Tesla will build a new factory in Mexico
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Tesla will build a new factory in Mexico
- After the factory in Fremont (USA), Shanghai (China), Austin (USA) and Berlin (Europe), the Californian electric car carmaker Tesla will open a new factory in Mexico. This will be the fifth Tesla car production site, the third located outside the United States and the first located in Latin America.
- This factory will be located in Monterrey in northern Mexico, 200 kilometres from the border with the United States. It will make it possible to supply the US and Canadian markets as well as Mexican and the South American markets if these markets succeed to develop their EV markets.
- For the time being, no year production launch announcement has been made, but it has been announced that new generation vehicles will be produced there.Tesla is aiming to produce 20 million cars per year in 2030 (twice as much production as Toyota today and comparable to current production in China). This therefore assumes a sales growth of 50% per year from today to this horizon and the construction of 10 to 12 additional factories according to Elon Musk, founder and boss of Tesla. Interestingly, Tesla does not expect to increase dramatically the number of models variants to achieve this volume target.
- The choice of Mexico is timely: the electric cars that will be produced there and delivered to the United States will benefit from the subsidies granted by the Amercian Administration within the framework of the IRA (Inflation Reduction Act) intended to encourage the production of electric cars in North America. All carmakers established in the country have benefited for many years from a free trade agreement with the United States, as members of NAFTA. In addition, Mexico has large potential of lithium capacities in the north of the country, which is critical for the production of batteries.
Ford Fiesta and Opel Corsa: two completely opposite strategies
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Ford Fiesta and Opel Corsa: two completely opposite strategies
- The Ford and Opel brands have had totally opposite strategies regarding their B-segment sedan, the Ford Fiesta and the Opel Corsa. When the brands were under the control of American carmakers Ford and GM, these two models saw their influence gradually reduce between 2007 and 2017, each falling from 450,000 / 500,000 sales per year to 250,000 / 300,000 in 2017.
- When GM sold its Opel subsidiary to PSA in 2017, the French carmaker immediately designed a new Corsa based on the Peugeot 208 and the Corsa was able to stabilize its sales at 200,000 / 250,000 units per year. While in the case of the Fiesta, sales continued to decline between 2017 and 2023. And its production ceased in July 2023.
- Ford's strategy was therefore to definitively abandon the category of B-segment sedans judged being unprofitable, while Opel (under the control of PSA and then Stellantis) chose on the contrary to continue to market this type of model, thanks to the mutualisation of its platform and some parts of its body with the Peugeot 208 (and also group’s SUVs) which represents 250,000/300,000 sales per year. The result of these divergent strategies has undoubtedly resulted in some Ford Fiesta customers switching to the Opel Corsa from 2019, as the two models are targeting the same market.
- The launch of the B-segment SUVs Ford Puma and Opel Mokka only slightly offset the sales drop of the Ford Fiesta (between 2019 and 2023) and Opel Corsa (between 2014 and 2017). The Ford Puma tops out at 150,000 units per year and the Opel Mokka at 100,000 units per year. This is much worse than the Peugeot 2008 which records 200,000 sales per year.
The Tesla Model Y becomes the best-selling model in the world in the first quarter of 2023
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The Tesla Model Y becomes the best-selling model in the world in the first quarter of 2023
- In addition to being the best-selling car in Europe in the first quarter of 2023 and then in the first four months of 2023, the Tesla Model Y has become during this same period the best-selling car in the world. This is the first time that a battery electric model has reached this rank of world leader, which tells a lot about the global demand for electric motorization and Tesla's ability to meet this demand, both in the United States, Europe and China. Tesla has updated the concept of a global model that target customers around the world.
- The Tesla Model Y recorded 428,000 sales in the first four months of 2023, well ahead of the former world market leaders, namely the Ford F-Series pickup (276,000 sales) and the Toyota Corolla sedan (230,000 sales). At this rate, the Tesla Model Y could reach a record volume of 1.2 to 1.3 million sales for the whole year, which no model has managed to reach so far.
