Renault will launch the Duster pick-up in 2015
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- In South America, pickups represent nearly 75% of the LCV market, i.e. 900 000 vehicles in 2013, including more than 400 000 units in Brazil alone. The market is currently dominated by Fiat (see graph). The main manufacturing countries of this type of vehicle are the US (2 million pickups in 2013), Thailand (1.2 million units) and Mexico (700 000 units). Other regions, such as South America (500 000 units), Europe (40 000 units) and South Africa (40 000 units) produce pickups in smaller quantities.
- Presented at the Sao Paulo Auto Show (Brazil) under the form of a concept car, the Renault Duster pickup will be produced at Curitiba, Brazil, in 2015 and will be marketed in all of South America. The pickup market is growing in all regions of the world, particularly in emerging countries where the demand is strong (4.5 million in 2013).
- While in South America, Volkswagen produced the Saveiro and Amarok, Fiat-Chrysler the Strada, PSA the Hoggar, Renault currently doesn’t produce any pick-ups in this region. The Duster was chosen by Renault as a basis for the future pick-up, due to its average size, its great worldwide success (375 000 sales in 2013) and its low price. The Duster pickup will be sold in South America under the Renault brand, while it will use the Dacia badge in Europe, where it could be produced either in Morocco (Tangier) or Turkey (Bursa).
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Fiat will replace the Bravo by a range of compact vehicles produced in Turkey
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- Fiat will eventually replace the Bravo (whose production has just stopped in Italy) by a new range of compact models (segment C) to be manufactured no longer in Italy but in Bursa, Turkey, in the plant of his partner Tofas.
- According to the manufacturer, the new range launched in 2016 will include a five-door hatchback (successor to the Bravo). a 4-door sedan (which will succeed the Linea) and an estate (successor to the Stilo estate ended in 2008).
- The 4-door sedan should be sold on the markets of Central and Eastern Europe and in Turkey, as 4-door compact models have little success Western European markets.
- The range of compact Fiat models (whose name is still unknown) will be able to better compete with European leaders in this category, such as the Volkswagen Golf, Ford Focus, Opel Astra and Renault Megane.
- The objectives of the manufacturer are extremely ambitious since its target is of 500 000 cars produced per year on the site of Bursa. Yet the plant operated only at a rate of at 230 000 units in 2014 (against 260 000 in 2013), mainly Linea models, Doblo models, Fiorino models and derivatives of Peugeot, Citroen and Opel. with a capacity of 400 000 units per year. The capacity ought to be increased if the success of these models is reached, which is unrealistic, given the failure of past attempts of Fiat (see graph below) and the competition from models already present and well established in segment C.
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Read more... Fiat will replace the Bravo by a range of compact vehicles produced in Turkey
PC production is more evenly distributed in China than in Europe
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Read more... PC production is more evenly distributed in China than in Europe
The most produced car in France since 2012 is the Toyota Yaris
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- Automotive brands currently produced in France are Renault, Peugeot, Citroen, Toyota, Smart and at a smaller scale Fiat (Scudo), Mercedes (Citan), Opel (Movano) and Nissan (NV400).
- If Renault and PSA are the primary producers in France, it is the Toyota Yaris which has become since 2012 to the most manufactured model in the country. This model from segment B produced in northern France and sold at nearly 200 000 units per year in Europe benefited from a refit late 2011, the enthusiasm for its hybrid version (30% of sales) and the beginning of its exports to the US, has made the Yaris a leader, but it also has this title due to factors inherent to French manufacturers themselves.
- Firstly, the progressive transfer to countries in Eastern Europe of the Renault Clio and Peugeot 208, the best-selling cars in France. Then the decline of the Renault Scenic, a victim of the growing loss of interest for compact MPVs. Finally, the change of generation of a model with large sales volume is always followed by a transition period. In 2013, the Peugeot 308 went through a transition period with the launch phase of its new generation.
- On the other hand, we can observe that the Citroen C3 resisted well, since this model has not (yet) been relocated and it benefited from a restyling in 2013. One can also observe the strong increase of the Peugeot 2008 a mini-SUV made in France (while its rival Renault Captur is produced in Spain).
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Read more... The most produced car in France since 2012 is the Toyota Yaris
Relaunch of the Renault-Samsung plant in Korea
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- Renault-Samsung only has one plant which is located in South Korea, Pusan, established in the 90s. This plant has a capacity of 300 000 vehicles per year, currently its utilization rate is only just over 40% of its capacity, due to the failure of its various models (the sedans SM3, SM5, SM7 and SUV-QM5), some of which were even exported to China. It therefore has largely underutilized capacity.
- On the other hand, the Nissan Rogue sold in the United States was transferred from Japan to the US late 2013 (Smyrna plant), due to the high volume of sales on this market (200 000 units forecasted for 2014, against 163 000 units in 2013 and 142 000 in 2012). Since 2013, the Rogue is actually the US name of the X-Trail sold in Europe.
- The capacity of the Smyrna plant being saturated while those of Pusan are underutilized, Renault-Nissan management has decided to add in August 2014 50 000 Rogue to the Korean factory assembly lines.
- This decision allows us to anticipate the sales growth of the Rogue in the US market to 250 000 units per year. Therefore, the Pusan plant will recover production levels more in line with its capacity of around 170 000 in 2014 and 220 000 in 2015 (against 130 000 in 2013).
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