April 09, 2024
Opel has resurrected the Frontera nameplate for the successor of the Crossland. The new compact SUV focuses on practicality, clever technology and a high degree of electrification thanks to the choice between a (mild) hybrid or a fully electric drivetrain – although not every detail is yet known. The first Opel Frontera was a fully-fledged […]
April 08, 2024
ALD Automotive/LeasePlan and Smart Europe GmbH have come to an agreement to offer the two recent Smart models, the #1 and the #3, to companies and individual buyers in a private or operational leasing formula. Both individual and professional clients are now able to lease the Smart #1 and its somewhat larger brother, the Smart […]
April 05, 2024
Volvo Cars achieved a record-breaking sales performance last month, with figures reaching an all-time high. The surge in sales was notably propelled by the enthusiastic market reception of its new all-electric model, the EX30, and robust sales across its diversified portfolio in Europe and the United States. The Swedish automaker disclosed an impressive tally of […]
April 05, 2024
Chinese electric car manufacturer Xpeng has announced the launch of its third model in Europe. The coupé-like electric SUV Xpeng G6, which has been available in China since last year, can be ordered in Europe from May and will hit the road in Q3/2024. In China, Xpeng launched the G6 last summer as a competitor […]
April 04, 2024
Today, Renault presented an update on its popular B-Segment SUV, the Renault Captur. Renault calls the category urban SUVs and points out that this is a market accounting for half of all sales in the B-segment, which itself makes up 30% of the total market. “Captur is the B-segment “voiture à vivre” (car for living). […]
April 03, 2024
Danish car subscription start-up ‘:Dribe’ is ogling Belgium to export its fully digital platform to the rest of Europe. Offering subscriptions of 30 days and the freedom to switch cars when needed, this concept of Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) goes beyond any car leasing platform, the company claims. “We want to do this in collaboration with a […]
April 03, 2024
The upcoming entry-level Mercedes-Benz EV was finally caught out in the wild. The electric Mercedes CLA was spotted testing near the Arctic Circle. The new EV is seen as Mercedes-Benz’s answer to the Tesla Model 3 and will be the most affordable EV from Stuttgart. The new CLA is also dubbed the ‘electric hypermiler’ or […]
April 03, 2024
According to the data provided by the federal government service Mobility & Transport and the car manufacturers federation Febiac, 44,751 cars were registered in March 2024, 13.5% less than in the same month last year. Febiac explains this regress by saying that March 2024 counted two working days less than March 2023, but that can’t […]
April 02, 2024
Windrose Tech, the Chinese manufacturer of EV trucks, is considering coming to Antwerp to install its European headquarters, an R&D center, and an assembly plant. That’s what founder Han Wen declared in an interview with the French newspaper Le Monde. Windrose’s full electric trucks are supposed to have a range of some 600 km and […]
April 02, 2024
Belgian bus builder Van Hool, being on the inevitable edge of bankruptcy and running out of money at the end of March, is taking another week ‘to work on a quick relaunch’ within the boundaries of the juridical procedures, the company’s management told the workers council on Tuesday morning. Normally, the official bankruptcy was expected […]
April 02, 2024
On Friday, March 29th, 1974, the first Golf rolled off the line in Volkswagen’s home plant in Wolfsburg. Fifty years later, golf is still being produced, and over 37 million units have already been made. But the icon is not ready to die yet. Back in 1974, the new Golf was a gamble for Volkswagen. […]
March 29, 2024
After twelve years and over 420,000 units produced, the pioneering Renault Zoé electric subcompact hatchback will end its production run on Friday, March 30th, in the Flins factory. It will be replaced by the new, cheaper, and prettier Renault 5 E-Tech. The Zoé was Renault’s first production electric car. Based on the Clio platform, it […]
March 29, 2024
Carmakers face a million-euro debacle as telecom operators plan to shut down the 2G network, enabling the compulsory safety system eCall. Considered outdated and inefficient, replacing 2G might trigger a recall for over 36 million cars. Who will pay for the upgrade? In Europe, mobile operators are gearing up to shut down their 2G networks, […]
March 28, 2024
After coming second in the European Car of the Year (COTY) contest, the new BMW 5 Series has been named the World Luxury Car 2024. For the members of the World Car Awards jury, it was the standout new arrival in the field of luxury vehicles that celebrated their debuts in the world’s car markets […]
March 28, 2024
South Korean car manufacturing group Hyundai announced a massive $50 billion (68 trillion won) investment to secure its position as the auto market transitions to EVs. The Korean automaker will hire 80,000 people in Korea to help it become one of the top three EV makers in the world by 2030. Hyundai’s new investment is […]
March 28, 2024
