WASHINGTON, July 25 (Reuters) – The U.S. Energy Department on Monday announced it intends to loan a joint venture of General Motors Co (GM.N) and LG Energy Solution (373220.KS) $2.5 billion to help finance construction of new lithium-ion battery cell manufacturing facilities.

The conditional commitment for the loan to Ultium Cells LLC for facilities in Ohio, Tennessee, and Michigan is expected to close in the coming months and comes from the government’s Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing (ATVM) loan program, which has not funded a new loan since 2010. Continue reading “U.S. Energy Department set to loan GM battery joint venture $2.5 bln”

MILAN, July 25 (Reuters) – Silk-FAW, a start-up of U.S. automotive engineering and design firm Silk EV and Chinese automaker FAW (000800.SZ), said on Monday it would press ahead with a plan, worth over one billion euros ($1.02 billion), to build electrified cars in Italy.

Silk-FAW will finalise the purchase of the land in the city of Reggio Emilia where the production site will be built on Aug. 5, it said in a statement after attending a videoconference with local authorities. Continue reading “Silk-FAW confirms plan to build electric sports cars in Italy”

TOKYO, July 25 (Reuters) – Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) will not unilaterally press its suppliers for lower prices for the second half of its fiscal year and is also considering supporting their energy bills, an executive said on Monday.

The move reinforces an attempt by the world’s largest automaker by sales to shoulder more of the burden faced by suppliers as global supply chain woes continue and energy costs soar. Continue reading “Toyota to hold off asking suppliers for lower prices”

SHENZHEN, China, July 25 (Reuters) – The Chinese city of Shenzhen told 100 major companies including iPhone maker Foxconn (2317.TW) to set up “closed-loop” systems as it battles COVID-19, according to a document attributed to the local government circulating online on Monday.

While Reuters could not independently verify the document, a notice at a Shenzhen office of oil giant CNOOC Ltd (0883.HK) seen by Reuters said that the building would be closed for seven days until July 31, with staff to work from home and continue with daily COVID testing. Continue reading “China’s Shenzhen orders big firms such as Foxconn into closed loop to curb COVID”

July 22 (Reuters) – Herbert Diess took over at Volkswagen AG (VOWG_p.DE) four years ago when the German automaker was in crisis, under pressure to make dramatic changes in strategy and culture, and the former BMW (BMWG.DE) executive offered a new vision.

Diess will leave Volkswagen on Sept. 1, three years before his contract was supposed to end, with many of the goals he set as the German auto giant’s disruptor-in-chief unfinished and uncertain. Continue reading “Herbert Diess, Volkswagen’s disruptor-in-chief, runs out of road”

LUVERNE, Alabama, July 22 (Reuters) – A subsidiary of Hyundai Motor Co has used child labor at a plant that supplies parts for the Korean carmaker’s assembly line in nearby Montgomery, Alabama, according to area police, the family of three underage workers, and eight former and current employees of the factory.

Underage workers, in some cases as young as 12, have recently worked at a metal stamping plant operated by SMART Alabama LLC, these people said. SMART, listed by Hyundai in corporate filings as a majority-owned unit, supplies parts for some of the most popular cars and SUVs built by the automaker in Montgomery, its flagship U.S. assembly plant. Continue reading “Exclusive: Hyundai subsidiary has used child labor at Alabama factory”

SEOUL, July 22 (Reuters) – Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (042660.KS)has reached an agreement with striking contract workers, Yonhap news agency reported on Friday, in a dispute which the shipbuilder said had cost it more than $400 million by mid-July.

About 100 sub-contractors launched the strike last month, occupying the shipyard’s main dock to demand a pay rise of 30% amid increased orders for container ships and LNG carriers. Continue reading “Contract workers striking at S.Korea’s Daewoo shipyard reach agreement -Yonhap”

BERLIN, July 22 (Reuters) – Daimler Truck (DTGGe.DE) has started production of its second electric model, an inner-city waste disposal truck named the eEconic, the company said on Friday, as it seeks to capture market share in Europe’s tiny but growing electric truck market.

The vehicle will be produced at the same site as the truck and bus maker’s first electric model, the heavy-duty truck eActros, in Woerth, Rhineland-Palatinate. Continue reading “Daimler Truck starts production of second electric truck, the eEconic”

DETROIT, July 21 (Reuters) – Ford Motor Co (F.N) on Thursday said it will import lower-cost lithium iron batteries for its North American electric pickup trucks and SUVs from Chinese battery champion CATL (300750.SZ), as it works on a broader alliance with CATL and an array of separate deals to secure battery and battery materials into the next decade.

