vineri, 29 iulie 2016

Sfaturi utile pentru alegerea unei baterii auto


           Există câteva indicii care vă pot spune rapid dacă o baterie auto trebuie înlocuită sau doar trebuie să fie încărcată. Aproape toate bateriile auto utilizate în prezent se bazează pe combinaţia plumb şi acid sulfuric, combinaţie implementată prin diverse soluţii tehnice. Dar indiferent de soluţia aleasă, acumulatorii Pb-H2SO4 împărtăşesc aceleaşi caracteristici fizico-chimice ce pot fi utilizate pentru a verifica starea lor de funcţionare.
Majoritatea producătorilor de baterii auto şi-au echipat acumulatorii cu densimetre ce pot indica cu aproximaţie starea de încărcare a acestora. Acestea sunt dispuse pe partea superioară a bateriei şi au forma unui disc de sticlă prin care se poate observa un punct de culoare verde intens în cazul încărcării complete, de un verde închis în cazul încărcării parţiale şi de culoare galbenă sau albă atunci când acumulatorul este defect şi trebuie înlocuit.
Ce trebuie să reţinem
Acumulatorul acumulează energia pe care o primeşte şi este normală descărcarea acumulatorului în condiţii extreme de funcţionare: temperaturi scăzute, număr mare de consumatori, consumatori conectaţi permanent, drumuri scurte, neutilizarea automobilului pe perioade lungi, etc.
Un acumulator încărcat îngheaţă la -67 °C pe când unul descărcat 50% îngheaţă la -12°C, iar pentru pornirea autovehicolului în condiţii normale un acumulator încărcat 25% este suficient.
Extinderea duratei de funcţionare, evitarea situaţiei neplăcute de a nu porni autovehiculul datorită acumulatorului descărcat se poate face prin menţinerea acestuia în starea încărcată şi verificarea periodică la 6 luni.
Foarte mulţi şoferi cumpără o baterie auto nouă doar atunci când maşina nu mai porneşte. O baterie auto are de obicei o durată de funţionare de până la patru, cinci ani. Unele rezistă chiar şi şase, şapte ani. Însă, pentru a nu avea surprize neplăcute, după 4 ani acumulatorul ar trebui schimbat cu unul nou, mai ales dacă dă din ce în ce mai des rateuri.
Sfaturi utile pentru alegerea şi întreţinerea unei baterii auto
1. Cum alegem bateria auto potrivită?
Înainte de a începe procesul de căutare şi alegere a unui acumulator auto nou, este necesar să consultaţi manualul automobilului, pentru a respecta indicaţiile precizate acolo.
Alegeţi corect tipul de acumulator potrivit maşinii (amperaj, dimensiuni).
Întotdeauna este binevenit un plus de capacitate pentru automobil, dar nu mai mult de 30% peste cea prescrisă de fabricant.
Nu achiziţionaţi niciodată o baterie auto sub necesităţile automobilului dumneavoastră!
Alegerea mărcii bateriei auto ţine de preferinţele dvs. personale. Însă, dacă nu aveţi deja o marcă preferată, vă puteţi interesa înainte de a cumpăra o baterie auto despre modelele şi firmele producătoare.
Puteţi afla informaţii preţioase pe site-uri de profil, pe forumuri auto, de la mecanicul dvs. auto şi chiar de la prieteni.
Printre cele mai cunoscute mărci se numără Varta, Rombat, Bosh, Caranda, Banner şi altele.
2. De unde achiziţionaţi o baterie auto?
Cele mai recomandate locuri pentru achiziţionarea unei baterii auto sunt centrele mari de vânzare a pieselor auto, dar şi magazinele online specializate în comercializarea de acumulatori auto. Indiferent că vei apela la un magazin obişnuit sau unul online, puteţi fi consiliat de vânzători în aşa fel încât să achiziţionaţi bateria auto potrivită maşinii dvs.
Vă recomandăm să alegeţi magazine care vând acumulatorul în stare perfect încărcată şi care oferă şi garanţie la produsul vândut.
De asemenea, dacă puteţi, cumpăraţi produsele fabricanţilor consacraţi, deoarece tehnologiile utilizate de către aceşti producători incorporează şi experienţa dobândita în urma reclamaţiilor din perioada de garanţie, adică aceştia investesc în dezvoltarea tehnologiei de fabricare, astfel garantând îmbunătăţirea permanentă a produsului.
Dacă achiziţionaţi un produs de calitate de la un producător renumit, nu veţi întâmpina nici probleme legate de eventualele reclamaţii în perioada de garanţie, dacă aceste probleme sunt cauzate de o eroare de fabricaţie.
Citiţi cu atenţie certificatul de garanţie al baterie auto şi ţineţi cont de indicaţiile referitoare la montarea, întreţinerea, regimul de încărcare şi condiţiile garanţiei.
Efectuaţi verificarea tehnică obligatorie impusă la cumpărare, sau în termen de 5 zile lucrătoare, respectând în totalitate instrucţiunile de montaj şi folosire.
