– Volkswagen India’s robust service strategy that has been built on key attributes of factual changes, infrastructural development and improvement in customer perception

– Enhanced and holistic service initiatives that provides accessible information, reduced cost of ownership and peace of mind value proposition

– Reduction in Volkswagen Genuine Spare Parts pricing up to 11%, ensuring a safe and high-quality journey

– Engine Oil price reduction (gasoline) by nearly 32%

– Benefits through Service Value Packages upto 24%

– Volkswagen’s best-selling carlines Polo & Vento are now 23% – 25% more economical (depending on the variant) from a periodic maintenance cost perspective

– Volkswagen Assistance and Mobile Service Units fleet, covering nearly 80% of the country with door-step service facilities

– Introduction of Volkswagen Service Cam and Service Cost Calculator

Continue reading “With ‘Accessibility’ at its core, Volkswagen India announces its robust Service and TCO initiatives”

Reuters

General Motors Co (GM.N) will double its commitment to spending with Black-owned media to 4% of its ad budget next year with a target of reaching 8% by 2025, the U.S. automaker said on Friday.

GM has come under criticism, including in full-page ads in several national newspapers, from some Black media leaders for not advertising enough in Black-owned media. GM said it will spend 2% of this year’s budget in that sector.

“This action plan will transform our engagement model with diverse media in a sustainable way,” GM Chief Marketing Officer Deborah Wahl said in a statement.

Continue reading “GM commits to doubling ad spending with Black-owned media”

by Tina Bellon, Eimi Yamamitsu – Reuters 

4 Min read

Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) will acquire Lyft Inc’s (LYFT.O) self-driving technology unit for $550 million, the companies said, as the Japanese firm steps up its automation ambitions with the newly created Woven Planet division.

The acquisition of Level 5 automation will also provide Toyota access to the U.S. ride-hailing firm’s more than 300 employees of the essentially complete autonomy technology.

“This is the first step of establishing and bringing together the people. Obviously building technology and product requires people, and that’s much what this acquisition is about,” Woven Planet chief executive James Kuffner told reporters on Tuesday.

Continue reading “Toyota to buy Lyft unit in boost to self-driving plans”

Tesla’s (TSLA.O) quarterly report on Monday hit targets qualifying Chief Executive Elon Musk for two options payouts worth a combined $11 billion.

The electric car maker beat Wall Street’s expectations for first-quarter revenue and profit, boosted by record deliveries, robust demand from China and environmental credit sales.

It reported quarterly revenue of $10.39 billion and adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of $1.84 billion, surpassing milestones that trigger the vesting of the fifth and sixth of 12 tranches of options granted to Musk in his 2018 pay package to buy discounted Tesla shares. (Graphic of options payout)

Musk, who is also a major shareholder and CEO of rocket maker SpaceX, receives no salary at Tesla. His pay package requires Tesla’s market capitalization and financial growth to hit a series of rising targets.

Continue reading “Tesla’s Elon Musk qualifies for $11 billion options payout”

Mayank Bhardwaj, Shivani Singh at Reuters

6 Min Read

A handful of startups are trying to find a new way to recycle used car batteries, using water, chemicals and electricity to produce lead instead of the hazardous, high-heat smelting that has been identified as the world’s most polluting industry.

One of the first to bring a new recycling technology to market is ACE Green Recycling Inc, which has developed a room-temperature process that turns lead from scrap batteries into briquettes of 99.5% purity and above, its Singapore-based CEO Nishchay Chadha told Reuters.

At its recycling plant in Ghaziabad, on the outskirts of the Indian capital New Delhi, the firm then uses electric kettles to refine the briquettes into ingots which are then sold to battery manufacturers. Plastic and other components are recycled separately.

Continue reading “Start-ups aim to change car battery recycling, clean up world’s most polluting industry”

Reuters, Heekyong Yang, Joyce Lee

4 Min Read

Hyundai Motor Co (005380.KS) posted a first-quarter profit that nearly tripled to its highest in four years as people bought its luxury cars, but warned it would have to adjust production again in May because of a chip shortage.