Ford Vice President Lisa Drake said the automaker plans to secure lithium-iron, or LFP, batteries from a new 40 GWh factory in North America starting in 2026. Drake would not say if that factory would be built by CATL. Reuters reported in May that CATL was looking at U.S. sites to build EV batteries to serve Ford and BMW.  Continue reading “Ford to buy cheaper CATL EV batteries to catch Tesla”

MEXICO CITY, July 22 (Reuters) – Mexico’s government will hold frank and open discussions to resolve a dispute with the United States and Canada over Mexican energy policies that they argue breaches a regional trade pact, a senior trade official said.

The U.S. and Canadian demands come after years of concern among those nations’ private firms that Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s drive to tighten the state’s grip on oil and electricity output treated them unfairly and was in violation of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). Continue reading “Mexican official seeks ‘open, frank,’ dialogue with U.S. and Canada in energy dispute”

July 21 (Reuters) – Rivian Automotive Inc (RIVN.O) is planning a broader range of electric commercial vehicles in a variety of shapes and sizes, and expects to be building millions of EVs a year at multiple plants after 2030, Chief Executive R.J. Scaringe said.

Speaking with Reuters ahead of Thursday’s formal unveiling with Amazon (AMZN.O) of the large EDV-700 delivery van, Scaringe said “there will be a host of other applications in the commercial space” based on the so-called RCV platform that underpins the Amazon van that Rivian is building in Normal, Illinois. Continue reading “Rivian CEO eyes expansion into broader range of commercial electric vehicles”

July 21 (Reuters) – Ford Motor Co (F.N) said on Thursday it will buy lithium from ioneer Ltd’s (INR.AX) Rhyolite Ridge mining project in Nevada and use the metal to build electric vehicle batteries in the United States.

The deal is one of the first binding agreements between a U.S. lithium company and U.S. automaker amid rising pressure from Washington to domestically source metals for the green energy transition and curb reliance on China. Continue reading “Ford to buy lithium from ioneer for American EV battery plant”

DETROIT, July 21 (Reuters) – Ford Motor Co (F.N) on Thursday announced a series of deals to accelerate its shift to electric vehicles, including sourcing battery capacity and raw materials from such companies as Chinese battery maker CATL (300750.SZ) and Australian mining giant Rio Tinto (RIO.AX).

The deals are part of Ford’s push to have its annual EV production rate globally reach 600,000 vehicles by late 2023 and more than 2 million by the end of 2026. Ford said it expects a compound annual growth rate for EVs to top 90% through 2026, more than doubling the forecast industry growth rate. Continue reading “Ford announces series of deals to accelerate EV push”

July 21 (Reuters) – Top U.S. auto retailer AutoNation Inc (AN.N) on Thursday missed Wall Street estimates for second-quarter revenue, hit by a steep decline in new vehicle sales as strained global supply chains made it harder to replenish depleted inventories.

While sales and orders for higher-priced new and used vehicles remains strong, AutoNation began to see “some weakening in demand” for used vehicles priced below $20,000 to $25,000, Chief Executive Mike Manley told Reuters in an interview. Continue reading “AutoNation revenue misses as new vehicle sales skid on tight supplies”

SEOUL, July 21 (Reuters) – Hyundai Motor Co (005380.KS) turned in its best quarterly profit in eight years on Thursday as a weak won lifted the value of its earnings abroad and demand stayed strong for the South Korean automaker’s high-margin sport-utility vehicles (SUVs).

Although a chip shortage is easing, one of the world’s biggest automakers, including affiliate Kia Corp , pointed to challenges such as demand crimped by inflation, higher marketing costs amid tougher competition and supply woes. Continue reading “Hyundai Motor’s Q2 profit at eight-year high on weak won, strong demand”

July 20 (Reuters) – General Motors (GM.N) and Ford Motor (F.N) have asked U.S. auto safety regulators to grant exemptions to deploy a limited number of self-driving vehicles without human controls like steering wheels and brake pedals.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) on Wednesday published the separate petitions and opened them for public comment for 30 days. Continue reading “GM, Ford seek U.S. OK to deploy self-driving vehicles without steering wheels”

July 20 (Reuters) – Ford Motor Co (F.N) is preparing to cut up to 8,000 jobs in the coming weeks in a bid to reduce costs and intensify its focus on electric vehicles, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter.

The cuts are expected in Ford’s salaried workforce, as well as the Ford Blue unit created in March to run the company’s internal combustion engine operations, Bloomberg reported. The cuts, whose details have not been finalized and could change, may be made in phases and are likely to begin this summer. (https://bloom.bg/3aTY7TW) Continue reading “Ford plans to cut up to 8,000 jobs – Bloomberg News”

PARIS/BERLIN, July 20 (Reuters) – Germany’s Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) and Franco-Italian chipmaker STMicroelectronics will co-develop a new semiconductor amid a global microchip crunch that has strained the car industry’s supply chain, the companies said on Wednesday.

