Taiwan's automobile sales volume increased 12% in 2014
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- Taiwan's automobile sales volume (PC+UV) increased 12 percent year-on-year to 424,000 units in 2014, surpassing the 400,000-unit level for the first time in nine years. New product launches stimulated consumer sentiment, resulting in the highest volume since 2005. Driven by luxury brands, imported automobile volume went up 21.9 percent to 140,000 units, pushing up imported product ratio from 30.4 percent to 33.1 percent.
- By type, passenger vehicles increased 12 percent to 382 000 units and commercial vehicles rose 11.6 percent to 42,000 units.
- By brand, top shareholder Toyota/Lexus went up 9.5 percent to 139,000 units. Apart from the Corolla Altis, the fully-remodeled Yaris (launched in September 2014) and Vios (April 2014) also boosted sales. Next in line was Nissan/lnfiniti with 48,000 units, up 8.5 percent. Declining sales of the Tiida was covered by the Sentra which was released in October 2013. Third-placed Mitsubishi fell 2 percent to 27,000 units. Since no new models have been launched since 2011, the automaker's share declined 4 pp (percentage points) in the past five years to 6.5 percent. The release of the fully-remodeled Outlander in December 2014 is expected to revive share. Meanwhile, Mercedes-Benz and Luxgen realised remarkable results. Looking at Mercedes-Benz, brisk sales of the new S Class (October 2013) increased overall volume by 16.7 percent to 21,000 units. Luxgen increased 2.3 percent fold to 17,000 units driven up by the U6 SUV (October 2013), expanding overall share by 2pp to 3.9 percent. Strong offensive by German and local automakers shrank Japanese share by 2.7pp to 65.9 percent in 2014.
- In 2015, GDP growth is expected to be on par with that of 2014. It is expecting slight market expansion in 2015 to the 430,000-unit range.
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GM is closing its St. Petersburg plant
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- The American group GM has decided to withdraw from the Russian market because of weak forecasted growth in the short term, but also in the medium and long term. Despite the fact many other manufacturers believe that the potential of the Russian market remains important over the long term. GM is however a major stakeholder in the Russian market.
- GM has indeed three production sites in Russia today, one located in St. Petersburg (GM ownership), a second one in Kaliningrad (property of Avtotor), a third in Togliatti (Renault-Nissan property). These three sites, which sell their models locally, produced 151 000 vehicles in total in 2014 (30% of which are Chevrolet Niva, which is the best selling model for GM in Russia), against 277 000 in 2012 and 225 000 in 2013. In 2015, forecasts indicate less than 100 000 manufactured vehicles, due to the collapse of the Russian car market.
- The GM plant in St. Petersburg that will close in 2015 was inaugurated in 2008 and was able to produce up to 100 000 vehicles per year. Peak production was reached in 2011 with 90 000 vehicles produced. In 2014, production fell to 50 000 units. GM says it now wants to focus on its premium segment in Russia (Cadillac, Camaro, Corvette), even if the production of the Chevrolet Niva in Togliatti does not seem to be questioned. We will only know in the medium and long term if GM's decision to withdraw from the Russian market was appropriate or not.
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Mazda analysis - Market (1/3)
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Mazda analysis – Models (2/3)
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- In 2014, the best-selling Mazda car in Europe is an SUV from segment C, the CX5, which increased by 22%. Mazda is taking full advantage of the dynamics of this growing segment.
- The segment C sedan, namely the Mazda 3 is experiencing good growth in 2014 (+ 88%) because the vehicle was renewed in 2013 and offers a powerful diesel engine.
- Finally, the segment D sedan, namely the Mazda 6 is practically the last Japanese sedan of this segment sold in Europe, and is also experiencing growth (+ 11%) in a segment down and forsaken by Japanese manufacturers.
- In 2014 the Mazda 2 which will soon be renewed grew more than the market.
- It appears that Mazda has a condensing strategy:
1/ condensing of models sold in the world: only 12 are marketed globally
2/ condensing of platforms used: In Europe, for example, 88% of vehicles sold are based on two platforms, one platform for Mazda 2 ( and future CX3), and a platform for the Mazda 3, 6 and CX5.
3/ condensing of the number of plants: 6 production plants (two in Japan, one in China, one in Thailand and one in China) + 3 small assembly plants (Indonesia, Malaysia and Taiwan).
These elements contribute to the effectiveness of the Mazda production and thus the company's economic efficiency.
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Volkswagen will produce the Tiguan in Mexico
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- Volkswagen currently produces the Tiguan (segment C-SUV) at Wolfsburg for European and American markets (North and South), in Shanghai for the Chinese market and in Kaluga for the Russian market.
- The future Tiguan, available with 5 or 7 seats, will be produced in two additional plants: Hannover (probably the 7 seater version, in order to discharge the Wolfsburg plant) and Puebla, Mexico for 5 and 7 seater versions, marketed in North and South American markets, as well as some South Asian countries.
- In 2014, the Puebla plant, which produced 475 000 vehicles (Volkswagen Jetta and Beetle to world markets except China) for a capacity of 525 000 units per year, is already close to saturation. The arrival of the Tiguan therefore requires further increase of its capabilities: this model has indeed found 25 000 customers in 2014 in the US, 10 000 in Canada and 5 000 in Mexico, 40 000 units in total. In addition, the 7-seater version added to the 5-seater means that the expected sales volume for this region largely exceed this figure of 40 000 units annually.
- The German carmaker Volkswagen has therefore announced that it will increase production capacity of its plant in Mexico to add the manufacturing of the future Tiguan. The carmaker expects an additional capacity of 100 000 units/year at the Curitiba plant Puebla.
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