July 22, 2026
Audi is preparing the A2 e-tron as its new entry-level electric model for the compact segment. All four powertrain variants will be available to order immediately following the world premiere this autumn. Prices will start at €38,200 in Germany. New spy shots now show the EV almost completely undisguised and reveal further details of its […]
July 22, 2026
The board of directors of parent company Lufthansa has appointed Lorenza Maggio as the new CEO of Brussels Airlines. Maggio will replace Dorothea von Boxberg, who is leaving the company on August 31 to join BMW. Maggio (48), an Italian national, has been a member of the ITA Airways board of directors since January 2025, […]
July 21, 2026
Volvo Cars commits to the future of its Ghent factory, the Swedish car manufacturer’s headquarters announced on Wednesday. The company has reached an agreement with the Belgian federal and Flemish governments for support and financing measures totaling up to €119 million. The arrangements are documented in a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). The package aims to […]
July 20, 2026
Ferrari will be auctioning off the first example of its first production battery-electric car to whoever has the deepest pockets. Ferrari will be putting the first production example of its full-electric Luce, Chassis 0, on the auction block at Monterey Car Week in August. Since its official premiere, the Ferrari Luce has been quite controversial. […]
July 10, 2026
According to a report by the usually well-informed Manager Magazin, Volkswagen is considering a far more extensive restructuring program than previously reported. The German business magazine claims the company is planning to close its plants in Hanover, Zwickau, and Emden, as well as Audi’s factory in Neckarsulm. The report also states that Volkswagen could cut […]
July 09, 2026
Shock absorber manufacturer Tenneco, better known by the brand name Monroe, is set to lay off 120 employees at its Sint-Truiden plant – 101 manual workers and 19 white-collar staff. The dismissals would reportedly be phased from September 2026 until the end of 2027. The announcement had been anticipated for some time, but the company confirmed its […]
July 08, 2026
Researchers at Penn State University, Pennsylvania, U.S., claim to have developed a process that converts PET plastic from beverage bottles into high-quality synthetic graphite. According to the researchers, the material could serve as an anode material for lithium-ion batteries in the future, simultaneously recycling plastic waste and meeting the demand for battery graphite. A research […]
July 08, 2026
As announced in March at the presentation of its 2030 strategic plan, Dacia is expanding its C-segment range with the Striker. Meanwhile, Dacia’s best-seller, the Sandero, can finally be ordered with the 155 hp hybrid engine known from other, more expensive Dacias. Designed to complement Bigster, Striker is a crossover with the same Dacia DNA, […]
July 08, 2026
Renault CEO François Provost has put one of the European car industry’s most sensitive questions on the table: can small electric cars be profitable, or will Europe’s volume manufacturers be pushed out of their home market by Chinese competition? In an interview with Les Echos, the LVMH-owned French business daily widely read in political and […]
July 08, 2026
At Château-Ferme de Moriensart in Céroux-Mousty, Subaru Benelux made its point quite clearly. The brand’s new electric models may share their core engineering with Toyota, but they are intended to be more than badge-engineered cousins; a ‘go-anywhere family car’. On the short off-road course prepared for the press drive, the Solterra, Uncharted, and E-Outback showed […]
July 07, 2026
Barely three weeks after entrepreneur Gerrit den Otter purchased the 30-hectare site of the bankrupt bus manufacturer Van Hool, he has already resold the land. The new owner is the Antwerp-based construction group Mourik. The purchase price was not disclosed, although, according to some sources, the land was reportedly sold “at a profit.” Biddit The Van Hool […]
July 07, 2026
If you want to boost battery life, it seems only logical to look to the periodic table for a breakthrough. But maybe the solution is much simpler. Researchers at the University of Cambridge applied pressure and witnessed significant progress in cell lifespan. Better performance under pressure? It seems that batteries, too, benefit from the equation. The […]
July 07, 2026
Enovates, the Belgian manufacturer of electric-vehicle charging stations established in Lokeren, East-Flanders, had to close its books after several years of financial losses. After several weeks of intense negotiations, former founder Bart Vereecke managed to realize a restart with four of his key managers, who will be co-investing, and with the support of Dutch investor […]
July 06, 2026
The Genk-based transport and logistics company H.Essers is acquiring the American company Palmer, a leading provider of chemical warehousing and value-added logistics services. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed. With this acquisition, H.Essers strengthens its transatlantic service offering and further expands its own operational presence in the chemical sector. The combination establishes H.Essers’ […]
July 06, 2026
