Europe

BERLIN — Mercedes-Benz will incorporate a new, highly energy-dense battery in its upcoming electric G-Class from 2025, a solution to the problem of how to power large electric cars without weighing them down with heavy batteries. The battery, made by start-up Sila Nanotechnologies, uses silicon-based anodes and is 20 percent to 40 percent more energy

Stellantis has rescinded the terms and conditions it forced on its suppliers at the start of the year, responding to the blowback from companies opposed to the new contracts. The automaker, whose North American base is in Auburn Hills, told suppliers in a letter Monday that it will revert to 2021 terms and conditions, retroactive

Renault’s Moscow plant will be repurposed to produce Moskvich cars that were last manufactured two decades ago. A Soviet-era car brand the “Moskvich” could make a surprise comeback in Russia, as Moscow takes over assets belonging to Renault following the French automaker’s exit from the country. Moscow’s mayor Sergei Sobyanin said he would nationalize Renault’s

Nissan said it is too early to say if it will spin off its electric vehicle business, as alliance partner Renault is seeking to do, Nissan Chief Operating Officer Ashwani Gupta said. “It’s too early to consider because of our diversified market portfolio and diversified product portfolio,” Gupta said Friday. Renault said in April that all

Nissan took a 52.6 billion yen ($499 million) financial hit from its Russian and Ukrainian operations in its latest financial year and is not expecting to restart operations in Russia during the coming year. Nissan stopped deliveries to Russia in March following the country’s invasion of Ukraine, then ceased production at its St Petersburg plant

Nissan says net revenue from sales of the new Qashqai compact SUV in Europe is 38 percent higher than for the previous model, giving the company hope that it can reverse continuing losses in the region. Nissan posted an operating loss of 28.4 billion yen ($221 million) in Europe in the fiscal year ending March

If the worst-case scenario for Germany hits, BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen Group would struggle to paint their cars and the air across the country would get dirtier. Europe’s largest economy is bracing for the prospect that Russian natural gas gets cut off suddenly, a shock that would trigger a form of martial law for energy

Nissan took a 52.6 billion yen ($499 million) financial hit from its Russian and Ukrainian operations in its latest financial year and is not expecting to restart operations in Russia during the coming year. Nissan stopped deliveries to Russia in March following the country’s invasion of Ukraine, then ceased production at its St Petersburg plant

Polestar is preparing to go public next month in a reverse merger with a special-purpose acquisition company, Gores Guggenheim. The deal could peg the Geely electric brand’s market valuation as high as $25 billion, according to analysts. The move is part of a wave of potential spinoffs of EV brands or units, as automakers try to

PARIS — A key European Union committee’s decision to reject calls for much deeper emissions cuts has disappointed environmental advocates, who pushed for new targets in the run-up to a 2035 deadline for automakers to sell only zero-emissions cars. The European Parliament’s environment committee on Wednesday voted to ratify new rules for CO2 emissions from cars

BERLIN — Thyssenkrupp and Japanese supplier NSK are considering forming an automotive joint venture, the German conglomerate said on Thursday, as it continues to explore new ownership models for its key business areas to become leaner. The two companies signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to explore a tie-up between Thyssenkrupp’s Automotive Technology division and

BRUSSELS — Lawmakers on the European Parliament’s environment committee backed an EU plan to effectively ban new gasoline and diesel car sales from 2035, while voting against proposals for tougher targets to cut car CO2 emissions within this decade. The committee supported the proposal for a 100 percent cut in CO2 emissions by 2035, which

PARIS — Dacia has promoted David Durand to lead design at the Renault Group low-cost brand, succeeding Miles Nuernberger, who is leaving the company after less than a year in the position. Durand is currently head of exterior design at Dacia, where his recent projects included the new generation Sandero and Sandero Stepway small cars

Volkswagen Group plans to revive the Scout off-road badge to grab a greater share of the booming U.S. light-truck market. VW, one of the biggest global automakers, but with a relatively small U.S. sales footprint that has tilted toward an expanded light-truck lineup in recent years, plans to introduce a new Scout electric SUV and

Electric-car maker Lucid plans to launch luxury sedans in Europe later this year, as the Tesla rival aims to expand its footprint outside the U.S. amid strong global demand for EVs. The company will launch its Lucid Air Dream Edition P and R sedans in limited numbers for customers in Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland, and Norway

