Europe

Volkswagen Group plans to list its Porsche luxury sports-car business on the  stock market listing in late September or early October Here are key facts about the structure of the listing: Share capital Porsche’s share capital is being split in two: 455.5 million ordinary shares and the same number of preferred shares, totalling 911 million

Porsche’s leadership set-up and the limited influence for stock market investors after its IPO are prompting some fund managers — particularly those focused on governance issues — to think twice about whether to invest in the listing. Volkswagen Group has said it will list its Porsche sports car brand this month or early next month.

PARIS — Global automotive production appears to be gaining momentum, according to a new forecast from S&P Global Mobility — but the analyst company has downgraded its outlook for Europe as semiconductor shortages continue and slowing demand looms as an issue. S&P Global Mobility (formerly IHS Markit) has upgraded its latest global forecast, issued this

Volkswagen Group is set to receive hundreds of millions of euros in trading profits as it offloads a massive natural-gas hedge, selling large amounts of fuel it previously purchased back into the German market. VW has directed the sale of 2.6 terawatt-hours’ worth of gas contracts, according to a document seen by Bloomberg News. That

MADRID — Stellantis and Renault will partly halt their Spanish plants in the coming days and weeks as the lack of microchips persists, two union representatives told Reuters on Friday. The global chip shortage, caused by pandemic supply chaos and booming demand, has ravaged the automotive sector with many companies halting production temporarily. Two Renault

DETROIT — Stellantis is considering “significant” investments to produce energy for its European facilities as part of its response to the threat of the cut-off of natural gas supplies from Russia. “We are now preparing a very strong energy (use) reduction plan,” CEO Carlos Tavares,Tavares told reporters during a video conference on the sidelines of

FRANKFURT – Volkswagen Group’s supervisory board is due to meet on Sunday to move forward with the IPO of its Porsche brand, which will comprise 911 million shares in a nod to its most famous model, two sources close to matter said. Details on the price range, valuation and confirmed cornerstone investors are likely to

Volkswagen Group’s Porsche unit has a much lower value than the lofty valuations being assigned to it ahead of an IPO, analysts at HSBC Holdings, have said. Porsche is worth between 44.5 billion euros ($45.1 billion) and 56.9 billion euros, analysts including Edoardo Spina said in a note. That is lower than the 60 billion

On his last day as Volkswagen Group’s CEO, Herbert Diess shared footage from his farewell dinner. The video clip captures the 63-year-old grabbing a microphone, asking his colleagues to gather a little closer and then making a prediction: Other old-guard manufacturers will have trouble with software just as VW has. “Where we are struggling through,”

MARANELLO, Italy — Ferrari could soon close the order book for its first four-door production model, the Purosangue, because of overwhelming demand, executives said. “We risk not being able to satisfy demand, and maybe we will need to close the order intake very soon,” Ferrari’s chief commercial and marketing officer, Enrico Galliera, said at a

BERLIN — A lawsuit accusing Mercedes-Benz of infringing on people’s freedoms by exacerbating climate change was dropped by the Stuttgart district court, but the German climate NGO behind the case said it planned to appeal. The case brought by NGO Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH) marked the first by individual citizens in Germany against a private company

TOKYO — Nissan will extend its suspension of an assembly plant in Saint Petersberg, Russia, for three months until late December. “Production is suspended at St Petersburg until the end of December and employees have been informed. We continue to monitor the situation closely and will take actions as needed,” a Nissan spokesperson said. The

HAIPHONG, Vietnam — Vietnam’s VinFast began handing its first batch of 100 full-electric SUVs to local customers, with U.S. deliveries of the vehicle due to begin as soon as December. VinFast, which began operations in 2019, is gearing up to expand in the U.S. market, where it hopes to compete with legacy automakers and startups

BERLIN — Porsche and Red Bull have ended talks over Porsche joining Formula One with Red Bull as a partner, but the automaker remains interested in entering the racing series. “The two companies have now jointly come to the conclusion that these talks will no longer be continued,” Porsche said in a statement on Friday.

