Europe

PARIS — New car registrations in France fell by 14 percent in June, as the pace of decline continued to slow slightly from recent months in a sign that supply issues could be easing. There were 171,089 cars sold in June, according to industry group PFA, on 21 selling days. Most volume brands lost sales

Supercar and niche vehicle manufacturers have been given more time to switch to zero-emission powertrains after the EU agreed to push back the end of their special arrangement on CO2 until the end of 2035. Automakers such as Ferrari, McLaren and Aston Martin could have had to meet tougher limits as early as 2029. Instead,

LONDON — Jaguar Land Rover has hired former BMW executive Barbara Bergmeier for a newly created role overseeing supply chains and industrial operations, at a time when the industry faces persistent supply shortages. Bergmeier will become executive director of industrial operations, a new division at JLR merging responsibilities across its manufacturing, purchasing and supply chain

SAO PAULO — Renault will invest 2 billion reais ($377.12 million) in Brazil for the production of a new SUV and a new 1.0-liter turbocharged engine, according to a company statement. Production of the new car had been announced in March, but the group was awaiting approval from its parent company for the new investment

Geely Holding Group, China’s largest private automaker, says it has started deliveries of the world’s first methanol-battery hybrid vehicle.  The vehicle, priced at 129,800 yuan ($19,373), was adapted from a compact sedan under Geely’s Emgrand brand and is initially being marketed in China.   Geely is also seeking to sell methanol vehicles in Europe. Earlier

BERLIN — Inflation would spiral even further in Germany if it were not for business with China, Volkswagen Group CEO Herbert Diess said in an interview with the weekly Spiegel. “Germany would look completely different” if it turned away from China, Diess told the Spiegel, adding that such a move would harm growth, wealth and

Lynk & CO plans to increase the subscription price of its 01 compact SUV by 10 percent in Europe for both new and existing customers, the company has said. The increase to 550 euros ($582) a month from 500 euros for the brand’s sole plug-in hybrid model starts from this month for new customers, and

ZURICH — Switzerland plans a new tax on vehicles powered by electricity and other alternative sources of energy to help plug a gap in financing for road building and maintenance as revenue from traditional fuel taxes declines, the government said. Road infrastructure is now financed in part by taxes on fuels such as gasoline and

The lukewarm reception for Polestar, the latest electric-vehicle company to go public in the U.S., is sending an ominous message to other startups: The purge isn’t over. Yes, the auto industry is due for a transformation as oil prices soar and the need for cleaner transportation becomes increasingly apparent. But, runaway inflation and a looming

BERLIN – Volkswagen Group sees a strong second half of 2022 and expects progress in catching up with rival Tesla as easing chip shortages start to offset supply chain bottlenecks and rising costs, the automaker’s CEO, Herbert Diess, said. “We are earning more than ever,” Diess said at a works meeting, adding VW is ramping

Beijing is offering subsidies for purchases of electric vehicles and other new-energy vehicles to replace old cars, the latest attempt by local authorities to boost consumption in a slowing economy. The financial aid provided by the city ranges from 8,000 yuan ($1,196) to 10,000 yuan for qualified buyers who scrap or resell cars owned for

Maruti Suzuki believes electric vehicles are not the answer to reducing carbon emissions in India, the world’s third-biggest releaser of greenhouse gases, at least not in the immediate future. India’s largest automaker believes that vehicles powered by hybrid technology, natural gas and biofuels present a better path toward a cleaner future than full-electric cars considering

LONDON – Last-mile transportation provider B-On, led by former BMW board member Stefan Krause, plans to build on its acquisition of electric delivery van maker StreetScooter Engineering. Krause told Automotive News Europe his next aims are to add an electric three-wheel van maker and to develop an “urban mobility” passenger vehicle. Krause, who was BMW’s

U.S. sound technology pioneer Dolby and Swedish digital audio specialist Dirac are looking to expand their immersive in-car audio solution to European and North American automakers after winning business with Chinese startup Nio. Dirac vice president Lars Carlsson, who is head of business development automotive, said the company is poised to make business announcements linked

MILAN — Stellantis will stop operations at its key Melfi plant in southern Italy from June 28 to July 2 due to a “structural” shortage of semiconductors, the UILM union said. A spokesman for the automaker confirmed the news and said it had been taking decisions on its operations on a day-by-day, plant-by-plant basis since

