Inovev forecasts 25,000 units per year of the new Mitsubishi Colt in Europe
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Inovev forecasts 25,000 units per year of the new Mitsubishi Colt in Europe
- The renewal of the European models range of the Japanese carmaker Mitsubishi continues. After the presentation and then the launch of the new B-segment SUV named ASX, rebranded version of the Renault Captur (made in Spain), Mitsubishi is presenting and preparing to market the new B-segment sedan, rebranded version of the Renault Clio (made in Turkey and Slovenia). This new model is called Colt, thus taking the name of an old Mitsubishi model which has not been marketed in Europe since 1999. The new Mitsubishi Colt differs from the Renault Clio simply by the logo and some finishing details.
- The engines are also the same as the Renault Clio’s ones, namely the 3-cylinder petrol 1.0 MPI with turbo (90 hp) or without turbo (65 hp) and the 4-cylinder 1.6 petrol full hybrid of 140 hp. The 1.3 petrol and 1.5 diesel are not available.
- Mitsubishi, which almost disappeared from the European market, is counting on its new ASX and Colt models derived from Renault models to recover and revive its sales in this market, which fell to 57,000 units in 2022 (compared to 100,000 in 2009 and 200,000 in 1999). But nothing is less certain, because customers will always prefer the original to the copy and Mitsubishi's customer base in Europe has become extremely tenuous with a very sparse sales network.
- In addition, the new Mitsubishi Colt should replace the Mitsubishi Space Star whose origins date back to 2013, which represents a very long life cycle, and of which less than 27,000 copies were sold on the European market in 2022 against 34,000 in 2021. Inovev forecasts 25,000 units per year in Europe of the new Mitsubishi Colt produced in Spain.
The Tesla brand is becoming very dependent on China
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The Tesla brand is becoming very dependent on China
- The Californian brand of battery electric vehicles, Tesla has produced nearly 4.5 million cars worldwide since its creation in 2012 and just over 1.3 million cars in 2022, including 727,000 units in China (which has been the brand's leading producer since 2021), 548,000 units in the United States and 41,000 units in Europe (which just started last year).
- For 2023, Inovev forecasts a global production of 1.65 million Tesla cars, broken down as follows: 843,000 units in China, 656,000 units in the United States and 150,000 units in Europe.
- China will remain the brand's leading producer this year, although some of the cars that were exported to Europe will no longer be, because Tesla has decided to produce in Europe most of the Model Y sold in Europe. A good part of the Tesla models sold in Europe came from China in 2022 and all of them in 2021, when production in Europe had not started.
- Under these conditions, Tesla depends a lot on China, and the construction of a Tesla factory in Mexico can be interpreted, among other things, as a desire to depend less on China.
- In terms of sales, it is interesting to note that in 2022 Tesla's leading market remains the United States ahead of China, but in 2023, we should see these two countries buying as many Teslas. Europe is the third market for the Californian brand, buying half as many Tesla cars as China or the United States in 2022, but the year 2023 should see the gap between the three countries narrow. Canada is Tesla's fourth largest market.
The market share of BEVs in Eastern European countries will remain very low in 2023
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The market share of BEVs in Eastern European countries will remain very low in 2023
- The market share of BEVs reached 13% of the total passenger car sales in Europe at the end of the first quarter of 2023, compared to 12% at the end of the first quarter of 2022. But the distribution by country is far from uniform. Europe is even cut in two: BEVs have a share of more than 13% in 14 countries and a share of less than 13% in 15 countries.
- Among the 14 countries where BEVs represent more than 13% of sales, we note the presence of 14 countries from the former Western Europe region (17 countries), but southern countries such as Greece, Italy and Spain are not included.
- The most fervent adopters of BEVs are the countries of the North, with Norway at the forefront (Norway: 85%; Sweden: 36%; Finland: 31%; Denmark: 30%). Next come central countries with high purchasing power (Netherlands: 26%; Luxembourg: 19%; Austria: 18%; Switzerland: 17%), then three other countries (Portugal: 16%; Ireland: 16%; Belgium: 16%) and finally the three largest European countries (United Kingdom: 15%; France: 15%; Germany: 14%). We note that Germany is neck and neck with France, despite three national carmakers very involved in BEV technology (Volkswagen, BMW, Mercedes).
- The 15 countries whose BEVs represent less than 13% of the market, in addition to Greece, Italy and Spain mentioned above, are the 12 countries of the former Eastern Europe region, i.e. the former satellite countries of the Soviet Union and the latest arrivals in the European Union. For these countries, switching to battery electric vehicles from 2035 is clearly mission impossible. It should be noted that the countries where the BEV market share is the lowest are Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
Opel will be the only European carmaker to offer a BEV equivalent to each of its models in 2024
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Opel will be the only European carmaker to offer a BEV equivalent to each of its models in 2024
- Opel (a subsidiary of the Stellantis group) will become the only European carmaker to offer a battery electric vehicle (BEV) equivalent to each of its models in 2024.
- Indeed, the entire range of the carmaker will soon be available in a pure battery electric version.
1. The Corsa (B-segment sedan), the Mokka (B-segment SUV), the Astra (C-segment sedan) as well as the Combo (N1-1), Vivaro (N1-2) and Movano (N1-3) light utility vehicles are already available in a battery electric version.
2. Will be available in a BEV version in 2024: the Crossland (B-segment SUV) and Grandland (C-segment SUV) when they are renewed in 2024.
- As for the D-segment sedan, the Insignia, it has just disappeared and will never have a battery electric version. But a new D-segment model (probably named Manta) is expected to be launched in 2025 or 2026 with a battery electric version. Opel says it wants to offer only BEVs from 2028.
- What is the share of BEVs within the Opel models range in the first 5 months of 2023? BEVs represent 13% of Corsa sales during this period, 24% of Mokka sales, 12% of Combo sales, 27% of Vivaro sales. For the Astra and the Movano, it is still too early to have significant figures.
- We can see that by observing these data, it will be difficult for Opel to achieve its goal of selling 100% of BEVs in five years.
The Big Three have lost much of their influence since 1960
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The Big Three have lost much of their influence since 1960
- The carmakers that are called the "Big Three", because they are the three largest American groups (GM, Ford, Chrysler) and because they were the three largest carmakers in the world between the 1930s and 1960s, still represent today 40% of automobile sales in the United States (PCs including pick-ups and SUVs), compared to 90% in 1960, 83% in 1970, 74% in 1980, 72% in 1990 and 70% in 2000.
- The decline in their influence was accentuated in the 2000s, their market share having shrunk to 45% in 2010, following the financial crisis of 2008-2009 which caused the successive bankruptcy of GM and Chrysler.
- Saved narrowly by the American government for the GM group and by Fiat for the Chrysler group, these two carmakers have continued their activity, but in more modest proportions.
- This decline in the influence of the "Big Three" in the USA (in favour of Japanese and Korean brands) was accompanied by the end of several of their automobile brands, such as Oldsmobile, Pontiac and Saturn at GM, Edsel and Mercury at Ford, De Soto, Imperial and Plymouth at Chrysler, some of these brands having been phased out as early as the 1960s.
- It should be added that the former AMC group (4th American carmaker) was bought by the Chrysler group in 1987, which only kept the Jeep brand specializing in SUVs from this group. After the takeover of Chrysler by Fiat, it was decided to separate Dodge pick-ups from Dodge passenger cars and thus created the Ram brand specializing in pick-ups. In 2021, the Fiat-Chrysler (FCA) group merged with the Peugeot-Citroën (PSA) group to create the Stellantis group.
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