For the first time since the outbreak of the Ukrainian war, a Russian factory has rebooted the manufacture of a Western car model. The automotive plant in Kaluga has officially started churning out Citroën C5 Aircross models for the local market. Citroën-owner Stellantis admits having lost control in the region. The PSMA Rus facility, as […]
March 27, 2024
Korean premium brand Genesis has revealed the Neolun Concept and GV60 Magma Concept. The first design study is a large luxury SUV with coach doors and a plush interior. What could become the future GV90 aims to rival the Mercedes-Maybach GLS with Royal Blue leather and a concert-hall sound system. The second concept hints at […]
March 27, 2024
Fisker’s insolvency is becoming more likely. As California-based electric car manufacturer Fisker announced in a stock exchange listing, talks with a major car manufacturer about an investment have failed. As a precautionary measure, the shares have already been suspended from trading. Just recently, Fisker announced that talks with an unnamed car manufacturer about a strategic […]
March 27, 2024
Aston Martin has appointed the boss of luxury car rival Bentley its next CEO. The British luxury sports car producer stipulates that Adrian Hallmark will replace current CEO Amedeo Felisa by October 1st this year. The new boss joins the London-listed carmaker from high-end luxury rival Bentley Motors, where he has led an improvement in […]
March 26, 2024
Germany is starting to build the country’s largest battery factory for electric vehicles. The project will cost 4.5 billion euros and is led by Sweden’s Northvolt, one of Europe’s newly started companies specializing in the construction and development of batteries for electric cars. The factory will be built near Heide, a city of more than […]
March 26, 2024
Nissan has presented its new business plan, The Arc. The aim is to sell an additional 1 million cars per year by the end of 2026 while boosting the profit margin to 6% to prepare for an accelerated EV transition by 2030. To achieve this, 30 new models will be released globally in the next […]
March 26, 2024
On Tuesday morning, 2,400 Van Hool employees wanted to start working again in Koningshooikt (Lier) to keep the Belgian bus builder factory going. Still, management sent them home for the next two weeks, awaiting the bankruptcy verdict. They are left with a resigned mood and uncertainty after hearing on Monday that going belly-up is unavoidable, […]
March 22, 2024
A new spring announces itself; a such-and-such new ‘mobility barometer’ is showing up. For just over half of all Belgians (51%), there is little to no belief in a new dawn the electric car could provide by 2035. 36% even think it won’t happen before 2045-2050, and 17% say ‘never for me’. Still, 48% (+7% […]
March 22, 2024
At its annual investor conference, BMW Group revealed a robust financial result for the past year and sketched a positive operational outlook for 2024. This year, the carmaker will spend a peak budget on new energy R&D before its next-generation electric vehicles hit the factory floor. CEO of BMW, Oliver Zipse, looks back at a […]
March 21, 2024
BMW will launch an all-new X3 this year, but the car model everybody is focusing on is the Vision Neue Klasse X. This is the north star for the brand’s next-generation battery-powered SUVs, lifting electrification, digitization, and sustainability to a new level. Following a leak earlier this week, BMW has revealed the BMW Vision Neue […]
March 20, 2024
Renault Group CEO (and current ACEA President) Luca de Meo has addressed a ‘Letter to Europe‘ to “all key decision-makers and stakeholders across Europe”. It’s an “Advocacy for a sustainable, inclusive, and competitive automotive industry.” With just a few months to go before the European elections, this twenty-page document calls for European mobilization “to succeed […]
March 20, 2024
Tesla is hiring a ‘Senior Manager Zero Service’, Elektrec.co spotted a few days ago online. The candidate will join Tesla’s Service Operations organization “and lead the team responsible for identifying and eliminating the reasons our cars require service”. Is that possible? Do electric cars need no servicing at all? You will often hear that EVs […]
March 20, 2024
The clock is ticking even faster for Belgian bus maker Van Hool, which can go bankrupt as soon as the following Monday if the descendants of the eight sons and two daughters of founder Bernard Van Hool don’t manage to burry the hatch among themselves in a heritage question that jeopardizes a take-over by a […]
March 19, 2024
The Holy Grail of the EV market is currently the sub-25,000 dollar or euro model, a goal that every prominent manufacturer envisions. Ford’s CEO Jim Farley has announced that the company is working on a new, low-cost EV platform to bring a sub-$25,000 electric SUV and pickup truck to market, but the question remains: when? […]
March 19, 2024
Belgian telecom and cable TV provider Telenet is diversifying: the company plans to provide smart home charging stations for electric cars. From April 1st, the telecom company will install charging stations under the brand name Blossom. Blossom will become a separate company within the group and will initially focus on installing and activating smart charging […]
March 18, 2024
