January 25, 2023
Poppy Mobility, the car, e-scooter, and e-bike sharing daughter of D’Ieteren Automotive, is going to triple its fleet of shared cars from 1 000 to 3 000 in the next months to comply with the growing demand of about 200 000 users, the company announces. Soaring costs of living, the growing part of teleworking, and […]
January 18, 2023
US car rental company Hertz will make 25 000 electric vehicles available to Uber drivers in Europe by 2025. The two companies announced this in a joint statement on Tuesday. The first vehicles will be available for hire in London from January. The initiative will then be extended to Paris, Amsterdam, and other major cities. […]
January 17, 2023
Consumer credits for new cars in 2022, amounting to around two billion euros, support the transition to environmentally friendly vehicles. That is the conclusion of BVK, the professional association for credit (Beroepsvereniging van het Krediet, BVK), and published by the federation of the financial sector Febelfin. Following the opening of the actual Brussels Motor Show, […]
January 17, 2023
Minister Petra De Sutter (Groen) wants more parcels delivered by bicycle, she said during a company visit to Cargo Velo, the all-round urban courier service operational in Ghent, Antwerp, and Brussels. E-commerce is still booming, partly due to the corona crisis, but, unfortunately, most deliveries are still made by vans. However, according to experts, at […]
January 17, 2023
If there is one sector for which the corona pandemic was a blessing, it is the recreational vehicle (RV) sector. After the first lockdown in 2020, demand skyrocketed in 2021, with a peak in Belgium never seen before. But with 2022 and the Ukraine war, uncertainty and inflation pushed private individuals more than ever to […]
January 12, 2023
Where VW Group importer D’Ieteren had decided not to be present at the 2022 BMS (which was finally canceled), it’s again present with an entire exposition hall (11) at the BMS 2023. But the importer will not only show the novelties of its VW Group brands. Apart from that, all ‘new mobility’ proposals will also […]
January 12, 2023
The organizers of the Brussels Motor Show are announcing the presence of 95% of the market at the motor show opening its doors (for the press and VIP guests) tomorrow. However, it’s only 85% considering that Mercedes-Benz and Jaguar Land Rover will only be ‘symbolically’ present. Volvo and Mercedes explain that they prefer organizing their […]
January 12, 2023
During the last quarter of 2022, the Dutch fast-charging operator witnessed a growth of almost factor three compared to the year before. Apart from a significant expansion of its network, this is attributed to the rise in BEVs on the roads. As well as price hikes due to the energy crisis. In the last quarter […]
January 10, 2023
Flanders launches a two-year pilot project allowing large bicycle trailers on public roads. Flemish Mobility Minister Lydia Peeters (Open Vld) hopes the experiment will contribute to the emission-free delivery of goods in city centers. Today, bicycle trailers may not be wider than one meter. However, during the pilot project, companies will be able to apply […]
January 06, 2023
ProovStation and Michelin unveiled TireStation, a fast and reliable solution for automated tire inspection, at the CES in Las Vegas. Combining the expertise and know–how of both companies, the system optimizes professional tire inspection. According to both companies, TireStation is a turnkey tire diagnosis solution for professionals with a wide range of advantages: improved measurement […]
January 06, 2023
Mercedes plans the rollout of its own high-speed charging network. Called HiPower, North American customers will be served first, but other major markets, like Europe and China, will follow. By 2030, the German carmaker envisions an infrastructure of 10 000 charging stations. The announcement was made during the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas […]
January 04, 2023
On Tuesday, January 3rd, the Brussels museum ‘Train World’ in Schaarbeek (Brussels) welcomed its one-millionth visitor. Train World is the museum of NMBS/SNCB, the National Company of the Belgian Railways. It is Belgium’s first real railway museum, and it opened its doors to the general public in September 2015. Visitors can get a unique view […]
December 22, 2022
Belgium’s biggest bank, BNP Paribas Fortis, wants to be far more active in the mobility sector. So it launched a survey among 2 000 Belgians about their mobility preferences. 35% of the respondents declared not to be ready for electrification (fully electric or hybrid), which is a 6% increase compared to 2021. The electric transition […]
December 22, 2022
Micromobility operator Dott, which has shared e-scooters and e-bikes in several Belgian cities, has acquired 15 electric vans from Maxus to use as service vehicles. The vehicles were delivered by the leasing company Athlon. The blue-and-red shared e-scooters from Dott are becoming common in Belgian cities like Brussels, Ghent, and Liège. Those bikes and scooters […]
December 21, 2022
In recent months, the Flemish public transport company De Lijn had to cancel many planned trips. The reason for it was a shortage of staff. After an intensive recruitment campaign focusing on the largest ‘problem areas’ (Antwerp, Louvain, and the Flemish part of Brussels), De Lijn recently recruited 657 drivers. However, next year, the company […]
