Honda and Sony team up to design electric cars
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Honda and Sony team up to design electric cars
- Japanese manufacturer Honda (the world's seventh-largest automaker) is teaming up with Japanese company Sony to jointly design electric vehicles. Honda, which is lagging behind in electrification compared to brands like Tesla, Volkswagen or Renault, is apparently in the process of completely reviewing its strategy in the field of electrification of its range. Today, only the Honda E represents the BEV segment at the manufacturer, but it is not a success, since the model has not exceeded 12,000 sales in its two years of existence and the fuel cell Clarity has been abandoned. Electrification at Honda mainly takes the form of hybrids on the Civic, Insight, CRV, HRV and Jazz mainly.
- Sony having introduced several electric models over the past two years seems to have interested Honda. Through the creation of a joint venture later this year, Honda seems set to produce and sell electric vehicles designed with the help of Sony. Honda announces the marketing of a first model resulting from this association in 2025. The objective of the Japanese manufacturer is to offer only 100% electric vehicles in 2040.
- The prototypes presented by Sony over the past two years were based on platforms supplied by the Austrian equipment manufacturer Magna, but future models designed with Honda will be equipped with Honda platforms. In the new joint venture, everyone will bring their own skills. Honda has mastery of the basic automotive trades (structure, chassis, comfort, safety, sales and after-sales) and Sony will bring its know-how in technologies which are becoming increasingly important in the automotive world (communication , network, sensors, information and entertainment).
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The situation of Renault in Russia
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The situation of Renault in Russia
- Renault announced that it was suspending industrial activity at its Moscow plant in Russia, shortly after Stellantis announced for Kaluga plant and Volkswagen for Kaluga and Nizhni-Novgorod ones. The Renault group is very present in Russia, as it produced and sold nearly 500,000 vehicles there in 2021, including 358,000 Lada branded cars (brand of Avtovaz in which Renault holds 67.7% of the shares) and 135,000 Renault branded cars (mainly derived from Dacia). Ladas are produced in two factories that have been completely renovated by Renault: Togliatti (historic site of the Lada brand) and Izhevsk (formerly linked to Hyundai). Renaults models are produced in two factories: Togliatti and Moscow (formerly Avtoframos, a distant descendant of the Moskvitch brand).
- These factories (Togliatti, Izhevsk, Moscow) therefore produced nearly 500,000 vehicles last year, including nearly 300,000 in Togliatti, 100,000 in Izhevsk and 100,000 in Moscow.
- For Renault, Russia represents its second largest global market and its second global industrial location. This represents almost 20% of its sales and production volume worldwide. The idea of a complete shutdown of Renault's activities in Russia therefore seems very hypothetical.
- As for Nissan and Mitsubishi, which are members of Renault-Nissan group in Russia and around the world, nothing has been announced until today. These two brands have been producing and selling in Russia less than 100,000 vehicles per year since 2020, which puts their position in this country in perspective compared to Renault. Any departure of European manufacturers from the Russian market represents an opportunity for players such as Chinese manufacturers, who could regain their market share.
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Citroën announces a 100% electric range in 2030
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Citroën announces a 100% electric range in 2030
- After the Stellantis group's successive announcements on the transition of each of its brands from the internal combustion engine to 100% electric, the manufacturer announced the strategy of the Citroën brand on this subject, this brand having been the last not yet to be entitled to this type of ad. Let us recall the various decisions relating to total electrification which have been taken successively for the other brands: Abarth in 2024, DS in 2024, Maserati in 2025, Lancia in 2026, Alfa-Roméo in 2027, Fiat in 2027, Opel in 2028, Chrysler in 2028 and Peugeot in 2030.
- There was therefore still an inaccuracy concerning Citroën. Today, this imprecision is no longer appropriate because the Stellantis group has just announced that the Citroën brand will in turn go all-electric in 2030 in Europe.
- The Citroën range today consists of the C3, C3 Aircross, C4, e-C4, C5 X, C5 Aircross and C4 SpaceTourer at the very end of their career. The C1 was phased out last summer, along with the Peugeot 108, ending A-segment cars at both brands. The next generations of Citroëns launched on the European market will all be plug-in hybrids or 100% electric. The C4 X are thus planned in 2022, the new C3 and e-C3 (CC21) in 2023 and C3 Aircross and e-C3 Aircross (CC24) in 2024, then the new C5 Aircross and e-C5 Aircross (CR3) in 2025 The C4 should be replaced in 2027 by a new, 100% electric generation (e-C4). The C5 X will not be replaced (nor the C4 SpaceTourer) because Stellantis wants to make Citroën its entry-level brand (with however an entry at segment B level and not segment A).
