Suzuki is the second world largest carmaker of Kei cars, behind Daihatsu
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Suzuki is the second world largest carmaker of Kei cars, behind Daihatsu
- The Suzuki firm remains to this day the second largest carmaker of Kei cars (behind Daihatsu), these small vehicles less than 3.40 m long which benefit from advantages in Japan (licencing costs and taxes cuts) and are similar to European A-segment cars.
- Kei cars represent a third of the Japanese car market. Among the 1,425,000 Kei cars sold in Japan in 2019, 401,000 were Suzuki-branded, compared to 455,000 Daihatsu and 303,000 Honda. Suzuki therefore holds 28% of the Japanese market for Kei cars in 2019, against 32% for Daihatsu and 21% for Honda. The other Japanese carmakers have a small market share in the Kei cars category.
- In 2019, the Suzuki firm sold 2.9 million vehicles worldwide (including a third of Kei cars) including its Indian subsidiary Maruti.
They were sold mainly in India (1,512,000 units), Japan (696,000 units) and South-East Asia (285,000 units) and Europe (232,000 units). These four markets represent 94% of Suzuki's sales. The 15% drop in Suzuki's worldwide sales recorded in 2019 is explained by its bad results in India (-240,000 sales), China (-30,000 sales), Japan (-20,000 sales), Pakistan (- 27,000 sales) and Indonesia (-18,000 sales).
They were sold mainly in India (1,512,000 units), Japan (696,000 units) and South-East Asia (285,000 units) and Europe (232,000 units). These four markets represent 94% of Suzuki's sales. The 15% drop in Suzuki's worldwide sales recorded in 2019 is explained by its bad results in India (-240,000 sales), China (-30,000 sales), Japan (-20,000 sales), Pakistan (- 27,000 sales) and Indonesia (-18,000 sales).
- Suzuki is therefore weakened today, in particular because it has withdrawn from the North American and Chinese markets, but also because it has completely failed in its response to the growing demand for alternative engines (BEV and PHEV). Consequently, the carmaker get closer to Toyota, which now supplies it with its own hybrid models (under the names Suzuki Across and Suzuki Swace).
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続きを読む... Suzuki is the second world largest carmaker of Kei cars, behind Daihatsu
Renault plant in Flins to cease production of cars in 2024
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Renault plant in Flins to cease production of cars in 2024
- Inaugurated in 1952, for the production of the Frégate sedan, the Renault plant in Flins (France), which today manufactures the Zoé, will cease the assembly of vehicles in 2024, when it will be transformed into a plant dedicated to the “circular economy of mobility”.
- According to the management of the carmaker, this plant will bring together all the activities to extend the lifetime of vehicles and their uses. It will include a department for the reconditioning of used vehicles, another for the adaptation of thermal vehicles to other energies, another for the repair of vehicle fleets and new mobility.
- If these projects remain rather vague in their implementation, the carmaker has indicated that the transformation of the Flins plant would lead to the end of the production of the Renault Zoé in 2024 on this plant and its transfer to the Douai plant, which will have become at that time the industrial cluster of the brand's electric vehicles, with the arrival of SUVs in B, C and D segments between 2021 and 2023, and the end of the Scenic and Talisman by this time.
- With the growth in demand for electric cars in Europe, the production volume of the Renault Zoe increased significantly in 2020 compared to 2019, as it will have reached nearly 100,000 units over the year as a whole, against 64,000 in 2019 and 50,000 in 2018. According to the carmaker, the Zoe should soon reach 120,000 annual units. The Clio has not been produced in Flins since 2019. As for the Micra, it should leave the Flinsplant before 2024 and be transferred to another Renault-Nissan group site or even stopped. In 2019, the Flinsplant produced a total of 165,000 cars.
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続きを読む... Renault plant in Flins to cease production of cars in 2024
Opel Ampera withdrawn from the PSA catalog for 2021
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Opel Ampera withdrawn from the PSA catalog for 2021
- Successor to the Opel Ampera PHEV marketed from 2011 to 2015, which was derived from the Chevrolet Volt, the all-electric Opel Ampera-e was born in 2016, while the Opel brand was still part of the GM group. The Ampera-e is in fact derived from the Chevrolet Bolt, lower segment than the Volt. All four cars were manufactured at the same production site in Lordstown, Ohio, USA, for a total of 336,000 units (including 313,000 Chevrolets and 23,000 Opels).
