Belgian production has lost 50% of its volume since 2005
 
Belgian car production has gradually lost 50% of its volume since 2005. This poor performance is mainly due to the continued fall of the European market between 2006 and 2013 (-22% in seven years) and also due to the closure of two of the main plants across the country, the Antwerp one in 2010 (GM ownership) and the Genk one in 2014 (owned by Ford) that were able to produce up to 700 000 vehicles in 2006 (sum of both plants).

The two American manufacturers left Belgium and transferred their production to other European plants that were underutilized, today only two manufacturers remain in Belgium: Volvo (owned by Geely) and Audi (owned by Volkswagen).

If the last two carmakers decide to stay in Belgium, the Belgian car production is expected to stabilize at current levels, and even re-increase due to a European market that is expected to grow over the next few years and a new model should be added to the Forest plant (Audi Q1).

With France, Sweden and Italy, Belgium is one of the countries that suffered the most in terms of car transfers since 2005. If Belgium lost 50% of its production volume between 2005 and 2014, France has lost 47% of its volume during the same period, Sweden 44% and Italy 35%.

15-09-4  

 

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Turkish production rose  by 23% in 2014
 

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.


15-09-5  

 

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Thai production fell by 23.7% in 2014
 

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.


15-09-3  

 

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Argentine production fell by 21.7% in 2014
 
Car production (PC + LUV) in Argentina has experienced a major setback in 2014, since it dropped by 21.7% last year, from 785 000 units to 614 000 units. Of the total manufactured vehicles, a little more than 350 000 vehicles were destined for export (mainly to Brazil), a decrease of 17% compared to 2013.

Argentine production has suffered from the decline in exports but also from the decline in the local market (-28.6% compared to 2013).

Consequently Argentina's production volume returns to its levels of 2009-2010. It must be noted that more than half of the vehicles sold in the country are imported, mostly from its neighbouring country, Brazil. This is also one of the reasons why the Renault-Nissan group recently decided to transfer to its Argentine plant in Cordoba the Renault Logan and Sandero sold in Argentina and that were manufactured in Brazil until today. Almost 40 000 units are to be produced in Argentina instead of Brazil.

In 2014, Ford became the first producer in Argentina (103 000 units), followed by Toyota (96 000), FCA (95 000), GM (87 000), Renault-Nissan (81 000), VW (72 000) PSA (56 000). Argentina produced 204 000 pickups in 2014, against 215 000 in 2013. These pickups are sold locally and exported to other countries in South America. 

15-09-2  

 

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Taiwan's automobile sales volume increased 12% in 2014
 

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.


15-08-9  

 

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