BERLIN, Oct 26 (Reuters) – The Volkswagen brand (VOWG_p.DE) will only produce electric cars in Europe from 2033, its boss Thomas Schaefer said on Wednesday, committing to an earlier date than its previous 2033-2035 target.

Schaefer said in the coming decade the VW brand would narrow down the number of models on offer and raise the profit margin for all volume brands – Volkswagen, SEAT and Skoda, and commercial vehicles – to 8% by 2025. Continue reading “Volkswagen brand will only produce electric cars in Europe from 2033 -brand chief”

Oct 26 (Reuters) – Shares of Mobileye Global Inc (MBLY.O) are up 30% in early afternoon trading on Wednesday following its U.S. debut, valuing the self-driving technology unit of Intel Corp (INTC.O) at $21.8 billion as investors lapped up what could be the last major IPO of 2022.

The debut comes after a turbulent period when Mobileye settled for merely a third of the $50 billion valuation it was targeting earlier in its IPO. Continue reading “Intel’s Mobileye unit valued at $22 bln as shares cruise higher”

Oct 26 (Reuters) – U.S. auto retail sales are expected to rise in October as supply chain snags ease, making more vehicles available at dealerships amid higher demand, an industry report from consultants J.D. Power and LMC Automotive showed on Wednesday.

An improvement in new vehicle inventories bumped up the sales activity in the United States at a time when consumers are ready to spend more to own a personal vehicle. Continue reading “U.S. auto sales to rise in October as supply chains improve – report”

SAVANNAH, Georgia Oct 25 (Reuters) – Hyundai Motor Co (005380.KS) global chief operating officer Jose Munoz on Tuesday said the automaker’s new $5.54 billion Georgia electric vehicle and battery plant could begin production in 2024 and eventually produce 500,000 vehicles annually.

Korea’s largest automaker broke ground on the new plant west of Savannah that is scheduled to begin producing vehicles in January 2025 and build 300,000 vehicles annually. Munoz told reporters the plant will produce five or six models and could begin building vehicles as early as the third quarter of 2024. Continue reading “Hyundai says new U.S. EV plant could begin production in 2024, produce 500,000 vehicles annually”

BERLIN, Oct 25 (Reuters) – Uncertainty over the future of European regulation on auto emissions gives Chinese competitors already ahead of the game an additional advantage, Stellantis (STLA.MI) chief executive Carlos Tavares said at a conference in Berlin on Tuesday.

The chief executive said the so-called Euro 7 standards, which tighten car emission limits for pollutants including nitrogen oxides and carbon monoxide from 2025, are a “diversion from the major goal of electrification.” Continue reading “Stellantis CEO: Europe auto emissions standards a “diversion””

MADRID, Oct 25 (Reuters) – Volkswagen’s (VOWG_p.DE) Spanish subsidiary SEAT will rake in almost half of the nearly 900 million euros ($888 million) in government subsidies allocated for electric vehicle development, Spain’s Industry Ministry said on Tuesday.

Volkswagen said in a statement it would now analyse the ministry’s decision and study its impact so that planned investment projects could be carried out with maximum effectiveness. Continue reading “Volkswagen to rake in almost half of Spain’s EV subsidies”

STOCKHOLM, Oct 25 (Reuters) – Swedish automaker Volvo Cars (VOLCARb.ST) will temporary close one of its factories due to a chip shortage, the company told newspaper Goteborgs-Posten on Tuesday.

“There will be a temporary break in production,” Merhawit Habte, press spokesperson at Volvo Cars told GP, adding the factory will be closed for one week. “It is the ongoing problem with semiconductor shortages.” Continue reading “Chip shortage forces temporary closure of Volvo Cars factory – GP”

ELLABELL, Ga., Oct 25 (Reuters) – Hyundai Motor Co (005380.KS) broke ground on a $5.54 billion electric vehicle (EV) and battery plant in the United States on Tuesday, as South Korea’s biggest automaker grapples with an uncertain outlook for its EV sales in its top market.

The investment is the largest in the state’s history and the latest in a string of EV and battery announcements in Georgia. Continue reading “Hyundai breaks ground on $5.5 bln U.S. EV, battery plant”

Oct 25 (Reuters) – A group representing self-driving car companies is appointing a former U.S. Senate aide as its new head as the industry works to convince U.S. policymakers to speed the deployment of autonomous vehicles and jumpstart stalled legislation.

The Autonomous Vehicle Industry Association (AVIA) has tapped Jeff Farrah as its first executive director, the group told Reuters. Continue reading “U.S. autonomous vehicle group picks ex-Senate aide as director”

SINGAPORE/MOSCOW, Oct 25 (Reuters) – Russian coal exports to energy-hungry China have jumped by about a third this year but the supply boom is being constrained by transport infrastructure limitations, industry sources and officials said.

