28 September 2019

Austria Vehicle Production : 2017-18


You may not think of Austria as a car producing nation but it does. It has a contract manufacturer, Magna Steyr in Graz. The current companies utilising the assembly operation are listed below. Volume was +69%, but with contract manufacturing, it can fluctuate a fair bit. For now it's on the up.

They made the BMW 5-Series and Z4 sports car. For Jaguar the E-Pace and i-Pace are made and for Mercedes-Benz the G-Wagon. To be making such a diverse range of vehicles is no mean feat. Commercial vehicles are also made in Austria, listed as a total figure. The company concerned seems publicity shy.

Passenger Cars
17 18 Brand 2018 % +/- 2017 % +/-
1 1 BMW 64,431 42.9% 28% 50,272 61.7%
3 2 Jaguar 54,916 36.6% n/a 261 0.3%
2 3 Mercedes 30,815 20.5% -1% 31,000 38.0% 43%


Total 150,162
84% 81,533
9%

Commercial Vehicles

Total 20,749
6% 19,574
9%


Grand Total 170,911
69% 101,107
9%

25 September 2019

Cadillac USA Sales : 2010-2018

The XT5

The march of the imported premium marques was relentless and Cadillac was moving away from huge barges to cars that were more in line with where modern tastes now wanted. That posed a risk of not measuring up head to head.

2010-2014:

Some models were deleted and the new compact ATS was introduced. Overall. sales were holding up OK but not keeping up with the imported competition. The XTS replaced the poor selling DTS in 2013 but didn't set the sales chart on fire.

Model 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010
SRX 53,578 56,776 57,485 56,905 51,094
CTS 31,115 32,343 46,979 55,042 45,656
ATS 29,890 38,319 7,008

XTS/DTS 24,335 32,578 15,514 11,589 18,640
Escalade 19,482 12,592 12,615 15,079 16,118
Escalade ESV 10,987 7,950 8,083 8,388 8,674
ELR 1,310 6


Escalade EXT 53 1,972 1,934 2,036 2,082
STS
7 164 3,338 4,473
XLR


12 188
Total US Sales 170,750 182,543 149,782 152,389 146,925

2015-19: 

The XT5 took over from the SRX and CT6 was a belated return of the large executive car. The recent addition of the sub-compact SUV named the XT4 is an interesting addition. All this hasn't stopped sales falling and Cadillac is now the sixth best selling marque in its home market. 

Model 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015
XT5/SRX 60,566 68,468 61,624 68,850
Escalade 23,032 22,994 23,604 21,230
XTS 17,729 16,275 22,171 23,112
Escalade ESV 13,000 14,700 15,488 14,691
CTS 11,220 10,344 15,911 19,485
ATS 10,860 13,100 21,505 26,873
CT6 9,669 10,542 9,169
XT4 7,785


ELR
17 534 1,024
Total US Sales 153,861 156,440 170,006 175,265

The XT4 

For the 1980-89 period, just click here.
For the 2000-09 decade, simply click here.

24 September 2019

France Passenger Car Production : 2017-18

The Opel Grandland is made in France

Thinks have been good for a couple of years with regard to passenger car production in France. Volume was up 1% on 2017, short of the 8% growth of the previous year. That said, if it wasn't for PSA's new acquisition Opel it would have been slightly down.

Peugeot makes up half of the total, with Renault just over 20%. Interestingly, Citroën make very few cars here, even passed by the slightly upmarket DS marque. As global markets retract in 2019, challenges await car makers.

Passenger Cars
17 18 Brand 2018 Share +/- 2017 Share +/-
1 1 Peugeot 897,497 50.6% 1% 884,415 50.4% 36%
2 2 Renault 382,646 21.6% -9% 422,627 24.1% 7%
3 3 Toyota 248,548 14.0% 6% 233,506 13.3% -2%
4 4 smart 84,500 4.8% 0% 84,368 4.8% -7%
7 5 Opel 72,110 4.1% 150% 28,820 1.6% n/a
6 6 DS 49,412 2.8% 9% 45,363 2.6% -36%
5 7 Citroën 35,731 2.0% -35% 55,047 3.1% -71%
8 8 Alpine 3,304 0.2% n/a 117 0.0% n/a

Total 1,773,748
1% 1,754,263
8%

22 September 2019

UK Vehicle Production By Brand : 2017-18

The UK vehicle manufacturing industry has issues. Locals don't seem to identify with it, either through ignorance or apathy. After years of growth, things have gone into retreat. What are the issues?

