May 13, 2022
After having suffered two financial years of losses, Japanese carmaker Nissan ends 2021 with a full-year net income of 215,5 billion yen (€ 1,6 billion) in spite of the currently extremely challenging automotive environment. The group benefited from its 2019 restructuration and NEXT strategy focusing on quality sales. “The business environment in 2021 remained extremely […]
May 13, 2022
The Environmental Committee of the European Parliament has voted in favor of a sales ban on internal combustion engines for cars and vans as of 2035. The Committee dismissed synthetic fuels as a solution and didn’t adopt new interim CO2 targets for the automotive industry. The European lawmakers stayed close to the original proposal by […]
May 13, 2022
On Tuesday, the Norwegian government put forward a proposal to apply taxes to the sales of electric cars, putting an end to their world-renowned incentive scheme that electrified the national fleet over the past few years. The Norsk Elbilforening, or Electric Car Association, reacts with disapproval. Thanks to VAT exemption and a host of benefits […]
May 13, 2022
Wednesday, a new president for the board was elected at the Autoworld museum in Brussels. Ex-Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt, now still a member of the European Parliament, has accepted to succeed to another well-known Open-Vld politician, Herman De Croo, who has been heading the museum for 36 years. The entire Autoworld team is very grateful […]
May 13, 2022
Flemish Minister of Mobility, Lydia Peeters (Open Vld), wants to know the effect of lowering the speed on the highways around Ghent. She, therefore, ordered a study, the Minister announced on Thursday in the Mobility Commission of the Flemish Parliament. The Minister hopes she will be able to start a test phase based on the […]
May 13, 2022
American electric carmaker Lucid Motors, opening its Munich Studio on Friday, is offering ‘a very limited number’ of Lucid Air Dream Editions to existing reservation holders in Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, and Switzerland only. Eventually, this edition was reserved for the US, and 520 of them sold out in no time. First deliveries are expected […]
May 13, 2022
General Motors CEO Mary Barra is ready to return to Europe. The most obvious reason is that electric vehicle sales are booming in the EU. The old continent could be an integral part again of GM’s accelerated switch to electrification. Europe is the second-largest electric vehicle market globally, next to China. On Monday, Barra confirmed […]
May 13, 2022
During the announcement of the latest quarterly figures, BMW CEO Oliver Zipse confirmed that ‘die Neuse Klasse’, the new New Class platform planned for 2025, will first be used in the 3 Series segment. Zipse did, however, also somewhat limit the future use of the platform. Shortly after Zipse’s statement, the next strategic shift is […]
May 12, 2022
Some 15 months after creating the Stellantis Group, Group CEO Carlos Tavares makes several new management appointments. Opel boss Uwe Hochgeschurtz, who only took up his post last year, is leaving the brand to replace Maxime Picat at parent company Stellantis. The latter takes over as the group’s head of purchasing and supply chain. “The […]
May 12, 2022
On Wednesday, March 11th, energy provider Engie inaugurated its 200th wind turbine on Unilin Insulation’s site in Seneffe. Unilin Insulation is a construction company manufacturing thermal insulation materials. And the energy project contributes to the company’s target to reduce its CO2 emissions by 42% by 2030 and achieve climate neutrality by 2050. The two new […]
May 12, 2022
Both the new and second-hand motorbike markets were hit like the car market. Last month, the number of new motorbike registrations fell by 20,3%, while the second-hand market did even worse with 24,2%. The figures come from the automotive federation Traxio. The declining new motorbike market is partly due to delayed deliveries of ordered motorbikes. […]
May 12, 2022
The Antwerp Saint Anne tunnel, the so-called ‘pedestrian tunnel’, has been closed for a while because it recently had a makeover. Graffiti was removed and walls and ceilings were painted with a special, water-based antibacterial paint to be moistureproof. The Agency for Roads and Traffic (Agentschap Wegen en Verkeer, AWV) finished the job n six […]
May 12, 2022
Following the market launch (2019) of the LiveWire One, the first electric-powered Harley Davidson, today, the manufacturer announced that there will be a second model, the ‘S2 Del Mar’, which will be positioned below the LiveWire One. It is expected to hit the market in mid-2023 and will cost less than 15 000 euros. The […]
May 12, 2022
More than a third of Belgian companies will not make the switch to a fully electric car park by 2026, the deadline the government is setting for new company vehicles sold to be electric. This is shown by an online survey by insurer AON and FLEET Magazine. The reasons are diverse, the 200 respondents say. […]
May 12, 2022
CMB-Tech, the tech daughter of Belgian shipping giant Compagnie Maritime Belge (CMB), and another daughter, Dutch Windcat Workboats, have presented the ‘Hydrocat’, the world’s first hydrogen-powered crew transfer vessel (CTV) of this size. It’s 25 meters long, 7,3 m wide, and can cruise at a speed of 30 knots (55 km/h). The Hydrocat, with a […]
