Europe

BERLIN — Tesla topped registrations of full-electric vehicles in Germany in the first nine months of this year at nearly 38,458, data from the federal motor transport authority showed. Tesla beat VW brand by about 6,000 vehicles. Tesla’s EV registrations jumped nearly 50 percent from the January-September period last year, while VW’s dropped 40 percent

Intel’s Mobileye said on Tuesday it was targeting a valuation of nearly $16 billion in its initial public offering, less than a third of what it had previously expected, as volatility in stock markets and rising interest rates dampen the appetite for new listings. The self-driving unit of Intel said in a regulatory filing it

Mercedes-Benz still has its sights set on delivering solid returns next year even if the global economy continues to take a turn for the worse. “If we end up in an economically-challenged environment, our goal is to still, in that environment, produce robust financial results,” CEO Ola Kaellenius said Monday in an interview at the

PARIS — The European Union’s proposed 2035 ban on fossil-fuel cars should be renegotiated to give hybrid models a greater role in the transition to zero-emission vehicles, Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares said. “It’s essential,” Tavares said during a news conference at the Paris auto show, when asked if talks on the ban were needed. “The

PARIS – Vietnamese electric vehicle maker VinFast plans to open country headquarters in Germany, France and the Netherlands. Having HQs in Frankfurt, Paris and Amsterdam will allow VinFast, which — like rival Tesla — plans a direct-to-consumer retail network in Europe, to better address the specific requirements of each market, the automaker said Monday. The

PARIS — Mercedes-Benz continues to expand its full-electric vehicle portfolio with the EQE SUV crossover, which will take on the BMW iX that is already among the top five best-sellers in the large premium SUV segment in Europe. Mercedes unveiled the EQE SUV was revealed on Sunday in Paris  – but the EV will not

Renault and Nissan may finally be on the cusp of resolving a source of tension that has been weighing on their alliance for years. Nissan is willing to invest as much as $750 million in Renault’s planned electric-vehicle business, Bloomberg reported this week. In exchange, the French manufacturer is open to paring its ownership of

COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Five years ago, Polestar Chairman Hakan Samuelsson boldly decided to turn a Swedish tuning specialist into a global stand-alone brand for high-performance electrified models. Equally daring was the former Volvo Cars CEO’s decision to promote his design boss, Thomas Ingenlath, to CEO of Polestar. His faith has been rewarded as Ingenlath took

WOLFSBURG, Germany — Germany’s automakers may have secured their own energy supplies but thousands of small suppliers faced with a squeeze from soaring bills risk upsetting production through the winter. More and more suppliers are calling on the industry to renegotiate contracts to include energy clauses so they can cover the cost of rising bills.

WASHINGTON — European Union and U.S. officials expect to reach agreement that would grant EU companies, including electric car makers, the same status as U.S. ones in the U.S. market, to avoid what the EU calls discrimination against its producers by the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act. The EU says it allows government tax breaks or

WOLFSBURG, Germany — Germany’s automakers may have secured their own energy supplies but thousands of small suppliers faced with a squeeze from soaring bills risk upsetting production through the winter. More and more suppliers are calling on the industry to renegotiate contracts to include energy clauses so they can cover the cost of rising bills.

MILAN — Stellantis has signed a framework agreement with Algeria to develop activities of its Fiat brand in the county, including for local production of vehicles. The deal covers a project for the development in Algeria of industrial, after-sales and spare parts activities for Fiat, as well as the development of the automotive sector in

The executives chosen as 2022 Automotive News Europe Eurostars set themselves apart by exceeding expectations in a year marked by conflict, supply issues and rising costs. Christian Dahlheim, chairman of Volkswagen Financial Services, is the 2022 Eurostar winner for Mobility Services. For his full profile, please click here. Automotive News Europe and Capgemini Invent will

COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Polestar is poised to shake up Europe’s key premium large SUV segment amid strong demand for full-electric cars. When it arrives next year, the battery-electric Polestar 3, the Volvo Cars subsidiary’s first SUV, which made its global debut here Wednesday, will join models such as the segment-leading BMW X5 and the German

BERLIN — Mercedes-Benz and Microsoft announced a partnership using Microsoft Cloud for a data platform intended to improve production efficiency at over 30 passenger car plants globally. The data platform, called MO360, is already available in Europe, the Middle East and Africa and will also be launched in the United States and China, Mercedes said