3. Cum montăm bateria auto?
Vă recomandăm să montaţi acumulatorul într-un service autorizat!
Defectele datorate montării defectuoase duc la pierderea dreptului la garanţie.
Bateria se fixează pe suport astfel încât să nu existe jocuri.
Înainte de a monta (demonta) bateria pe (de pe) autovehicul, se deconectează tot echipamentul electric pentru a evita scurtcircuitele accidentale .
La montare, dacă minusul instalaţiei este la masa se va lega întâi cablul ( ) la polul ( ) al acumulatorului şi apoi cablul (-) la polul (-) al acumulatorului.
La demontare se procedează în ordine inversă.
4. Cum utilizăm şi încărcăm bateria auto?
În timpul folosirii se verifică periodic nivelul electrolitului din baterie, chiar dacă bateria este de tipul "fără întreţinere", orificiile de aerisire ale dopurilor nu trebuie să fie obturate. Dacă nivelul acidului din baterie este sub semnul minim de pe acul bateriei se completează numai cu apă distilată, niciodată cu acid sulfuric.
Dacă bateria este umezită şi este necesară completarea cu apă distilată mai devreme de o lună, este semn că plaja de tensiune a releului regulator este prea sus şi bateria este supraîncărcată.
Dacă densitatea electrolitului este scăzută sub 1,24 g/cmc înseamnă că plaja de tensiune a releului regulator este prea joasă şi bateria se subîncarcă.
Releul de tensiune al autovehiculului trebuie să fie reglat în plaja 13.6 - 14.4 V (cu şi fără consumatori).
Curentul în gol nu trebuie să fie mai mare de 40 mA. În ambele cazuri, la supraîncărcare sau la subîncărcarea bateriei, trebuie să vă adresaţi unui service auto pentru remedierea sistemului de încărcare a autovehiculului.
La autovehiculele cu circuit electric de 24V este obligatoriu ca cele două baterii înseriate să fie identice constructiv (de acelaşi tip), cu grad de uzură apropiat şi cu aceeaşi stare de încărcare (aceeaşi densitate şi tensiune la borne).
Se interzice cuplarea directă la bornele oricărei baterii a unor consumatori de 12V. Pentru alimentarea acestora se va recurge la utilizarea unui convertor 24V/12V. Vă recomandăm ca în cazul defectării uneia dintre baterii să fie înlocuite ambele.
Funcţionarea bateriei în regim de subîncărcare (bateria încărcată sub 75%) echivalează cu o subdimensionare tehnică, ce conduce în timp la defectarea prin suprasolicitare. Defectul de suprasolicitare este datorat exploatării şi duce la pierderea garanţiei.
Încărcarea bateriei cu peste 14,5 V conduce în timp la supraîncărcare. Defectul de supraîncărcare este unul de exploatare şi conduce la pierderea garanţiei.
5. Cum întreţinem o baterie auto?
Suprafaţa bateriilor trebuie să se păstreze curată şi uscată. Se curăţă numai cu cârpe umede sau antistatice.
Polii şi clemele de racord trebuie protejate împotriva coroziunii prin tratarea lor cu unsoare fără acid.
Dacă puterea de pornire nu este suficientă, bateria trebuie reîncărcată.
Bateriile nefolosite se depozitează încărcate şi la temperaturi joase.
Controlaţi regulat starea de încărcare sau folosiţi un aparat de menţinere în stare de încărcare. La o tensiune de repaos sub 12,3 V bateria trebuie reîncărcată.
Iarna, este recomandat, dacă nu folosiţi zilnic maşina, să porniţi motorul o dată la câteva zile, pentru câteva minute.
6. Neutilizarea bateriei auto
Înainte de a scoate bateria din folosinţă pentru o perioadă de timp, încarcaţi complet bateria.
În cazul unei autodescărcări mici, nivelul electrolitului şi densitatea trebuie să fie controlate la 30 zile. Dacă densitatea este mai mică de 1,24 k/cmc este recomandabilă reîncărcarea bateriei.
Vă sfătuim să evitaţi staţionarea îndelungată a maşinii (peste 3-6 luni), în special în timpul sezonului rece.
De preferabil ar fi demontarea bateriei şi depozitarea ei într-un spaţiu corespunzător, până la reutilizare.
7. Protecţie în cazul montării/întreţinerii bateriei auto
Bateriile conţin electrolit = acid sulfuric! Acesta este foarte coroziv, putând cauza răni grave!
Dacă acidul v-a atins ochii, spălaţi cu multă apă şi consultaţi de urgenţă un medic.
Dacă acidul v-a atins hainele, spălaţi imediat cu săpun şi clătiţi cu multă apă.
Nu lăsaţi niciodată bateriile sau acidul la mâna copiilor.
Gazul care se degajă în timpul încărcării este exploziv!
Este strict interzisă prezenţa unor flăcări deschise sau producerea de scântei în preajma bateriei auto montate sau supusă procesului de încărcare pe redresor fiind pericol de explozie!!