December 20, 2022
Inchcape, the British car distributor that also imports Toyota, Lexus, and BYD in Belgium, has opened a second-hand car business to try to take a piece of the growing used car market. The company is called Bravoauto and has already opened a delivery center in Machelen, near Brussels Airport. The Belgian used car market has […]
December 20, 2022
Via its daughter Sopadis, D’ieteren Auto wants to take over the dealerships owned by the Jennes family in the eastern part of the Vlaams Brabant province. In a press release, D’Ieteren states that the negotiations for the take-over are in an advanced stage. Just yesterday, the Belgian competition authority approved the take-over without remarks. The […]
December 14, 2022
The Brussels region has launched the new website electrify.brussels, which groups all information on public charging stations for electric vehicles – today exactly 2 311 – in the capital. Brussels Environment Minister Alain Aaron (Ecolo) also announced that EnergyVision won the public contract for 500 new charging points. To support the electrification of the car […]
December 13, 2022
Mobilize Financial Services (MFS), a subsidiary of the Renault Group (ex-RCI Banque), is throwing itself further into the market of long-term rental and created Mobilize Lease&Co for all the Alliance brands, Renault, Dacia, Alpine, and Nissan. The goal is to expand the lease fleet from 350 000 today to one million cars by 2030 and […]
December 07, 2022
As promised, the Vietnamese car manufacturer VinFast has opened its first two stores in Cologne (Germany) and Paris (France). However, the cars have been delayed to 2023 due to chip shortages affecting the launch. VinFast has officially kicked off its European endeavor with the first stores in Cologne and Paris, located in “high-visibility corners” in […]
December 02, 2022
D’Ieteren keeps expanding its activities in unchartered territory. After the egg-shaped city car, Mircolino, and the newly adopted multi-brand approach for its used car subsidiary, MyWay, the importer of the VW Group brands, is set to open a dealership for Maserati in Antwerp. “With great pleasure, we announce our collaboration with D’Ieteren for the region […]
November 25, 2022
Mercedes-Benz USA has posted a new product called ‘Acceleration Increase‘ on its online shop’s website. The new service costs $1 200 for one year (excluding tax) of the service, which can improve an EQ vehicle’s acceleration by 0,8 to 1,0 seconds. The car manufacturer’s website writes that the new service will “unleash enhanced performance for […]
November 25, 2022
The anniversary edition of the Brussels Motor Show (BMS), taking place from 14 to January 22nd, 2023, is not to be considered the 100th edition of the ‘old school’ motor show but the first of a new kind. The aim is clear: inform the visitor/customer about the energy transition and its (electric) influence on mobility. […]
November 24, 2022
An old icon of ‘Belgianism’, the 127-year-old Royal Touring Club of Belgium is being sold to insurance company AG (75%) and Belgian’s biggest bank company BNP Paribas Fortis (25%). How much money is involved in the transaction is not specified. However, it allows Touring to continue road assistance and other activities in a world where […]
November 14, 2022
MyWay, the second-hand car sales chain of Belgian Volkswagen brand importer D’Ieteren Automotive, extends its offer beyond the ‘house brands’ Audi, Seat, Škoda, and Volkswagen and goes fully ‘multi-brand’. Some 3 000 ‘certified’ cars are available in 200 dealerships and on the MyWay website. This year the group also launched ‘My Way Buy’, a service […]
November 02, 2022
On November 1st, the German car-sharing company Miles Mobility officially acquired Volkswagen Group’s all-electric car-sharing service WeShare. Until recently, WeShare operated as a service of Urban Mobility International GmbH, a subsidiary of Volkswagen AG. At the same time, Miles has ordered more than 10 000 electric vehicles from Audi, Seat, Cupra, and VW. The ordered […]
October 25, 2022
The European Trade Union Confederation, an umbrella organization of European trade unions, is taking action against taxi and courier service Uber at the European Parliament. Remarkably, the socialist union ABVV-BTB is also participating, even though it reached a ‘historic’ agreement with Uber last week. Hearings will take place in the European Parliament on Tuesday about […]
October 25, 2022
Last week Chinese premium electric carmaker NIO has delivered in the Netherlands its first ET7 sedan with the new subscription model for Europe. Like Lynk & Co does with its 01 PHEV, this fully electric EV with a 100 kWh battery can be ‘subscribed to’ on a flexible monthly basis. Eventually, NIO wanted to offer […]
October 21, 2022
From its European headquarters in Zaventem, Belgium, e-moped maker Blitz is pushing a successful international expansion. After Israël, Singapore, Belgium, the Netherlands, France, South Africa, and the States, the company opened a hub in the UK this month. Blitz aims mainly at B2B customers in the last-mile delivery sector, for which it has developed a […]
October 19, 2022
German car-sharing company Miles is expanding its presence in Belgium, and after its debut in Ghent, it is now also available in Brussels. The company is running a fleet of 100 Opel Corsa models in the capital, which are offered in a Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) model. Antwerp is the next city on the strategic roadmap. “It […]