The Brussels government is introducing a new fee structure for the use of public charging stations for EV’s. Starting October 1, a 6-euro cents-per-minute rate will apply to vehicles that remain connected to a charging station for more than 6 hours between 9 a.m. and 10 p.m. The fee is being introduced to address the […]
July 02, 2026
According to data from the federal public service (FOD) Mobility and the sector federation Febiac, 45,449 cars were registered in June, 9.4% more than in June last year. For the first half of the year, registrations are still slightly down (-1.7%) compared to H1 2025. During that first half of the year, individual buyers bought […]
July 02, 2026
Belgian motorists overwhelmingly regard the car as essential to everyday life, yet increasingly see it as a luxury they can barely afford. That is the central finding of a European survey commissioned by Cardoen’s French parent group, AramisAuto, which places Belgium among the more cautious markets for electrification and low-emission zone policy. The OpinionWay study surveyed […]
July 01, 2026
The new X5 is, once again, a crucial car for BMW. That’s why, for the first time, it is now available not only as an all-electric iX5 but also with a hydrogen fuel cell option. Production of the iX5 will start in August at the Spartanburg plant in the USA. The iX5’s specifications look promising; […]
June 30, 2026
Starting Wednesday, July 1, the grace period in Brussels will officially end, and the tax authorities will begin issuing fines to the latest group of drivers who violate the low-emission zone (LEZ) standards. Specifically, more than 13,000 vehicles – Euro 5 diesel and Euro 2 gasoline cars that received a warning earlier this year – […]
June 30, 2026
According to a new study by the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT), the world could save 8.8 million human lives through 2050 with a more ambitious plan toward electrification. The new report tallies up the massive amounts of deaths caused by vehicle pollution, finding that one person dies globally every 45 seconds as a […]
June 30, 2026
Although Smart reinvented itself around the booming SUV segment, sales have yet to meet expectations. With the recently appointed Wolfgang Ufer at the helm as its new CEO, the brand is bringing a Mercedes veteran to the role just as its most iconic model, the #2, is ready for a rematch. “It’s the best two-seater […]
June 30, 2026
XPeng will unveil its new Mona L03 in Beijing on 2 July, but China is only the first stop. Chairman and CEO He Xiaopeng has said the fastback SUV will travel to Europe shortly afterward for its global launch and the start of an official sales rollout. This makes the L03 far more than a […]
June 30, 2026
Seven EU member states – Denmark, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden – have called on the European Union to maintain a clear and ambitious path toward electrification. The countries oppose any further easing of the regulations included in the EU’s auto package due in December, despite calls from Germany and others for […]
June 29, 2026
Unchecked tourism growth, fueled by increased air traffic, is driving an unaffordable housing crisis across Europe, says the NGO Transport & Environment (T&E). Some of the most popular destinations, like Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Greece, have seen protests from residents in the high-season summer months, often due to the strain on affordable housing. Southern Europe […]
June 29, 2026
Belgian Dieter Vranckx (53), who has been building his career at Lufthansa for some time, is now chairman of three airlines within the German group, one of the largest in Europe. In addition to Brussels Airlines, these are Swiss and Austrian Airlines. Vranckx’s appointment is part of a reorganization at Lufthansa, in which decision-making regarding […]
June 26, 2026
Last year, almost one in five used cars failed the pre-sale vehicle inspection due to a major or dangerous defect. Goca Flanders, the industry federation for vehicle inspections and driving tests, reported this on Thursday in its 2025 annual report. In 2025, a total of 3,600,249 cars underwent inspection, of which 482,809 were used vehicles, 2% […]
June 26, 2026
Polestar has been officially denied to sell cars in the United States as of 2027. After the brand withdrew from China due to low adoption, the luxury EV maker now also risks losing the world’s second-largest car market. The company will focus largely on Europe. But that is still the backyard of German premium. Polestar […]
June 26, 2026
China wants its vast electric-car fleet to become more than a transport revolution. Under its newly unveiled 15th five-year energy plan, Beijing aims to have EVs play a role in balancing a power system increasingly dominated by wind and solar. The plan, covering 2026 to 2030, targets a 50% share for non-fossil sources in electricity […]
June 25, 2026
No, the Mach-E is not canceled today. Ford is still building it in Mexico and shipping it to dealers. But a second-generation Mach-E built on Ford’s new Universal EV architecture isn’t going to happen. A dead end seems ahead for the battery-powered vehicle that galloped the Blue Oval into the EV era, despite its unfortunate […]
June 25, 2026
Spain’s new ‘Plan Auto+’ subsidy program is nearly ready for launch. Applications can reportedly be submitted starting in July, and retroactively for EVs purchased on or after January 1, 2026. The maximum grant is €4,500 per vehicle, but complex conditions apply. Spain has restructured its electromobility incentives at the beginning of 2026, dividing them into […]
