Santana has unveiled its SUV, which is derived from a BAIC model
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Santana has unveiled its SUV, which is derived from a BAIC model
- Santana Motors was an independent Spanish small car manufacturer that held a factory license to produce vehicles from other brands from 1985 to 2003, including the Suzuki Vitara SUV from 2000 to 2005 and the Iveco Massif and Campagnola SUVs from 2006 to 2011. Santana went bankrupt in 2011 and ceased production by 2026.
- In 2025, an agreement was signed between Santana and a Chinese consortium. This joint venture also includes the Chinese manufacturer Dongfeng and the Japanese manufacturer Nissan. The goal was to produce the Dongfeng Z9 and the Nissan Frontier in China using SKD (skim-cut die) assembly. To mark this occasion, the Santana 400 was created. The model has now been unveiled and will be assembled in Linares, using SKD assembly starting in autumn 2026.
- Another agreement was reached during negotiations between Santana and the Chinese manufacturer BAIC. The SUV will be manufactured in China under the BAIC brand. The currently available top model, the Santana Cajal, is a BAIC BJ40 SUV produced in China and has no comparable vehicles on the European market.
- SKD assembly of the Santana Cajal is scheduled to begin in autumn 2026 at the Linares plant. It's an old-school SUV, a true off-roader embodying the philosophy of the Toyota Land Cruiser, Land Rover Defender, Ineos Grenadier, or Ford Bronco. The Cajal will be powered by a 163 hp diesel engine, a 245 hp gasoline engine, or a plug-in hybrid powertrain adopted from the BAIC model.
Suzuki is increasing its production capacity in India by 250,000 units
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Suzuki is increasing its production capacity in India by 250,000 units
- The Indian automotive market has a diversified structure, exceeding 1.5 million passenger cars in 2005 and reached 4.3 million by 2025. Suzuki- Maruti traditionally holds over 40% of this market thanks to its broad range of small, affordable vehicles (A and B segments) that perfectly meet demand.
- Production volume exceeded 2.2 million units in 2025, compared to just over 2 million in 2024, representing a 10% increase, while the Indian market grew by 4% during the same period. Besides the Indian market, Suzuki- Maruti exports its vehicles also to Europe.
- The Indian market is expected to accelerate significantly in the first half of 2026, with a 20% increase. However, Suzuki-Maruti is unable to capitalize on this trend to gain further market share compared to its competitors, including Tata Motors and Mahindra, as well as other domestic manufacturers.
- Against this background and given that production capacity in India (2.4 million vehicles per year) is reaching its limits, Suzuki-Maruti has decided to increase capacity by 250,000 vehicles per year by inaugurating a second production line at the Kharkhoda (Haryana) site, the group's third largest plant.
- With the opening of this second production line in Kharkhoda, Suzuki- Maruti is increasing its production capacity in India from 2.4 million vehicles per year to 2.65 million vehicles per year.
Inovev forecasts 55,000 sales of the Dacia Spring II by 2030
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Inovev forecasts 55,000 sales of the Dacia Spring II by 2030
- The all-electric Dacia Spring will be completely redesigned from the 2026 Paris Motor Show. Instead of the small A-segment model, 3.73 m long, derived from the Indian Renault Kwid and manufactured in China, then re-exported to Europe, the brand will present a much more modern model, about ten centimeters longer, derived from the very recent electric Renault Twingo and produced this time in Europe, more precisely in Slovenia, at the Renault factory in Novo Mesto where the Renault Twingo is produced and where a Nissan derivative of the Twingo will also be produced, probably next year.
- The new Dacia Spring , which has its own design and personality, will be a little cheaper than the Renault Twingo , since Dacia's policy is to offer cars that are cheaper than Renaults in the same category.
- Its price will logically be lower than the minimum €19,490 charged by its Renault cousin. It should be set at €17,900, which is €1,000 more than the previous Dacia Spring but €1,590 less than the Twingo. Furthermore, the new Spring will benefit from the government incentive of €3,620 as a model produced in Europe.
- The new Dacia Spring is expected to inherit the Twingo's engine developing 82 hp (60 kW), as well as its 27.5 kWh battery capable of allowing it to travel approximately 250 km according to the WLTP cycle.
- The previous Dacia Spring sold just over 200,000 units in total between 2019 and 2026, and the new generation will need to do better. Inovev estimates sales of the new Spring at 250,000 units between 2026 and 2031.
Share of Chinese and foreign car sales in China
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Share of Chinese and foreign car sales in China
- In order to analyze the decline in influence of European carmakers in car production in China, Inovev counted the number of passenger cars produced in China by origin from 2005 to 2025. A graph was constructed from the production figures of cars produced in China, according to the origin of the brands: 1/ China 2/ Europe 3/ Other regions of the world.
- European car production in China peaked in 2017-2018, reaching approximately 5.5 million units per year, following uninterrupted growth since 2005. Since then, this volume has steadily declined. By 2025, production is projected to fall below 4 million units, while the overall production volume across all nationalities is expected to increase from 25 million to 30 million units between 2017 and 2025. Concurrently, Chinese carmakers' production volume has surged from 10 million to over 20 million units.
- The production volume of American, Japanese and Korean brands also experienced a production peak in 2017-2018, as with European brands, with a volume of 8.5 million units per year, then this volume declined sharply and continuously, falling below 5.5 million units in 2025.
- The decline of foreign carmakers did not happen at the same time. Stellantis began to decline from 2015, then it was the turn of Ford and Hyundai-Kia from 2017, then GM from 2018, then Volkswagen from 2019, then Honda from 2020 and Nissan from 2021, the last to fall being BMW and Mercedes.
Has Brexit had an impact on the British market?
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Has Brexit had an impact on the British market?
Britain's vote to leave the European Union (Brexit) took place on June 23, 2016, and its exit from the European Union was officially decreed on January 31, 2020.
1. The Brexit vote, however, had consequences for the evolution of the British car market as early as 2017. It suddenly declined that year, in stark contrast to the four other major European markets (Germany, France, Italy, and Spain), and this decline continued in 2018, 2019, and 2020. In fact, the British car market, whose passenger car registration volume had previously been between that of Germany and France, moved closer to that of France from 2017 onwards. It remained at the same level as France between 2019 and 2023, and began to recover from 2024, while remaining even closer to that of France than to that of Germany. In conclusion, the British market was never able to recover the volume lost after 2016. This is one of the consequences of Brexit.
2. In terms of production, Brexit has undoubtedly been one of the causes of the decline in British car production , which lost more than half of its output between 2015 and 2025. In particular, Honda closed its UK plant in Swindon, Stellantis closed its UK plant in Luton, and Jaguar suffered a real decline between 2020 and 2025, with its production volume collapsing from 100,000 vehicles in 2015 to 10,000 in 2025. Nissan, the largest British producer, saw its production volume fall from 475,000 units in 2015 to 275,000 in 2025. Toyota saw its production fall from 190,000 to 90,000 between 2015 and 2025.
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