Summary

• Incentives to be expanded to automakers using existing plants
• Policy originally designed to lure Tesla to manufacture in India
• Changes designed to encourage EV investment by other automakers
• Policy rules expected to be finalised by March 2025

NEW DELHI, (Reuters) – India plans to expand electric vehicle incentives to automakers building models at existing factories in the country, instead of limiting the benefits to automakers willing to build new plants, a person with direct knowledge of the matter said. Continue reading “India to expand EV manufacturing incentives after Tesla disappointment, source says”

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Source : PTI | Ride-hailing app Uber on Wednesday announced the launch of UberOne, its membership programme in India that offers savings, benefits, and preferential access to the highest-rated drivers. UberOne Membership Program aims to bring savings and benefits to millions of riders across the country, the company said in a release.

Announcing the roll-out of UberOne membership programme in India, the company said one of its key features is preferential access to the highest-rated drivers. Continue reading “Uber announces UberOne membership programme in India”

Summary

• Volkswagen sells Xinjiang plant to Shanghai govt-owned SMVIC
• Move ends investor pressure over alleged abuses in Xinjiang
• VW-SAIC joint venture plans 18 new models by 2030 in China
• Deal comes as trade tensions between Western governments and Beijing rise

SHANGHAI/BERLIN, (Reuters) – Volkswagen will sell its operations in China’s Xinjiang, it said on Wednesday, after years of mounting pressure to abandon its presence in a region where rights groups have documented abuses against the Uyghur population. Continue reading “VW buckles after years of pressure to sell up in Xinjiang”

TOKYO, (Reuters) – Nissan Motor said on Thursday its global production fell for a fifth straight month in October, led by downshifts at most of its manufacturing hubs except for Mexico.

While global sales also dropped for a seventh month, sales in Nissan’s core market, the United States, grew for the first time in three months. Continue reading “Nissan October production down globally except in Mexico, but Trump tariff threat looms”

TOKYO, (Reuters) – Toyota Motor’s global output dropped for a ninth consecutive month in October, dragged lower by big falls in production in the United States and China but the decline was mild compared to previous months.

The world’s biggest automaker also logged its first rise in five months for global sales, which grew 1.4% to 903,103 vehicles, a record for the month of October. Continue reading “Toyota’s global output declines for ninth straight month in October”

Source : PTI | India cannot address the problem of pollution without reducing import of fossil fuels, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said on Wednesday. Addressing ‘Times Drive Green Conclave & Awards 2024’ event, Gadkari further said a bio-fuel economy is very import today and it is in good position in India.

He said 40% of air pollution in the country is because of the transport sector.

“Pollution is a big concern in India.. without reducing import of fossil fuels, we cannot reduce pollution in the country. In the transport sector, we need to find out alternative for fossils fuels… We need to develop sustainable development model,” Gadkari said. Continue reading “India cannot address problem of pollution without cutting fossil fuels import: Gadkari”

Source : PTI | Mahindra & Mahindra has committed INR 4,500 crore on the overall development, including the creation of production capacity, for the two new ground-up electric brands, a top company executive said on Wednesday. The INR 4,500 crore investment is part of the INR 16,000 crore capex the company has announced for the electric vehicle business between the FY22-27 cycle.

The Mumbai-based auto major is creating production of capacity of 90,000 units per annum at its Chakan-based plant for the two ground-up ‘Born Electric’ models — BE 6e and XEV 9e.

Continue reading “Mahindra to pump INR 4,500 cr for development of two new electric brands”

Summary

• Stellantis to consolidate UK production at Northern English site
• Says ‘hundreds of jobs’ to be relocated to Ellesmere Port
• UK govt: ‘concerning time’ for employees who may be affected

LONDON, (Reuters) – Stellantis plans to shut its Vauxhall van factory in southern England, putting more than 1,000 jobs at risk as it joins rival automakers in scaling back operations in a difficult trading environment.