May 12, 2022
Many manufacturers are already sold out of vehicles (especially EVs) in 2022. The delivery delays are getting longer than a year, making some stop taking orders. VW was the first, and now Tesla and Mercedes-Benz seem to be following, among others. Recently, Volkswagen was the first to announce that it is “basically sold out” of […]
May 12, 2022
Volkswagen Group will launch an all-electric pickup and rugged SUV in the United States. The decision of the Board of Management was confirmed today by the Supervisory Board of the Volkswagen Group. The cars will be sold under the Scout brand. The vehicles will be designed, engineered, and manufactured in the US for American customers. […]
May 11, 2022
This summer, 32 municipalities of the Antwerp transport region and the Waasland will roll out a large shared e-bike platform. The project is intended to stimulate the modal shift. The coordinator is Lantis, manager of large construction projects like the Oosterweel connection in Antwerp. The Danish Donkey Republic will provide and maintain the bikes. “As […]
May 11, 2022
Climate change remains a ‘top of mind’ issue. Eight out of ten worry about climate change, and six out of ten Belgian citizens support the Belgian en European target to become climate neutral by 2050. However, only three out of ten feel that also families have to contribute. The figures come from the fifth national […]
May 11, 2022
A new trial involving nearly 400 families living in the area affected by noise pollution from flights of Brussels National Airport is targeting the Belgian government. The civil lawsuit, led by the civic organizations Wake up Crainhem and AWACSS, has been launched at the Brussels Court of First Instance, writes the newspaper La Libre Belgique. […]
May 11, 2022
The Vietnamese car manufacturer VinFast has published more technical specifications and price details of the VF 8 and VF 9 SUV models to be sold soon. There are also prices and details on battery rental in the firstly targeted European markets: Germany, France, and the Netherlands. The VF 8 is available for €43 900 plus […]
May 11, 2022
Geely Automobile Holdings and Renault group have reached an agreement in which Geely Auto will subscribe to 34,2% of Renault Korea Motors (RKM) shares. The aim is to improve the collaboration between Renault Group and Geely Auto around future projects. In January, projects were announced of launching an all-new vehicle line-up of hybrid cars and […]
May 11, 2022
South Korean carmaker Hyundai is investing $20 million in a new design and development center for future robotic vehicles, like ‘walking cars’, located in Montana State University’s Innovation Campus at Bozeman (US). It will employ a team of some fifty highly specialized engineers-scientists. Hyundai’s New Horizons Studio (NHS), a unit focused on developing Ultimate Mobility […]
May 11, 2022
Drivers who are caught using their smartphones while driving risk the immediate withdrawal of their driver’s license for eight days. That is what the public prosecutor of East Flanders announced. As a matter of fact, the prosecutor’s office confirmed to Belga News Agency that it already had revoked about a hundred driver’s licenses on Monday […]
May 10, 2022
European and US headquartered global companies are not putting much effort into reducing their business trips for climate’s sake. In the international ranking of the NGO Transport & Environment (T&E), companies with an A-score are the most ambitious; those dangling at the bottom get the lowest evaluation, a D-score. The ranking grades 230 US and […]
May 10, 2022
Brussels public transport company MIVB/STIB has offered 30 decommissioned buses to Cuba. It concerns 20 Van Hool A330 D1 buses and 10 Mercedes Citaro articulated buses. They are Euro 4 buses, which, under the low-emission zone (LEZ), are no longer allowed in the Brussels region from 1 January 2022. According to the newspaper La Dernière […]
May 10, 2022
On ‘Mobilize Day’, the Mobilize department has shown its ambitions in services and technology inside the Renault Group. Its target is 20% of the total turnover of the Group by 2030. At the same time, Renault’s RCI Bank and Services become Mobilize Financial Services. At the start of the day, Renault CEO Luca de Meo […]
May 10, 2022
Californian premium EV maker Lucid Motors is landing in Europe on Friday, May 13th, with the opening of its first Studio outside the American continent in Munich, Germany. In an introduction video, the company announces that it will start delivering in Europe in June or July. Lucid also mentions a plan to set up its […]
May 10, 2022
The BMW Group says it has reached significant milestones in the ramp-up of e-mobility at its largest European production site in Dingolfing near Munich. A second production line for electric motors is up and running, and the production of a new generation of PHEV batteries has also started. BMW announced that the production line for […]
May 09, 2022
This is already starting to become a trip down memory lane. The Swiss company Micro Mobility Systems was the first to clone the iconic BMW Isetta bubble car under the name of Microlino. Unfortunately, with some hostility, it was taken over by the German (sports car) manufacturer Artega, and they showed their version of the […]