China is seeking coal supplies from overseas, in particular after recent COVID-19 outbreaks in the major coal mining regions of Inner Mongolia and Shaanxi forced many mines to close, while coal demand at power generation and heating sectors will soon pick up with the coming of winter. Continue reading “Infrastructure bottlenecks hamper Russia’s booming coal exports to China”

DETROIT, Oct 25 (Reuters) – General Motors Co (GM.N) on Tuesday reported a higher quarterly profit, and reaffirmed its full-year outlook.

The automaker reported net income of $3.3 billion, compared with $2.4 billion a year earlier. Revenue jumped to $41.9 billion, from $26.8 billion a year ago. Continue reading “GM posts higher profit and reaffirms outlook, but margin slips”

AMSTERDAM, Oct 25 (Reuters) – Tata Steel’s Dutch arm (TISC.NS) plans to supply Ford (F.N) plants in Europe with “green” steel after 2030, under a preliminary agreement reached by the two companies on Tuesday.

Tata plans to start producing green steel – or steel made without using fossil fuels – in 2030 at its plant in Ijmuiden, Netherlands. Continue reading “Tata Steel’s Dutch arm signs MOU to supply Ford with green steel”

• Urban metro traffic, port cargo handling extend declines
• Flight cancellations elevated, road freight turnover worsens
• COVID curbs imposed in cities like Guangzhou, Zhengzhou, Xian

Continue reading “China’s Q4 GDP hits early speed bump as COVID stifles economy”

WASHINGTON, Oct 24 (Reuters) – General Motors Co (GM.N) will launch its return-to-work plan for most salaried workers early next year after it faced employee criticism over an earlier planned start date, the largest U.S. automaker said on Monday.

GM said the shift will help achieve company goals as it accelerates its transformation and enters a “rapid launch cycle” of new electric vehicle models. Continue reading “GM launching return to work plan for salaried workers in January”

DETROIT, Oct 24 (Reuters) – Indonesia is in discussions with Ford Motor Co(F.N) and Hyundai Motor Co(005380.KS) to establish operations related to electric vehicles in the Southeast Asian country, Indonesia Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, Airlangga Hartarto, told an audience in Washington, D.C. on Thursday.

Ford, nickel miner Vale Indonesia and China’s Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt said in July they had signed a non-binding memorandum of cooperation to build a plant in Indonesia to extract nickel chemicals. Continue reading “Ford, Hyundai discussing EV investments with Indonesia – Indonesian minister”

Oct 24 (Reuters) – Washington’s growing financial support for companies that produce metals used in electric vehicles will likely prove fruitless unless the federal government streamlines the mine permitting process, investors, executives and consultants told Reuters.

President Joe Biden last week doled out $2.8 billion to miners developing new U.S. sources of lithium, nickel, copper and other EV minerals, as well as battery parts manufacturers and recyclers. Those grants followed August’s Inflation Reduction Act, which links EV tax credits to minerals extracted domestically or from 20 allies. Continue reading “Analysis: Biden’s EV minerals cash fruitless without permitting reform”

• Sept diesel exports at 1.73 mln T, highest since July 2021
• Jet fuel exports 1.23 mln T, highest since Apr 2020, +38.6% y/y
• Sept LNG imports hit 8-mth high at 5.9 mln T, -12% y/y

Oct 24 (Reuters) – China’s diesel exports in September surged to their highest in more than a year while aviation fuel shipments were the most in 29 months as refiners rushed to cash in on robust export margins, data showed on Monday. Continue reading “China’s diesel fuel exports more than doubled in September”

• Raises annual revenue growth guidance to 19-20%
• Raises annual operating profit margin guidance to 6.5-7.5%
• Cuts vehicle sales guidance to 4.01 mln from 4.32 mln
• Q3 net profit falls 3%, misses estimates
• Shares close down 3.3% vs 1% rise in KOSPI

Continue reading “Hyundai’s bright profit view clouded by U.S. EV concerns”

Oct 24 (Reuters) – Toyota (7203.T) is considering a reboot of its electric-car strategy to better compete in a booming market it has been slow to enter, and has halted some work on existing EV projects, four people with knowledge of the still-developing plans said.

