‘Just in time’ production system minimises costs but technical glitch highlights risks
Toyota has blamed a recent shutdown of all of its factories in Japan on a system malfunction caused by “insufficient disk space”.
The Japanese carmaker said the stoppage on 29 August at all 14 of its domestic plants occurred after servers that process orders for vehicle parts broke down following a maintenance procedure carried out the previous day.
Continue reading...Chinese-owned MG’s MG4 is Britain’s bestselling EV after Tesla’s Model Y in first seven months of year
China’s share of the European electric car market has more than doubled in less than two years as the world’s second largest economy tries to take the lead in the transition away from petrol and diesel cars.
The UK is the largest market in Europe for Chinese electric car brands, accounting for almost a third of sales in 2023 so far, according to data from Schmidt Automotive Research on the 18 largest European car markets. About 5% of all new car sales in the UK were from Chinese brands in the first seven months of 2023, a market share second only to Sweden.
Continue reading...State DMV asks for reduction after autonomous Cruise vehicle collided with unspecified emergency vehicle
General Motors’ Cruise autonomous vehicle unit has agreed to cut its fleet of San Francisco robotaxis in half as authorities investigate two recent crashes in the city.
The state department of motor vehicles asked for the reduction after a Cruise vehicle without a human driver collided with an unspecified emergency vehicle on Thursday.
Continue reading...British carmaker also gearing up for sales of new Eletre electric SUV under Chinese owner Geely’s expansion plans
The British carmaker Lotus produced a record number of sports cars in the first half of 2023, as it gears up for a huge push behind sales of a new electric SUV under its Chinese owners’ expansion plans.
Lotus, which marked its 75th anniversary this year, produced 2,200 vehicles in the first six months of the year at its factory in a former second world war bomber factory at Hethel in Norfolk.
Continue reading...Mandate for carmakers to sell increasing number of zero-emissions vehicles could be weakened, business secretary hints
Kemi Badenoch has suggested electric vehicle mandates could hamper investment in Britain and lead to job losses, in a sign that another of the government’s green pledges is in doubt.
The business secretary was discussing the automotive industry’s concerns about a rule to be introduced in January that will require manufacturers to ensure at least 22% of new sales in the UK are of emissions-free models, rising each year to reach 80% by 2030.
Continue reading...EV manufacturer Lordstown Motors, lauded by Trump in 2020, has gone bankrupt – what now for the once-proud auto-making region?
When Lordstown Motors, an electric vehicles (EV) manufacturer in Ohio’s Mahoning Valley, declared bankruptcy last month, it was the latest blow to a region that has seen decades of extravagant promises fail to deliver.
The 5,000 new jobs executives vowed to create in 2020 generated fresh hope for the shuttered General Motors Lordstown plant, which once functioned as an economic engine for the area and a critical piece of the nation’s industrial heartland.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Data shows huge jump in promotion and an 80% increase in sales of larger and more polluting vehicles, leading to calls for ban on ads
Carmakers have doubled how much they spend advertising SUVs and utes to Australians over the past decade, which has coincided with surging uptake of larger cars, triggering calls for a ban on advertising the highest polluting vehicles.
Advertising spends for SUVs and light commercial vehicles – a category which includes four-wheel drive utes – jumped from about $100m in 2010 to about $197m in 2022, according to analysis of digital, television, outdoor, radio, cinema and print advertising compiled by climate advocacy group Comms Declare.
Continue reading...British carmaker to use components from Lucid to produce luxury high-performance battery electric models
Aston Martin has struck a deal with the US firm Lucid to start making “ultra-luxury high-performance electric vehicles” from 2025.
The British luxury carmaker, whose losses more than doubled last year to almost £500m, has struck a cash and shares deal valued at £182m in which Lucid will take a 3.7% stake in London-listed Aston Martin.
Continue reading...Future of UK battery making thrown further into doubt after company founded by David Collard was visited by federal police
A company owned by the buyer of Britishvolt has been raided by the Australian authorities, throwing the future of UK battery-making further into doubt.
Britishvolt, based in Blyth, Northumberland, and which the UK government lauded for its potential role in British battery production and UK-built electric vehicles before it fell into administration, was bought by the Australian entrepreneur David Collard earlier this year.
Continue reading...Executive who jumped bail in Japan and escaped to Beirut has filed claim in Lebanese court
Carlos Ghosn, the disgraced former Nissan executive who jumped bail in Japan and fled to Lebanon, has filed a $1bn lawsuit against his former employer.
Ghosn, the mastermind of a carmaking alliance with Renault that also later involved Mitsubishi Motors, was detained in Japan in November 2018 amid allegations of financial misconduct involving a plot to deliberately underreport his remuneration.
