October 16, 2023
Europe’s most important motor show will finally make its comeback in 2024. That’s what the Geneva International Motor Show (GIMS) organizers have announced recently. The 100th-anniversary edition will open again between Monday, 26 February, and Sunday, 3 March 2024. After four years of cancellations caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and problems around the organizers (financial […]
October 16, 2023
The Volkswagen Group disclosed its electric car statistics for the third quarter. They show that sales of battery-electric vehicles are increasing by 45% for the first nine months of 2023 but also that the manufacturer’s increase is slower than expected. Furthermore, there’s a noticeable difference between the performances of the distinctive brands inside the group. […]
October 13, 2023
The world’s number one car manufacturer, Toyota, and the Japanese energy company, Idemitsu Kosan, are teaming up on solid-state battery development. The two Japanese companies aim to reach commercialization by 2028. Toyota is joining forces with Idemitsu Kosan to advance the development and production of solid-state batteries for its future electric cars. The collaboration focuses […]
October 12, 2023
Volkswagen will discontinue the production of its small Up!, which is also offered with an electric drive. That means the tiny VW has been discontinued earlier than initially announced and will leave a gap in the VW model range for several years. Production will end much earlier than previously planned. In May 2022, Hildegard Wortmann, […]
October 12, 2023
The Flemish entrepreneur Guido Dumarey has bought the ZF transmission plant near Lyon, which produces transmissions for buses and trucks and industrial vehicles, with a yearly turnover of € 110 million. The amount of the investment has not been disclosed. ZF Bouthéon employs more than 300 people and will now be called Dumarey Powerglide Bouthéon. […]
October 12, 2023
The Dutch contract car manufacturer VDL Nedcar has finally disclosed who is the first new client after the BMW Group will have left Born (south of the Netherlands), where Mini’s were assembled, in 2024. And the first ‘new’ client is… BMW. VDL Nedcar struck a deal with BMW to assemble 125 000 battery packs between […]
October 11, 2023
There have been different signs lately about the EV market. Of course, sales are usually still rising, and the growth percentages can be impressive, but the real booming seems already over, and in absolute figures, there’s still a long way to go. One has to be careful when the emphasis is on percentages and the […]
October 10, 2023
In a works council on Monday morning, the direction of the Audi Brussels plant communicated that the Audi Q4 e-tron production, planned to start soon, has been postponed. For the moment, there is no additional production capacity needed. The smallest electric Audi was already in production in VW’s biggest EV factory in Zwickau (Germany), with […]
October 10, 2023
Following the contract extension for Group CEO Oliver Zipse, the BMW Group has made several new appointments at the management level below the Board of Management. This includes management changes at the BMW, BMW Motorrad, and Rolls-Royce brands. The BMW Group thus fills several top management positions directly below the Management Board. The changes will […]
October 10, 2023
The Volkswagen Group’s new battery subsidiary PowerCo and the Belgian materials technology group Umicore have established a joint venture for cathode and pre-material production in Europe. The JV is called Ionway. From 2025, it will supply PowerCo’s European battery cell factories with key materials from the Ionway factory in Poland. By the decade’s end, the […]
October 09, 2023
Flemish Mobility Minister Lydia Peeters (Open VLD) launched a ‘Flemish Task Force Autonomous Transport’, in view to coordinate and accelerate the development of autonomous transport in Flanders. “The aim of the task force is to lead the upswing of autonomous transport in Flanders and to support new pilot projects maximally,” says Peeters. “Autonomous mobility is […]
October 09, 2023
Volvo Cars global sales reached 61 666 cars in September, up 25% compared to the same period last year, as Europe, the US, and China all reported sales growth for the month. Electrified cars represented 34% of all sales, an increase of 37%. For the first nine months of 2023, the company sold 509 158 […]
October 09, 2023
Polestar, Geely’s ‘Scandinavian inspired’ BEV daughter, aims to reach profitability in 2025. This can only be achieved by increasing the number of deliveries. In the third quarter, the Swedish-Chinese brand achieved a 50% jump compared to Q3/2022. Polestar delivered around 13 900 electric cars to customers in the third quarter, 50,4% more than in the […]
October 06, 2023
Rolls-Royce Motor Cars has announced today that its CEO, Torsten Müller-Ötvös, will retire on 30 November 2023. He will be succeeded by Chris Brownridge, currently CEO of BMW UK. With 14 years as CEO, the German leaves BMW Group’s British high luxury brand as its longest-serving CEO since Claude Johnson brought Charles Rolls and Henry […]
October 04, 2023
In a striking opinion piece, William Todts, Executive Director of the NGO Transport & Environment (T&E), points at the mess the German car industry has made these recent decades and the efforts from the European Union to tackle the problem. “Earlier this month, Ursula von der Leyen sent shockwaves through the European and Chinese car […]