The UK designed & built Qashqai. Hugely successful

Nissan: After booming in Europe, the Nissan brand is in free fall across the continent and that includes the UK. The broad nature of the decline makes it clear that it is a policy of the company. However, I don't see the benefit of knee jerk reactions.

Nissan's Infiniti marque was introduced into many countries to take on the premium market. Then before you could blink, the whole thing was called off and it will retreat to a few markets. A poorly thought out initiative.

Land Rover: VW's arrogant diesel cheating scheme has hit Land Rover, a marque that was heavily associated with engines of that fuel. China sales also hit a speed bump and some production have been moved offshore. All those things conspired to affect LR production in the UK. The new Evoque coming in the second half of 2019 should help things along.

BMW MINI: A ray of light for the industry with production on the up. I would imagine that would level off now.

Honda: A brand that is pulling out of its production in Europe. This caught me by surprise as traditionally Japanese brands do not retreat. However, it made no sense making cars in a region where they don't sell many vehicles.

Toyota: The brand is doing well in Europe so it is simply a question of how to utilise its UK facility. The Corolla is currently the model made there but plans are difficult to make with the pigs ear Europe has turned Brexit into.

The XE. A driver's car

Jaguar: Two new models were assigned to overseas production which has impacted on UK production volume. I'd have to call that decision a very poor one, what with ample capacity in the UK.

PSA Vauxhall: This is another situation that is difficult due to Brexit faffing about. PSA would like to know what they are dealing with before committing. What a divisive world we live in. World peace? The environment? Forget it! Humans can't even organise a civilised political divorce.

Other cars: Generally the strongest part of the UK industry with marques like Aston Martin, Mclaren and Rolls Royce going really well.

Commercial: Not a large part of UK vehicle manufacturing. Bus brands Alexander Dennis, Wrightbus and Optare all increasing in 2018. With volume up 8.5%, a nice trend not likely to be sustained.

Passenger Cars
17 18 Brand 2018 % +/- 2017 % +/-
1 1 Nissan 429,832 28.3% -8% 468,308 28.0% -1%
2 2 Land Rover 354,425 23.3% -10% 395,451 23.7% 6%
3 3 BMW MINI 234,183 15.4% 7% 218,885 13.1% 4%
4 4 Honda 160,676 10.6% -2% 164,160 9.8% 22%
5 5 Toyota 129,070 8.5% -10% 144,077 8.6% -20%
6 6 Jaguar 94,879 6.2% -31% 136,656 8.2% -21%
7 7 GM Vauxhall 77,481 5.1% -16% 92,164 5.5% -22%
8 8 Infiniti 12,422 0.8% -54% 26,898 1.6% -17%
9 9 Bentley 8,717 0.6% -17% 10,457 0.6% -10%
10 10 Aston Martin 6,286
22% 5,164
40%
11 11 Mclaren 4,751
44% 3,297
3%
12 12 Rolls Royce 4,239
35% 3,133
-23%
13 13 Lotus 1,486
3% 1,436
14%
15 14 Caterham 506
3% 491
-1%
14 15 Morgan 487
-17% 589
6%


Total 1,519,440
-9% 1,671,166
-3%

Commercial Vehicles
1 1 Vauxhall 62,607 73.8% 5% 59,795 76.4% -19%
2 2 Leyland DAF 16,889 19.9% 10% 15,323 19.6% 4%
3 3 Alexander Den 2,017 2.4% 16% 1,734 2.2% -22%
- 4 LVEC 1,443 1.7%



4 5 Dennis Eagle 952 1.1% 7% 890 1.1% 23%
5 6 Wrightbus 747 0.9% 147% 303 0.4% -51%
6 7 Optare 233
34% 174
-9%


Total 84,888 9% 78,219 -17%


Grand Total 1,604,328
-8% 1,749,385
-4%


An Alexander Dennis bus