Mercedes launches the GLA its compact SUV (segment C)
- Details
- Mercedes is launching its segment C SUV named the GLA, based on the recent Class A. With a length of 4.41 meters (against 4.29 m for the Class A), it is positioned between the Audi Q3 (4.38 m ) and the BMW X1 (4.45 m), its two main competitors.
- Once the leading manufacturer of premium cars, Mercedes has gradually fell behind BMW and Audi in terms of sales, probably due to a lack of responsiveness and opportunism. Since the launch of the A-Class in 2012, Mercedes has been attempting to rejuvenate and diversify its range, which so far is successful as the A-Class has seduced 55% of customers who did not previously drive a Mercedes (Source : Daimler). In addition, this model has rejuvenated the brand's customers by almost 10 years. In 2013, Mercedes bridged part of the cleavage with BMW and Audi with global sales up by nearly 8%. Now, its C segment range (Class A, Class B and CLA) represents 45% of its global sales.
- With the GLA SUV, Mercedes drives the nail in and is able to complete the bottom of its SUV range that already consists of the G-Class GL-Class GLK-Class and ML-Class. The GLA will be offered at a price starting at 39 000 euros. Its engines will be identical to those of the Class and CLA models. It will be produced in the Rastatt plant in Germany, alongside the Class A and Class B, and not in the Kecskemét plant in Hungary, as the manufacturer originally planned.
Read more... Mercedes launches the GLA its compact SUV (segment C)
The Saudi car market has taken off since 2011
- Details
The Renault plant in Batilly will run at nearly 100% of its production capacity in 2014
- Details
Read more... The Renault plant in Batilly will run at nearly 100% of its production capacity in 2014
Is the end of Lancia coming soon?
- Details
- A single model was presented on the Lancia booth at the 2014 Geneva Motor Show : the Ypsilon. The rest of the range was absent (Delta, Flavia, Thema, Voyager). This is the first time that the stand of the Italian firm was so empty. Is this a herald of the end of the brand?
- The leadership of the Fiat-Chrysler Group has recently stated that the Lancia brand would now be reserved for Italy and will market a single model. A brand with a single model in a single country, this means the group is killing the brand softly. Autobianchi met the same fate in the 90s.
- After the takeover of Chrysler by Fiat in 2010, they decided to remove the Chrysler brand in Europe and replace it by Lancia, they did it by renaming its models : the 200 (Flavia), 300 (Thema) and Voyager (Voyager). The expected success was not met and the sale figures of the renamed Chryslers under the Lancia name became confidential.
- In the groups brand management , Fiat has always struggled to have the Alfa and Lancia brands coexist, both brands have a premium positioning with little differentiation. And these two brands weren't a match for German brands such as Audi, BMW and Mercedes who have developed and diversified themselves. Especially as the Fiat-Chrysler group is now boosting the Maserati brand. Under these conditions, wedged between the Alfa brand and German brands on the one hand, and the Maserati brand on the other, Lancia has no more significance on the world market.
32% overcapacity in Europe in 2013 (against 31% in 2012)
- Details
- The utilization rate of car plants in Europe (Russia and Turkey included) continued to decline in 2013, but less strongly than in 2012. This rate fell to 68% instead of 69% in 2012 and had reached 75% in 2011, which is the lowest in the decade after that of 2009, which did not exceed 62%. Overcapacity in Europe therefore reached 32% in 2013 against 31% in 2012 and 25% in 2011. The best result of the decade was reached in 2007 with only 15% overcapacity.
- It is the further decline in automobile production in Europe in 2013 (-5%), which worsened the situation last year, despite several plant closures in recent years, Ford (Southampton), PSA (Aulnay), Mitsubishi (Born), Opel (Antwerp), SAAB (Trollhättan), Fiat (Termini), which offset the decline. In 2014, the closure of the plants of Bochum and Genk and the expected recovery in the European market should reduce overcapacity in Europe by 1% to 2%.
- Carmakers are not all in the same boat. While general manufacturers GM, PSA, Renault-Nissan, Honda and Fiat-Chrysler reduced their production rates last year, premium manufacturers BMW, Tata Motors (Jaguar -Land Rover) and Daimler increased theirs. These three manufacturers are also those with the best utilization rate of their plants in Europe (over 80%), ahead of the Volkswagen group, Hyundai-Kia and Geely (Volvo) that recorded utilization rates between 75% and 80%.
Read more... 32% overcapacity in Europe in 2013 (against 31% in 2012)