January 25, 2024
“Despite lofty ambitions and strict requirements, most passenger cars on EU roads still emit the same quantity of CO2 as 12 years ago,” the European Court of Auditors (ECA) said in a statement. A top EU auditor reported on Wednesday that sales of electric cars in the European Union are not growing fast enough to […]
January 25, 2024
It has been over two years since we heard anything about Apple’s decade-long ‘Titan Project’ to launch its own fully autonomous electric car that wouldn’t even feature a steering wheel anymore. But that won’t happen, insiders told the Bloomberg news agency, as the new shift is to a somewhat ‘common’ EV with the driver still […]
January 25, 2024
Through the inadvertence of people working for the car manufacturer’s official web channels, ‘official’ pictures of the production version of the Wagoneer S EV already leaked long before Jeep was ready to show them to us. Jeep had already teased its first-ever EV for the American market last week, but the short video only really […]
January 24, 2024
The iconic Golf is celebrating its 50th birthday this year, and Volkswagen is launching an enhanced version of its bestseller to mark the anniversary. To date, more than 37 million Golfs have been sold across eight generations. The updated Golf has a next-generation infotainment system, a more intuitive operating concept, a sharper front and rear […]
January 24, 2024
Toyota Chairman and former CEO Akio Toyoda believes battery-electric vehicles will have a maximum market share of 30%, with the rest taken up by hybrids, hydrogen fuel cells, and ICE cars. “With a billion people in the world living without electricity, limiting their choices and ability to travel by making expensive cars isn’t the answer,” […]
January 23, 2024
Stellantis has fully unveiled its STLA Large platform. Designed for large electric vehicles, it forms the basis for future cars in the D and E segments for the global markets. However, it is not a purely electric platform, which has a reason. This will be a pivotal year for the strictness of emissions regulations with […]
January 23, 2024
Japanese Yamaha Motors, a big name in marine engines – outboard and inboard – has fully acquired German electric outboard motor pioneer and world leader Torqeedo from Deutz. German ‘historic’ combustion engine manufacturer Deutz AG is more into burning hydrogen now, focusing on construction equipment and agricultural machinery, among others. It says in a press […]
January 23, 2024
With the ‘Neue Klasse’ or ‘New Class,’ BMW will launch a new vehicle architecture for the electric future in 2025. The Munich-based company has a tight model schedule: six model series are to use the New Class base within two years. More details have become available. BMW already confirmed in March 2023 that six model […]
January 23, 2024
“The growing demand for key materials can increasingly be met by technological advances, battery recycling, and global cooperation,” said Chinese battery giant CATL’s CEO Robin Zeng, attending the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos. “At the end of the day, when we achieve 100% electric cars, there will be a very tiny amount of […]
January 22, 2024
Lucid has found a replacement for Michael van der Sande as Managing Director for its European operations. Coming from Polestar, the German Alexander Lutz is taking over. He reports directly to Martin Winterhoff, the company’s current COO for Europe. Alexander Lutz previously served as the head of Polestar’s operations in Italy. He was promoted to […]
January 22, 2024
Volvo Car Gent celebrates a stellar year as it nailed a total production of 230 527 cars in 2023, marking a significant 19,4% increase from the previous year’s output of 192 991 vehicles. It’s the first time in four years that the factory has surpassed the figure of 200 000 cars per year. In 2024, […]
January 22, 2024
Ford Motor has announced it will slow down production of its F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck to one shift at its Michigan Rouge Electric Vehicle Center, starting in April, to adjust to a slower uptake expected in 2024. Meanwhile, Ford will add a third crew at the Michigan Assembly Plant to increase the popular Bronco […]
January 22, 2024
European Car Manufacturers Association ACEA published the sales figures in Europe last year. In 2023, the EU car market concluded with a solid 13,9% expansion compared to 2022, reaching a full-year volume of 10,5 million units. All EU markets grew in the past year except for Hungary (-3,4%). Double-digit gains were recorded in most markets, […]
January 19, 2024
Starting in January 2024, Valorauto, a joint venture between Stellantis and recycling specialist Galloo, will expand its end-of-life vehicle recycling service to private owners. This service offers a free and responsible solution to the end-of-life management of vehicles weighing under 3,5 tons, for both passenger cars and light commercial vehicles (LCVs), regardless of the brand […]
January 18, 2024
After four years of decline, the sales of Renault group are going upwards again (+9%). In 2023, the group sold 2 235 000 vehicles worldwide. Sales to individual buyers represent 65% of total sales in the five most important European markets. In a press release on Wednesday, the Group says to be “in a dynamic […]
January 18, 2024
