Volkswagen Up, Skoda Citigo and Seat Mii become 100% electric
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Volkswagen Up, Skoda Citigo and Seat Mii become 100% electric
- The Volkswagen Group took advantage of the Frankfurt 2019 Motor Show to unveil the restyled versions of the Volkswagen Up, Skoda Citigo and Seat Mii, which will now become 100% electric only. Internal combustion engines, which accounted for more than 90% of sales of these models, have been removed from the catalogue, which is a major risk because, as with the Smart Fortwo and Forfour, most customers are not yet ready to buy models equipped with electric motors. This is due in particular to a high purchase price, a range that is still low compared to the thermal versions, and a lack of charging stations for recharging one’s vehicle.
- According to manufacturers, A-segment cars (cars less than 3.70m long) with internal combustion engines will no longer be able to comply with future CO2 levels. The only way to comply with them is to replace the internal combustion engine with the electric motor.
- The consequence of this change in engine is that a significant drop in sales of Volkswagen Up, Skoda Citigo and Seat Mii is to be expected, as well as a significant drop in sales of Smart Fortwo and Forfour for the reasons already mentioned.
- The range of the Volkswagen Up, Skoda Citigo and Seat Mii is 260km according to the WLTP cycle, up from the previous Volkswagen e-Up. The price of these models should be close to 20,000 euros (excluding government subsidies), 20,000 euros less than the Volkswagen ID 3 and 10,000 euros less than the future Volkswagen ID 2. These models should continue production until the launch of the future Volkswagen ID 1 and their Seat and Skoda derivatives.
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Maruti-Suzuki launches a competitor to the Renault Kwid
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Maruti-Suzuki launches a competitor to the Renault Kwid
- The Renault Kwid, which has been on the market in India since 2015, is not really a success since it only achieved 77,000 sales in 2018 (on an Indian market of 3.4 million VPs, which represents a market share of 2.25%) compared to just over 100,000 units in 2017. In 2019, the Kwid is not expected to exceed 70,000 sales in India.
- However, India's leading automaker, Maruti-Suzuki, which has more than half of the Indian passenger car market, has announced the launch of a competitor to the Renault Kwid, called S-Presso, which, like the Renault Kwid, is a small 4-door, 4-seater SUV with a 1-litre, 68 hp gasoline engine. The line of the model, well in tune with the times, is completely different from the other Maruti-Suzuki models currently on offer in the catalogue, as well as from any Suzuki model produced in Japan.
- This new model will be offered at a very low price (less than 5,000 euros), in order to compete directly with the Renault Kwid. The manufacturer refers to a local rate equivalent to 4,788 euros, while a Renault Kwid is priced at 3,756 euros.
- In order to counter this new car launched by Maruti-Suzuki and boost Kwid sales, Renault has planned to restyle its own model in 2020, which should be slightly more expensive than the current one.
- No sales target has been communicated by Maruti-Suzuki for the S-Presso, but the manufacturer would like to quickly exceed Renault Kwid sales despite a slightly higher price.
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Sales of electric cars in China are up in 2019 but down in the last few months
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Sales of electric cars in China are up in 2019 but down in the last few months
- Vehicle sales in China fell for the 14th consecutive month in August 2019, with a decline of 6.9% on a total of 1.96 million units, but less than the decline observed over the first eight months of the year as a whole (-11% on a total of 16.10 million units).
- The SUV segment, which had been growing strongly during the last decade until 2018, but was down over the first 8 months of 2019, experienced a small increase of 1.5% in August 2019. The SUV segment was right behind the sedan segment in August (747,000 units versus 777,000).
- The electric car category (BEV and PHEV) fell by 15.8% in August 2019 to 85,000 units, including 69,000 BEV (-6%) and 16,000 PHEV (-41%). This decrease confirmed in September (-24.5% including -29.8% for BEVs and -38.8% for PHEVs) due to the decrease in aid granted by the Chinese government to this type of vehicle. It should be recalled that the Chinese government has reduced this aid in order to focus all its efforts on the installation of new charging stations, because after subsidizing the development of Chinese brands of electric cars, the Chinese government now wants to instore some order in this market while supporting demand by increasing the number of charging stations, which is one of the main factors in the development of this market.
- However, the electric car market in China remains largely positive over the first nine months of 2019, at 871,838 units, compared with 649,356 units in the first nine months of 2018, an increase of 34.5%.
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Toyota increases its stake in Subaru to 20%
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Toyota increases its stake in Subaru to 20%
- The Toyota group has taken a slightly larger stake in its compatriot Subaru, increasing its share in the capital of Japan's smallest manufacturer from 17% to 20%. Toyota already owns 5% of Suzuki's capital, 5% of Mazda's capital, 6% of Isuzu's capital, not to mention Lexus and Daihatsu, which it owns 100%, and Hino (heavy goods vehicles), where it owns 50.1%.
- It can be seen that Toyota now has one foot in every Japanese manufacturer, except Nissan (43% owned by Renault), Mitsubishi (34% owned by Nissan) and Honda, which has maintained its independence.
- By acquiring a 20% stake in Subaru, the Toyota group confirms its interest in this Japanese manufacturer, which is ten times smaller than Toyota (1 million sales per year compared to 10 million for Toyota) but which has an original personality with its boxer engines (flat engines), all-wheel drive transmissions and its strong presence in the United States.
- It is obvious that Subaru cannot, because of its size, fight for a long time alone against its much more powerful competitors. It is the survival of the brand that is at stake and no other manufacturer has expressed an interest in acquiring Subaru, although a Chinese manufacturer's takeover was a possible scenario that could have materialized in the 2020s.
- Toyota and Subaru are already working together on the Toyota GT86 and Subaru BRZ models. Other joint projects are, according to these manufacturers, under study.
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Seat will release its version of the VW ID 3 from 2020
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Seat will release its version of the VW ID 3 from 2020
- As of 2020, the Seat brand will be marketing its own version of the Volkswagen ID 3, which was unveiled at the 2019 Frankfurt Motor Show. The two models produced at the Zwickau site (East Germany), where the Trabants were once manufactured, will therefore be marketed at the same time, starting in the second half of 2020.
- The Seat (provisionally called El Born) will be a little cheaper than the Volkswagen, and an even cheaper version, sold this time under the Skoda brand, should be unveiled in the coming weeks and released at the same time as the Seat and Volkswagen.
- According to the photos provided by Seat, the El Born is very close aesthetically to the ID 3, since the bodies are identical. The differences are mainly located on the front panel in order to preserve the identity of each brand.
- This strategy is similar to that used for Volkswagen Group A segment cars, namely VW Up, Seat Mii, and Skoda Citigo, and this strategy seems to have been chosen because of the still low volume of sales forecasts for Volkswagen Group electric cars until 2025, since we are talking about 50,000 units all brands combined in 2020 and 150,000 units per year in 2024, i.e. less than the average sales volume of VW Up, Seat Mii, Skoda Citigo combined.
- The El Born has a power of 150 hp or 204 hp and a range of 330km or 420km according to the WLTP cycle. The batteries are placed in the double floor, under the passenger seats. The price will be less than 40,000 euros.
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Read more... Seat will release its version of the VW ID 3 from 2020
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