BYD Seagull and Wuling Bingo attack the 100% electric B segment
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BYD Seagull and Wuling Bingo attack the 100% electric B segment
- In the first half of 2023, the Chinese carmaker BYD, specializing in 100% electric vehicles (BEV) and plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEV), experienced a spectacular growth on the PC (Passenger Cars) market. It quasi- doubled its sales while, over the same period, the sales of the former star of the market, the Wuling HongGuang Mini EV collapsed, due mainly to the decrease of incentives for buying these cars. While 426,482 units were sold in 2021 and 572,757 in 2022, sales of the Wuling HongGuang Mini EV did not exceed 39,829 units in the first half of 2023.
- Two new 100% electric models appearing in 2023 seem to have taken over part of the E-Wuling customer base: the Wuling Bingo and the BYD Seagull, four-door B-segment sedans (the HongGuang Mini EV was a two-door sedan of segment A) which collected 64,207 sales and 38,805 sales respectively, but over five months of marketing for the Bingo and only three months of marketing for the Seagull.
- The sales potential is therefore 155,000 units over the year 2023 for each of these two models, or 310,000 units together.
- If we add the sales potential of 90,000 units for the HongGuang Mini EV, we obtain a sales potential of 400,000 units per year, which represents the majority of sales of the HongGuang Mini EV in 2022 or 2023.
- This fact is interesting as the B segment is traditionally very weak in China. Bingo and Seagull will try to revive this segment in China, before a hypothetical export to Europe.
Tata Motors purchased the former Ford Indian plant
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Tata Motors purchased the former Ford Indian plant
- The Indian manufacturer Tata Motors (owner of the British brands Jaguar and Land Rover) owns its own brand in India, which markets passenger cars and utility vehicles, including heavy goods vehicles (Tata Motors is the largest producer of heavy goods vehicles of the region).
- Generally, Tata Motors produces about as many passenger cars as commercial vehicles, except that over the past two years, passenger car sales have grown significantly to account for 57% of Tata Motors' production in India in 2022, thanks to the success of its recent small SUVs Nexon and Punch. As a result, Tata Motors' factories reached saturation in 2022, with just over 900,000 vehicles produced in India for a production capacity set at 900,000 units per year. Given that Tata Motors expects further organic growth in 2023-2024, it has decided to buy Ford's Indian plant (located in Sanand), the American manufacturer having decided to withdraw from the Indian market two years ago. years. The Ford factory, which has a production capacity of 300,000 vehicles per year (this figure having been reached only once in 2017), will allow Tata Motors to rehire its staff and be able to produce 300,000 more vehicles from 2023-2024, or 1.2 million vehicles in total. This is both a good move for Tata Motors and Ford.
- The largest manufacturer in India remains Maruti-Suzuki which produced 1.9 million vehicles in 2022, ahead of Hyundai-Kia which produced just over 1.0 million units. Mahindra produced only 0.6 million vehicles last year.
Inovev plans 50,000 units in 2027 and 70,000 in 2030 of the new Renault Scenic E-Tech
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Inovev plans 50,000 units in 2027 and 70,000 in 2030 of the new Renault Scenic E-Tech
- Renault is gradually completing its 100% electric so-called E-Tech range. After the Megane E-Tech launched last year and the R5 E-Tech launched next year, here is the Scenic E-Tech presented at the 2023 Munich Motor Show which will be marketed in 2024.
- It is a C-segment SUV derived from the Megane E-Tech (it is therefore no longer a minivan like the Scenic marketed from 1996 to 2023). It will therefore take over the CMF-EV platform dedicated to 100% electric compact cars from the Renault group, as well as the electric motor and battery from the Megane E-Tech. Like it, the Scenic E-Tech will be manufactured on the French site of Douai (Hauts de France). Compared to the Megane E-Tech, it will be a bit like the ID4 is to the ID3 at Volkswagen.
- This 100% electric Renault Scenic will have to try to revive sales of a model which has seen its influence decline at great speed over the last twenty years, going from 350,000 units in 2005 to 150,000 in 2008, 100,000 in 2015 and 6,000 in 2022. Inovev expects production of 50,000 units in 2027 and 70,000 in 2030.
