GM and PSA are reviewing their cooperation agreement
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- The GM Group announced that it was withdrawing from PSA capital, 7% of the shareholdings it owned have been sold to institutional investors. GM stated that this support for raising capital was no longer necessary since PSA is finalizing a capital increase.
- This decision follows the announcement of a change in the agreement that lied between GM and PSA concerning future projects.
- The projects that will be stopped : 1/ The future Opel Corsa will not use the segment B platform designed for the Peugeot 208 and Citroën C3, the Corsa will probably use the platform of a small Chevrolet. 2/ The future small gasoline engine manufactured by Opel will not share any manufactured parts with the equivalent PSA engine.
- The projects that will be pursued: 1/ The successor to the Opel Zafira built on a PSA segment C platform will be produced in the PSA Sochaux plant (France). 2/ The successor the Citroën C3 Picasso and Opel Meriva built on a PSA segment B platform will be produced in the GM plant of Zaragoza (Spain). 3/ GM and PSA will work together on a future segment B small commercial vehicle (Citroën Berlingo, Peugeot Partner, Opel Combo) that will be produced in Viseu (Portugal).
- GM and PSA insist on the more balanced nature of the terms of this new agreement that is no longer an equity partnership but focuses only on a technical collaboration between both groups.
Read more... GM and PSA are reviewing their cooperation agreement
Europe's 2014 new model launches
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World production per country for the first 9 months of 2013
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- The evolution of global automobile production (top 15 producing countries) between the first 9 months of 2012 and the first 9 months of 2013 reveals some significant changes.
- If the first eight countries remain the same from one year to the next, with China in first position, far ahead of the United States, Japan, Germany, South Korea, India, Brazil and Mexico. The ninth place this year is attributed to Thailand which has over taken Canada.
- Russia retains its eleventh place, the twelfth place this year is attributed to Spain that has overtaken France.
- Britain (fourteenth place) in 2013 remains closely behind France. The production of commercial vehicles has once again allowed France to stay ahead of the UK but the situation in coming months remain unsure. The arrival of the Renault Trafic and Nissan Primastar in Sandouville (France) should logically consolidate the volume of the French car production. This launch has been delayed several times and no one today knows exactly when it will be effective.
- In fifteenth position, Indonesia has overtaken the Czech Republic, this is proof that the countries of South East Asia (we saw above the good performance of Thailand) are booming, even more so than Eastern European countries that have made great
progress over the past decade.
Read more... World production per country for the first 9 months of 2013
South Africa currently has seven automobile plants
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- South Africa is the largest automobile market in the whole of Africa, with a volume of more than 600 000 vehicles registered in 2012 (more than 350 000 passenger cars).
- Automobile production is also very present with indeed seven factories producing more than 500 000 vehicles in 2012 (more than 300 000 passenger cars). Existing plants are: East London: Daimler; Isipingo: Toyota; Kempston Road: Isuzu; Rosslyn: BMW and Nissan; Silverton: Ford; Straundale: GM; Uitenhage: Volkswagen.
- Exports exceed 200 000 units per year (mainly to other countries in Africa, Europe and the United States) while imports do not exceed 100 000 units per year. The offset nature of this market compared to other regions of the world seems to explain this fact.
- The strike which affected the car industry in South Africa in September (demanding a wage increase of 14%) had a significant negative impact on exports and on vehicle sales on the local market. For this reason, the NAAMSA has lowered its forecasted passenger car production for 2013 from 340 000 units to 290 000 units.
Read more... South Africa currently has seven automobile plants
Compared evolution of carmakers’ production inside and outside Europe
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Read more... Compared evolution of carmakers’ production inside and outside Europe