The clock is ticking for Belgian bus maker Van Hool, which will go bankrupt if no private investor is found before the end of March. Belgian entrepreneur Guido Dumarey confirmed in an interview with Radio 1 that he’s convinced he can ‘rebuild’ Van Hool to a profitable, streamlined production company with 1,800 of the current […]
March 15, 2024
It looks like the automotive industry is sounding the ‘all hands on deck alarm’ to win private buyers over to switching to an EV with a price tag of €25,000 or lower. Škoda joins the race with the all-electric Epiq, the second of six new electric vehicles scheduled for launch in the coming years. For […]
March 15, 2024
At the annual media call 2024, Volkswagen brand CEO Thomas Schäfer unveiled more details on the upcoming €20,000 ID.1. The most affordable EV in the lineup will arrive in 2027. However, the biggest challenge will be deciding on the location of production. All mainstream automakers focus on affordable EVs, which is critical to realizing the […]
March 15, 2024
Chinese premium EV maker NIO has chosen ‘Onvo’ as the English name for the line of affordable ‘family electric cars’ it will sell in Europe. In China, it’s called Ledao (乐道), which means as much as ‘happy road’, according to founder and CEO William Li. Under the ‘Alps’ codename, it has been developing a mass-market […]
March 14, 2024
Nissan and Honda are preparing to reduce their production capacities in China significantly. The two Japanese car manufacturers are finding it difficult to keep up with Chinese competitors in the race for electric cars. A solution could be to join forces and slash EV prices consequently. As Nikkei Asia reported, both manufacturers plan to reduce […]
March 14, 2024
Walloon Environment Minister, Céline Tellier (Ecolo), has declared that the plan for Wallonia to become a Low Emission Zone (LEZ) was “disproportionate, difficult to apply and not very effective.” The Walloon LEZ is now axed, but major cities will be able to introduce restrictions to enhance air quality, not only on vehicles. Introduced in 2019, […]
March 14, 2024
Car-sharing company GreenMobility is leaving Belgium and returning to its Danish home market. After previously exiting the Netherlands, Germany, Finland, and Sweden, the Belgian branch will also be sold or closed down. “A pity,” according to Steve Van Avermaet, responsible for GreenMobility’s Belgian activities. “We were the company’s first foreign market and the last one […]
March 14, 2024
According to Flemish Minister-President Jan Jambon and Minister for Work Jo Brouns, several possible candidates are ‘lining up’ and showing interest in investing in a restart of bus manufacturer Van Hool in Koningshooikt (Lier). But that doesn’t mean avoiding bankruptcy, as some – like Belgian entrepreneur Guido Dumarey, a specialist in blowing new life into […]
March 14, 2024
Volkswagen Group is launching a major product push this year to help offset a gloomy economic outlook and growing competition. At the same time, a major efficiency improvement has to cut costs impressively. On Wednesday, finance chief Arno Antlitz presented the automaker’s 2023 results, saying the “general economic situation remains challenging”. VW Group expects a […]
March 13, 2024
On Tuesday, Belgium’s most significant car importer, D’Ieteren Automotive, kicked off its own B2B ‘motor show’ in the industrial settings of Silo Brussels, a former brewery and malthouse located along the canal at Neder-Over-Heembeek. Called ‘Mobility Solutions’ by D’Ieteren, it demonstrates it’s no longer about selling cars only but rather focusing on a far broader […]
March 13, 2024
In an interview with the Financial Times on Tuesday, Mercedes-Benz CEO Ola Källenius made a remarkable statement, rubbing up his French competitors by urging the European Commission to lower tariffs on Chinese EV imports instead of raising them. This would force European carmakers to make better cars, he added. “I’m a contrarian,” he said in […]
March 12, 2024
Volvo has announced a significant charging improvement for cars built on its next-gen EV platform. Their batteries will charge up to 30% faster than the current line-up, and it has nothing to do with revolutionary chemistries or a different manufacturing approach. The secret weapon is an algorithm. Volvo Cars is investing in Breathe Battery Technologies, […]
March 12, 2024
In an interview with the American car magazine Car and Driver, Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares says his group has to produce its own batteries. Meanwhile, he also stresses that EVs have to become lighter and batteries more efficient to maintain the expected range of an EV. The most expensive part of an EV is the […]
March 12, 2024
After the sabotage attack, which led to a power outage and discontinuation of assembly, Tesla’s Grünheide factory is back online. Engineers from energy supplier Edis worked in three-shift mode to restore the connection and succeeded on Monday evening. “The measures to restart the plant are now running at full speed under all safety precautions,” wrote […]
March 11, 2024
In stormy weather since the Covid-19 pandemic and the following crisis, Belgian bus and coach builder Van Hool production workers face the ultimate doom scenario. On Monday’s ultimate works council, the unions got the grim message that 1,116 of currently 2,494 jobs at the company’s main factory in Koningshooikt (Lier) will disappear by 2028, 834 […]
