Will It Be An SUV, Or Wagon? As Europe’s troubled mass car makers face a new year of stagnation, there’s news from China that another potentially fierce competitor is about to add its threat to their future. Qoros announced it will unveil at the Geneva Car Show in March a second model to its Qoros […]
Archive | Industry Analysis 2013
Peugeot Confirms Talks With Dongfeng, As GM Cashes Out
GM Alliance Scaled Back, But The Deal Continues. “We remain positive on (Peugeot) as we believe in a turnaround of the core business” Investors might have to wait until the end of March to find out if Peugeot-Citroen can agree a deal with China’s Dongfeng Motor Group which would provide crucial financial help, but meanwhile […]
Tighter E.U. CO2 Rules Will Cost Industry €12 billion
Germany Wins “Supercredits” Increase, Delay. VW Faces Biggest Challenge. Environmentalists heaped derision on the E.U. agreement to tighten cars’ carbon dioxide emissions, but investors pointed out that despite the delay in reaching the 95 g/km target and the implementation of “supercredits”, the industry will have to spend a total of €12 billion to comply. The […]
GM Europe Dumps Chevy, Looks Serious About Fixing Europe
Chevrolet Cannibalized Opel-Vauxhall Sales And Had To Go. General Motors’ decision to close down Chevrolet in Europe shows it is really serious about turning around financially troubled Opel-Vauxhall, according to investors. It has been a big week for GM after appointing Mary Barra CEO, announcing it will stop production in Australia, deciding to sell its […]
New Mini Technology Will Spread To Small BMWs
Output Should Reach 400,000 By 2018 From Three Plants. The all-new Mini, by BMW and launched last month at the factory in Oxford, England, doesn’t look much different from the old one, but under the skin the engineering will make a big difference to the German car maker’s small car production. The Mini is the […]
VW, Boosted By MQB Savings, Set To Outclass Opposition
“we see an annual saving of €4.4 billion by 2018 and perhaps more encouragingly the payback appears to have arrived as of Q3 ’13” “Perhaps VW needs to consider floating Audi” Despite Volkswagen’s juicy profits, impressive market share in Europe, massive success in the premium sector with Audi and now Porsche, and its winning formula […]
Peugeot-Citroen Financial Troubles Look Set To Fester
New CEO Wins Plaudits; End Of Iran Sanctions Won’t Hurt. “There is still a long way to go and we expect Peugeot-Citroen to burn a further €1.1 billion in 2014” Financially-troubled Peugeot-Citroen is in turmoil after dumping its CEO and hiring a new one recently with Renault, and investors remain convinced profits won’t be returning […]
Chrysler Share Offering Delay Might Signal Early Fiat Deal
Failure Might Mean UAW More Amenable to Fiat Offer. Fiat said there will not be a formal float of shares in Chrysler this year, and it is more likely to take place in the first quarter of next year. So that means Fiat’s attempt to buy all of Chrysler’s shares has been delayed until well […]
Fuel Cells Might Still Trump Battery Cars
Toyota FCV Joins Fuel Cell Offering, Which Is Increasing Too. Toyota of Japan reminds us that batteries don’t necessarily hold the inside track as an alternative, revolutionary way to replace the internal combustion engine out there and it’s called the fuel cell. Unveiled ahead of the Tokyo car show on November 20, Toyota said its […]
Self-Driving Cars Are Coming And Will Shakeup Your World
Unforeseen Consequences For HS2. “If you can move from your home to your destination, door-to-door in the back-seat of your car, who’s going to take the train?” Ordering the computer in your car to drive to your destination is more than just a clever advance in technology; it will have massive social and industrial ramifications. […]