Calculatorul de injecție (ECU) – mod de funcționare și diagnoză

     Motoarele moderne utilizate pentru propulsarea automobilelor, pe benzină sau diesel, sunt controlate în totalitate de sisteme electronice. Partea „inteligentă” a acestor sisteme de control este reprezentată decalculatorul de injecție. Acesta, pe baza informațiilor primite de la senzori (poziție, turație, presiune, etc.), determină starea motorului și acționează asupra diferitelor actuatoare (injectoare, supape, motoare electrice, etc.) în scopul atingerii regimului de funcționare cerut de conducătorul auto (exprimat prin poziția pedalei de accelerație). În limba engleză calculatorul de injecție este abreviat ECUECMEMS sau PCM.



Foto: Calculatorul de injecție DCM3.7
Sursa: Delphi
    Calculatorul de injecție este proiectat să funcționeze în condiții de solicitări mecanice și termice extreme. Acesta trebuie să lucreze la parametrii nominali fiind expus la:
o    temperaturi extreme: -40...120 °C
o    variații mari de temperatură
o    expunere la contaminarea cu apă, ulei, combustibil, etc.
o    praf, umezeală
o    solicitări și vibrații mecanice
    Pe lângă solicitările termice și mecanice funcționarea calculatorului de injecție trebuie să fie robustă și în cazul oscilațiilor de tensiune electrică sau în cazul expunerii la perturbații electromagnetice.


Foto: Calculatorul de injecție EMS3
Sursa: Continental
    Principalele părți componente ale calculatorului de injecție sunt: carcasa (2) din plastic sau metal, placa de bază (1) ce conține circuitele electronice și conectorul (3) prin care se primesc semnalele electrice de la senzori și se comandă actuatoarele (supape, motoare, etc.).


