Europe

LONDON — Lotus built more than 2,200 Emira sports cars at its U.K. factory in the first half after the company rebounded from a poor 2022. All the cars built at the plant in Hethel, Norfolk, England this year were Emiras — the automaker’s final combustion-engine model. Lotus began production of the two-seater last year following

As China’s electric mobility industry matures, leading autmakers and battery makers including BYD, CATL and Farasis Energy are aiming to boost their profiles in Europe in a global expansion strategy that threatens the dominance of the region’s automakers. China’s electric mobility trade show, the World New Energy Vehicle Congress (WNEVC), will be held on Sept.

Ford is postponing the European market launch of the Explorer, its first all-electric volume model in the region, by about six months. Instead of arriving in showrooms at the beginning of next year, the compact SUV is now scheduled to roll out in the summer of 2024. Ford cited new European standards for batteries as

EV maker VinFast Auto plans to start trading on the Nasdaq next week after a NYSE American-listed special-purpose acquisition company approved their merger. Black Spade Acquisition Co. shareholders on Thursday signed off on the combination with the manufacturer. VinFast expects to debut on the Nasdaq on or around Aug. 15 under the symbol VFS. The

Aptiv does not expect semiconductor prices to cool off in the near future. Even though supply-chain challenges are easing, prices of certain parts remain high, denting profits, the supplier says. The company said the “real challenge” is in obtaining chips, whose prices have risen 25 percent to 30 percent, while supply chains remain tight. The

Opel/Vauxhall said its Experimental all-electric concept car gives a “clear vision” of its future design and technology direction. The sporty concept will be unveiled at the IAA Mobility show in Munich, which runs from Monday, Sept. 4 to Friday, Sept. 8. The Experimental is based on a Stellantis BEV platform and is equipped with electric

TOKYO – Honda’s operating profit jumped 78 percent in the latest quarter as improved semiconductor supply fed North American production and boosted the Japanese automaker’s sales. Operating profit climbed to 394.4 billion yen ($2.73 billion) in the company’s fiscal first quarter ended June 30, compared with 222.2 billion yen ($1.54 billion) a year earlier, Honda

Volvo Cars and EV startup Polestar will be tapping into an old U.S. trade program to import Chinese vehicles at a lower cost, giving the Swedish brands a competitive leg up. By using the U.S. Duty Drawback program, the Geely-affiliated automakers can recoup import duties and the 25 percent U.S. tariff assessed on the Chinese-made

BEIJING — China’s passenger vehicle sales fell for a second month in July, as discounts and government support measures failed to persuade consumers wary of buying cars amid a sputtering economy and a prolonged slump in the housing market. Automakers are concerned about a demand slowdown as the world’s second-largest economy loses its post-pandemic bounce.

Tesla said Zachary Kirkhorn stepped down as its chief financial officer and named its accounting head, Vaibhav Taneja, as its new finance chief. Kirkhorn, a company veteran of 13 years, stepped down from the role on Friday, although he will remain with Tesla through the end of the year. The Elon Musk-led firm did not

Beijing WeLion New Energy Technology, a Chinese maker of long-range electric vehicle batteries, including one capable of going 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) on a charge, plans to go public as soon as 2025 as it banks on automakers embracing next-generation cells in the race to overcome range anxiety. The company, which supplies the long-range semi-solid

Rivian Automotive has named former Waymo CEO John Krafcik to its board of directors, citing his more than 35 years in the auto industry as former president of TrueCar and former chief executive of Hyundai Motor America, among other industry roles. Krafcik, 61, left Waymo in April 2020 after more than five years as CEO

Sales of full-electric cars continued to grow in Germany, boosted by demand for EV-only brands Polestar, Tesla and MG Motor. Battery-electric car registrations jumped 69 percent to 48,682 in Germany in July, giving the drivetrain a 20 percent market share, according to data from the German motor transport authority (KBA). Overall registrations including gasoline and

Stellantis is planning to add a second lower-priced all-electric vehicle to its arsenal to compete with Renault and Chinese carmakers as consumers look for more affordable EVs. The new EV — a no-frills Fiat Panda-inspired model for less than €25,000 ($27,347) — will be unveiled in July 2024 to take on Renault’s Dacia Spring, Fiat

Startup elecrtric carmaker Fisker slashed its production forecast for the year on Friday due to supply chain woes, a common issue among smaller EV-only brands. Fisker now expects to produce between 20,000 and 23,000 vehicles in 2023, down from 32,000 and 36,000 units that it projected in May. The California-based company said it lost $87.9