March 08, 2024
European vehicle safety non-profit Euro NCAP has unveiled plans for a new safety score 2026 that will include an assessment of the ease of use of essential controls. Cars that force drivers to use touch controls for features like wipers and indicators will be punished and risk the all-important five-star safety rating. The auto industry […]
March 08, 2024
People often say that women are lousy drivers, but statistics show just the opposite: almost eight in ten road deaths are men. Women are less likely to be involved in serious accidents than men and are generally also less likely to be severely injured in accidents (40% compared to 60% of men). However, it is […]
March 07, 2024
The fire on the cargo ship Felicity Ace, which caused the loss of several thousand vehicles, is finding its way to court. A probe points to a Porsche EV aboard with a defective battery having ignited the fire. That kept the ship burning for two weeks before it sank. The Volkswagen Group is facing lawsuits […]
March 07, 2024
Ford has updated the full-size E-Transit in the US, boosting the range by 26 to 32 percent thanks to a new 89 kWh battery. The electric van also gets 49 percent faster charging while the price only increases slightly for the American market. A European launch has not yet been announced. The 2022 E-Transit was […]
March 06, 2024
Brussels-based holding company D’Ieteren, best known for car glass repairer Carglass and as an importer of VW vehicles, posted sharply higher profits in 2023. Last year, that adjusted consolidated profit before tax came to 970.8 million euros or a 28.1% increase compared to 2022. Things look rosy for D’Ieteren for this year, too: It expects […]
March 06, 2024
According to a document published on Tuesday and cited by the Reuters news agency, the EU Commission says it has sufficient evidence ‘tending’ to show Chinese EVs were being subsidized, and it will start ‘customs registrations’ on Thursday to prepare for possible retroactive tariffs. That means that import tariffs could be imposed retrospectively if the […]
March 05, 2024
After announcing new price cuts every day last week for nearly every model in its lineup, BYD announced a 12% price reduction for its best-selling compact SUV, the Yuan Plus, better known in Europe as the Atto 3. In China, the Yuan Plus Glory Edition has a starting price of 119,800 yuan (€15,338). In Belgium, […]
March 05, 2024
The French car manufacturer Renault is hoping it has a winner on its hands with the upcoming Renault 5 BEV. The company says it already has 50,000 orders on the waiting list just a few days after its official debut at the Geneva Motor Show. “We have a waiting list of 50,000 people,” Renault brand […]
March 04, 2024
The electric car manufacturer Fisker warns in its latest annual report that it may be unable to continue operations. The current resources are not sufficient to cover the next twelve months. Such warnings occur from time to time and do not necessarily result in the insolvency of a company. In this way, Fisker’s management draws […]
March 04, 2024
Nissan bids farewell to an era as it halted production of the iconic all-electric Leaf MkII at its Sunderland plant in the UK last week. In a following move, the automaker readies its next-generation electric vehicles at the factory. Since its inception in 2010, the Leaf has been a trailblazer in the electric vehicle market, […]
March 01, 2024
The European Parliament has agreed on a new set of regulations concerning driver’s licenses. One of the plans is to increase the weight limit of electric light commercial vehicles to 4.25 tons to compensate for the loss of payload due to heavy battery packs. But new exam rules, digital licenses, and stricter rules for young […]
March 01, 2024
Beherman Motors has signed an agreement with the Chinese brand Farizon to import and distribute in the Benelux region. The well-known family importer, tied to Mitsubishi, Mazda, Saab, and BMW in the past, taps further into the opportunity of the nascent eLCV market and aims at a share of 5%. Farizon, a subsidiary of the […]
March 01, 2024
While in the Netherlands, at VDL Nedcar in Born, for the 2,000 employees, the curtain fell in February for the production of the MINI, BMW shows it is capable of keeping production within its own factories. The first fully electric MINI Countryman models are rolling off the line in Leipzig. Leipzig is the birthplace of […]
March 01, 2024
German carmaker Volkswagen has inked a Master Agreement with Chinese partner Xpeng on strategic technical collaboration to develop two ‘smart e-car’ models in the Chinese market’s mid-size (B) segment. These two first models should hit the market in 2026. For the time being, the collaboration is only for the Chinese market. Still, earlier in July […]
February 29, 2024
The European Parliament rejects limiting the validity period of driving licenses for older drivers. Earlier, European Mobility Ministers also agreed that there would be no specific validity restriction on driving licenses for the over-70s. The legislation, which also introduces a digital driving license on smartphones, has yet to be negotiated with members; it emerged on […]
