D-segment have been leading the US automotive market for the past twenty years
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D-segment have been leading the US automotive market for the past twenty years
- The US car market for passenger cars (including SUVs and MPVs as in other markets) and pick-ups had its weakest last three years (2020-2021-2022) since 2013, between 13.9 million and 15 million units per year compared to 15.6 million in 2013 and 16.2 million in 2007.
- In this context, D-segment cars (named "intermediate" cars) have been leading the way for the past twenty years, with a market share of 37% in 2022 compared to 40% in 2011 and 33% in 2000.
- C-segment cars ("compact" cars) had grown significantly between the year 2000 and 2018, from 16% market share to 31% driven by the growth of Toyota Corolla, Honda Civic, Chevrolet Cruze and Ford Focus in particular, but this segment has gradually fallen to 27% in 2022 (the Cruze and Focus have disappeared).
- The E-segment ("full size“ cars) once led the American market in the 1950s and 1960s, collapsed in the 1980s and represented only 18% of the market in the year 2000. It continued to decrease after this date, the national carmakers gradually abandoning this type of car. Their market share fell to 10% in 2009 and then stabilized.
- B-segment cars ("sub-compact" cars) which had represented up to 4% of the market in 2016-2018 have practically disappeared from this market, along with A-segment cars.
- It should be noted that pick-ups (20% of the market in 2022) and MPVs represent two specific categories, but the MPVs, after having represented up to 13% of the market, fell to 2% in 2022.
Toyota still remains the world leader in HEV sales
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Toyota still remains the world leader in HEV sales
- The Toyota group is still the world leader in sales of full-hybrid cars (HEV), as it has clearly outpaced all its competitors since the launch of the first Toyota Prius in 1997. Since that date, the Prius has been renewed several times and totalled 5.9 million sales since its appearance on the market. And the HEV engine has been extended to all models in the Toyota and Lexus ranges. But not yet to the small Daihatsu models.
- Thus, the number of HEV-powered cars produced by the Toyota group since 1997 greatly exceeds 20 million units. In 2022, global sales of Toyota and Lexus HEVs exceeded 2 million units for the first time, representing 20% of the carmaker's total production.
- The main competitors that have entered this specific HEV market are Honda (455,000 sales in 2022), Hyundai-Kia (365,000 sales) and Renault-Nissan (355,000 sales). Since 1997, even if their launch was later than that of the Toyota Prius, Honda has sold 3.7 million hybrid cars, Hyundai-Kia 1.6 million units and Renault-Nissan 1.8 million. The four carmakers (Toyota, Honda, Hyundai-Kia and Renault-Nissan) account for 95% of worldwide HEV sales between 1997 and 2022.
- The other carmakers who have invested in the HEV market are few in number and their sales volume is very low. The question now is whether HEV motorization is viable in the long term (in terms of CO2 emissions) and if not, will switching to BEV and/or PHEV motorization be easy for all of these carmakers.
Mercedes postpones to 2026 its sales target of 50% BEV+PHEV
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Mercedes postpones to 2026 its sales target of 50% BEV+PHEV
- The Mercedes group has announced that it is postponing its target of 50% of its sales in battery electric (BEV) and plug-in hybrid (PHEV) engines by one year (from 2025 to 2026). In 2022, Mercedes group ales amounted to 139,000 BEVs (including 118,000 Mercedes and 21,000 Smart) while 180 000 PHEVs or 319,000 in total, representing 13% of Mercedes Group's worldwide sales, including 6% BEV and 7% PHEV.
- The share of Mercedes with BEV or PHEV engines is thus lower than the level of the European market in 2022, which reached 23% (14% of BEV + 9% of PHEV).
- On the other hand, with a 13% share of BEV+PHEV in 2022, it seemed impossible for Mercedes to achieve a 50% share in 2025, depending on the pace of growth in sales of this type of vehicle, even by stopping thermal engines mounted on C-segment models of Mercedes branded as the carmaker plans to do in 2025 (models: A-Class, B-Class, CLA, GLA, GLB). These C-segment cars represented a volume of 342,000 units produced in Europe in 2022, or 14% of Mercedes' global production last year.
- Mercedes has therefore decided to postpone its target until 2026. But even that goal will be difficult to achieve. It will be the same for most other European carmakers. We should not be surprised to see new postponements of objectives from other carmakers.
The European, Chinese and USA automotive market 2000-2022 by segment (all engines)
- 说明
The European, Chinese and USA automotive market 2000-2022 by segment (all engines)
The Renault plant in Pitesti stopped the production of the Sandero
- 说明
The Renault plant in Pitesti stopped the production of the Sandero
- The Dacia Sandero appeared in 2007 to complete the range of the Romanian carmaker which was only proposing the Logan at this time. Compared to the Logan with trunk and sedan body, the Sandero offers a hatchback body. Its production was launched in Romania, at the Dacia plant in Pitesti, alongside the Logan. Renewed in 2012 and then in 2020, the Dacia Sandero started the production in Morocco in 2012, in two different factories (Tangier and Casablanca). Today, only the two Moroccan plants supply Dacia Sanderoin European and the North African markets.
- The Tangier plant has been chosen to produce 150,000 Sanderos per year on average, up to 174,000 units in 2022. The Casablanca plant has for its part increased its production volume of the Sandero, lower than that of Tangier, reaching 50,000 units in 2018-2020, up to 75,000 units in 2022.
- The Pitesti plant, meanwhile, only produced an average of 50,000 Sanderos per year over the period 2014-2021, compared to 150,000 in 2009 and 2010, before falling to 3,000 units in 2022. In 2023, production of the Dacia Sandero has ceased at its historic Pitesti site.
- There were other factories located in Russia and South America for the demand in these two specific markets, but with much lower production volumes. The Russian factory stopped production of the Sandero in 2022, following the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The South American plant continues at low rates.