By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON, Feb 8 (Reuters) – Ride-sharing company Uber Technologies (UBER.N) plans to begin reminding passengers to wear seat belts by pinging driver phones and sending riders messages amid a spike in U.S. traffic deaths.

Uber told Reuters its new feature that launches Tuesday aims to alert riders to buckle up via a distinctive chime from the driver’s phone and a simultaneous push notification to the rider’s phone.

“The intent is really just to help remind riders that they should be buckling up – every seat, every time,” said Kristin Smith, Uber’s head of Global Road Safety Policy, who added the chime “sounds kind of like an airplane seat belt reminder.”
Continue reading “Uber to use alerts to remind riders to buckle up”

TOKYO, Feb 8 (Reuters) – South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Co (005380.KS) said on Tuesday it is returning to Japan 12 years after leaving because of poor sales, as growing demand for electric vehicles offers a fresh opening in a market dominated by Toyota Motor (7203.T).

Hyundai said it will sell its Nexo SUV hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle and its Ioniq 5 midsize crossover electric vehicle (EV), which is at the heart of the company’s attempt to capture 10% of global EV sales by 2025.

Continue reading “South Korea’s Hyundai Motor to take a fresh crack at Japan sales By Tim Kelly and Maki Shiraki”

By Nick Carey

LONDON, Feb 8 (Reuters) – Governments and utilities need ambitious plans to cut red tape to install vehicle chargers if Europe is to be ready for 130 million electric vehicles (EVs) by 2035, a new report from EY and Eurelectric said on Tuesday.

According to “Power sector accelerating e-mobility,” by the professional services group and Europe’s utilities trade body, Europe will need 65 million EV chargers – 9 million public and 56 million residential – to handle the huge growth anticipated in EVs from the 3.3 million on Europe’s roads today.

Continue reading “Europe needs ambitious charging plans for 130 mln EVs by 2035”

Feb 7 (Reuters) – Nissan Motor Co Ltd plans to stop developing new internal combustion engines in all its major markets except the United States and focus on making electric vehicles, the Nikkei business daily reported on Monday.

The automaker will continue limited development of its gasoline engines for its U.S. market, mainly for pickup trucks, according to Nikkei, which did not cite any sources.

Nissan did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Continue reading “Nissan to stop most development of new gasoline engines – Nikkei”

By Aditi Shah

NEW DELHI, Feb 8 (Reuters) – India said on Tuesday it had summoned South Korea’s ambassador to express displeasure over a social media post by a Pakistani partner of Hyundai Motor (005380.KS) over disputed Kashmir that has caused a furore in the country.

The foreign ministers of India and South Korea also spoke by telephone as the car company faced a backlash in India from social media users incensed by comments expressing solidarity with the people of Kashmir.

Continue reading “India summons South Korea envoy over Hyundai’s Kashmir tweet in diplomatic escalation”

SEOUL, Feb 7 (Reuters) – South Korea’s antitrust regulator said on Monday it decided to fine German carmaker Mercedes-Benz and its Korean unit 20.2 billion won ($16.9 million) for false advertising tied to gas emissions of its diesel passenger vehicles.

The Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) said Mercedes had tampered with pollution mitigation devices by installing illegal software in its vehicles, making them perform at lower levels in ordinary driving conditions than during certification tests. A total of 15 Mercedes models had such software installed, it said.

“It is meaningful to impose sanctions against the country’s No.1 imported car sales operator for obstructing consumers’ rational purchase choices with false and deceptive advertisements about its emission reduction performance even after the Dieselgate scandal,” the KFTC said in a statement.

Continue reading “South Korea fines Mercedes $16.9 million over emission rules breach”

BERLIN, Feb 6 (Reuters) – Luxury carmaker Porsche AG (PSHG_p.DE) expects another record year for sales despite the global semiconductor chip shortage, its sales chief was quoted as saying by industry magazine Automobilwoche.