June 24, 2026
Nomen est omen. A peak is a summit. So, conveniently, the new Peaq sits at the top of Skoda’s electric range. Stuffed with seven seats and a 91 kWh battery at best, the Czech brand has built its largest vehicle in 130 years. The Kia EV9 and Hyundai Ioniq 9 are facing a strong contender, […]
June 24, 2026
European cities are facing an unprecedented threat to urban space because the trend towards large SUVs risks eliminating vast numbers of parking spaces. According to a new report published today by T&E and Clean Cities, all cities are set to lose between 8.5% and 14% of their on-street parking spaces by 2040 if the size […]
June 24, 2026
Geely will introduce the E2 in Belgium after the summer, bringing one of China’s biggest recent EV successes to the crowded European small-car market. The compact five-door is intended to make Geely a player at the accessible end of the electric market, starting around €20,000, but final Belgian prices and several core technical details remain […]
June 23, 2026
European and British carmakers are again seeking a reprieve from a post-Brexit trade rule that could impose a 10% tariff on electric vehicles crossing the Channel from 1 January 2027. The risk does not arise simply because a car is assembled in Britain. To remain tariff-free under the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement, an electric […]
June 23, 2026
Sweden’s Transport Administration has told the European Union to vote against rolling out Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (Supervised) software unless the company disables a feature that allows the car to break posted speed limits. Belgium has approved since the beginning of the month. The Swedish recommendation arrived in a letter dated one month ago, addressed to […]
June 23, 2026
New car registrations in the European Union rose 4.0% in the first five months of 2026, reaching 4.75 million units. The headline masks a much more profound market shift: battery-electric cars now account for 1 in 5 registrations, while gasoline and diesel are rapidly losing ground. According to the latest figures from ACEA, 950,521 battery-electric […]
June 22, 2026
Volvo Cars CEO Hakan Samuelsson has made an explicit offer to his Chinese parent company. In an interview with Automobilwoche, Samuelsson said it would be “positive and possible” for Geely’s sibling brands to produce vehicles at Volvo’s European factories, including the Ghent, Belgium, plant. Samuelsson’s offer is a direct invitation for Geely Auto (the brand, […]
June 19, 2026
From 1 July 2026, many traffic fines in Belgium will increase by 10%. The De Wever government announced the measure late last year as part of its efforts to raise additional budget revenue. The effective date has now been set. The increase applies to immediate-collection fines: the standard penalties imposed for many common offenses without […]
June 19, 2026
For all the attention around the MG 07, the more immediate Belgian story is happening behind the scenes. On 1 July, MG Motor Europe takes direct control of MG in Belgium and Luxembourg. A press release from the UK confirms the establishment of a Belgian subsidiary and the end of the distribution arrangement under which […]
June 18, 2026
The news that De Lijn plans to cut back on student transportation to special educations schools starting in September has sparked a great deal of criticism and uproar from school principals and parents to ordinary citizens on the street and in parliament. More than 200 bus routes are being eliminated because Flemish Minister of Mobility […]
June 18, 2026
The Porsche Taycan was the first EV to feature a two-speed gearboc. But now the German sports carmaker wants to reinvogarate the driving joy by adding fake gears, a feature that debuted on the Ioniq 5 N and which is also investigated by Toyota. The appeal for electric sports cars seems to reside in old-fashioned […]
June 17, 2026
Brussels Minister of Mobility Elke Van den Brandt (Groen) acknowledged as much last year: Floya, the Brussels-Capital Region’s multimodal app, needs to become better known. MIVB/STIB is now addressing the issue itself by announcing that it will discontinue the multimodal mobility app starting in 2027. The app cost 6 million euros to develop, although Van […]
June 17, 2026
Global electric vehicle registrations reached around 1.8 million in May, according to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence data reported by Reuters. That was only 3% more than in May last year, bringing the first five months of 2026 to a modest 0.9% increase. On paper, that looks like a clear slowdown after years of double-digit growth. In […]
June 16, 2026
The Brussels Environment Council is calling on the region to adopt “a coherent strategy to reduce the weight of passenger cars gradually.” According to the Council, the weight of new passenger cars has increased by about 50% over the past 20 years. In 2023, more than half of new registrations in Brussels were SUVs, with […]
June 16, 2026
China aims to achieve a 40% market share for electric heavy trucks by 2030. That’s almost half of the national fleet sales in less than five years from now. And if the country’s new energy cars and vans, or renewable energy policy, are anything to go by, the People’s Republic does not do half measures […]
June 15, 2026