Continue reading...The world’s richest person lapsed into an unusual silence on social media during his trip to the electric carmaker’s second largest market
Followers of Elon Musk didn’t know what to expect from his trip to China. Would he speak about Tesla, a company with a large market and manufacturing footprint there? Or SpaceX, with its symbiotic relationship with the American state? Or even Twitter, the social network he bought because “free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy”?
The one thing no one expected: silence.
Continue reading...A trend on the app, which started spreading in 2021, challenged users to steal cars made by the automakers using a USB cable
Hyundai and Kia have agreed to settle a consumer class-action lawsuit worth $200m over rampant thefts of the vehicles because of a TikTok trend.
In February, the Korean automakers said they would offer software upgrades to 8.3m US vehicles to help curb a stark increase in thefts using a method popularized on TikTok and other social media channels.
Continue reading...Incentive from Jeremy Hunt comes only days after three carmakers issued Brexit rules warning
The government has offered the owner of Jaguar Land Rover £500m in subsidies in an effort to persuade the carmaker to build a new electric battery plant in the UK.
The chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, has put forward a package of incentives to entice JLR, days after three global carmakers warned that Brexit rules on where parts were sourced threatened the future of the British automotive industry.
Continue reading...World’s fourth biggest carmaker threatens to move production to US unless government matches incentives offered to Volkswagen
Jeep maker Stellantis has threatened to shift a planned battery plant from Canada to the US unless it receives billions more in state subsidies offered to a rival, in the latest manoeuvre by a big manufacturer in the international battle over green incentives.
It comes as the world’s fourth biggest carmaker, which also produces Vauxhall/Opel, Fiat, Citroën, Peugeot, DS, Alfa Romeo, Maserati and Abarth vehicles, leads a campaign in Europe for the UK and EU to renegotiate tariff rules in the Brexit deal.
Continue reading...Carmakers call on Britain to change rules on batteries that they say threaten electric vehicle production
Three big global carmakers have called on the UK government to renegotiate the Brexit deal, saying rules on where parts are sourced from threaten the future of the British automotive industry.
Ford and Jaguar Land Rover have joined Stellantis, which owns the Vauxhall, Peugeot and Citroën brands, to warn the transition to electric vehicles will be knocked off course unless the UK and EU delay stricter “rules of origin”, due to kick in next year, that could add tariffs on car exports.
Continue reading...Mining groups hope their joint project, ReSource, will have an influence on the global business
“It’s incredibly exciting,” said Benedikt Sobotka, the chief executive of mining company Eurasian Resources Group (ERG). Sitting in front of an audience in January at Davos, the ski resort that hosts an annual gathering of the world’s business elite, he waved a piece of paper with a QR code that he hopes will eventually be attached to every electric car battery in the world.
Sobotka’s excitement reflected his involvement in setting up ReSource, a joint project with fellow miners Glencore and IXM to provide battery “passports” for electric cars. It also hinted at his bigger hopes: that his mining company and its partners could take an influential role in the future of the automotive industry.
Continue reading...Britain misses out on building second Ineos vehicle, after company chose France for original model
Ineos, the company founded and run by the British billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe, will build an electric version of its new Grenadier off-road vehicle in Austria.
The electric version of the 4x4 will be developed with the Canadian car parts manufacturer Magna and production is scheduled to start in 2026.
Continue reading...Prosecutors seek compensation for workers kept on cattle ranch owned by German carmaker during dictatorship from 1973 to 1987
Brazil is threatening to take the German carmaker Volkswagen to court over allegations that it used slave labour on a vast ranch in the Amazon, after talks on compensating workers ended without agreement.
Public prosecutors in Brazil are seeking compensation for men who they say were forced to work in “humiliating and degrading” conditions, with no clean water or sanitation, on the Fazenda Vale do Rio Cristalino cattle ranch, which was owned by the company in the northern Pará state, between 1973 and 1987.
Continue reading...Berlin secures concessions over future use of e-fuels after going back on agreement struck last year
EU ministers are expected to approve a draft law on emissions standards for cars on Tuesday, after reaching a deal with Germany over the weekend that ended a damaging row over a key part of Europe’s green deal.
Pascal Canfin, a French centrist MEP who chairs the European parliament’s environment committee, said an EU law that all cars sold from 2035 must produce zero emissions “will be voted unchanged, including by Germany” on Tuesday.
Continue reading...The research group that first exposed the scandal say ‘it’s not over’ and that governments must act
Thirteen million diesel cars producing “extreme” levels of toxic air pollution are still on the roads in Europe and the UK, according to a report, seven years after the Dieselgate scandal first exploded.
The non-profit research group, the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT), revealed in 2015 that many diesel cars were highly polluting, emitting far more nitrogen oxides on the road than in official testing. The scandal led to a more rigorous test being introduced in the EU in 2019.
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