Production in Italy: The Fiat Panda remained the most produced in Italy in 2023
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Production in Italy: The Fiat Panda remained the most produced in Italy in 2023
- The Fiat Panda (A-segment sedan) remained the most produced car in Italy in 2023, with 140,000 units produced near Naples in the south of the country. Since 2012, this model, previously produced in Poland (while the vast majority of Panda production was intended for the Italian market), has been at the top of production in Italy. Production of the Panda experienced a peak in 2019, with 200,000 units produced, before falling to 150,000 units in 2020-2021 and then 120,000 in 2022. The Fiat Panda rose again in 2023 in a context of growth in Italian and European markets but the model is old. It is renamed Pandina in 2024 and is expected to be ended in 2027.
- A new Panda will then be launched on July 24. This new Panda will be a B segment vehicle (and no longer an A-segment like the old Panda renamed Pandina). Its dimensions will be closer to those of the old Punto than to those of the old Panda.
- It should be noted that until 2012, the most produced car in Italy was the Fiat Punto (B segment sedan) which had reached a volume of 450,000 units produced in 2006 before collapsing from 2007 and especially in from 2009. The Punto was stopped in 2018 without being replaced, a strategy which was criticized by many observers. The launch of the new Panda will therefore finally give an successor to the Punto, eight million examples of which were sold in Europe between 1993 and 2018.
- Behind the Panda, we note the good performance of the Jeep Renegade (B-segment SUV) with 85,000 units produced, some of which exported to the United States, which is ahead of the Fiat 500e (battery electric A-segment sedan) and Fiat 500X (B-segment SUV) with 75,000 and 45,000 units produced, respectively. Remember that the Fiat 500 with a thermal engine is produced entirely in Poland.
Production in Germany: The VW Tiguan is the most produced vehicle in Germany in 2023
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Production in Germany: The VW Tiguan is the most produced vehicle in Germany in 2023
- The Volkswagen Tiguan (C-segment SUV) overtakes the Volkswagen Golf (C-segment sedan) for the first time as the most produced vehicle in Germany in 2023. The Tiguan records 225,000 units produced, 10,000 units more than the Golf whose production volume has collapsed since 2015, the year of "dieselgate"...
- Even if dieselgate did not have a significant impact on the Volkswagen group's sales overall, it seems to have had a negative impact on sales of the Golf, then the best-selling car in Europe. The new generation launched in 2019 didn’t stopped this. Even more, we observe that this new generation of Golf can be considered a historic failure for Volkswagen. The model is in fact in seventh position at European level.
- The carmaker announced that its replacement would be launched in 2028 and that it would adopt a fully electric engine. In fact, the future Golf would replace both the previous generation Golf and the ID3, whose sales in Europe are also not reaching the objectives assigned by Volkswagen. For its part, the Tiguan will not reach in 2023 its 2017 levels (300,000 units produced) but the new generation launched at the end of 2023 could help it.
- Behind the Volkswagen Tiguan and Golf, we note the presence of the Tesla Model Y (195,000 units produced in 2023) which began production in Germany only in 2022. In fourth position, the BMW 3 Series (180,000 units produced) remains at a low point for two main reasons: first the 3 Series coupe was renamed the 4 Series in 2013, so not counted anymore in the 3 series production and second, part of the 3 Series production was transferred to Mexico in 2019 (for sales in North America).
Ford Europe completes its range of electrified utility vehicles
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Ford Europe completes its range of electrified utility vehicles
- Ford Europe is simplifying its range of passenger cars (definitive or planned discontinuation of Fiesta, Focus, Mondeo, Galaxy, S-Max) but continues to develop its range of light utility vehicles (Transit Courier, Transit Connect, Transit Custom, Transit).
- After recently launching the battery electrics E-Transit, E-Transit Custom and E-Transit Courier, the American carmaker is launching the electrified version of its Transit Connect which is curiously not battery electric like the brand's three other LUVs but a plug-in hybrid (perhaps due to the commonolisation of its components with the Volkswagen group which produces the Transit Connect on its Polish site in Poznan).
