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Nissan plant at
Aguascalientes,
and is planned
to have a
fully-ramped
up production
capacity, by
2021, of 300 000
units per annum.
Infiniti production
is scheduled
to begin in
2017, with the
Mercedes models
following one
year later.
Meanwhile,
on the other
side of the
world, Renault-Nissan has taken control
of Russia’s largest automaker, AvtoVAZ.
The Franco-Japanese group now owns
a 67,1% stake in the holding company
that controls the Russian manufacturer. In
view of the current difficulties in relations
between Russia and Western countries
over Ukraine, this is seen by observers
as a long-term investment ahead of an
expected recovery in the Russian business
environment.
➲ Jeep’s Renegade will bolster a growing global market segment
The Renegade will be joining a market
segment which is rapidly gaining global
importance. Interest in small 4x4 vehicles
was initially sparked by Suzuki’s SJ series
of mini Jeep-like vehicles in the 1980’s,
although that product was probably a
little more “sport” than “utility”. The SJ
evolved into the first Vitara, which pushed
the envelope more in the “utility” direction,
before Suzuki moved its main SUV offering
upmarket as the Gran Vitara. The smaller
SJ concept was continued, albeit in slightly
more civilised form, as the Jimny, and
Daihatsu then joined in with its Terios,
which was more overtly a mini-SUV, and
was even available in a 7-seat version.
Since then, the segment has evolved
rapidly, with the addition of the Nissan
Juke, Kia Soul, Ford EcoSport and Opel
Mokka/Buick Encore, while further new
entries include Honda’s HR-V or Vezel, and
additional Mokka spin-offs including the
Chevrolet Trax. Total global sales for the
segment are currently estimated at around
2,7 million units, with volumes split evenly
between Europe and Asia-Pacific, but
North America is expected to become an
important destination, drawing buyers from
the small hatchback and sedan segments.
More Daimler/RenaultNissan Cooperation
This interesting four-year-old relationship
continues to grow. The biggest project to
date will be the recently announced $US
1,4-billion factory in Mexico which will
build luxury compact cars for MercedesBenz and Infiniti. This 50/50 joint venture
will be located adjacent to an existing
Architectural Issues
Today’s motor manufacturers, in their
efforts to maximise volumes, have a
tendency to participate in as many
market niches as possible. However, it is
extremely costly to develop a completely
new design every time that an additional
model is required. To overcome this
situation, increasing use of “common
architectures” for a number of models of
similar configurations and dimensions, has
become common practice. Surprisingly,
these basic platforms can be utilised
across a number of seemingly diverse
applications, including sedans, light
commercial vehicles and crossovers. The
main benefit is the cutting of development
and production costs, which are shared
out across many models, and better
amortisation through vastly increased
production volumes.
Volkswagen has recently pushed this
concept to new limits with its MQB (short
for Modular Transverse Matrix in German)
architecture, which is intended to form the
basis of models in eight size and market
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categories by 2019. It has already
materialised in the latest Audi A3 and
Volkswagen Golf models, and is planned
for incorporation in future products
ranging in size from Polo to Passat
and 7-seat crossovers, and across all
family brands from Skoda and SEAT to
Audi. Ultimately, the MQB platform will
underpin no less than 60 different A, B
and CUV segment transverse engined,
front-wheel-drive models, all with a
uniform (petrol or diesel) engine mounting
position, but with a variety of wheelbase,
track and length dimensions.
The strategic intent is to enable
Volkswagen’s 106 worldwide production