The Ford F Series pickup was the most produced car in the USA in 2023
The USA (10.8 million passenger cars and light utility vehicles produced in 2023), the third largest producer in the world behind China and the EU, is a special case. The Ford F Series pick-up has been at the top of the light vehicle production (PC+LUV) carried out on United States soil for several decades and this model remains unattainable by any other. Remember that the F Series is available in several configurations and several sizes, but all versions are grouped together under the F Series name.
 
The Ram pick-up (the Ram brand was created in 2009 succeeding the Dodge Trucks brand belonging to Chrysler – 90% of vehicles produced are pick-ups) which is a competitor to the Ford F Series, in the same way as the Chevrolet Silverado or the GMC Sierra, is always in the top five places and even in the top three places since 2019. It reaches second place in 2023.
 
The Jeep Grand Cherokee is the third most produced model in 2023 in the United States. It is the first SUV in the ranking, behind two pick-ups, while in terms of sales the Toyota RAV4 is ahead of it. This is explained by the fact that the RAV4 is produced in Canada.
 
The Toyota Camry sedan is in fourth place. It is ahead of all its competitors, as it is the only sedan in the American Top 10, with the Tesla Model 3. It is ahead of the Toyota Model Y which is in fifth position and which overtakes the Model 3 for the first time and being now at the seventh position.
 
In sixth position, the Chevrolet Silverado pickup is far behind the Ford F Series and Ram pickup. The eighth, ninth and tenth places are occupied by SUVs: the Honda CRV, Jeep Wrangler and Ford Explorer. US production is therefore largely dominated by pick-ups and SUVs. The battery electric market is still in its early stages (7.7% of BEVs on the US market in 2023).
Germany produced 900,000 BEVs (passenger cars and light utility vehicles) in 2023
Germany quickly became the leading European producer of battery electric vehicles (BEV). This country produced 900,000 BEVs in 2023 compared to 600,000 in 2022. The most important contribution was the arrival of Tesla in 2022 which produced nearly 200,000 Model Y in 2023 compared to 50,000 in 2022. The 700,000 remaining electric vehicles are represented by models from the Volkswagen group (450,000 units) and far behind from BMW group (150,000 units) and Mercedes group (100,000 units).
 
Germany is well ahead of all other European countries when it comes to BEV production, as France and Spain only produced 165,000 and 155,000 units last year respectively. Note Inovev forecasts for France 500,000 vehicles in 2027 and 700,000 vehicles in 2030, meaning that French production in 2030 will be lower than Germany production in 2023.
 
Spain, which was supposed to become the leading European country producing BEVs in 2030, will probably not be, due to the probable increase in production capacities at the German Tesla factory in Gruenheide. Spain will be able to count on its Martorell plant planned for 500,000 BEVs per year (of the B-segment) and on its Zaragoza plant planned for 300,000 BEVs per year (also of the B-segment), but despite the contribution of these entry-level vehicles and the possibility of one day seeing the Chery group producing BEVs at the Barcelona site, it is unlikely to see Spain overtaking Germany as a BEV producer by 2030.
 
Behind Germany, France and Spain, the other countries remain modest (less than 100,000 BEVs per year except the Czech Republic which produced 120,000 last year). With the future establishment of BYD, Hungary will certainly increase its position in Europe.
Chinese carmakers sales in China over 12 months 2023 and 4 months 2024

Sales of passenger cars from Chinese carmakers by groups (20) and by brands (65) over 12 months 2023 and 4 months 2024
(JV and imports not included)

Nissan Europe product plan 2025-2028: the Sunderland plant concentrates the production of the best-selling Nissan models in Europe
The Japanese carmaker Nissan has only one remaining assembly plant in Europe, in Sunderland (England), since the Spanish plants in Barcelona and Avila, as well as the Russian one Saint Petersburg, were closed a few years ago. It is therefore on the Sunderland site that the best-selling Nissan models in Europe are produced, namely the Juke (B-segment SUV) and Qashqai (C-segment SUV) which last year achieved 75,000 sales and 140,000 sales respectively. These two models total 300,000 units produced in a factory which has a production capacity of 450,000 vehicles per year, thus representing two thirds of the factory's capacity in 2023. Nissan therefore intends to increase the production volume of this factory by focusing on electric technologies which will be mounted on the future Juke and Qashqai, in addition to the Leaf which was discontinued in March 2024 and will be renewed next year.
 
The Juke and Qashqai are currently only available in thermal, mild-hybrid (MHEV) or full-hybrid (HEV) versions, which means that there is no longer a battery electric version produced in Sunderland today.
 
AESC is increasing the capacity of its Sunderland factory to delivery battery cells for 250,000 BEVs per year, but the launch of battery electric vehicles in Nissan Sunderland plant will start from 2025 with the arrival of the future Leaf (2025), the future Juke (2026) then the future Qashqai (2027). However, the electric offensive of Nissan will begin next year with the launch of the future battery electric Micra based on the Renault 5 E-Tech and produced at the French Maubeuge site. Nissan therefore wants to sell 40% of battery electric vehicles in Europe in 2026 (compared to less than 10% in 2023). This is a very ambitious objective, practically unachievable. And Europe would thus be very far ahead of the rest of the world, since Nissan plans to sell only 20% of battery electric vehicles in regions outside Europe, including China.
French carmakers were the biggest beneficiaries from the new ecological bonuses in France
We observed in a previous Auto-Analysis that the end of ecological bonuses in France on cars imported from outside Europe at the end of 2023 had mainly impacted sales of the Dacia Spring which is imported from China, but also at a lower level, the Tesla Model 3 and MG imported from China. The other models suffered relatively less because their sales volume still remains low at the moment, notably BYD and other not yet known Chinese brands, as well as the Volvo EX30 imported from China with a relative success.
 
Which brands have benefited from the end of bonuses in France on cars imported from outside Europe at the end of 2023?
  • Even if the hypothesis saying that customers of cars imported from China might postponed their purchase for more than six months or shifted to the purchase of a thermal model, full (FHEV) or plug-in (PHEV) hybrids, what seems to be the most likely is that a good part of these customers have decided to purchase a battery electric vehicle (BEV) produced in Europe and therefore eligible for the ecological bonus.
  • In this case and in this case only, we can observe that six brands saw their BEV sales increase suddenly and significantly in France from January 2024: five brands of the Stellantis group (Peugeot, Fiat, Opel, Citroën, Jeep) and Renault, these six brands having been able to benefit from delayed purchases, initially planned for Chinese carmakers models, given that the French BEV market as a whole remained stable between January and April 2024.
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