- The Ford Transit Connect adopts a plug-in hybrid engine (PHEV) based on a 1.5 liter three-cylinder EcoBoost petrol engine delivering 150 hp of Volkswagen origin coupled to an electric motor allowing it to travel 110 km in purely electric use. This new version of the Transit Connect (also available in a passenger transport version called Tourneo) suggests that Volkswagen will soon adopt this engine on its own Caddy light utility vehicle, twin brother of the Transit Connect, produced on the same Polish site in Poznan.
- The launches of electrified Ford Europe LUVs are too recent to have sales figures over a long period. We can, however, specify that 2,000 battery electric LUVs were sold in Europe in 2022 and 6,000 in 2023. On the other hand, 500 PHEVs were sold in Europe in 2022 and as many in 2023. We see that sales volumes still remain very low.
Why Dacia met a great success since 2005
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Why Dacia met a great success since 2005
- The Romanian brand Dacia, whose origins date back to the 1960s, was bought by Renault in 1998 to make it a low price brand, capable of being marketed in Romania and throughout Europe. The objective was to market a modern vehicle at 5,000 euros while remaining profitable for the company, a proposition that was non-existent on the market at the time. The French carmaker took five years to develop the first new generation Dacia, the Logan, a C-segment three-box sedan, which was launched in Romania in 2004. The following year, the Logan was marketed throughout Europe as well as in Turkey, North Africa, Russia, Ukraine and South America. The proposed price is ultimately 6,280 euros in Romania and 7,600 euros in France.
- In 2007, the Sandero, a hatchback version of the Logan, was launched, then the Duster SUV in 2010. The three models enjoyed great success in Europe, their low price protecting them from any competition. Dacia went from 170,000 vehicles produced in 2005 to 350,000 in 2011. The Dokker vans and Lodgy minivans launched in 2012 were less successful, but the Sandero and Duster continued their careers brilliantly. Dacia thus produced 480,000 vehicles in 2013, 640,000 in 2016 and 750,000 in 2019.
- Dacia nevertheless suffered from the Covid crisis in 2020 with 540,000 vehicles produced but growth resumes in 2021. In 2023, Dacia produces 690,000 vehicles and places its Sandero in second place in the European market.
- It is surprising that no carmaker wanted to directly attack the Dacia brand given the success of this brand, even if the figures show that Dacia's sales have seized those of Renault, the total of both remaining positive.
Do vehicles marketed by smartphone companies have a future?
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Do vehicles marketed by smartphone companies have a future?
- Chinese smartphone makers, such as Huawei and Xiaomi, have started investing in the automotive sector. Their expertise in high-technologies and experience manufacturing consumer products could potentially give them a competitive advantage in the automotive sector. However, it is important to note that the automotive industry is very complex and competitive, with many established players and strict regulations to follow. Traditional carmakers have a long history, technical expertise and well-established manufacturing infrastructure, giving them a significant competitive advantage. Also the trend is for smartphone producers to create a strong partnership with an existing automobile carmaker rather than creating a new vehicle on their own. The smartphone company Huawei thus made a partnership in 2021 with the carmaker Seres. Together they developed the range of AITO models (see below). In February 2023, Huawei and Seres further strengthened their alliance by signing a new contract to develop a new flagship BEV vehicle. The objective is to produce one million vehicles by 2026.
- For its part, the smartphone company Xiaomi, after exploring the route of building a vehicle on its own (SU7 – see photo below), sought to establish an association with an automobile carmaker. Production of the Xiaomi SU7 will initially be carried out at BAIC.
- For the moment, we can only observe the evolution of sales of AITO, the only brand linked to a Chinese smartphone carmaker (Huawei) currently in activity, before the arrival of Xiaomi. Produced by the Seres group (formerly Sokon), AITOs increased from 78,000 sales in China in 2022 to 104,000 in 2023 and potentially more than 300,000 in 2024 (59,000 sales over 2 months 2024). But at the same time, sales of Seres brand models fell from 109,000 in 2022 to 68,000 in 2023 and potentially less than 100,000 in 2024 (15,000 sales over 2 months 2024). It thus seems that the AITO brand has replaced the Seres brand and that it is starting to take market share to the competition from 2024. The sales potential in 2024 for the AITO and Seres brands reaches 400,000 sales, or 2.3 times the cumulative volume of 2023 and 2.1 times the cumulative volume of 2022. In 2021, the AITO brand did not yet exist and neither did the Seres brand.