January 29, 2025
Persistent rumors exist that Mitsubishi Motors, partly owned by Nissan, will not join the new holding Nissan-Honda. Mitsubishi seems to be planning to relaunch an EV in North America. Meanwhile, the Honda-Nissan deal faces serious problems in China. Although Nissan is still Mitsubishi Motors’ biggest shareholder, it seems the company is not ready to join […]
January 28, 2025
China superluxury brand Hongqi has unveiled the Tiangong 05, a pure electric sedan the size of a BMW i5 and the second model in its Tiangong series, which is compatible with battery swapping technology. A market launch is scheduled for later this year, but whether the model will be exported to Europe remains unconfirmed. The […]
January 28, 2025
Cadillac is launching the Lyriq-V, a sporty version of its Lyriq electric model. The 459 kW all-wheel drive variant will launch primarily in Anglo-Saxon markets such as the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. It is not known yet which other markets could follow. The Lyriq-V is the first all-electric vehicle in Cadillac’s Performance Series, […]
January 28, 2025
Rumors have it that Volkswagen could enter into a joint venture with a Chinese car manufacturer in Europe to produce the latter’s cars in its underutilized plants. Two top managers have spoken out in favor of such a move. Audi boss Gernot Döllner is apparently open to offering surplus capacity in VW plants to Chinese […]
January 27, 2025
After unveiling the Chinese version, Tesla officially introduced the new Model Y Juniper in Belgium. A series of upgrades are introduced to safeguard the SUV’s leading position in sales. Deliveries are set to begin in March, as the Grünheide factory in Germany has already commenced production. But Belgian prices show a steep 9,000 euros increase […]
January 27, 2025
Shipments of the Voyah Courage, Dongfeng Motor’s premium electric SUV, have officially kicked off. The first batch of vehicles has left China for Europe. The car is Voyah’s first global EV and will debut in Norway before launching in other European markets. The first batch of vehicles departed for Norway via the China-Europe freight train, […]
January 27, 2025
A day before the deadline, three Chinese EV makers, BYD, Geely, and SAIC, and the China Chamber of Commerce (CME), filed challenges at the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in Luxembourg against the tariffs the EU is imposing on electric cars made in China. At the last minute, BMW and Tesla joined […]
January 25, 2025
The European Union is developing a unified subsidy program to bolster its struggling electric vehicle market and counter China’s growing influence in the sector. European Commissioner for the Green Transition Teresa Ribera confirmed the initiative, which German Chancellor Olaf Scholz originally proposed a few months ago. The 6% drop in EV sales in Europe last […]
January 24, 2025
BMW Group CEO Oliver Zipse will not extend his contract beyond the summer of next year when it expires. The German Manager Magazin reported that he will stop mid-next year, citing a source familiar with the matter. “There will be no further contract extension,” the source is quoted. Zipse, who will be 62 by then […]
January 24, 2025
According to the Belgian business newspaper De Tijd, Austrian energy and chemical giant OMV has advanced plans to build a refinery in the port of Antwerp. At the Kallo plant, waste streams such as used frying oil and other vegetable or animal fats from the food and agricultural sectors could be converted into sustainable aviation […]
January 24, 2025
At the Brussels Motor Show, we spoke with a couple of top managers at Stellantis. The group caused a small earthquake at the end of last year when CEO Tavares was suddenly ousted. It was the last devastating event in a very incidental 2024, resulting in fewer sales, loss of market share, and dwindling profits. […]
January 23, 2025
According to the Chinese bus industry website Chinabuses.org, Chinese manufacturers exported more than 15,000 ‘New Energy’ buses in 2024, including electric, plug-in hybrid, and hydrogen fuel cell buses. This represents an increase of 28.33% over 2023, with a sharp upswing in December 2024 alone. BYD is, like with new-energy passenger cars, the biggest manufacturer and […]
January 23, 2025
