Europe

Alfa Romeo’s growth plan in the U.S. over the next decade involves doing away with internal combustion engines by 2027. The Italian brand is laying the groundwork for this expansion now with a focus on delivering experiences to consumers that are fitting of the luxury segment. It’s not a numbers game. Alfa says it’s thinking

Ford of Europe’s upcoming all-electric SUV, expected to the called Explorer Sport, will be the first new model to be launched under the automaker’s American-inspired “Adventurous Spirit” marketing and design ethos. Ford teased the look of EV on social media ahead of the car’s unveiling that is expected to take place in March. Teaser pictures

BERLIN — Former Volkswagen Group CEO Herbert Diess is in line to become supervisory board chairman at semiconductor group Infineon. Diess, 64, was replaced as VW Group CEO by Porsche boss Oliver Blume on Sept. 1. During his four-year stint leading the automaker, Diess clashed with senior managers and the automaker’s powerful works council over

PARIS – Renault Group Chairman Jean-Dominique Senard, who was brought in to stabilize the company after the arrest of Chairman and CEO Carlos Ghosn in November 2018, will be appointed for another term, the automaker said. Senard was tapped that year by the French government, a major Renault shareholder, to replace Ghosn, who was detained in

EV startup Faraday Future is in discussions with investors for additional capital of up to $170 million as it sets a target to deliver its FF 91 electric SUV to customers in April 2023. The Los Angeles-based company said it expects to start production of its FF 91 at its manufacturing facility at the end

Auto exports from China have surged this year as domestic automakers look to establish themselves beyond their home market. Through September, a total of 2.2 million passenger cars, trucks, buses and other vehicles were exported from China. That is up 54 percent from the same period last year and already more than double the average

BERLIN — Volkswagen Group shareholders renewed their criticism of CEO Oliver Blume’s dual roles, even as they approved a roughly 9.6 billion euro ($10.2 billion) special dividend following the listing of Porsche. Blume, who became VW Group CEO in September, has continued as CEO of luxury brand Porsche even after its listing. At a shareholder

OSLO — Norsk Hydro will supply Mercedes-Benz with low-carbon aluminum for a range of models from 2023, including its electric EQ models, as the automaker plans to decarbonize its supply chain, the companies said. Mercedes, which already uses Hydro-supplied components, aims to reach near-zero carbon aluminum by the end of 2030 and targets halving its

Volkswagen Group Chief Financial Officer Arno Antlitz said he expects next year to be “even more challenging” than 2022 as inflation and a worsening economic outlook cut into demand. Antlitz, speaking Thursday in a Bloomberg TV interview, said VW will need to improve productivity and lower fixed costs as the automaker cannot fully pass on

SHANGHAI — Chinese dealers that sell China-made Jeep cars are asking Stellantis for millions of dollars in compensation after the automaker stopped producing the brand in China, according to a letter signed by the dealers seen by Reuters. Stellantis is overhauling its strategy in China after agreeing to file for bankruptcy of its Jeep joint

Russia’s car market is eking out growth again, in a sign of what may lie ahead for an economy retooling under the pressure of international sanctions over the war in Ukraine. Perhaps no industry in Russia suffered a bigger fallout from President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in late February, with output of light vehicles

TOKYO/PARIS — Nissan doesn’t expect to reach an agreement with top shareholder Renault by year-end on reshaping their alliance because some of Nissan’s board members are pushing to move cautiously, people familiar with the matter said. Renault wants Nissan to invest in a new electric-vehicle unit it plans to spin off as part of a

BERLIN — Volkswagen Group and Italy’s Enel have formed a joint venture to build 3,000 high-speed charging points across Italy for electric vehicles, investing 100 million euros ($105.38 million) each, VW said. The charging points will be accessible to drivers of cars made by all manufacturers at 500 locations by the end of 2023 and

Spain will focus on producing less-advanced semiconductors used in domestic industry after its ambitions to make cutting-edge microchips have failed to attract investment to date, according to people familiar with the government’s plan. Following losing bids for production facilities to Germany and the U.S. this year, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez is concentrating Spain’s 12.3-billion-euro ($12.9

Mercedes-Benz and Rivian are putting on hold a planned collaboration to build electric vans in Europe that was signed just three months ago, the two companies said, as the U.S.-based electric-vehicle maker focuses on its domestic business.  Mercedes-Benz Vans and Rivian in September signed a memorandum of understanding for a joint venture to produce two

