Europe

FRANKFURT – Volkswagen Group is currently negotiating a new production deal with workers at its all-electric plant in Zwickau, Germany, after terminating a long-standing three-shift agreement. “The aim is to reach a new agreement, jointly supported by the company and the employees, which takes into account the current market situation and ensures the economic viability

PARIS — Renault is ending its common purchasing agreements with alliance partners Nissan and Mitsubishi with a view to having a more agile structure that can make decisions more quickly. The move is aimed at better adapting to automotive markets that are becoming more regional due to differences in regulations, such as over electrification and

British and European Union officials will meet on Wednesday to discuss post-Brexit plans to slap a tariff on electric vehicles from the U.K., as a deadline on whether to delay the move nears. EV rules of origin, which are due to be phased in for trade between Britain and the bloc and have become key

BERLIN — Mercedes-Benz has applied for tax breaks for potential projects at two of its U.S. plants under the Inflation Reduction Act. “We have decided to participate in the application process for production-related tax relief” under the IRA for the plants in Alabama and South Carolina, a company spokesperson said on Monday. German daily Handelsblatt,

The European Union and Britain need to take urgent action to postpone rules for electric vehicles traded between the bloc and the U.K. that will trigger 10 percent tariffs, Europe’s car industry group ACEA said. “Driving up consumer prices of European electric vehicles, at the very time when we need to fight for market share

BRUSSELS — The European Union is set to demand that cars running on e-fuels must be 100 percent carbon neutral if they are to be sold beyond 2035, a draft document showed, after Germany demanded e-fuel cars be exempted from the phase-out of new polluting vehicles. All new cars sold in the EU from 2035

China’s biggest and most ambitious automakers were some of the most visible stars of the IAA Mobility auto show in Munich but HiPhi, a startup that is already shaking up the premium EV segment in its home market, took a very different approach. HiPhi showed just one model, the Z four-door grand touring fastback, available in

Germany expressed its support for the European Union’s anti-subsidy probe into Chinese electric vehicles while making it clear that the burden of proof will be “very high” if the investigation is to lead to concrete action. “It’s very natural that if we are embracing the key elements of free trade, we all have to play

BRUSSELS — EU countries largely agreed on a compromise proposal presented by Spain for weaker Euro 7 emissions limits, diplomatic sources said on Friday. The proposal is a watered down version of the initial European Commission pitch to tighten emissions limits for non-CO2 pollutants such carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxide from brakes and tires. Eight

German supplier ZF Group has been able to keep up production of axles at its Tuscaloosa, Alabama, factory in the two days since UAW workers began striking there, allowing nearby production of key Mercedes-Benz models to continue. “We are still running and in fact stable,” ZF spokesperson Tony Sapienza wrote in an email on Friday,

TOKYO — Toyota will speed up production of electric vehicles from its Toyota and luxury Lexus brands, the Nikkei newspaper reported. The Nikkei report said the automaker was likely to step up production of battery-powered vehicles over the coming years to reach annual output of more than 600,000 vehicles in 2025. A Toyota spokesperson was

The announcement by the British government that it would delay a ban on new gasoline and diesel cars and vans to 2035 from 2030 brought swift pushback from automakers, who have invested billions of pounds to build EVs in the U.K. on the assumption that they could not sell combustion cars after 2030. Automakers with

HANOI — Vietnamese electric-vehicle maker VinFast plans to ship its first EVs to Europe this year after receiving regulatory approval, its CEO, Le Thi Thu Thuy, said, as the European Union considers imposing tariffs on its Chinese rivals. Under the plan, about 3,000 of its VF8 crossovers would be delivered to France, Germany, the Netherlands

LONDON –  Britain will push back a ban on new gasoline and diesel cars and vans to 2035 from 2030, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said, as he set out what he called a “new approach” to tackling climate change. “We’re going to ease the transition to electric vehicles. You’ll still be able to buy petrol

MILAN — Marelli will shut one of its Italian plants producing components for internal combustion engines, as the business had become “unsustainable” due to the transition to electric mobility. The plant, located in the town of Crevalcore in the northern region of Emilia Romagna, currently employs around 230 people. It manufactures plastic components and processes

