Europe imports fewer and fewer vehicles

Unlike European exports, imports recorded in Europe continued to decline in 2013, down by 1.5% to 3.30 million passenger cars (against 3 350 000 in 2012 and 3 650 000 in 2011) .


By observing the origin of these imports, we can see a clear predominance of Asian countries:

Korea (275 000 units), but this country will lower the number of imports of Chevrolet to Europe (145 000 units in 2013), preparing the removal of this brand on this continent in 2016.

Japan (190 000 units).

India (110 000 units), which will nevertheless stop delivering the Suzuki Alto to Europe as from June 2014 (32 000 units in 2013)

Thailand (45 000 units), which also became a significant country in terms of exports, with the Suzuki brand, that will export the Celerio as from July 2014 to replace the Alto.


The NAFTA region has delivered 250 000 vehicles to Europe last year. Morocco has gradually become a major car exporting country to Europe, due to the launch of the Tangier plant (which currently produces the Dacia Lodgy and Dokker). In 2013, Morocco delivered more than 50 000 vehicles to Europe (twice the amount produced in 2012). In 2014, with the arrival of the Sandero and the increasing sales rate on the site of Tangier, we can expect that 100 000 vehicles will be exported from Morocco to Europe.


14-12-7  

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Top 10 plants in South America

Here are the top ten plants in the South America region in 2013:

First: the Fiat plant in Betim (-2.8%), the largest Fiat factory in the world (capacity: 800 000 vehicles per year).

2nd: the Volkswagen plant in Taubate (-7.0%).

3rd: the Volkswagen plant in Sao Jose dos Pinhais (+9.8%)

4th: the Ford plant in Sao Bernardo (+33.4%).

5th: the Chevrolet plant in Gravatai (+12.4%).

6th: the Chevrolet plant in Sao Caetano do Sul (+5.3%).

7th: the Renault plant in Curitiba (+9.7%).

8th: the Hyundai plant in Piracicaba (+108.7%).

9th: Peugeot-Citroen plant in Porto Real (+14.2%).

10th: the Honda plant in Sumare (-1.7%).


The production of these 10 plants accounted for more than 3 million vehicles (cars + LCVs) in 2013, 75% of the production of the South America region (excluding CKD).

 

14-12-5  

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The BMW Group plans to sell more than 2 million vehicles by 2014

The BMW Group plans to sell more than two million vehicles in 2014. This is the first time a Premium manufacturer will exceed this annual threshold.

In 2013, the German group sold 1.92 million vehicles, thanks to a growth of 20% in China and 8% in the United States. BMW became in 2000 the first premium manufacturer in terms of sales.

Last year, its two main competitors Audi and Daimler (Mercedes + Smart) sold respectively 1.58 million and 1.36 million vehicles (excluding LCV and trucks).

These two competitors are still far from the two million unit mark, and it is clear that the Mini brand is an asset for BMW if it wants to continue to outpace its rivals.

This is why Daimler wants to boost and diversify its Smart brand to try to get closer to Mini in terms of volume. Daimler is now in third place, while it was still leader of the premium market in the early 2000s. The new Mercedes C-Class will in the coming months help breathe new life into the Mercedes brand. As for BMW, in addition to Mini, the new models from Series 2, the Active Tourer and the X4, should enable the brand to stay far ahead of its two rivals.

14-12-4  

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Suzuki is going to suspend its exports from India to Europe starting from June 2014

Suzuki announced it would interrupt its Indian car exports to Europe as from June 2014. The Japanese carmaker currently exports the Alto a small city car (segment A) from its Indian factories for the European market, but this model will cease to be marketed in Europe.

Suzuki has decided to replace it with the Celerio (model unveiled at the New Delhi motor show in February) whose  manufacturing has began in Thailand.

Suzuki, however, should resume deliveries from India to Europe starting from the autumn 2015 with a brand new model. In 2013, Suzuki exported 28 000 Alto and 4 000 Nissan Pixo (Suzuki Alto renamed under the Nissan brand), i.e. 32 000 vehicles in total left from its Indian plants towards Europe. Last year, the Japanese automaker exported nearly 160 000 vehicles from India to all parts of the world. The interruption of Suzuki exports from India to Europe starting from June 2014 should result in a decrease of 16 000 units this year, representing 10% of the total 160 000 vehicles exported.

All brands combined, the Indian automobile production exported about 110 000 vehicles to Europe in 2013, against 160 000 in 2012 and 220 000 in 2011. Suzuki and Hyundai are the leading Indian exporters, but they also are steadily declining (due in particular to the transfer of the production of the Hyundai i10 and i20 from India to Turkey).

14-12-6  

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Some of the next VW Tiguan will be assembled in Hanover

Volkswagen, that already produces the Tiguan SUV (segment C) in Wolfsburg, will in the future assemble some of the next generation Tiguan in its Hanover plant (about 50 000 per year). This decision was taken to make better use of the production capacity of the Hanover plant, currently underused, while the Wolfsburg site is saturated.


The Hanover plant already produces the Transporter (T5) a commercial vehicle and a passenger car version (Kombi) as well as the Amarok a pick-up previously produced exclusively in Argentina.


In 2013, Volkswagen produced 226 000 Tiguan models in its factory in Wolfsburg, which also produces the Golf (500 000 units) and Touran (124 000 units), these three vehicles are part of segment C. The plant produced 850 000 vehicles last year, a production level equivalent to its total production capacity.


The Volkswagen Group has also decided to launch two SUVs from segment C marketed under the Seat and Skoda brands. The manufacturer chose the Skoda plant located in Kvasiny (Czech Republic) as a pilot production site for these two SUVs.


The future Seat and Skoda SUVs will be based on the common modular MQB platform of the German group, that is shared by the Volkswagen Golf, Seat Leon, Audi A3, Skoda Octavia and the future Volkswagen Tiguan.


14-12-3  

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