HAMBURG — Volkswagen Group CEO Herbert Diess, currently under heavy fire from unions over strategy, struck an upbeat tone at a recent manager meeting on talks over the company’s five-year investment plan, including the future of its Wolfsburg plant. According to a copy of his speech from a meeting over the last week, seen by
Month: November 2021
Volkswagen Group of America said it will use the sides of Amazon boxes this holiday season to put virtual butts in the virtual seats of its new Taos subcompact crossover, and reward participants with three months of premium music streaming for virtually going along for the ride. The German automaker revealed its new Web-based augmented
Wells Fargo & Co. has hired Hunter Patton as a managing director in North American corporate and investment banking, focused on industrials. Patton will focus on automotive, automotive technology, capital equipment, and other select capital goods and service areas, according to a memo reviewed by Bloomberg News. Patton joins Wells Fargo from Ford Motor Co.,
AAA, Consumer Reports, J.D. Power, the National Safety Council, Partners for Automated Vehicle Education and SAE International have come together to offer “common naming” recommendations for advanced driver-assistance systems. Here are the recommended names and definitions of 20 technologies, divided into 5 categories. Blind Spot Warning: Detects vehicles in the blind spot while driving and notifies
Get a glimpse at some of the SoCal events and clubs the Crew hits up to get inspiration on paint and stance for their cars. Stream the Series Premiere of Kevin Hart’s Muscle Car Crew starting July 2 on the MotorTrend App ➡️ https://bit.ly/3yC6uuD #KevinHart #MotorTrend Get a fast, simple and free car quote ➡️ https://quotes.motortrend.com/ MotorTrend is
Volvo is set to replace its popular XC90 next year with a new model, one that may end up being called the Embla. In an interview with Automotive News (subscription) published over the weekend, Volvo CEO Hakan Samuelsson confirmed a new name would be used for the XC90 replacement, and said it would start with
What kind of car is the 2022 Nissan Maxima? What does it compare to? With the Maxima, Nissan upgrades the Altima driving experience with a V-6 engine and more enthusiastic chassis tuning. It’s a competitor for cars like the Acura TLX, the Honda Accord, and the Toyota Camry. Is the 2022 Nissan Maxima a good
A Ferrari SF90 Stradale prototype was destroyed over the weekend in a crash. The incident happened near Hoffenheim, Germany, and footage taken after the crash shows that this wasn’t a production SF90 as its exterior was clad in black and white camouflage. A look inside the cabin also reveals heaps of testing equipment and additional
By Eric Ralph Posted on November 30, 2021 State media agency RIA says that NASA and Roscosmos are negotiating an agreement that would eventually allow SpaceX Dragon spacecraft and other future visiting vehicles to dock to a new Russian ‘node’ module recently installed on the International Space Station (ISS). Prichal – Russian for “pier” –
LOS ANGELES — BMW is expanding its utility vehicle lineup with the first standalone vehicle from its M performance brand since the BMW M1 launched five decades ago. The BMW Concept XM, revealed at a press event here this month, is a preview of the most powerful M vehicle in its lineup, the automaker said.
Getty Images The Omicron variant could add pressure to a chronic shortage of microchips used in car manufacturing, the boss of car giant Nissan has warned. Makoto Uchida said it was too early to say when normal deliveries, and therefore finished cars, would resume. “I can’t give you a date. This new variant could add
The Volkswagen Group has hired two prominent battery specialists from Apple and BMW as it looks to boost its expertise in next-generation cell technologies. Soonho Ahn, former head of global battery developments at Apple, started as chief technical officer at VW Group’s battery division this month, according to his LinkedIn profile. Joerg Hoffmann, the former
Tesla will forgo 1.14 billion euros ($1.3 billion) of state aid for the factory it’s building in Germany because it has decided to try to produce a new type of battery cell at scale in Texas first, a person familiar with the matter said. The electric-vehicle maker has been working on so-called 4680 battery cells
PARIS — Valeo, Continental, Velodyne, Luminar and a host of other companies are preparing for huge growth in demand for lidar sensors, which are seen as a building block for safe, accurate self-driving cars. The market is expected to surge starting around 2025, said Geoffrey Bouquot, chief technology officer of Valeo, which this month introduced
TOKYO – Nissan will invest 2 trillion yen ($17.65 billion) in the next five years to accelerate an electrified vehicle push with 23 new entries worldwide by the end of the decade, along with the breakthrough development of solid-state batteries. Nissan CEO Makoto Uchida outlined the targets on Monday while unveiling the Japanese automaker’s new