“When I look at the current orders, I’m confident for 2022. Growth in sales could reach a similarly high level this year as in 2021,” Detlev von Platen said in an interview with the magazine.

Sales at Porsche, part of Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE), rose 11% last year to 301,915 which would mean they could reach more than 335,000 this year if growth maintains the same pace.

Continue reading “Porsche expects another record year for sales despite chip shortage – Automobilwoche”

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb 4 (Reuters) – Ford Motor (F.N) plans to suspend or cut production at eight of its factories in the United States, Mexico and Canada throughout next week because of chip supply constraints, a spokeswoman told Reuters on Friday.

The changes come a day after the Detroit automaker warned a chip shortage would lead to a decline to vehicle volume in the current quarter.

Production at factories in Michigan, Chicago and in Cuautitlan, Mexico will be suspended. In Kansas City, production of its F-150 pickup trucks will be idled while one shift will run for production of its Transit vans.

Continue reading “Ford to suspend or cut output at 8 of its factories due to chip shortage”

Feb 4 (Reuters) – Hertz Global Holdings (HTZ.O) on Friday named former Goldman Sachs (GS.N) finance chief Stephen Scherr as its top boss, replacing interim CEO Mark Fields, sending shares of the car rental firm up 4% before the bell.

Scherr will assume his new role as CEO and a board member on Feb. 28, Hertz said in a statement, adding that Fields would remain as a director.

The leadership change comes at a time when rental car companies are dealing with a pandemic-driven surge in demand but are also grappling to secure vehicles due to global chip shortages and supply chain snarls.

Continue reading “Hertz wheels in ex-Goldman Sachs CFO as top boss, shares jump”

By Victoria Waldersee

Summary

BERLIN, Feb 4 (Reuters) – The European Union plans to toughen its method for measuring carbon dioxide emissions from plug-in hybrid cars, two sources familiar with the matter said, after criticism that current tests yield results up to four times below real-world emissions.

The new methodology could mean some carmakers, who in 2021 sold almost as many plug-in hybrids in Europe as they did battery-electric vehicles (BEVs), would need to sell more BEVs in order to meet EU emissions targets and avoid sizeable fines.

Continue reading “European Union to toughen emissions test for hybrid cars -sources”

By Helena Soderpalm and Niklas Pollard

STOCKHOLM, Feb 4 (Reuters) – Automaker Volvo Cars (VOLCARb.ST) and battery manufacturer Northvolt will build their joint battery plant in Gothenburg, western Sweden, the two companies said on Friday.

The new 50-gigawatt-hour (GWh) plant will create up to 3,000 jobs and make battery cells specifically developed for use in pure electric Volvo and Polestar cars, the Sweden-based companies said. Operations will begin in 2025.

The two companies said last year they would form a joint venture to develop batteries, including setting up a gigafactory for production and an research and development centre, a total investment of about 30 billion crowns ($3.3 billion). read more

Continue reading “Northvolt, Volvo Cars pick Gothenburg for new battery plant”

TOKYO, Feb 4 (Reuters) – Toshiba Corp (6502.T) said on Friday it will invest about 125 billion yen ($1.09 billion) to more than double production of power management semiconductors, aiming to catch up with power chip giants such as Infineon Technologies AG (IFXGn.DE).

The Japanese industrial conglomerate will build a cutting-edge 300-millimeter fabrication plant in central Japan for power management chips, which efficiently control electric power in cars, electronic devices and industry equipment.

Toshiba will invest around 100 billion yen in the new plant, on top of a 25 billon yen investment in a 300-millimeter fabrication line it is building at an existing chip plant, a Toshiba spokesperson said.

Continue reading “Toshiba to invest $1 billion to double power chip production”

MILAN, Feb 3 (Reuters) – The transition to electric vehicles will put around 73,000 jobs at risk in Italy, metal workers’ unions and a lobby group said on Thursday, calling on the government to start discussions on measures to support the automotive industry.