October 03, 2023
Omoda is the name of a new Chinese brand, part of the Chinese car manufacturer Chery Automobile. The brand will first be introduced in Belgium and Luxembourg at the beginning of 2024. The first car introduced is the Omoda 5, a fully electric SUV that will be sold at just under €40 000 for the […]
October 03, 2023
In Belgium and Luxembourg, 38 906 new cars were registered in September, 25,4% more than in September last year. For the first three quarters of the year, the increase was 33,2% compared to last year, totaling 374 848 newly registered cars. In the Netherlands and France, we see the same tendencies but less pronounced. The […]
October 02, 2023
Jochen De Smet is the current president of EV Belgium, a known facilitator of the energy transition. Being one of the speakers at Mobia’s Mobility Stakeholders Day, he stressed that the technology of this transition is not the problem, but the organization of it, especially the price transparency for the customer. “Europe has been working […]
October 02, 2023
A small roadster with fifties styling and an electric drive is proposed on the market for a few months. The origin is Dutch, and the design inspiration is British, but the Porsche 356 reminiscence is not far away. Meet the Carice TC2. “With the Carice TC2, we want to create art on wheels,” Niels van […]
September 28, 2023
BMW Group has extended the contract with CEO Oliver Zipse at his supervisory board meeting ahead of schedule by another two years until summer 2026. What will happen after that remains to be seen, but there is already speculation about potential successors. Norbert Reithofer, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of BMW AG, said: “Oliver Zipse […]
September 28, 2023
Last Monday, the 27 EU member states substantially softened the Commission’s proposition for new Euro 7 emissions regulations by 2025. Led by France and Italy (amongst others), the member states feared that this would cost the EU car industry too much and even retard investments in electrification. The member states are hereby responding to the […]
September 28, 2023
Nissan’s plan to launch only electric cars and hybrids in Europe from 2023 lasted only a short time. From now on, the Japanese want to introduce only pure electric vehicles so that the last hybrid will be sold by 2030. According to the new plan, Nissan wants to sell only fully electric cars in Europe […]
September 27, 2023
The Flemish government has (re-)installed a premium of €5 000 to purchase a new battery electric vehicle (BEV). For a second-hand one, there’s a subsidy of €3 000. There’s a significant restriction, however: the purchasing price of the BEV has to be less than €40 000, severely reducing the choice of electric cars on offer. […]
September 26, 2023
Almost 2 800 residents of the Lower Bavarian municipality of Straßkirchen were called upon in a referendum to vote on BMW’s planned battery assembly in the village. The result was a clearer ‘yes’ than previously thought. A clear majority of Straßkirchen residents voted in favor of building the new BMW Group facility. With over 75% […]
September 26, 2023
The electric cars based on the ‘Neue Klasse’ or ‘New Class’ from BMW are to usher in nothing less than a new era, as the board of management has recently emphasized. According to a media report, this upheaval is also likely to be accompanied by a new nomenclature for the model series and drive variants […]
September 25, 2023
The Vietnamese electric car manufacturer VinFast has now set the fourth quarter of 2023 as the target for the start of deliveries in Europe. The introduction has been postponed several times. At the same time, VinFast presented its first official business figures after it went IPO in August. In the fourth quarter of 2023, the […]
September 25, 2023
All new Jaguars sold in North America from 2025 will come with the North American Charging Standard (NACS). I-Pace drivers will receive an adapter to use the supercharger network. Jaguar is looking to become an all-electric brand starting in 2025. In the US, Canada, and Mexico, its new electric cars will come with the North […]
September 22, 2023
BMW Motorrad has issued a (temporary) sales ban on all its motorbikes with combustion engines throughout North America. This applies not only to new bikes but also to used ones at dealers. Only the electric model CE 04 is currently released for sale in the US and Canada. BMW emphasized that the sales stop is […]
September 21, 2023
The Prime Minister of the UK, Rishi Sunak (Conservatives), is attempting to water down the UK policy to ban the sale of new combustion vehicles in 2030. The British car industry doesn’t seem happy at all with this policy change. “To give us more time to prepare, I’m announcing that we’re going to ease the […]
September 20, 2023
A 3,5-year EU project, GIANTS (Green Intelligent Affordable New Transport Solutions), aims to develop technology solutions that will enable the production of affordable LEVs or light electric vehicles (categorized L5, L6, and L7) for urban transport worldwide. Two major car manufacturers are also involved. How can the millions of tuk-tuks in the world’s cities be […]
September 20, 2023