TOKYO — Nissan is teasing a full-electric pickup truck as part of its next-generation product plan, in a possible riposte to off-road offerings being pitched by everyone from Ford to Tesla. The Surf-Out concept is a funky, outdoorsy activity vehicle with what looks like an open cabin-back for easy access to the pickup bed. The
BERLIN — Stellantis has signed a preliminary deal with lithium developer Vulcan Energy Resources for the supply of climate-friendly lithium from Germany, the automaker said on Monday. Stellantis is the latest automaker to sign a deal with the German-Australian start-up to lock down supplies of the battery metal ahead of an expected surge in global
BERLIN — Audi’s joint venture to build electric vehicles in China with state-owned FAW Group is behind schedule due to a delay in approval by the relevant authorities, Audi said. Building work would be initiated as soon as possible, the automaker’s spokesperson said on Monday, without giving a start date for either the construction of
BERLIN — Audi plans to build its recently launched Q4 e-tron full-electric SUV at its plant in Brussels. Production could start there as early as next November, Automotive News Europe sister publication Automobilwoche reported. Audi is adding overflow Q4 e-tron production in Brussels due to high demand for the SUV, company sources said. The Q4
Chinese premium EV maker Nio has denied that it plans to establish a factory in Europe as the company moves to expand its vehicle sales in the region beyond Norway. Reports said Nio is planning a production base in Poland after a recruitment advert appeared on LinkedIn seeking an “EU plant operation manager.” The ad
The 996-generation 911 that Porsche turned into a swan was certainly no ugly duckling. The German luxury brand is celebrating 20 years in China by taking the car, with an inflatable head and wings, on a tour of art galleries and museums across the country. The idea to turn a 911 into a swan came
At Dodge, it’s time to make the donuts. The “Brotherhood of Muscle” brand said it’s seeking an enthusiast “who embodies the spirit of the founding Dodge brothers” to serve as an ambassador. The job comes with a Hellcat to drive, $150,000 salary, a wardrobe and business cards with the title “chief donut maker.” (To be
DETROIT — General Motors on Friday said customers who buy vehicles that are built without heated or ventilated seats because of parts shortages can have the features added later, potentially as soon as the middle of next year. GM provided the update a week after informing dealerships that it had to eliminate the features temporarily
Genesis quintupled U.S. sales in October compared with last year and has filled a trophy case with industry awards over the past five years. But now it needs a big push to raise brand awareness, Claudia Marquez, COO for North America, told Automotive News. “Growth year-over-year has been outstanding,” said Marquez, just six weeks into
Even Barbie is going electric. Mattel used a prime press conference slot at the Los Angeles Auto Show to unveil a sparkly two-seat convertible built on the chassis of a Fiat 500e. The company will be selling a toy version of the car at Walmart for $30. It will likely be more profitable than the
The Dodge brand’s path to its electric future is trying to appeal honestly and accurately with two distinct camps: consumers who are excited about the brand’s EV push and naysayers who fear the muscle-car brand is abandoning its identity. Tim Kuniskis, the brand’s CEO, is using digital marketing to appeal to both groups. Dodge’s two-year
Mazda has a new “pride point” in the U.S. with its Huntsville, Ala., plant, which will start producing the made- for-America CX-50 crossover in January, Mazda North America CEO Jeff Guyton told Automotive News. After ending U.S. manufacturing nearly a decade ago as part of Mazda’s breakup with Ford Motor Co., the Japanese automaker hopes
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ appearance at a Honda dealership in Brandon, Fla., to sign legislation prohibiting COVID-19 vaccine mandates was widely seen as a nod to a euphemistic insult of President Joe Biden. But the head of the dealership group that owns Brandon Honda says he made “zero connection” in advance of the Republican governor’s
The recent partnership between German supplier ZF Friedrichshafen and Microsoft underscores how the relationship among tech companies, suppliers and automakers is changing in the era of advanced-technology vehicles. Most major suppliers no longer see themselves as simply providers of the hardware and physical components automakers put in their vehicles. Many now see an opportunity to
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story misstated the name of the electric pickup concept Nissan has developed. TOKYO – Nissan Motor Co. will invest 2 trillion yen ($17.65 billion) in the next five years to amp up an electrified vehicle push with 23 new entries worldwide by the end of the decade, the
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