Swedish-Chinese electric performance carmaker Polestar announced its long-anticipated market entry into France. It’s a key milestone in the company’s global expansion, as a legal dispute with Citroën over logo rights long banned the brand’s sales and operations. Polestar plans to begin operations in the French market in the summer of 2025, marking Polestar’s 27th market […]
January 22, 2025
Renault could introduce two electric cars in India in the next two years. After evaluating an EV akin to Dacia’s Spring for several years, the company is considering larger models. According to a report from the Indian website Autocar Professional, Renault will resume launching new cars in India in 2026 after a five-year hiatus. In […]
January 22, 2025
In 2024, new car registrations rose slightly, increasing by 0.8% to around 10.6 million units. Spain continued to show resilience with a solid 7.1% growth rate. In contrast, declines were observed in France (-3.2%), Germany (-1%), and Italy, with a slight drop of 0.5%. In December 2024, new EU car registrations rose by 5.1%. Spain […]
January 21, 2025
Upon returning to office Monday, President Donald Trump wasted no time moving against one of his most frequent targets on the campaign trail: electric vehicles and the Biden administration policies that contributed to their rise. On the first day, he had already signed many executive orders to reverse course from his predecessor. The future will […]
January 20, 2025
D’Ieteren Energy, the new energy arm of Belgian auto importer D’Ieteren, is steping into hypercharging with the unveiling of its innovative FusionCharger. This cutting-edge DC charging station, developed by Huawei, leverages liquid-cooled technology to deliver ultrafast charging capabilities and keep peak power available regardless the number of charging cars. The FusionCharger was under demonstration at […]
January 20, 2025
Both Renault and its low-cost daughter, Dacia, have increased their sales in 2024. The Renault Group sold 2,264 million cars worldwide (+1.3%), and two-thirds of these 1,59 million) were sold in Europe. Dacia sold 676,340 cars, 2.7% more than last year. Meanwhile, the brand has announced its first EV for 2027. Those growth percentages may […]
January 20, 2025
BYD’s new flagship sedan Han L has been officially unveiled in its homecountry China, alongside its sister model, the Tang L. Equipped with a new e-motor both models share their technology and aim at top performances with 1,086 hp on tap and a 0-100 km/h sprint to rival the plaid versions of the Model S […]
January 20, 2025
Yet another EV startup that has to throw in the towel: American ‘lifestyle’ EV-maker Canoo. Once hopefully mentioned as the potential savior of Dutch VDL Nedcar in Born, it announced last week it had filed a voluntary petition for relief under Chapter 7 of the US Bankruptcy Code and stopped all activities on the fly. […]
January 20, 2025
More than 300,000 people visited the Brussels Motor Show between 10 and 19 January this year. The organizers consider this a great success and are already speculating on a new edition in 2026. With these visitor numbers, the BMS is the largest indoor event in Belgium. Frank Van Gool, the CEO of the organizer federation […]
January 17, 2025
During a business update on Polestar’s financial performance, CEO Michael Lohscheller shed some light on the upcoming challenges and solutions for the underperforming car maker. As a replacement for the 2, the new compact SUV 7 will be built in Europe. To sustain its U.S. business, the company will also navigate around the Biden ban […]
January 17, 2025
On Thursday, the car manufacturing group Stellantis announced that it delivered 12% fewer vehicles in 2024. This was mainly caused by a 25% decline in shipments in North America. In the last quarter of 2024, Stellantis shipped 9% fewer vehicles to its dealers, distributors, or directly to clients. In the third quarter, the figure was […]
January 17, 2025
In a letter to EU leaders, the newly appointed European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) President, Ola Källenius (also CEO of Mercedes-Benz), outlines the automotive sector priorities to ensure future competitiveness and drive decarbonization. The Mercedes boss came to the Brussels Motor Show to clarify his views on the matter and explain the challenges the European […]
January 16, 2025