The company, which also owns the Peugeot, Citroën, Chrysler and Fiat brands, said on Tuesday it would consolidate its British production of light commercial vehicles at its Ellesmere Port site in northern England, where it is investing 50 million pounds ($63 million) in an all-electric vehicle hub. Continue reading “Stellantis to shut Vauxhall van plant in Britain”

Summary

• Tariffs on Mexican imports could hit European carmakers
• VW, Stellantis among companies with big Mexican factories
• Ramping up U.S. production would take time
• Any tariffs on European imports would affect luxury cars most

LONDON, (Reuters) – Donald Trump’s pledge to slap tariffs on imports to the U.S. from Mexico could be more damaging for European car makers like Volkswagen and Stellantis and their suppliers than any direct tariffs on EU goods, according to data, analysts and experts. Continue reading “How Trump’s Mexico tariffs could hurt Europe’s auto industry”

Summary

• Trump’s tariffs could raise SUV and pickup truck prices for U.S. consumers
• Tariffs seen by some analysts as negotiating tactic linked to immigration and drug issues
• Mexican President Sheinbaum warns tariffs could worsen inflation, kill jobs

MEXICO CITY/DETROIT, (Reuters) – U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s plan to slap a 25% tax on all imports from Mexico and Canada could strike the bottom lines of U.S. automakers, especially General Motors and raise prices of SUVs and pickup trucks for U.S. consumers. Continue reading “GM and other US automakers would take big hit from Trump tariffs”

Source : PTI | Hyundai Motor India Ltd on Tuesday said it has received a show cause notice with demand of over INR 5 crore, including interest, from Maharashtra State Tax Authority for alleged excess input tax credit claim. In a regulatory filing, Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL) said on Monday, November 25, it received show cause notice from Maharashtra State Tax Authority alleging “excess ITC claimed” is not confirmed as per norms and in RCM (reverse charge mechanism) tax paid by the company.

“The total demand amount mentioned in the show cause notice is INR 2.741 crore towards tax and INR 2.279 crore towards interest,” it added. Continue reading “Hyundai Motor India gets INR 5 cr demand from Maharashtra tax authority”

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said on Monday it will not reconsider a landmark rule finalized in April requiring nearly all new cars and trucks by 2029 to have advanced automatic emergency braking systems.

The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, representing General Motors, Toyota Motor, Volkswagen and other automakers, had said the requirement that all cars and trucks must be able to stop and avoid striking vehicles in front of them at up to 62 miles per hour (100 kph) is “practically impossible with available technology” and had asked the agency to reconsider it. Continue reading “US rejects bid to rethink new automobile automatic emergency braking rules”

BEIJING, (Reuters) – China’s electric vehicle giant BYD said it will launch a new generation of blade batteries in 2025, Chinese state media CGTN reported on Saturday.

BYD’s Blade Battery is a less bulky lithium-iron-phosphate battery that its Chairman Wang Chuanfu has said is safer than other alternatives in the market and will not catch fire. Continue reading “BYD says it will launch new generation of blade batteries next year”

BRUSSELS, (Reuters) – European Union and Chinese officials are discussing alternatives to European tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles (EV), including minimum prices at which such cars could be sold in Europe, but no solution is imminent, European officials said on Monday.

Bernd Lange, chairman of the European Parliament’s trade committee, told a German broadcaster on Friday that an agreement between the 27-nation EU and China to replace the tariffs with something else was close. Continue reading “EU not close to deal with China on EV tariffs, officials say”

Summary

• Tesla moved headquarters from California to Texas
• Musk notes on X that Tesla makes EVs in California
• Tesla shares close down 4%

(Reuters) – Tesla’s electric vehicles likely would not qualify for California’s new state tax credits under a proposal in the works if President-elect Donald Trump scraps the federal tax credit for EV purchases, Governor Gavin Newsom’s office said on Monday. Continue reading “Tesla would likely be excluded from new California EV tax credits -governor’s office says”

Summary

• VW’s Northvolt stake had book value of 693 mln euros at end-2023
• Pension fund AMF: regularly reviewing holdings in unlisted firms
• VW will not comment on fallout of Northvolt bankruptcy filing

BERLIN, (Reuters) – Volkswagen, Northvolt’s top shareholder, has significantly written down its 21% stake in the Swedish battery cells maker that filed for bankruptcy protection in the United States last week, two people familiar with the matter said. Continue reading “Volkswagen has taken major writedown on Northvolt stake, sources say”

Summary

• Rivian, energy department to finalize loan before Trump takes over – source
• Rivian will not actively oppose unionization at plant as part of loan conditions – source
• Rivian’s Georgia plant to be operational in 2028
• Rivian shares down 50% this year due to production struggles and part shortage

