Category Blog

詳細: 上で公開 2020年12月30日

Nissan halted production of Datsun in Russia

- The Renault-Nissan group is made up of two very distinct entities: the Renault group (Renault, Dacia, Samsung, Alpine, Lada) and the Nissan group (Nissan, Infiniti, Datsun, Mitsubishi). It was in 2013 that Nissan wanted to acquire a low-cost brand like Renault had done with Dacia.

- The Datsun brand - which had already been in operation between 1913 and 1983 - was therefore reused from 2014 in very specific markets, such as India and Russia. In India, the Datsun Go and Go + were based on the Indian Micra platform, while in Russia the Datsun on-Do and mi-Do were based on the LadaGranta and LadaKalina respectively. These sharing of platforms, bodies and engines made it possible to practice very low selling prices, since they were in fact cars already on the market and simply rebadged. This strategy has not been understood by customers who have not been won over by Datsun brand models, neither in India nor in Russia. Only 152,000 Datsun have been produced in Russia in seven years, or less than 22,000 per year. In India, Datsun had a somewhat greater distribution, with 215,000 units produced in seven years, or nearly 31,000 per year, a very small quantity compared to the Indian market as a whole.

- Nissan therefore decided to discontinue the Datsun brand in Russia and India due to lack of sufficient demand. The production of Datsun carried out at the Togliatti site in Russia was stopped in December 2020. That of the Datsun in India will be stopped in 2021, including the Redi-Go launched in 2016 which was derived from the Renault Kwid.

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続きを読む... Nissan halted production of Datsun in Russia

詳細: 上で公開 2020年12月30日

Opel Ampera withdrawn from the PSA catalog for 2021

- Successor to the Opel Ampera PHEV marketed from 2011 to 2015, which was derived from the Chevrolet Volt, the all-electric Opel Ampera-e was born in 2016, while the Opel brand was still part of the GM group. The Ampera-e is in fact derived from the Chevrolet Bolt, lower segment than the Volt. All four cars were manufactured at the same production site in Lordstown, Ohio, USA, for a total of 336,000 units (including 313,000 Chevrolets and 23,000 Opels).

- Of this total, the two Ampera models did not have a strong circulation since the Ampera PHEV did not exceed 13,472 sales between 2011 and 2015, while the Ampera-e did even less well with 9,720 sales between 2016 and 2020.

- It is true that the Opel brand having been taken over by the PSA group at the end of 2017, and the French manufacturer having to pay royalties on each model sold, under an agreement on the sales of models of GM design (such as the Astra or Insignia), the PSA group did not push for the sale of this model soon to compete with the Peugeot e-208 and Opel e-Corsa of PSA design. Yet 2020 has been the best year for the Ampera-e with a volume of 3,000 sales, no doubt helped by the surge in demand for electric cars in Europe.

- After the stop of the Adam, Karl, Cascada, Zafira, all of them GM-designed, the Ampera-e is in turn removed from the PSA catalog. The GM-designed Opel Astra and Insignia will remain in 2021, but the future Astra scheduled for 2021 will be of PSA design, like the recent Opel Corsa, Opel Combo and Opel Mokka.

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続きを読む... Opel Ampera withdrawn from the PSA catalog for 2021

詳細: 上で公開 2020年12月30日

VW Taos to replace Golf in North American market

- Volkswagen has implemented a third SUV in its manufacturing program in North America. This is a 4.47 m long C-segment SUV, very close to the Volkswagen Tharu marketed in China since 2018 and whose dimensions are between those of a Skoda Karoq (4.38 m) and Volkswagen Tiguan (4.70 m). Note that the Tiguan made in Mexico is the long version, called Allspace in Europe. The German automaker has said that like the Passat, which is gradually being replaced by the Tiguan in customer demand, the new Taos will replace the Golf in the North American market.

- The Taos has a 1.5-liter petrol engine developing 158 hp already fitted to the Golf.