    În funcție de tipul motorului, benzină sau diesel, sau de sistemele auxiliare ale acestuia, conectorul are un număr variabili de pini (intrări de la senzori, comanda actuatoarelor, alimentare, etc.). La un motor modern calculatorul de injecție poate depăși ușor 100 de pini.
Exemplu de intrări/ieșiri calculator de injecție
Intrări (senzori)
ECU
Ieșiri (actuatoare)
poziție pedală de accelerație
poziție 
clapetă obturatoare
turație motor
poziție arbore cu came
debit masă aer
temperatură aer admisie
temperatură lichid de răcire motor
temperatură gaze evacuare (diesel)
presiune atmosferică
presiune combustibil rampă (injecție directă)
presiune aer admisie (supraalimentare)
presiune diferențială evacuare (diesel)
senzor de detonație (benzină)
sondă lambda amonte
sonda lambda aval (benzină)
poziție cheie contact
contact poziție 
ambreiaj
contact poziție frână
alimentare 
baterie +12V
comandă injectoare
comandă 
bujii aprindere (benzină)
comandă 
bujii incandescente (diesel)
comandă 
clapetă obturatoare
comandă pompă combustibil (joasă presiune)
comandă pompă combustibil (înaltă presiune)
comandă 
supapă EGR
comandă supapă supraalimentare
comandă distribuție variabilă
comandă 
pompă aer secundar (benzină)
comandă supapă aer secundar (benzină)
comandă supapă purjare 
canistră carbon activ (benzină)
comandă circuit încălzire combustibil (diesel)
comunicare CAN
conexiune 
OBD
    Din punct de vedere funcțional un calculatorul de injecție are următoarele componente:
o    blocul de alimentare de la baterie (+BAT)
o    blocul de procesare a semnalelor de intrare
o    unitatea centrală de procesare CPU (μCONTROLER - microcontroler)
o    memoria non-volatilă (EEPROM)
o    modulul de monitorizare
o    etajul de amplificare a comenzii actuatoarelor





vineri, 11 decembrie 2015

Hong Kong (China) November 2015: BMW 2 Series Tourer strong at #2



New vehicle sales in Hong Kong are up a very dynamic 22% year-on-year in November to 4.899 registrations, lifting the year-to-date total up 6% to 51.228 units. Toyota evolves like the market at +24% to 1.048 sales and 21.4% share vs. 24.7% year-to-date, whereas BMW (+63%), Mercedes (+33%) and Audi (+83%) take off. Land Rover (+218%) also shines further down. Model-wise, the Toyota Hiace reclaims the pole position it holds year-to-date thanks to 286 sales and 5.8% bit the BMW 2 Series Tourer lodges another exceptional performance in 2nd place with 4.2% share and is now #7 year-to-date. The VW Golf is up 12 spots on October to #3, the BMW 5 Series is up 10 to #6, both the Toyota Spade and Sienta maintain themselves within the Top 8 best-sellers and the Land Rover Discovery Sport gains a further two spots to #15.



Is the Tesla Model S one of the best-selling nameplates in Hong Kong? 
Note Hong Kong data doesn’t include Tesla sales for now as the company doesn’t disclose commercial information for the territory. Yet as one of our readers Nick Naylor pointed out recently, a recent article in the South China Morning Post talks of roughly 2.000 Tesla Model S already having found a new home in Hong Kong. With the Model S having launched a little over a year ago in Hong Kong, this would place the brand within the Top 10 best-sellers on the territory in 2015, and the Model S among the five most popular nameplates – making Hong Kong Tesla’s most successful market in the world in terms of market share along with Norway – albeit unofficially.
Sursa:http://bestsellingcarsblog.com/



joi, 3 decembrie 2015

Frankfurt 2015 / Dacia: We would love to launch the Kwid in Europe

Bookings are now open for the Renault Kwid in India. Next: Europe as a Dacia?
After Renaud Pirel (Renault Entry Range Sales & Marketing Director) in Paris a year ago, I had the chance to speak at the Frankfurt Auto Show with François Mariotte, General Manager, Dacia Sales and Marketing, once again thanks to Frédéric Favre, Dacia Press Relations Manager. See also: Paris Auto Show 2014: An exclusive interview with Dacia
BSCB: 2015 is a consolidation year in France for Dacia…