Analysts say the auto sector in Italy could be hit harder than elsewhere because of the small average size of firms in the country and the scale of investment needed to comply with the European Union’s “Fit-For-55” climate plan phasing out combustion engines by 2035.

“This plan, if not accompanied by (government) intervention, could lead to a loss of approximately 73,000 jobs in Italy, with 63,000 in the 2025-2030 period,” employers’ group Federmeccanica and the FIM, FIOM and UILM unions said in a rare joint statement.

Continue reading “Electric car transition puts over 70,000 jobs at risk in Italy, unions and lobby say”

By Daina Beth Solomon

MEXICO CITY, Feb 3 (Reuters) – An independent labor union supported by international activists has won a sweeping victory to represent workers at a General Motors’ (GM.N)pickup-truckplant in the central Mexican city of Silao, Mexico’s federal labor center said on Thursday.

The union, SINTTIA, beat three rivals by a wide margin, including Mexico’s biggest labor organization that had held the contract for 25 years.

The vote by several thousand workers was required under a Mexican labor reform that underpins a trade agreement with the United States and Canada, and was closely watched by the U.S. government.

Continue reading “GM workers in Mexico elect independent union in historic labor vote”

WASHINGTON, Feb 3 (Reuters) – Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) is recalling more than 817,000 vehicles in the United States because an audible alert may not activate when a vehicle starts and the driver has not buckled the seat belt, a U.S. auto safety regulator said.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) saidon Thursday the vehicles, 2021-2022 Model S and Model X, 2017-2022 Model 3, and 2020-2022 Model Y, fail to comply with a federal motor vehicle safety standard on “Occupant Crash Protection” because the chime does not activate. Tesla will perform an over-the-air (OTA) software update to address the issue.

Tesla told NHTSA that as of Jan. 31 it was unaware of any crashes or injuries related to the issue.

Continue reading “Tesla recalls 817,000 vehicles in U.S. over seat belt reminder alert”

BERLIN, Feb 2 (Reuters) – Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) will be able to build 1 million electric vehicles a year in China in 2023, CEO of the Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand Ralf Brandstaetter told Nikkei on Wednesday, boosted by a new plant in Anhui province.

The plant, a joint venture with China’s Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Co (JAC) first announced in 2019, is set to produce 300,000 electric cars a year, with production starting in 2023.

Together with production from two further joint venture plants – one with FAW Group, and one with SAIC Motor – this should bring total capacity to the 1 million mark, Brandstaetter said.

Continue reading “Volkswagen able to build 1 million EVs a year in China from 2023 -Nikkei”

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON, Feb 1 (Reuters) – Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) will recall 53,822 U.S. vehicles with the company’s Full Self-Driving (Beta) software that may allow some models to conduct “rolling stops” and not come to a complete stop at some intersections posing a safety risk.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said the recall covers some 2016-2022 Model S and Model X, 2017-2022 Model 3, and 2020-2022 Model Y vehicles. NHTSA said the feature also known as FSD Beta may allow vehicles to travel through an all-way stop intersection without first coming to a stop.

Tesla will perform an over-the-air software update that disables the “rolling stop” functionality, NHTSA said. The agency added it “maintains regular discussions with all manufacturers to discuss potential safety concerns of these types of systems.”

Continue reading “Tesla recalls nearly 54,000 vehicles that may disobey stop signs”

Feb 1 (Reuters) – Electric vehicle firm Faraday Future Intelligent Electric Inc (FFIE.O) said on Tuesday its review had identified certain inaccurate statements made by its employees to investors and announced changes in its leadership structure.

Faraday said it had appointed Susan Swenson, currently an independent member of its board, to the newly created position of executive chairperson of the company.

The company said its chief executive officer Carsten Breitfield and founder Jia Yueting would both be handed a 25% cut each in their annual base salary. Both Breitfield and Yueting would report to the newly appointed executive chairperson, according to Faraday.

