May 25, 2022
The Italian government has received two offers to acquire a majority stake in the Italian airline ITA Airways, the successor of Alitalia. One offer comes from Lufthansa, joining hands with the Swiss maritime group MSC. The other comes from an American investment group, Certares Management. This offer is backed by Air France/KLM and the American […]
May 25, 2022
Swedish electric car manufacturer and Geely daughter Polestar has become a shareholder in Israeli battery developer StoreDot. In addition to the financial investment, both companies want to explore the use of StoreDot’s fast-charging silicon-dominated batteries for future Polestar vehicles. Volvo Cars had already invested in StoreDot in April. StoreDot’s other strategic partners include Mercedes-Benz, BP, […]
May 25, 2022
D’Ieterens ‘Lucien’ bike business has a new, important competitor: Raida. The new group consists of three local chains: Cool Electro Cycles (West-Flanders), Velodome (Antwerp), and Bicyclic (Wallonia). Altogether, they represent 22 shops with 120 employees and a € 40 million turnover. Another big chain is the Colruyd daughter Bike Republic (formerly called Fiets!), which counts […]
May 24, 2022
As the world’s largest producer of cobalt, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) no longer wants to settle for the role of a raw material supplier. Instead, it wants to build its own battery supply chain in the country. A battery factory is also being considered, together with country neighbor Zambia. As the German Handelsblatt […]
May 24, 2022
The BMW Group plans to open its planned Cell Manufacturing Competence Centre (CMCC) in Parsdorf near Munich in the autumn of this year. According to the car manufacturer, the pilot line in the center of excellence will enable it to fully analyze and understand the value-added processes of the cell. Now that the immission control […]
May 24, 2022
The Chinese car and battery manufacturer BYD has started offering its Seal electric sedan in China. This means that the prices and some technical data of the eagerly awaited electric car, which is intended to compete with the Tesla Model 3, have been released. The BYD Seal is available in four versions with ranges between […]
May 23, 2022
Lancia is resurrecting. It starts its ‘ten-year plan’, which will begin in 2024 with the new Lancia Ypsilon. In 2026, the new flagship is supposed to arrive, 4,6 meters long, which will allow the brand to enter the largest segment in Europe. 2028 will be the year of the new 4,4 meters long ‘Delta’, a […]
May 23, 2022
Renault has presented the Scenic Vision, a compact class show car that has both a large battery and fuel cell on board. The car gets its energy in two ways: it can use electricity from the battery and it can recharge from hydrogen while driving (via electrolysis). The French company describes the concept as a […]
May 20, 2022
The Swedish energy company Vattenfall is building a wind turbine that produces hydrogen in front of Scotland’s coastline. According to the company, this is a world’s first. An electrolyzer placed on an existing wind turbine produces the hydrogen. To realize the project, Vattenfall has been awarded £ 9,3 million (approximately € 11 million) in innovation […]
May 20, 2022
The European Commission wants the EU to faster accelerate its endeavor to gain energetical independence. Energy use must be more efficient, the energy supply must be diversified, and the energy sources must become sustainable. The whole plan has been presented this week under the REPowerEU name. The war in Ukraine has once again emphasized the […]
May 19, 2022
BMW Group has become the most important investor in Mangrove Lithium through its venture capital arm, BMW i Ventures. The Canadian company has developed a process to transform virgin and recycled raw lithium into battery-grade material. “Mangrove’s modular, feedstock-flexible technology has attracted serious investors who see that our technology gets global refining capacity much closer […]
May 19, 2022
The Dutch charging infrastructure provider Allego, already well introduced and proliferating in Belgium, has entered into a cooperation to install ultra-fast charging stations at 100 rest stops operated by G&V Energy Group by 2024. The partners want to realize twelve locations before the end of 2022 and see the longer-term potential for another 150 sites. […]
May 18, 2022
For months now, Renault has been thinking of separating its activities into electric and thermic ones. The Renault bosses met with their Alliance partners Nissan and Mitsubishi in Japan yesterday. The message was clear: Both Japanese partners could decide whether and when to join the electric pole. They can jump on the running train whenever […]
May 18, 2022
ABB E-Mobility and Shell plan to set up the first Germany-wide charging network with ABB’s Terra 360 fast-charging station. More than 200 charging stations, each with a capacity of up to 360 kW, are to be put into operation over the next twelve months. Later, other countries are to follow. In September 2021, ABB introduced […]
May 17, 2022
A broad cross-industry coalition is now including Ford of Europe and Volvo Cars. They are appealing to the EU to ensure that all new cars and vans in Europe are zero-emission from 2035 and establish mandatory charging infrastructure targets. The coalition says the deadline for new fossil fuel engines is needed to ensure the last […]
