Stellantis sells its shares in three of its Chinese plants and creates a JV with Leapmotor
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Stellantis sells its shares in three of its Chinese plants and creates a JV with Leapmotor
- The Stellantis group announced that it would acquire 20% of the Chinese carmaker Leapmotor with the aim of creating a JV owned at 51% by Stellantis and 49% by Leapmotor and which will sell the Chinese brand's models internationally. i.e. in global markets outside of China.
- Leapmotor is one of the Chinese brands recently created to invest in the battery electric vehicle market. Leapmotor's current range consists of three models, an A-segment sedan (T03), an E-segment sedan (C01) and a D-segment SUV (C11) but the carmaker's range is expected to expand over the coming months and the coming years, just like other Chinese carmakers specialized in battery electric vehicles (BEVs). In 2022, Leapmotor sold 111,168 BEVs in China, compared to 44,378 in 2021 and 11,391 in 2020. In 2023, Leapmotor should sell between 120,000 and 125,000 units. The carmaker's sales outside China have so far been nearly inexistent (223 units in Europe over the first 9 months of 2023).
- Stellantis, which sold only 129,088 vehicles in China in 2022, sold nearly 6 million vehicles in the rest of the world. Euro-Ameican carmaker no longer has any illusions about its presence on the Chinese market as it has just sold three of its share in plants located in China to Dongfeng (Wuhan, Chengdu, Xiangyang), its historical Chinese partner. The new joint venture created with Leapmotor will allow Stellantis to import this brand's models or produce them anywhere in the world. At the international level, it is a new brand which is added to the 14 currently active at Stellantis.
Stellantis wants to become the world leader of utility vehicles
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Stellantis wants to become the world leader of utility vehicles
- The Stellantis group, which is already the European leader of the light utility vehicles market (vans with an empty weight of between 1.5 tones and 3.5 tones) ahead of the Ford and Renault groups, announced that it also wanted to become the world leader in this category.
- Today, the world leader of the light utility vehicles market is the Ford group, which benefits from this leading position thanks mainly to its large F Series pick-up which is sold at nearly 700 000 units per year (until 3,5 tones). The Stellantis group is second and the Toyota group third, also thanks mainly to their respective Ram pick-up and Toyota Hilux pick-up.
- In 2023, Ford will sell just over 1,7 million light utility vehicles (including nearly 700 000 F Series), while Stellantis is just behind will 1.7 million units (including nearly 700 000 Ram pick-ups) and Toyota 1.4 million (including nearly 0.7 million Hilux pick-ups).
- Note that in 2021, the Stellantis group had already managed to be the world's leading carmaker of light utility vehicles, but the Ford group has overtaken it again in 2022. It is therefore the objective for Stellantis to regain this first place in the world .
- A few number of LUVs separate Stellantis from Ford in 2023 and it will not be difficult for the Euro-American group to catch up with Ford, given that we should count on a possible decline of Ford. Let us recall here the current composition of the Stellantis LUV range excluding pick-ups: Citroën Berlingo, Citroën Jumpy, Citroën Jumper, Fiat Doblo, Fiat Scudo, Fiat Ducato, Opel Combo, Opel Vivaro, Opel Movano, Peugeot Partner, Peugeot Expert, Peugeot Boxer, models based on only three bodies of different segments (N1-1, N1-2, N1-3).
BEVs represent 16% of the European market over 9 months 2023
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BEVs represent 16% of the European market over 9 months 2023
- Sales of battery electric vehicles (BEV) have been growing continuously in Europe (EU + UK + Switzerland + Norway) for around ten years. If we take the last three years as a reference, we observe that the share of BEVs sold in Europe increased from 6% over the first 9 months of 2020 to 7% over the first 9 months of 2021, then the growth accelerates with 12% over the first 9 months of 2022 and 16% over the first 9 months of 2023 (23% in China).
- Plug-in hybrid cars (PHEV) increased from 5% over the first 9 months of 2020 to 8% over the first 9 months of 2021 then 9% over the first 9 months of 2022, but we observe a decline to 7% over the first 9 months of 2023.
