All posts by Francis Mitterrand

News

Dacia has the most loyal customers

The Romanian car manufacturer Dacia, as part of the Renault Group, has been recording outstanding results lately with more cars delivered than Renault. It’s an extraordinary result, but one study shows that this car manufacturer has the most loyal customers.

According to Dataforce research, almost 80 percent of current Dacia customers in Germany would buy their car again. Also, indicators show that the percentage of their loyal customers is 20 percent above the average in the auto industry.

“Dacia manages to attract exactly those customers who keep coming back. It’s something almost no one else can do,” said Marc Odinius, CEO of Data Force.

Tesla is in second place with 75 percent of customers returning to the American brand, while Mazda is in third place. At the same time, Tesla is the brand with the most loyal customers in the electric car segment, ahead of Volkswagen and BMW.

In 2023, Dacia revealed the third generation of the model that has the most loyal customers, the Dacia Duster. The car will be available for a larger number of customers and the entry model will cost around 20,000 euros. Also, Dacia recently premiered the Spring model, and announced that the new Dacia Sandero will be offered as an EV.

Source: Dataforce

Auctions

1956 Porsche 356A European Coupe is for sale

In 1955, Porsche revealed the second version of its first production car, the 356A, and its internal factory designation, “Type 1”, gave rise to its nickname “T1” among enthusiasts. In the US, 1,200 early 356s had been badged as the “Continental” and then a further 156 from autumn 1955 to January 1956 as an even rarer T1 “European” variant. One of them, a 1956 Porsche 356A European Coupe is up for auction.

This Porsche 356A is powered by a 1,883cc air-cooled flat-four engine installed ten years ago during a refurbishment that included the installation of a Competition Engineering machined case, LN Engineering “Nickies” cylinders housing 90mm forged pistons with Porsche 912 connecting rods, dual Weber 44mm IDF carburetors, and 6″ sport air filters and 4″ velocity stacks. Last year, a 12-volt electrical system, Porsche 912 heads with 34mm exhaust valves, Aluminum oil cooler, LN Engineering Torquer camshaft, YnZ’s Yesterday’s Parts wiring harness, Chromoly pushrods, 123Ignition distributor, and full-flow oil filter system were installed. Power is sent to the rear wheels via a Porsche 741 four-speed manual transmission.

The car looks magnificent. It is finished in Aquamarine Blue Metallic and is in excellent condition. It is equipped with a single decklid grill, quad taillights with LED bulbs, body-colored bumpers with aluminum guards, European badging, Hirschmann-style red-tip retractable antenna, rebuilt brake drums supplied by Martin Willis Machine Shop of Colorado Springs, and a Koni shock absorbers with a Willhoit Auto Restoration sway bar up front.

Inside, the seats are reupholstered in gray Connolly leather that also covers the door panels, dash and rear bench, with blue square-weave carpets protected by black rubber floor mats. In front of the driver are an ivory-colored two-spoke steering wheel and a reset five-digit odometer showing 6,510 miles (total mileage is unknown).

The car comes with refurbishment records, a copy of the Kardex, a Porsche Certificate of Authenticity, and a clean Arizona title.

The auction ends on March 19 and the highest bid at the time of writing was $130,000 USD.

Source: Bring a Trailer

Gallery:

1956 Porsche 356A European Coupe is up for auction
News

Stellantis plans to invest 5.6 billion euros in South America

As part of the “Dare Forward 2030” strategic plan, Stellantis Group intends to invest over 50 billion euros worldwide in electric vehicles in the next 10 years, with the goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2038. One of the markets that Stellantis is seriously counting on is South America, where it plans to invest 5.6 billion euros by the end of the decade.

In recent years, China has been a market where many global manufacturers have invested and opened facilities (independently or in partnership with domestic companies) for the production of electric vehicles. However, due to strained relations between Europe and China, regarding state subsidies for electric vehicles exported to Europe, European manufacturers are looking for other places for investment.

Stellanti has chosen South America as one of its most successful markets. This multinational automotive manufacturing corporation holds significant market shares on this continent (23.5 percent), and in Brazil alone they hold almost one third of the market (31.4 percent).

“The planned investments will support the launch of more than 40 new products in that period and the development of new biohybrid technologies, innovative decarbonization technologies in the supply chain of the automotive industry and new strategic business opportunities,” Stellantis announced.

The facility in the Brazilian city of Betim serves as the company’s global hub for bio-hybrid technology that combines electrification with hybrid engines that use biofuels such as ethanol. Expectations are that these technologies will be available by the end of 2024.

It should also be noted that at the end of 2023, Stellantis formed a joint venture with Leapmotor. Stellantis intends to invest €1.5 billion to acquire approximately 20% of Leapmotor. This will be a good financial injection for the Chinese company to improve its sales results in the domestic market but also to expand its business outside of China. The world’s largest conglomerate will have a 51 percent stake and will have the rights to export, sell and manufacture Leapmotor electric vehicles outside of China.

At a press conference in the Chinese city of Hangzhou, Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares said: “We have not been so successful in China, so we prefer to rely on a Chinese partner. To win in China, it is better to win with a Chinese company.” This is a good strategic move for Stellantis, with which the group resets its strategy focused on electric vehicles after years of bad sales in China.

Source: Stellantis