LMC Automotive blog: Turkey’s LV market under President Erdoğan’s rule and its future In 2022, the Turkish light vehicle (LV) market registered 783k units as OEMs struggled to fulfil backlogged orders on the back of a stringent supply situation. Coming into 2023, the market has surged. LV sales totalled 236k units in Q1 – 55.2% higher than Q1 2022 sales. This was also significantly higher than the 10-year Q1 average of 156k units. This blo...

News  Updated at: 2023/07/04

LMC Automotive blog: Will the EU’s 2035 ban on ICE light vehicles impact total vehicle sales? All new cars and vans sold in the EU from 2035 must effectively be zero-emission vehicles (ZEV), except for e-fuels and low-volume automakers. However, given that only 12% of new Light Vehicles (LVs) sold in the EU last year were ZEV and with the variation between those markets being wide, the question arises of whether the proposal is realistically at...

News  Updated at: 2023/05/24

LMC Automotive blog: The “Nokia” moment for China’s auto market has arrived The biennial 2023 Shanghai Auto Show officially kicked off on April 18 and is the first international ‘A-level’ auto show of the year. In terms of the scale of the exhibition, this year’s Shanghai Auto Show encompassed thirteen indoor exhibition halls in the National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai), with a total exhibition area of more than 360,000...

News  Updated at: 2023/05/12

LMC Automotive blog: India, set to become the world’s third-largest LV market The Indian market is roaring back. At the height of the pandemic, Light Vehicle (LV) sales plunged to a ten-year low of 2.8 mn units in 2020, a 30% decline, compared to 4 mn units in 2018.  In the last two years, however, the market rebounded strongly – indeed, so strongly that sales reached a record high of 4.39 mn units in 2022, surpassing Japan’s dismal 4.17 m...

News  Updated at: 2023/05/02

LMC Automotive blog: Is the MEA region ripe for BEV adoption? The Middle East and Africa (MEA) BEV market is growing rapidly, driven by a combination of government incentives, increasing awareness of the benefits of BEVs, and the development of charging infrastructure. The first of these, government incentives, is one of the main drivers of the BEV market. Many countries in the region, including Israel, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and more re...

News  Updated at: 2023/04/20

LMC Automotive blog: Are we seeing the end of the entry-level car? The number of the smallest, entry-level cars has been on the decline in Europe. In this Analyst Briefing, we will explore the factors leading to the disappearance of small cars, how the supply crisis accelerated this trend, and why they all tie back to the same overarching theme – profit and margins. EU legislation The entry point to car ownership usually starts with A-segment h...

News  Updated at: 2023/04/07

LMC Automotive blog: Will a new approach make Renault-Nissan successful in India? Renault and Nissan’s planned capital injection of USD 600 million (INR 53 billion) in India – mainly towards six new vehicles (three each), including two BEVs from 2025 onward – coupled with a modified strategy will determine the group’s future in the market. We believe the two partners’ novel approach will be akin to the decades-old strategy employed by H...

News  Updated at: 2023/03/31

LMC Automotive blog: A change in automotive fortunes is coming The post-pandemic period has been characterised for the automotive industry, perhaps above all other things, by the profound shortage of semiconductors. The effect on the new vehicle industry has been dramatic, causing global industry volume to be at levels we would in more normal times associate with a severe economic recession – at least as bad as the Global Financial Crisis. As a...

News  Updated at: 2023/03/15

LMC Automotive blog: Argentina Light Vehicle production: early pandemic recovery or simply recovery? Light Vehicle output in Argentina attained great heights over the course of 2022 reaching 554,000 units and achieving 23% growth year-on-year. This growth seems to paint a picture of recovery from the supply shortages plaguing the industry, but is there more to the story? Argentina’s pre-pandemic environment is also at play in the growth achieve...

News  Updated at: 2023/02/28

LMC Automotive blog: Morocco, automotive industry goes from strength to strength Each year, Moroccans buy about 180,000 new cars, a relatively small number considering the country has a population of 37 million. Despite this modest sales number, Morocco is becoming a real success story as an automotive manufacturing hub and in 2018, passed South Africa as the biggest exporter of passenger cars on the continent. So, what are the drivers behind thi...