FRANKFURT — Tesla will launch an open-door event on Sunday for its workers to inform local residents about the progress and environmental footprint at its German gigafactory in Gruenheide, according to the municipality’s official website. At the town hall event, to run from 10:00-17:00 CET, residents will be able to talk to Tesla employees and

STOCKHOLM – Volvo has resumed limited production at its auto plant in the Chinese city of Chengdu. The automaker had temporarily closed the plant on Sept. 1 due to local coronavirus restrictions.  “Volvo Cars is now operating a single daily shift at the (Chengdu) plant and will continue to evaluate the situation on an ongoing

FRANKFURT — Chinese battery manufacturer Svolt has unveiled plans to build an additional cell assembly plant in Germany to supply electric vehicles, picking the state of Brandenburg – also home to Tesla’s gigafactory – as a location. The planned site in Lauchhammer would have a capacity of 16 gigawatt hours per year and start production

Rivian just added almost $3 billion to its market capitalization in a day, and all it took was a fairly bare-bones deal with a potential rival. The upstart EV pickup, SUV and van maker and Mercedes-Benz will join forces to build big electric vans in Europe ”in a few years,” the two revealed Thursday, sending Rivian

PARIS — Renault plans a full slate of launches and product reveals at this year’s Paris auto show, led by the Renault 4 concept, a retro-inspired small full-electric vehicle that will go into production by 2025. The Renault 4 will be a “reinterpretation” of the original model, a rugged five-door hatchback that was in continuous production

BERLIN — Mercedes-Benz Vans and Rivian have signed a memorandum of understanding for a joint venture to produce electric vans in a factory in central or eastern Europe within the next few years, Mercedes-Benz Vans said on Thursday. The companies are planning ways to produce both of their models on a joint production line, Mercedes

BEIJING — General Motors’ sales in China have dropped as demand for its flagship Buick, Cadillac and Chevrolet brands has slumped by a third over the past five years to 1.3 million cars a year as consumers snap up smart EVs made by domestic companies such as Xpeng, Nio and BYD. To generate some buzz

Magna Steyr, the Austria-based contract manufacturer, is mulling the construction of its first plant in the U.S., Kurt Bachmaier, the company’s vice president, said. “We want to enter the U.S. market. We are intensively looking for a location right now,” Bachmaier told Automotive News Europe sister publication Automobilwoche. Bachmaier did not disclose where Magna Steyr

VLADIVOSTOK, Russia – The head of Russian automaker AvtoVaz said the company would release new models from its Lada brand, following the exit of majority shareholder Renault as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The executive, Maxim Sokolov, said Wednesday that the proposals for the new models would be presented at a board meeting

AvtoVAZ, Russia’s biggest automaker, increased its share of the local market last month despite failing to overcome a decline in annual sales, while Chinese companies also took advantage of an exodus of western companies. Almost all automakers working in Russia stopped production in the country after President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine led to sanctions

BANGKOK — Tesla is stepping up recruitment in Thailand, Southeast Asia automotive hub, with the automaker looking to hire a business development manager and recruiters, its website shows. The job announcements come as demand and interest for EVs in Thailand grows due to concerns over high energy prices and with government incentives given to consumers.

German car sales rose 3 percent in August despite ongoing production challenges due to a shortage of components such as semiconductors. The result marked the first rise in monthly market sales since February. Registrations for the month were 199,183, data from the KBA motor transport authority showed on Monday. Stellantis’ DS premium brand was the

TOKYO — Toyota will suspend some evening shifts at three plants in western Japan due to an approaching typhoon, the automaker said. Toyota will suspend Monday night shift production and cancel Tuesday morning production at three factories in the western prefecture of Fukuoka. The automaker expects to resume production on the Tuesday night shift, it

WASHINGTON — Electric vehicles, although subject to unique crashworthiness challenges, can generally lean on crash tests designed for vehicles with internal combustion engines. Whether a vehicle is powered by a combustion engine, a battery or a combination of the two, the stored energy poses a potential safety hazard in a crash and, therefore, certain precautions

TOKYO – Toyota is stepping up its transition from internal combustion engines to battery-powered cars by converting powertrain plants in Japan into battery production sites. The overhauls are part of the $5.6 billion investment plan announced this week by the automaker. The Shimoyama engine plant and the Myochi powertrain factory, both near Toyota’s global headquarters,

Volvo’s August sales fell by 4.6 percent to 43,666 vehicles as the global semiconductor shortage and other disruptions continued to hurt deliveries, the automaker said in a statement. Demand remained good, but the component shortages as well as power cuts and COVID-19 outbreaks in China interrupted output, the company said. Volvo said on Thursday it