April 11, 2021
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MD LeasePlan Belgium: ‘We’re at a crucial tipping point regarding EVs’
Tony Verhelle Posted On March 22, 2021


Recently, car leasing company LeasePlan published its yearly ‘Mobility Insight Report’. According to Johan Portier, Managing Director of LeasePlan Belgium, the most striking result is that some 55% of the Belgians consider switching to electricity when buying a new car. […]


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‘2021 fiscal year to be most difficult in Ryanair’s history’
Félix Bouland Posted On February 2, 2021


In a recent press release, Irish low-cost airline Ryanair reports a €306 million net loss and a 78% drop in customers during 2020’s third-quarter (October to December) due to the corona pandemic and the different travel restrictions. The airline declares […]


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Shell buys German lamppost charging specialist ‘ubitricity’
Joris Van Roy Posted On January 26, 2021


Dutch oil giant Shell will buy German charging point manufacturer ubitricity if allowed to do by competition authorities. The Germans are specialists in integrating EV charging points into lampposts and bollards. In the UK, ubitricity has built in more than […]


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Alain Visser, CEO of Lynk & Co (2): ‘We are the wild horse in the stable’
Tony Verhelle Posted On January 13, 2021


Alain Visser, CEO of Lynk & Co, preaches the revolution. He doesn’t want to sell cars anymore, he wants to lend them monthly, and he wants his clients to share them. In this second part of the interview, he explains […]


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Alain Visser, CEO of Lynk & Co (1): ‘We go for another business model’
Tony Verhelle Posted On January 12, 2021


The Belgian Alain Visser is Lynk & Co’s CEO, the Chinese Geely daughter who intends to change things on the car market. Many new and sometimes controversial ideas come from or are stimulated by the CEO — no better reason […]


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Interview: the new faces at PSA Belux
Joris Van Roy Posted On January 7, 2021


Dutchman Bas Viveen, an ‘automotive veteran’ with mileage at Renault, Nissan, Peugeot, and Opel/Vauxhall Europe, runs Peugeot Belux for a few months already from August 2020. His colleague CEO at Citroën Belux, Frenchman Damien Martin-Cocher, just arrived from Ukraine, finishing […]


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BMW accelerates EV production even more
Tony Verhelle Posted On December 29, 2020


Is the German car manufacturer BMW getting nervous about the energy transition? In any case, the company wants to draw already one-fifth of its turnover out of electric cars in 2023. At the moment this is 8%. According to CEO […]


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Energy  / Interview  / Product  / Top Stories Today
Fiat reveals new ‘3+1’ body version of New 500 Electric
Tony Verhelle Posted On October 26, 2020


Fiat has introduced a new version of its electric 500 – the Fiat New 500 3+1, which is characterized by an additional door on the passenger side, hinged in the opposite direction. Thus, the New 500 3+1 is designed to […]


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Nissan COO: ‘The relation with Renault has never been this strong’
Tony Verhelle Posted On September 8, 2020


Ashwani Gupta, a lively Indian in his early fifties, has the most difficult task at Nissan: making the failing Japanese number two profitable again. At Nissan, he’s COO, member of the board, director of operations, and performance. In short, he’s […]


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Polestar opens first ‘Space’ in Brussels
Tony Verhelle Posted On July 24, 2020


Polestar, the new car manufacturer of electric vehicles and daughter of the Chinese Geely Group, has opened its first ‘Space’ in Brussels, the third in the world, after Beijing and Oslo. Later, there will be three more in Belgium, in […]


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eBikes  / Interview  / Mobility  / Product  / Technology  / Top Stories Today
Agnelli family invests in Belgian e-bike Cowboy
Luc Joris Posted On July 23, 2020


Exor Seeds, an investment vehicle of the Fiat family Agnelli, is one of the new investors in the Belgian connected e-bike Cowboy. The Brussels start-up raises 23 million euros in a new capital round. The money will be used to […]


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Nissan MD West Europe: ‘We will be the smart follower’
Tony Verhelle Posted On July 23, 2020


Last week, Nissan presented its second full-electric passenger car, the Ariya. It’s also the sign for the new Nissan strategy to be developed. We had a brief virtual meeting with the CEO and COO and spoke with the newly appointed […]


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Stéphane Sertang (Ginion Group): ‘the private car will be for passionates’
Tony Verhelle Posted On June 15, 2020


How is the car business waking up after the corona confinement? Belgian newspaper L’Echo asked Stéphane Sertang, CEO of the car dealer group Ginion, how he sees things. Ginion Group covers a certain amount of (usually premium or high-end luxury) […]


