Car Industry Pics

This isn't a cheap toy designed by a five year old. It's a pick up truck
prototype supposed to impress adults. Amazingly, some have been.

This picture makes me think of Saudi Arabia. Can't think why

 Carlos Ghosn has acted inappropriately at times. He has come
 up against a punitive and harsh Japanese judicial system.
 Maybe he isn't as guilty as he's being made out to be. 

Staying with things Japanese, this is the Suzuki Spacia Gear.
I applaud expressive design but this may be taking things too far.

Lotus Evija

It certainly looks like a super car

Chinese automotive group Geely bought a controlling stake in 2017 of Lotus. Making money has been an issue with Lotus, selling premium sports cars in a tiny segment. How could the company fix that issue? An obvious route is bring out an SUV and that has been penned in for 2022. In the meantime it will be going upmarket with a super car, due out in 2020.

The name is Evija (E-vi-ya) and it's electric with a range up to 250 miles (of course the range is affected by how you drive it). Only 130 will be made, which is how such cars retain a stronger resale value with their exclusivity. The pricing is from £1.5 million to £2 million. It delivers 2,000 ps and 1,700 Nm of torque, enough to send it to 60 mph in under 3 seconds and have a top speed of over 200 miles per hour. Lotus says the car can be charged from zero to 80 percent in 12 minutes using a 350kW charger, a full charge taking only 18 minutes.

The first thing that came to my mind is the Evija is well above the rest of the Lotus range in price and quality. Does the marque have the cachet to make this leap to another level of sports car? I'm sure the quality is there but people do buy into what a brand represents. If it was, say a Mclaren, I wouldn't even be asking this question. In answer, I think Lotus does carry sufficient prestige to make this happen, although the market will ultimately decide.

Summary: Lotus should still make more modestly priced sports cars but it cannot make a business case in that segment alone. It has to branch out. With a super car and later an SUV, the foundation has been laid for a successful financial future. It now has the backing of the Geely Auto Group to make that happen.

Argentina Car/LCV Production : 2017-18 (By Make)

Argentina has a protected car industry to ensure a car assembly industry. The problem is the economic situation can quickly go from hot to cold and back again. Still, there must be a business case to invest in the industry.

Passenger Cars:

On the plus side Fiat accounted for 25.6% of the total, up from 16.1% courtesy of a 63% jump in units made. Renault was slightly higher and Toyota entered the arena with the Fortuner SUV. All the others dropped to varying degrees. In total volume was up 2%.

Passenger Cars
17	18	Brand	Units '18	Share	+/-	Units '17	Share
2	1	Fiat	53,385	25.6%	63%	32,719	16.1%
1	2	GM	36,335	17.4%	-28%	50,388	24.7%
4	3	Renault	29,202	14.0%	2%	28,736	14.1%
-	4	Toyota	27,865	13.4%	n/a	-
3	5	Ford	15,766	7.6%	-47%	29,553	14.5%
5	6	VW	15,437	7.4%	-27%	21,094	10.4%
6	7	Peugeot	11,968	5.7%	-43%	21,077	10.3%
7	8	Honda	9,597	4.6%	-7%	10,312	5.1%
8	9	Citroën	9,018	4.3%	-8%	9,815	4.8%
		Total	208,573		2%	203,694

LCVs:

Toyota is the main manufacturer but did fall 10%. VW and Ford were up but Renault fell heavily, the Kangoo the model they make here. Nissan is new, with the Navara pick-up joining the ranks. Overall, there was a 4% drop.

Light Commercial Vehicles
17	18	Brand	Units '18	Share	+/-	Units '17	Share
1	1	Toyota	113,360	43.9%	-10%	125,520	46.5%
2	2	VW	61,247	23.7%	12%	54,813	20.3%
3	3	Ford	52,849	20.5%	9%	48,628	18.0%
4	4	Renault	10,979	4.3%	-57%	25,577	9.5%
5	5	Peugeot	9,242	3.6%	-1%	9,323	3.5%
6	6	Citroën	6,186	2.4%	6%	5,853	2.2%
-	7	Nissan	4,213	1.6%	n/a	-
		Total	258,076		-4%	269,714
		Gr Tot	466,649		-1%	473,408

Summary: A tiny 1% decrease was experienced, not worth mentioning so please disregard that. However, 2019 is a different story. For the first ten months, production was down a third. I haven't got a breakdown by manufacturer but that will come in about a years time. As for exports, most go to Brazil, about two thirds of the total.