LONDON — Britain is considering delaying its ban on the sale of new gasoline and diesel cars until 2035, five years later than currently planned, the BBC reported citing unnamed sources. The current 2030 target was introduced in November 2020 as a central part of then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s plans for a “green revolution.” As

LONDON — The European Union is reticent about agreeing to Britain’s plea to postpone looming tariffs on the sale of electric vehicles, but automakers remain optimistic a delay can be agreed, the U.K.’s SMMT industry association said. Under the Brexit trade deal, the sale of EVs between Britain and the EU will attract a 10

LONDON — A clutch of European and U.S. delivery company startups is racing to serve the growing market for offering zero-emission, electric last-mile deliveries in cities to retailers and consumers before giant shippers do the same. The likes of Germany’s Liefergrun, the U.K.’s Zedify and Packfleet, and New York-based DutchX are tapping into retailers’ need

Volkswagen Group is planning to stop car production at its Dresden plant after more than 20 years, Automobilwoche, a sister publication of Automotive News Europe, reported. The plant, where 6,500 of the electric ID3 models were produced last year, will continue to operate in some capacity, and its roughly 300 workers will get other tasks,

Even before the European Union targeted imports of cheap Chinese electric vehicles, China’s automakers faced another big challenge: winning over consumers who don’t know or necessarily trust their brands. At the heart of their strategy is the traditional dealership model that European carmakers have been exiting in favor of direct sales. BYD, Xpeng, Great Wall

Europe’s investigation of cheap electric vehicles from China is appreciated, a little late and will not be enough on its own to reverse the region’s fortunes, according to Roberto Vavassori, the president of Italy’s automotive industry association. The car sector is in trouble in part because the European Union is trying to regulate its way

MUNICH — BMW will design cars based on its Neue Klasse electric platform specifically for the Chinese market, CEO Oliver Zipse said. BMW unveiled the Vision Neue Klasse concept previewing its next generation of long range, fast-charging EVs at the IAA Mobility auto show in Munich this month. Chinese designers at BMW are already developing

SHANGHAI — The European Commission began investigating on Wednesday whether to set punitive tariffs to protect its producers from imports of cheaper Chinese electric vehicles that it says benefit from state subsidies. Here are the big questions about the move, which led to a slide in shares of Chinese EV makers on Thursday: Why export

BERLIN — Imports of Chinese vehicles and parts to Germany jumped 75 percent in the first half of the year while trade the other way slumped, showing the mounting pressure on Europe’s biggest auto production hub. Several Chinese brands entered the German market this year, the German Economic Institute (IW) said in a report seen

DETROIT — German supplier Mahle says it has developed a new technology for electric vehicle motors that can operate at high power and maximum efficiency without the need for magnets and the rare earth elements they require. Mahle’s motor technology kit, which the company calls a “perfect motor,” combines its Superior Continuous Torque electric motor

PARIS — Renault has launched a full-electric version of the Trafic midsize van, and now has all-electric versions of its three van models. Orders open for the Trafic E-Tech, as it is known, in October with deliveries set for November. The Trafic E-Tech joins battery-electric versions of the Kangoo compact van and Master large van

BERLIN — German Economy Minister Robert Habeck welcomed the European Union’s anti-subsidy probe against Chinese-made electric cars. The European Commission has launched an investigation into whether to impose punitive tariffs to protect EU producers against cheaper Chinese electric vehicle imports that it says are benefiting from state subsidies. “This is about unfair competition, it’s not

BMW has abandoned charging customers subscription fees for heated seats in an early indication there will be limits for manufacturers to reap new revenue from software-based services. The automaker will go back to offering heated seats and wheels as optional equipment, rather than outfitting its vehicles with the hardware and charging consumers later, Pieter Nota,

MUNICH — When it comes to in-car digital displays, BMW thinks more is not necessarily better. While automakers carpet vehicle dashboards with jumbo displays, the German luxury automaker is steering toward a less-distracting digital experience in its future electric vehicles. “Your car is your last private space,” said Stephan Durach, BMW Group senior vice president

Silicon Valley battery startup Lyten said that it raised $200 million in new funding as it looks to scale up manufacturing of lithium sulfur EV batteries, lightweight composites and sensors. The latest funding, led by venture capital firm Prime Movers Lab, takes the total equity investment in Lyten to more than $410 million. The company