Honda could withdraw from European market as Mitsubishi did

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Honda could withdraw from European market as Mitsubishi did
- Honda entered the European market in the 60s, and the Japanese brand immediately stood out for its attractive and dynamic small cars. The biggest success of the 70s was undoubtedly the Civic (C-segment) which continued to sell well in Europe until the 1990s. The peak of Civic sales was reached in 1997 with a volume of 145,000 sales in the year.

- Then the rise of SUVs such as the CRV and HRV affected Civic sales. The Accord (D-segment) and Jazz (B-segment) sedans have attempted to represent the brand at both ends of the range, but with very relative success.

- Honda's sales peak in Europe was reached in 2007, with 335,000 units divided into 135,000 Civic, 80,000 CRV, 70,000 Jazz, 30,000 Accord, 13,000 FRV and 7,000 HRV. The following years were disastrous as Honda sales in Europe continued to decline, dropping to 150,000 units in 2011, representing a drop of 55% in four years. Between 2011 and 2019, sales fell a further 33,000 units to 117,000 units, representing a further drop of 22% in eight years.

- For the past ten years, Honda has more focused its effort on the Chinese market (1,585,000 sales in 2019 against 1,000,000 in 2015) and the American one (1,610,000 sales in 2019 against 1,370,000 in 2015) than the European market. The Civic and CRV have no specific bodies for Europe anymore. The two Honda plants located in Europe will close in 2021. Honda's sales in Europe in 2019 are now lower than those of Mitsubishi, which has just decided to withdraw from the European market. Honda could therefore follow Mitsubishi's path and withdraw from the European market.


    
 

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Inovev forecasts 40,000 units per year of the new BMW 2 Series coupe

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Inovev forecasts 40,000 units per year of the new BMW 2 Series coupe

- After the recent renewal of the 8 Series and 4 Series coupes (the 6 Series having become a large five-door sedan), BMW is renewing the 2 Series coupe, which however looks a lot like the old one.


- Within the Series 2 range, the coupe (and the future convertible) remains the only one to adopt rear-wheel drive, since the Gran Coupé (which is in fact a five-door sedan) as well as the Active Tourer and Gran Tourer minivans adopted traction technology.


- BMW wanted to designed all of its coupes with propulsion, but it should be remembered that all 3 Series, 5 Series and 7 Series are also rear-wheel drive. The 2 Series Coupe uses a modified version of the platform “CLAR” also mounted on the 3 Series and 4 Series Coupe.


- The previous generation of the 2 Series coupe saw sales fall between 2017 and 2019, dropping from 62,000 units to 26,000 during this period. The new generation marketed from 2021 will therefore have to do a lot to boost sales of the model. Inovev is expecting a volume of 40,000 units per year (production in Leipzig) because the current trend is not to sporty coupes. It is indeed rather on SUVs, which account for almost half of sales, and of electric sedans, which will multiply over the next ten years.


- The new 2 Series Coupe will be powered by the 1,500 3-cylinder petrol, 2,000 4-cylinder petrol, 3,000 6-cylinder petrol and 2,000 4-cylinder diesel, i.e. the engines already fitted to the previous generation.



    
 

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The BAIC group will merge all its brands into one

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The BAIC group will merge all its brands into one
- The Chinese group BAIC, which is owned by the Beijing municipal government, is made up of many brands (excluding JVs), such as BAIC Changzhou Automotive, Beijing, BAW, BJEV, BeiqiFoton Motor, Borgward, Changhe, FotonGratour, Huansu and Weiwang.

- BAIC Group recently announced its decision to merge and rationalise all these brands into a single one: Beijing. This decision comes at a time when the BAIC group has been losing market shares in China for several years now, despite the (ephemeral) success of its electric cars (EU Series).

- The year 2019 ended with a sales volume of 953,000 units (including 404,950 passenger cars) compared to 1,078,000 units in 2018, 1,270,021 units in 2017 and 1,374,000 in 2016, the year when the BAIC group had achieved its best historical performance. The volume recorded in 2019 (-30% in three years) returned to the 2013 level, which is one of the worst results recorded by a Chinese carmaker.