Electric truck maker Nikola said Michael Lohscheller will step down as CEO less than a year after taking over the job and would be replaced by former General Motors vice chairman Stephen Girsky. Girsky, who is currently Nikola’s chairman, will be the company’s fourth CEO in as many years. His appointment comes as Nikola tries

BRUSSELS — The European Commission said in a statement it had approved, under EU State aid rules, 1.5 billion euros ($1.6 billion) worth of French state support for ProLogium Technologies to research and develop a new generation of electric vehicle batteries. It said that the measure will contribute to the achievement of the strategic objectives

BMW’s Vision Neue Klasse full-electric concept that will be unveiled next month will showcase a near production-ready car, CEO Oliver Zipse said. The production version will be on roads soon, Zipse added during an earnings call on Thursday. Zipse described the Neue Klasse battery-electric platform as a “megaproject” within BMW. “It is about nothing less

Vietnamese automaker VinFast has canceled its participation in this year’s IAA Mobility show in Munich. The company confirmed to Automotive News Europe sister publication Automobilwoche that it will be absent from the show, which takes place next month. VinFast did not give a reason for the cancellation. VinFast’s plan to sell cars in Europe has

The Fremantle Highway, the car carrier ship that caught fire off the Dutch coast last week, could generate a cargo loss of more than $330 million, said Patrick Anderson, an economist with Anderson Economic Group. “It does appear after multiple days of fire that it is likely that all of the cars are a total

China’s top electric-vehicle makers posted better-than-expected July sales as the government attempts to boost auto demand to help revive a flagging economic recovery. Way out front was BYD, China’s top-selling automaker, which delivered 262,161 new-energy vehicles last month, up 61 percent from a year earlier. Xpeng, which last week signed a deal to produce EVs

Stellantis plans to start producing its first flex-hybrid vehicles powered by ethanol and electricity in Brazil by 2024, in an effort to come out ahead in the competition for the EV market in Latin America’s largest economy. Stellantis has three prototypes combining electric with ethanol engines and one purely electric, according to Antonio Filosa, the

Aston Martin plans to raise £210 million ($270 million) by selling new shares as the British luxury-car maker looks to pay back high-interest debt and raise funds for its electrification strategy. Major shareholders including Chairman Lawrence Stroll’s Yew Tree consortium, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, Geely International and Mercedes-Benz Group have agreed to subscribe to

MILAN — Maserati will never start or get involved in a price war with competitors, CEO Davide Grasso said. “We would be completely strategically off-balance if we did that,” Grasso told a press briefing on Friday. “Pricing is a very critical element in general, but particularly for a luxury brand. That’s why it’s important that

MILAN — Lamborghini could sell 10,000 cars this year for the first time, its CEO said, as the luxury sports carmaker reported a rise in profit and revenues for the first half. The Italian brand, a subsidiary of Germany’s Volkswagen Group, sold 5,341 cars between January and June, up 4.9 percent on the same period

A cargo ship carrying almost 3,800 cars and construction vehicles is likely to continue burning for days, according to the Dutch coast guard, which is leading efforts to contain the blaze. BMW and Mercedes-Benz each have several hundred cars among the cargo aboard the Fremantle Highway, which caught fire off the coast of the Netherlands

LOS ANGELES — Electric vehicles are crisscrossing the globe to reach their eager buyers, but the battery technology involved in the zero-emission automobiles is exposing under-prepared maritime shippers to the risk of hard-to-control fires, industry, insurance and emergency response officials said. That risk has been put under the spotlight by the burning car carrier drifting

Aston Martin has appointed Geely CEO Daniel Li to its board. The Chinese automaker is its third largest shareholder. Geely in May made a 234-million-pound ($299.4 million) investment in the British automaker, giving it the right to one board seat. As part of the transaction, Geely acquired a 17 percent stake in Aston Martin, purchasing

LONDON — MG has admitted it will probably cost the company more to build cars in a planned European factory compared with China but says the benefits will outweigh the negatives. “I expect it to be more expensive to build local, but when you sell 200,000 cars per year, it’s time,” said William Wang, MG

TOKYO — Toyota sold 5 percent more vehicles in the first half compared with the same period a year earlier, helped by an easing of semiconductor supply constraints and stronger demand in Japan. The company sold about 4.9 million vehicles globally in the six months through June, including its luxury Lexus brand, compared with about