Seven EU states oppose further easing of CO₂ targets (update)

June 30, 2026

Seven EU member states – Denmark, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden – have called on the European Union to maintain a clear and ambitious path toward electrification. The countries oppose any further easing of the regulations included in the EU’s auto package due in December, despite calls from Germany and others for […]

T&E: ‘Booming air tourism fuels housing rent hikes all over the EU’

June 29, 2026

Unchecked tourism growth, fueled by increased air traffic, is driving an unaffordable housing crisis across Europe, says the NGO Transport & Environment (T&E). Some of the most popular destinations, like Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Greece, have seen protests from residents in the high-season summer months, often due to the strain on affordable housing. Southern Europe […]

Shell presents a small EV that could be a big deal

June 29, 2026

In the wake of the new European E-car rules, a similar concept from an unexpected name has surfaced. Shell has unveiled a small urban EV called the Triple10 Challenge, which shows some interesting features for a car of its size. This is more than oil supermajor window dressing for green credentials. Shell still pumps roughly […]

Polestar banned from selling in the US, focus now on Europe

June 26, 2026

Polestar has been officially denied to sell cars in the United States as of 2027. After the brand withdrew from China due to low adoption, the luxury EV maker now also risks losing the world’s second-largest car market. The company will focus largely on Europe. But that is still the backyard of German premium. Polestar […]

T&E: EU promises seamless rail travel, but major cross-border gaps remain

June 25, 2026

The new rules the EU plans to introduce for booking tickets for cross-border rail travel still mean that nearly half of the busiest international train journeys are difficult or impossible to book. That’s according to T&E, a lobby group for sustainable mobility, in a new report. T&E also proposes several changes and measures that would […]

Ford hasn’t admitted it yet, but new Mustang Mach-E is shelved

June 25, 2026

No, the Mach-E is not canceled today. Ford is still building it in Mexico and shipping it to dealers. But a second-generation Mach-E built on Ford’s new Universal EV architecture isn’t going to happen. A dead end seems ahead for the battery-powered vehicle that galloped the Blue Oval into the EV era, despite its unfortunate […]

Spain launches new EV incentive scheme in July

June 25, 2026

Spain’s new ‘Plan Auto+’ subsidy program is nearly ready for launch. Applications can reportedly be submitted starting in July, and retroactively for EVs purchased on or after January 1, 2026. The maximum grant is €4,500 per vehicle, but complex conditions apply. Spain has restructured its electromobility incentives at the beginning of 2026, dividing them into […]

Increasing demand for cooling pushes energy prices to record highs

June 24, 2026

Yesterday, we reported that electricity prices are rising sharply due to the massive demand for power to run air conditioners. The heat of the past few days and the demand for cooling are driving power prices to record highs. Prices above 1,000 euros per megawatt-hour have not been seen since 2020. However, to obtain electricity on […]

Fastned’s bet attracts fresh millions from private investors

June 24, 2026

Fastned has raised €36.5 million in its latest retail bond issue, providing fresh capital for its European expansion as the Dutch fast-charging specialist continues to build stations faster than it turns a net profit. The company said €35.1 million of the June issue came from new investments, with the balance rolled over by existing bondholders. […]

Škoda Peaq: seven-seat electric flagship built to undercut Kia EV9

June 24, 2026

Nomen est omen. A peak is a summit. So, conveniently, the new Peaq sits at the top of Skoda’s electric range. Stuffed with seven seats and a 91 kWh battery at best, the Czech brand has built its largest vehicle in 130 years. The Kia EV9 and Hyundai Ioniq 9 are facing a strong contender, […]

Geely E2 heads for Belgium with Chinese sales star pedigree

June 24, 2026

Geely will introduce the E2 in Belgium after the summer, bringing one of China’s biggest recent EV successes to the crowded European small-car market. The compact five-door is intended to make Geely a player at the accessible end of the electric market, starting around €20,000, but final Belgian prices and several core technical details remain […]

UK-made EVs risk higher EU prices as new Brexit tariff deadline looms

June 23, 2026

European and British carmakers are again seeking a reprieve from a post-Brexit trade rule that could impose a 10% tariff on electric vehicles crossing the Channel from 1 January 2027. The risk does not arise simply because a car is assembled in Britain. To remain tariff-free under the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement, an electric […]

Heat pushes electricity prices to highest levels in years

June 23, 2026

The heat of the past few days is driving electricity prices to their highest level in years. On the wholesale electricity market, 658.09 euros per megawatt-hour must now be paid. It has been since December 2022 that electricity has been this expensive. The most expensive time is around a quarter to nine and nine o’clock in […]

