Stellantis updates its battery cell production targets for the Douvrin plant
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Stellantis updates its battery cell production targets for the Douvrin plant
- Today, the Stellantis group sources battery cells for its 100% electric vehicles from CATL and LG Chem for PSA models and Samsung SDI for FCA. From 2022-2023, it will source its cells from ACC, a joint venture created by ex-PSA and SAFT (a subsidiary of Total). At this time, it is not known whether Stellantis will continue to source from Chinese and Korean producers.
- The production of these ACC battery cells will be carried out in the plants of Douvrin (France) and Kaiserslautern (Germany) which will put an end (or reduce strongly) to the production of thermal engines. For ACC, PSA announced in September 2020 a production capacity target for 2030 of 48 GWh for the two plants combined, or the equivalent of one million BEVs, according to Stellantis. Today, the Stellantis group announces a production capacity target for the equipment of 450,000 to 900,000 BEVs, i.e. a capacity of between 22.5 GWh and 45 GWh and this only for the Douvrin plant (if we take as average basis a BEV equipped with a 50 KWh battery pack).
- What does this production objective, updated in few months, means? Several hypotheses:
1. Stellantis could forecast a market increasing twice as what was initially expected.
2. A higher internal demand for cells production following the merger of PSA and FCA which could provide new opportunities for electric vehicle launches (multiplication of the offer).
3. Finally, the combination of the two factors mentioned before.
- These assumptions are therefore based on both offer and demand, but intentionally ignore other factors, such as communication to the general public or financial markets.
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Mitsubishi strategy change in Europe
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Mitsubishi strategy change in Europe
- Mitsubishi made the decision a few months ago to leave the European market in which it has never really succeeded. The strategy was to position the brands of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi group according to their best position on each of the major world markets: Renault in Europe, Russia and South America; Nissan in China and North America; Mitsubishi in South East Asia and Oceania.
- This strategy is already being questioned today. Following negotiations between the three entities of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi group, Mitsubishi will therefore remain present on the European market.
- So what is the group’s strategy for growing the Mitsubishi brand in Europe by 2023? The Franco-Japanese group will create new Mitsubishi models based on Renault-Nissan platforms and produce them in Renault plants, in order to increase the utilization rate of its plants.
- However Mitsubishi's market share in Europe remains very low, around 0.9% in 2018, 2019 and 2020. It will be very difficult to expand the customer base of this brand, which is starting from very low without cannibalizing sales of Renault and Nissan. And we can add, as a recent example, that the Nissan Micra produced at the Renault plant in Flins did not meet the carmaker's objectives at all.
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The American BEVs and PHEVs market in 2020
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The American BEVs and PHEVs market in 2020
- The US market for 100% electric vehicles (BEVs) did not really take off in 2020, with a volume of 288,662 units, representing an increase of 20% compared to 2019, but far behind the figures recorded last year in China (995,397 units) and in Europe (726,245 units). Among the major global markets, only Japan sell less, with 31,000 sales last year.
- The Tesla brand (205,600 sales) holds 71% of the BEV market in the USA in 2020, with two top models, the Model 3 and the Model Y. The Model Y already represents half of Model's 3 sales and this share should increase in 2021. It is to be noted that the Model 3 lost 28,000 sales in 2020 compared to 2019, due to competition from the Model Y which recorded 69,000 sales last year, its first year of selling. The Model S lost 3,500 sales in 2020 compared to 2019, and the Model X 11,000 sales. As a result, the brand gained 26,500 sales last year, compared to 2019, representing a 15% year-to-year increase (less than the US BEV market as a whole).
- The US market for plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs) is even smaller, with a volume of 56,035 units in 2020 against 276,561 in China and especially 638,568 in Europe, the world's largest PHEV market. The three best-selling models in this category in the USA in 2020 are the Toyota Prius PHEV, the Chrysler Pacifica PHEV minivan and the Mercedes GLC PHEV SUV.
- In total, the US BEV + PHEV market represented 344,697 units in 2020, up 8.5% compared to 2019, far behind Europe (1,364,813 units) and China (1,271,958 units).
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Global BEVs production by carmaker in 2020
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Global BEVs production by carmaker in 2020
- The global market for battery electric vehicles (BEVs) represented 2,141,311 units in 2020, divided into 995,397 units in China, 726,245 in Europe, 288,662 in the United States and 31,000 in Japan, the rest (100,000 units) being distributed over all the other regions.
- This market is up 37.4% compared to 2019, when it did not exceed 1,558,639 sales. This increase is observed in a context of a global market (all engines combined), which decreased by 14% in 2020 compared to 2019. As a result, the market share of BEVs rise from 1.8% in 2019 to 2.8 % in 2020.
- Which carmakers are the main producers of BEVs in 2020? Tesla dominates this category with a market share of almost 24%, or almost one in four electric cars. Tesla has the advantage of selling its models in the United States, Europe and China, which is not the case with other carmakers. Chinese carmakers only sell in China, except for a few who are also starting to sell in Europe (SAIC-MG, Aiways, Geely) but in very small quantities.
- The VW group, which is now in second position behind Tesla in the electric market, sells very little in China and the USA, but it plans to significantly increase its sales in these two markets, with its ID3 and ID4, first and with the upcoming ID6. The GM group (third) sells mainly in China through its subsidiaries Baojun and Wuling. The Renault-Nissan group (fourth) sells mainly in Europe (Renault Zoé, Nissan Leaf). The Hyundai-Kia group (fifth) is setting up a vast product offensive to catch up with the VW, GM and Renault-Nissan groups.
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Honda to end vehicle production in Swindon in July 2021
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Honda to end vehicle production in Swindon in July 2021
- Japanese carmaker Honda, the sixth-largest carmaker in the world behind GM and Hyundai-Kia, with 4.34 million vehicles sold in 2020, has seen its influence diminish considerably in Europe over the years. From 335,000 sales in 2007, volumes fell to 150,000 units in 2011 and then 80,000 in 2020. This significant and inexorable drop in Honda sales can be attributed on one hand to a limited range of models on the European market, often not very competitive. However another fact has played a role in this situation: the growing disinterest of the Japanese carmaker for the European market, while its sales increased in China and the United States, and remained at a good level in its origin market, Japan.
- Honda had the Swindon plant in Great Britain as early as the 1980s, following a request by the government to open up to Japanese carmakers in order to offset the agony of the British Leyland group, at this time the largest British carmaker. Honda opened another plant in 1997, in Turkey (Gebze) in order to complete its industrial tool in this region.
- A large part of the Honda sold in Europe came from these two plants, but since the end of production of the Jazz (in 2015) and the CRV (in 2018), only the Civic remained and this could not guarantee the sustainability of the two European production plants.
- Honda had indeed announced last year that it would completely withdraw from Europe before the end of 2021. Today, the carmaker confirmed that the Swindon plant will close in July 2021, and the Gebze plant few months later. Honda said the Swindon plant had been bought by a logistician company named Panattoni.
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