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Environment  / Industry  / Interview  / Mobility  / Top Stories Today
Erik Swerts, MD Alphabet: ‘Mobility is at a turning point’
Tony Verhelle Posted On June 11, 2020


Just before the corona crisis hit Europe, the mobility supplier Alphabet ordered a mobility survey. We discussed the results with Erik Swerts, Managing Director of Alphabet Belgium & Luxembourg. First, an overview of the most important results. The survey was […]


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Environment  / Industry  / Interview  / Mobility  / Product  / Technology  / Top Stories Today  / Weekly Newsletter
Ex-CEO Audi: ‘The best solution is driving less’
Tony Verhelle Posted On April 27, 2020


Bram Schot (58), the former CEO of Audi, has left the company this month and considers his options. Meanwhile, he analyses the current situation and thinks about the future. He talked openly to the Dutch newspaper Trouw. Schot was the […]


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D’Ieteren CEO: ‘A Belgian car market of 430 000 units this year’
Tony Verhelle Posted On April 14, 2020


Denis Gorteman, CEO of D’Ieteren Auto, is clear. He estimates the Belgian car market at 430 000 units this year and around 450 000 the following years – a far cry from the 550 000 last year. At the moment, […]


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Europe  / Industry  / Interview  / Mobility  / Public transport  / Top Stories Today
Brussels Airlines CEO Vranckx: ‘going for it 100%’
Arnaud Henckaerts Posted On April 9, 2020


Brussels Airlines fights to survive amid the corona crisis, but Dieter Vranckx shows himself combative. “I’m going for it 100%.” The newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws interviewed the CEO of the Belgian airline, which is part of Lufthansa. No new Sabena […]


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eBikes  / Industry  / Interview  / Technology  / Top Stories Today
e-bike 2.0 gets automatic gearbox
Gert Verhoeven Posted On April 2, 2020


The e-bike market has been growing steadily for years. The market represented 9 million units last year. That is why the Belgian company E2 Drives also focuses on this growth market by developing innovative technology with an automatic gearbox. Interesting […]


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CEO Francis Deprez confident D’Ieteren is ‘well-armed’
Arnaud Henckaerts Posted On April 2, 2020


D’ieteren CEO Francis Deprez is facing the worst economic crisis of his career. But D’Ieteren Group is armed with a €1,5 billion in cash. The magazine Trends interviewed Deprez and asked him about his view on the corona crisis and […]


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Maxime Picat: ‘PSA wants to make cars for everyone’
Tony Verhelle Posted On March 10, 2020


Many car manufacturers are struggling. Lately, their reaction to the different threats differ. In this article, we talk with Maxime Picat, since 2016 EVP at PSA and Operational Director for Europe. Our rendezvous was scheduled for Geneva, but we finally […]


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Geert Bruyneel (Volvo): ‘The success of Ghent is competence’
Tony Verhelle Posted On March 6, 2020


On Thursday, Volvo inaugurated its brand new battery assembly plant in Ghent, the first for Volvo. Belgian Geert Bruyneel, responsible for Global Production Operations at Volvo, had traveled from Göteborg to comment on the important investment. “Sustainability is as important […]


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Autonomous driving  / Industry  / Interview  / Product  / Technology  / Top Stories Today
BMW Head of Design: ‘Car sector is turned upside down’
Tony Verhelle Posted On February 10, 2020


For ten years now, Dutchman Adrian van Hooydonk leads the design department of the German premium car manufacturer BMW. He thinks the whole car sector is now ‘in a perfect storm’. “In our industry, everything is turned upside down.” “We […]


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Interview: Frans Timmermans on the EU Green Deal
Arnaud Henckaerts Posted On February 3, 2020


Flemish newspaper De Morgen interviewed Frans Timmermans, ‘Mister climate’ of the European Commission, about the European Green Deal. Timmermans does not see the Green Deal as a fixed plan, but rather as a guideline with the ultimate goal of climate […]


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Energy  / Europe  / Export  / Industry  / Interview  / Product  / Top Stories Today  / Weekly Newsletter
German lithium processing plant to prevent battery shortage
Arnaud Henckaerts Posted On January 29, 2020


Advanced Metallurgical Group (AMG) wants to build a lithium plant in Germany. The aim is to prevent a shortage of batteries once the European production of electric cars is running at full speed. The German automotive world warned for such […]


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Climate  / Environment  / Interview  / Product  / Technology  / Top Stories Today
GM is considering (re)launch of electric Hummer
Gert Verhoeven Posted On January 15, 2020