PARIS — Stellantis has taken a $52 million equity investment in Vulcan Energy Resources, an Australian-German startup that plans to mine lithium, a key element in electric car batteries, with zero greenhouse gas emissions. The investment gives Stellantis an 8 percent stake in Vulcan, making it the second-largest shareholder, and will be used to expand the miner’s efforts in the

BRUSSELS — Italy, Portugal, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Romania want to delay a European Union plan to effectively ban the sale of new gasoline and diesel cars starting in 2035 by five years, according to a document seen by Reuters. The policy is a key pillar of the EU’s plans to tackle rising transport emissions and

FRANKFURT — Mercedes-Benz denied a German media report that it was weighing a sale of its vans business as the automaker plans to put more strategic weight on high-end vehicles. The weekly Manager Magazin on Thursday said a possible sale of the vans business – previously seen as unlikely – was being discussed as a

Polestar and Gores Guggenheim said Thursday that they had they completed their merger, raising approximately $890 million in gross proceeds for the EV maker. This includes approximately $640 million from Gores Guggenheim, a special purchase acquisition fund (SPAC) with the remaining $250 million coming from top-tier institutional investors, Polestar said in a release. Gores Guggenheim’s listing under

PARIS — Stellantis will halt production at its Rennes plant in western, France, on July 3 due to a chip shortage, a spokesperson told Reuters, confirming French media reports. The factory, which builds Peugeot and Citroen midsize cars, has suffered previous production halts due to component shortages. A separate production halt at a plant in

Volkswagen Group is sticking to a plan to list Porsche later this year as Europe’s biggest automaker looks to finance a costly shift toward electric vehicles. VW is going ahead with the initial public offering in the fourth quarter because the unit has proved resilient over the years to market disruptions including the recent supply-chain

Volkswagen Group CEO Herbert Diess warned that the shift away from Russian energy isn’t happening fast enough to shield the German automaker from a sudden stop in natural-gas deliveries. VW will keep the ability to run its power plants with coal instead of gas because of Germany’s reliance on Russian imports, Diess said in an

BERLIN — Germany’s government will not agree to European Union plans to effectively ban the sale of new cars with combustion engines from 2035, Finance Minister Christian Lindner said. In its bid to cut planet-warming emissions by 55 percent by 2030 from 1990 levels, the European Commission has proposed a 100 percent reduction in CO2

China’s shipments of cars rebounded in May, with electric vehicle exports more than doubling, as COVID-19 lockdowns gradually ended. Automakers in China shipped $1.2 billion worth of electric passenger vehicles, up 122 percent from a year earlier and almost triple the level in April, when car factories in Changchun and Shanghai such as those run

Tesla may have to raise wages in Germany if it wants to achieve its goal of hiring thousands of additional workers for its factory near Berlin, according to the country’s leading automotive labor union. IG Metall is getting reports from Tesla staff at the Gruenheide site who are complaining about inadequate or unequal wages, the

STOCKHOLM — Tata Consultancy Services, a unit of Indian conglomerate Tata Group, plans to step up its European expansion with several more research hubs, its technology chief told Reuters. Europe accounted for about a third of the company’s annual revenue of $25.7 billion in its past financial year and is one of its fastest growing

Automotive News Europe honors the winners of the 2022 Rising Stars awards. Through July 13, the 19 winners will be featured. The Rising Star for Sales is Florian Aragon, who is Toyota Europe’s sales and aftersales performance director. For his full profile click here. The 2022 Rising Stars winners will be honored in Prague at

The European auto industry has been going though an unprecedented period of changes and challenges in the past three years. One of the top analysts helping investors navigate these choppy waters is Philippe Houchois of Jefferies. After working for an auto supplier in France and Detroit, Houchois became an automotive industry analyst at IHS, moving on

Volvo CEO Jim Rowan has made sweeping changes to his leadership team, naming two deputy CEOs and moving four of the 11 executives off the automaker’s highest management tier, as Volvo gears up to become an electric-only brand by 2030. It is the biggest personnel move made thus far by Rowan, a former Dyson Group executive,

Volkswagen Group faces mounting pressure to address allegations of human rights violations in the Chinese province of Xinjiang, where the German automaker operates a car factory. While there is no evidence that anyone has been mistreated at the VW plant, the company should carefully examine the accusations, said supervisory board members Joerg Hofmann, a labor