October 08, 2024
Jeep’s commercial results in Europe at the end of September 2024 show a volume of registrations of 100,700 units, an increase of 3.5%, and a market share of 1%. “We are thrilled to announce that Jeep sales in Europe have surpassed 100,000 vehicles, demonstrating that our commitment to delivering a brand that embodies freedom and […]
October 07, 2024
In partnership with the waste management group Suez, Renault has announced ambitious plans to make its subsidiary ‘The Future is Neutral’, dedicated to the circular economy, a leading player in Europe. Suez becomes a shareholder in Renault’s branch, which will receive an injection of €140 million to boost its operations and objectives in circularity. During […]
October 07, 2024
NMBS/SNCB’s board of directors has reaffirmed its decision on the train offer for 2025. Earlier, outgoing Mobility Minister Georges Gilkinet (Ecolo) had overturned the Belgian public railroad company’s decision. According to Gilkinet, the Federal Public Service Mobility will now rule on the new train offer. Train passengers, for their part, are calling for quick work […]
October 07, 2024
On Saturday evening, a 60-meter-long memorial stone was unveiled on the former site of Ford Genk. It is a tribute to all generations of Ford employees. The work, designed by Design studio Brussels LOF in collaboration with illustrator Pieter Van Eenoge, tells Ford’s history in a concrete cartoon. The construction is an imposing bas-relief consisting […]
October 07, 2024
The Brussels parliament has postponed for two years the tightening of the Low-Emission Zone (LEZ) on January 1st, 2025. The Liberals, PS, Les Engagés, Team Fouad Ahidar, and Vlaams Belang voted in favor; the Greens and DéFi against, while Vooruit, N-VA, and CD&V abstained. Urban movement BRAL calculated that postponing the ban on the most […]
October 07, 2024
McLaren has officially revealed its latest hypercar, the W1. This marks the British automaker’s third model to feature the iconic ‘1’ in its name, following the legendary F1 from 1993 and the P1 from 2013. True to its heritage, the W1 continues McLaren’s tradition of pushing the boundaries of automotive performance by incorporating cutting-edge technologies […]
October 07, 2024
This weekend, the 15th edition of the Zoute Grand Prix (ZGP) took place in Knokke on the Belgian coast. The (cristal) jubilee edition was also the first of a new era. After serious financial problems, the organization was taken over, and the event wanted to start on a clean sheet. That worked well, apparently, with […]
October 04, 2024
“Today’s vote is a fatal signal for the European automotive industry. What is needed now is a quick settlement between the EU Commission and China to prevent a trade conflict from which no one gains,” BMW CEO Oliver Zipse said, according to Reuters. In an attempt to avoid a ‘damaging’ trade war with China, BMW […]
October 04, 2024
The plans were known before, but now French rail manufacturer Alstom has effectively received an order for 12 new-generation TGVs, as well as 15 years of maintenance, from the new French private train company Proxima. The order involves a sum of nearly 850 million euros. Proxima, one of France’s first independent high-speed train companies, plans […]
October 04, 2024
A week before its official premiere at the Paris Motor Show, Peugeot has already revealed the e-408, an electric variant of its mid-size crossover that will try to compete with the Tesla Model 3 and Polestar 2, among others. This addition means that almost every car available to order in Peugeot’s line-up now offers a […]
October 04, 2024
According to data from traffic institute Vias, the number of seriously injured cyclists is increasing year after year. In 2022, 7,300 cyclists ended up in hospital after an accident, ten percent more than in 2016. Cyclists are also the only group of road users where the number of seriously injured people is increasing. According to […]
October 04, 2024
“Decarbonising mobility is a key objective in the fight against climate change,” French automaker Renault says, and how it plans to make tomorrow’s nearly zero-carbon family car it demonstrates at the Paris Motor Show from 14 to 20 October with the Renault Emblème. The Emblème concept is a sleek, fully electric shooting brake, 160 kW […]
October 04, 2024
Tesla has reported strong production and delivery figures for the third quarter of 2024. After producing nearly 410,000 vehicles in the second quarter, the electric car giant boosted output to 469,796 units in Q3 and delivered 462,890 cars to customers. These numbers represent a 14.3% increase in production and a 4.3% rise in deliveries compared […]
October 04, 2024
Skoda has presented the Elroq, its second EV after the Enyaq. When the Skoda comes onto the market in the first quarter of 2025, it will offer much for the money asked. The price for Belux has just been released: €33,990. According to Skoda, it’s the first time a fully electric vehicle is available at […]
October 03, 2024
From the beginning of next year, anyone wishing to travel from Amsterdam to London by Eurostar will be able to do so again without changing trains in Brussels. The renovation of the terminal in Amsterdam Central will be largely completed by then, says the Dutch railroad company NS. Due to works on the Amsterdam station, […]
October 03, 2024
