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

EU passenger car sales up 26.1% in March 2023 On April 19, the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) announced new passenger car registrations for March 2023. Passenger car sales in the European Union (EU), European Free Trade Association (EFTA), and the United Kingdom (UK) increased 26.1% year-on-year to 1,422,147 units in March, while year-to-date sales increased 17.5% to 3,235,951 units.     In March, sales in the EU increase...

News  Updated at: 2023/04/25

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: Indonesia’s EV aspiration could face more challenges than opportunities Indonesia finally made a preliminary announcement of its long-awaiting incentive programme for Electric Vehicles (EVs) in March 2023. However, details of the programme remain scarce. This is what we know so far. The scheme will cover 35,900 EVs. Locally built Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs) will be subject to a reduced VAT of 1% compared to the 11% app...

News  Updated at: 2023/04/05

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: Will Europe’s BEV market be derailed by e-fuels? Following intense lobbying from some of Germany’s premium vehicle makers and the prospect of the EU’s flagship 2035 zero CO2 vehicle policy being scuppered at the final hurdle by abstention from Germany and pushback from Italy, it seems that e-fuels will be allowed to form part of the powertrain mix for new Light Vehicles (LVs) in the EU and EU+ markets beyond 2035. Surel...

News  Updated at: 2023/03/27

EU passenger car sales up 12.2% in February 2023 On March 21, the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) announced new passenger car registrations for February 2023. Passenger car sales in the European Union (EU), European Free Trade Association (EFTA), and the United Kingdom (UK) increased 12.2% year-on-year to 902,775 units in February, while year-to-date sales increased 11.5% to 1,814,048 units.     Sales in the EU increased 1...

News  Updated at: 2023/03/23

LMC Automotive blog: Not quite the “Happy Chinese New Year” for vehicle sales so far The Chinese vehicle market got off to a sluggish start in the New Year. Light Vehicle wholesales were 1.65 mn units, which was a sharp contraction of 34% year-on-year. Passenger Vehicle wholesales dropped to 1.51 mn units, a decrease of 33% year-on-year while Light Commercial Vehicle wholesales plunged by 50% year-on-year. While there were some weak months in...

News  Updated at: 2023/03/20

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: VinFast’s BEV plan – is a rethink needed? In 2022, VinFast announced its plan to be an all-electric carmaker and to penetrate the US and European markets by importing Complete Built-Up (CBU) vehicles from its Vietnam plant in the initial phase and adding local production in the US by 2024. In advance of this move, VinFast ceased production of internal combustion engine vehicles in Q3 2022 which negatively impacted VinFast...

News  Updated at: 2023/03/07

LMC Automotive blog: BEVs take off faster than expected in ASEAN countries Following the implementation of EV incentive schemes by policymakers, especially in the two largest markets of Thailand and Indonesia, battery electric vehicles (BEVs) have taken off faster than expected in ASEAN countries. The pace of BEV penetration appears to have accelerated and is being driven by non-Japanese manufacturers. At this early stage of transitioning to elec...

News  Updated at: 2022/12/05

LMC Automotive blog: Is the global bus and coach market on the road to recovery? Since 2016 the global bus and coach market has recorded five consecutive years of year-on-year (YoY) decline in new sales. However, barring any major shocks, this looks set to change in 2022 as the market is expected to show annual growth for the first time in half a decade. Full-year sales are expected to surpass 250k units, which would mark a 12% increase from the ...

News  Updated at: 2022/11/15

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: Thailand’s journey to becoming ASEAN’s EV hub Climate change, rising oil prices, air pollution, government policies, and stricter emission standards – these are all factors in the worldwide understanding that electric vehicles (EVs) are necessary. This rapid global transition to EVs puts ASEAN’s automotive industry at risk as their main products are still internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles. Among ASEAN, Thailan...

News  Updated at: 2022/09/26

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: The rapid rise of NEVs in China Sales of New Energy Vehicle (NEV) models* surged by 110% in the first five months of this year in China’s passenger car (PV) market, against a drop of 5% in the overall market in the same period as it suffered from the strict regional COVID-19 lockdowns in March and April. The impact of the pandemic on the NEV market was far smaller than its effect on the internal combustion engine (ICE) mark...

News  Updated at: 2022/07/19

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

EU passenger car sales down 18.8% in March 2022 On April 20, the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) announced new passenger car registrations for March 2022. Passenger car sales in the European Union (EU), European Free Trade Association (EFTA), and the United Kingdom (UK) decreased 18.8% year-on-year to 1,127,077 units in March, while year-to-date sales decreased 10.6% to 2,753,256 units. Sales in the EU decreased 20.5% to 84...

News  Updated at: 2022/04/21

LMC Automotive blog: The disproportionate impact of war in Ukraine on German automakers By the beginning of March this year, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, almost all automotive production in the two warring countries had come to a complete standstill. In normal times, Russia is the third-largest European Light Vehicle producer (behind Germany and Spain), manufacturing just under 1.5 million units in 2021. So, closures on the current s...

News  Updated at: 2022/03/30

LMC Automotive blog: VW Group bets on sedans in India Sales of sedans in India have been lacklustre in the last few years, but the recently launched Škoda Slavia and the upcoming Volkswagen Virtus will attempt to change that. As buyers shifted their preference from cars to SUVs, the sedan category bore the brunt of this change in consumer attitudes. Automakers correspondingly shied away from introducing new cars and instead expanded their SUV li...

News  Updated at: 2022/03/25