Sweden asks EU to reject Tesla FSD over speeding issues

June 23, 2026

Sweden’s Transport Administration has told the European Union to vote against rolling out Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (Supervised) software unless the company disables a feature that allows the car to break posted speed limits. Belgium has approved since the beginning of the month.  The Swedish recommendation arrived in a letter dated one month ago, addressed to […]

ACEA: EU car market grows 4% in May, EV shift is reshaping industry

June 23, 2026

New car registrations in the European Union rose 4.0% in the first five months of 2026, reaching 4.75 million units. The headline masks a much more profound market shift: battery-electric cars now account for 1 in 5 registrations, while gasoline and diesel are rapidly losing ground. According to the latest figures from ACEA, 950,521 battery-electric […]

Volvo offers to open its factories to Chinese sister brands

June 22, 2026

Volvo Cars CEO Hakan Samuelsson has made an explicit offer to his Chinese parent company. In an interview with Automobilwoche, Samuelsson said it would be “positive and possible” for Geely’s sibling brands to produce vehicles at Volvo’s European factories, including the Ghent, Belgium, plant. Samuelsson’s offer is a direct invitation for Geely Auto (the brand, […]

Europe on final straight-line for tariffs on PHEVs made in China

June 22, 2026

According to German newspaper Handelsblatt, the European Commission has finalized a proposal for punitive tariffs on plug-in hybrids made in China. These bread-and-butter models could face a similar fate to their counterparts with full-electric drivelines. However, the percentages would be lower. Europe set out to punish Chinese electric cars. Instead, it created a market for […]

Volkswagen to cut 50.000 jobs? Blume says real problem is ‘relevance’

June 19, 2026

At the annual general meeting, VW CEO Oliver Blume didn’t shy away from blunt words. Though the group is on track shedding 50,000 workforce, he stated that the “business model is no longer working today.” Volkswagen is struggling hard with the modern-day reality of car building, to the point that the question no longer is […]

Maserati bets on sharper nose and a partner to boost sales

June 19, 2026

Maserati has had a rough few years. Sales are down. The brand’s EV pivot has moved more slowly than planned, and the Grecale, its core volume model, has quietly fallen behind the competition on the one metric that matters most for electric cars: range. Revised Folgore versions of the Grecale and GranTurismo must help fix […]

Belgium helps to build a German power outlet in the North Sea

June 18, 2026

The Antwerp-based construction company Smulders will participate in the construction of a power outlet in the North Sea for the German grid operator 50Hertz, a subsidiary of the Belgian high-voltage group Elia. The offshore power connector, known as ‘North Sea Connector 2,’ will enable up to 2 gigawatts of wind power electricity to be transmitted […]

Porsche updates Taycan with fake gears

June 18, 2026

The Porsche Taycan was the first EV to feature a two-speed gearboc. But now the German sports carmaker wants to reinvogarate the driving joy by adding fake gears, a feature that debuted on the Ioniq 5 N and which is also investigated by Toyota. The appeal for electric sports cars seems to reside in old-fashioned […]

Global EV boom loses speed, but Europe and Belgium tell a different story

June 17, 2026

Global electric vehicle registrations reached around 1.8 million in May, according to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence data reported by Reuters. That was only 3% more than in May last year, bringing the first five months of 2026 to a modest 0.9% increase. On paper, that looks like a clear slowdown after years of double-digit growth. In […]

Provost draws defense line, but Thales deal pulls Renault deeper into (update)

June 17, 2026

Renault Group will not turn itself into a defense company, CEO François Provost insisted in Brussels last week. But barely days later, the French carmaker announced a new Thales deal that makes that red line harder to read. In an interview with De Tijd’s Bas Kurstjens and other media during the Automotive News Europe Congress, […]

China rolls out a masterplan to electrify its trucks: 40% by 2030

June 16, 2026

China aims to achieve a 40% market share for electric heavy trucks by 2030. That’s almost half of the national fleet sales in less than five years from now. And if the country’s new energy cars and vans, or renewable energy policy, are anything to go by, the People’s Republic does not do half measures […]

Benelux urges EU to end e-scooter rule chaos

June 16, 2026

After 16 European countries, including Belgium and the Netherlands, called for uniform European legislation on e-scooters late last year, the Benelux countries are now also urging the European Commission to work toward a harmonized European framework for e-scooters and other light electric vehicles. The three countries point to increasing fragmentation in national regulations, “which leads […]

