Europe

TOKYO – Nissan and Mitsubishi took an important next step in their electric vehicle ramp up plans with the start of production of a pair of jointly developed mini-EVs for the Japanese market. The sibling nameplates, the Nissan Sakura and Mitsubishi eK X EV, aim to tap huge domestic demand for tiny runabouts in the

Mercedes-Benz will cut back its entry-level suite of cars as part of a strategic overhaul that will channel more than three-quarters of the automaker’s investment to its higher-end vehicles. Mercedes unveiled its plans to major investors on Thursday, placing the drive for greater profitability on its so-called Top End Vehicle segment, home to the iconic

SEOUL — Hyundai Motor Group plans to invest a total of 21 trillion won ($16.54 billion) through 2030 for the expansion of its electric vehicle business in South Korea. The South Korean auto group, which is parent to Hyundai and Kia, plans to annually build 1.44 million units of EVs in South Korea by 2030.

Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles has announced that prices for the ID Buzz electric van will start at 54,430 euros ($57,220) in Germany for the Cargo version and 64,581 euros ($67,891) for the five-seat passenger Pro version. Orders will open on Friday for the Buzz, with retro styling that evokes the original air-cooled, rear-engine VW Kombi (or

Grupo Antolin has named advisory board member Ramon Sotomayor as CEO, replacing Jesus Pascual, who has held the position since 2015. The Spanish interiors supplier said Tuesday that Pascual would remain with the company in an advisory position. Sotomayor has been a member of the advisory board at Grupo Antolin since 2017. He serves on

BERLIN — Mercedes-Benz will incorporate a new, highly energy-dense battery in its upcoming electric G-Class from 2025, a solution to the problem of how to power large electric cars without weighing them down with heavy batteries. The battery, made by start-up Sila Nanotechnologies, uses silicon-based anodes and is 20 percent to 40 percent more energy

Tesla has stopped taking orders for its upcoming Cybertruck pickup truck outside of North America, according to the automaker’s official website. The automaker is only taking reservations for the Cybertruck in the U.S., Canada and Mexico, the website showed. Tesla declined to comment on the matter. CEO Elon Musk has said Tesla will start production

Renault’s Moscow plant will be repurposed to produce Moskvich cars that were last manufactured two decades ago. A Soviet-era car brand the “Moskvich” could make a surprise comeback in Russia, as Moscow takes over assets belonging to Renault following the French automaker’s exit from the country. Moscow’s mayor Sergei Sobyanin said he would nationalize Renault’s

LONDON — Jaguar Land Rover is getting an unexpected boost from the global chips crisis as its cars become more desirable, CEO Thierry Bollore said. Automakers including JLR have been forced to reduce production because of a shortage of semiconductors, squeezing supplies to dealerships. However, the scarcity of new models is massively boosting the company’s

Nissan took a 52.6 billion yen ($499 million) financial hit from its Russian and Ukrainian operations in its latest financial year and is not expecting to restart operations in Russia during the coming year. Nissan stopped deliveries to Russia in March following the country’s invasion of Ukraine, then ceased production at its St Petersburg plant

Nissan says net revenue from sales of the new Qashqai compact SUV in Europe is 38 percent higher than for the previous model, giving the company hope that it can reverse continuing losses in the region. Nissan posted an operating loss of 28.4 billion yen ($221 million) in Europe in the fiscal year ending March

If the worst-case scenario for Germany hits, BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen Group would struggle to paint their cars and the air across the country would get dirtier. Europe’s largest economy is bracing for the prospect that Russian natural gas gets cut off suddenly, a shock that would trigger a form of martial law for energy

Nissan took a 52.6 billion yen ($499 million) financial hit from its Russian and Ukrainian operations in its latest financial year and is not expecting to restart operations in Russia during the coming year. Nissan stopped deliveries to Russia in March following the country’s invasion of Ukraine, then ceased production at its St Petersburg plant

Polestar is preparing to go public next month in a reverse merger with a special-purpose acquisition company, Gores Guggenheim. The deal could peg the Geely electric brand’s market valuation as high as $25 billion, according to analysts. The move is part of a wave of potential spinoffs of EV brands or units, as automakers try to

YOKOHAMA, Japan — Nissan Motor Co., fresh off unveiling plans to add electric vehicle production at a second U.S. assembly plant, is now contemplating building a third “factory,” possibly for EVs, in the region by 2030. Chief Operating Officer  Ashwani Gupta said the Japanese automaker would likely need a new “factory” by the end of