MILAN — Stellantis will look to upgrade its medium-term target for the minimum percentage of recycled material in its vehicles from 35 percent, the carmaker’s Senior Vice President Global Circular Economy Alison Jones said. In its business plan, Stellantis has set a goal to boost revenues of its recycling business ten-fold to over 2 billion

BERLIN – Volkswagen Group received 9.1 billion euros ($8.8 billion) via the sale of preferred shares in sports-car brand Porsche, less than the maximum because a greenshoe option was only partially exercised, the automaker said. That puts the free float of Porsche’s preferred shares at 24.2 percent, VW said. VW would have received 9.4 billion

Nissan is ready to invest $500 million to $750 million in Renault’s electric vehicle business, viewing the French automaker’s reorganization as a chance to reshape their decades-old alliance, a person familiar with the matter said. In exchange for backing the entity being set up by Renault CEO Luca de Meo, Renault is willing to sign

PARIS – The Mobilize Duo electric quadricycle will follow in the quiet footsteps of the Renault Twizy in 2023, when it will be launched with improved range, more comfort and optional higher maximum speeds. A production version of the Duo will be shown to the public at the Paris auto show on Oct. 17. Mobilize, Renault

PARIS — The Renault 4 small electric SUV will be built in Maubeuge, northern France, starting in 2024, Renault Group said. The Renault 4 – a full-electric reimagining of the iconic model — will debut at the Paris auto show on Oct. 17, with a show car called the 4ever. It is a companion model to

Renault is open to reducing its stake in Nissan as the partners bargain over the French carmaker’s plan to split its electric-car and combustion-engine assets, according to people familiar with the discussions. Executives have discussed Renault’s carve-out plan and reshaping the pair’s two decade-old alliance since February during meetings in France and Japan. Negotiations are

Polestar said supply issues that lingered after China’s COVID-19 lockdowns earlier this year will weigh on results the electric-car maker is releasing next month, though it’s sticking with its full-year deliveries target. The Volvo plant in Luqiao, China, that produces the Polestar 2 was hamstrung or stopped entirely for almost eight weeks in the spring,

BERLIN – Chinese electric start-up Nio will bring its new mainstream electric brand to Europe a few months after it launches in China in 2024, Nio president and co-founder Lihong Qin said. Nio announced the foundation of the mass-market brand — as yet unnamed — in 2021, saying its relationship to Nio would be similar

Renault CEO Luca de Meo will hold talks with his Nissan counterpart Makoto Uchida over the French automaker’s plan to sell part of its combustion engine business to China’s Geely Automobile Holdings, the Financial Times reported. The plan is opposed by Nissan, which does not want technology that it jointly developed with Renault shared with

The executives chosen as 2022 Automotive News Europe Eurostars set themselves apart by exceeding expectations in a year marked by conflict, supply issues and rising costs. Knut Kroesche, President Digital Business and Mobility Services at Cariad, is the 2022 Eurostar winner for Connectivity and User Experience. For his full profile, please click here. Automotive News

BERLIN — Porsche became Europe’s most valuable automaker on Thursday, overtaking former parent Volkswagen Group as the price of the sports-car maker’s newly listed shares rose. Although Porsche shares had fallen fallen below its listing price on Monday to 81 euros, in line with a wider fall in markets, they rose to 93 euros ($91.95)

Demand for electric vehicles helped drive a 4.6 percent rise in Britain’s new-car registrations in September, according to industry data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). The SMMT said registrations during the month rose to 225,269 units from 215,312 units a year earlier, but still remained 34 percent below pre-pandemic levels. The

Renault CEO Luca de Meo said the business world was bracing for a possible recession, adding that the automaker is strong enough to be able to weather that “storm.” “The world is now very much afraid of a possible recession in the next few months and it is going to be our next challenge,” he

BERLIN — Volkswagen Group brands have been instructed to prepare for a stock market listing as a training exercise, CEO Oliver Blume told a German business paper. With the advice of a banking team, chief executives and financial officers at each brand are working on sharpening their focus with capital markets in mind, Blume told

PARIS — The Renault 4, a full-electric interpretation of the original iconic model, will debut at the Paris auto show on Oct. 17.  Renault released images of the car’s silhouette and front end on Tuesday. The Renault 4 is expected to be a small crossover or SUV. It will go into production by 2025 as