The move illustrates how Volkswagen, Europe’s biggest carmaker, is striving to gain greater control over the supply of chips, found in ever greater number in new generation and low-carbon emmission vehicles. Continue reading “Volkswagen to develop new semiconductor with STMicro amid chip crunch”

SHANGHAI, July 20 (Reuters) – China Evergrande New Energy Vehicle Group Ltd (0708.HK) said on Wednesday it had received non-binding pre-orders for more than 37,000 units of its first model Hengchi 5.

Pre-orders for the Hengchi 5 have far exceeded the company’s expectations, president Liu Yongzhuo said at an online event. Continue reading “Evergrande’s EV unit says it receives pre-orders for more than 37,000 Hengchi EVs”

BEDFORD, England, July 20 (Reuters) – With electric vehicles (EVs) catching on, the scramble for market share among startups selling home chargers is heating up and that will feed further dealmaking in the sector as tens of millions of units are installed globally over the next decade.

According to a Reuters analysis, more than 100 companies in Europe offer home EV chargers and there are more than 50 such companies in the United States. Many also sell public EV chargers. Continue reading “As EVs go mainstream, a rush for share of home charger market”

BERLIN, July 20 (Reuters) – The share of battery-electric cars among new registrations in Europe grew to 9.9% in April to June from 7.5% a year prior, data showed on Wednesday, as fossil-fuel powered cars lost market share and total sales dropped.

In absolute terms, around a third more battery-electric cars were sold in the first six months of this year in Europe so far than in the same period last year, the data showed, totalling nearly 650,000 units. Continue reading “Electrified cars market share grows in Europe as total sales fall”

FREMONT, Calif, July 19 (Reuters) – Zoox, a self-driving technology firm owned by Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O), said on Tuesday it was gearing up to launch its robotaxi business, self-certifying that its vehicle with no pedals or steering wheel meets U.S. federal regulations and applying for a permit in California to test-drive it.

“We really invested the extra time and resources to build a vehicle that doesn’t require exemptions and then that basically lets us control our own destiny and also deploy our vehicles at scale,” Jesse Levison, Zoox’s co-founder and chief technology officer told Reuters. Continue reading “Amazon-owned self driving firm Zoox seeks to test robotaxi in California”

July 19 (Reuters) – Tesla Inc’s (TSLA.O) second-quarter results on Wednesday are expected to show the strains of China’s COVID-19 lockdown and protracted startups of new factories. Investors want to know if the end of the year will be much better.

Tesla has started layoffs, following through on a plan by Chief Executive Elon Musk, who said he had “a super bad feeling about the economy” in June. He also has said Tesla’s new factories in Austin, Texas, and Berlin are “gigantic money furnaces” which are losing billions of dollars. Continue reading “Tesla braces for earnings hit, but EV delivery outlook is key”

LONDON, July 20 (Reuters) – Porsche may have to go public at a steep discount if it insists on going ahead as economic obstacles mount, two people involved in the landmark multi-billion-euro listing said.

The prospect of a larger than customary discount would be a setback to the controlling families pushing the initial public offering to fund a costly makeover from petrol- to electric-driven sports cars. Continue reading “Analysis: Porsche faces uphill drive in race to public listing”

NEW DELHI, July 20 (Reuters) – Indian electric-scooter maker Ather Energy said a surge in raw material costs and supply chain disruptions were delaying the company’s path to profit despite high demand for its vehicles.

“I was hoping to break even later this year itself. I would add a few quarters to that now,” its Chief Executive and co-founder Tarun Mehta told Reuters. Continue reading “Indian e–scooter maker Ather says high costs pushing back profit timeline”

SEOUL, July 20 (Reuters) – General Motors Co’s South Korea unit (GM.N) has suspended production at its two factories in the country following a local supplier’s refusal to supply auto parts, an official at GM Korea told Reuters on Wednesday.

U.S. automaker’s Korea unit was suspending production of all vehicles at its Changwon and No. 2 Bupyeong plants since last week after a local supplier, which demanded a price hike for its products, refused to supply parts. Continue reading “GM’s S.Korea unit suspends production at two factories over procurement issues”

July 20 (Reuters) – Russian car manufacturer Avtovaz (AVAZI_p.MM) said on Wednesday that it is preparing to launch a limited new batch of the Lada Largus model, after Western sanctions imposed after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine brought production lines to a halt.

Avtovaz employs more than 30,000 people in Russia, including at its flagship plant at Tolyatti on the Volga river. Continue reading “Russia’s Avtovaz to relaunch Lada Largus production”

STOCKHOLM, July 20 (Reuters) – Volvo Cars (VOLCARb.ST) flagged a potential dip in retail sales this year after posting higher second-quarter profits.

