February 20, 2023
Mercedes-Benz sold some 2 million vehicles last year, a 5% increase compared to 2021. Turnover increased by 12% and reached € 150 billion, while the benefice was more than a third higher, landing at almost € 15 billion. For 2023, anticipations are a bit subdued, due to delivery shortages, higher costs and an unsure overall […]
February 17, 2023
A fifth less traffic in the Pentagon, more space for pedestrians, and a lot more people choosing to cycle. Those are the provisional results of six months of ‘Good Move’, the new circulation plan to reduce transit traffic in the Brussels city center. Bart Dhondt (Groen), the Brussels Alderman for Mobility, calls the results encouraging […]
February 17, 2023
Chinese electric carmaker NIO has opened its fourth battery swap station in the Netherlands, on the outskirts of Utrecht on the A2 highway to Amsterdam. Swapping a 75 or 100-kWh battery underneath the car is a seamless, fully automated process, as we could experience ourselves test-driving the ET7 sedan at the NIO Power Swap station […]
February 17, 2023
Yesterday, Renault published its financial results for last year. The French car manufacturer revived in 2022, compensating for serious sales regress and the costly Russian retreat with significant price hikes and a very profitable Dacia. The turnover of Renault Group has progressed by 11,4% to € 46,4 billion, and the operating margin has doubled to […]
February 16, 2023
The Netherlands’ only car plant with +4 000 employees, VDL Nedcar, announced it would build the modular electric XBUS and the Evetta microcar for German start-up ElectricBrands. Earlier negotiations with American Canoo and Rivian turned out to be a damp squib. VDL Nedcar, in Born, near the Belgian border, is a contract manufacturer for BMW […]
February 15, 2023
While the European Parliament finally ratified on Tuesday in Strasbourg the agreement with the 27 member states to ban all sales of new cars and vans with a combustion engine beyond 2035, heavy trucks and buses were targeted a few hours later by the Commission. They will have to reduce CO2 emissions by 90% in […]
February 15, 2023
It is now officially confirmed that Ford Motor Company is again planning to cut thousands of jobs. Some 3 800 across Europe before 2025, but the biggest part of it will be in Germany (2 300) and the UK (1 300). The proving grounds in Belgian Lommel also seem to be threatened. The American number […]
February 14, 2023
Belgian battery materials specialist Umicore announces it will start industrial production of cheaper manganese-rich HLM battery materials to be used in electric vehicles from 2026, next to its ‘premium’ NMC battery materials. It believes “HLM is gaining traction with car and battery cell manufacturers as a differentiating lower-cost, high energy-density, and sustainable battery technology”. Umicore […]
February 14, 2023
The future Toyota CEO (as of April 1st), Koji Sato, declared on Monday that he wanted to accelerate the group’s development of electrification. However, he also pointed out that the number one car manufacturer in the world had a “communication problem” over its electrification strategy until now. At the end of January, Toyota’s heir and […]
February 13, 2023
In 2022, car use in Belgium increased slightly again. The average passenger car covered 16 589 kilometers last year, or 8% more than in 2021. Nevertheless, this figure remains 7,5% lower than in pre-corona times. The differences are smaller for vans. Light commercial vehicles covered an average of 19 542 km last year, which hardly […]
February 13, 2023
Dutch Fastned has opened last week its 19th fast-charging station in Belgium, located just outside the Antwerp Metropole on the E19 toward Brussels, at the park & ride at Exit 7 in Kontich. The station features eight 300 kW chargers for charging up to 300 km range in fifteen minutes if circumstances are favorable. The […]
February 10, 2023
Due to the supply chain shortage and global economic constraints, Volvo sales dwindled by 12% last year. This hasn’t affected revenue, which grew by 17%. But profit fell back, while the operational margin stuck to 3,2%. “This is not where we want to be,” commented CFO of Volvo, John Ekdahl. In 2022, Volvo sold 615 […]
February 10, 2023
While the EU Commission is preparing a draft on future emission standards for heavy-duty trucks and buses (HDVs), the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) has published in a white paper its findings comparing life assessment greenhouse gas emissions of diesel, gas, bio-fuel, battery-electric, and fuel cell heavy trucks. And the clear winner is… no […]
February 10, 2023
Porsche’s new electric flagship should be launched in 2027 and will be a seven-seater, off-road-capable luxury crossover. Porsche previously announced that it is working on an electric SUV positioned above the familiar models. Now, the first technical data have surfaced. According to information from the British magazine Autocar, the SUV will be more than five […]
February 10, 2023
BMW Group is reportedly negotiating with the British Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) to receive a £75 million (± €84,5 million) grant to continue production of the electric Mini at its plant in Cowley on the outskirts of Oxford. This comes after British media reported in October that the German carmaker could […]