Unlike its rivals, the South Korean automaker staved off production halts in the first quarter, thanks to a healthy chip inventory. But the shortage, exacerbated by factors including a fire at a chip factory in Japan and storms in Texas, is now catching up with Hyundai. read more

Hyundai, which together with affiliate Kia Corp (000270.KS) is among the world’s top 10 automakers by sales, has temporarily paused production three times since the beginning of this month and saved chips for its most popular models. read more

“The condition of semiconductor parts is being a little more prolonged than we expected,” said Seo Gang-hyun, an executive vice president at Hyundai.
Continue reading “Hyundai Q1 profit triples, to adjust May auto production due to chip shortage”

Reuters

Renault’s sales fell for a fifth straight quarter as the French carmaker struggled to shrug off the fallout from the pandemic without a major presence in booming Chinese markets and a global shortage of electronic chips hit production.

Under Chief Executive Officer Luca de Meo, who took the reins last July, Renault is looking to produce fewer cars and focus on those with higher margins, a strategy that is starting to bear some fruit.

The company got a boost from rising vehicle prices in January-March, for the third consecutive quarter.

But this was not enough to offset the hit from shrinking inventories and other headwinds like unfavourable foreign exchange effects, and overall revenue fell 1.1% to 10 billion euros ($12 billion) from a year earlier.

Continue reading “Lagging rivals, Renault sales fall for fifth straight quarter”

Stellantis on Thursday launched its first fully electric large van, the Fiat e-Ducato, as part of its bid to expand its range of battery electric and hybrid vehicles.

Stellantis has said it would offer electric versions of almost all of its European line-up by 2025, as the auto industry faces regulatory pushes in Europe and China to accelerate the shift to zero-emission vehicles.

The e-Ducato, which has a range of around 370 km (230 miles) on a single charge, is already available for orders to clients and will be followed this year by other similar large vans produced by Stellantis under the Peugeot, Opel and Citroen brands.

The e-Ducato is produced in Atessa, Stellantis’ only plant in Italy running almost at full capacity, but will have its electric powertrain installed in Turin’s Mirafiori.

Continue reading “Stellantis launches Fiat e-Ducato, the group’s first electric large van”

Reuters

5 Min read

Tesla Inc has had a terrible week in China, but sentiment against the U.S. electric car company in its second-biggest market had been building as it struggled to keep pace with rapid growth.

The pile-on by media and scolding by regulators show how precarious China can be for big foreign brands, and how a company’s handling of an incident can turn into a crisis if the country’s tightly-controlled news outlets turn against it.

Tesla’s defiance of industry convention, embodied by founder Elon Musk and a corporate culture that rarely admits mistakes, has won fans in the United States, but has backfired in China. Musk had such cachet that China’s government allowed Tesla to be the first foreign carmaker not forced to team up with a partner to make cars locally. Now, Tesla is learning lessons its longer-established rivals got years ago.

Tesla’s troubles in China also underscore a problem Musk and senior Tesla executives have acknowledged, though mainly in relation to the company’s North American business. Tesla’s rapid sales growth has outrun its capacity to repair vehicles when hardware goes bad.
Continue reading “Analysis: Tesla’s bad week in China was months in the making”

The fatal crash of a Tesla with no one apparently behind the wheel has cast a new light on the safety of semi-autonomous vehicles and the nebulous U.S. regulatory terrain they navigate.

Police in Harris County, Texas, said a Tesla Model S smashed into a tree on Saturday at high speed after failing to negotiate a bend and burst into flames, killing one occupant found in the front passenger seat and the owner in the back seat.

Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk tweeted on Monday that preliminary data downloaded by Tesla indicate the vehicle was not operating on Autopilot, and was not part of the automaker’s “Full Self-Driving” (FSD) system.

Tesla’s Autopilot and FSD, as well as the growing number of similar semi-autonomous driving functions in cars made by other automakers, present a challenge to officials responsible for motor vehicle and highway safety.

Continue reading “Tesla drives on Autopilot through a regulatory grey zone”

by Joseph White ( Reuters )

2 Min Read

General Motors Co on Tuesday outlined plans to allow remote work after the pandemic, in part to cast a wider net for recruiting programmers, marketers and other talent needed for its connected, electric vehicle strategy.

“The future of jobs will not be a one-size fits all approach,” the automaker said in a statement explaining its “Work Appropriately” program to cover 155,000 employees worldwide.

Instead, many employees will be allowed to keep working remotely, coming to an office as needed, as long as their tasks are not tied to assembly lines or on-site equipment.

That would allow GM to recruit a programmer who lives in Boston without requiring that employee to move, GM global talent acquisition director Cyril George told reporters on a videoconference.