François Mariotte: You are taking the words out of my mouth! I’ll go even further than you: our market share is declining this year in France. So what’s going on? There are very logical explanations. In late 2013 we launched the Duster Phase II which was such a huge success that we actually struggled to keep up with demand. Delivery times got out of hand and we continued to register these new Dusters well into 2014. We’re talking 4.300 additional Dusters ordered in 2013 but delivered during the first half of 2014. We are now seeing the mechanical return to a more ‘normal’ level of Duster sales. The other reason is the fact that currently in France private sales are flat, but fleet, rental and tactical sales are up. We don’t sell to fleet – 85% of our sales are private sales – so we are mechanically penalised in terms of market share. However we have more orders in 2015 than a year ago, so we are not worried for the future. For example, the Duster is still the best-selling SUV in its category above such established models as the Peugeot 3008, Nissan Qashqai or VW Tiguan.
BSCB: Staying on private sales for a second, will the Sandero be the favourite car for French private buyers in 2015?
François Mariotte: The Sandero is just below the Renault Clio, even if we have ranked #1 for a very short period. It is more logical that the Clio remains above the Sandero in France. What I am specially proud of is the fact that the Sandero outsells the Peugeot 208 in private sales at home. We are also the #4 brand in French private sales below just Renault, Peugeot and Citroen and above Volkswagen. With the limited range that is ours, I believe this is an exceptional performance.
Dacia is labelling its 2015 Israeli launch a success so far.
BSCB: Dacia’s newest market is Israel. How do you analyse your sales performance there?
François Mariotte: I cover the Dacia brand worldwide, we are present in 44 countries mainly in Europe and on the Mediterranean basin up to Israel where Dacia launched this January. We are about to hit 1 percentage point market share or 1.800 registrations there in just 8 months with only one showroom in Tel Aviv and in a market where 75% of sales go to automatic transmissions – something we don’t offer just yet! We are very happy with this start. At Frankfurt we are launching our first-ever automated manual transmission, the Easy-R, fitted with computer-controlled electromechanical actuators that perform a surrogate role for the driver, declutching, changing gear and then re-engaging the clutch. So it’s not exactly an automated gearbox but it offers the convenience of a manual gearbox without a clutch pedal, and the driver can still decide when to select and change gears by selecting the manual mode. This will help us a lot in Israel notably.
BSCB: Why launching a whole new brand, Dacia, in Israel instead of commercialising the range under the Renault brand as you do in Egypt for example?
François Mariotte: We at Dacia tend to enter markets where the Renault brand is strong already, with a well established sales network and significant volume. Israel fit the bill, partly because our importer there Carasso Motors, is I believe the oldest Renault importer in the world! (BSCB note: Renault ranks #10 in Israel with slightly more than 3% market share both in 2014 and 2015 YTD). We have a clear positioning where we do not target the same clientele as Renault, we have very low prices and we do not do discounts – and therefore we don’t sell to fleet or rentals (BSCB: fleet/rental sales represent roughly 40% of the total Israeli market). This makes the Dacia offer a very complementary one to Renault in Israel. And in fact the Dacia Tel Aviv showroom, the only one in the country, is a standalone showroom completely separate to Renault. The result is this year Dacia has not cannibalised Renault sales in Israel.
Dacia just added a third shift in its Tangiers, Morocco factory.
BSCB: What are the next steps in Dacia’s commercial life?
François Mariotte: We are celebrating 10 years of the new Dacia. In that very limited amount of time we have launched in 44 markets seven models including five that have been renewed in the past two years. We sold 3.5 million vehicles – keeping in mind in the first year we only sold 25.000, last year we sold 511.000 (BSCB: for the Dacia brand only, not the Global Access range) and this year we are up 6.5% so far. Are we going to keep growing like this? You were using the word “consolidation” before, and that’s the right word. We are not aiming at enlarging our range indefinitely to, say, 15 models. We have a high volume strategy, not a niche strategy in order to achieve such low prices – a Dacia is at the same price as a high end bike!
Secondly, we are not aiming at becoming a worldwide brand. 50% of the Global Access range is sold under the Dacia brand, the other half is sold internationally (Russia, Brazil, etc.) under the Renault brand and we won’t go there.  However we are constantly improving the technology: this year at Frankfurt we have modernised engines, the EasyR gearbox I spoke about earlier and we added stop and start to our models, protecting our customers from high CO2 emissions sanctions. The success of the Dacia brand means our Romanian factory is used at capacity with 3 daily shifts working 6 days out of 7. Our Moroccan factory is only 3 years-old and we have just added a night shift on September 1 to be able to meet demand. Now, a total of 2.400 vehicles are produced every day: 1.400 in Romania and 1.000 in Morocco. Thanks to this added production capacity, we will have another record year in 2015: so far 19 out of our 44 markets are at all-time high volumes this year.
BSCB: Are you planning to expand into further markets?
François Mariotte: Not immediately. We still have a lot of work to do to establish the Dacia brand which is an extremely young brand. Even in France, there are still people that have never heard of Dacia. We need to change this, continue to improve or notoriety and familiarity.
BSCB: Has the Renault Group position changed on the Kwid – i.e. will we also see it in Europe and in the Mediterranean basin as a Dacia?
Sursa:http://bestsellingcarsblog.com/