October 13, 2022
According to data from the European constructors’ federation ACEA, 6 of 27 EU countries have less than one EV charging point per 100 km of road, with fast charging availability also below the level needed to support the growing electric vehicle market share. It’s not the first time that the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) […]
October 13, 2022
The city of Hasselt (Limburg) is planning an experiment with a self-driving shuttle. The project is intended to try out an autonomous connection between the parking of the Trixxo Arena and the PXL academy campus. It’s the second similar project (after Mechelen) on public territory in Flanders. The shuttle will be available for one month […]
October 12, 2022
General Motors is introducing “a new energy ecosystem” based on bidirectional charging, shortly called ‘GM Energy’. Basically, this is the principle of electric cars connecting to the home (V2H) and the national power grid (V2G) to support energy supply, preferably renewable. Just a few days ago, Volvo announced a similar V2X home system for its […]
October 12, 2022
During the first nine months of 2022, BMW Group more than doubled its BEV sales. Meanwhile, it is now offering over-the-air (OTA) upgrades for 3,8 million vehicles on the road. The BMW Group sold 128 196 fully-electric BMW and MINI vehicles in the first nine months of the year (+114,8%). In the third quarter, 52 […]
October 11, 2022
Flemish mobility organization VAB, the largest driving school in Belgium, pleads for introducing a standard driver’s license for cars with an automatic transmission because, with the rapid rise of electric cars, it is no longer necessary to teach candidate drivers to shift gears manually. On Monday, VAB also announced that it intends to electrify half […]
October 11, 2022
In the wake of the Paris Motorshow, Renault announced the rollout of a fast charging network across Europe. It will be located at the dealerships of the car builder and open to all car brands. With a peak power of 400 kW, the network tops today’s most powerful stations from Ionity or FastNed. As Renault […]
October 11, 2022
One of China’s major car manufacturers, SAIC Motor, known in Europe for its EVs under the former British MG brand and the Maxus vans, is stepping into the booming battery-swapping business with battery giant CATL and two giant oil companies. A new joint venture is set up with as its core business the lease of […]
October 10, 2022
German air mobility company Volocopter has taken the next step on its roadmap toward offering flying taxi services. At Fiumicino Airport in Rome, their 2X electric air taxi took off in front of onlookers from the media and airport officials. The test flight is a prelude to offering real taxi rides in 2024. While the […]
October 06, 2022
D’Ieteren is bringing the heavy cannons to bear to broach the French market with its daughter Lizy, a specialist in leasing second-hand cars in Belgium today. It raised another €8,5 million from an investment group led by Belgian entrepreneur and millionaire Marc Coucke’s Alychlo and got bank funding of another 32 million. The Belgian used-car […]
October 05, 2022
The German car rental company Sixt and the Chinese EV carmaker BYD have concluded a long-term agreement. It guarantees the rental company access to 100 000 BYD electric cars over the next six years. The first EVs should still be delivered in Q4 of 2022, in synch with the Chinese manufacturer’s European launch. As a […]
October 05, 2022
With Uber Taxi, the Californian mobility provider Uber introduces a new feature for rides in Brussels, allowing conventional or ‘traditional’ taxi drivers to offer rides through the Uber app. The company reported this in a press release on Wednesday. After the Brussels parliament approved the new Taxi Plan in July, which aims to unify the […]
September 27, 2022
The car-sharing and mobility organization BattMobility, located in Ghent and only offering electric cars, sees its business boom. The 4-year-old company reached 50 000 shared rides last September and noted a severe increase in car-sharers. BattMobility started as a local initiative in a Ghent neighborhood but has become the city’s market leader for electric car […]
September 19, 2022
The ‘Smart to Antwerp’ app (Slim naar Antwerpen) for smartphones, which was developed to direct visitors intelligently to the city, will get an update and now includes a practical GPS navigation system. The update maps out a smart route combining train, bus, bike, boat, shared cars, e-bikes, or e-scooters and informs the user where to […]
September 14, 2022
Miles Mobility, the largest German car-sharing company, launches its car-sharing per kilometer principle in Ghent. Brussels and Antwerp will soon follow. The company has been active since 2017 in major German cities like Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne, and Munich, among others. There it has more than 7 000 cars on offer. In Belgium, Opel delivers 500 […]
September 13, 2022
ALD Automotive, Europe’s biggest leasing company, launches in Belgium ‘ALD Move’, a ‘Mobility-as-a-Service’ (MaaS) assistant developed with Skipr that advises on the best home-work commuter and professional travel solutions on a day-per-day basis using artificial intelligence. It’s a logical step, as ALD last year entered the capital of D’Ieteren’s daughter Skipr with a 17% stake, […]