February 09, 2023
Mercedes-Benz has given the electric version of its large Sprinter van a complete technical overhaul, resulting in a driving range of up to 400 km while maintaining a large cargo space and towing capacity. The new eSprinter is set to arrive in Europe toward the end of 2023. Mercedes-Benz already builds an eSprinter, but with […]
February 09, 2023
Citroën CEO Vincent Cobée is clear: the energy transition will lead to another smaller, lighter type of car. It could prelude the end of the current hype: the big, boxy SUV. BEVs need more aerodynamic shapes and as less weight as possible. Unfortunately, that’s hardly the case for SUVs. The Citroën boss is fairly outspoken […]
February 08, 2023
A new Pathway Report by international consultancy firm Kearney, jointly ordered by electric carmakers Polestar and Rivian, warns that without measures to decarbonize the whole well-to-wheel cycle, carmakers globally will overshoot the +1,5°C climate warming limit set by the IPCC by 75% in 2050. Entirely switching to BEVs across the entire global car fleet and […]
February 08, 2023
Plug-in hybrid cars are still presented as a climate solution. Still, tests on the newest generation of PHEVs indicate they pollute significantly more than claimed on city and commuter routes, says the NGO Transport & Environment (T&E). Two years ago, T&E discovered that the PHEV technology polluted significantly more than advertised on longer routes. Now […]
February 08, 2023
Poppy Mobility, the car, e-scooter, and e-bike sharing daughter of D’Ieteren Automotive, is taking its first steps in Wallonia, in Liège, to be more specific. The shared mobility company, with a fleet of bright red vehicles, has been active in Antwerp, Mechelen, Brussels, Ghent, and the Belgian airports. In January of this year, Poppy announced […]
February 08, 2023
It was already a sneak preview at the Brussels Motor Show, now BMW officially presents the updated editions of its successful Sports Activity Vehicle (SAV) X5 and Sports Activity Coupé (SAC) X6. The refreshed drive system line-up includes new combustion engines, a latest-generation plug-in hybrid system, and 48 V mild hybrid technology for all other […]
February 07, 2023
On Monday, at a press conference in London the ‘new Alliance’ was presented. The aim is to have a more balanced relationship and start a new joint project after a long period of turbulence and disagreements within the Alliance. Mid-January, the seven independent members of the Nissan Board of Directors agreed with the planned restructuring […]
February 03, 2023
New car registrations have dropped to a historically low level in Norway, slinging the market back to the level of 1962. The slump in sales of all-electric cars is also mind-boggling, dropping to 66,5 percent, where it usually sits above 80 percent. Has the Scandinavian Walhalla for zero-emission cars reset its compass? In Norway, no […]
February 03, 2023
Chinese electric carmaker NIO has delivered the first three EL7 models, the SUV variant of its ET7 flagship sedan, in Europe to Dutch customers. All three chose the brand’s subscription formula as an alternative to leasing or buying. That includes battery swapping services (BaaS), a first in Europe. A flexible monthly subscription (VAT excl.) for […]
February 03, 2023
Volvo Cars plan to turn its S60 and S90 sedan models into fully electric cars. The two sedans are part of a plan to launch at least six new electric models by 2026, according to people familiar with the plans. According to the Reuters news agency, insiders revealed that the six new models include the […]
February 02, 2023
In January 2023 39 847 cars were sold in Belgium and Luxembourg, and that’s 17,4% more than in the same month last year. The positive sales trend emerging since August last year is thus continuing, but we’re still far from the pre-corona figures, with 51 074 cars sold in January 2020. The cars registered in […]
February 02, 2023
Though Mercedes has already launched an all-electric version in the guise of the EQE SUV, the brand is still supporting the combustion-engined versions of its large SUV GLE for which it has announced a facelift. Asides from some mild tweaking on the outside, Mercedes has added a new batch of diesel models with mild hybrid […]
February 01, 2023
The battery electric car (BEV) has grown its market share in new car registrations in 2022 with 3% to 12,1% overall. Still, range anxiety apparently drives more Europeans to a classic hybrid (22,6%) instead of electric to replace diesel and gasoline cars. Together, the latter still represent 52,8% of new car sales, even with diesel […]
February 01, 2023
The jostle in job positions at Stellantis Belux continues, as Florian Kraft (39), the Director of Sales & Operations at Peugeot Germany, is taking the wheel as CEO to replace Stephane Levi. Levi, who held the position since March 2021 after being CEO of PSA Belux, is ‘moving on’ within Stellantis to continue his career. […]
February 01, 2023
Ahead of the unveiling of the Green Deal Industry Plan, Luca de Meo, the new President of the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) and Renault Group CEO, is urging EU leaders to put in place an ambitious and structured automotive, and industrial policy, to rival those of other world regions. Concerned about the EU industry’s […]