PRAGUE — Volkswagen Group is postponing its decision on where to locate a planned gigafactory for electric car batteries in eastern Europe beyond 2022. VW pointed to the current economic environment in announcing the decision on Thursday. “Volkswagen AG and its battery company PowerCo are continuously evaluating suitable sites for their next gigafactory in Europe,”

Skoda may exit China amid intense competition from local brands in the world’s biggest market. “We will look together with our Chinese joint venture partner at how we want to continue there,” Skoda CEO Klaus Zellmer told Automotive News Europe sister publication Automobilwoche. Skoda’s withdrawal from China would allow parent Volkswagen Group to concentrate its

PARIS — Valeo said that board member Gilles Michel, a former top executive at PSA Group, will become its new chairman of the board, effective Jan. 1, 2023. Michel will replace Jacques Aschenbroich, who will step down on Dec. 31, in line with commitments he made in the context of his appointment as chairman of

Lexus is working through an order backlog in Europe after Toyota’s premium brand was hit particularly hard by the chip shortage, forcing it to pause sales of some versions of its newly launched NX midsize SUV. “There’s no denying 2022 was a very tough year for Lexus,” Matt Harrison, president and CEO of Toyota Motor

Renault Group CEO Luca de Meo will serve as president of the European automakers’ trade group ACEA, succeeding BMW CEO Oliver Zipse. De Meo has been nominated for a one-year term, renewable for one year, although presidents traditionally serve two years.  ACEA, founded in 1991, represents 16 car, truck and bus manufacturers, but the group

The former Nissan car plant in St. Petersburg, Russia, will be run by AvtoVAZ, with production planned to start in 2023, RIA Novosti reported on Friday, citing Deputy Prime Minister and head of the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov. The Nissan assets in Russia are now owned by state entity NAMI. The

MOSCOW — Chinese brands account for almost a third of Russia’s car market, data shared with Reuters shows, as the sector more than any other shows China’s growing importance to the economy following the exodus of Western companies. New sales of passenger cars and light commercial vehicles are down almost 61 percent year-on-year, as Western

The UK’s anti-trust regulator fined BMW 30,000 pounds ($36,519) plus a further daily penalty of 15,000 pounds on Thursday over a disputed information request related to an ongoing auto industry probe. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it believes BMW holds information important to the probe it launched in March over suspected anti-competitive conduct

PARIS — The head of Renault Group‘s new mobility unit Mobilize, Clotilde Delbos, is stepping down and will leave the company, the automaker said.  Delbos is a former CFO and deputy CEO of Renault Group. She will be replaced by Mobilize COO Fedra Ribiero, who will become CEO of Mobilize Beyond Automotive, and Patrick Claude, vice president finance for

TOKYO — Toyota’s leasing unit said it will begin offering over-the-air safety updates on the new Prius, betting it can use an approach pioneered by Tesla to cut lease prices and preserve used-car values in Japan. The lease program will require customers to opt in for a service expected to bring monthly lease payments down

BERLIN – Volkswagen Group’s main plant in Wolfsburg is building well under 400,000 cars a year, less than half its capacity, because of “flat-out chaos” in the supply chain, VW brand chief Thomas Schaefer said. Speaking in a live interview with local newspapers in Wolfsburg on Tuesday, Schaefer said suppliers were cancelling deliveries with one

BERLIN — Mercedes-Benz will double production capacity for electric motors to 1 million units at its Untertuerkheim plant in Germany, which has traditionally focused on combustion engines, the automaker said in a statement. The announcement confirmed an earlier report in Germany’s WirtschaftsWoche magazine. Mercedes‘ management and works council struck an agreement on restructuring the site

Two of China’s biggest automakers are so determined to ensure their cars make it from factories on the mainland to anyone who wants to drive them they have bought their own ships. BYD, which only makes electric and hybrid cars, is going the extra length to avoid any last mile supply chain snarls, ordering at

Volkswagen Group’s Audi brand will lose a key autonomous driving project under a new software strategy that aims to make the group’s proprietary software competitive and market-ready by the end of the decade. Audi‘s Artemis project, which aimed to develop a Level 4 self-driving electric car by 2024, has shown little progress amid delays in

McLaren has recently sold some of its prized heritage car collection to Bahrain’s sovereign wealth fund Mumtalakat Holding to raise capital to upgrade its Artura supercar. McLaren was forced to seek an injection of funds after identifying “certain technical upgrades” on the Artura plug-in hybrid car that triggered delivery delays, McLaren said earlier this week