Euro Auto Trends

Spanish auto manufacturing output in 2007 will stay more or less flat for the second consecutive year with 2.8 million units while Ford Spain spokesman says he expects their local unit production to rise 13% to 420 thousand cars a year due to strong sales of the Focus, the Ford’s best selling model in Span where it tops the C-segment. Although it is not so good for the the ailing Fiesta which now becomes showing its age.

A new version of Skoda’s Fabia is to be shown at the Geneva motor show in March 2007 and is planned to go on sale in May 2007 to replace the original model - a bit underrated but sold quite successfully throughout Europe.

The second generation Fabia is 22mm longer and 47mm taller than its predecessor, improving passenger leg and headroom and making it one of the largest cars in an ever growing class. The design decisions are similar to those of the Roomster, a new model from Skoda launched earlier this year and show the Skoda design team wilingness to get rid of the conservative appearance of previous generation models including the old Fabia and Octavia .

The first Kia Ceed models are now coming off the production line at the Kia’s new manufacturing facility in Slovakia. The facility at Zilina represents an investment by the Korean automaker of EUR1bn and it will have an ultimate capacity of 300,000 units annually (150,000 is a planned feagure for the Ceed). The question if the Koreans will manage to sell that many cars is still open.

The Ceed will be offered with three petrol and two diesel engines with power outputs ranging from 90 to 143 ps, three equipment levels, four interior concepts, five centre-stack styles, seven different trim fabrics and 12 exterior colors.

By the end of next year there will also be three body styles - a “sporty wagon” will start off in August 2007 and a three-door sports hatch starts in December 2007.

The Nissan Qashqai, the latest model of the Japaneese house, begins rolling off the production line at December 5th, 2006 at Nissan’s UK plant in Sunderland. Qashqai is a compact crossover, combining the best attributes of a traditional family hatchback with the option of advanced 4×4 capability.

Around 130,000 units should be produced in Sunderland in 2007, alongside with Note, Primera, Micra and Micra C+C. This will potentially increase the Nissan UK total annual production volume to around 400,000 units - a year record for the Europe’s most efficient plant.

Nissan Qashqai represents a total investment of EUR322.8 M and will secure more than 3,000 jobs at the Sunderland plant as well as within the regional supply chain. It has also created around 300 temporary and trainee jobs at the plant.

About 80% of Nissan Qashqai units are planned for export, the majority certainly go for sale in Europe. Although the latest Nissan model will also be shipped to numerous overseas markets such as the Middle East, Australia, South Africa. Surprisingly Japan will join the list thus making it only the second British-built model to be exported to the Nissan’s home market after the Primera of 1996.

From early December 2006 the Qashqai will ramp up to full production volume in just 4 weeks to ensure dealers across Europe are fully stocked to start the car’s sales at the end of February 2007.