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What could be the economic impacts of the war in Ukraine?
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What could be the economic impacts of the war in Ukraine?
- The automotive industry, which is currently trying to cope with the shortage of semiconductors, is now affected by a new disruption in the supply of automotive components, this time from Ukraine, following the invasion of this country by Russia. European car manufacturers are and will be the most affected by this supply disruption, as they are the ones who source the most from Ukraine.
- Ukraine produces in particular electrical wiring harnesses for several manufacturers including Volkswagen and BMW, aluminum as well as palladium and nickel essential in catalytic converters and batteries for electric vehicles. The embargo against Russia will also disrupt the supply of natural gas and oil to Europe, which will have serious consequences on the price of these products. Russia also supplies 40% of palladium globally.
- The manufacturers most affected today are the German manufacturers who produce in Germany and Central Europe, and source various components from Ukraine.
- The impacts of the war in Ukraine will be many and multiple, and may create a recession comparable to that which emerged after the first oil shock of 1973-1974. Even if the war ends quickly, the repercussions will continue for a long time, once again highlighting the need to relocate component production to Europe when possible. Soaring oil and commodity prices can only create a significant drop in vehicle sales in Europe. The risk of nationalization of foreign factories in Russia is also a fact to be taken into account.
- Contrary to the American manufacturers GM and Ford, which recently left Russia, the European manufacturers did not take into account the situation of tension which could exist between Ukraine and Russia, and therefore the risks involved, which poses in particular the problem of the viability of Renault's investment in Russia (with the takeover of Lada).
- The European automotive industry could also see its costs increase sharply, due to the rise in the price of raw materials and the change in certain sources of supply. The competitiveness of the European automotive industry could therefore decline, which will make the European market increasingly vulnerable to Chinese manufacturers who offer less expensive vehicles for the same service. China can take advantage of this situation, especially since the European automotive industry was already under attack from the forced reorientation towards electric motorization, the instability of regulations, traffic restrictions and tax pressure. The supply focused on high-priced vehicles does not meet the share of demand for more affordable vehicles.
- The European Commission and car manufacturers were on their way to turning the automobile into something less popular, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine could make it even more exclusive, thus favoring the opportunity for a greater breakthrough and more fast from Chinese manufacturers. These – less impacted by supply disruptions than European manufacturers – are indeed able to meet demand that is difficult to satisfy in Europe, due to a lack of sufficient production volumes for affordable vehicles.
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Stellantis suspends activities at its Russian plant in Kaluga
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Stellantis suspends activities at its Russian plant in Kaluga
- After trying to make the most of its Russian site in Kaluga for a dozen years, in which the production volume has always remained extremely low compared to forecasts and compared to the installed production capacity (125,000 vehicles per year including 62,500 for Stellantis and 62,500 for Mitsubishi), the Stellantis group decided to stop manufacturing vehicles in this plant. The production volume of the Kaluga plant had never reached 40,000 units on behalf of Stellantis and instead settled around 5,000 units per year on average, the best years having been the first years of activity (2011, 2012). The reason for the modest production was the low sales of Citroën and Peugeot models in the Russian market (all Kaluga production was intended for the Russian market). The addition of Opel models after the takeover of this brand by PSA brought almost nothing to the whole. The Kaluga plant therefore seemed doomed for several years, especially since Mitsubishi (a partner on this site) could withdraw at any time, due to its membership of the Renault-Nissan group, which already has vast production capacities in Russia. The project to manufacture new utilities on the Kalouga site has become null and void. These vehicles will ultimately be manufactured in Western Europe (Valenciennes, Vigo, Ellesmere Port).
- The Russian invasion in Ukraine is undoubtedly a good pretext for Stellantis to stop its (modest) activities on the Russian site of Kaluga. This decision is in line with the economic sanctions decreed by the European Union and the United States.
- In addition to stopping production in Kaluga, the Stellantis group has announced that it is suspending its import-export activity with Russia, which means that Stellantis is leaving the Russian market, as GM and Ford did several years ago.
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Read more... Stellantis suspends activities at its Russian plant in Kaluga
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