Category Archives: Automotive industry

The cars eating Australia: should we be trying to reverse our attraction to SUVs and utes?

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Australians are hooked on tax perks while road fatalities and emissions are surging and spending on petrol and insurance increasing

It’s impossible not to have noticed it – cars have been getting bigger and bigger, and SUVs and four-door utes have become Australia’s new family car. Gone are the days of the Commodore or Corolla fighting it out as Australia’s most popular vehicle. We’re now well into the era of the Ranger, RAV4, HiLux and Outlander, as well as increasing flirtations with US-style pickup trucks, and it shows no sign of stopping.

It happened gradually, despite the mounting evidence about some of the problems posed by these vehicles.

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Tesla tells US government Trump trade war could ‘harm’ EV companies

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Letter from Elon Musk’s firm to US trade representative warns of ‘downstream impacts’ of tit-for-tat tariffs

Elon Musk’s Tesla has warned that Donald Trump’s trade war could expose the electric carmaker to retaliatory tariffs that would also affect other automotive manufacturers in the US.

In an unsigned letter to Jamieson Greer, the US trade representative, Tesla said it “supports fair trade” but that the US administration should ensure it did not “inadvertently harm US companies”.

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Australians are obsessed with SUVs and huge utes, but experts say they are making our roads deadlier

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About 60% of the 1.2m cars that drove out of the showroom last year were SUVs, but road fatalities reached a 12-year high too

George Upjohn vividly remembers his interaction with the driver of an SUV after a collision that happened while cycling in Sydney’s south.

“I had blood all over my shins and when I hobbled up and asked why she didn’t turn her head to check to her side before veering into my lane, she said she didn’t need to because the sensor in her car would have alerted her to me. She said I must have been at fault and rode into her,” the 32-year-old claims.

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‘Patchy and behind deadline’: MPs attack UK rollout of EV charging points

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Committee warns of serious injustice to disabled motorists and those reliant on public chargers

The rollout of electric vehicle chargers across Britain is “patchy”, behind deadline and ignores the needs of disabled drivers, the parliamentary spending watchdog has found.

A report published by the public accounts committee (PAC) warned that the charging points needed to give drivers confidence for the switch to EVs were still lacking, particularly on Britain’s biggest roads.

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Tesla’s UK sales rise despite threat of backlash over Musk’s political role

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Sales of battery-powered cars jumped in February, with Model 3 and Model Y most popular after Mini Cooper

Sales of Teslas in the UK rose by more than a fifth last month as demand for battery-powered cars increased, despite the prospect of a buyer backlash over Elon Musk’s controversial and divisive behaviour since becoming a key figure in Donald Trump’s administration.

Almost 4,000 Teslas were sold in the UK in February, with the Model 3 and Model Y proving the second and third most popular after the Mini Cooper, according to the latest new car registration figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).

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Nissan and Honda end $60bn merger talks

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Both Japanese carmakers say they will continue to cooperate on electric vehicle technology

Japan’s Nissan and Honda have said that their boards have voted to end talks over a merger that would have created a $60bn (£48bn) auto group, but added that both companies would continue to cooperate in electric vehicles.

A merger would have spawned the world’s fourth-biggest carmaker by vehicle sales after Toyota, Volkswagen and Hyundai.

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How Trump tariffs could upend car markets in Europe, the US and China

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Levies threaten exporters to US market, while scrapping of subsidies will hit EV sales – and Tesla could gain

The internal combustion engine appears to hold a special place in Donald Trump’s psyche. During his inauguration speech last week, he made a “sacred pledge” to raise US car production to “a rate that nobody could have dreamt possible just a few years ago”.

Car making and the oil industry – not AI, computer chips, or even cryptocurrencies – were the only two industries the new US president highlighted as he promised to make America a “manufacturing nation once again”.

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Tesla takes EU to court over tariffs on EVs made in China

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Elon Musk’s company still imports large number of cars into Europe from its Shanghai factory

Tesla has filed a complaint against the European Commission after the imposition of tariffs by the bloc on its Chinese-made electric vehicles.

The EU announced its decision to impose tariffs on all imports of Chinese electric cars in June, alleging that the Chinese government had provided unfair state subsidies to manufacturers in order to win a dominant position in the emerging industry. EU leaders approved the tariffs in October.

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UK needs to ban full hybrid cars by 2030 or face net zero ‘catastrophe’, says motoring body

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Electric Vehicles UK says hybrids without a plug should be banned or else confidence in electric cars will be damaged

Britain needs to press ahead with a ban on the sale of new hybrid cars with no plug from 2030 or risk taking “a catastrophic misstep” on the road to net zero, ministers have been warned.

Cars such as the Toyota Prius, which charge a battery from an internal combustion engine, need to be excluded from the list of vehicles sold in the UK from 2030 or there will be a “profound” fall in confidence in the government’s commitment to electric motoring, according to the representative body Electric Vehicles UK (EVUK).

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Can flood of cheap new EVs coming to Europe save its carmakers?

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Analysts argue 2024 is minor blip and that lobbying for relaxation of rules could harm industry in long term

Affordable new electric family cars – particularly those that are EU-made – have been tough to come by in Europe for the past few years. There were no launches of homegrown electric models for less than €25,000 (£20,740) across the EU during 2022 and 2023, according to the campaign group Transport & Environment.

