Honda is experiencing serious difficulties
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Honda is experiencing serious difficulties
- The Japanese carmaker Honda (7th largest producer in the world) is experiencing serious difficulties at the global level. In 2022, Honda saw its sales drop by 2% in Europe, by 2% in Japan, by 9% in China and above all by 35% in the United States, which resulted in an overall drop of 20% in its global sales as the US market is a very big market for Honda.
- Since 2018, the year of global production peak for Honda (5.35 million vehicles, not including two-wheelers), the Japanese carmaker has continued to lose markets shares, facing a competition becoming increasingly aggressive.
- While Toyota managed to maintain its sales volume at a high level between 2018 and 2022 (more than 10 million vehicles per year), Honda lost 30% of its sales over this period, going from 5.35 million units to less than 4 million.
- Its presence in Europe, after the closure of its factories in Swindon (England) and Gebze (Turkey), has become symbolic. Its recent models have not been very successful. Honda is losing ground in China (-28% over the first 7 months of 2023). Finally, Honda missed its entry into the battery electric vehicle market, with an unsaleable Honda E.
- Honda's global market share fell from 6% in 2018 to 5% in 2022. And the decline continues in the first half of 2023, with a global market share of 4.5%. Honda intends to revive its sales and catch up in the BEV market thanks to its agreement with the American carmaker GM, but this agreement will not begin before 2024.
Infiniti (Nissan's Premium brand) sees its future exposed
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Infiniti (Nissan's Premium brand) sees its future exposed
- Infiniti, Nissan's Premium brand which was created in 1989 to compete with Lexus, Toyota's Premium brand, has experienced growing disaffection since 2017. Its global sales (mainly in the United States, Russia and the Middle East) have gradually declined from 250,000 units in 2017 to 60,000 in 2022.
- In reality, Nissan's goal of selling 500,000 Infiniti per year starting in 2017 was never achieved, but only 50% of that goal in 2017 (peak of the brand's sales) was made before a collapse after this date. The gap between Infiniti and Lexus sales has continued to grow over the past twenty years. Lexus sold 625,000 cars in 2022. Infiniti is even behind Acura, Honda's Premium brand, which sold 102,000 cars in 2022 and behind Genesis, Hyundai's Premium brand, which sold 220,000 cars in 2022.
- And let's not even talk about the German premium brands BMW, Mercedes and Audi which sell 3 to 4 times more than Lexus. The sales volume of the Infiniti brand has become so low that its very existence is threatened.
- The reasons for this failure are multiple. First, the Infiniti brand failed to stand out from the competition, as Lexus gradually did with its hybrid engines (HEV) and then its creative design. The charismatic FX model which initiated the fashion for SUV coupes had no successor. Infiniti's first market, the United States, quickly turned away from the brand due to a boring car styling. Then, the arrival of Infiniti in Europe very quickly ended in failure. Finally, the withdrawal of Infiniti from Russia in 2022 where the brand had a fairly large customer base was the final blow.
The fall in production of the 3 large traditional Chinese manufacturers is confirmed
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The fall in production of the 3 large traditional Chinese manufacturers is confirmed
- The three large traditional Chinese manufacturers (SAIC, FAW, Dongfeng) which mainly produce for foreign manufacturers (Volkswagen, GM, Toyota, Honda, Nissan) have seen their production decline sharply since 2017-2018.
- The SAIC group which produces Volkswagen and GM went down from 6.8 million vehicles produced in 2017 to 4.5 million in 2023 (Inovev forecast), due to the continued fall in sales of Volkswagen and GM on the Chinese market. Its own brands Roewe, MG and Maxus only offset a very small part of this fall.
- The FAW group which produces Volkswagen and Toyota only experienced its first decline in 2023 (2.8 million vehicles produced compared to 3.6 million in 2022 according to Inovev forecasts) due to the fall in sales of Volkswagen has so far been partly offset by increased sales from Toyota.
- The third large traditional Chinese group, Dongfeng, has experienced a constant decline since 2017. From 3.7 million vehicles produced in 2016, its production volume fell to 2.7 million in 2020 and 1.9 million in 2023 (Inovev forecasts). Dongfeng is suffering from falling sales of Peugeot, Citroën, Renault, Nissan, Honda and Kia. In 2023, Dongfeng will fall behind Geely and be on par with Changan, which has nevertheless suffered from the fall in sales of the Ford it produces.
- The only extremely positive case is the manufacturer BYD which went from 417,000 vehicles produced in 2020 to 738,000 in 2021, 1,866,000 in 2022 and undoubtedly more than 2.5 million in 2023 (Inovev forecasts), thus following FAW.
Chinese manufacturer BYD doubles its production volume in the first half of 2023
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Chinese manufacturer BYD doubles its production volume in the first half of 2023
- Inovev calculated the production volume of the 25 largest car manufacturers in the world over the first six months of 2023, compared to the first six months of 2022. By exception, the figures for the Renault group and the Nissan group were combined in 2023 for a better comparison compared to 2022 when the Renault-Nissan group was still a reality.
- As before, were carried out:
• a "Western" classification which considers “brands in JV” as Western companies
• a "Chinese" classification which considers “brands in JV” as Chinese companies.
- In both rankings, the Toyota group supplants all its competitors. The Volkswagen group, second in the “Western” ranking, finds itself fourth in the “Chinese” ranking due to strong production in China, carried out by Chinese manufacturers SAIC and FAW. These, very marginal in the “Western” ranking, find themselves in 6th and 10th position respectively in the “Chinese” ranking. Hyundai-Kia and Stellantis are 2nd and 3rd in the “Chinese” ranking due to their low production in China. BYD attracts attention due to the doubling of its production volume in the first half of 2023 compared to the first half of 2022. As a result, this manufacturer takes 12th place in both rankings, ousting Mercedes and BMW in the "Chinese" ranking in due to their significant production in China. Note that in the “Chinese” ranking, Ford supplants GM because GM produces a lot in China (SAIC), unlike Ford.
Shineray replaces Brilliance in China
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Shineray replaces Brilliance in China
- The Chinese manufacturer Brilliance was created in 1992 in Shenyang (Liaoning province). It was initially one of the main Chinese manufacturers of minibuses between 1992 and 2002. In 2003, Brilliance signed an agreement with BMW for the JV production of BMW brand sedans in China. The cooperation between the two manufacturers is working well since the production volume of BMW in China has increased from 10,000 units in 2005 to 65,000 in 2010, 287,000 in 2015 and 602,000 in 2020. But the Brilliance brand, which sells its own models, has great difficulty establishing itself on the Chinese market, facing more dynamic and more reactive competitors. From 295,000 units in 2016, its sales fell down to 145,000 in 2020. Brilliance went bankrupt in 2020. BMW then came to the rescue to save Brilliance, thus saving the production of its own models. Of 50% of the shares in the JV, BMW now holds 75%, the remaining 25% being the property of the Chinese company Shineray which had been a partner of Brilliance for several years and which markets its cars in China under the SWM brand. It is this Shineray group which took over the former prerogatives of Brilliance, because today the Brilliance brand no longer exists as an automobile brand.
- It is the Shineray group which manufactures BMWs at the historic Brilliance site in Shenyang as well as SWMs at the historic Shineray site in Chongqing. To this must be added the production of Jinbei minivans, a brand which is a former subsidiary of Brilliance which had been a partner of Renault for a time. In the first half of 2023, the Shineray group produced 40,000 Jinbei, 17,000 SWM and above all 350,000 BMW. No Brilliance models have been produced since December 2022.