Reuters: Tesla used misleading safety data to win FSD approval in Europe

June 16, 2026

As Tesla is gradually but quickly rolling out its supervised autonomous driving tech in Europe, details are emerging about how the company is trying to influence the approval process. According to Reuters, a policy manager is on a roadshow with a polished presentation that overestimates the safety benefits of FSD Supervised. After Tesla obtained approval […]

MG 07 lands in China as Belgian import switch nears

June 16, 2026

MG has unveiled the new MG 07 in China, a sleek, electrified fastback that gives a first indication of how the brand may further expand beyond SUVs and hatchbacks. The model has not been confirmed for Europe, but its timing is interesting. In Belgium and Luxembourg, MG is preparing to take over its own distribution […]

¡Hola, VLE!: Mercedes starts electric van production in Spain

June 15, 2026

Three months after its world premiere, series production of the all-electric VLE officially kicked off at Mercedes’ plant in Vitoria, Spain. The occasion was deemed important enough to bring the company’s CEO out on site. Ola Källenius, CEO of Mercedes-Benz Group AG, attended the production launch ceremony alongside Thomas Klein, Head of Mercedes-Benz Vans. They […]

High-speed rail link between Brussels and Basel to launch in 2027

June 15, 2026

Starting in July 2027, a direct high-speed rail link will be established between Brussels and Basel, Switzerland. “This is a pilot project designed to assess the demand for travel between Brussels and Basel,” says the Belgian public railway company NMBS/SNCB. For this project, NMBS/SNCB, SNCF Voyageurs, and the Swiss operator SBB are joining forces. There […]

BMW’s electric M3 Concept shows its face at Le Mans

June 15, 2026

BMW chose the world’s most famous endurance race to drop the clearest preview yet of its first all-electric M car. You can call it a concept, but we all know that this is as close as it gets to the real thing. The BMW M Concept Neue Klasse celebrated its world premiere at the 24 […]

BMW’s 200-million-km milestone raises stakes in EU’s hands-free driving race

June 15, 2026

BMW says customers have driven more than 200 million kilometers hands-free with its Highway Assistant, underlining how quickly advanced driver assistance is moving from technology showcase to daily use on European motorways. The German premium brand uses the milestone to position itself among the front-runners in an increasingly crowded field. Ford, Mercedes-Benz, and Tesla are […]

Paris-Antwerp by barge: Europe’s new freight route takes shape

June 12, 2026

To alleviate road congestion, Europe plans to establish a new waterborne freight corridor between Le Havre, Paris, and the Ports of Antwerp and Rotterdam. Both Flanders and Wallonia are allocating significant resources to this large-scale European inland waterway project, now called the Seine-Scheldt, which comprises a network of 1,100 kilometers of navigable waterways. To date, […]

Provost draws the line: Renault eyes drones, not defence

June 12, 2026

Renault Group will not turn itself into a defense company, as Europe’s car industry faces Chinese electric carmakers and the continent’s rush to rebuild military capacity. That was the message from François Provost, CEO of Renault Group, in an interview with Bas Kurstjens of De Tijd and other media during last week’s Automotive News Europe […]

Flanders allows Tesla’s FSD Supervised on public roads (update)

June 12, 2026

Belgium has officially become the fifth EU member state to grant full approval for use of the Tesla FSD self-driving system. After succesful trials with a test vehicle, the Flemish Minister of Mobility, Annick De Ridder (NV-A), has granted approval. As regulatory barriers across Europe continue to fall, Tesla has simultaneously overhauled the pricing model […]

VW’s ‘other bus’ grows up: Multivan and California updated

June 12, 2026

Within VW Commercial Vehicles’ range, the ID. Buzz gets most of the spotlights. But the Multivan and its motorhome sibling, the California, just got a significant cosmetic and technological update. The electrified drivetrains remained the same, however. The youngest evolution of both models brings a redesigned front end, an entirely new cockpit, and an upgraded […]

Dodge Charger: American muscle legend, now with EU papers

June 11, 2026

Dodge is back in Europe, and it is not arriving quietly. Stellantis has officially announced the European debut of the new Dodge Charger, bringing both the all-electric Daytona and the gasoline-powered SIXPACK across the Atlantic. In other words, the muscle car that America did not quite know what to do with is now being handed […]