May 09, 2022
There’s something weird going on in the automotive industry. Even though sales are beating record lows in some regions, the financial results of many companies are still good to excellent. Pushed by the Ukrainian conflict and the chip shortage, most manufacturers try to sell their more expensive and profitable cars first. The message was already […]
May 09, 2022
Luring more people and companies on the train, with a connection every 15 minutes around the big cities. These are some of the spearheads of Railway Vision 2040, the plan with which Minister of Mobility Georges Gilkinet (Ecolo) wants to guide the Belgian railway policy for the next 20 years. The Council of Ministers approved […]
May 09, 2022
Febetra, the federation of Belgian haulers and logistic service providers, has used Mother’s Day to launch a call for more female truck drivers. The freight transport sector urgently needs to fill in 5 000 vacancies in the coming years. In Belgium, hardly 1,66% of truck drivers are female. In 98% of the cases, a man […]
May 09, 2022
We were allowed a sneak preview in a black box in Barcelona last week, but now it’s here for the whole world to see: Ford’s second all-electric van, the one-ton E-Transit Custom. Besides the exterior looks, there is still little specific information, except for the 380 km range of the EV and the ability to […]
May 09, 2022
Anglo-American Mining has put its first hydrogen-powered mining truck on duty. This zero-emission behemoth is poised to replace the mining giant’s diesel-powered fleet and kickstart an entire carbon-free ecosystem if the trial goes well. The gargantuan dump truck, running on six tires the size of a bungalow, can transport 290 tons of ore and has […]
May 09, 2022
Next month, BMW will launch the i3, but only on the Chinese market. It’s an extended version of the 3-Series marketed in Europe. This i3 eDrive35L will also be built locally at the Chinese BMW Brilliance Automotive Ltd. and will be offered with a 100% electric drive. For the time being, there are no plans […]
May 09, 2022
A few weeks ago, D’Ieteren CEO Francis Deprez presented its plans for the Group at its investor’s day in the Ixelles headquarters. The four divisions of the Group revealed their plans, and this has to result in a yearly cash flow of €2 billion and a benefit of €1 billion by 2025. Remarkable also: the […]
May 06, 2022
The annual report of Car Pass, the organization that has been charting odometer fraud for 15 years, reveals that in the past year 1 578 cases of odometer fraud were detected in Belgium. The biggest problem is still with vehicles that come from abroad, there is even a 2% increase in the number of fraud […]
May 06, 2022
The new version of the Brussels’Air premium, which has been awarded to motorists who give up their car in the capital since the beginning of March, is a great success. So says the Brussels Minister responsible for Climate Transition Alain Maron (Ecolo). On Tuesday, Brussels Environment handed out the 700th premium, which in two months […]
May 06, 2022
On Thursday, Siemens, the German multinational conglomerate corporation and the largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe, presented a new hydrogen train model at its factory in Krefeld. This first Mireo Plus H, as the model is called, was unveiled as part of the H2goedRail project, a joint endeavor with the German railway manager Deutsche Bahn. […]
May 06, 2022
It’s the world’s best-selling van for decades, so if you get the chance to drive some of the first all-new e-Transits coming from Ford’s Kocaeli (Turkey) factory, you grab it. Expect a totally new experience, so quietly and swift you might forget you’re on your way with a 3,5-ton vehicle. And that can be a […]
May 06, 2022
Brussels Airlines has again posted a red figure of -62 million euros in the first three months of 2022. Although this is an 11% improvement compared to the previous year, and the first quarter is traditionally the lowest-performing period of the year in the aviation sector, the airline is still experiencing the consequences of the […]
May 06, 2022
Flemish Minister of Mobility, Lydia Peeters’ plans to reorganize the training system for candidate drivers has provoked severe criticism. Mostly criticized is the idea that young drivers have to go through a training period of five to six months before they can take their practical exam unless they cough up a lot of money (€1 […]
May 06, 2022
The European car manufacturers association ACEA just released the total European car sales figures for the first quarter of 2022. There’s a noticeable growth for alternatively fueled cars, especially electrified ones. Battery electric vehicles (BEV) now account for 10% of the market, hybrid electric vehicles (HEV and PHEV) for 25,1%. Together, the electrified vehicles represent […]
May 05, 2022
The Californian electric car manufacturer Fisker has announced its third model under Ronin’s project name. The all-electric GT sports car comes after the Ocean (to start production end of this year) and the Pear (coming in 2023). Fisker has now published a first teaser image and initial information. The Ronin is planned for the official […]
May 05, 2022