Continue reading “Faraday Future says review found inaccurate statements made to investors”

Feb 2 (Reuters) – Scarce supply of raw materials for electric cars could slow the transition from fossil-fuel burning vehicles to electric ones, Mercedes-Benz (DAIGn.DE) Chief Executive Ola Kaellenius said in an interview with German paper Die Zeit on Wednesday.

“The industrialization of mines and refinery capacities may not progress as quickly as demand increases. Should that happen, it would only delay e-mobility, but not prevent it,” Kaellenius said.

Continue reading “Mercedes-Benz CEO says raw material scarcity could delay e-mobility – Die Zeit”

By Giulio Piovaccari

Summary

MILAN, Feb 2 (Reuters) – Ferrari (RACE.MI) has orders stretching into 2023 after delivering a record number of cars last year, Chief Executive Benedetto Vigna said on Wednesday, reflecting a surge in demand for luxury vehicles despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

That demand allowed Ferrari to predict a rise in its core earnings this year, in the wake of record results in 2021.

Continue reading “Strong orders at Ferrari set to support growth after record 2021”

By Timothy Aeppel

Feb 2 (Reuters) – More robots joined the U.S. workforce last year than ever before, taking on jobs from plucking bottles and cans off conveyor belts at trash recycling plants to putting small consumer goods into cardboard boxes at e-commerce warehouses.

It looks like still more robots will come aboard in 2022.

Companies across North America laid out more than $2 billion for almost 40,000 robots in 2021 to help them contend with record demand and a pandemic-fueled labor shortage. Robots went to work in a growing number of industries, expanding well beyond their historic surge in the automotive sector.

Continue reading “Robots marched on in 2021, with record orders by North American firms”

Feb 1 (Reuters) – Electric Last Mile Solutions Inc (ELMS.O), a maker of battery-powered delivery vehicles, said on Tuesday that its top two executives had resigned following an investigation into their share purchases, sending its shares tumbling 24%.

The company said the investigation by a special committee of the board showed that shortly before it announced an agreement to go public in December 2020, some executives, including Chief Executive James Taylor and Chairman Jason Luo, purchased equity at substantial discounts to market value without obtaining an independent valuation.

Board member Shauna McIntyre, a former chief of staff at Google’s consumer electronics division, was named interim CEO, while former Intel chief Brian Krzanich was named non-executive chairman.

Continue reading “EV maker ELMS’ CEO, chairman resign after probe into their share purchases”

BERLIN, Feb 2 (Reuters) – Self-charging hybrid cars, which operate on both an internal combustion engine and a battery, outsold diesel cars in Europe for the first time in 2021, albeit by just 48 vehicles, data showed on Wednesday.

One in 11 cars sold were battery-electric, the data from the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association showed, totalling just under 880,000 vehicles.

Self-charging hybrid cars contain a battery charged by an internal combustion engine, and generally can only drive a limited distance on electric power.

Continue reading “Self-charging hybrids outsell diesel in Europe for first time -ACEA Reuters”

By David Shepardson and Hyunjoo Jin, Joseph White

WASHINGTON/SAN FRANCISCO, Feb 2 (Reuters) – Self-driving vehicle companies from Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) to General Motors Co’s (GM.N) Cruise are racing to start making money with their technology, outrunning efforts by regulators and Congress to write rules of the road for robot-driven vehicles.

On Tuesday, Cruise said that SoftBank Group Corp (9984.T) will invest another $1.35 billion in anticipation of Cruise launching commercial robo-taxi operations. read more

Continue reading “Self-driving car companies zoom ahead, leaving U.S. regulators behind”

By Nick Carey

LONDON, Feb 1 (Reuters) – Electric scooter rental firm Dott said on Tuesday it had raised an extra $70 million which it will use to roll out new e-bikes, expand into new cities and countries and offer more services.

Amsterdam-based Dott had announced $85 million in the Series B funding last year and the extra amount brings the total the start-up has raised so far to around $210 million.