May 17, 2022
The Dutch start-up Squad Mobility presents the final version of its solar two-seater, which was first shown three years ago and is scheduled to go into production in 2023. The Squad (or Solar Quad) can be bought starting from € 6 250 net and can be reserved now via fully-refundable, non-binding pre-orders for the Netherlands, […]
May 17, 2022
According to media reports, Audi will only offer its compact A3 model in pure electric form for the next generation due in 2027 as part of its accelerated electric vehicle course. As the company has decided to move away from really small cars, this A3 e-tron will probably be the smallest Audi in the range. […]
May 16, 2022
The global industry is accelerating its investment in energy efficiency in the next five years as the crucial race towards Net-Zero intensifies, a new survey commissioned by ABB finds out. 90% will increase spending over the next five years, while 52 percent plan to achieve Net Zero within the same period. This Energy Efficiency Investment […]
May 16, 2022
The Afro-European startup NamX has presented a fuel cell SUV designed by Pininfarina set for market launch in 2025. The highlight of this Hydrogen Utility Vehicle (HUV) lies in its hydrogen storage. NamX’s patented technology combines a fixed hydrogen tank and six removable capsules as secondary tanks. These tanks were of primary concern also to […]
May 16, 2022
Renault has confirmed the launch of a strategic review into a spin-off of its electric car business. – and provided more details. At the same time, Renault Group signs agreements to sell Renault Russia and its controlling interests in Avtovaz. Specifically, a separate company in France could be dedicated to developing, producing, and distributing electric […]
May 13, 2022
Wednesday, a new president for the board was elected at the Autoworld museum in Brussels. Ex-Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt, now still a member of the European Parliament, has accepted to succeed to another well-known Open-Vld politician, Herman De Croo, who has been heading the museum for 36 years. The entire Autoworld team is very grateful […]
May 13, 2022
General Motors CEO Mary Barra is ready to return to Europe. The most obvious reason is that electric vehicle sales are booming in the EU. The old continent could be an integral part again of GM’s accelerated switch to electrification. Europe is the second-largest electric vehicle market globally, next to China. On Monday, Barra confirmed […]
May 13, 2022
During the announcement of the latest quarterly figures, BMW CEO Oliver Zipse confirmed that ‘die Neuse Klasse’, the new New Class platform planned for 2025, will first be used in the 3 Series segment. Zipse did, however, also somewhat limit the future use of the platform. Shortly after Zipse’s statement, the next strategic shift is […]
May 12, 2022
Some 15 months after creating the Stellantis Group, Group CEO Carlos Tavares makes several new management appointments. Opel boss Uwe Hochgeschurtz, who only took up his post last year, is leaving the brand to replace Maxime Picat at parent company Stellantis. The latter takes over as the group’s head of purchasing and supply chain. “The […]
May 12, 2022
Many manufacturers are already sold out of vehicles (especially EVs) in 2022. The delivery delays are getting longer than a year, making some stop taking orders. VW was the first, and now Tesla and Mercedes-Benz seem to be following, among others. Recently, Volkswagen was the first to announce that it is “basically sold out” of […]
May 12, 2022
Volkswagen Group will launch an all-electric pickup and rugged SUV in the United States. The decision of the Board of Management was confirmed today by the Supervisory Board of the Volkswagen Group. The cars will be sold under the Scout brand. The vehicles will be designed, engineered, and manufactured in the US for American customers. […]
May 11, 2022
The Vietnamese car manufacturer VinFast has published more technical specifications and price details of the VF 8 and VF 9 SUV models to be sold soon. There are also prices and details on battery rental in the firstly targeted European markets: Germany, France, and the Netherlands. The VF 8 is available for €43 900 plus […]
May 11, 2022
Geely Automobile Holdings and Renault group have reached an agreement in which Geely Auto will subscribe to 34,2% of Renault Korea Motors (RKM) shares. The aim is to improve the collaboration between Renault Group and Geely Auto around future projects. In January, projects were announced of launching an all-new vehicle line-up of hybrid cars and […]
May 10, 2022
On ‘Mobilize Day’, the Mobilize department has shown its ambitions in services and technology inside the Renault Group. Its target is 20% of the total turnover of the Group by 2030. At the same time, Renault’s RCI Bank and Services become Mobilize Financial Services. At the start of the day, Renault CEO Luca de Meo […]
May 10, 2022
The BMW Group says it has reached significant milestones in the ramp-up of e-mobility at its largest European production site in Dingolfing near Munich. A second production line for electric motors is up and running, and the production of a new generation of PHEV batteries has also started. BMW announced that the production line for […]