- BAIC group management hopes that bringing all of its brands together under one Beijing logo will achieve significant economies of scale through rationalization of ranges, components and locations. This strategy involves the end of the Borgward brand (a subsidiary of BAIC) and above all of the BeiqiFoton heavy utility vehicle branch which generates more than half of the group's sales. Above all, it will be necessary to rebuild a coherent and rational range under the Beijing logo.


    
 

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PSA unveils a new platform for its C and D segment vehicles

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PSA unveils a new platform for its C and D segment vehicles
- The PSA group has unveiled its new eVMP platform, intended for models in the C and D segments, such as the Peugeot 308, Peugeot 3008, Peugeot 5008, Citroën C5 Aircross, Opel Astra, Opel Grandland, etc ... This platform is larger than the eCMP platform which is used on B segment models, such as the Peugeot 208, Peugeot 2008, Opel Corsa, Opel Mokka, etc. It is derived from the current EMP2 platform which it will gradually replace. Note that the new Citroën C4 (C-segment) presented in recent weeks, uses this eCMP platform and not the new eVMP platform because it was not ready during the development of the C4.

- These platforms, whether eCMP or eVMP, make it possible to equip all models with 100% electric engines, which goes in the direction of the announced generalization of electric motors in cars of all segments.

- The first models equipped with the new eVMP platform will be the future Peugeot 308 (2021), Opel Astra (2021), Citroën C5 (2021) and Peugeot 3008 (2023). The French group intends to offer, by 2025, a 100% electric version of all its models in all segments. This is the first time that the electric powertrain will appear at PSA in the C and D segments. It is an obvious answer to Volkswagen's electric models in the C-segment, such as the VWs ID3, ID4 and their equivalent from Seat and Skoda.

- PSA announces a range of 400 to 650 km (WLTP cycle) according to the models that will be equipped with the eVMP platform. Initially, PSA will be equipped with batteries supplied by CATL. In the future, the French group will source its batteries from Automotive Cell Company, a company created with Saft, a subsidiary of Total. The Douvrin plant could also switch to battery production.


    
 

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Sales of luxury brands boosted by SUVs

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Sales of luxury brands boosted by SUVs
- The luxury brands in 2020 are predominantly British and Italian. France, Germany and the United States have deserted this market, Japan and China have never really joined.

- Eight luxury brands represent 0.1% of the global automotive production, or nearly 75,000 units in 2019, broken down as follows: Maserati: 25,965 units, Bentley: 11,006 units, Ferrari: 10,131 units, Lamborghini: 8,205 units , Aston-Martin: 5,809 units, McLaren: 5,645 units, Rolls-Royce: 5,152 units, Lotus: 1,844 units.

- Porsche is an exception, due to its volumes (nearly 280,000 units in 2019), the German brand is almost a Premium carmaker, but the positioning of its products (and price) is situated well above the classic Premium brands, such as Mercedes, Audi, BMW or Volvo. That’s why we’re not including it in this ranking.

- What strikes the observer at first glance is that low-volume luxury brands have boosted their business with the sudden and late arrival of SUVs in their line-up.

- The Urus SUV of Lamborghini already represents more than half of the brand sales (5,000 units in 2019 out of 8,205 cars in total); the Bentley Bentayga and Rolls-Royce Cullinan SUVs represent a good part of the sales of both brands. At Maserati, the Levante SUV generates more than half of the brand's sales. As for Aston-Martin, production of its DBX SUV has just started in a brand new factory designed for this model. Ferrari, McLaren and Lotus are still reluctant to SUV, but for how long?


    
 

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  1. Mercedes to launch all-electric EQE (segment E) SUV in 2021
  2. World production by carmaker in the first half of 2020
  3. The global market (PC + LUV) fell by 26.2% in the first half of 2020
  4. Global production (PC + LCV) fell by 31.7% in the first half of 2020
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