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Published: 15 March 2022

• Production

Utilization rate of European factories in 2021

- The year 2021 was even more catastrophic than the year 2020 as far as European car production is concerned, since it still lost 4% of its volume last year while the year 2020 ended in a 25% drop in production in Europe. These successive declines were caused, it should be remembered, by the consequences caused by the coronavirus (in 2020) and by the semiconductor crisis (in 2021). As a result, the utilization rate of European factories continued to decrease in 2021, falling from 83% in 2019 to 63% in 2020 and 60% in 2021. European factories therefore operated at almost half of their capacity last year. This is the lowest figure for twenty years. Given that the production forecasts are not very optimistic for the decade, since Inovev forecasts a volume of no more than 15.4 million units in 2030, (compared to 18.0 million in 2019, 13.4 million in 2020 and 13.0 million in 2021), manufacturers will have every interest in reducing the capacity of their factories or closing several of their factories while maintaining more or less the production capacity of the other existing factories.

- Manufacturers that managed to maintain high plant utilization rates in 2021 were Hyundai-Kia, Geely (Volvo in Europe) and Suzuki. Those that recorded a low utilization rate were Stellantis, Renault-Nissan, Ford and Tata Motors (Jaguar Land-Rover).

- The Vigo plant produced as many vehicles as the Wolfsburg plant in 2021, with the German plant operating at only 55% capacity last year, severely affecting production of the Volkswagen Golf (less of 250,000 copies manufactured).

- By country, France, Poland, Great Britain, Germany and Italy have the lowest utilization rates of their factories in 2021, between 50% and 54% only. The countries which presented the highest rate were Portugal, Hungary, Romania and Sweden, but their production volume remains relatively low compared to the major producing countries.

    

 

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Published: 15 March 2022

• Registrations
• SAIC

MG expands its European range with the 100% electric MG5 station wagon

- In 2021, the Chinese manufacturer MG (ex-British brand acquired by SAIC in 2006) sold a volume of 50,000 cars in Europe, including 30,000 in the United Kingdom, its historic market. MG is already the biggest importer of cars from China, with its ZS (100% electric), EHS (plug-in hybrid) and Marvel R (100% electric) models. Remember that the Marvel R comes from the Roewe range (the former Rover) which is part of the same Chinese group (SAIC) as MG, hence the letter R affixed to its name. MG is expanding its European range in 2022 by introducing the 100% electric MG5 station wagon to this market, currently distributed only in the United Kingdom (5,000 sales in 2021).

- The MG5 station wagon is a C-segment model, a direct competitor to the British-made Toyota Corolla station wagon. 4.60 m long, it is marketed at a price of between 32,500 and 37,000 euros, the price of a Renault Zoe.

- The new model is offered with a choice of 50 kWh or 61 kWh battery, which allows a range of 320 km or 400 km depending on the WLTP cycle, thanks to a 156 hp or 177 hp electric motor.

- According to Inovev, the MG5 station wagon could sell 10,000 copies per year in Europe from 2023.

- It is instructive to observe on the graph the periodicity of MG deliveries in Europe, a little on the Tesla model. Indeed, MG deliveries peak in March, June and September each year.

- Inovev does not see any industrial establishment of MG in Europe by 2025.

    

 

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Published: 15 March 2022

• Production
• GMHyundai-Kia
• USA

GM is bringing the Chevrolet Malibu back to production in North America

- The GM group had decided in 2020 to stop the production of all its American sedans of the Chevrolet and Cadillac brands (Buick no longer manufactures sedans in North America since 2019). The last sedan to be discontinued in North America was the Chevrolet Malibu, a mid-range car that had been very successful from the 1960s onwards and arguably didn't deserve to be retired, despite plummeting sales in 2019, 2020 and 2021.

- The Chevrolet Malibu was therefore discontinued in North America in February 2021, which caused a shift in customers not to SUVs from the various brands of the GM group but to equivalent sedans from Japanese and Korean brands. This transfer of customers therefore resulted in an increase in sales of Japanese and Korean sedans in North America and a general decline in GM sales in this region. Toyota overtook GM in the US market for the first time in 90 years.

- In total, GM's sales fell from 6.5 million to 6.0 million units worldwide from 2020 to 2021, while Toyota's increased from 9.4 million to 10.3 million in the same time, the Japanese manufacturer having also benefited from the discontinuation of Ford sedans in North America (the Ford group went from 4.2 million to 3.7 million sales worldwide from 2020 to 2021).

- Aware of this situation, the GM group put its Chevrolet Malibu back into production in North America in November 2021. Sales have resumed since the start of 2022.

    

 

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Published: 15 March 2022

• Production
• Germany
• Tesla

Tesla allowed to start car production at its Berlin site

- The Californian manufacturer Tesla, which produced nearly a million electric cars last year (in the United States and China), has been authorized by the authorities of Brandenburg (Germany) to start car production at its new site in Berlin.

- This electric vehicle assembly site calibrated for 250,000 and then 500,000 units per year should have started last summer, but Tesla lacked a final building permit, which has just been validated. The manufacturer had made the bet to launch the work of its factory on the basis of provisional authorizations. It is also possible that Volkswagen, BMW and Mercedes have done their utmost to extend the deadline for Tesla to comply with the German administration, because the Californian manufacturer is their direct competitor in the field of electric vehicles.

- However, it seems that the start of the Tesla factory in Berlin is good news for the German auto industry, as the quantities manufactured here will be added to the existing quantities, especially since Tesla will export its cars all over the world. Europe (which will also relieve the Tesla factory in Fremont in the USA).

- The first models manufactured in Berlin will be the Tesla Model Y (the manufacturer thinks it will be able to sell 150,000 copies per year in the first years and then double this figure after 2025) whose demand is exploding in Europe. In 2021, Tesla sold 135,000 Model 3s and 30,000 Model Ys in Europe. The Californian manufacturer plans to manufacture a giant battery factory near the Berlin site, in order to directly supply the models produced in the assembly plant.

    

 

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