Source : PTI : Sundram Fasteners Ltd, engaged in manufacturing of auto components has bagged a USD 250 million contract from a top automobile manufacturer for supply of sub-assemblies to its electric vehicle segment, the company said on Tuesday. The city-based company said the award of contract was the biggest EV contract secured in its 60 year old history.

Sundram Fasteners has drawn up plans to invest Rs 200 crore to support the new order received from the global automobile manufacturer. The company would ship the parts from its powertrain divisions located at Mahindra World City in Chengalpattu, Tamil Nadu, and Sri City, Andhra Pradesh. The parts will be serviced from the company’s warehouse in North America, Continue reading “Sundram Fasteners bags USD 250 million deal from global auto maker”

Source : PTI : New Delhi: Maruti Suzuki India on Monday said it transported over 3.2 lakh vehicles using Indian railways last year, its highest-ever dispatch in a calendar year. The company had obtained a Automobile Freight Train Operator (AFTO) license in 2013 allowing it to fabricate and operate high-speed, high-capacity auto – wagon rakes on the Indian Railways network.

In the last ten years, the automaker has seen a five-fold increase in railway dispatches in terms of volumes. Share of railways in outbound logistics has increased from 5 per cent in 2013 to 17 per cent in 2022. Continue reading “Maruti Suzuki transports record 3.2 lakh units via railways in 2022”

Source : PTI : Hyundai Motor India will increase its production capacity to 8.2 lakh units annually from June this year as it looks to reduce backlog orders with improvement in semiconductor supply issues, according to top company officials. The company, which is among the worst hit automobile manufacturers by chip shortage, currently has a backlog order of around 1.15 lakh units, with majority of them being its popular SUVs — Creta and Venue.

“We see the semiconductor situation is getting better this year. So, we are increasing our production to meet our customers and we are positive for this year,” Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL) Managing Director and CEO Unsoo Kim said on the sidelines of the Auto Expo 2023. Continue reading “Hyundai Motor India to increase production capacity to 8.2 lakh units/yr from June: MD & CEO Unsoo Kim”

LONDON, Jan 17 (Reuters) – Car rental firm Hertz (HTZ.O) will make up to 25,000 electric vehicles (EVs) available to rent to drivers of ride-hailing company Uber (UBER.N) in European capitals by 2025, the two companies said on Tuesday.

The rollout of the rental deal, which will include models from Tesla (TSLA.O) and Polestar , will start this month in London, where Hertz will add more than 10,000 EVs by 2025 that Uber drivers will be able to rent. Continue reading “Hertz to offer 25,000 EV rentals to Uber drivers in Europe”

PARIS, Jan 17 (Reuters) – The Renault group (RENA.PA) on Tuesday said sales at its flagship brand fell for a fourth consecutive year in 2022 to 1,466,729 units excluding Russia, a 9.4% decline from 2021.

The French carmaker, which was hit harder than most rivals by the COVID-19 crisis and supply chain snags due to chip shortages, is in the middle of a turnaround in a drive to boost profits. Continue reading “Renault sales fall for 4th straight year”

SHANGHAI/BEIJING, Jan 17 (Reuters) – Chinese automaker Xpeng (9868.HK) on Tuesday announced price cuts for some models in a notice on its official WeChat account, following similar moves by Tesla (TSLA.O) and Seres (601127.SS) and fuelling expectations of a wider price war.

Xpeng lowered the starting prices for its best-selling pure electric P7 sedan to 209,900 yuan ($31,015), according to the notice, 12.5% lower than its previous level. Continue reading “Chinese EV maker Xpeng joins Tesla, Seres in price cuts”

JAKARTA, Jan 17 (Reuters) – Indonesia is finalising agreements with China’s automaker BYD Group and U.S. carmaker Tesla (TSLA.O) to invest in electric vehicle (EV) production facilities in the Southeast Asian country, a senior cabinet minister said on Tuesday.

Indonesia is aggressively promoting investment into batteries and EVs at home to take advantage of its rich nickel resources. Once a major nickel ore exporter, it has banned exports to ensure enough raw materials for investors. Continue reading “Indonesia close to EV deals with BYD Group and Tesla – minister”

BEIJING/PARIS, Jan 17 (Reuters) – Renault SA (RENA.PA) and China’s Geely Automobile Holdings (0175.HK) are working to finalise a deal to bring Saudi Aramco (2222.SE) in as an investor and partner to develop and supply gasoline engines and hybrid technologies, three people with knowledge of the talks said.

