Europe

MEXICO CITY — The union at Volkswagen Group’s main Mexico factory will hold a new vote on Aug. 31 to ask workers if they approve a recently negotiated deal with management for 9 percent raises, the group said. The plan agreed by the Independent Union of Automotive Workers (SITIAVW) with Volkswagen de Mexico to cover

Tesla Inc. on Wednesday denied a report that it has parted ways with the law department leader heading an internal inquiry into purchase orders at the electric vehicle maker. David Searle left his position as Tesla’s head of legal less than a month ago, three people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg. But Tesla denied

When drivers of future Mercedes-Benz AMG models hit the accelerator of their electric performance cars, they will get extra power out of the batteries from something that sounds straight out of the movie Back to the Future. No, not flux capacitors, but axial flux motors. Mercedes and Ferrari are turning to this type of electric

FRANKFURT — Tesla can continue referring to the capabilities of its driver assistance system and to autonomous driving in its advertising in Germany after a court threw out a complaint against the practice. Germany’s Wettbewerbszentrale, an industry-sponsored body tasked with policing anti-competitive practices, had filed the so-called non-admissibility complaint with Germany’s Federal Court of Justice.

Polestar said Tuesday it will turn its O2 concept into its next halo car, which is likely to be aimed at the Porsche 911. The 650-kilowatt (872-hp), $200,000 (196,635 euro) full-electric roadster, which will be called the Polestar 6, will be the automaker’s most powerful and most expensive model when it arrives in 2026. The

Head restraints in today’s cars move into position to help protect occupants from whiplash only after the vehicle is struck from behind. That could change if a system developed by engineers at supplier Windsor Machine Group in Ontario is adopted by automakers. The company’s True Active technology moves the headrests into position just before the

Mahindra & Mahindra has unveiled five electric SUVs based on Volkswagen Group’s MEB platform as the automaker seeks to expedite its lagging switch to battery-powered cars in India. Mahindra is the second customer for VW Group’s MEB platform after Ford, which will begin production this year of an MEB-based electric SUV built in its plant

Stellantis has a lofty agenda as it pushes aggressively into electrification while also striving to generate more revenue through software and to improve the ownership experience with over-the-air updates. But this ambitious to-do list may not even be the trickiest task looming for Stellantis. The company is working to conquer another goal that has perplexed

Parts shortages and higher commodity prices are putting a financial squeeze on Tier 2 and Tier 3 suppliers, in some cases forcing them to go to their Tier 1 customers to renegotiate pricing or ask for a cash infusion. The third option: Go bankrupt. Pat D’Eramo, CEO of Canadian Tier 1 supplier Martinrea International, has

A U.S. appeals court upheld a 2020 ruling that tossed out a racketeering lawsuit General Motors filed against rival Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, now part of Stellantis, and former executives. GM filed the racketeering lawsuit in November 2019, alleging FCA bribed UAW union officials over many years to corrupt the bargaining process and gain advantages, costing

WASHINGTON — Audi of America, Kia and Porsche said buyers of its electric vehicles will lose access to federal tax credits of up to $7,500 once President Joe Biden signs a $430 billion climate, health and tax measure. The legislation set to be approved by the U.S. House of Representatives on Friday “will have consequential

MACCLESFIELD, England — Large corporations are jumping on the green bandwagon, which in turn is pushing firms that lease and manage car fleets to convert to electric vehicles faster than they had ever thought possible. In late 2020, fleet management company ALD set a to have 30 percent of its new cars electrified by 2025

SHANGHAI — China’s CATL plans to build a 7.3 billion euro ($7.6 billion) battery plant in Hungary, as the world’s biggest electric vehicle battery maker gears up to meet growing demand from global automakers. CATL said that construction of the 100 GWh (gigawatt hours) plant in the eastern Hungarian city of Debrecen, its biggest overseas

BRUSSELS — The European Union said it was “deeply concerned” about proposed tax credits for purchases of electric vehicles in the U.S. because they would be biased against foreign producers and may breach World Trade Organization (WTO) rules. Under a provision of the $430 billion climate and energy bill that was passed by the Senate

SHANGHAI — China’s auto sales surged 30 percent in July from a year earlier to 2.42 million units, extending a recovery that began in June with the help of eased COVID curbs and government incentives. Sales for the first seven months, though, were still 2 percent lower than the corresponding period in 2021, data from