From October 1st, you can renew your driver’s license A and B via BelDrive, FPS Mobility’s online platform. The platform should simplify the process. The European Union has decided that everyone must apply for a new driver’s license by 2033. From then on, everyone must have a bank card-format driver’s license, which is valid for […]
October 03, 2024
Norway continues to break records in the shift toward electric mobility. In September, 96.4% of all new car registrations in the country were fully electric vehicles. This new record comes just a month after the previous peak in August 2024, where 94.3% of new cars were electric. The surge in electric vehicle adoption reinforces Norway’s […]
October 03, 2024
While new car registrations slowed, the used car market grew almost continuously over the year’s first nine months. According to mobility organization Traxio, the 500,000 registration mark was already exceeded in August. That figure rose to more than 550,000 registrations (550,781, to be precise) in September, or 6.1% more than last year and 13.7% more […]
October 03, 2024
On Tuesday, the unions at Audi’s factory in Brussels, threatened by closure, were told at a works council meeting that only one candidate investor for the plant has come forward but didn’t put a viable plan on the table. At the same time, management made a first proposal for a social plan, which the unions […]
October 03, 2024
The additional round of the Zero-Emission Trucks (AanZET) subsidy program for 2024 in the Netherlands was almost entirely allocated in just one day. Of the €22.2 million budget, €21.4 million was applied for, as companies feel the pressure with several Dutch cities introducing zero-emission zones in 2025. According to the Ministry, a new round of […]
October 02, 2024
By the end of this year, PricewaterhouseCoopers Belgium and MINI Belux will deliver 200 brand-new full electric MINIs to their starting employees. With the delivery, the company will have a total of 300 electrified MINIs in its fleet. By replacing 200 BMW 1 series diesel cars with new electric MINI Cooper SE models, the company […]
October 02, 2024
Citroën risks losing millions from the social leasing plan launched in France last year to encourage the switch to electric cars. The brand, owned by Stellantis, had until September 30th to deliver the vehicles ordered under that leasing plan. But Citroën is facing delivery delays. According to French media, if the French state prevails, the […]
October 02, 2024
In the city center of Namur, you can now take an e-shuttle for free. The shuttles replace the TEC buses, which have been unable to travel in the pedestrian zone since the beginning of May. The four shuttles are primarily intended for people who have difficulty getting around but are also available to everyone free […]
October 02, 2024
According to the latest data from the sector federation Febiac and the federal service Mobility & Transport, the registrations of new cars in September decreased by 18.6% compared to last year. Thirty-one thousand six hundred seventy-six (31,676) new vehicles were registered. The cumulated data for the first three quarters show 356,568 registrations, 4.9% less than […]
October 02, 2024
Last week, Ford Cologne started ramping up production of its two European EVs, the Explorer SUV and the new Capri, a fully electric crossover. Both are up to 70% more Volkswagen than Ford as they extensively use VW’s MEB platform, siblings of the ID.4 and ID.5. Turning the old Fiesta factory into a modern zero-emission […]
October 01, 2024
Car manufacturing group Stellantis is undoubtedly not the first to lower its expectations, but the stock market’s reaction has been the most brutal. Stellantis shares have fallen by more than 10%. It seems that shareholders and speculators wanted to punish Stellantis for its impressive successes in the last years now that the car industry, in […]
October 01, 2024
European aircraft maker Airbus will build a new campus for training and flight operations in its home port of Toulouse. The Toulouse site, the only center in Europe to provide training on all the European aircraft manufacturer’s programs, will accommodate 600 people starting in 2026. Airbus forecasts that more than 40,000 new aircraft could enter […]
October 01, 2024
The planned restart of the Doel 4 nuclear reactor has been postponed until December because the outer shell has been damaged. During a scheduled maintenance service, inspectors discovered damage to the concrete reinforcement of the outermost of two casings above the reactor. Last year, the Alexander Decroo government and operator Electrabel decided to keep the […]
October 01, 2024
The Walloon Road Safety Agency (AWSR) reports that about 72% of Walloon motorists do not know how to correctly apply the ‘safety corridor’ rule or the emergency lane, even though it has been in the Belgian highway code for four years. The organization is launching an information campaign to remind road users of this principle. […]
October 01, 2024
A group of fifty companies and organizations from the automotive, clean tech, transport, and energy ecosystem that calls itself ‘Industry for 2035’ urges the European Union not to give in to the rising pressure from some car manufacturers and stay firm on car CO2 standards for 2026 and beyond, including the ICE ban from 2035. […]
October 01, 2024
It’s finally on sale in Europe, the MG everyone is waiting to revive the image of the iconic roadsters from its British heritage: the fully electric Cyberster. The basic 2WD version can be ordered in Belgium for €65,490, and the most potent, 4WD GT version, featuring 375 kW (510 pk), starts at €69.990. 47 pre-orders […]