- Full-hybrids (HEV) increased from 4% over the first 9 months of 2020 to 6% over the first 9 months of 2021, then 7% over the first 9 months of 2022 and 8% over the 9 first months of 2023.
- Mild-hybrid hybrids (MHEV) increased from 9% over the first 9 months of 2020 to 16% over the first 9 months of 2021, then 17% over the first 9 months of 2022 and 19% over the first 9 months of 2023.
- If we combine these four alternative engines, we obtain just 50% market share in Europe over the first 9 months of 2023 compared to 24% over the first 9 months of 2020, i.e. a doubling of the market share in four years.
- Gasoline and diesel engines without any hybridisation therefore still represent 50% of the European PC market but diesel only represents 13% of the market over the first 9 months of 2023 compared to 27% over the first 9 months of 2020.
Mitsubishi sells its Chinese plant to GAC which will produce there Aion models
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Mitsubishi sells its Chinese plant to GAC which will produce there Aion models
- Mitsubishi Motors (a subsidiary of the Nissan group) sold its Chinese plant which was in a joint venture with the Chinese carmaker GAC (Guangzhou Automobile Group) after stopping its production in China in March 2023, due to low and declining sales. Mitsubishi created the joint venture with GAC in 2012, but the Japanese carmaker was never able to establish itself on the Chinese market. Mitsubishi had only sold 12,000 cars in China in 2023 compared to 144,000 in 2018. It was the carmaker GAC which took over entirely the Changsha (Hunan) plant due to the strong demand for Aion brand models, this brand of GAC group, being specialized in battery electric vehicles.
- Over the cumulative first 8 months of 2023, the Aion brand sold 300,000 vehicles in China, which augurs a sales volume of 450,000 units over the whole of 2023. With the contribution of the Changsha plant, the GAC group will be able to produce up to 600,000 cars per year from 2024, compared to 400,000 units today.
- Mitsubishi's story in China reflects the challenges facing Japanese automakers there, where they have fallen far behind in the country's auto industry's rapid transition to all-electric vehicles, leading to a steady decline of their market share.
- With the sale of its share in the former Chinese joint venture, Mitsubishi will invest 200 million euros in Ampère, the new Renault company specialized in battery electric vehicles. Mitsubishi will buy electric vehicles developed and produced by Ampère and sell them under its own brand, which will allow it to limit its development costs.
The Moroccan passenger car market remains stable in 2023
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The Moroccan passenger car market remains stable in 2023
- The Moroccan passenger car market grew significantly between 2005 and 2017, going from 60,000 passenger cars to 180,000 (sales peak reached in 2017), then it declined from 2017, gradually falling to 140,000 in 2023. To justify this drop in sales, the Moroccan authorities evokes the Covid crisis in 2020, then a shortage of semiconductors and a disruption of global logistics in 2021, then the consequences of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict in 2022 with a strong increase in the price of raw materials and oils. In 2023, local demand stabilized at a low level (140,000 sales compared to 143,000 in 2022).
- By brand, we have observed a consolidation of carmakers positions for several years, meaning that the ranking of the top ten brands does not really change, with Dacia keeping its leading position (27% of the market in 2022) thanks to the production of Logan and Sandero in Tangier ahead of Renault (15%) which maintains its second place, Hyundai (9%) third and Peugeot (8%) fourth. These four brands represent 59% of the market in 2022 compared to 58% in 2021.
- Sales of xEVs remain very low, with 5,027 full-hybrids sold in 2022 (compared to 4,196 in 2021), 516 plug-in hybrids (compared to 421 in 2021) and 171 battery electric vehicles (compared to 267 in 2021), i.e. 5,714 in total (compared to 4,884 in 2021), which represents 4% of the Moroccan market. Diesel still represents the vast majority of sales of thermal cars (86% in 2022) but it is declining from year to year (94% in 2018, 91% in 2020, 89% in 2021).
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