Automotive News Europe - June 2019 - 8

AUTOMOTIVE NEWS EUROPE

COVER STORY

VW and the German government were
discussing how to provide extra subsidies to this sector. These customers also
"have the right" to have access to electrified models, he said.
Analysts at ING bank predict price parity
between conventional and electric drivetrains won't arrive until 2025.
Fiat's proposal for keeping the cost of
small electric cars down was unveiled
at the Geneva auto show in March in
the form of the Centoventi concept, a
look at what might replace the aging
Panda. The price would be kept low on
the base car by offering a small battery
with a 100km range, but that battery
would be expandable to 500km after
purchase via upgrades.

The Centoventi concept shows Fiat's proposal for
keeping small electric cars affordable.
brand CEO Linda Jackson told ANE that
the C1's future was likely to be electric.
Meanwhile, Skoda recently unveiled an
electric version of the Citigo, which will
be sold under the automaker's new emobility subbrand called iV. Full-electric
variants look to be the best option for
the entry segment when the VW Group
replaces its current trio of minicars,
Skoda's Favey said: "Everything else will
be tricky to justify."
The continued popularity of the Renault
Zoe, which last year was Europe's No.
2-selling full-electric car after the Nissan
Leaf, gives manufacturers hope that an
electric future is viable for small cars.
In Geneva, Peugeot unveiled a rival to
the Zoe in the form of the e208, while
Opel and Citroen are also gearing up to
launch related full-electric small cars.
PSA's electrification strategy is to restrict full-electric to smaller cars, where
range is less important, and add plug-in
hybrid technology to larger cars that traditionally cover more ground.

development of a family of smaller, urbanfocused EVs starting at less than 20,000
euros. These cars are due around 2023
and will be led by its Seat brand in Spain.

Expensive solution
The problem is still one of cost. "The
10,000 euro car is going to be very difficult," Ford of Europe sales boss Roelant
de Waard said. "Even if you reach $100
per kilowatt hour you still need 40kWh as
a minimum so that's still $4,000," he said.
Said Thomas Ulbrich, VW brand's board
member for e-mobility: "Minicar customers are paying 12,000 to 14,000 euros
but in the future, when they are electrified, it will be 18,000 to 20,000 euros.
This will be a problem." He added that

Honda will launch a small electric car,
the Honda E, next year following an introduction at the Frankfurt auto show
this year. Meanwhile Dacia, Nissan and
Mazda are also expected to debut small
EVs in the midterm.
The VW Group is so far concentrating on
compact cars for its first large-scale push
into EVs via its MEB platform, but more
recently the manufacturer announced the

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"It is driven by a desire to capture the
essence of one end of the Fiat spectrum,
while at the same time -- if we are being
honest -- to build our electrified portfolio
and avoid any [CO2-compliance] fines,"
Fiat brand head Olivier Francois told Autocar magazine at Geneva.
Automakers only have themselves to
blame for the high cost of electric cars,
believes European environment pressure group Transport & Environment.
"BEVs [battery-electric vehicles] are still
more expensive than small gasoline cars
due to lack of early investment in supply
chains and betting on diesel instead. But
their price will drop fast," said Julia Poliscanova, T&E's manager for clean vehicles
and e-mobility. She pointed out that all
technology, batteries included, trickles
down from more expensive categories.
Despite the fears, smalls car will remain
a staple of European motoring into the
midterm, analyst firm LMC Automotive
believes. Sales of small cars will sink
from 3.16 million last year to less than
3 million next year and 2020, but stabilize at about 3 million until 2023, LMC
predicts. Similarly, minicars are forecast
to drop from 1.1 million last year to a
little less than a million this year and to
900,000 in 2021, before returning to
more than 1 million in 2023 (when the
new generation Fiat 500 arrives).
"There will always be a demand in the
market for a cheap form of mobility,"
LMC analyst Sammy Chan said.

The full-electric Citigo iV (shown)
and Superb iV plug-in hybrid will be
the first electrified series-production
models in Skoda's 124-year history.

De Waard at Ford believes small cars
will keep their place in Europe. "I think
you will still get the same segmentation
but the vehicles will be 1,000, 2,000 or
ANE
3,000 euros more expensive."

JUNE 2019
http://www.autonewseurope.com
Automotive News Europe - June 2019

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