miercuri, 2 decembrie 2015

Frankfurt 2015 / VW: A small SUV could lift us to 10% share in France


Arnaud Barral
After Audi and BMW, here is the third catchup with a German brand I had the privilege to organise at Frankfurt. Volkswagen may be losing foot in China, but in its European fief volumes are as high as they ever were, with the brand even placing three nameplates within the European Top 4 for the first time in history in August. We meet with Arnaud Barral, Volkswagen Brand Director for France. A very laid back and honest interaction, that started with Arnaud interviewing me…
Arnaud Barral: So what you do with BestSellingCarsBlog is specifically sales data analysis?
BSCB: Yes we cover 190 markets and publish a monthly analysis for roughly 60 countries.
Arnaud Barral: That’s massive! So basically you know sales data better than me…
BSCB: But we’ll only cover France for this interview…
Arnaud Barral: Um yes but still… This is going to be funny…

Volkswagen unveiled the new Tiguan in Frankfurt.
BSCB: What is your analysis of Volkswagen France sales performance so far in 2015?
Arnaud Barral: The overall French market is at +6%, correct? (BSCB: correct) It is still pulled up mainly by tactical sales however, with private sales starting to recover over the past 3-4 months which is great news. We follow the market at +6% also, and in private sales we are at 8.6% gaining 0.4 point. So our growth is healthy. In terms of financing, LOA (Location avec Option d’Achat – Long-term lease with Purchase option) is growing exponentially and now represents the majority of financed purchases at Volkswagen. We have also noticed that it improves our customers’ loyalty to the brand, so it is very beneficial for us.
The second angle we have is we often do limited offers to boost traffic in our dealerships and to demonstrate that VW is more affordable than you think. We remain very prudent in terms of tactical sales: we don’t do rentals, demo sales or 0km used cars for example, and we want to deliver a stable and profitable performance so we are focusing on company and private sales in the context that they don’t damage our pricing. Our policy is not for a growth at all cost, but a healthy growth protecting our margins. This policy is 4-5 years old, what really has changed recently for us is the LOA surge.