With the immediate appointment of Mark Zwaaneveld (62) as co-CEO, Belgian bus and touring car builder Van Hool is getting a shrewd crisis manager in-house to put the company back on track after four years of doom. Zwaaneveld will focus on a restructuring plan, while Filip Van Hool (59), the founding family’s third generation, runs […]
January 18, 2024
The administrative court of Schleswig-Holstein in Germany has once again declared that the update for diesel engines Volkswagen proposed in the aftermath of dieselgate is also illegal. The homologation by the official German car agency Kraftfahrt Bundesamt (KBA) is invalid. The German NGO Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH) has presented the update to the court and welcomes […]
January 17, 2024
German car rental company Sixt is to buy up to 250 000 cars for its rental fleets in Europe and North America from Stellantis, the group behind brands such as Peugeot, Citroën, Opel, Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Fiat, and Jeep. The order involves several billion euros, although both companies are not naming precise amounts. The move […]
January 17, 2024
The French micro-mobility specialist Ligier will import K-Ryole’s electric transport solutions to Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands. The purpose is to offer even more zero-emission micro-mobility solutions for building and logistics. K-Ryole is a French manufacturer of innovative, electrically supported bike trailers and trolleys, especially suited for last-mile delivery. The bike trailers are mainly used […]
January 17, 2024
From January 17 to 21, Brussels will host the Brussels Auto Show (BAS) at the Heysel. This new formula from Dutch organizer 402 Automotive fills the gap left by the canceled Brussels Motor Show and focuses on car enthusiasts rather than the general public. On the halls’ 60 000 square meters, visitors will have chances […]
January 17, 2024
Wednesday is the moment of truth for 2 000 employees of Dutch contract builder VDL Nedcar in Born, as the company has summoned everybody to show up and get to know the final end day of their work. Only 474 will escape the hatchet. The employees are informed department by department and can get answers […]
January 16, 2024
Maserati gains a new showroom in Belgium with Maserati Center Antwerp, a new concept store built in collaboration with D’Ieteren. The Belgian VW importer is expanding its business into the luxury segment, including creating dealerships of brands outside the Volkswagen Group portfolio. D’Ieteren may be best known as the Belgian importer of VW Group brands […]
January 16, 2024
The future Lancia Ypsilon has been photographed in all its glory and without camouflage during a promotional photoshoot in Italy. The new model will surely come with a fully electric variant and will be launched later this year. The first new Lancia for over a decade showcases a new brand design inspired by the recent […]
January 16, 2024
BMW chief financial officer Walter Mertl said in a recent media roundtable BMW has passed the tipping point for combustion engine vehicle sales and now generates most sales growth from electric cars. “The tipping point for the combustion engine is already there,” the CFO said, adding that, in his view, it had been passed last […]
January 16, 2024
Lufthansa Group plans to hire around 13 000 new employees this year. These include pilots, cabin crew, technicians, and IT specialists, according to the German airline group, which also has airlines Eurowings, Brussels Airlines, Swiss, and Austrian Airlines. According to Aviation24, at least 380 of them will be recruited for Brussels Airlines. Lufthansa is looking […]
January 15, 2024
Volkswagen has published its Group-wide sales figures for the past year. According to the figures, the Volkswagen Group delivered 771 100 fully electric vehicles worldwide in 2023. Across all drive types, Volkswagen achieved total sales of 9,24 million vehicles in 2023, an increase of 21% compared to 2022. The 771 100 fully electric vehicles delivered […]
January 15, 2024
Since Monday, production at the Ghent factory of Volvo Car has come to a standstill, as supplies got exhausted due to container ships having to choose an alternative 10-day longer route to avoid the Houthi attacks in the Red Sea. Volvo hopes to be able to restart on Thursday. Earlier, Tesla told Reuters it would […]
January 15, 2024
Kia has shown its vision of the future of mobility at CES 2024 in Las Vegas, with a modular ‘Platform Beyond Vehicle’ (PBV) that takes another stab at creating a continuously customizable vehicle. But this is no simple fantasy: the first model, the Kia PV5, will enter mass production in 2025. Kia’s Platform Beyond Vehicle […]
January 15, 2024
After signing last year a contract with Qbuzz, a public transport operator in the Netherlands, to deliver 54 battery-electric buses of its latest type A battery-electric city bus, Belgian bus builder Van Hool may deliver another 112 before the end of this year. That’s a gift from the gods, as up to 65% of the […]
January 15, 2024
The French start-up company Tiamat Energy is planning a factory for sodium-ion battery cells with an annual capacity of 5 GWh in northern France and is receiving financial support from Stellantis, among others. Tiamat Energy is a sodium-ion cell developer spun off from the French National Research Centre CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique). […]
