Turkish production rose by 23% in 2014
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- Turkish car production regained in 2014 record high levels of 2010 and 2011. With a volume of 1.134 million vehicles produced last year, the Turkish production increased by 23% compared to 2013 and 46% compared to 2005 .
- These good results are to be credited to a European market that was up in 2014 and thus experienced a sharp rise in exports. These results are all the more astonishing that the Turkish domestic market suffered in 2014 a decrease of 14%, a loss of 125 000 vehicles in a market of almost 775 000 units.
- The Ford Transit has seen its production increase by 33% in one year, especially with the introduction of two different generations (Transit and Transit Custom) to which was added the compact Transit Courier (Ford Fiesta base).
- Hyundai production was doubled, thanks to the arrival of the little i10 which was added to the i20 on the assembly lines of the plant in Izmit, and is marketed in Europe.
- Toyota production was multiplied by two and a half, thanks to the arrival of the Corolla sedan that was added to the Verso compact MPV (both using the Auris platform) and is marketed throughout Europe, including Russia.
- Other manufacturers (Renault, Fiat, Honda) had smaller changes in 2014. Let us recall that the Fiat plant not only produces Fiat vehicles, but also Citroën (Nemo), Peugeot (Bipper) and Opel (Combo) cars.
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Argentine production fell by 21.7% in 2014
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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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Thai production fell by 23.7% in 2014
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- Thai car production in 2014 suffered from the fall of the local market which alongside the country's political situation, became very unstable and the stopping of the government's program of incentives for the purchase of cars for "first time buyer. "
- In 2014, production fell by 23.7% while the local market dropped to 33.3%. This gap between production and sales highlights the fact that exports (mainly pickups, since Thailand is a centre of production of mid-range pick-up van for the whole world) maintained a high level last year (more than one million vehicles exported in the world).
- The year 2014 ended with the Thai market closing at 900 000 registered vehicles, since it has reached the 845 000 unit threshold (against 1 264 000 units in 2013 and 1 415 000 in 2012). This brings us back to the levels of 2011.
- All carmakers were affected in 2014. Toyota remains the biggest producer of the country (730 000 units) but decreased by 11.5%. Other manufacturers Mitsubishi (323 000, -5%), Isuzu (235 000, -8%), Ford (145 000, -3.2%), Honda (144 000, -47.4%), Nissan (127 000, -47.1%), Mazda (69 000, -25.3%), GM (55 000, -29, 3%) and Suzuki (23 000, -56.4%) also experienced setbacks last year.
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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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