Continue reading “At GM, blue and white collar give way to remote and on-site”

by WAF Editorial Team 

•JS Fourwheel Motors at Alwar are leading Auto retailers for last 35+ Years

•Have continuously set higher standards in Staff & their Family Care

•Controlled & run by The Sanghi family, people swear by their high standards of professionalism, business ethics and philanthropy 

Continue reading “JS Fourwheel Motors Alwar shows the way again in Employee Care”

SHANGHAI/BEIJING (Reuters) – Autonomous driving startup WeRide received a permit to test two passenger vehicles on California’s public roads without a safety driver in the front, California’s Department of Motor Vehicles said on Monday.

WeRide, backed by Nissan, Renault, Mitsubishi, is also testing its driverless vehicle in China’s southern city of Guangzhou.

Automakers and technology firms are investing billions of dollars in autonomous driving, aiming to take an early lead in what many consider the future of mobility.

Other companies which are allowed to test autonomous vehicles with no safety driving in the front in California include Alphabet Inc’s Waymo, Baidu Inc, Alibaba-backed AutoX and General Motors Co’s majority owned Cruise.

MILAN (Reuters) – Italy’s Agnelli and France’s Peugeot, the largest shareholders in Stellantis, have signed a consultation agreement, holding companies representing the two families said on Wednesday, on the eve of the carmakers’ first annual general meeting.

Exor and Peugeot 1810 said in a joint statement they had entered an understanding “aimed at strengthening the relations between the Agnelli and Peugeot families and to provide support for Stellantis in its long-term success”.

The accord will allow the two companies to exchange views, while leaving them free to vote as they choose and not carrying any obligation to coordinate their actions as Stellantis shareholders, they said.

With a 14.4% stake, Exor is the single largest shareholder in Stellantis, the world’s fourth largest carmaker, which was formed in January through the merger of Italian-American Fiat Chrysler and France’s PSA. Peugeot 1810 has a 7.2% stake.

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – Sweden’s Polestar, the electric car maker controlled by Volvo and its parent, the Chinese automaker Geely, has raised $550 million in external funding, the company said on Thursday.

The financing is Polestar’s first external funding and comes amid a year of sustained sales and share price growth for electric vehicle (EV) makers such as Tesla Inc and Nio Inc.

SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Group said on Thursday it plans to launch electric vehicles (EVs) in China every year starting 2022 to enhance its presence in the world’s biggest car market.

The South Korean auto group said it plans to unveil a total of 21 EV models from Hyundai Motor Co and Kia Corp by 2030, including hybrid and fuel-cell vehicles.

The group said it plans to cut the number of its gasoline vehicle models to 14 in China from the current 21 by 2025.

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – An ongoing shortage of crucial semiconductors is the only factor weighing on a global recovery of the car sector from the coronavirus crisis, Herbert Diess, chief executive of Volkswagen AG, said on Thursday.

Demand is picking up in the United States, Brazil and China, Diess said at the Hannover Messe trade fair, adding the world’s second-largest carmaker was also working through high order intake in Europe.

“The only thing that is currently limiting and slowing down this recovery is the critical supply situation worldwide with regard to various semiconductor types,” Diess said.

Diess’ remarks came a day after U.S. peer Ford Motor Co outlined another series of plant shutdowns due to the shortage, with five facilities in the United States and one in Turkey affected.

San Francisco (Reuters) – Self-drive automaker Cruise, backed by General Motors Co, on Thursday said it raised $2.75 billion in its latest funding round with additional investment from Walmart Inc and others, taking the startup’s valuation over $30 billion.

The announcement comes a week after peer TuSimple revealed plans for an initial public offering (IPO), at a time when self-drive technology is yet to be commercialised.

“We are focused on our path to commercialization right now but the IPOs happening in the space right now are a great indication of the strength of the industry and the opportunity self-driving presents,” a Cruise spokeswoman said in a statement to Reuters.

In January, the San Francisco-based startup said Microsoft Corp would join General Motors, Japan’s Honda Motor Co Ltd and institutional investors for a combined new equity investment of over $2 billion.

Continue reading “Self-driving startup Cruise raises $2.75 billion from Walmart, others”

BERLIN (Reuters) – Tesla sharply criticised lengthy regulatory processes in Germany ahead of the planned opening of its first European gigafactory this summer.

Tesla plans to have the factory up and running by July 1, 2021 to start building its electric crossover, the Model Y but the process has been slow and complicated by environmental disputes.