January 12, 2024
According to a new report from the International Energy Agency (IEA), renewable energy production capacity has increased by 50% in the past year. The IEA says the increase is faster than ever in the last thirty years. Due to the rapid growth, there is a real chance that global capacity will triple by 2030. Last […]
January 12, 2024
After a brief flirtation with warmer months, the North American International Auto Show NAIAS), also known as the Detroit Auto Show, is returning to its original January exhibition month. Rod Alberts, executive director of the Detroit Auto Dealers Association (DADA), told the Detroit Free Press on Thursday that the 2025 Detroit auto show will begin […]
January 12, 2024
Harald Seidel, President of DAF Trucks, takes over from Martin Lundstedt (Volvo Group) as the new chairman of the Commercial Vehicle Board of the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) for 2024. He will be in charge of defending the truckmakers’ interests in Europe. The ACEA unites the European vehicle manufacturers, including commercial vehicles. Luca de […]
January 12, 2024
Since September last year, Wolfgang Bremm von Kleinsorgen (52) has been CEO of Mercedes-Benz Benelux. He took the alternative Mercedes motor show event ‘Defining Class Star Days’ in his own headquarters as an opportunity to talk to the outside world for the first time. The new CEO originates from Aachen, Germany, and knows Belgium fairly […]
January 11, 2024
By the end of 2027, BMW will no longer manufacture combustion-engined models in the plant in Munich near its headquarters. The premium automaker introduces the production of the revolutionary New Class in 2026 and will gradually fade out the ICE version as the line will be reserved exclusively for the electric range. BMW broke the […]
January 11, 2024
At CES 2024 in Las Vegas, Vietnamese electric carmaker VinFast revealed two new models. The VF Wild, a mid-size zero-emission pickup truck, wants to challenge the F-150 Lightning and Rivian RR1T, while the small VF3 takes on a more global role as an affordable two-door ‘mini-eSUV’. Indeed, the VF Wild is the more noticeable of […]
January 11, 2024
Honda has decided to start again from a blank sheet of paper for its next-generation electric vehicles. The 0-Series concept cars, the Saloon and Space-Hub, represent this new approach with a light and nimble design to bring back the joy of driving in the EV era. We should be able to discover the results in […]
January 10, 2024
The BMW Group sold a total of 376 183 all-electric vehicles in 2023. That is 74,4% more than in 2022, with the BMW core brand achieving even stronger growth thanks to several new models, while Mini only saw a slight increase. In 2022, the BMW Group sold 215 755 fully electric vehicles of the BMW […]
January 10, 2024
As reported by the German car magazine Auto, Motor und Sport, customers eager to get their hands on the ID.2 will have to exercise patience, waiting almost two and a half years before significant deliveries commence.At the CES in Las Vegas, VW managers now denied the delay. Currently, Volkswagen’s cheapest battery-powered model costs roughly 40 […]
January 09, 2024
Yanfeng, a Shanghai-based multinational automotive supplier specializing in interior components, has presented its vision of the EV interior of the future at CES 2024 in Las Vegas. The Smart Cabin Seat integrates most controls, entertainment, safety systems, and even climate control directly into the seat. Yanfeng claims this Smart Cabin Seat results from multiple studies […]
January 09, 2024
Germany has been given the green light by the European Commission to allocate 902 million euros in subsidies to a battery plant by Sweden’s Northvolt in Heide, in the state of Schleswig-Holstein. The plant in northern Germany, positioned to produce the cleanest batteries for EVs in continental Europe with a capacity of up to 60 […]
January 09, 2024
The in-car digital experience of both the present day and the future is the dominant theme of the BMW Group’s presence at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2024 in Las Vegas, U.S. New infotainment products for the current BMW model portfolio will be shown at the event. At the same time, the BMW Group is […]
January 09, 2024
Toyota Belgium, one of the market leaders in the segment of individual buyers with its Yaris model, ordered a survey showing great uncertainty reigning in this market segment about when and what to buy. Toyota Belgium asked marketing research specialist Ipsos to investigate the buying intentions of individual car buyers. 1 000 respondents (only potential […]
January 09, 2024
CO2 emissions from Germany, Europe’s leading industrial nation and the largest energy consumer in Europe, have reached their lowest level in around 70 years, thanks to a stronger-than-expected decline in the use of coal. Greenhouse gas emissions reached 673 million tons of CO2 last year, “the lowest level since the 1950s” and significantly down from […]
January 08, 2024
Nikola Motor’s 2023 has been tumultuous, to say the least. But the American zero-emission semi-truck manufacturer has closed out the year with its first hydrogen fuel cell electric trucks being delivered to customers. The outlook for 2024 should follow soon. Nikola’s 2023 year in review was not an easy one. The troubles started (or continued, […]