Yet in the past few months that has changed, with a rush of new cars ranging from the Fiat Grande Panda to the Citroën ë-C3, the Hyundai Inster to the latest Dacia Spring and the Renault 5. Suddenly, buyers have options.

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US business leaders set to break record on donations to Trump inaugural fund

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Donations, not restricted by campaign finance laws, come as industries seek favor with incoming administration

US business leaders are spending big on Donald Trump’s second inaugural fund, which is predicted to exceed even the record-setting $107m raised in 2017.

The donations, which are not restricted by campaign finance laws, come as industries and business leaders seek to curry favor with the incoming administration after the president-elect decisively won a second, non-consecutive term in November.

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GM to write down value of China business by more than $5bn

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Automaker is restructuring in China after losing about $350m in the region in the first three quarters of this year

General Motors told shareholders on Wednesday that it would write down the value of its China business by more than $5bn.

The company’s board of directors determined that the non-cash charges were necessary “in light of the finalization of a new business forecast and certain restructuring actions” with the joint venture, according to a company filing.

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Meloni says Italy aims to protect jobs after CEO of Fiat owner Stellantis quits

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Company is at loggerheads with Italian government, which claims it has not invested enough in the country

The Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, has said her government will try to protect jobs as political tensions mount with Fiat maker Stellantis after the abrupt resignation of its chief executive.

Meloni said she would attempt to “defend” employees in the carmaker’s Italian operations in the wake of the surprise exit of Carlos Tavares, its longstanding chief executive, who left after the company said “different views have emerged” between the executive and its board.

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China’s share of global electric car market rises to 76%

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Market share increases after strong demand within country offsets risks from western tariffs on Chinese-made EVs

China’s share of the global electric vehicle market reached 76% in October, the country’s automotive trade body said, reflecting strong demand for EVs in the country even as western tariffs risk hobbling exports.

Between January and October, sales of EVs reached 14.1m units, according to the China Passenger Car Association, with 69% of those sales in China. In October, China’s share surpassed three-quarters.

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Cheaper loans on table to urge UK motorists to EVs, plus cuts in fines for firms

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Business secretary Jonathan Reynolds says there is ‘no route to net zero’ that ignores concerns of businesses after wave of closures

• Jonathan Reynolds: If we delay the UK’s drive for electric vehicles, our rivals will overtake us

There is “no route to net zero” that ignores the real concerns of businesses, a cabinet minister has warned, as the government prepares to reduce financial penalties handed to carmakers not selling enough electric cars.

Ministers are also looking at how cheaper loans could be introduced to help people buy an electric vehicle (EV), after a wave of job losses and closures in which carmakers blamed the onerous fines they were facing.

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Claws are out as Jaguar heads down EV rebrand road

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A new electric model will be unveiled this week. Will it turn round the culture war embroiling the marque?

When German manufacturer BMW took over the Mini brand and launched the Mini Cooper in 2001, some people were outraged. Drivers with previous models even slapped on bumper stickers reading “this is a real Mini”. The BBC reported that executives insisted the car “is not a small BMW”.

The storm died down, and Mini has gone on to sell more cars each year (about 300,000) than ever before, many of them emblazoned with union jack tail-lights – whatever the ownership of the factory.

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Tesla owners turn against Musk: ‘I’m embarrassed driving this car around’

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The electric car brand was once a liberal favourite – but the CEO’s embrace of Trump has led to an angry backlash

As Elon Musk has embraced Donald Trump and various far-right conspiracy theories, he has left behind an aghast cohort of Tesla owners who suddenly feel embarrassed by their own cars. Many of them are now publicly displaying their dismay at Musk on their vehicles.

Sales of anti-Musk stickers have boomed since the world’s richest man declared his support for Trump and helped propel him to victory in the US presidential election, as owners of Teslas, the car brand headed by Musk, try to distance themselves from the South African-born multibillionaire.

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Vauxhall owner plans to shut Luton van factory, putting 1,100 jobs at risk

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Stellantis says it will shift production from Bedfordshire to plant at Ellesmere Port, Cheshire

The owner of Vauxhall has announced that it plans to close its van factory at Luton, in a decision that will put 1,100 jobs at risk of being cut or moving location despite the UK government preparing to relax rules on electric cars.

Stellantis said it would shift van production from Luton, Bedfordshire, to another factory at Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, blaming the UK’s economic conditions and the government’s zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate.

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GM’s Cruise admits submitting false report to robotaxi safety investigation

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General Motors unit to pay $500,000 fine after failing to disclose key details of 2023 San Francisco crash to NHTSA

General Motors’ self-driving car unit, Cruise, admitted on Thursday to submitting a false report to influence a federal investigation and will pay a $500,000 criminal fine as part of a deferred prosecution agreement, the justice department said.

The department said Cruise failed to disclose key details of an October 2023 crash to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in which one of its robotaxis in San Francisco struck a pedestrian after she was hit by another vehicle and dragged her 20ft (6.1 meters).

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Stellantis reports slump in car sales as European demand falls

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Owner of Fiat, Chrysler and Peugeot brands pushes back against rules that force sale of more electric vehicles

The owner of car brands including Fiat, Chrysler and Peugeot has reported a steep fall in sales, blaming production delays and flagging European demand.

Stellantis reported revenues on Thursday of €33bn (£27.6bn) for the July to September quarter, a drop of 27% compared with the same period a year earlier.

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