In August 2023, the EU car market expanded by 21%, reaching 787 626 registered units, marking the thirteenth consecutive month of growth, according to the figures of the Association of European Car Manufacturers (ACEA). The market share of battery–electric cars exceeded 20% for the first time (up from 11,6% in August last year). Despite August […]
September 19, 2023
At the top of Hongtu Daban in Tibet, a Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo EV conquered a new record for the greatest altitude change by an electric car: 5 573,979 meters. The Porsche Taycan has secured a new Guinness World Record after completing an extreme 2 783-kilometer journey that saw it go from the lowest natural […]
September 19, 2023
Gotion High-Tech, a Chinese battery cell manufacturer and Volkswagen partner, now also builds its battery packs in Göttingen. The first battery products are to be delivered to customers in October. “Our Göttingen factory’s production line is highly automated, with an overall automation level of nearly 70% and close to 80% in the module assembly stage,” […]
September 19, 2023
Volkswagen reportedly wants to stop vehicle production in Dresden after more than 20 years. The site is to be retained, and the 300 or so employees will be given other tasks, among others, in the area of innovative production and testing. VW is building the ID.3 in the so-called ‘Gläserne Manufaktur’ or Transparent Factory. According […]
September 18, 2023
Carmakers can sell small electric cars made in Europe for € 25 000 while making a profit, new research from Transport & Environment (T&E) shows. Falling production costs and battery prices would make mass-market B-segment vehicles feasible to electrify by 2025, according to the study by Transport & Environment (T&E) based on analysis by the […]
September 18, 2023
Xpeng will be the next Chinese manufacturer to launch an electric van on the domestic market from the end of this year. It will bear the model designation Xpeng X9 and will go on sale later this year. The first undisguised pictures and technical key data have now emerged from the Chinese Ministry of Industry […]
September 01, 2023
Further details about Jaguar’s new start as an electric brand from 2025 start to trickle down. According to a portal report, the three models Jaguar plans, based on the new electric platform JEA (in an early stage named Panthera), will be a four-seater GT, a luxury SUV, and a large sedan. The usually well-informed British […]
August 31, 2023
Renault CEO Luca de Meo has given more details about when the electric car business will split from the rest of the company and its planned Initial Public offering (IPO). The split will take place on 1 November 2023. From then on, Ampere will be separated from the Renault Group, but the ownership structure will […]
August 31, 2023
In July 2023, the EU car market continued its growth trajectory, expanding by 15,2%, the twelfth consecutive month of growth, according to the European Car Manufacturers Association ACEA data. New car registrations reached 851 156 units as the market recovers from last year’s component shortages. Most markets posted solid growth, including the four largest: France […]
August 30, 2023
More and more experts warn that European countries struggle to persuade people to switch from ICE cars to EVs. Europe sells ten times more electric cars today than it did six years ago (source: IEA), but its fleet is cleaning up too slowly to meet the agreed climate goals. “What we have learned is that […]
August 29, 2023
The California-based electric car manufacturer Fisker has announced that it has launched in three new European markets: Belgium, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. The company has already launched in Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Norway, Sweden, and the United Kingdom, as well as in Canada and the United States. Deliveries of the first car, the Ocean SUV, […]
August 29, 2023
In an interview with the Swiss newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung, the CEO of the Swedish/Swiss technology group ABB, Björn Rosengren, says that the time has definitely come to buy an electric car. The development of charging infrastructure is gaining momentum, so the biggest hurdle is disappearing. “Due to Covid-19, I’ve been unable to travel to […]
August 29, 2023
Chinese electric car manufacturer Xpeng signed a strategic partnership with shared mobility provider Didi. The deal includes the development of a new small electric car brand (project name Mona) and an investment by Xpeng in Didi. Xpeng wants to launch a new EV brand in 2024. It is currently being developed under the project name […]
August 24, 2023
Volvo’s fully electric sister-brand Polestar has reached a ‘production milestone’ as it calls it, with the 150 000th car leaving the factory. The Polestar 2 is the brand’s first volume car, and now it has started to deliver the beefed-up 2024 version of it. Prices start at €51 200. Thomas Ingenlath, Polestar CEO, comments: “The […]
August 22, 2023
During GM’s second-quarter earnings call in July, CEO Mary Barra reportedly said the company is launching a new strategy called “Winning with Simplicity”. It’s meant to lower design and engineering costs and reduce complexity in vehicle orders and manufacturing. GM is aiming to cut trim levels in half to create “fewer part numbers to simplify […]