Rumour has it that General Motors is considering taking this ultimate off-road vehicle back into production. With an electric motor, it’s true, but still far from energy-efficient. Energy crisis The Hummer made its debut during the first Iraq war, and […]


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Renault President Senard: ‘the Alliance is not dead’
Tony Verhelle Posted On January 15, 2020


Jean-Dominique Senard was on a visit at the Brussels Motor Show. There he confirmed that the rumors about a possible divorce between Nissan and Renault were completely false. “On the contrary, we will see to it that the Alliance will […]


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Peugeot CEO: ‘Peugeot will comply in CO2 norm from Day One’
Tony Verhelle Posted On January 10, 2020


Jean-Philippe Imparato, CEO of Peugeot and visiting the Brussels Motor Show on Thursday, is clear. “We will be ready for the stringent EU emission regulations from Day One. And that doesn’t mean Peugeot cars won’t be attractive anymore, on the […]


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Climate  / Environment  / Interview  / Mobility  / Public transport  / Weekly Newsletter
Seven federations join forces in ‘Low Emission Mobility Platform’
Joris Van Roy Posted On January 8, 2020


Seven Belgian federations are joining forces to set up a so-called ‘Low Emission Mobility Platform’ to exchange knowledge and to boost the breakthrough of sustainable technology in the mobility sector. Priority will be the roll-out of EV charging infrastructure and […]


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Autonomous driving  / Industry  / Interview  / Legislation  / Technology  / Top Stories Today  / Weekly Newsletter
‘Artificial Intelligence has to be more human’
Arnaud Henckaerts Posted On January 2, 2020


Artificial Intelligence (AI) can break through if it consumes fewer data and can make connections like humans. That’s what Mieke De Ketelaere says in the weekly magazine Trends. De Ketelaere has been working with artificial intelligence for more than twenty […]


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Interview  / Public transport  / Top Stories Today
François Bellot: ‘Belgian rail has too many pen-pushers’
Joris Van Roy Posted On December 11, 2017


In an interview with economical newspaper L’Echo, Belgian federal Minster of Mobility François Bellot (MR) says that at his age, he can speak “without mincing matters“. Like saying the “SNCB/NMBS has too many pen-pushers sitting at a desk and too […]


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Environment  / Interview  / Mobility  / Public transport  / Top Stories Today  / Weekly Newsletter
“Brussels is slowly getting stuck.”
Tony Verhelle Posted On December 4, 2017


Former CEO of Brussels public transport company STIB/MIVB Alain Flausch leaves the Union of Public Transport which he has lead for 6 years. He is disappointed about Brussels and Belgium as a whole: “We should take other cities as an […]


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Interview  / Mobility  / Top Stories Today  / Weekly Newsletter
Philippe Dehennin (FEBIAC): ‘the friendly neighbouring dealer is not dead yet’
Joris Van Roy Posted On November 30, 2017


Since June 2017 the Belgian Association of Car Manufacturers and Importers (Febiac) has a new president. Phillippe Dehennin left BMW in 2016 and is now the head of what is commonly known as the “car lobby” in Belgium. He is […]


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Europe  / Industry  / Interview  / Legislation  / Top Stories Today  / Weekly Newsletter
EU-Commissioner Bienkowska: ‘I wouldn’t buy a Volkswagen anymore’
Joris Van Roy Posted On November 21, 2017


Three years after dieselgate burst out, what has really changed? “I wouldn’t buy a Volkswagen anymore”, says EU Commissioner for Industry Elzbieta Bienkowska (53) in an interview with Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad. She grew up in communist Poland, being the […]


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Industry  / Interview  / Top Stories Today  / Weekly Newsletter
What is D’Ieteren going to do with one billion euro cash ?
Joris Van Roy Posted On November 21, 2017


With the sale of 40% of its Belron business, Belgium’s largest car importer, family concern D’Ieteren, is sitting on a pile of one billion euro in cash. Asked by newspapers L’Echo and De Tijd what D’Ieteren is going to do […]


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Interview  / Portrait  / Top Stories Today  / Weekly Newsletter
Toyota’s no 2 Didier Leroy: “Ten years ago they made fun of our hybrids”
Joris Van Roy Posted On October 23, 2017


At the age of 59, Toyota’s no.2 worldwide is French, native from Lille, close to the Belgian border: Didier Leroy. He saw Toyota predicting the switch from the combustion engine to electric 15 years ago. Financial newspaper L’Echo interviewed the […]


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