May 09, 2022
This is already starting to become a trip down memory lane. The Swiss company Micro Mobility Systems was the first to clone the iconic BMW Isetta bubble car under the name of Microlino. Unfortunately, with some hostility, it was taken over by the German (sports car) manufacturer Artega, and they showed their version of the […]
May 09, 2022
There’s something weird going on in the automotive industry. Even though sales are beating record lows in some regions, the financial results of many companies are still good to excellent. Pushed by the Ukrainian conflict and the chip shortage, most manufacturers try to sell their more expensive and profitable cars first. The message was already […]
May 09, 2022
A few weeks ago, D’Ieteren CEO Francis Deprez presented its plans for the Group at its investor’s day in the Ixelles headquarters. The four divisions of the Group revealed their plans, and this has to result in a yearly cash flow of €2 billion and a benefit of €1 billion by 2025. Remarkable also: the […]
May 06, 2022
The European car manufacturers association ACEA just released the total European car sales figures for the first quarter of 2022. There’s a noticeable growth for alternatively fueled cars, especially electrified ones. Battery electric vehicles (BEV) now account for 10% of the market, hybrid electric vehicles (HEV and PHEV) for 25,1%. Together, the electrified vehicles represent […]
May 05, 2022
The Californian electric car manufacturer Fisker has announced its third model under Ronin’s project name. The all-electric GT sports car comes after the Ocean (to start production end of this year) and the Pear (coming in 2023). Fisker has now published a first teaser image and initial information. The Ronin is planned for the official […]
May 05, 2022
The German car manufacturer Volkswagen Group confirmed yesterday that it wants more than double its market share in the United States. In the wake of Dieselgate, the Group partly abandoned/neglected the North-American market, but “in a more polarised world, it’s a market of growing interest.” The Volkswagen Group is not doing badly at the moment. […]
May 04, 2022
The car and two-wheeler manufacturers and importers association Febiac have released the new sales figures for April. But unfortunately, the falling tendency has been reinforced. Last April, registrations of new cars fell by 23,6% to 28 402 units, those of LCVs even more, by 31,85%, to 4 704 units. For the first four months of […]
May 04, 2022
The tiny British sports car manufacturer, TVR, is planning a limited edition all-electric offshoot of its Griffith V8 model for 2024. Normally, there will be a second, as yet unspecified electric model joining it. TVR made the announcement as part of a sponsoring partnership with the Formula E electric racing series. The manufacturer, previously known […]
May 04, 2022
Stellantis’ car-sharing division Free2move announced today it had signed an agreement to acquire car-sharing company Share Now, a joint venture formed by Mercedes-Benz Mobility Group and BMW Group in 2019. Share Now is a market leader and pioneer of free-floating car-sharing and is represented in 16 major European cities with around 10 000 vehicles, including […]
April 29, 2022
The Alcomotive group, the importer of Hyundai, Suzuki, MG, SsangYong, and Maxus, among other activities, changes into Astara Western Europe. The aim for the future is simple: transforming from a traditional car importer into a complete, versatile provider of mobile solutions. Olivier Sermeus, COO of Astara Western Europe: “We will create a complete ecosystem, and […]
April 28, 2022
Yesterday, searches took place in the offices of the car manufacturing group Stellantis, at Suzuki, and the car supplier Marelli. These searches were conducted in Germany, Italy, and Hungary and are still a result of the Dieselgate scandal breaking out in 2015 in the States. The search was done following a German jurisdictional inquiry by […]
April 26, 2022
Already wanted in Japan (where he fled jurisdiction in December 2019) and searched for by Interpol, former Alliance President Carlos Ghosn is now also persecuted in France. French justice wants to investigate alleged misuse of public goods, money laundering, and corruption. The now 68-year-old car tycoon fell from grace in 2018 when he was at […]
April 26, 2022
Alfa Romeo, a brand part of the Stellantis Group, is considering a comeback of its MiTo. Production of the smallest Alfa was discontinued three years ago, and it would now resurrect as a purely electric model. Conceptually, the MiTo will change as it will share familiar technology with other brands in the Group. According to […]
April 26, 2022
The Japanese car manufacturer Nissan announced on Monday that it would stop the production of Datsun vehicles. The historical brand will disappear less than ten years after being revived by former Alliance boss Carlos Ghosn. He wanted to make a second Dacia out of the once-popular brand. The demise of the big boss in 2018 […]
April 25, 2022
Honda goes for three new all-electric dedicated vehicle platforms. As already mentioned earlier, the plan is to achieve sales volumes of more than two million electric cars per year by 2030. The first of these platforms is set to debut as early as 2024. Speaking to the Reuters news agency, Shinji Aoyama, Honda’s global head […]
