Peugeot Production: 2008

Peugeot is the slightly larger part of PSA, or the Peugeot / Citroen company. Peugeot made 2 million cars in 2005, for 3.2% of world car/LCVs manufacturing. In 2008, it had slipped below 3%; 2.9% to be precise. Unlike the ever expanding range of vehicles within the German brands, Peugeot has settled for simply replacing models within the existing range. A careful approach, but one that will

BMW's Shame

Once upon a time BMW decided it needed to expand its interests, like many other car companies were doing. It saw MG Rover as that timely expansion. MGR was a small company with a successful tie-up with Honda. The major shareholder was BAe and Honda had a minor share. MGR shared much with Honda, crucially platforms. Its success depended on the costs saved. BMW bought BAe's share of MGR and looked

Renault Production: 2008

The French like to support their car makers and Renault has been able to rely on strong home support. Some of it's export success, especially in Europe has been garnered by sharp pricing. It was number one in Western Europe between 2002 to 2004 but profits were being hurt. Recently, Renault embarked on making money before market share, sales have fallen sharply and now the brand is 5th in WE. It

Hyundai Production: 2008

Hyundai has a very protected home market to dominate, but has struggled to establish itself on the world stage. Some success was achieved through cheap and cheerful approach, but that isn't the profitable route and the Chinese will soon be entering that end of the market. Recently Hyundai has been improving quality and image, while still retaining a slight price edge on the comparable opposition

A Wee Fuel Solution

A scientist at Ohio University has developed a catalyst capable of extracting hydrogen from urine. Gerardine Botte claims the device uses significantly less energy than is needed to extract hydrogen from water and says it could power hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in the near future. One of hydrogen’s biggest stumbling blocks to use as an alternative fuel is the amount of energy needed to produce it

Suzuki Production: 2008

Suzuki is a company that would like to have global success but struggles to get there. It suffers from a range of vehicles built around small SUVs and small cars. Not the range to achieve much, in fact it overachieves when you look at the range. Its success is based around two markets, Japan and India. Outside of those countries, it is generally a small player.

In 2005, Suzuki made 2.07

Nissan Worldwide Production By Nation: 2008

In 1999, with Nissan facing severe financial difficulties, it entered an alliance with Renault. The outcome of that is that Nissan is 44.4% owned by Renault and 15% the other way around. The two companies work closely in "develop synergies while conserving the corporate culture and identity of each brand". Nissan sales include its upmarket Infiniti brand, which is produced mainly for the North