January 08, 2024
According to market research ordered by Mobia, the Belgian car buyer will be more impacted by a premium to buy an electric car than by the eventual expansion of LEZ zones. Mobia, the overarching association of car sector federations Febiac (new car market), Traxio (second-hand car market), and Renta (car leasing and renting), has done […]
January 08, 2024
China’s top-selling automaker has started constructing a factory for sodium-ion batteries in the Xuzhou region. The plant will be scaled up to produce 30 GWh annually, with packs primarily intended for use in scooters, motorcycles, and smaller vehicles. The factory collaborates with the Chinese tricycle brand HuaiHai through BYD’s subsidiary Findreams Battery. Both partners are […]
January 08, 2024
Volvo Cars set a new global sales record as the company reported full-year sales of 708 716 cars during 2023, an increase of 15% compared to the entire year of 2022. Volvo Cars will also get a €420 million loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB) to develop a new electric car platform. Volvo Cars […]
January 05, 2024
NanoFlowcell, a Swiss flow cell battery research company founded by Nunzio La Vecchia, promises 2 000 km of all-electric range for passenger vehicles thanks to flow batteries with an exceptionally high energy density. But a finished product still hasn’t come out, even after nearly ten years… NanoFlowcell was founded in 1996 and claims to have […]
January 05, 2024
The California based EV car manufacturer Fisker Inc. today announced that the company is developing an innovative Dealer Partnership model in North America. In Europe, Fisker intends to pursue a hybrid of direct sales and dealer arrangements. “As we saw throughout 2023, the EV market has changed dramatically, said Chairman and CEO Henrik Fisker. “As […]
January 05, 2024
Last year’s new car sales in the United States are nearing pre-pandemic times, with +13% more vehicles sold in 2023, or 15,5 million units in total, compared to peaks of 17 million cars in 2015-2019. Despite the biggest six-weeks-long automotive strike America has ever seen, supply has normalized, and prices dropped by 2 to 3% […]
January 05, 2024
Flemish public transport operator De Lijn orders 92 standard electric buses from Chinese bus maker BYD. The order, representing an investment of over 43 million euros, follows the award by De Lijn’s board of directors of a new framework agreement of up to 500 standard e-buses to BYD Europe. The order earned De Lijn a […]
January 05, 2024
Last year, 2,84 million cars were sold in Germany, or 7,3% more than in 2022. Electrified vehicles, however, struggle to find buyers, primarily due to the disappearance of practically all incentives for buying them. 979 000 of the cars sold were simply gasoline engine powered, and that’s a 13% growth, while the pure electric cars […]
January 04, 2024
In the US, Hyundai has secured a patent for an all-solid-state EV battery system equipped with a ‘pressurizing device’ and significantly improved operating temperatures. The automaker describes the technology as enhancing stability and energy density while reducing production costs. Like most automakers, Hyundai considers solid-state packs as the next-generation battery technology. In October last year, […]
January 03, 2024
At least 22% of new cars sold by manufacturers in the UK this year must be zero-emission. New rules requiring car manufacturers to sell a minimum proportion of zero-emission vehicles have come into force, the Department for Transport (DfT) in the UK announced. The mandate became law on Wednesday. Zero emission means, in practice, that […]
January 03, 2024
Under Joe Biden, the US has become the world’s largest oil producer and is producing more oil than any country ever has. According to data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), US oil production has even increased by 21% over the past five years, and it settled in December a new annual production record with […]
January 03, 2024
Porsche is returning to the Nürburgring with its electric Taycan. In-house development racing driver Lars Kern has managed to beat the electric Porsche’s previous record by 25 seconds, recording a lap time of 7 minutes 07,55 seconds. Kern was at the wheel of a still unnamed, more powerful, and track-ready Porsche Taycan. Porsche refers to […]
January 03, 2024
In 2023, the car market in Belgium and Luxembourg (Belux) booked its best result since the pandemic broke out and ended close to the sales average of the last ten years (476 675 cars registered compared to 483 670 as the decade average). In December 2023, 25 715 new cars were registered, which is still […]
January 03, 2024
Volkswagen Anhui – former JAC-Volkswagen – has started building Seat’s sporty daughter Cupra’s second EV, the Tavascan, in the Anhui province in China, to be launched in 2024 in Europe. Based on the Volkswagen Group MEB platform, the Cupra Tavascan will be available with either 210 or 250 kWh of power and a WLTP range […]
January 03, 2024
The Chinese car manufacturer BYD (Build Your Dreams) has a very ambitious goal: to become the world’s biggest car manufacturer and overtake Toyota and other VWs by 2030. It is now the biggest producer of electrified cars in the world. BYD sold a record number of new energy vehicles (NEVs) in December, reaching its full-year […]