- Of this total, the two Ampera models did not have a strong circulation since the Ampera PHEV did not exceed 13,472 sales between 2011 and 2015, while the Ampera-e did even less well with 9,720 sales between 2016 and 2020.
- It is true that the Opel brand having been taken over by the PSA group at the end of 2017, and the French manufacturer having to pay royalties on each model sold, under an agreement on the sales of models of GM design (such as the Astra or Insignia), the PSA group did not push for the sale of this model soon to compete with the Peugeot e-208 and Opel e-Corsa of PSA design. Yet 2020 has been the best year for the Ampera-e with a volume of 3,000 sales, no doubt helped by the surge in demand for electric cars in Europe.
- After the stop of the Adam, Karl, Cascada, Zafira, all of them GM-designed, the Ampera-e is in turn removed from the PSA catalog. The GM-designed Opel Astra and Insignia will remain in 2021, but the future Astra scheduled for 2021 will be of PSA design, like the recent Opel Corsa, Opel Combo and Opel Mokka.
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続きを読む... Opel Ampera withdrawn from the PSA catalog for 2021
Nissan halted production of Datsun in Russia
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Nissan halted production of Datsun in Russia
- The Renault-Nissan group is made up of two very distinct entities: the Renault group (Renault, Dacia, Samsung, Alpine, Lada) and the Nissan group (Nissan, Infiniti, Datsun, Mitsubishi). It was in 2013 that Nissan wanted to acquire a low-cost brand like Renault had done with Dacia.
- The Datsun brand - which had already been in operation between 1913 and 1983 - was therefore reused from 2014 in very specific markets, such as India and Russia. In India, the Datsun Go and Go + were based on the Indian Micra platform, while in Russia the Datsun on-Do and mi-Do were based on the LadaGranta and LadaKalina respectively. These sharing of platforms, bodies and engines made it possible to practice very low selling prices, since they were in fact cars already on the market and simply rebadged. This strategy has not been understood by customers who have not been won over by Datsun brand models, neither in India nor in Russia. Only 152,000 Datsun have been produced in Russia in seven years, or less than 22,000 per year. In India, Datsun had a somewhat greater distribution, with 215,000 units produced in seven years, or nearly 31,000 per year, a very small quantity compared to the Indian market as a whole.
- Nissan therefore decided to discontinue the Datsun brand in Russia and India due to lack of sufficient demand. The production of Datsun carried out at the Togliatti site in Russia was stopped in December 2020. That of the Datsun in India will be stopped in 2021, including the Redi-Go launched in 2016 which was derived from the Renault Kwid.
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VW Passat to be withdrawn from the North American market
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VW Passat to be withdrawn from the North American market
- The Volkswagen Passat had started the activity of the American plant in Chattanooga (Tennessee) in 2010. At the time, sedans were still selling well in the American market and the Passat managed to reach a peak production of 180,000 units in 2012. The Passat completed the range of sedans of the German brand on the North American market, then composed of the Beetle, Golf and Jetta manufactured in the Puebla plant in Mexico.
- With the growing demand for SUVs, the production of sedans of all carmakers fell down after 2012, and in particular Volkswagen’s. The Jetta sales decreased from 400,000 units in 2012 to 250,000 in 2016 and 130,000 in 2020. The Beetle was discontinued in 2019 The Golf will be withdrawn from the manufacture program in North America. As for the Passat, its production plunged from 180,000 units in 2012 to 75,000 in 2016 and 7,000 in 2020. The new generation appearing in 2019, inspired by Chinese Volkswagen, did not convince, the customers preferring to opt for Toyota Camry and Honda Accord.
- The German group has therefore decided to remove the Passat from the production program at the Chattanooga plant, due to insufficient demand. The Atlas SUV was installed in this factory in 2016, at the same time as the Tiguan at the Puebla site. These two SUVs already represent 60% of Volkswagen's North American production in 2020, which has been growing steadily since 2016. And a third SUV is scheduled for 2021 at the Mexican site in Puebla. Volkswagen is therefore abandoning the family sedan market in North America, along with several American brands.
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続きを読む... VW Passat to be withdrawn from the North American market