Renault 4 Plein Sud: the R4 puts its sunglasses back on

June 11, 2026

Renault has found a new trick for the electric age: making a sensible small SUV look as if it has just escaped to the Riviera. The Renault 4 E-Tech Electric Plein Sud is not a full convertible, and it is certainly not as bare-legged as the Renault 4 Plein Air of the sixties. But with […]

H. Essers opens waterway terminal to keep 260 trucks off the road

June 10, 2026

The Belgian-Limburg logistics group H. Essers has opened a new inland waterway container terminal in Bergen op Zoom, the Netherlands. Thanks to its location outside the dike, inland waterway containers can now remain on the water from start to finish between the ports of Antwerp and Rotterdam. The new terminal has a capacity of 250,000 […]

Stellantis starts robotaxi pilot in Luxembourg

June 10, 2026

Stellantis has teamed up with Bolt and Pony.ai to start offering robotaxi rides in Luxembourg. Not the city, but the whole country. Adding to other pilots, ranging from Zagreb over Munich to London, 2026 is unfolding as the year when robotaxis finally land in Europe.  Luxembourg is a small country, but apparently it has a […]

Finnish fraud: miracle solid-state battery turns out to be false

June 09, 2026

It was the battery claim of the decade. Donut Lab introduced solid-state cells that shocked the battery world with their efficiency and blistering charging times. Now, it turns out that it was just a decent liquid lithium-ion cell with an ambitious press release. Finnish financial and criminal authorities are reportedly looking into the matter. Alarm […]

Citroën boss: “Electric 2CV will be deliberately not over-engineered”

June 09, 2026

Citroën’s CEO, Xavier Chardon, confirmed in an interview with German fleet publication Autoflotte that the new 2CV will make its debut at the Paris Motor Show this October. The concept, he says, will be “very close to the production model.” Sales follow in 2028, or exactly eighty years after the original premiered at the same […]

VW ID. Polo, Cupra Raval and Skoda Epiq roll off production lines (update)

June 09, 2026

The Volkswagen Group’s affordable EV offensive went into production. Last week, the first ID.Polo, Cupra Raval rolled off the line at the Seat plant in Martorell, near Barcelona. Skoda just confirmed production of the new Epiq has started at Volkswagen Navarra in Pamplona. These are the first two members of VW’s Electric Urban Car Family. […]

BYD and Nio caught in new US-China security clash

June 09, 2026

The Pentagon has put some of China’s best-known technology and mobility companies on its Section 1260H list of “Chinese military companies”, adding a new geopolitical layer to the global expansion of Chinese car brands. The updated list includes Alibaba, Baidu, BYD, Nio, and battery maker CALB, alongside firms active in lidar, robotics, solar energy, semiconductors, […]

Airlines fly into record demand, but profits lose altitude

June 08, 2026

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has nearly halved its profit forecasts for airlines. This is primarily due to higher fuel prices, but also because the war in the Middle East has severely disrupted flights through aviation hubs such as Dubai. Nevertheless, IATA estimates that this year the number of passengers will exceed 5 billion […]

Flanders puts €119 million on the table to keep Volvo in Ghent

June 08, 2026

To support Belgium’s last car factory, the Flemish government offers a subsidy package of up to €119 million to Volvo Cars. The offer was sent as an official letter to the headquarters in Gothenburg. Will this address the root of the problem, or does it just buy time? As Volvo gears up for its new […]

Nissan Sunderland explores contract manufacturing for Chinese Chery

June 05, 2026

Nissan and Chery have officially confirmed they are negotiating a potential contract manufacturing agreement for Chery passenger vehicles at Nissan’s Sunderland, UK, plant. Nissan had previously announced plans to reduce its own production at the factory to a single production line. As early as April, an unconfirmed report by the Financial Times claimed that Nissan […]

BMW keeps electric Mini production out of Oxford for now

June 04, 2026

BMW Group is reportedly reconsidering plans to electrify Mini’s Oxford plant amid looming trade barriers and rising costs, casting doubt over a medium-term modernization of the site. In 2023, the BMW Group announced plans to produce two new all-electric Mini models at its Oxford plant from 2026, with a full transition to battery-electric vehicles by […]

Fiat Grizzly: bare necessities for big families

June 04, 2026

Fiat unveiled the first official images of the Grizzly and Grizzly Fastback. Two compact SUVs that represent one family with global ambitions. These are far from niche products. This is Fiat going mainstream to every corner of the world market. Two bodies, one platform In wildlife environments, the scenario is different, but in the case […]