SAN FRANCISCO, (Reuters) – Rivian said on Monday it has received conditional approval for a loan of up to $6.6 billion from the U.S. Department of Energy to build the electric vehicle maker’s production facility in Georgia. Continue reading “Rivian gets $6.6 bln conditional loan approval to build Georgia EV plant”

Source : PTI | Tractor sales in the festive months, spanning from September to November, are expected to grow 8-10% this year on the back of good monsoon lifting market sentiments, according to farm and construction equipment firm Escorts Kubota Ltd whole-time director and CFO Bharat Madan. After a soft first half, the tractor industry is expected to gain momentum in the second half of the ongoing fiscal, growing in double digits, leading to an overall mid-single digit growth for the full year, he told PTI.

“If you look at (festive) season months, which we normally count as September to November, we expect there’ll be a growth of 8 to 10% this year over last year’s season months,” Madan said.

Continue reading “Expect tractor industry festive season sales to grow 8-10% this year: Escorts Kubota CFO”

Source : PTI | Hero MotoCorp and its US-based partner Zero Motorcycles are in the advanced stage of developing a mid-sized performance segment electric motorcycle, according to a top company executive. California-based Zero Motorcycles specialises in electric motorcycles and powertrains. In September 2022, Hero MotoCorp’s board approved an equity investment of up to USD 60 million in the company.

In 2023 the companies announced collaboration for the development of premium electric bikes. “As far as EV motorcycles … we are developing in partnership with Zero Motorcycles..it (bike) will be coming in the middle-weight segment,” Hero MotoCorp CEO Niranjan Gupta said in an analyst call.

Continue reading “Hero MotoCorp US partner in advanced stage of developing mid-sized electric bike”

FRANKFURT, (Reuters) – Brussels and Beijing are nearing a solution over tariffs on Chinese electric vehicle imports into the bloc, the chair of the trade committee of the European Parliament told a German broadcaster.

“We are close to an agreement: China could commit to offering e-cars in the EU at a minimum price,” Bernd Lange told n-tv, without elaborating. “This would eliminate the distortion of competition through unfair subsidies, which is why the tariffs were originally introduced.” Continue reading “EU, China close to agreement over EV import tariffs, leading MEP says”

(Reuters) – Elon Musk’s electric vehicle maker Tesla failed to persuade a U.S. judge to throw out a consumer lawsuit accusing it of failing to warn buyers about an alleged defect that can cause the cars to brake automatically when there is no actual collision risk.

In a ruling on Friday, U.S. District Judge Georgia Alexakis in Chicago trimmed the case but said the proposed class action could move ahead on a claim that Tesla concealed the “phantom braking” safety defect from would-be purchasers. Continue reading “Tesla must face part of ‘phantom braking’ lawsuit, US judge rules”

Summary

• Court decertifies 10 class actions covering 14 models
• ‘Phantom’ braking allegedly stopped vehicles for no reason
• Litigation returned to lower court for further proceedings

(Reuters) – Nissan persuaded a federal appeals court on Friday to decertify 10 class actions accusing the Japanese automaker of selling cars and SUVs with defective automatic emergency braking systems that caused vehicles to stop suddenly for no reason. Continue reading “Nissan persuades US court to decertify brake defect class actions”

FRANKFURT, (Reuters) – Volkswagen sees no chance of avoiding layoffs and plant closures in order to cut 4 billion euros ($4.2 billion) in costs, the brand’s chief executive said in a newspaper interview, amid an escalating dispute with workers.

Thomas Schaefer’s comments further deepen a conflict with unions, who have threatened strikes at the carmaker from December and have asked the company to present solutions in ongoing negotiations over pay and capacity that exclude both factory closures and major job cuts. Continue reading “VW brand boss: layoffs, plant closures needed to fix carmaker’s problems”

Source : PTI | New Delhi, Transport assets worth approximately USD 575 billion in South Asia, including USD 400 billion in India, are exposed to climate hazards and rapid deployment of resilience measures needed to prevent risk to the sector which contributes significantly to the region’s GDP, according to a report. The South Asian region faces cascading economic losses due to climate risks, with disruptions in transport having cascading effects on key sectors such as manufacturing, agriculture, and services among others, as per the report jointly published by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI). Continue reading “Transport assets worth USD 400 bn in India exposed to climate hazards: Report”

Source : PTI | Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India on Thursday said it is recalling certain units of CRF1100 Africa Twin to rectify issues with throttle operation. The voluntary recall is aligned with the global market action, the two-wheeler maker said in a statement.

