Infiniti brand to exit the European market in 2020
- 说明
Infiniti brand to exit the European market in 2020
- Nissan has confirmed that it will withdraw its luxury brand Infiniti from the European market in January 2020. This brand, which competes directly with Lexus, but also with German Premium models (Audi, BMW, Mercedes), has not succeeded in penetrating this highly competitive market in the top-of-the-range category. In addition, the Infiniti brand has not benefited from a differentiating technical feature like that of Lexus, which markets all its models in hybrid engines. Like Acura (Honda's luxury brand), Infiniti will therefore focus on the North American and Chinese markets, where it is still enjoying some success.
- Infiniti has been present in Europe for about ten years and has never been widely distributed there. While Carlos Ghosn expected 25,000 sales per year after five years in this market, by 2015 sales had peaked at less than 5,000. Until the arrival of the Q30 at the end of 2015, the models were more suited to customers in the United States, where the brand generates three-quarters of its sales. The Q30 is a premium compact sedan, competing with the Mercedes A-Class (which is built on the same platform), which could have boosted the brand's sales in the European market. A peak was certainly reached in 2016, with 16,000 units, but sales declined rapidly: to 11,000 units in 2017 and 6,000 in 2018. This modest figure is far from the 150,000 sold in the USA last year or even the 50,000 sold in China.
- The Sunderland plant will therefore cease production of the Infiniti Q30/QX30 as of next summer.
Contact us: info@inovev.com
Inovev forecasts 250,000 new Hyundai Sonata per year
- 说明
Inovev forecasts 250,000 new Hyundai Sonata per year
- The Hyundai-Kia group unveiled the new generation of the Sonata, its D-segment sedan. This model was not presented at the Geneva Motor Show because the Sonata is not available in Europe. Its main markets are the United States (105,000 sales), Korea (66,000 sales in 2018), China (7,000 sales), Russia (7,000 sales) and Canada (5,000 sales). These five countries make up 95% of Sonata's sales.
- The new generation Sonata aims to boost sales of Hyundai's mid-size sedan, which have collapsed since the peak of 500,000 units reached in 2012. Sales fell to 350,000 units in 2016 and barely exceeded 200,000 units in 2018. The main explanation for this collapse is the growing demand for SUVs worldwide, which has reduced the influence of sedans, and the growing disaffection of D-segment sedans in particular, which are competing with the more statutory Premium brand sedans.
- The new Sonata features a hatchback body that recalls the style of its competitors, the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord, which were renewed last year. These three sedans have traditionally been among the best-selling in the United States for the past fifteen years, replacing the equivalent models from Chevrolet (Malibu) and Ford (Fusion). Inovev expects sales volume of 250,000 units of the new Sonata to be produced equally between the US and Korea.
Contact us: info@inovev.com
阅读全文... Inovev forecasts 250,000 new Hyundai Sonata per year
European production fell by 2.1% in 2018
- 说明
European production fell by 2.1% in 2018
- European automotive production (PC+LCV) fell by 2.1% in 2018 to 18.4 million units from 18.8 million in 2017. This drop in production, which even reached 2.9% for passenger cars alone (15.99 million units compared to 16.46 million in 2017), is explained by the decline in registrations in many markets.
- Exports to regions outside Europe (29 countries) thus lost 200,000 units in 2018 compared to 2017, i.e. half of the 400,000 units lost in total European production. The second half (200,000 units) was lost within the European Union itself, where some markets were in decline, and where markets in general showed more demand for imported vehicles (+300,000 units), particularly from Turkey, Japan and Korea.
- Despite a sharp drop in its production in 2018 (-9%), Germany remains by far the leading European producer with 5.54 million PC+LCVs, ahead of Spain (2.80 million units; +2%), France (2.31 million units; +4%) and Great Britain (1.61 million units; -9%), where production fell even before the introduction of Brexit.
- Among the smaller producing countries, there was strong growth in Romania, which benefited from the introduction of Ford Ecosport (+44%), Portugal (+68%), which benefited from the introduction of VW T-Roc, and Austria (+68%), which benefited from the introduction of Jaguar E-Pace and I-Pace.
Contact us: info@inovev.com
World automobile production (PC+LCV) by manufacturers seen from China
- 说明
World automobile production (PC+LCV) by manufacturers seen from China
- The production volume of non-Chinese automakers traditionally includes volumes assembled by Chinese automakers, with the following results: the Volkswagen, Renault-Nissan, Toyota and GM groups remain the top four automakers in the world. And Chinese manufacturers are far behind, the largest (Geely) being only in 13th place in 2018.
- When we include the production volumes of non-Chinese manufacturers assembled by Chinese manufacturers in the volumes of those Chinese Manufacturers ,, we obtain a completely different ranking, since the Toyota group then becomes the world's leading manufacturer, with 9.2 million vehicles assembled, almost on par with the Renault-Nissan group (9 million). The Chinese manufacturer SAIC (which produces for GM and Volkswagen) is in third place, with 6.7 million vehicles assembled. The Volkswagen group is in fourth place, with 6.5 million vehicles produced (as a result of its strong production by Chinese manufacturers) almost on a par with the Hyundai-Kia group (6.2 million). The Ford group, with 5.2 million vehicles assembled, is ahead of the GM group (4.5 million), also as the result of the latter’s strong production by Chinese manufacturers. GM is almost on a par with the FCA group (which produces little in China). Chinese Dongfeng is in tenth place (it produces for Renault-Nissan and PSA) with 3.3 million vehicles assembled, almost equal to FAW (3.2 million).
Contact us: info@inovev.com
阅读全文... World automobile production (PC+LCV) by manufacturers seen from China
European manufacturers used 83% of their capacity in 2018
- 说明
European manufacturers used 83% of their capacity in 2018
- European manufacturers used 83% of their European capacities in 2018, compared to 85% in 2017, as production volume on this continent fell by 2.1% last year to 18.4 million PC+LCVs, due to several declining markets and difficulties for some manufacturers to adapt some of their models to the new WLTP standards.
- Nevertheless, this utilization rate remains one of the best of the decade, because even though production fell by 2.1% last year, demand and therefore the market remain at a high level ,if we look at the results recorded over the last fifteen years.
- Observation of the utilization rate of automakers' factories in Europe shows that the PSA, Ford and Honda groups were the only ones to increase this rate between 2017 and 2018, while all the others’ utilization rate fell.
- Honda's performance will not pay off as the Japanese company decided to close its two European plants in 2021.
- Suzuki, FCA, Geely and Volkswagen are the manufacturers with an utilization rate of less than 80% in 2018. Nonetheless, Volkswagen plans to build a new plant in Eastern Europe, which, in view of this utilization rate, doesn’t make sense. FCA should also, logically ,close at least one plant.
Contact us: info@inovev.com
阅读全文... European manufacturers used 83% of their capacity in 2018