October 01, 2024
Chinese car manufacturer BYD has filed a recall of nearly 100,000 vehicles due to a manufacturing fault in the electric power steering column assembly (CEPS) controller. According to China’s State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR), due to fire risks, the automaker will recall 96,714 Dolphin and Yuan Plus vehicles in China starting September 30th, 2024. […]
October 01, 2024
Sustainable energy producer Eneco has built Belgium’s largest battery park in Ville-sur-Haine in the province of Hainaut (Wallonia). Last Friday, the press was invited to visit the site. The site housed a coal-fired power station until the 1980s. Now, it has 53 batteries that can store 200 MW of electricity. The batteries will store excess […]
September 30, 2024
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo has won her battle: the planned 50 km/h speed limit will be introduced on part of the Paris ring road tomorrow and will apply everywhere there from October 10. New French Transport Minister François Durovray “regrets the decision, which will affect millions of Île-de-France residents.” But Durovray, who threatened to scrap […]
September 30, 2024
The United Kingdom has marked a historic moment in its energy transition by shutting down the Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station in Nottinghamshire (East Midlands of England). It was the UK’s last remaining coal power plant. Officials have described its closure as a “tremendously important milestone in the global route to decarbonization.” After decommissioning, the site will […]
September 30, 2024
Brussels Airport and air traffic controller Skeyes are starting demonstration flights with landings at a steeper angle on Tuesday. This test aims to analyze whether there is a positive impact on noise pollution, CO2 emissions, and fuel consumption. The tests are part of the HERON (Highly Efficient Green Operations) project, a broad international consortium of […]
September 30, 2024
The German-based Centre for Automotive Research (CAM) has released an analysis of EV registrations in Europe’s key markets for the first half of the year. CAM sees a significant opposing trend where the UK is nearing taking the lead from Germany as Europe’s biggest EV market. CAM spots an overall resilience for electric cars, especially […]
September 30, 2024
The new Flemish government has decided that the Flemish public transport company De Lijn will receive additional funds to green its fleet and will also be allowed to decide in the future to raise fares. However, it is not clear exactly how much extra money is going to De Lijn. In addition to substantial investments […]
September 30, 2024
For the second time, Volkswagen, Germany’s largest automaker, has cut its 2024 revenue and profitability forecasts, signaling a deepening crisis within the German automotive industry. Citing a challenging market environment, the company announced on Friday that it now expects lower sales and earnings than previously projected. Volkswagen initially forecasted a revenue increase of up to […]
September 30, 2024
Since this weekend, Flanders has a new government and embarks now on a new course to appease mobility and the environment. The latter comes off second-best as LEZ zones are ‘frozen’ to their current restrictions, and the 2029 ban on new cars with combustion engines (ICE) is set back by six years to 2035. And […]
September 27, 2024
European aircraft maker Airbus is reorganizing its production to better respond to supply chain disruptions and its main competitors, the American Boeing and the ambitious Chinese Comac. It is doing so under the banner ‘LEAD!’. The new strategy includes structurally improving performance by simplifying the organization, cost savings, and not hiring new staff, but there […]
September 27, 2024
Jaguar Land Rover is getting its 61-year-old factory in Halewood near Liverpool ready for EV production. Here, the carmaker will manufacture mid-size electric SUVs based on the new Electric Modular Architecture (EMA) platform. The first half of the £500 million investment (€600 million) has already been used to modernize production lines and machinery, train staff, […]
September 27, 2024
Belgium’s automotive market outperforms most European markets in reducing CO₂ emissions from new cars. According to Febiac and the European Environment Agency data, Newspaper De Tijd reports that the average emissions from new cars in Belgium decreased by over 40% between 2019 and 2023. This is significantly better than the EU average reduction of 27%, […]
September 27, 2024
The Dutch non-profit research organization TNO (Toegepast Natuurwetenschappelijk Onderzoek) survey shows that 48% of potential second-hand car buyers prefer an EV. The survey asked 1,512 respondents which type of car they would buy on the second-hand market in the five years to come. Almost half (48%) preferred an electric car, and 59% thought it feasible […]
September 27, 2024
Polestar’s collaboration with Swedish bicycle brand Allebike has resulted in a second joint e-mountain bike: the limited-edition Allebike Elize Polestar Engineered. This new bike, priced at €8,900, is designed for challenging off-road adventures, combining the design and performance elements that Polestar is known for. It’s designed to complement the carmaker’s SUV range. The new e-mountain […]
September 26, 2024