April 22, 2022
The environmental organization Bond Beter Leefmilieu (BBL) complains about the indecisiveness of the Flemish government to tax pick-ups properly. Already in 2020, Flemish Finance Minister Diependaele announced that the taxing of pick-ups would be changed. But, until now, nothing has happened. In Belgium, pick-ups are considered to be light commercial vehicles. This means they don’t […]
April 22, 2022
The Californian start-up Independent Electric Vehicles (Indi EV), founded in 2017, presented its first electric car at the New York Auto Show. The Indi One can be reserved now, and production is scheduled to start in mid-2023. The vehicle will first be sold in the US but will come to Europe and other continents. Despite […]
April 21, 2022
BMW has presented the new generation of the 7 Series, for the first time also in a fully electric version i7. BMW sees this generation change as a “redefinition of luxury”. When one looks at the technical information, the i7 seems to be the top model of the entire series. For Europe, only electrified models […]
April 20, 2022
Mercedes presented the EQS SUV, the first SUV based on the electric EVA2 platform. There will be three drive variants of the luxury SUV at the market launch. But, most probably, more are likely to follow. The base model at the market introduction will be the EQS SUV 450+. Compared to the 245 kW rear-wheel […]
April 20, 2022
During the first quarter of 2022, 103 146 new cars were registered in Belgium, 13,5% less than in 2021. The same pattern can be seen all over Europe, confirmed by the new figures we received from ACEA. Everybody is still pointing at the delivery problems worldwide, mostly due to the persisting problems with the production […]
April 19, 2022
Volvo Cars has invested StoreDot, an Israeli company developing extreme-fast charging battery technology for electric cars. The investment was made through the Volvo Cars Tech Fund, its venture capital arm. StoreDot is working on a pioneering technology that, according to the company, should result in batteries that can charge to 160 km of pure electric […]
April 15, 2022
In the first quarter of 2022, the operational benefit of the Volkswagen group rose to €8,5 billion, a 77% increase compared to last year. Nevertheless, the manufacturing giant stays prudent about the future because of the chip shortage, the Ukrainian war, and the reviving pandemic situation in China. Meanwhile, VW is also working on improving […]
April 14, 2022
D’Ieteren, Ginion Group, Valckenier, and finance&invest.brussels have joined forces and resources to promote new mobility trends via the D’Ieteren Lab Box scale-up MyMove. They want to make car-sharing (inside or outside organizations or companies) more accessible and popular internationally. The car business is moving fast forward, as is mobility in general. New trends like ride-hailing, […]
April 14, 2022
The Mercedes Vision EQXX prototype for the electric sedan of the future has recently proven its 1 000 km + range in real driving conditions. After a 1 008 km long drive from the research center in Sindelfingen (Stuttgart) to Cassis (French riviera), the car had some 140 km range left. Driving from Germany to […]
April 14, 2022
According to several sources, Renault is thinking of a possible spin-off and IPO of its electric car business. According to them, the Renault management is exploring the possibility of splitting the company into two entities for the internal combustion and electric car businesses. At a recent press conference, CEO Luca de Meo confirmed the internal […]
April 13, 2022
Persistent rumors situate the assembly of the (all-electric) successor of the Alpine A110 sports car at the Lotus factory in Norfolk, UK. The small British sports car brand, now part of the Chinese Geely Group, is already partnering with Renault in developing the electric platform for the future ‘Berlinette’ A110. The new two-seater sports car […]
April 13, 2022
Hyundai plans to make the onboard charger from the Ioniq 5 suitable for bidirectional charging, enabling V2G (Vehicle-to-Grid) technology. In addition, Hyundai will soon introduce a new electric model equipped with V2G technology from the beginning. The new vehicle is probably the Ioniq 6, which will be presented soon. The electric sedan will be the […]
April 12, 2022
As the number of electric vehicles (EVs) is growing, the need for clear charging rules is rising too. For example, in Arnhem (north of Holland), a court has condemned an EV owner to finally pay the fine he got in 2020 for occupying a charging point for too long. The EV owner had refused to […]
April 12, 2022
Japanese car manufacturer Honda is investing €37 billion in developing and producing EVs. By 2030, it wants to have 30 EVs on offer, representing a total annual production of two million vehicles per year. Last year, the manufacturer announced that it would not sell ICE cars anymore as of 2040. “Honda is striving to be […]
April 11, 2022
Mercedes’ Chief Technical Officer Markus Schäfer, talking to the American magazine Road&Track, says, “there’s still a significant initial cost penalty to a battery-electric vehicle over an internal combustion car.” According to Schäfer, that’s not going away anytime soon. EVs may not get much cheaper over the next few years, and batteries could even increase in […]
