Europe

Europe’s biggest automakers posted record profits in 2022 despite largely flat sales and supply chain and logistics problems.  Net profits rose 22 percent to a record total of 67.8 billion euros ($73.6 billion) at the six largest Europe-based automakers: BMW Group, Mercedes-Benz, Renault Group, Stellantis, Volkswagen Group and Volvo Car (see table, below), plus the

PARIS — Renault’s new CMF-B EV platform, which will underpin the coming Renault 5 small full-electric car due in 2024, will share 70 percent of components with the CMF-B internal-combustion-engine platform and be 30 percent cheaper to manufacture than existing EV platforms, the automaker said. The architecture and a new EV powertrain are undergoing prototype

TOKYO — Nissan and Renault are working well together to sign a final agreement about the reshaping of their alliance and are confident that a deal will be reached soon, Nissan said in a statement on Friday. The automaker was responding to an earlier report by Japanese news agency Jiji which said that the final

Audi will reveal more details about its Formula One project at the Shanghai auto show next month. The automaker brand is entering the series in 2026, when it will provide engines for the Sauber team, which will become the Audi works team. Audi, owned by Volkswagen Group, announced in August that it would enter Formula

SANT’AGATA BOLOGNESE, Italy — Lamborghini is adopting a cautious stance toward e-fuels, in contrast to its competitors Ferrari and Porsche, who see them as a way to continue to market internal-combustion engine cars in Europe after 2035, when the EU will allow only zero-emission vehicles to be sold. Stephan Winkelmann, the chairman and CEO of

KG Mobility, the South Korean automaker formerly known as SsangYong Motor before going through bankruptcy, is seeking to revive its fortunes with a $30,000 full-electric SUV. The carmaker Thursday unveiled four new vehicles at the Seoul Mobility Show, including the Torres EVX, its first electric car since conglomerate KG Group bought a majority stake in the

Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares said that e-fuels, which have received an exemption from policymakers in Brussels to the EU’s 2035 zero-emissions target for new cars, will not “significantly” change the trajectory of the auto industry.  “We are well on our way to deliver the electrification that is expected from the EU,” Tavares said at Stellantis’ first

Sant’Agata Bolognese, ITALY — The super-quick Lamborghini Revuelto will accelerate the Italian supercar brand into the EV era, helped by a plug-in hybrid drivetrain. The Revuelto combines the most powerful V-12 made by Lamborghini with three electric motors to boost its output to 1,001 hp (1,015 CV). The coupe accelerates from 0-100 kph (0-62 mph)

MUNICH — Former Audi CEO Rupert Stadler is likely to become the first top executive to be convicted in parent Volkswagen Group’s diesel emissions scandal. A Munich court gave a preliminary assessment on Tuesday that an accusation of fraud had been substantiated. Stadler, and three other defendants who were engineers, were charged in 2020 over

BARCELONA — Spain plans to launch two tenders simultaneously around July to pick the recipients of 2 billion euros ($2.16 billion) of EU funds for electric vehicle and battery production it had failed to allocate last year, a senior government official said. Jose Maria Lopez, the commissioner in charge of the aid program known as

Volkswagen Group is set to finalize plans this year to turn its mass-market Seat nameplate into a micro mobility platform as it continues to ready its sporty offshoot Cupra for a U.S. launch. The transformation of the unit, which makes the Leon hatchback and Ibiza compact car, will expand a range of electric scooters and

MILAN — Ferrari and Porsche will benefit from plans to exempt cars that run on e-fuels from the European Union’s planned 2035 phaseout of new combustion engine vehicles. The decision would give Ferrari “greater freedom on the production scheme,” the automaker’s CEO, Benedetto Vigna told a Reuters newsmaker event on Monday. Ferrari, is renowned for

Cupra, Volkswagen Group’s sporty EV-focused brand, is starting market testing for a possible expansion to the U.S., Seat and Cupra CEO Wayne Griffiths said. The potential move is part of a push to add new markets for Cupra, which was once a performance-oriented sub brand of VW’s Spanish brand Seat but now has its own

BRESCIA, Italy – Smart dealers say they are happy with the brand’s change to a direct-sales agency model, which the joint Mercedes-Geely brand initiated last year by negotiating new contracts ahead of the launch of the #1 full-electric small SUV. “We are happy about the commission structure we are getting for the #1; our only

MOSCOW — As the exodus of Western automakers narrows options for Russian consumers, Chinese automakers are filling the gap, forcing Russians to overcome their reluctance to embrace Chinese brands and accept higher prices. Chinese brands such as Haval, Chery and Geely now account for almost 40 percent of Russia’s new-car sales, data from analytical agency

Germany reached an agreement with the European Union on a landmark regulation that requires new cars to be carbon neutral by 2035, resolving a dispute that threatened to undermine the bloc’s ambitious blueprint to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The agreement, which will allow some combustion engines beyond 2035, was quickly condemned by opponents. The bloc

Germany’s transport minister on Friday said he was optimistic a dispute between Berlin and Brussels over the future of combustion engine cars running on e-fuels was close to resolution, though some questions still needed clarifying. Berlin has been in talks with the European Commission over the past weeks about allowing registrations of cars running on

Dacia and MG were big winners in France, where inflation is steering private car buyers toward less expensive models. The Dacia Sandero was the top-seller last month in France’s private market, which grew 19 percent, helping the overall market increase by 9.4 percent. The Sandero small hatchback was joined in the ranking of France’s top