- The Toyota RAV4 (229,000 sales) and the Tesla Model 3 (220,000 sales) are in fourth and fifth position behind the three models mentioned above. Tesla and Toyota therefore each place two of their models in the world Top 5.
- Ford F-Series pickup competitors are well placed, with the Chevrolet Silverado being 6th and the Ram pickup 9th. The Honda CRV, direct competitor of the Toyota RAV4 is in 7th position. Toyota still places three other models in the world's Top 25: the Toyota Camry is 8th, the Toyota Corolla Cross is 11th and the Toyota Hilux pickup is 16th. Honda places two other models in the world Top 25: the Honda Accord is 18th and the Honda Civic is 19th.
The European Union remains the world's largest exporter of vehicles
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The European Union remains the world's largest exporter of vehicles
- According to ACEA, the European Union exported 5.5 million cars in 2022. Despite strong growth in exports from China (see below), the European Union remains significantly, the world's largest exporter of motor vehicles. However, it is possible to wonder if this is not an optical illusion due to a Brexit effect (as now vehicles sent to UK are considered as exports). In fact it is nothing. Indeed, of the 5.5 million exported by the European Union, just over 1 million are destined to the United Kingdom, which is no longer part of the European Union. If we subtract them, exports from the European Union remains, at around 4 million units, far ahead of China and Japan. Another analysis consists in considering Europe in the broader sense, taking into account the former perimeter of the European Union (current EU + United Kingdom). In this case, the entity also remains the world's largest exporter, with 4.65 million cars exported in 2022 (= UE exports + UK exports outside EU).
- China's car exports, which were stable between 2010 and 2020, jumped from 2021, partly due to the desire of several Chinese carmakers to attack the European market (200 000 sales in Europe in 2022 against 85,000 in 2021 and 36,000 in 2020), on the other hand the decision to manufacture in China European or American models exported all over the world, and finally the consequences of the departure of European carmakers and from Russia, which has opened up a boulevard to Chinese carmakers (125,000 sales in Russia in 2022 compared to 115,000 in 2021 and 57,000 in 2020). The volume of China's automobile exports has thus increased from 450,000 units in 2015 to 760,000 in 2020, 1,614,000 in 2021 and 2,529,000 in 2022. According to figures for the first quarter of 2023 (1,142,000 units), nearly 3.5 million automobiles are expected to be exported from China this year as a whole.
- Compared to Japan, one of the world's leading automobile exporters, China remained behind until 2022. In the first quarter of 2023, China is hot on the heels of Japan (1,167,000 units).
Hino Motors and Mitsubishi Fuso to merge
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Hino Motors and Mitsubishi Fuso to merge
- Hino Motors is a subsidiary of the Toyota group specializing in trucks (medium and heavy utility vehicles) and buses. Mitsubishi Fuso is a subsidiary of Daimler Trucks also specializing in trucks (medium and heavy utility vehicles) and buses. This is the former truck branch of Mitsubishi Motors acquired by Daimler Trucks in 2005.
- The two producers, Hino Motors and Mitsubishi Fuso, are therefore competitors, but their production volume is still too low to compete with the major truck makers worldwide. Thus, in 2022, Hino produced 175,096 vehicles, including 127,842 in Japan and 47,254 outside Japan. Mitsubishi Fuso represents 15% of Daimler Trucks' production, i.e. approximately 80,000 vehicles in 2022.
- Within the Daimler Trucks group, Mitsubishi Fuso therefore represents a small part and a slightly offbeat range when it is compared to the much higher sold models from Mercedes or Freightliner brands.
- The German producer has therefore decided to conclude an agreement with the Toyota group to merge Mitsubishi Fuso with Hino Motors, which will create a Japanese leader in heavy utility vehicles capable of being competitive at a global scale. This group will surely be under Toyota control, even if today nothing has been formalized either by Toyota or by Daimler Trucks.
- Toyota and Daimler are aiming for a production of 300,000 units per year for the new company which will achieve significant economies of scale thanks to synergies in the technological, industrial and commercial field. The name of the new company will be chosen in 2024, when the definitive agreement will be signed between the two trucks makers.