LONDON – Renault CEO Luca de Meo said the automaker will decide in the coming weeks on the future of its operations in Russia, where it suspended operations in March following the invasion of Ukraine. “Negotiations are still ongoing,” CEO Luca de Meo said at the FT Future of the Car 2022 conference on Monday,

MUNICH — Polestar and Tesla were the big winners in a German market hit badly by supply shortages in April. Germany’s new-car registrations fell 22 percent to 180,264 last month, according to KBA motor transport authority data. Polestar’s registrations were up 203 percent and Tesla sales grew 34 percent. Polestar and Tesla boosted sales despite

SHANGHAI — Quanta Shanghai Manufacturing City would seem like an ideal site to implement China’s “closed-loop” management system to prevent the spread of COVID that requires staff to live and work on-site in a secure bubble. Sprawled over land the size of 20 football fields, the campus houses factories, living quarters for 40,000 workers, some living

MIAMI — McLaren has had talks with Audi but is not for sale, team boss Zak Brown said on Friday in response to Volkswagen Group’s announcement that its Audi and Porsche brands would be entering Formula One. A source told Reuters in March that Audi was ready to offer around 500 million euros ($527.55 million)

BMW is shipping new cars without Apple CarPlay and Android Auto functionality after the automaker switched chip suppliers in a move that helped it navigate the ongoing semiconductor shortage. Customers are being asked to wait for an over-the-air update that will install new software “by the end of June at the latest,” BMW said in

The announcement that Porsche and Audi want to lend their names to Formula One comes at a high point of popularity in the U.S. for the world’s most glamorous racing series. Miami’s first-ever F1 Grand Prix will run on Sunday. Race-day ticket prices hit $1,342 this week on the secondary market, more than prices for

BMW will focus its Neue Klasse (New Class) architecture on full-electric models for the midsize premium segment. The platform, which will go into production in 2025 at the automaker’s new factory in Hungary, will only offer a battery-electric drivetrain, BMW CEO Oliver Zipse said during the automaker’s first-quarter earnings call on Thursday. “When it hits

Mercedes-Benz will offer Drive Pilot, the first Level 3 autonomous driving system approved for European public roads, as an option on S-Class and EQS models starting May 17. Drive Pilot will cost 5,000 euros ($5,300) on the S-Class and 7,430 euros on the EQS in Germany, Mercedes said Friday.  The system allows the car to

The first year of Stellantis’ life brought many changes to the former PSA Group and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles brands, including the realignment of the Europe region — now called Enlarged Europe. Within the region, nine main brands are coexisting: Alfa Romeo, Citroen, DS, Fiat, Jeep, Lancia, Maserati, Opel/Vauxhall and Peugeot, covering a range of segments

BMW said earnings rose 12 percent in the first quarter even as the war in Ukraine and COVID lockdowns in China disrupted the automaker’s supply chain. Group earnings before interest and tax rose to 3.39 billion euros ($3.6 billion) in the first quarter, the company said Thursday. BMW confirmed the outlook for the year that

Bosch will invest 500 million euros to develop components for hydrogen electrolysis, a technology that promises to speed adoption of so-called green hydrogen for use in transport and other sectors. The supplier said Wednesday at its annual news conference that it hopes to start production of electrolyzer “stacks” in 2025, with the expectation that the

PARIS — Faurecia and the French recycling company Veolia have signed a cooperation and research partnership with an aim to use on average 30 percent of recycled plastics in car interiors by 2025, the companies said. The collaboration, under which recycled plastics will be used in instrument panels, door panels and center consoles in cars

FRANKFURT — Volkswagen Group’s Cariad software division said it will source chips from Qualcomm to develop autonomous driving software, which VW has made the core part of its future strategy. Qualcomm Technologies will supply system-on-chips (SoCs) from its Snapdragon Ride portfolio for Cariad’s software platform. The SoCs will be an important hardware component in its

MILAN — Stellantis has agreed with unions that it will cut 480 jobs this year at its Mirafiori facility in Turin through voluntary lay offs, Italy’s FIM-CISL union said. The deal was signed by all major metal workers unions with the exception of the leftist FIOM-CGIL. Stellantis had already reached a similar accord with unions

Vitesco, the powertrain company spun off from Continental last year, has won a 2 billion-euro ($2.1 billion) contract to supply electric-drive modules to Hyundai Motor Group for small and compact electric cars. The contract was announced in March by Vitesco CEO Andreas Wolf, but no details were given. Vitesco said Monday it would provide Hyundai