September 12, 2022
Today, bicycle leasing is more popular than ever among Belgian commuters. In the first six months of the year, the number of commuters who used a leased bike to ride to and from work increased by 9,1% compared to last year. Compared to three years ago, it’s an increase of 127,2%. The figures come from […]
September 08, 2022
After being successful for some years already in Antwerp, Brussels, Mechelen, and at the airports of Zaventem, Charleroi, and Antwerp, Poppy Mobility is expanding its shared mobility services again. The D’Ieteren daughter now descends on Ghent’s territory. Poppy will start with the introduction of 80 free-floating vehicles, but other services will follow. Four and a […]
September 07, 2022
After a successful pilot project in a few Belgian train stations last year, the national railway company NMBS/SNCB wants to expand its collect system for fresh groceries to more than fifty stations in Belgium. NMBS/SNCB intends to launch the concept by spring next year and is looking for candidate distributors to deliver fresh food. The […]
September 01, 2022
The city of Sint-Niklaas launches an original initiative: local authorities and an officially recognized driving school will organize free driving lessons for drivers who are afraid of entering underground parking lots. Hesitating motorists will get practical tips and tricks to overcome their underground parking anxiety. Parking facilities in Sint-Niklaas are not fully taken advantage of. […]
August 31, 2022
The city of Ghent is upgrading the existing 100 smart information panels along the roads, indicating free parking places in the underground parking lots. The current panels will be replaced by some fifty new and strategically installed signs that will also offer additional information. The ‘old’ panels are outdated and still work via radio communication. […]
August 26, 2022
Under the slogan ‘Premium meets Responsibility’, the Belgian car importer BMW Belux has donated once again seven new cars (BMW and Mini models) to technical schools all over the country. For 2021 and 2022, this brings the score to 30, as 23 were already given last year, totaling a value of almost €1,5 million. Furthermore, […]
August 22, 2022
Uber has announced that it is opening its app in Brussels to conventional or ‘traditional’ taxi drivers. That is what the newspaper La Dernière Heure writes. The Belgian director of the Californian company, Laurent Slits, says he is taking this step in response to the recent reform of the ‘taxi plan’ in the capital. But […]
August 22, 2022
The Belgian traffic safety institute VIAS (formerly BIVV/IBSR) will see its financial activities screened by an external audit. That has been communicated by the Federal Mobility Minister Georges Gilkinet (Ecolo) in an interview with Het Nieuwsblad. “The audit aims to be able to make an accounting and content-related distinction between the investigative and research activities […]
August 22, 2022
Since July, Swedish-Chinese Lynk & Co has raised its monthly subscription price for the the 01 SUV PHEV from €500 to €550 (VAT incl.) or a full 10% for all new contracts. For existing subscribers, the raise will be effective only from September 1st, 2022, as a kind of ‘gesture’. In an email to all […]
August 19, 2022
The Geneva International Motor Show (GIMS) will again be canceled in February 2023. On Thursday, the organizers mentioned geopolitical and economic uncertainties as the main reason for many brands’ strong hesitation or complete refusal to participate. So instead, the organizers now focus on the first Doha edition and put all their hopes on a Geneva […]
August 17, 2022
Auderghem, one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, is stepping up its fight against the illegal parking of shared mobility units. Drop zones will soon be created. The city is doing this on its own initiative because of the lack of directives related to the ordinance approved by the Brussels Region in March, […]
August 09, 2022
In France, sites and apps providing road guidance will have to inform their users about the negative impact of their trip on the environment and their health. In addition, they will have to propose less polluting routes and possible alternatives to the car for their voyage. When a user searches to plan a route, the […]
August 02, 2022
Next to a fuel station from its sister brand Aral, BP has inaugurated its first charging station for battery-powered heavy trucks. The chargers are located in Schwegenheim, Germany, and are the first step toward more powerful stations. Electric trucks can only become viable if the charging stalls are powerful enough to reduce downtime to a […]
July 26, 2022
The German supermarket chain Lidl will offer the Elaris Finn two-seater in Germany and Austria at a lease price of €222 per month. It’s a pilot project; other countries will follow later, eventually. The German supermarket giant is an electric believer. Earlier, it proposed free (fast) charging on its parking premises for its clients. But, […]
July 12, 2022
Nearly two months after his re-election, the French opposition is summoning French president Emmanuel Macron to explain himself after the revelation by the press of privileged exchanges between Uber and Macron when he was at Bercy. The left-wing alliance Nupes wants a parliamentary commission of inquiry, while the far-right National Rally (Rassemblement National) is asking […]