Nikola Corp. said Michael Lohscheller will take over as the electric-truck maker’s CEO when Mark Russell retires on Jan. 1. Lohscheller will assume Russell’s president title and will join the Nikola board effective immediately. He will become CEO on Russell’s retirement, the company said on Wednesday. Russell joined Nikola as president in 2019 and became

TOKYO — Straining under a pile of back orders, Honda says its top priority is getting cars to U.S. customers rather than worrying about recession talk or more stringent electric vehicle credits. Many uncertainties still loom over the auto sector, Honda Chief Financial Officer Kohei Takeuchi said. Risks include rising inflation and interest rates in

China’s Great Wall, one of the country’s six largest automakers, has entered a strategic partnership with Europe’s largest car dealer group, Emil Frey, to distribute the Ora and Wey brands. The automaker announced its move into Europe at the IAA in Munich last year and has since been preparing its entry into Germany, its first

BERLIN — Continental expects higher auto production in the second half of the year as supply chains and semiconductor availability improve, the company said on Tuesday after reporting a heavy second-quarter loss. The German parts supplier posted a net loss of 251 million euros ($256.05 million) for the April-June quarter hurt by lockdowns in China,

BEIJING — Baidu’s electric vehicle unit, Jidu Auto, will be one-generation ahead of Tesla in terms of autonomous driving technologies, Baidu CEO Robin Li said in a statement on Monday. “Our understanding of smart vehicles is that being electric is the semi-final while being intelligent is the final,” Li added. Jidu aims to be to

HAMBURG — Volkswagen Group‘s controlling shareholder families aim to keep the automaker on a shorter leash and want greater say over strategic matters in what marks a power play ahead of the planned listing of Porsche, people familiar with the matter say. The Porsche and Piech families, who control holding company Porsche SE, which owns

Porsche is trying to secure anchor investments from some of the largest Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds, as the sports-car maker looks to pull off one of Europe’s biggest listings amid market headwinds and valuation concerns, people familiar with the matter said. Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Investment Co. and ADQ are among those considering committing funds

Car dealer Pendragon said on Friday talks over a potential takeover of the company were terminated after the bidder withdrew its interest, as one of the company’s five major shareholders did not participate. The company did not disclose the identity of the bidder, who was looking to offer about 460 million pounds ($558.35 million) for

British electric vehicle start-up Arrival is delaying trials of its bus and car projects to cut costs and focus on the production of its debut van, the Financial Times reported, citing three people familiar with the matter. Arrival has paused its car project but it might be revived once the company has begun producing revenues

The shortages of computer chips that forced global automakers to scrap production plans for millions of vehicles over the past two years are easing — at a new and permanent cost to the car companies. What had been “war room operations” to manage chip shortages are becoming embedded features of vehicle development, say executives in

Tesla CEO Elon Musk told shareholders that the EV maker will have an annual run rate of 2 million vehicles by the end of this year and will continue to build new factories to join the four it currently has in operation. Musk said Tesla could announce a new factory location as soon as this

MOSCOW — Russian carmaker AvtoVAZ said on Thursday it would move production of the Lada Vesta small car to its main site in Togliatti from its Izhevsk assembly plant, in a move which should allow it to retain Togliatti’s 42,000-strong workforce. AvtoVAZ said the Izhevsk factory would switch to production of an electric version of

German passenger car sales fell 13 percent in July as automakers were unable to keep up with demand because of production shortfalls due to parts shortages. Registrations for the month were 205,911, the KBA motor transport authority said on Wednesday. Electric-car maker Tesla was the biggest monthly winner with registrations up 142 percent for a

Volvo Cars’ CEO Jim Rowan has left some wiggle room for his company to keep working with Europe’s largest automotive lobbying group, ACEA. “We never want to close that door completely,” Rowan told Automotive News Europe. “But right now there is a misalignment on the sustainability strategy, which is an important part for us.” Volvo,

Volvo Cars took a step backward last month on its quest to reach a key sales milestone for its full-electric vehicles. EVs accounted for 3.5 percent, just 1,583 units, of automaker’s total global volume in July. That was a 26 percent decline on its EV sales in July 2021. The automaker’s overall volume was down