The Saudi oil producer has been involved in advanced discussions to take a stake of up to 20% in a previously announced but still-unnamed Geely-Renault powertrain technology company that the automakers are working to establish, the three people told Reuters. Continue reading “Exclusive: Renault, Geely look to bring Aramco into engine venture, sources say”

Jan 17 (Reuters) – Automaker Stellantis (STLA.MI) has teamed up with lithium group Vulcan Energy Resources (VUL.AX) to develop geothermal energy projects in Germany to help decarbonise production of electric vehicles at Rüsselsheim, the two companies said on Tuesday.

Stellantis’ Rüsselsheim facility is where the world’s third largest carmaker by sales produces its DS 4 and Opel Astra models. Continue reading “Stellantis, Vulcan Energy to develop renewable energy assets in Germany”

Greater Noida: Tata Motors, Kia India and Hyundai are expecting sales momentum to continue this year as well after witnessing robust growth in dispatches to dealers in the last year while pressure remains of a high base effect, inflation and higher interest costs.

Tata Motors, which crossed five lakh cumulative wholesale mark in 2022, is hopeful of robust performance this year on the back of new launches as well as better traction for its internal combustion engine models, electric vehicles and CNG trims. Continue reading “Tata Motors, Kia, Hyundai expect sales momentum to continue in 2023”

Source : PTI : The domestic automobile industry is scaling up efforts to enhance localisation of electronic components in order to curtail dependence on other countries, especially China, as per auto component industry body President Sunjay Kapur. In an interaction with PTI, Kapur noted that the Automotive Component Manufacturers Association of India (ACMA), Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) and the Ministry of Heavy Industries are working together to achieve the target of localisation especially in electronics.

He noted that there lies a great opportunity for the auto component industry with the big push towards electrification. With growth in consumption of electric vehicles, the industry is witnessing fast transformation of the auto components sector to be an integral part of the electric vehicle manufacturing supply chain. Continue reading “Auto industry scaling up efforts to increase localisation of EV components, reducing dependency on China”

Source : PTI : German luxury carmaker BMW is increasing its focus on India, buoyed by the best-ever annual sales in 2022 as it sees “huge growth potential for market leadership” here given the low penetration. Driven by the highest ever number of launches (26) and pent-up demand arising from the pandemic-induced lockdowns, BMW India sold 35 per cent more cars (BMWs and Minis combined) in 2022 at 11,981 units (of which 11,268 were BMWs), making it the highest ever deliveries in its history since its entry in 2007.

Its two-wheeler brand Motorrad also had its best-ever sales delivering 7,282 units, a full 40 per cent growth on-year. Though India is likely to overtake Japan to become the third-largest auto market in the world after China and the US in 2022 selling more than 4.25 million units, there is nothing to write home about the luxury segment which is just about 1 per cent. Of this, the car volume stood at 3.8 million in 2022, excluding the units sold by luxury carmakers Mercedes, BMW and Volvo, according to data shared by industry body SIAM last week. Continue reading “BMW sees huge growth potential in India”

BERLIN, Jan 16 (Reuters) – Tesla (TSLA.O) has come under fire from German union IG Metall and politicians over allegations by workers of unreasonable working hours and fears over speaking out at its Brandenburg plant, with some calling for inquiries into the carmaker.

At its annual news conference, IG Metall, which has an office near the plant and says it is in regular contact with workers, said a growing number reported longer working hours with little free time. Continue reading “Tesla under fire in Germany over union concerns on working hours, contracts”

BERLIN, Jan 16 (Reuters) – Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) wants to expand both its higher-end and lower-end offering in the Chinese market, China chief Ralf Brandstaetter said on Monday, calling the country’s high-paced, competitive market a “giant fitness centre for the industry”.

Volkswagen has long dominated the combustion engine car market in China, but lags domestic competitors on electric vehicles (EVs) – most notably BYD, which sold 40,046 EVs between Jan. 1-8 compared to Volkswagen passenger brand’s 1,962, according to Chinese brokerage CMBI. Continue reading “Volkswagen relishes competition in Chinese EV market”

TOKYO, Jan 16 (Reuters) – Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) on Monday said it could produce as many as 10.6 million vehicles this year, while warning of downward risk to its projection from the possible impact of issues such as parts supply shortages and COVID-19.

The car giant said that it saw a downside risk of about 10% on that baseline production volume – a value which did not constitute a formal production target for this calendar year – on risks such as shortages in chips supply or the spread of COVID-19. Continue reading “Toyota says it could produce 10.6 million vehicles in 2023”

MEXICO CITY, Jan 13 (Reuters) – German carmaker BMW (BMWG.DE) is planning a new major investment in the central Mexican state of San Luis Potosi, where the company already has a plant, Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said Friday.

