The brands that declined the most in Europe in the first half of 2025
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The brands that declined the most in Europe in the first half of 2025
- In a European automobile market (30 countries = EU + United Kingdom + Switzerland + Norway) which fell by 1% in the first half of 2025 compared to the first half of 2024, around forty brands saw their sales fall by more than 1%, while around fifty saw their sales remain stable or increase.
- Among the forty brands that saw their sales decline by more than 1% in the first half of 2025, it is interesting to know which brands were the most affected and what were the reasons for their decline. When we look at this list, we see that the 13 declining brands suffered from the lack of success of their models (Lancia, Smart, Mitsubishi, DS) or the failure of their strategy (Jaguar, Tesla). Toyota lacks battery electric models, which would explain the drop in its sales in Europe in the first half, in a context of a sharp increase in BEV sales.
- If we look at the volume of lost sales in the first half of 2025 compared to the first half of 2024, we see that out of the forty brands that saw their sales decline, 13 brands lost more than 10,000 sales from one year to the next.
- Tesla (-55,000 sales), Fiat (-44,000 sales) and Toyota (-43,000 sales) lost the most sales. But we note that the Stellantis group has suffered much more than the others, since the Fiat, Citroën, Opel, Lancia brands are among the brands having lost the most sales in 2025 and accumulate a loss of 120,000 sales for the four brands. This is twice as much as Tesla's losses.The case of Toyota is more surprising, because this carmaker had been growing for several years.
Toyota plans to produce battery electric vehicles in the Czech Republic from 2028
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Toyota plans to produce battery electric vehicles in the Czech Republic from 2028
- Toyota, the world's leading carmaker since 2020, does not have a very strong position in the market of battery electric powertrains, as its sales of models equipped with this type of powertrain currently represent only 1.3% of its total production. Its current battery electric models range is limited, with only the BZ4X SUV and its more luxurious version Lexus RZ, plus a compact SUV from the Lexus brand (the UX) as well as pickup trucks from Stellantis, the ProAce and the ProAce City available with a combustion engine but also in battery electric.
- In the fall of 2025, two models will be added to Toyota's battery electric range: the CHR+ SUV produced in Turkey and the Urban Cruiser SUV produced in India (in cooperation with Suzuki).
- But Toyota, aware of the increasingly restrictive regulatory context which condemns thermal cars by 2035, wants to accelerate its electrification program with an assembly program for a new battery electric SUV which will be produced from 2028 in the Czech Republic, in the Kolin factory, where the Aygo X hybrid and the Yaris hybrid are currently produced.
- The carmaker aims to produce 100,000 units per year, in a factory that has a production capacity of 300,000 vehicles per year, which means that Toyota plans to produce 100,000 units of this model there in addition to the 100,000 Aygo X hybrid and 100,000 Yaris hybrid each year. Ultimately, this factory is expected to produce only battery electric vehicles.
Review of the Munich Motor Show 2025
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Review of the Munich Motor Show 2025
The Munich Motor Show 2025 was a good year, with many new products on display.
Three distinct groups could be discerned within this Salon.
- First group: the three major German carmakers (Volkswagen, BMW, Mercedes).
• The Volkswagen Group has made a special effort by introducing battery electric B-segment cars: VW ID Polo (ex-ID2), VW ID Cross (ex-ID2X), Skoda Epiq, CupraRaval. These four models could boost the battery electric market in Europe, which has not yet reached 18% of the European passenger car market.
• Porsche (a subsidiary of the Volkswagen group), BMW and Mercedes have each unveiled a battery electric SUV: the Porsche Cayenne EV, the BMW iX3 and the Mercedes GLC EV. The particularity of which is to have an exterior design different from that of their thermal equivalent models, the Porsche Cayenne, BMW X3 and Mercedes GLC currently sold on the European market.
- Second group: a set of representative Chinese brands.
Thus, we could see the Polestar 5, Deepal S05, Xpeng P7, GAC Aion, Leapmotor B05 and NIO Firefly.
- Third entity: non-German and non-Chinesecarmakers such as the French Renault which unveiled the new Clio VI marketed from the beginning of 2026, the Korean Hyundai which unveiled the concept car of what will become the Ioniq 3 and the Turkish Togg present for the first time at a European Motor Show.
Western European carmakers have relocated a third of their production to Eastern Europe, Morocco and Turkey
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Western European carmakers have relocated a third of their production to Eastern Europe, Morocco and Turkey
- The European automobile industry, located mainly in the West of the continent in the 20th century France, Germany, England, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands), decided to gradually relocate part of its production to countries with lower labour costs, firstly to make more profits and secondly to invest in these new markets where the motorization rate was very low. We thus saw part of this automobile production being relocated to Spain and Portugal in the second half of the 20th century, then after the fall of the USSR in 1991, to the countries of Eastern Europe, former satellites of the USSR, such as Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania and Hungary. These relocations were especially favoured after the entry of these countries into the European Union in the early 2000s.
- This production located in Eastern Europe has become increasingly important, increasing from 2 million vehicles (PC+LUV) in 2005 to 4 million in 2019 and 3.5 million in 2024. At the same time, production in Western Europe decreased from 16 million vehicles (PC+LUV) in 2005 to 13.5 million in 2019 and 10.5 million in 2024.
- Turkey and Morocco have emerged as new locations for the European automotive industry. Production in these two countries has grown from 800,000 units in 2005 to 1.75 million units by 2024.
- In total, Western Europe has relocated a third of its production to Eastern European countries, Turkey, and Morocco. Indeed, by 2024, 5.25 million vehicles will be produced in these offshoring countries, compared to the 10.5 million vehicles produced in Western Europe.
The Renault plant in Oran has not produced vehicles since 2023
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The Renault plant in Oran has not produced vehicles since 2023
The Renault plant in Oran (Algeria) has been at a standstill since 2023, and several factors explain this situation:
1. New local requirements : The Algerian government now requires a local integration rate equal to or greater than 30% of parts in produced vehicles. Renault, which used semi-assembled kits (SKD) from Turkey, with a local integration rate of less than 10%, struggled to adapt to this constraint. Between 2020 and 2023, the Oran plant therefore operated at a reduced capacity.
2. Administrative blockage : Renault has been waiting for several years for official approval from the Algerian Ministry of Industry to restart its activities. Despite investments to comply with the new regulations, authorization has been slow in coming.
3. Diplomatic tensions : relations between France and Algeria have been experiencing a new period of tension for several months (the Western Sahara affair), which is hampering bilateral industrial projects, such as that of Renault.
4. Increased competition : other carmakers such as Stellantis have established themselves in compliance with the new rules (local integration rate equal to or greater than 30%), which has put Renault in difficulty on the local market.
Despite rumors of the permanent closure of its Oran plant, Renault has submitted a new application for approval and implemented a redundancy plan to preserve jobs in preparation for a possible restart. The carmaker hopes to restart production with new models and an adequate integration rate, but everything will depend on the decision of the Algerian authorities. Positive signals seem to be emerging: recent meetings between Algerian and French officials have revived hopes of a restart. The Algerian Minister of Industry even mentioned an imminent resumption of the plant. Renault therefore hopes to be able to resume production by the end of 2025.