High-speed train operator Eurostar and the airline alliance SkyTeam will work together to offer integrated tickets. They have signed a memorandum of understanding to this end. The intention is to offer joint trips combining long- and medium-haul flights on the one hand and Eurostar train rides on the other, starting in the first half of […]
September 26, 2024
The tightening of the low-emission zone (LEZ) in Brussels will most likely be postponed from 2025 to 2027. The proposal of an ordinance to this effect by MR, PS, Les Engagés, and Open Vld was approved on Wednesday in the Environment Committee of the Brussels Parliament. The Brussels Parliament’s plenary session on October 4th must […]
September 26, 2024
Absenteeism is peaking at the Tesla factory in Grünheide, near Berlin. Management has, therefore, decided to visit employees on sick leave at home to check whether their absence is legal. In August, the sick leave rate among the 12,000 employees in Grünheide had risen to 17 percent; at the beginning of September, it was still […]
September 26, 2024
BYD marked a significant milestone on September 25th, as the Chinese automaker celebrated the production of its nine millionth new energy vehicle (NEV). The landmark car, a Yangwang U9 electric supercar, crowned the event. The achievement symbolizes BYD’s rapid growth and expansion in the electric vehicle market. Two months ago, BYD reached its eighth millionth […]
September 26, 2024
According to the mobility organization Touring, the average EV driver in Belgium is highly educated, has a higher-than-average income, and has a private parking spot for his car. Touring has realized the latest European Alternative Fuels Observatory (EAFO) survey in Belgium in cooperation with the Brussels VUB University and interrogated 1,356 Belgian drivers. 96 of […]
September 26, 2024
According to electricity provider Elia, electricity demand will only increase over the next 25 years. Cars will run on batteries, industrial processes will run on electricity, and we’ll heat our homes with heat pumps. Elia, therefore, wants the new government to make decisions about new investments in power supply and the future energy mix because […]
September 25, 2024
The first European Media Drive for the Leapmotor C10 and T03 models is currently taking place in Milan. The event marks Leapmotor International’s official debut in Europe. Meanwhile, the Chinese carmaker is already readying other models to enter the market. In October 2023, Leapmotor and Stellantis announced that Stellantis would invest around 1.5 billion euros […]
September 25, 2024
Cambio CarSharing Flanders is celebrating its 20th anniversary. The car-sharing service started in 2004 in Ghent and is active in more than 100 Flemish cities and municipalities today. More cities and municipalities will be added in the coming years, starting with the Ghent boroughs. The car-sharing service also wants to improve its software and further […]
September 25, 2024
Starting December 16th, a high-speed train will run daily between Paris and Berlin. French railroad company SNCF Voyageurs and German operator Deutsche Bahn will operate the line. The journey will take about eight hours in total. A stopover in Brussels or Belgium is not planned because the train will enter France or Germany via Strasbourg. […]
September 25, 2024
The German Flixbus launches a direct bus connection between Brussels (Belgium) and Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital. The first trip from Kyiv to Brussels is planned for Wednesday. There will be two rides per week. The bus leaves Kyiv on Wednesday and Friday mornings. In the opposite direction, the departure from Brussels North is scheduled for Monday […]
September 25, 2024
Seven years after starting its car-sharing service under the wings of D’Ieteren Automotive Lab Box, Poppy Mobility is adding taxi services in Brussels with 800 ‘top-rated’ drivers from another D’Ieteren daughter, TaxiVerts. In a press release, Poppy says that it will “source the highest-rated drivers, who will be vetted through a double screening process. Drivers […]
September 25, 2024
BMW just released more information about its model offer update for the autumn and winter of 2024. Just a few weeks after the new BMW 1 Series launches, another two model variants will be available from November 2024. At the same time, the line-up of drive systems for the BMW i5 Touring and BMW 5 […]
September 24, 2024
In the coming weeks and months, railroad company NMBS/SNCB will roll out silence zones on Belgium’s main IC trains. By next summer, 65% of all passengers traveling between major cities should generally be able to use them. The quiet zones have been tested on trains between Eupen and Ostend and Brussels and Luxembourg. According to […]
September 24, 2024
The Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, wants to introduce a speed limit of 50 km/hour on the Paris Ring Road from October 1st. Whether it will come to that remains to be seen because brand-new Transport Minister François Durovray says he is unconvinced about the project. “I think this is not a decision that the […]
September 24, 2024
The Flemish mobility organization VAB will celebrate its 100th anniversary this year, at September 30. On the occasion of its centenary, the organization will also have a new slogan: “VAB, daar kom je verder mee” (VAB will take you further). Over the past century, the organization has grown into a company that offers driving lessons, […]