January 30, 2023
Lucid Motors has launched the non-limited Air Grand Touring, with an all-electric range of over 800 km, in Germany and the Netherlands. At the same time, the American manufacturer unveils a very compact drive unit to be used in 2023’s Formula E cars. Lucid tentatively launched the Air, its luxury electric sedan, in Germany and […]
January 27, 2023
French carmaker Peugeot is accelerating its electrification strategy. At the e-Lion event on Thursday, it announced that every Peugeot in the range will offer a battery-powered version as of 2025. The company also said it was looking into making cars last a lifetime by updating and refurbishing the car along the way. It predicts that […]
January 27, 2023
Belgian railway network operator Infrabel has inaugurated a new control room in Brussels. This forms the completion of a major operation in which 368 outdated signal boxes were replaced by ten modern counterparts. The program started 18 years ago and represents an investment of nearly 1 billion euros. It turns the operator into one of […]
January 27, 2023
Is this future of its Sportback models? Audi has unveiled the fourth iteration of its concept series Sphere. The ActiveSphere is the most adventurous of all, taking the previously featured functions of lounging whilst driving… offroad. “This is a new type of crossover”, says Chief Designer Gael Buzyn. After the roadster Skysphere, the sedan Grandsphere […]
January 26, 2023
Flemish public transport company De Lijn has placed a large order of up to 500 electric buses with Iveco, of which 65 articulated e-buses, a first for De Lijn. It’s a tough blow for the Dutch VDL group, which has a new e-bus factory in Roeselare (Belgium) but only gets an order of 75 e-buses […]
January 26, 2023
According to figures from the sector federation SMMT (Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders), vehicle production in the UK dropped to its lowest point in almost 70 years. However, a revival is due for the year 2023. “The automobile industry in the UK has been going through three horrible years,” resumes Mike Hawes, general director […]
January 25, 2023
By May 1st at the latest, all workers in the private sector will be entitled to a bicycle allowance. In addition, trade unions and employer organizations concluded a supplementary collective agreement in the National Labour Council (NAR). The compensations, indexed annually, amount to 0,27 euros per km for those who regularly cycle to and from […]
January 25, 2023
The high-speed train operators Eurostar and Thalys merger has entered a new phase. The former exploits high-speed train connections between Belgium and the Netherlands, France, and Germany; the latter between the Netherlands, Belgium, France, and the UK. By 2030, the group intends to transport 30 million passengers annually, or twice as many as in 2022. […]
January 25, 2023
Poppy Mobility, the car, e-scooter, and e-bike sharing daughter of D’Ieteren Automotive, is going to triple its fleet of shared cars from 1 000 to 3 000 in the next months to comply with the growing demand of about 200 000 users, the company announces. Soaring costs of living, the growing part of teleworking, and […]
January 23, 2023
The 100th-anniversary edition of the Brussels Motor Show (BMS) welcomed some 270 000 public visitors in nine days. That’s considerably less than in the heydays before the pandemic, but it still makes it the most popular indoor event in Belgium. The organizers hoped that 300-350 000 people would have found their way to the halls […]
January 20, 2023
The supply shortage crisis keeps troubling carmakers, also in the new year. The all-electric ID. models from Volkswagen currently leave the factory without the option of a heat pump. It is unknown whether sister models from Seat and Skoda, using the same architecture, are affected. But it seems likely, as the Audi Q4 e-tron suffers […]
January 19, 2023
After leaving the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) last year, Stellantis has just announced they will stop all European lobbying efforts. CEO Carlos Tavares made the decision as a way to be more proactive than reactive in terms of future mobility strategies. “We no longer have lobbyists. We do not negotiate anymore,” Tavares says. “We […]
January 19, 2023
VDL Bus & Coach has received an order of 193 electric buses from Dutch public transport company EBS, which will use these new-gen Citea buses in the region Zaanstreek-Waterland (the Netherlands). These buses will be built in Valkenswaard and in the new Belgian e-bus factory in Roeselare, which is opening soon. EBS was founded in […]
January 18, 2023
US car rental company Hertz will make 25 000 electric vehicles available to Uber drivers in Europe by 2025. The two companies announced this in a joint statement on Tuesday. The first vehicles will be available for hire in London from January. The initiative will then be extended to Paris, Amsterdam, and other major cities. […]
January 18, 2023
Belgian SMEs, companies of up to 250 employees, invest more rapidly in ‘green’ car fleets. In 2022, one in eight new commercial vehicles was fully electric. Most company cars (80%) are younger than five years, and since 2021, there are more new hybrid gasoline cars than diesel cars. The largest part of newly registered company […]
