Europe

Volkswagen Group’s software division, Cariad, has emerged from a review ordered by its new CEO with a plan to work toward a unified software architecture for future vehicles one jump at a time, according to Cariad chief Dirk Hilgenberg. “I call our program ‘triple jump’,” Hilgenberg told Reuters at the CES technology trade show in

LONDON — UK battery startup Britishvolt said it is in talks with a consortium of investors about selling a majority stake in the company, but did not disclose any names. The company said back in November that it had received short-term financial backing to help it stay afloat. It said the latest discussions were aimed

PARIS — Stellantis is establishing a new business unit to help expand its data services business, part of its plans to generate at least 20 billion euros ($21.1 billion) from software-related activities by 2030. The new unit, called Mobilisights, will license data to a wide range of customers including rival carmakers, drawing on Stellantis’ connected

LAS VEGAS — Chinese electric-vehicle brand Zeekr aims to double sales in 2023 to about 140,000 vehicles and plans to expand sales in Europe, CEO Andy An told Reuters. Zeekr, a brand created by Chinese automaker Geely, sold 72,000 vehicles in 2022, mostly in China. Its 001 model, priced at about 300,000 yuan ($43,600), competes

The Peugeot Inception concept will set the design direction for the Stellantis brand’s next generation of electric vehicles. The large sedan is based on Stellantis’ STLA Large platform, an upcoming full-electric architecture. It will have up to 800 km (500 miles) of range on a single charge, the distance from Paris to Marseille or Brussels

LAS VEGAS — Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares sees the European auto industry at a crossroads in competition with its Chinese rivals. If politicians in Europe do not find an answer to the push into Europe by Chinese automakers, there will be a “terrible fight,” Tavares told Automobilwoche on the sidelines of CES 2023 in Las

The Indy Autonomous Challenge will hold a self-driving racing competition at Italy’s famed Monza F1 circuit. Race organizers said they have inked a two-year agreement with the Milan Monza auto show to hold autonomous competitions at the track. The first race will take place in June. After races in Indianapolis, Texas and two in Las

PARIS — Renault is considering building a mass-market electric vehicle in India, two people with knowledge of the ongoing review told Reuters, as part of a renewed push into a market where EV adoption is expected to grow quickly from a small base. The study by Renault underscores how the French automaker is pushing ahead

LAS VEGAS — Mercedes-Benz is taking a page out of the Tesla playbook on electric vehicle charging. Mercedes revealed plans at CES to develop a global network of 10,000 high-speed chargers powered by green energy. The rollout will begin this year in the U.S. and Canada and expand to Europe, China and other major markets

Volkswagen Group’s bug-plagued software has gotten a lot of attention, with product delays for its Audi and Porsche brands making headlines and contributing to the ousting of Herbert Diess as CEO. The automaker also lags behind the competition in another respect that has flown relatively under the radar: charging times for its battery-electric cars The

Nissan and Renault have agreed to restrict the use of the intellectual property they developed together in a new company established by Renault, according to a report by Nikkei on Wednesday. The sharing of technology had emerged as a sticking point between Renault and Nissan as the pair negotiated an overhaul of their decades-old partnership,

Nvidia and electronics manufacturer Foxconn announced a partnership to develop autonomous vehicle platforms. Taiwanese contract manufacturer Foxconn said it will manufacture electronic control units (ECUs) for cars based on Nvidia’s Drive Orin chip made specifically for computing in connected and autonomous vehicles. The ECUs will serve the global automotive market, Foxconn said. Companies developing electric

Nvidia, the computer-gaming and artificial intelligence company, is furthering its push into automotive development, manufacturing and in-vehicle gaming. In advance of CES this week, the tech titan announced an array of partnerships with automakers from around the world. Mercedes-Benz is using Nvidia’s Omniverse platform to create a digital twin of its assembly plant in Rastatt,

PARIS — The surge in electric vehicle sales has led a number of automakers to move to a direct sales and distribution model, known as agency, in an effort to cut costs and better control pricing. Big names that are shifting to some form of agency, for EVs or all their models include Audi, BMW,

OSLO — Four out of five new cars sold in Norway in 2022 were battery powered, led by Tesla, but some in the industry say new taxes could prevent the country’s goal of becoming the first nation to end the sale of gasoline and diesel automobiles by 2025. Tesla sold more cars in Norway than