A day earlier, Ebrard and President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador had said BMW was investing around 800 million euros ($866.64 million) in San Luis Potosi, without specifying whether it was a new outlay in Mexico. Continue reading “BMW planning major investment in Mexico, minister says”

Jan 13 (Reuters) – Carvana Co (CVNA.N) is terminating more workers and take other measures such as reduced work hours as the used-car retailer contends with weak sales, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.

The company was letting open positions go unfilled and several operations teams were working fewer than 30 hours a week or four-day work weeks, the WSJ reported, citing current and former employees as well as internal emails. Continue reading “Carvana terminates more workers amid weak used car sales -WSJ”

WASHINGTON, Jan 13 (Reuters) – The U.S. Energy Department said on Friday it will lend ioneer Ltd (INR.AX), up to $700 million to build its Rhyolite Ridge lithium mining project in Nevada, a major step forward in President Joe Biden’s plan to develop a domestic electric vehicle supply chain.

Ioneer shares were up 16.3% at $16.30 on Friday afternoon in New York. Continue reading “U.S. to lend ioneer $700 million for Nevada lithium mine”

CHIBA, Japan, Jan 13 (Reuters) – In an eye-catching bid to show that cars can be clean while appealing to old-school petrolheads, Toyota Motor (7203.T) on Friday showcased zero-emission versions of its 1980s sports range, which still boasts a strong global fan base.

At an industry event for customised cars in Chiba, east of Tokyo, the Japanese automaker unveiled two cars of the AE86 generation, one modified as a battery-electric vehicle and the other as a hydrogen-engine model. Continue reading “Back to the future: Toyota sets sights on old-car upgrades in zero-emissions drive”

HANOI, Jan 13 (Reuters) – Chinese electric vehicle (EV) maker BYD Auto Co plans to build a plant in Vietnam to produce car parts, three people with knowledge of the plan told Reuters, in a move that would reduce the company’s reliance on China and deepen its supply chain in Southeast Asia as part of a global expansion.

The investment in northern Vietnam would exceed $250 million, one of the people said, expanding parent BYD Co’s (002594.SZ) presence in Vietnam, where its electronic unit produces solar panels. Continue reading “Exclusive: Chinese EV maker BYD to build Vietnam component plant – sources”

FRANKFURT, Jan 12 (Reuters) – German car company Volkswagen Group (VOWG_p.DE) announced on Thursday promotions in its North American operations, CFO and COO Arno Antlitz posted on LinkedIn.

Volkswagen of America President and CEO Pablo Di Si will take on the role of chairman of the company’s Mexican supervisory board, and Andrew Savvas, Chief Sales & Marketing Officer at Volkswagen of America, will become chairman of its Canadian supervisory board. Continue reading “Volkswagen announces changes to Mexico, Canada supervisory boards”

GREATER NOIDA, India, Jan 12 (Reuters) – Tata group is considering setting up plants in India and Europe to produce battery cells for electric vehicles (EV), the chief financial officer of its auto unit told Reuters in an interview.

With total sales of 50,000 electric cars to date, India’s Tata Motors dominates the country’s EV market and has outlined plans to launch 10 electric models by March 2026. The company expects electric models to make up a quarter of its total sales by 2025 from around 8% now. Continue reading “Tata considers India, Europe for EV cell manufacturing plants”

BERLIN, Jan 12 (Reuters) – Porsche (P911_p.DE) is considering fully integrating Google software into its car cockpit, a source close to the company said on Thursday, marking a shift in strategy for the newly listed carmaker.

The deal, which is only being considered for the Porsche brand and not the Volkswagen Group more widely, would enable Porsche customers access to Google applications like Google Maps and Google Assistant without needing to connect the car to an Android phone. Continue reading “Google, Porsche in talks over Google Apps access”

OTTAWA, Jan 11 (Reuters) – Canada and Mexico have won their challenge to the U.S. interpretation of content rules for autos under the new North American trade pact, a dispute panel ruled on Wednesday, a decision that favors parts makers north and south of the U.S. border.

A year ago Canada and Mexico filed a complaint against the United States over how to apply automotive-sector content requirements under the United States-Mexico-Canada (USMCA) free trade agreement, which came into effect in 2020. Continue reading “Canada, Mexico win auto rules trade dispute with U.S.”

• Tesla cuts prices globally by up to 20%
• Shares fall in U.S. trade, drag rivals lower
• Move follows price cuts across Asia last week
• Some models now qualify for U.S. credits, French subsidy
• Recent Tesla buyers complain of missing out

Jan 13 (Reuters) – Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) has slashed prices globally on its electric vehicles by as much as 20%, extending an aggressive discounting effort and challenging rivals after missing Wall Street delivery estimates for 2022. Continue reading “Tesla turns up heat on rivals with global price cuts”