In December, Tesla was told by a court to suspend clearing of a forest at the site of the proposed factory after environmentalists said cutting down more trees could endanger hibernating snakes.

“The German approval framework for industrial and infrastructure projects as well as spatial planning directly contradicts the urgency to plan and realise such projects that is necessary to battle climate change,” Tesla said in a letter to a local court seen by Reuters.

Tesla, in the letter dated April 7, said it was “particularly irritating” that there was still no timetable for the final approval of the plant, located in Gruenheide outside Berlin, 16 months after the carmaker applied for it.

Continue reading “Tesla lashes out at German red tape ahead of planned site opening”

by WAF Editorial Team 

•TML PVBU has reclaimed its third position in the passenger car market after 9 years with sales growth of 69% over FY 20

• TML CVBU sees 59% jump over Q4 FY 20 albeit de-growth of  23% over Total FY 20 Sales

India’s largest automobile company by turnover and employment, Tata Motors Limited has posted incredible sales performance in Q4 FY 21 and March 2021

They announced their sales in the domestic & international market, for Q4 FY21, which stood at 191,720 vehicles, compared to 101,420 units during Q4 FY20.

Source : AutoPunditz 

“Aspirational products, customer centric offerings, harnessing digital, supporting dealers, strong group ethos powered the stellar performance of Tata Motors in FY 2021 and especially Q4 FY 2021,’ says Mr. Anuj Guglani, CEO, World Auto Forum 

Continue reading “Tata Motors PVBU clocks highest Sale in 9 years | TML CVBU sees 59% Jump over Q4 FY 20”

(Reuters) – Google, BMW, Volvo and Samsung SDI are the first global companies to have signed up to a World Wildlife Fund (WWF) call for a moratorium on deep-sea mining, the WWF said on Wednesday.

In backing the call, the companies commit not to source any minerals from the seabed, to exclude such minerals from their supply chains, and not to finance deep seabed mining activities, the WWF said in a statement.

Deep-sea mining would extract cobalt, copper, nickel, and manganese – key materials commonly used to make batteries – from potato-sized nodules which pepper the sea floor at depths of 4-6 kilometres and are particularly abundant in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone in the North Pacific Ocean, a vast area spanning millions of kilometres between Hawaii and Mexico.

“With much of the deep sea ecosystem yet to be explored and understood, such activity would be recklessly short-sighted,” WWF said in a statement.

The moratorium calls for a ban on deep seabed mining activities until the risks are fully understood and all alternatives are exhausted.

BMW said raw materials from deep-sea mining are “not an option” for the company at present because there are insufficient scientific findings to be able to assess the environmental risks. Google and Volvo did not immediately respond to emailed requests for comment.

Continue reading “Google, BMW, Volvo, and Samsung SDI sign up to WWF call for temporary ban on deep-sea mining”

MILAN (Reuters) – Stellantis is looking at nearly tripling its global sales of electric vehicles this year, the head of holding company Exor, the carmaker’s main shareholder, said on Thursday.

The world’s fourth largest carmaker targets global sales of 400,000 high voltage vehicles this year from 139,000 in 2020 thanks to the launch of 11 additional models, John Elkann, who also serves as Stellantis chairman, said in a letter to Exor shareholders.

Stellantis, formed in January by merging Italian-American Fiat Chrysler and France’s PSA, wants to exploit its size to take on rivals in the race to produce more electric vehicles.

It plans to have fully-electric or hybrid versions of all of its vehicles available in Europe by 2025, broadly in line with plans of rivals such as Volkswagen and Renault-Nissan.

Over the latter half of his life, Biden, 78, saw the share of national wealth going to that middle class fall and the gains from U.S. growth concentrate in a handful of regions. Now, with a roughly $2 trillion investment package unveiled on Wednesday, Biden wants to reverse that half century trend and steer capital to neglected people and parts of the country.

Democrat Biden’s jobs and infrastructure plan and the corporate tax increase to help pay for it, contrasts with the deference to private markets begun by Republicans with Ronald Reagan’s election in 1980, and nursed through rounds of tax cuts and deregulation, by both parties.

Whether it was Bill Clinton’s moves to reduce social welfare and deregulate the financial sector, or Barack Obama’s hesitance to “go big” on spending in the last recession, there has been a reluctance by both parties to intervene too deeply for decades.

Rural and Rust Belt America faded and there was little progress on bridging the wealth gaps between Black and white.

Continue reading “Analysis: Can Joe Biden recreate the U.S. economy he grew up with?”