Category Blog

Details: Published: 06 September 2022

The Romanian market has fallen 77% since 2007

- The Romanianmotorvehiclemarketis one of the marketsthat has experienced the greatestdecline in Europe since the 2008 financialcrisis. This marketdid in fact go from 313 000 sales of new cars in 2007 to 71 000 units in 2012, amounting to a 77% drop in sales over a five-yearperiod.

- The economiccontext has gone hand in hand with a massive influx of second-hand vehiclesfromotherEuropean countries which has greatlydestabilised the new vehiclesmarket as a whole, along the samelines as whathappened in Poland in the early 2000s (whenthatmarketexperienced a 50% decline over just a few years).

- The Romanianmarketthusfell in 2012 to a levelachieved 11 yearsbefore,cancelling out the spectaculargrowthexperiencedfrom 2003-2007, when the markettripled.

- 2013-2017 shouldwitness a slow reversal in the trend resulting in a climb to a level of 100 000 sales of new cars in 2017,althoughRomania'svehicleownership rate continues to below (lessthan 200 vehicles per 1 000 head of population).

Data source: File #55 - Registrations in the world by makes

Details: Published: 06 September 2022

The Greek market has plummeted 80% since 2007

- The Greek market is the one that has fallen the most in Europe since the 2008 financial crisis. This market has in fact gone from 280 000 sales of new cars in 2007 to just 58 000 units in 2012, amounting to an 80% fall in sales over a 5-year period.

- Greece's economic context has played a predominant role in the downturn in the motor vehicle market.

- Thus, in 2012, the Greek market fell back down to the level it reached in the 1960s, cancelling out the spectacular growth experienced in the 1990s, when the market reached a peak of 300 000 units per annum.

- All of the manufacturers have been adversely affected, even though the VW Group is managing to stand out from the pack.

- It is still difficult to make forecasts for the years 2013-2017 given the depth of the economic malaise, but for the time being, a reversal in the trend is not envisaged. The Greek market again fell 21% in February 2013 (compared to February 2012).

Data source: File #55 - Registrations in the world by makes

Details: Published: 06 September 2022

The new Suzuki SX4 has changed segments

- At Suzuki, everyone was expecting a new crossover that would fill the gap between the small SX4 and the Grand Vitara, and which would be based on the S-Cross Concept thatwaspresentedat the Paris World Motor Show in October 2012. But contrary to all expectations, it was ultimately the replacement of the SX4 which was unveiled in Geneva.

- This model has undergone a substantial increase in its dimensions; sufficient in any case to change categories, passing from the B segment to the C segment: it is now 4.30 metres long (as opposed to 4.14 metres on the old model). Consequently, the new Suzuki SX4 is closer to the Nissan Qashqai (C segment) in terms of dimensions (4.32 metres long), which it is the new competitor of, whilstat the same time remaining a long way off the dimensions of the Suzuki Grand Vitara (4.47 metres long).

- Thus the Suzuki SX4 has joined a segment which is also very competitive, and which features the Nissan Qashqai, the VW Tiguan, the Toyota Rav-4, the Peugeot 3008, the Ford Kuga, the Kia Sportage, the Hyundai Ix35, the Chevrolet Captiva, and the Opel Antara.

- It should be noted that the new Suzuki SX4 (which is still produced in Hungary at the Esztergom plant) will no longer be available in a relabelled Fiat Sedici version, as the Italian manufacturer has decided to start from scratch in order to design its new 500 X compact crossover.

Data source: File #10 - Start of Production (SOP) of new and modified vehicles in Europe

Details: Published: 06 September 2022

FAW wants to limit the expansion of foreign manufacturers in China

- Under the framework of the ChinesePeople'sPolitical Consultative Conference, Mr Li Weidou, the Imports and Exports Manager for the FAW Group (one of the threelargestChinesemanufacturing and assemblyfirms), has called for limiting the expansion and establishment of new foreign production capacities in China.

- Currently, foreignmanufacturersconstitute 70% of the private cars market and new manufacturers not yetestablished in China want to create joint ventures there (for example Renault withDongFeng)sotheycanproducetens of thousands of vehiclesthere.

- The new brands created over the last few years by Chinesemanufacturers have not been as successful as wasanticipated, and Mr Li Weidouthinksthat the profusion of brands iscreating a feeling of perplexityamongcustomerswhichmaybeproviding long-established brands with an advantage.

- Moreover, the increase in the capacities of foreignmanufacturers in China wouldoccurat the expense of 100% Chinesemanufacturers,who have more limitedfinancialresourceswhenitcomes to taking action on the samelevel.

- Mr Li Weidoualsocalled for stricterimplementation of the regulationlimiting the number of local partnersthat a foreign manufacturer may have to two.

Data source:File #104 - Worldwide production by makers and country

Details: Published: 06 September 2022

The return to grace of Japanese compact estate cars

- A few weeksapart, Toyota and Honda have unveiled their first compact estate cars in a decade. The Toyota Auris and Honda Civic estates mark the return to grace of estates in this category, as both Japanese manufacturers had gradually abandoned them, with the preceding generations of the Auris and Civic not having estate car versions.

- For a long time, estate cars' market share accounted for approximately 15% of the European market,with major disparities depending on the cars' segmentation. The A and B segments had few saloon cars, whereas for the D and E segments, saloons accounted for nearlyhalf of sales. The C segment was in-between these two trends, with saloon car versions accounting for 20 to 30% of sales.

- Over the last twelve years, estate cars have faced increasing competition from MPVs, and then more recently from SUVs and crossovers. Nowadays, estate cars still constitutes lightly more than 13% of sales on the European market, which is encouraging certain manufacturers to relaunch this vehicle body type, like Honda and Toyota at the latest Geneva motor show.