- The Scenic E-Tech measures 4.47 m long, 1.86 m wide and 1.57 m high, compared to 4.20 m, 1.86 m and 1.51 m for the Megane E-Tech. The wheelbase is 10 cm longer than that of the Megane E-Tech. The Scenic E-Tech engine is available in two power ratings: 125 kW (170 hp) and 160 kW (218 hp). The battery has a capacity of 60 kWh allowing a range of 420 km or a capacity of 87 kWh allowing a range of 610 km of range according to the WLTP cycle. In 2022, Renault produced 46,722 examples of its Megane E-Tech in Douai, which roughly corresponds to the manufacturer's objectives.
Ineos announces that it wants to produce 30,000 vehicles per year in Hambach
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Ineos announces that it wants to produce 30,000 vehicles per year in Hambach
- The Smart factory in Hambach (France) belonged to Mercedes since 1998. The German manufacturer decided to sell it when the project to install the 100% electric EQB model there was abandoned (it will ultimately be produced in Kecskemét in Hungary). The Smart Fortwo (thermal then 100% electric) which has been manufactured there since 1998 will cease production in April 2024. New, completely different and 100% electric Smarts are manufactured in China in a Geely factory located in Ningbo (Zhejiang), following an agreement between Mercedes and Geely (50/50 JV).
- The British firm Ineos bought the French Hambach factory from Mercedes in 2021. As a result, the Ineos Grenadier (a sort of old-generation Land Rover Defender) is manufactured on the same assembly lines as the 100% electric Smart Fortwo. The two models are however the opposite of each other, the Grenadier being a large SUV with a thermal engine measuring 4.90 m long, the Smart being a small coupe with a 100% electric engine measuring 2.70 m long.
- Even if Ineos has committed to taking over 1,300 jobs out of the 1,500 on the site, the production capacity of the Hambach factory has been set at 30,000 vehicles per year and no longer 150,000 per year as under the Mercedes era.
- Manufacturing of the Grenadier started in October 2022. Eight months later, the factory reached the end of the production ramp-up in one shift, or 75 vehicles per day (15,000 per year). In July 2023, it began setting up a second team with a goal of full capacity by the end of the year, i.e. 150 vehicles per day (30,000 per year).
- To date, 5,000 Grenadiers have been produced and the objective is to reach 15,000 units in 2023 and 30,000 in 2024.
Inovev plans 75,000 units per year of the new Smart #3
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Inovev plans 75,000 units per year of the new Smart #3
- Smart (a subsidiary of Mercedes and then of the 50-50 Mercedes-Geely JV) has started producing in China (Ningbo), at Geely, the new Smart #1 which is a 100% electric four-door segment B sedan measuring 4.27 m long, very different from the 100% electric two-door Smart Fortwo in segment A, 2.70 m long, which nevertheless continues to be produced in France (Hambach) until April 2024. As for the 100% electric Smart Forfour four doors of segment A of 3.50 m long, it ceased to be produced in 2022.The Smart #1 can be considered as its replacement.
- At the 2023 Munich Motor Show, Smart presented its new #3, 4.44 m long, which places it in the C segment. This model produced in China (Ningbo) will undoubtedly be more suited to the Chinese market which prefers C-segment cars to B-segment cars. On the other hand, in Europe, B-segment is still in high demand and competition is tough in C-segment. And the price of the Smart #3 will likely be quite high, as the price of #1 range from 40,000 to 45,000 euros depending on the version. In the best case, price should be set set in the range 45,000 to 50,000 euros. However, a Volkswagen ID4 is valued between 45,000 and 50,000 euros, and a higher segment Tesla Model 3 (D-segment) is purchased between 42,000 and 50,000 euros. A Renault Megane E-Tech costs 38,000 euros in its basic version. As for Chinese manufacturers, an MG 4 costs 30,000 euros in its basic version. The mission of the Smart #3 will be to revive the brand's production, which has fallen to 43,000 units in 2022, compared to 145,000 in 2016 and 123,000 in 2019. Inovev plans 75,000 units per year of the new Smart #3 produced in China.
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