Outgoing US President Joe Biden presented a farewell gift this week. He announced sweeping new restrictions, banning Chinese and Russian technology in connected vehicles over national security concerns. The new regulations will prohibit the sale, import, and use of hardware, software, and complete vehicles incorporating such technologies in the US. The White House stated that […]
January 16, 2025
Volvo has set a new sales record in Belgium, selling 24.221 cars, a growth of 13.6% compared with 2023, and lifting the brand to sixth position in the top ten most popular brands. That growth was ‘fueled’ primarily by its electric cars, with fully electric BEVs accounting for 69%. Adding the plug-in hybrids, the figure […]
January 15, 2025
The Volkswagen Group saw a challenging 2024, reporting a 2.3% decline in global deliveries across all its brands, totaling 9.03 million vehicles. While the company narrowly achieved its target of 9 million units, the drop reflects difficulties in key markets, particularly China, and slower-than-expected growth in electric vehicles. Volkswagen’s sales in China, its largest market, […]
January 15, 2025
Webasto, a major automotive supplier from Germany specializing in roofs, batteries, heating, and cooling systems, has appointed Johann Stohner as its Chief Restructuring Officer to secure the company’s future amid worsening economic conditions and a growing debt pile. This move is a direct result of the ongoing crisis in the European automotive industry. With slowing […]
January 15, 2025
Febelauto will celebrate its 25th anniversary in 2025. It is a Belgian organization committed to the sustainable recycling of cars and high-voltage batteries from electrified vehicles. Since its start in 1999, Febelauto has organized the recycling of some 2.6 million vehicles in Belgium, recuperating 2.5 million tons of (raw) materials. In 2023, 6,662 end-of-live HEV […]
January 15, 2025
Even though electric cars are omnipresent at the popular Brussels Motor Show (BMS), one of the few remaining in Europe, Belgians are getting more cold feet about buying an EV. Deloitte’s Global Automotive Consumer Study, which is to be published on February 6th, shows that 45% prefer a car with a pure combustion engine (ICE), […]
January 15, 2025
Toyota, the world’s number one car manufacturer, has been revealed as the most prominent auto industry funder of climate deniers in the US Congress, according to a report released last week by Public Citizen. Meanwhile, it is spending a lot of money and influence lobbying against EV regulations. Public Citizen’s report, “Driving Denial: How Toyota’s […]
January 14, 2025
Despite all negative coverage in recent times, worldwide sales of electric vehicles grew by 25% in 2024. According to data from the British company Rho Motion, an electric vehicle research consultancy, 17.1 million battery-electric vehicles were sold last year. There’s a noticeable difference between regions. The progress in China was evident (11 million electric vehicles, […]
January 14, 2025
While most carmakers choose ChatGPT as the digital assistant for the infotainment experience, Mercedes will embark on Google’s new Automotive AI Agent from the upcoming CLA. This should provide enhanced dialogues based on the tech company’s extended location data from its navigation maps and Waze. Google has officially unveiled its new Automotive AI Agent, a […]
January 14, 2025
Sports carmaker Porsche is the next German car brand to report a sharp decline in Chinese deliveries. It highlights the mounting challenges German luxury automakers face in the world’s largest car market. In 2024, Porsche delivered 56,887 vehicles in China, a staggering 28 percent drop from the 79,283 units sold in 2023. This marks the […]
January 14, 2025
The BMW Group maintained its position in 2024 with 426,594 all-electric vehicles delivered and BEV sales growth of 13.5%. The BMW brand also achieved serious BEV growth with 368,523 electric cars (+11.6%). Meanwhile, the Group is launching a closed-loop battery recycling ecosystem with SK tes, a leading innovative technology lifecycle solutions provider. Even though the […]
January 13, 2025
German luxury automaker Mercedes-Benz saw a slight dip in global sales and a big one in electric vehicle demand in 2024. The decline is primarily attributed to weaker demand in key regions like China, the automaker’s largest single market, and a sharp slump in European battery-electric vehicle sales. As for 2025, the car manufacturer hardly […]
January 13, 2025