August 22, 2023
German premium car manufacturer Mercedes-Benz will reportedly upgrade its EQE and EQS electric models to an 800-volt electrical system from 2025 onward, allowing charging capacities over 200 kW. According to media reports, the switch to 800-volt system voltage is part of a larger upgrade of the EVA2 platform, which will then be called EVA2M. EVA2 […]
August 21, 2023
Luxury car manufacturer Bentley, part of the VW Group, is reviving its iconic 1929 4 1/2-litre Supercharged ‘Blower’ model as an electric car. In cooperation with The Little Car Company, Bentley has developed a road-legal replica of the combustion classic that has been shrunk to 85% of the size of the original model and now […]
August 21, 2023
The team at Croatian car builder Rimac Automobili continues to showcase why its all-electric Nevera hypercar is the fastest production EV on the planet. It has just achieved the latest lap record at the world-renowned Nürburgring track. Since 2009, Rimac Automobili has continued to develop and deliver some of the most exciting and technologically advanced electric hypercars in […]
August 18, 2023
Sports retailer group Decathlon presented an e-bike with variable transmission on Thursday. The automatic shifting has been developed by E2 Drives in Wavre, in the Brabant Wallon province. The heart of the LD920 e-bike is a newly developed all-in-one solution for the bike drive, which was developed for three years with the Belgian start-up E2 […]
August 17, 2023
Joachim Sas will lead the import of luxury brands like Automobili Pininfarina, McLaren, and Rolls-Royce as COO for the Belux market. Until last month, Jochim Sas was General Manager for Mini at BMW Group Belux, where he left to pursue other career opportunities and was succeeded by Gabriel Goffoy, returning to BMW after his job […]
August 17, 2023
Hyundai Motor India said on Wednesday that it had signed an Asset Purchase Agreement (APA) to purchase a factory from US car manufacturer General Motors in the western state of Maharashtra. The South Korean car manufacturing group’s acquisition of the Talegaon plant in Maharashtra will lay the foundation to increase annual production capacity in India. […]
August 17, 2023
The KIA EV5 will normally be revealed at China’s AutoChengdu on August 25, but as usual, the very first official pictures of the production version are already leaked via the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), picked up by CarNewsChina. Pictures of the final version show that the newcomer is very similar to the […]
August 16, 2023
Volvo Cars reported global sales of 54 165 cars in July, up 21% compared with the same month last year. This was the eleventh consecutive month of growth year-over-year. In the same period, fully electric car sales grew 248% to 5 504 units, just over 10% of the total, while plug-in hybrids increased 65% to […]
August 16, 2023
After the fire on the car cargo ship ‘Fremantle Highway’ off the Dutch coast, many popular media hastily identified an electric car as the cause. Now it turns out that this is untrue. Many publications used the fire accident to highlight the (real) difficulties of extinguishing a fire on an EV. Still, they immediately concluded […]
August 15, 2023
Today, the Californian electric carmaker Fisker released additional details on its Fisker Ronin Super GT. This all-electric convertible was showcased for the first time at the company’s product vision day a few weeks ago. Meanwhile, the company had to lower its production targets for 2023 again. “The Fisker Ronin is for people who love to […]
August 14, 2023
More than four out of ten Dutch citizens think their country has to eliminate the idea that everyone has to own a car. Energy provider Zonneplan did a panel survey of 2002 Dutch inhabitants about their views on car possession. The most popular argument against car possession is the high environmental impact of the car […]
August 11, 2023
Cadillac has unveiled the Escalade IQ, an all-electric ‘full-size SUV’, scheduled for production in the summer of 2024. Based on General Motors’ Ultium platform, the Cadillac Escalade IQ gets an enormous battery. The Escalade IQ, which will debut with the 2025 model year, has up to 559 kW of all-wheel drive with two engines. That’s […]
August 09, 2023
The BMW i7 Protection is the world’s first-ever protection berline with an all-electric drive system. It is driven by two powerful electric motors and meets all the requirements of class VR9 protection without any limitations. The new BMW i7 Protection integrated security concept was factored into developing the new BMW 7 Series range. It centers […]
August 09, 2023
The Taiwanese chipmaker giant TSMC plans to construct a semiconductor plant in the eastern German city of Dresden. After its board meeting on Tuesday, the company announced that a total investment sum of € 10 billion will be involved. The plant will be built jointly with Bosch, Infineon, and NXP, each of which will hold […]
August 09, 2023
The German premium manufacturer BMW has presented a particular version of its 5 Series Sedan and the all-electric i5 for the Chinese market. The China offshoots get a longer wheelbase, more space in the rear, and specific design and equipment features. The 5 Series Sedan and the i5 for the Chinese market are produced at […]