The recall affects certain units of this adventure motorcycle manufactured between February 2022 and October 2022, it said.

Continue reading “HMSI recalls CRF1100 Africa Twin units to rectify throttle operation”

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – A group representing major automakers including General Motors, Toyota Motor Corp and Volkswagen urged President-elect Donald Trump to retain key tax credits for electric vehicle purchases and take steps to speed deployment of self-driving cars.

The Alliance for Automotive Innovation in a previously unreported Nov. 12 letter to Trump also raised concerns about vehicle emissions rules citing “federal and state emissions regulations (particularly in California and affiliated states) that are out-of-step with current auto market realities and increase costs for consumers.” Continue reading “Automakers urge Trump to preserve EV tax credits, boost self-driving cars”

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TOKYO, (Reuters) – About 6% of Nissan Motor staff in the United States have accepted early retirement packages, a company spokesperson said on Thursday, as part of the struggling Japanese carmaker’s plan to cut 9,000 jobs worldwide.

Nissan had about 17,000 employees in the U.S. as of March, according to a security filing. Roughly 1,000 U.S. employees are set to leave Nissan by the end of this year as a result of the early retirements. Continue reading “Nissan says about 1,000 US staff accept early retirement”

BERLIN, (Reuters) – Mercedes-Benz plans to cut costs by several billion euros per year in the coming years, the Handelsblatt newspaper reported on Thursday, citing a spokesperson for the German carmaker.

According to Handelsblatt, the spokesperson left open exactly how the costs are to be cut and did not answer questions about possible job cuts. Continue reading “Mercedes plans to cut costs by several billion euros per year, reports Handelsblatt”

TOCHIGI, (Reuters) – Honda Motor aims to double the driving range of its electric cars by the late 2020s when they start to adopt all-solid-state batteries, a new type of power source under development, the head of its research unit said on Wednesday.

All-solid-state batteries, replacing liquid-state lithium-ion batteries, will produce twice the driving range by the end of this decade and over 2.5 times more by the 2040s, said Keiji Otsu, president of Honda R&D. Continue reading “Honda hopes to double EV driving range with solid-state batteries, R&D chief says”

Summary

• Hyundai to roll out IONIQ 9 in US and Korea in 2025
• Three-row EV market includes Lucid, Rivian, Vinfast and Kia
• EV growth slows

SAN FRANCISCO, (Reuters) – Hyundai Motor unveiled its first three-row electric SUV on Wednesday, pushing into a market for big family cars that global automakers hope will one day be a profit powerhouse. Continue reading “Hyundai unveils big electric SUV in fast-growing market”

Source : PTI | State-owned Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) has inked an initial pact with H2Global Stiftung to establish a collaborative framework to promote Green Hydrogen initiatives. This aims to enhance knowledge exchange on market-based mechanisms and foster cooperation between India and importing countries, thereby contributing to the global advancement of the green hydrogen economy, according to an official statement.

According to the statement SECI, under the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with H2Global Stiftung to establish a collaborative framework to promote Green Hydrogen initiatives.

Continue reading “SECI signs MoU with H2Global Stiftung to promote green hydrogen initiatives”

Source : PTI | The chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has offered to help the domestic automobile industry produce vehicle sensors, which are currently imported at high prices.

Speaking at the Bengaluru Tech Summit on Wednesday, S Somanath said that if ISRO can produce space-graded sensors for its rockets, then the country’s automobile industry can collaborate with the space agency and manufacture vehicle sensors indigenously. Continue reading “‘If India can make sensors for rockets, it can make for cars too’”

(Reuters) – Uber Technologies launched “XXL” rides with extra trunk space on Wednesday, betting on increased demand stemming from Thanksgiving holiday travelers, as the ride-hailing company seeks to overcome a slowdown in its mainstay app-based taxi business.

The Uber XXL service, catered toward airport travel, is available in more than 60 airports globally, including 40 in the United States and Canada, the company said. Continue reading “Uber launches new rides to capitalize on Thanksgiving travel demand”