Solid-state batteries are often presented as the next great leap for electric cars, promising more range, faster charging, better safety, and perhaps lower costs. But Robin Zeng Yuqun, founder and chairman of CATL, the world’s largest EV battery maker, has given that optimism a reality check. And when such an authority speaks, it’s worth listening. […]
June 12, 2026
Renault Group will not turn itself into a defense company, as Europe’s car industry faces Chinese electric carmakers and the continent’s rush to rebuild military capacity. That was the message from François Provost, CEO of Renault Group, in an interview with Bas Kurstjens of De Tijd and other media during last week’s Automotive News Europe […]
June 12, 2026
Belgium has officially become the fifth EU member state to grant full approval for use of the Tesla FSD self-driving system. After succesful trials with a test vehicle, the Flemish Minister of Mobility, Annick De Ridder (NV-A), has granted approval. As regulatory barriers across Europe continue to fall, Tesla has simultaneously overhauled the pricing model […]
June 11, 2026
China’s rapid shift to electric and other new-energy vehicles reduced urban air pollution enough to prevent an estimated 262,000 premature deaths, according to a new peer-reviewed study published in Nature Health. The study’s researchers, published in May, compared actual pollution levels to a counterfactual scenario in which every vehicle on the road still ran on […]
June 10, 2026
Stellantis has teamed up with Bolt and Pony.ai to start offering robotaxi rides in Luxembourg. Not the city, but the whole country. Adding to other pilots, ranging from Zagreb over Munich to London, 2026 is unfolding as the year when robotaxis finally land in Europe. Luxembourg is a small country, but apparently it has a […]
June 09, 2026
It was the battery claim of the decade. Donut Lab introduced solid-state cells that shocked the battery world with their efficiency and blistering charging times. Now, it turns out that it was just a decent liquid lithium-ion cell with an ambitious press release. Finnish financial and criminal authorities are reportedly looking into the matter. Alarm […]
June 09, 2026
Fastned has opened a new fast-charging station on the carpool parking in Sint-Job-in-‘t-Goor, near exit 4 of the E19 towards Antwerp. The Dutch fast-charging company says the site, located on one of the main traffic axes in the Noorderkempen, responds to growing demand for high-power charging infrastructure in the region. The new station offers eight […]
June 09, 2026
Citroën’s CEO, Xavier Chardon, confirmed in an interview with German fleet publication Autoflotte that the new 2CV will make its debut at the Paris Motor Show this October. The concept, he says, will be “very close to the production model.” Sales follow in 2028, or exactly eighty years after the original premiered at the same […]
June 09, 2026
For many Belgians, the car remains a constant for day trips, weekends, and holidays. However, the high cost of driving is causing motorists to choose, plan, and drive more consciously. This is evident from a new study commissioned by Auto5 among 809 Belgian motorists. Almost half say they are more cost-conscious: they think more about […]
June 04, 2026
The world’s largest battery maker has publicly backed lithium-air technology as its long-term strategic direction. Not solid-state (though that is next up, too). Not sodium-ion (that is already going into mass production this year). The battery company that correctly predicted and pushed those transitions now says the real endgame is a battery that uses atmospheric […]
June 04, 2026
A study by the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) shows that plug-in hybrids in Europe emit, on average, five times more CO₂ than official test values suggest. According to the study, the gap between real-world and certified emissions is particularly large for plug-in hybrids compared to other powertrain types, and continues to widen. In […]
June 03, 2026
Wallonia and Brussels lag behind Flanders in bicycle commuting to work. Of course, the terrain and the capital’s busy urban environment play a role in this. But according to Avello, an advocacy group for cyclists in Walloon and Brussels municipalities, Wallonia and Brussels are also structurally the least bicycle-friendly regions, and it is precisely the […]
June 03, 2026
Ride-hailing giant Uber announces a three-way collaboration with chip giant Nvidia and Israeli artificial intelligence startup Autobrains to launch a second robotaxi program in Munich. With a different software approach, the technology bets on fast scalability and carmaker independence. Uber’s new deal combines Autobrains’ autonomous driving software, Nvidia’s Drive Hyperion Level 4 compute […]
June 03, 2026
Despite earlier denials of the rumors, TikTok’s parent company is preparing to launch a car in its home country, China. It will be a crossover targeting the youthful audience typically active on social media platforms. The car itself will be manufactured by Seres, the Chinese automaker that’s also behind Huawei’s Aito brand. Five months ago, […]
June 02, 2026
Renault Group is a shareholder and, temporarily, the only client of the French battery-cell producer Verkor, and on Monday, it severely criticized the company’s growing lack of competitiveness and the 18-month delay in starting production. Renault asks Verkor “to revise its trajectory” and ” to come with credible governance”. “We will stay a partner of […]