The proposals under review, if adopted, would amount to a dramatic shift for Toyota and rewrite the $38-billion EV rollout plan the Japanese automaker announced last year to better compete with the likes of Tesla (TSLA.O). Continue reading “Exclusive: Toyota scrambles for EV reboot with eye on Tesla”

• Raises annual revenue growth guidance to 19-20%
• Raises annual operating profit margin guidance to 6.5-7.5%
• Cuts vehicle sales guidance to 4.01 mln from 4.32 mln
• Q3 net profit falls 3%, misses estimates
• Shares close down 3.3% vs 1% rise in KOSPI

Continue reading “Hyundai’s bright profit view clouded by U.S. EV concerns”

SHANGHAI, Oct 24 (Reuters) – Tesla (TSLA.O) has cut starter prices for its Model 3 and Model Y cars by as much as 9% in China, reversing a trend of increases across the industry amid signs of softening demand in the world’s largest auto market.

The price cuts, posted in listings on the electric vehicle (EV) giant’s China website on Monday, are the first by Tesla in China in 2022, and come after Tesla began offering limited incentives to buyers who opted for its insurance last month. Continue reading “Tesla cuts China prices by up to 9% as analysts warn of ‘price war’”

PARIS/TOKYO, Oct 23 (Reuters) – The sharing of technology has emerged as a sticking point between Renault SA (RENA.PA) and Nissan Motor Co Ltd (7201.T) as the pair negotiate an overhaul of their decades-old partnership, two people familiar with discussions told Reuters.

The French and Japanese automakers said this month they were in talks about the future of their alliance, including Nissan potentially investing in an electric vehicle business being spun out of Renault. Continue reading “Technology-sharing a sticking point as Renault, Nissan hash out reset”

Oct 21 (Reuters) – The United Auto Workers (UAW) union on Friday called on the Biden administration not to award any subsidies, loans or other taxpayer support until Hyundai Motor (005380.KS) agrees to address workplace issues.

On Wednesday, Hyundai’s global chief operating officer Jose Munoz told Reuters Korea’s top automaker is investigating child labor violations in its U.S. supply chain and plans to “sever ties” with Hyundai suppliers in Alabama found to have relied on underage workers. Continue reading “UAW wants U.S. to bar loans, subsidies for Hyundai over workplace issues”

DETROIT, Oct 21 (Reuters) – General Motors Co (GM.N) and Ford Motor Co (F.N) hope their earnings reports next week will convince skeptical investors that their decade-long efforts have succeeded at unchaining them from the U.S. economic cycle.

Wall Street suspects both companies could fall short of their 2022 profit forecasts, or underperform next year, with consumer demand dented by rising U.S. interest rates, higher oil prices and economic slowdowns in the United States, Europe and China. Continue reading “GM, Ford set to report earnings to a tough crowd on Wall Street”

PARIS, Oct 21 (Reuters) – The French state will support any initiative aimed at boosting Renault’s (RENA.PA) partnership with Japan’s Nissan (7201.T), the head of the French state shareholding agency said on Friday.

France holds a 15% stake in Renault, which in turns owns 43% of Nissan. Continue reading “French state says will support any initiative that boosts Renault’s alliance with Nissan”

TOKYO, Oct 21 (Reuters) – Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) said on Friday its annual vehicle production was likely to come in below its initial target, as a persistent global semiconductor shortage hampers efforts by the world’s biggest car maker by sales to boost output.

The Japanese company has been under scrutiny over whether it can stick to its annual production target of a record 9.7 million vehicles after it missed interim goals in the first four months of the fiscal year that began in April. Continue reading “Toyota expects to cut full-year output target due to chip shortage”

LEIPZIG, Oct 21 (Reuters) – BMW (BMWG.DE) production chief Milan Nedeljkovic expects stabilising supply chains to lead to a clear improvement in profitability next year, he said in an interview at the carmaker’s Leipzig plant in Germany.

From a production perspective, Nedeljkovic said he did not expect margins to fall. Continue reading “BMW production chief sees improved margins as supply chains stabilise”

SINGAPORE, Oct 21 (Reuters) – Almost everywhere in the world a new car begins to lose value as soon as it leaves the showroom, except sometimes in the rich little island state of Singapore and this is one of those times.

For Shi Zheng, a 27-year-old student, the chance was too good to pass up. In August, he sold the Porsche Panamera sportscar he had bought brand new less than a year earlier and made a 10% profit. Continue reading “Singapore’s quirky car market offers rare profit for some as prices soar”

PARIS, Oct 21 (Reuters) – Renault (RENA.PA) said on Friday its sales rose to 9.8 billion euros ($9.57 billion) in the third quarter as price increases allowed the French carmaker to more than offset a fall in the number of cars sold from the previous year.

