juke, Skoda with its Fabia, Honda with its Jazz, Hyundai with its i20 or Mazda with its Mazda 2.
- It is the turn now of Ford to announce the end of production of its Fiesta diesel version. This version represented only a marginal share of all Ford Fiesta sales. The problem is that this model does not yet exist in an electric version. The only alternative remains the gasoline engine, as for the Volkswagen Polo by the way.
- The electrification of the Polo will go through the ID2 which will be a battery electric vehicles (BEV) but for Ford nothing is scheduled yet, because all future electric cars from Ford Europe will be based on Volkswagen engines and platforms and today the principle agreement between the two carmakers did not generate a new range of BEVs for Ford.
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Read more... Like VW, Ford is ditching diesel on its B-segment cars
Chinese market of passenger cars down 12.1% over 9 months 2020
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Chinese market of passenger cars down 12.1% over 9 months 2020
- The Chinese passenger car market was down 12.1% in the first 9 months of 2020, compared to the first 9 months of 2019, while the decline reached 22.5% in the first 6 months of 2020, -27.5% over the first 5 months and -35.5% over the first 4 months, compared to the same period of 2019. The Chinese market has therefore improved noticeably since last April, which definitively marked the return to before crisis levels. It is to remind that March posted a drop of 48.4% and February a drop of 81.7% at the worst period of the coronavirus crisis before April was back to the level of last year.
- May month was positive (+ 7.2%) as well as June (+ 2.1%). The month of September 2020 posted an increase of almost 9%. These were the first positive months since 2018. It can therefore be said that the coronavirus crisis seems to have passed in China and that future months will continue to be on the rise.
- However, the catching up of sales missed in February and March 2020 will not take place, and the market will remain slightly down over the whole year, between -6% and -9%, if the trend of the last few months continue.
- China was the first large country impacted by the pandemic to restart and return to a level of sales comparable to 2019 from April 2020, which is not at all the case for the European and American markets which will remain negative all over the year.
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Japanese market of passenger cars fell 18.1% over 9 months 2020
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Japanese market of passenger cars fell 18.1% over 9 months 2020
- Japan's passenger car market fell 18.1% in the first 9 months of 2020, compared to the first 9 months of 2019, while the decline reached 20.1% in the first 6 months of 2020, compared to in the first half of 2019, due to the coronavirus crisis. So things are improving over the months, but catching up on lost sales will not happen by the end of the year, or even next year.
- The fall for September 2020 is 14.8%, quite comparable to that of August 2020, and at this rate the Japanese market should end the year at -17.5% or even -15% if the improvement was confirmed in the fourth quarter of 2020.
- It is to remind that Japan is one of the countries that has been least affected by the coronavirus since the drop in registrations has never exceeded 50% on a monthly basis. The months of April and May 2020 were the worst with a drop of 30.4% in April and a drop of 46.7% in May. Then the situation gradually improved.
- Monthly registrations practically returned to their pre-crisis rhythm since June and September is the month that comes closest to the figures for the same month of the previous year.
- Inovev's previous forecasts for a Japanese market, between -10% and -15% for the whole year, are therefore difficult to achieve, with the -15% drop now being the most optimistic forecast.
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Read more... Japanese market of passenger cars fell 18.1% over 9 months 2020
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