- The Golf and the Taos are manufactured in the same factory in Puebla, Mexico. The plant's activity is expected to increase again from 2021 as the Taos is at the core of the North American market, namely the compact SUV market. Next to the Taos and the Tiguan, there is a third SUV in the Volkswagen manufacturing program in North America, this is the Atlas which is manufactured at the Chattanooga (Tennessee) site and which has supplanted the VW Touareg in the North American market. It is therefore a 5.04 m long upper segment model that continues to grow in this market despite the Covid crisis. In 2020, Volkswagen will have manufactured 235,000 SUVs in North America compared to 155,000 sedans, or 60% of SUVs and 40% of sedans, knowing that the proportion of sedans will fall further in 2021, with the discontinuation of the Passat and of the Golf, and the rise in tempo of the Taos. Volkswagen’s future in North America will depend on SUVs and electric cars.

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続きを読む... VW Taos to replace Golf in North American market

詳細: 上で公開 2020年12月30日

VW Passat to be withdrawn from the North American market

- The Volkswagen Passat had started the activity of the American plant in Chattanooga (Tennessee) in 2010. At the time, sedans were still selling well in the American market and the Passat managed to reach a peak production of 180,000 units in 2012. The Passat completed the range of sedans of the German brand on the North American market, then composed of the Beetle, Golf and Jetta manufactured in the Puebla plant in Mexico.

- With the growing demand for SUVs, the production of sedans of all carmakers fell down after 2012, and in particular Volkswagen’s. The Jetta sales decreased from 400,000 units in 2012 to 250,000 in 2016 and 130,000 in 2020. The Beetle was discontinued in 2019 The Golf will be withdrawn from the manufacture program in North America. As for the Passat, its production plunged from 180,000 units in 2012 to 75,000 in 2016 and 7,000 in 2020. The new generation appearing in 2019, inspired by Chinese Volkswagen, did not convince, the customers preferring to opt for Toyota Camry and Honda Accord.

- The German group has therefore decided to remove the Passat from the production program at the Chattanooga plant, due to insufficient demand. The Atlas SUV was installed in this factory in 2016, at the same time as the Tiguan at the Puebla site. These two SUVs already represent 60% of Volkswagen's North American production in 2020, which has been growing steadily since 2016. And a third SUV is scheduled for 2021 at the Mexican site in Puebla. Volkswagen is therefore abandoning the family sedan market in North America, along with several American brands.

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続きを読む... VW Passat to be withdrawn from the North American market

詳細: 上で公開 2020年12月30日

The production of the Mercedes C-Class has been stopped in the USA

- The Daimler group decided in 2013 to transfer part of the production of the Mercedes C-Class (those destined for North America) from the Bremen plant in Germany to the Tuscaloosa plant in the United States. This transfer was made necessary by the arrival in 2015 of the Mercedes GLC SUV at the Bremen site, which succeeded the GLK. The success of the Mercedes GLC was such (170,000 sales in 2016, 200,000 sales in 2018) that part of its production was carried out in Finland, at the subcontractor Valmet.

- The success of the GLC encroached on sales of the C-Class whose sales eroded, like all sedans faced with the growth in SUV sales, both in Europe and the United States, so that the volume of Production of the C-Class was reduced significantly in Bremen and Tuscaloosa between 2015 and 2020. The production of the C-Class in Bremen thus fell from 215,000 units in 2016 to 180,000 in 2018 and 120,000 in 2020, its sales in Europe following the same trajectory.

- In the United States, sales of the C-Class increased from 86,000 units in 2015 to 60,000 in 2018, 50,000 in 2019 and 25,000 in 2020. As a result, production of the C-Class in Tuscaloosa decreased from 98 000 units in 2015 to 70,000 in 2018, 47,000 in 2019 and 15,000 in 2020. Daimler therefore decided to stop production of the C-Class in the United States last fall. The Bremen plant will take over deliveries of the C-Class to North America.

- This Daimler announcement coincides with the one confirming the cessation of production of Mercedes sedans in Brazil (including the C-Class). The manufacturer will now only manufacture Sprinter trucks and vans there.