Tesla is expected to announce record quarterly deliveries early in January but that may not be enough to satisfy investors as the automaker grapples with inflation, rising interest rates, crimped production in China and concerns about softening demand. In an effort to clear inventory, Tesla offered a rare $7,500 discount to U.S. customers who took

BRUSSELS — The European Commission gave a guarded welcome to guidance by the United States meaning that EU companies could partially benefit from the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act, but said further improvements were required. The $430 billion green subsidy law, which grants tax credits for buying U.S.-produced electric vehicles and other green products, has triggered

Exports of electric vehicles from China more than doubled in November, creating a monthly record, mostly fueled by European automakers that farmed out the production to the country.   Car manufacturers in China exported $3.2 billion worth of electric vehicles in November, up 165 percent from a year ago to reach the highest-ever monthly total,

The Geely-backed tech startup ECARX has an advantage over bigger rivals such as Nvidia or Qualcomm: It is purely focused on automotive applications, Chairman Ziyu Shen said ahead of the company’s recent market debut. ECARX went public on the Nasdaq exchange (symbol ECX) in New York City on Dec. 21. The listing, through a reverse

Several production lines at Volkswagen and FAW’s plant in Chengdu are operating with staff on 11-hour shifts, up from eight usually, to compensate for time lost due to a closure in November, a spokesperson said on Tuesday. Production at the plant was stopped on Nov. 21 for two weeks because of a lack of parts

PARIS — Dacia will start taking orders in January for the Renault Group brand’s first hybrid powertrain option, available on the Jogger compact crossover. The Jogger full-hybrid will use Renault Group’s E-Tech hybrid system, which is based on a 90 hp 1.6-liter 4-cylinder gasoline engine with two electric motors that produce a total of 50

ECARX, the automotive technology company backed by Geely Chairman Eric Li, will start trading on the Nasdaq today as a publicly listed company via a reverse SPAC merger that values it at $3.8 billion.  The public offering will raise an estimated $368 million after expenses, ECARX said in an investors’ presentation in November. Existing shareholders will retain

SHANGHAI — Tesla’s China chief Tom Zhu and a team of his reports has been brought in to troubleshoot production issues in the U.S., fueling talk among colleagues he is being groomed for a bigger role at a time when CEO Elon Musk has been distracted by Twitter. Zhu, who heads Tesla’s Asia operations, has

Stellantis has entered into talks with the French suppliers Faurecia and Michelin to buy a “substantial” stake in their Symbio joint venture, a fuel cell system maker for hydrogen mobility, the three companies said. Stellantis launched hydrogen-powered midsize vans last year from the Citroen, Peugeot and Opel brands in a collaboration with Symbio. It aims

BERLIN — Volkswagen plans to reduce the number of shifts at its Wolfsburg factory in January. A VW spokesman said the work stoppage would affect the late shift in Golf production for assembly line 3 and other adjacent areas from Jan. 9 through Jan. 27. The body shop, paint shop and other adjacent areas will

A year ago, Tesla seemed unbeatable, with its shares near a record high amid soaring optimism for the global electric-vehicle market. Now investors are struggling to see a bottom. The stock was never for the faint of heart, given its volatility and the mercurial style of its chief executive, Elon Musk. Still, the magnitude of

Solid Power said it will offer some intellectual property rights related to its solid-state batteries to BMW and allow production of the battery cells at the automaker’s facilities in Germany. Colorado-based Solid Power will license the cell design and manufacturing processes to BMW, which will pay the company $20 million through June 2024, subject to

Elon Musk said on Tuesday he will step down as CEO of Twitter once he finds a replacement, but will still run some key divisions of the social media platform. “I will resign as CEO as soon as I find someone foolish enough to take the job! After that, I will just run the software

As Porsche races to electrify its fleet over the next decade, the German sports car maker is investing in alternative fuels to reduce its carbon footprint. Porsche is backing fuel developer HIF Global, which has begun producing electricity-based synthetic fuels from hydrogen and carbon dioxide using wind energy. Earlier this year, Porsche said it invested

MOSCOW — Hyundai, formerly one of Russia’s biggest carmakers, has begun laying off workers at its St Petersburg factory, which has stood idle since March, largely due to the effects of Western sanctions following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “Owing to the continued suspension of production, Hyundai Motor is taking steps to optimize its staff numbers