Maruti Suzuki defers EV plan, says will not launch Wagon R EV in 2020

• Citing lack of charging infrastructure and high cost, India’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India has deferred plans to launch its first electric vehicle Wagon R EV for individual customers.

  During the Auto Expo 2018, Maruti had said it would launch the vehicle in 2020 and had imported a batch of 50 Wagon R EVs from Japan for testing. Maruti Chairman R C Bhargava said the country was still not ready for a mass-market electric car. Read Full Story

• Bajaj Auto’s international business contributed to about 41% of the automaker’s net sales
• Overall revenue from operations dipped 4% year on year to ₹7,707 crore. Read Full Story

• The company made $1.86 (£1.44) per share in the third quarter, smashing analysts’ forecasts for a loss. It delivered 97,000 cars to customers in the period to 30 September, comfortably surpassing the previous record of 95,356.

  Tesla now expects to launch the Model Y, an all-electric SUV, by the summer of 2020, months earlier than originally planned, and its new “gigafactory” in Shanghai has already started trial production. Read Full Story 

The Renault-Nissan partnership was rocked by former alliance boss Carlos Ghosn’s arrest in Tokyo almost a year ago on financial misconduct charges, which he denies.

The two firms are still trying to repair relations, including through recent management overhauls, to focus again on combined efforts to cut costs and invest in new technologies – among the pressing issues thrown into sharp relief by a Renault profit warning last week. Read Full Story

To go big on EVs, Japanese car makers think super-small

They are betting such EVs are best-placed for Japan’s narrow streets, cramped parking spaces and rapidly ageing society, and that the vehicles will eventually catch on globally too as the elderly population grows. But the jury is still out on whether these vehicles will work overseas.

As global automakers race to put long-range electric vehicles on highways amid stricter emission laws, Japanese rivals are taking a niche approach and steering towards cheaper, pint-sized runabouts to make costly battery technology more accessible. Read Full Story