According to a new study by the Walloon Road Safety Agency (AWSR), published on the occasion of a new awareness-raising campaign being held throughout May, one in 20 drivers follow online meetings while driving. The proportion of this new phenomenon even rises to one in six for those in management positions. The inhabitants of Walloon […]
May 05, 2022
Starting this week, passengers can again take the Waterbus between Brussels and Vilvoorde through the canal. Weekly operations come first, from July the service is extended to the weekend. From 2 May to 31 October, the Vivaldi Waterbus will run every weekday between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. and between 1 July and 15 August […]
May 05, 2022
In a television interview, Norwegian Minister of Transport Jon-Ivar Nygård has unveiled that the government is reconsidering the EV incentives that helped push electric car sales to almost 90%. Scrapping the benefits must get more people out of their cars. Free municipal parking. No tolls on ferries. Access to bus lanes. No annual road tax. […]
May 05, 2022
Flemish Minister of Mobility, Lydia Peeters (Open Vld), wants to reorganize the training of drivers to get their license. She pleads for a practice period of at least five months and a temporary driver’s license. She also wants to introduce a mandatory training session for coaches, often parents who’re training their son or daughter. They […]
May 05, 2022
According to news agency Bloomberg, insiders report that LG Chem has set its eyes on Antwerp-based materials handler Umicore to quench its thirst for expansion abroad. Umicore is an appealing candidate for the South-Korean battery manufacturer because it needs to secure its materials supply line in the wake of the explosive global growth of EV […]
May 05, 2022
The Flemish public transport company De Lijn invests 1,5 million euros in buying three tram simulators. So tram drivers no longer have to attend their practical training lessons alone in real trams and traffic situations. In the future, part of the training will be given virtually. De Lijn trains about 200 tram drivers annually. Some […]
May 05, 2022
The German car manufacturer Volkswagen Group confirmed yesterday that it wants more than double its market share in the United States. In the wake of Dieselgate, the Group partly abandoned/neglected the North-American market, but “in a more polarised world, it’s a market of growing interest.” The Volkswagen Group is not doing badly at the moment. […]
May 04, 2022
The impact of digital technology on the climate is five times more positive than the total digital footprint by 2030. CO2 emissions in Belgium could decrease by 10 to 12% by using digital technologies in the four most CO2-polluting branches of industry. That is the conclusion of a recent study by the technology federation Agoria. […]
May 04, 2022
French automotive suppliers Faurecia and Veolia have announced pioneering cooperation to use recycled plastics in automotive interior modules. They aim to achieve an average of 30% recycled content by 2025. The recycled material will be used in instrument panels, door panels, and center consoles in cars across Europe. “The use of recycled plastics is one […]
May 04, 2022
After contradicting that there won’t be enough charging infrastructure for all new electric cars to be built, the Brussels-based environmental NGO, Transport & Environment (T&E), wants to shatter another myth: the shortage of raw materials for batteries. A T&E study into the short-term availability of raw materials claims there is enough lithium and nickel for […]
May 04, 2022
The car and two-wheeler manufacturers and importers association Febiac have released the new sales figures for April. But unfortunately, the falling tendency has been reinforced. Last April, registrations of new cars fell by 23,6% to 28 402 units, those of LCVs even more, by 31,85%, to 4 704 units. For the first four months of […]
May 04, 2022
D’Ieteren Group’s head office in Ixelles/Elsene will look different in the future. The Belgian importer and seller of brands such as Volkswagen and Audi is proposing a transformation project to prepare its headquarters for the future while maintaining its roots and presence in Brussels. Owned by the D’Ieteren family since 1906, the rue du Mail […]
May 04, 2022
The tiny British sports car manufacturer, TVR, is planning a limited edition all-electric offshoot of its Griffith V8 model for 2024. Normally, there will be a second, as yet unspecified electric model joining it. TVR made the announcement as part of a sponsoring partnership with the Formula E electric racing series. The manufacturer, previously known […]
May 04, 2022
Stellantis’ car-sharing division Free2move announced today it had signed an agreement to acquire car-sharing company Share Now, a joint venture formed by Mercedes-Benz Mobility Group and BMW Group in 2019. Share Now is a market leader and pioneer of free-floating car-sharing and is represented in 16 major European cities with around 10 000 vehicles, including […]
May 03, 2022
On Monday, Stellantis announced a new plan to invest 3,6 billion Canadian dollars to secure the future of its two manufacturing facilities in Canada. The new capital injection will help the Windsor assembly plant add a flexible multi-energy vehicle architecture to its product portfolio. In contrast, the Brampton assembly will be upgraded to build all-electric […]