January 18, 2023
In December 2022, new car registrations in the EU expanded by 12,8%, marking the fifth consecutive month of growth this year. However, in 2022, the European Union passenger car market contracted by 4,6%, mainly due to component shortages in the first half of the year. Although the market improved from August to December 2022, cumulative […]
January 17, 2023
Consumer credits for new cars in 2022, amounting to around two billion euros, support the transition to environmentally friendly vehicles. That is the conclusion of BVK, the professional association for credit (Beroepsvereniging van het Krediet, BVK), and published by the federation of the financial sector Febelfin. Following the opening of the actual Brussels Motor Show, […]
January 17, 2023
Electrification and the swing toward SUVs are making their mark on the scales of the Belgian car fleet. On average, cars now weigh 10% more than three years ago, according to research by Energyville. According to the organization, the weight penalty of both trends is terrible news for safety and CO2 goals. Energyville spots two […]
January 17, 2023
After Colruyt started experimenting with an Estonian delivery robot in November, French supermarket chain Carrefour is setting up a pilot in the business park Corporate Village in Zaventem near Brussels with a Turkish-branded autonomous robot. After the first test panel of twenty people, everybody in the Corporate Village will be able, starting next week, to […]
January 13, 2023
Astara Western Europe, the former Belgian Alcomotive group and importer of Hyundai, Suzuki, MG, SsangYong, and Maxus, also becomes the BeLux distributor for the Spanish Silence scooters and micro-mobility EV, the so-called ‘nanocars’. The latter share an interesting ‘swapping battery’ technology. At the opening of the Brussels Motor Show, Belgian prices were communicated with the […]
January 13, 2023
The Brussels-Capital Region is releasing 500 000 euros to support eleven private projects to roll out fast and ultra-fast charging stations for EVs. This was announced by Brussels Minister for Energy and Climate Transition Alain Maron (Ecolo). Brussels wants to make 22 000 charging points accessible to the public by 2035, both on and off […]
January 13, 2023
According to a survey by insurance company AG, half of the Belgians are willing to switch to driving an electrified vehicle. Those who remain reluctant don’t blame range anxiety but the recent spike in electricity prices. This confirms the assumption that EV adoption could be hampered in light of the energy crisis. The data from […]
January 13, 2023
According to internal sources quoted by the German Handelsblatt, Mercedes-Benz intends to drop its EQ-label it uses to differentiate its electric models from regular ICE cars. As the premium brand plans to go full electric by the end of the decade, it might start doctoring with the labels from 2024 and return to its old […]
January 12, 2023
Where VW Group importer D’Ieteren had decided not to be present at the 2022 BMS (which was finally canceled), it’s again present with an entire exposition hall (11) at the BMS 2023. But the importer will not only show the novelties of its VW Group brands. Apart from that, all ‘new mobility’ proposals will also […]
January 12, 2023
According to mobility federation Traxio, the market for second-hand motorbikes experienced an exceptional end of the year. In November 2022, the number of registrations went up by 29,7%. In December, figures even increased to 117,7% (+7 235 units), bringing the annual total to 81 436 registrations (+0,9%). Why this peculiar final sprint? “This unusual year-end […]
January 12, 2023
For the first time in five years, Belgians use their cars slightly less to commute to work. On the contrary, public transport is again as popular for commuting to work as before corona, and the number of company cars reaches a new record. This is according to the annual mobility barometer of HR service provider […]
January 12, 2023
Volvo Car Gent, the Belgian production site pioneering the electric models of the XC40 and the C40 Recharge, is readying the factory to gear up production of fully electric cars (BEVs) to 150 000, compared to just over 70 000 last year. In 2040, this should be 200 000 in an utterly carbon-neutral plant. Volvo […]
January 11, 2023
For the second consecutive year, the BMW Group has beaten Mercedes-Benz in total sales for 2022. The number three, Audi, follows at arm’s length. Also noticeable: all three have sold consistently more electric and electrified cars than in 2021. With 2,4 million vehicles sold by the BMW Group (BMW, Mini, and Rolls-Royce) and 2,1 million […]
January 10, 2023
When one follows the car market and the manufacturers’ policies, one of the ever-recurring words is ‘premium’. There’s almost no manufacturer anymore that doesn’t want to be –be it partly – premium, at the same time neglecting a (big) part of its former sales base. It’s becoming very crowdy in this premium part of the […]
January 10, 2023
An electric vehicle replacing one with a classic combustion engine (ICE) can spare a European company today on average €3 599 and 5 560 liters of fuel per year per vehicle. That represents a reduction of 15 tons of CO2 per vehicle, a new report based on telematics data from Webfleet shows. Webfleet is the […]