The Brussels Motor Show (BMS) saw a blitz start regarding visitors this weekend. Almost 80,000 visitors assembled in the Brussels Expo exhibition halls at the Heysel on Saturday and Sunday. It is already clear that the disappearance of the Geneva Motor Show has a positive effect on the Brussels Motor Show. Last Friday was press […]
January 10, 2025
With the Geneva Motor Show disappearing, the jury of the European Car of the Year (COTY) has once again decided to announce the winner at the Brussels Motor Show, as it did in 2023. This year, there were not seven but eight finalist cars to choose from by the 60 jury members, all European car […]
January 10, 2025
Beleaguered Swedish battery manufacturer Northvolt has received a critical endorsement from its shareholders to continue operations in its home country. A vote in favor underscores shareholder confidence from important partners like Volkswagen as the battery supplier tries to restructure and seeks additional funding to keep its business afloat. Northvolt, once a beacon of Europe’s aspirations […]
January 10, 2025
Chinese-Swedish EV maker Polestar reported an uptick in fourth-quarter sales and order intake for 2024, signaling a potential turnaround amid a turbulent year. However, despite tripling its lineup, the company sold fewer vehicles over the full year than in 2023. For the final quarter of 2024 – in many countries, a strong sales rally before […]
January 09, 2025
We recently gave you an overview of the December registrations in the Belux and the success of the EVs; today, we received the entire market overview for 2024. The most popular new car in 2024 was the BMW X1, and the best seller on the second-hand market is still the Volkswagen Golf. Here’s a quick […]
January 08, 2025
Honda took center stage at the 2025 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) with the debut of its groundbreaking 0 Series electric vehicles, the 0 SUV and 0 Saloon, set to hit production in 2026. Alongside these futuristic prototypes, Honda announced its first proprietary vehicle operating system, ASIMO OS, named after its legendary humanoid robot. The announcements […]
January 08, 2025
Sony’s first foray into the auto industry, the Afeela 1 electric saloon developed with Honda, will launch in mid-2026 for a steep price tag of $102,900. A slightly more affordable ‘Origin’ version will follow in 2027 for $89,900. Pre-orders have already been opened, but only in California. After a prototype in 2020 with the Vision-S […]
January 08, 2025
Total Volvo sales across all drive types rose by 8% in 2024, from 708,716 to 763,389 vehicles, an all-time record. This is primarily due to the positive development (+33%) in electrified vehicles – with BEVs growing more strongly than plug-in hybrids. By contrast, sales of mild hybrids/combustion engines fell by 7% to 410,602 vehicles. If […]
January 08, 2025
As the 2025 EU emissions targets draw closer, automakers hastily form alliances and pool carbon credits to evade potentially billions in fines. Electric vehicle pioneers like Tesla and Polestar are taking advantage of their zero-emission lineups by selling surplus credits to manufacturers. Hesitating carmakers are allowed to join until the beginning of February. Under the […]
January 08, 2025
At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, BMW shows the close-to-production version of the new BMW iDrive, its future display and operating concept that will be introduced across all new BMW models from the end of 2025. The software underpinning it all is the new BMW Operating System X, the intelligence hub behind […]
January 07, 2025
In 2024, 127,922 new EVs were registered in Belgium and Luxembourg, which is 37.3% more than the year before and a new record. Individual buyers more than doubled their EV purchase: +104.7%. On the second-hand market, however, an oversupply of EVs results in residual values that are too low. Filip Rylant, spokesperson of sector federation […]
January 07, 2025
Leapmotor, the Chinese electric vehicle start-up partially backed by Stellantis, is gearing up to launch its newest family member in the B-series. After unveiling the B10 SUV at the Paris Motor Show, the brand is preparing the B01 sedan for launch in mid-2025. The brand has also unveiled a longer-range version of the C16, an […]
January 07, 2025