Overall group revenues grew by 20.5% when adjusted for the disposal of its former Russian unit Avtovaz, Renault said, adding that it had recorded its best-ever price effect as quarterly vehicle sales decreased by 2.4% from last year. Continue reading “Renault says price hikes help sales grow in Q3, confirms outlook”

• https://tmsnrt.rs/3sbcubA

Oct 21 (Reuters) – The world’s top automakers are planning to spend nearly $1.2 trillion through 2030 to develop and produce millions of electric vehicles, along with the batteries and raw materials to support that production, according to a Reuters analysis of public data and projections released by those companies.

The EV investment figure, which has not previously been published, dwarfs previous investment estimates by Reuters and is more than twice the most recent calculation published just a year ago. Continue reading “Exclusive: Automakers to double spending on EVs, batteries to $1.2 trillion by 2030”

• CATL is world’s largest battery maker
• Planned U.S. plants part of expansion outside China
• New U.S. restrictions on EV battery materials imposed in August

Oct 21 (Reuters) – Chinese battery giant CATL (300750.SZ) has slowed its planning for investment in battery plants in North America on concern that new U.S. rules on sourcing battery materials will drive costs higher, two people with knowledge of the matter said. Continue reading “Exclusive: China’s CATL slows battery investment plan for U.S., Mexico”

WASHINGTON, Oct 20 (Reuters) – The U.S. government has significantly boosted purchases of electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles but faces supply chain hurdles, the White House said, as it looks to meet President Joe Biden’s aggressive zero-emission purchasing goals.

Federal agencies quintupled purchases of EVs and PHEVs in the 12-months ending Sept. 30, moving from approximately 1% of vehicle acquisitions in the 2021 budget year to 12% of light-duty purchases in 2022, or 3,567 total, the White House said on Thursday. Continue reading “U.S. boosts EV purchases, but faces supply chain hurdles”

• Sierra EV Denali Edition 1 to be priced from $107,000
• Has estimated range of 400 miles, boasts 754 horsepower
• Will compete with Ford’s F150 Lightning, Tesla Cybertruck
• DC fast charger could add 100 miles of range in 10 mins -GM

Oct 20 (Reuters) – General Motors Co (GM.N) on Thursday unveiled the latest addition to its growing family of full-size electric pickup trucks, the 2024 GMC Sierra EV. Continue reading “Sierra EV joins General Motors’ electric truck family in early 2024”

• This content was produced in Russia where the law restricts coverage of Russian military operations in Ukraine

MOSCOW, Oct 20 (Reuters) – Russia plans to start production of the Soviet-era Moskvich cars in December, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Thursday, more than six months after French carmaker Renault’s (RENA.PA) exit set the wheels in motion for the classic car’s return.

Renault sold its majority stake in carmaker Avtovaz (AVAZI_p.MM) to the Russian state for reportedly just one rouble ($0.0165), but with a six-year option to buy it back. The same state institution snapped up Nissan’s (7201.T) assets this month for one euro. Continue reading “Russia to launch Moskvich car production at former Renault plant in December”

LEIPZIG, Germany, Oct 20 (Reuters) – BMW (BMWG.DE) is testing a burner able to operate on both hydrogen and gas in its paint shop in Leipzig, the carmaker said on Thursday, as it also announced an 800-million-euro ($782 million) investment in new battery assembly lines at the plant.

The burner, developed together with combustion technology firm Saacke with the aim of reducing carbon emissions in the production process, is able to switch from hydrogen to gas or vice-versa while in use. Continue reading “BMW tests hydrogen burner in Leipzig paint shop, expands battery assembly lines”

PARIS, Oct 20 (Reuters) – Faurecia (EPED.PA) does not intend to let go of its pollution control business despite the scheduled end of combustion engine sales, as the business will remain profitable for a long time and help reduce debt, the automotive equipment supplier’s chief executive told Reuters.

“We occupy more than 65% of the market share (with our two main competitors), so our probability of being the last of the Mohicans is very strong, and that is very valuable,” CEO Patrick Koller said at the press days of the 89th Paris Motor Show. Continue reading “Faurecia may be ‘last of the Mohicans’ in pollution control – CEO”

MILAN, Oct 20 (Reuters) – Italy’s unions will meet representatives of companies including carmakers Stellantis (STLA.MI) and Ferrari (RACE.MI) on Oct. 26 to start talks over wage increases, a senior official from the UILM union said on Thursday.

On Wednesday FIM-CISL, UILM, Fismic, UGLM and AQCF unions said their delegates had approved a proposal presented last week by their leaders for new four-year contracts for most workers in Italy at Stellantis, Ferrari, Iveco (IVG.MI) and CNH Industrial (CNHI.MI). Continue reading “Italian unions to start wage talks next week with Stellantis, Ferrari”