Supply problems, above all a global shortage of semiconductors, have squeezed output and retail sales in recent quarters, but Volvo said it was seeing a “marked improvement” in the stabilisation of its supply chain. Continue reading “Volvo Cars sees flat or lower retail sales this year”

July 19 (Reuters) – Profit growth at U.S. car dealers is likely to lose momentum in the second quarter, as the auto industry struggles to ramp up production due to parts shortage, while inflation-fueled price hikes keep buyers out of the market.

Preference for personal transport from cash-flushed Americans during the pandemic turbo-charged auto sales last year, despite price hikes, helping retailers such as AutoNation Inc (AN.N), Lithia & Driveway (LAD.N), Group 1 Automotive Inc (GPI.N) and Asbury Automotive Group Inc (ABG.N). Continue reading “For auto retailers, pandemic-era profit boost in rear-view mirror”

TOKYO, July 19 (Reuters) – Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) said on Tuesday it would work with allied automakers to develop small electric commercial vans and light-duty fuel cell electric trucks.

The models will be developed for a project to promote the widespread use of electrified vehicles and eventually for the mass-market. The project, due to begin from January 2023, will see the vehicles being used to transport goods between Tokyo and Fukushima prefecture. Continue reading “Toyota and partners to develop small electric vans and fuel cell electric trucks”

SEOUL, July 20 (Reuters) – Hyundai Motor Co (005380.KS) and a union representing its South Korea workforce have sealed a wage deal that will boost annual pay by about 9% just days after the automaker committed to building its first new Korean car plant in nearly 30 years.

The union, one of the biggest in South Korea with more than 46,000 members, said late on Tuesday that a total of 62% of its voting members approved the tentative agreement reached last week, while 38% rejected it. Continue reading “Hyundai Motor, South Korea union agree 9% wage hike deal”

MADRID, July 19 (Reuters) – German automaker Mercedes-Benz (MBGn.DE) plans to invest 1.2 billion euros in its Vitoria plant in northern Spain after workers backed a new labour agreement, unions UGT and CCOO said on Tuesday.

About 57% of the plant’s nearly 5,000 workers voted in favour of a deal that defines working conditions and pay raises until 2026, allowing the automaker to invest in the production of new models and electric vehicles, the unions said in separate statements. Continue reading “Mercedes Benz to invest 1.2 billion euros in Spain after unions back new plan”

STOCKHOLM, July 19 (Reuters) – Sweden’s AB Volvo (VOLVb.ST) on Tuesday posted a bigger-than-expected rise in profit helped by strong demand for its trucks, but warned of continued supply chain issues.

A global shortage of components such as semiconductors and a lack of freight capacity have pressured truck makers after markets began to recover from the pandemic-induced demand slump. Continue reading “Truck maker Volvo posts profit beat despite lingering supply chain issues”

MELBOURNE, July 19 (Reuters) – Tesla Inc’s (TSLA.O) electric vehicle (EV) sales are rapidly picking up off a low base in Australia and are set to catch up with sales of its Powerwall home batteries in the country, Chair Robyn Denholm said on Tuesday.

“We now have more than 26,500 Teslas on Australian roads, and the momentum is there,” Denholm said at the Australian Clean Energy Summit in Sydney. Continue reading “Tesla EV sales gaining momentum in Australia – chair”

TAIPEI/SHANGHAI/SINGAPORE, July 19 (Reuters) – From his small office in Singapore, Kelvin Pang is ready to wager a $23 million payday that the worst of the chip shortage is not over for automakers – at least in China.

Pang has bought 62,000 microcontrollers, chips that help control a range of functions from car engines and transmissions to electric vehicle power systems and charging, which cost the original buyer $23.80 each in Germany. Continue reading “How China became ground zero for the auto chip shortage”

MEXICO CITY, July 18 (Reuters) – General Motors (GM.N) said on Monday that it will build the 2024 Chevrolet Blazer EV, an electric vehicle, at a plant in the northern Mexican city of Ramos Arizpe.

The car will be ready to be sold in Mexico by the end of 2023, GM said in a press release. Continue reading “General Motors to produce 2024 Chevrolet Blazer EV at Ramos Arizpe in Mexico”

BERLIN, July 18 (Reuters) – Volkswagen-owned Porsche expects revenue of 38 billion to 39 billion euros ($38.63 billion to $39.64 billion) in 2022 from 33.1 billion in 2021, the sportscar maker said on Monday, despite registering a 5% drop in deliveries in the first half of the year.

Long-term, the brand is targeting 20% or more return on sales, with a goal of 17-18% for 2022, it said, up from 16% in 2021. Continue reading “Porsche expects higher returns, China recovery in 2022”