VW Touran R-Line and VW Passat Alltrack
BSCB: Getting into the detail by model, which successes are you the most proud of, reversely which models do you think need more work?
Arnaud Barral: Firstly our pillars are doing well: the Polo is going very well (BSCB: +7%) and the Golf is doing correctly while being challenged by a very valuable competitor in the Peugeot 308. We already have 2.000 orders for the new Touran, the Tiguan has a solid end of life for this generation (BSCB: -13%) and the Passat is a full house (BSCB: +76%). On the other hand I believe we could do much better with the Up. We are at 4% market share in that segment, we should aim at 6%. 3 years after launch, the Up is not established yet as a nameplate and we have an average legitimacy in this segment after our past struggles with the Fox. It’s a rather discreet car that doesn’t have the sex-appeal of its competitors, such as the Fiat 500, Mini or the French (new Twingo, C1, 108), however we think it will age gracefully, so we are counting on this durability to improve our performance in the long run.
BSCB: Staying on the Passat success for a bit, in August you outsold the segment leader the Peugeot 508 by 5 units. Is your objective to be first in class with the Passat?
Arnaud Barral: No. It would be pretentious to aim at outselling the French, however we can approach them. To me August sales are irrelevant as this is a very atypical month. In the segment this year, the 508 is at 34% market share and we are at 17%. We are a solid #2, and this suits us very well. For Passat we are at 75% of registrations to companies, and among private sales a lot are LOA as described above.
Little cannibalisation of Golf sales: the Sportsvan.
BSCB: Now that Golf and Sportsvan sales are separated in official French data, the Golf looks weaker and the Sportsvan excels (#42 in 2015). Do you see Golf cannibalisation by the Sportsvan?
Arnaud Barral: The Sportsvan is particularly successful with private buyers, as a complement to the Touran in our MPV sales. There is probably a little bit of cannibalisation of Golf sales, however Sportsvan volumes are lightyears ahead of what the Golf Plus was doing, and when adding Golf and Sportsvan we are in very positive territory vs. one or two years ago. So the Sportsvan really nails a specific segment of buyers that want an MPV that doesn’t really look like one. If the Golf Plus was a relatively small car without a huge habitability, the Sportsvan is a drastically different vehicle, a true compact MPV: the severance is here and explains the sales surge.
BSCB: What will bring Volkswagen to 10% market share in France?
Arnaud Barral: The answer is crystal clear: a small SUV to compete with the Renault Captur and Peugeot 2008. This segment now represents 14% of the French market, and most importantly customers that buy into this segment have absolutely no hesitation towards it: they want a small crossover, with an elevated position and an adventurer look. We don’t have any. We can therefore not reach them at all.
BSCB: On this, can you confirm a Polo-based SUV will come in 2018?
Arnaud Barral: I cannot confirm this with certainty, what I can say is our product planning eventually ends up with one SUV per segment, including the segments equivalent to the current Polo and Golf.
As a Bonus Track I give you a selection of snaps from the Berlin Volkswagen Concept Store, courtesy of Guy Thompson:









Frankfurt 2015 / Mercedes: SUVs have no more arguments against them

Mark Langenbrinck, President of Mercedes-Benz France
Ast of the German brand interviews at the Frankfurt Auto Show, we now speak with Mark Langenbrinck, President of Mercedes-Benz France. As it was the case with Arnaud Barral at Volkswagen, a relaxed interviewee took my questions with bonne humeur and honesty.
BSCB: The A-Class is your best-seller in France but down 3% so far in 2015. Age? Increased competition? Transfer to the CLA sedan?
Mark Langenbrink: We are launching the A-Class facelift just now, so in terms of lifecycle I do think this is a very good performance for a vehicle that started in 2012, and I’m guessing your next question is about the B-Class (BSCB: Yep, -14%) so I will address it straight away: as you know we are not alone in this segment anymore… So even if the -14% today were coming from a “culturally close competitor” (wink), I think we are doing pretty well. Today when we talk to our dealer network, they tell us they are rather surprised at the sales hold of our compact cars given their lifecycle. This to us proves that we did not just launch a fashion with our new designs, these formats really do match a willingness of our customers to look for these formats. Our new models are triggering surprisingly strong traffic in our dealerships given our lack of communication out there except one TV campaign for our new SUV range. For the first time in 3 years, we have a ‘back to school’ period(BSCB note: September is the end of Summer holidays in France) without the “soufflé” effect of sales struggling to shake off the summer torpor.

Over half of A-Class customers are new to Mercedes.
Mark Langenbrinck: Typically, our customers park outside and come in through the entrance door (deadpan breaks into a grin) and when we analyse where they come from, it varies a little with the model. On the A- and B-Class we have a conquest ratio of 50 to 60%, and this ratio has remained the same since the introduction of the current generations. Where do these new conquests come from if we focus on this figure a little more: around one-third come from the two colleague premium German brands, and the remaining two thirds come from mass market brands, some being quasi-premium. There is a real flux towards our brand and we see it clearly in the evolution of the premium segment on the French market. All three premium German brands show strong growth, us a particularly strong growth (BSCB: +10% vs. +4% for Audi and +15% for BMW), and the weight of the premium segment is getting stronger. This is necessary, as France has the weakest premium ratio in Europe.