PARIS — A key European Union committee’s decision to reject calls for much deeper emissions cuts has disappointed environmental advocates, who pushed for new targets in the run-up to a 2035 deadline for automakers to sell only zero-emissions cars. The European Parliament’s environment committee on Wednesday voted to ratify new rules for CO2 emissions from cars

BRUSSELS — Lawmakers on the European Parliament’s environment committee backed an EU plan to effectively ban new gasoline and diesel car sales from 2035, while voting against proposals for tougher targets to cut car CO2 emissions within this decade. The committee supported the proposal for a 100 percent cut in CO2 emissions by 2035, which

New-car sales in Russia plunged the most on record last month as sanctions undermined domestic production and most foreign automakers suspended operations in the wake of President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Sales fell 79 percent to 32,706 vehicles in April compared to a year earlier, the Association of European Businesses (AEB) said in a

Electric and internal combustion cars are “two different sports,” Renault Group CEO Luca de Meo said, and there is an industrial rationale for carving out the two powertrains as separate businesses. Renault and other automakers – including Ford, Geely and Mahindra — are weighing spinoffs of their EV activities, seeking to attract the kind of

The latest Range Rover Sport gets a new platform, boosting its driving dynamics, along with a higher sticker price and a full-electric version arriving in 2024. Land Rover released details of the new generation of one of its most important models on Tuesday. The new Range Rover Sport “sets new standards as the ultimate sporting

Renault said it would sell just over a third of its Korea unit to China’s Geely Automobile Holdings for $200 million, freeing up funds for the French automaker to invest in its lagging core markets and electric business. Renault, whose sales fell for the third straight year in 2021, is in the middle of turnaround

LONDON – Renault CEO Luca de Meo said the automaker will decide in the coming weeks on the future of its operations in Russia, where it suspended operations in March following the invasion of Ukraine. “Negotiations are still ongoing,” CEO Luca de Meo said at the FT Future of the Car 2022 conference on Monday,

MIAMI — McLaren has had talks with Audi but is not for sale, team boss Zak Brown said on Friday in response to Volkswagen Group’s announcement that its Audi and Porsche brands would be entering Formula One. A source told Reuters in March that Audi was ready to offer around 500 million euros ($527.55 million)

SHANGHAI — Quanta Shanghai Manufacturing City would seem like an ideal site to implement China’s “closed-loop” management system to prevent the spread of COVID that requires staff to live and work on-site in a secure bubble. Sprawled over land the size of 20 football fields, the campus houses factories, living quarters for 40,000 workers, some living

Mercedes-Benz will offer Drive Pilot, the first Level 3 autonomous driving system approved for European public roads, as an option on S-Class and EQS models starting May 17. Drive Pilot will cost 5,000 euros ($5,300) on the S-Class and 7,430 euros on the EQS in Germany, Mercedes said Friday.  The system allows the car to

The announcement that Porsche and Audi want to lend their names to Formula One comes at a high point of popularity in the U.S. for the world’s most glamorous racing series. Miami’s first-ever F1 Grand Prix will run on Sunday. Race-day ticket prices hit $1,342 this week on the secondary market, more than prices for

BMW will focus its Neue Klasse (New Class) architecture on full-electric models for the midsize premium segment. The platform, which will go into production in 2025 at the automaker’s new factory in Hungary, will only offer a battery-electric drivetrain, BMW CEO Oliver Zipse said during the automaker’s first-quarter earnings call on Thursday. “When it hits

BMW will focus its Neue Klasse (New Class) architecture on full-electric models for the 3-Series segment. The platform, which will go into production in 2025 at the automaker’s new factory in Hungary, will have only a battery-electric drivetrain, BMW CEO Oliver Zipse said during the automaker’s first-quarter earnings call on Thursday. “When it hits the

PARIS — A number of automakers are now exploring whether to shear off electric vehicles as a separate business unit, or even a listed company.  Their reasons include a need for more agility, a desire to attract capital from Tesla-besotted investors, and a fresh start unburdened by potentially worthless “legacy” assets such as engine factories.

LONDON — Bentley’s first-quarter operating profit jumped 162 percent versus the same period last year, as soaring vehicle prices offset the loss of some vehicles at sea and pandemic-related delivery problems in China. The Volkswagen Group unit said high customer interest in new models resulted in a record order book of just under 10,000 vehicles