News  Updated at: 2023/02/07

LMC Automotive blog: What can we expect from the US auto market in 2023? There is no escaping the fact that 2022 was a disappointing year for the US Light Vehicle market. What was initially expected to be a year of solid recovery ended with the lowest sales since 2011. We were not alone in missing the mark with our outlook and neither was the US the only one to unexpectedly struggle across the world last year. However, the reasons are not particu...

News  Updated at: 2023/01/18

LMC Automotive blog: India grows strongly, but can it last? When we look at the performance of the global automotive industry this year, India (along with the ASEAN region) has been a rare bright spot, bolstering sales. The effects of the pandemic are gradually dissipating and leading to a rebound in GDP and private consumption. This helped drive pent-up demand, while also giving vehicle makers the confidence to introduce new models in the market...

News  Updated at: 2022/12/21

LMC Automotive blog: COVID-19 will be the biggest factor affecting the Chinese market this year Since the outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020, China has implemented strict epidemic prevention and containment measures. Local lockdowns have had a serious impact on production and sales activities. In addition, the latest macroeconomic data show that it will be a tough end to the year. China’s export growth in October dropped by 0.3% year-on-year, down 6%...

News  Updated at: 2022/12/15

LMC Automotive blog: India BEVs, Moment of truth “The EV inflection point is here and now!” said Venkat Rajaraman, CEO, Cygni Energy, in his presentation at the Messe Frankfurt organised 2nd Annual E-Mobility India Forum at the end of last month. The battery electric vehicle (BEV) market in India is clearly developing from the bottom up, with fast adoption by two-wheeler buyers (notwithstanding various fire incidents involving electric two-wh...

News  Updated at: 2022/10/25

LMC Automotive blog: Global demand braces for impact After two and a half years of facing one major setback after another, the global Light Vehicle market continues to struggle to gain any real traction. Even though it has posted stronger selling rates in recent months, that is primarily a result of a rapid improvement in the China market, which itself is benefitting from a temporary purchase tax cut on cars. Across much of the world, supply bott...

News  Updated at: 2022/10/07

LMC Automotive blog: Will Germany’s likely PHEV grant removal hasten the demise of this technology in Europe? It looks increasingly likely that revisions to Germany’s government grants for the purchase of a plug-in car will result in the abolition of the plug-in hybrid (PHEV) grant from the start of 2023. At present this is worth a maximum of EUR 6,750. To qualify for this amount, cars need to have a homologated electric-only range of 60km an...

News  Updated at: 2022/08/02

LMC Automotive blog: US Light Vehicle sales in 2022, a mid-year analysis GM vs. Toyota: Toyota started the year ahead of GM by 16k units, they tied in February, and GM was ahead of Toyota in March-June, ending the first half of 2022 with a 42k-unit advantage. If the Detroit 3 were severely affected by the chip crisis last year, this year Asian OEMs have faced more disruptions, exacerbated by China’s zero COVID-19 policy. Well, not only Asian OE...

News  Updated at: 2022/07/20

LMC Automotive blog: How will the Turkish Battery Electric Vehicle market evolve over the forecast horizon? When looking at BEV sales alone, Turkey is one of the smallest markets in the region but there is scope for improvement LMC Automotive’s unique Global Hybrid & Electric Vehicle Forecast is continuously being enhanced by the addition of more individually forecasted countries. The latest is Turkey, a market which in terms of total vehicles ...

News  Updated at: 2022/07/01

LMC Automotive blog: Chip shortage in South America: low volume, high impact Although disruption for South America is not as sizable in terms of volume as it is in other regions, the repercussions are significant The chip crisis and its implications for global light vehicle production are nothing new. For the past 18 months, the industry has suffered from repeated parts shortages and supply chain issues that have caused automakers to halt product...

News  Updated at: 2022/06/16

LMC Automotive blog: India to drive Asia-Pacific sales Amidst the doom and gloom of the current year, India is foreseen to be a major driver of growth in the Asia-Pacific region. The market has consistently outperformed our expectations in the first three months of the year, with total Light Vehicle (LV) sales at about 1.1 mn units. Due to a high base last year, this is a mere 1% growth year-on-year (YoY), but the total was 20% higher than in Q4 ...

News  Updated at: 2022/05/10