BSCB: It took only a year for the C-Class to regain the #1 spot in its segment in Europe (#17 overall vs. #25 for the BMW 3 Series and #29 for the Audi A4). What are the reasons behind this tremendous success?
Mark Langenbrinck: We are right where we were hoping to be, which wasn’t a given because the sedan segment is declining in Europe. In China and the United States it is a more accepted, classical segment so its evolution is stable but in Europe it’s down. For us specifically in France, the station wagon is making us extremely happy: for years and year our SW sold around one-third the amount of A4 Avant and BMW 3 Series Touring, but we are now on par.
To explain the C-Class success, what we hear a lot from our dealers is a magnificent compliment but also an ambivalent one for me, responsible for the brand: very often the C-Class is considered as a small S-Class, in terms of comfort, design and quality of materials and finish, positioning itself clearly above its competitors in the segment. Our clients have experience in premium brands – it is very rare to enter the premium segment with the C-Class – and they really appreciate the vehicle’s quality. Typically, one third of our C-Class customers are attracted by the new generation and renewing their previous C-Class, one-third are coming from our compact cars, and a large one-third (not 50% but more than 33%) come from other brands. The success of the C-Class, although being clearly linked to the new model, I must be fair and say it is also partly linked to our two competitors’ lifecycle: the new A4 is coming next year and will be a great challenge for us.
Great start for the Mercedes CLA Shooting Brake
BSCB: You just mentioned the success of the C-Class station wagon in France. You recently launched the CLA Shooting Brake. Success?
Mark Langenbrinck: Enormous success. We are very happy with how the Shooting Brake has started. We were not certain whether this type of vehicle would find its public in France given our traditional slight weakness in the station wagon segment. We now have two very good looking station wagons that are each positioned against a specific competitor. So the customer cannot argue anymore on how pricey the Mercedes station wagon is: the CLA Shooting Brake has a very dynamic profile and very young target and its price is a great selling point for us. If you want to go up a segment you can stay with us with the C-Class station wagon which is to me the best-looking C-Class SW we have ever produced.


Mercedes unveiled the GLC SUV in Frankfurt
BSCB: To finish let’s talk about your SUV range: with the GLA, GLC and GLE you now have a naming system that I imagine is easier to understand for the consumer…
Mark Langenbrinck: (big laugh) Dunno. There are two sides. On one hand you have people who know Mercedes naming codes and say it’s much better now, with the GL- indicating SUV and a direct link to the corresponding sedan. Other say squarely they couldn’t care less about the name, they come into our showroom, see the vehicles and choose from that. I’d say, “à chacun son plaisir” (To each his/her pleasure). We needed to link our SUVs, and for once we have found a logical way that indicates to people who know our A-, C-, E-, S- logic in which segment our SUVs find themselves.
BSCB: Your new naming works for me – I get it…
Mark Langenbrinck: There you go, but you are an expert – I mean, I won’t compare you with my father but if I ask “Dad? What do you think?” “Pfffft”. See, just yesterday I had a go at doing a radio ad for our SUV range. Now try and imagine the copy: “Now at Mercedes a complete SUV range with the GLA, the GLE, the GLE Coupe and the GLC.” Do you understand a thing? You do, but if you survey people here at the Auto Show… I don’t think they do. So I think it’s very important to have a range segmentation, but in terms of communication we focus more on the vehicle’s abilities. What is really important, you’ve seen it with the GLA and you will see it with the GLC, is that you we have one SUV for each need. We have eagerly waited for this moment – as you know with GLK sales we are now approaching anecdotic level, so with the beast we have in the GLC I think we are onto another hit.
BSCB: Are you able to communicate on GLC orders?
Mark Langenbrinck: What I can tell you is that we are in line with our targets, and as you know Dieter Zetsche has set the aim of being the #1 premium brand worldwide by 2020. I hope that in France we will reach this objective a little faster, and if you look at the growth rates we are achieving you will see that we are right on track. Right now we have one new launch every three months, so it’s all smiles for us.
BSCB: Do you see SUV sales growing further?
Mark Langenbrinck: I do. Because you have all the comfort of a sedan: thanks to hydraulic suspensions you don’t have this “effet paquebot” (liner effect) anymore, you have an elevated driving position that gives a feeling of safety and better orientation in the traffic, and we are in the process of eliminating the last drawback of SUVs with for example our GLE 350 E, a hybrid with only 60g of CO2 emissions. And for the 3% that want to venture in the countryside or the forest, they are still capable of doing so. Today there are no arguments anymore for not buying an SUV.