ICCT: ‘PHEVs emit 5 times more CO2 in real-world conditions’

June 04, 2026

A study by the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) shows that plug-in hybrids in Europe emit, on average, five times more CO₂ than official test values suggest. According to the study, the gap between real-world and certified emissions is particularly large for plug-in hybrids compared to other powertrain types, and continues to widen. In […]

Chinese MG plans to build 120,000 cars a year in Spain

June 03, 2026

MG Motor, the passenger car brand of China’s SAIC Group, plans to establish its first factory in the EU in Galicia, north-western Spain. The investment of around 200 million euros is set to become a key milestone in MG’s ‘in Europe, for Europe’ growth strategy. With the project, which was initially announced by the regional […]

Chinese TikTok car will not be about powertrain but cockpit 

June 03, 2026

Despite earlier denials of the rumors, TikTok’s parent company is preparing to launch a car in its home country, China. It will be a crossover targeting the youthful audience typically active on social media platforms. The car itself will be manufactured by Seres, the Chinese automaker that’s also behind Huawei’s Aito brand. Five months ago, […]

MG introduces EV premium models IM5 and IM6 in the EU

June 03, 2026

Following their launch in the United Kingdom, Norway, and Switzerland last year, MG Motor will also introduce its two fully electric IM models with 800-volt architecture in Belgium, France, Germany, and the Netherlands. The electric MG IM5 saloon and MG IM6 crossover SUV are scheduled to arrive in July. Prices have not yet been announced. […]

Battery worries: Renault asks Verkor to “revise its trajectory”

June 02, 2026

Renault Group is a shareholder and, temporarily, the only client of the French battery-cell producer Verkor, and on Monday, it severely criticized the company’s growing lack of competitiveness and the 18-month delay in starting production. Renault asks Verkor “to revise its trajectory” and ” to come with credible governance”. “We will stay a partner of […]

All foreign license plates are once again being ticketed in Brussels

June 02, 2026

For years, parking fines for vehicles with foreign license plates were not always collected in Brussels. That situation is now coming to an end thanks to the introduction of a new international collection system. Parking.brussels is engaging a specialized collection agency to address these violations. Of the total number of parking tickets issued in Brussels, […]

Polestar plugs into bidirectional charging with test pilot

June 02, 2026

Vehicle-to-grid has been “just around the corner” for some years now. Many EV owners are eagerly awaiting it, as second-generation EVs almost all offer the technology as a standard feature. This week, several announcements arrived at once – in Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands – that suggest the corner has finally been turned. The latest […]

BMW goes local: Neue Klasse enters China’s EV pressure cooker

May 30, 2026

BMW’s presence at Auto China 2026 combines a production milestone with a product reset. As the company celebrates its seven-millionth vehicle, it is also using Beijing for the world premiere of the long-wheelbase BMW iX3 and BMW i3. It’s the first Neue Klasse models developed specifically “in China, for China and with China”. The broader […]

Chinese brand, Li Auto, also arrives in Europe

May 29, 2026

The Chinese car manufacturer Li Auto is coming to Europe to launch its i6 medium SUV in the second quarter of the year. The Mega electric minivan will become available in right-hand drive markets by year-end. By doing so, Li Auto is attempting to counter fierce domestic competition by expanding its overseas footprint, a move […]

New train connection: Ghent/Antwerp to Paris and Amsterdam by GoVolta

May 29, 2026

The Dutch railway company GoVolta will launch a daily train service between Amsterdam and Paris on December 14, with stops at Antwerp Central and Ghent-Sint-Pieters. For Ghent, this marks the return of a direct train connection to Paris since the discontinuation of the Thalys service in 2015. GoVolta promises fares starting at €10 for train […]

Volkswagen seriously reduces overcapacity in Germany

May 29, 2026

Volkswagen agreed with Germany’s IG Metall union at the end of 2024 to cut domestic production capacity by more than 700,000 vehicles and has now largely completed the reduction. Meanwhile, Xpeng confirmed talks with Volkswagen about using a plant in Europe. By the end of 2024, tensions between Volkswagen’s management and its workforce had reached […]

Volvo makes charging at Tesla’s network easier for its drivers

May 28, 2026

Volvo EV owners in Europe are getting a meaningful charging improvement while traveling longer distances. Starting in the autumn of this year, drivers will be able to access, initiate, and pay for sessions at Tesla Supercharger stations without the need for a separate app. No, Tesla allowing rival brands to its Supercharger network in Europe […]

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