Car manufacturers Volkswagen and Xpeng are extending their partnership. In addition to offering a joint platform for electric cars, they now want to “jointly build one of the largest super-fast charging networks in China.” The two parties have now signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU), giving each other access to their respective charging networks. According […]
January 06, 2025
The UK automotive industry achieved a record-breaking year for fully electric vehicle sales in 2024. However, electric cars accounted for just 19.6% of total new car sales despite the milestone, falling short of the government-mandated target of 22%, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). While the sales figure of 328,000 units […]
January 06, 2025
According to the latest annual ‘Most Searched Cars report‘ from Australian insurer Compare the Market AU, Toyota is the most sought-after brand on the internet. Tesla slowly closes in on the number one spot, narrowing the gap to Toyota, while BMW stays in third position. Toyota was the most searched car brand in 64 nations, […]
January 03, 2025
In the Netherlands, car sales slightly increased (+3.1%) in 2024 thanks to a final sprint. In France, the market is receding, and sales of electric cars are stagnating, in stark contrast to hybrid ones. Denmark continues its progress toward electrification, and Norway remains the absolute champion for electric cars worldwide. The Netherlands In 2024, 381,227 […]
January 03, 2025
According to Febiac and the federal government service Mobility & Transport data, 23,437 new cars were registered in Belgium and Luxembourg in December. That’s 8,9% less than last year. The cumulated registrations for 2024 resulted in 448,277 cars, and that’s 6.0% less than in 2023, when 476,675 units were registered. Other noticeable facts: the ratio […]
December 31, 2024
The Dodge Charger Daytona EV will try to live up to its name as the ‘World’s first and only electric muscle car’ as it hits new markets outside North America. Dodge’s new electric Charger is officially headed overseas, aiming for a more significant global market share. In March, Dodge finally took the sheets off the […]
December 31, 2024
In 2026, the most important federations and associations in the Belgian automotive and mobility sector will move to a building in Diegem, on the Flemish outskirts of Brussels, under a single roof. The building, offering more than 7,000 square meters of space, was acquired by the importer federation Febiac (bought from building contractor Ghelamco). All […]
December 30, 2024
Japanese business tycoon and former chairman of Suzuki Motor Corporation Osamu Suzuki died at 94, the company announced on Friday. He had been president, chairman, or chief executive of Suzuki Motor Corporation since 1978. Suzuki died on Christmas day due to malignant lymphoma, according to a statement from the company. In February 2021, the company […]
December 27, 2024
Leapmotor plans to make waves at the 101st Brussels Motor Show in January 2025 by unveiling its latest innovation: the C10 REEV (Range Extender Electric Vehicle). This marks the first introduction of Leapmotor’s REEV technology in Europe as the company seeks to expand its presence in the growing EV and hybrid markets. Leapmotor enlarges its […]
December 27, 2024
China is firmly on track to sell more ‘electric’ cars—that is, EVs and plug-in hybrids—than pure traditional gas cars with internal combustion engines (ICE) in 2025, reaching its 50% electric target a decade before the deadline the government had set by 2035. According to The Financial Times (FT) analysis, so-called New Energy Vehicle (NEV) sales […]
December 27, 2024
Construction at BYD’s highly anticipated EV manufacturing plant in Salvador, Brazil, was abruptly stopped this week following alarming allegations from Brazilian authorities. According to the Public Ministry of Labor (MPT), 163 Chinese workers were found laboring in “slavery-like conditions” at the site. The workers are not direct employees of the Chinese carmaker but belong to […]
December 26, 2024
The Government has invited the UK automotive and charging industries to shape the UK’s transition to zero-emission vehicles. On Tuesday, 24 December, Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander launched a consultation to ask industry views on the 2030 phase-out date for new purely gasoline and diesel cars and make the transition to zero-emission vehicles a success. The […]