“We’re all on this crusade against personal cars. We want to make it super simple for anyone who wants to ditch their own car to have other transportation modes,” Dott Chief Executive Henri Moissinac told Reuters.

Continue reading “Dott to roll out e-scooter expansion with extra $70 million funding”

By Tina Bellon

Feb 1 (Reuters) – Some vehicles equipped with automated assistance technology aimed at keeping drivers alert and watching the road fail at that job, an American Automobile Association study found on Tuesday.

The AAA study said monitoring systems that rely only on how drivers’ handle the steering wheel were not successful. Those that use cameras to monitor drivers’ eye and head position were significantly more effective at keeping drivers focused while vehicle software is engaged.

Continue reading “Some cars’ systems designed to keep drivers’ eyes on the road fail -AAA study”

By Daina Beth Solomon

Summary

MEXICO CITY, Jan 31 (Reuters) – More than 6,000 General Motors (GM.N) workers in Mexico will elect a new union this week as an upstart group supported by international activists aims to beat one of Mexico’s biggest labor organizations that held the contract for 25 years.

The vote is one of the first under a labor reform that underpins a new trade deal with Canada and the United States, and aims to help improve pay by breaking the grip of unions that critics say signed deals with companies behind workers’ backs.

Also under the law, workers at state oil company Pemex elect a new union chief on Monday in their first ever direct vote. read more

Continue reading “Union battle unfolds at GM in Mexico ahead of workers’ vote”

Jan 31 (Reuters) – The U.S. public charging network for electric vehicles is becoming more robust, but significant differences in reliability and performance remain between providers, an industry ranking by engineering consulting firm umlaut found.

The group tested chargers by Volkswagen’s (VOWG_p.DE) Electrify America, ChargePoint (CHPT.N), EVgo (EVGO.O), Blink Charging (BLNK.O), EVconnect, Greenlots and Tesla’s (TSLA.O) Superchargers across seven U.S. states in September.

Electrify America reached the highest score in the ranking, followed by Tesla’s Supercharger and ChargePoint, said umlaut, which was acquired by Accenture (ACN.N) in October.

Continue reading “U.S. EV charging network is more robust but provider differences remain”

PARIS, Jan 31 (Reuters) – Automaker Stellantis (STLA.MI) could cut up to 1,400 jobs in France this year as it continues to adapt to a changing industry, three union sources said a day before management and unions sit down to discuss pay and employment conditions.

A year after the creation of the giant French-Italian-American automaker, any discussion of job cuts in one territory is closely examined in other countries where it is present for signs of what may come there, too.

The company cut 1,380 jobs, all through voluntary redundancies, in France last year, according to a document seen by Reuters.

Continue reading “Stellantis could axe 1,400 jobs in France, say union sources”

Jan 31 (Reuters) – Atlanta-based Cox Automotive, a unit of privately held Cox Enterprises (COXET.UL), has launched a new Mobility division to provide commercial services to vehicle manufacturers, dealers and fleet operators, the company said on Monday.

Cox Automotive Mobility will offer data, insights and technical expertise in four areas — fleet services, fleet operations, EV battery solutions and emerging ventures.

The Mobility unit will leverage the ability of two companies Cox Automotive acquired in 2021: FleetMaster Inc, based in Ghent, Belgium, and Spiers News Technologies, based in Oklahoma City.

Continue reading “Cox Automotive launches Mobility unit aimed at carmakers, dealers, fleets”

BERLIN, Jan 31 (Reuters) – ABB (ABBN.S) said on Monday it had increased its majority stake in Chinese electric vehicle (EV) charging provider Chargedot to 80% from 67%.

The financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

ABB acquired its previous stake in the charging provider in March 2020.

The other shareholder is Shanghai SAIC Anyo Charging Technology Co, a subsidiary of China’s vehicle manufacturer SAIC, which holds a 20% stake.