Europe

SEOUL — Hyundai Motor swung to a 336 billion won ($297.72 million) net loss for July-September, as costs related to engine quality issues and recalls smashed what would otherwise have been strong earnings. The automaker said it booked 2.1 trillion won to cover charges related to engine defects that increased the risk of stalling and

The pandemic has massively accelerated digital buying processes to allow more elements of the sale of new cars to happen online, but the human relationship side will remain important, panelists discussing the future of virtual buying said. “What we discovered was that some of the trends we anticipated happening over five years were happening in

MILAN — Fiat is seeking to widen the appeal of its New 500 full-electric minicar by adding a family-orientated variant with a third door. The New 500 3+1 has a small, rear-hinged door on the rear passenger side that gives easier access to the rear seats. The variant will appeal to young customers who have

PARIS – Renault Group and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles are ending their production collaboration on commercial vans ahead of FCA’s merger with PSA Group. In a deal forged under former Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn, the French automaker has been building Fiat’s Talento medium-sized vans at its Sandouville plant in France. Renault deputy CEO Clotilde Delbos told an

Renault unions are angry about the automaker producing a new Dacia full-electric minicar in China and selling it in Europe, a clash that could become more common given how many companies have similar plans. Labor groups are attacking Renault for exporting the Dacia Spring — a model the automaker bills as Europe’s cheapest electric vehicle

SEOUL – LG Chem forecast a further rise in its battery sales and profit in the fourth quarter thanks to growing demand for electric-vehicle batteries. The South Korean company, which supplies automakers including Tesla and Volkswagen Group, reported a 159 percent jump in its total operating profit to a record 902 billion won ($797 million)

DETROIT — General Motors is expected to announce on Tuesday significant investments to expand U.S. production of electric vehicles at a factory in Spring Hill, Tennessee, and potentially other sites. GM said in a statement Monday that it planned to make a “major U.S. manufacturing investment announcement” on Tuesday. The Detroit News reported that the

SEOUL — Hyundai Motor and affiliate Kia Motors said on Monday that their third-quarter earnings would reflect quality-related costs amounting to a combined 3.36 trillion won ($2.94 billion). The costs would include additional provision expenses related to the South Korean automakers’ “Theta” engines, the companies said in separate regulatory filings. Hyundai Motor said a cost

PARIS — Dacia will introduce the Spring electric minicar first for short-term rental ventures, as it tests the market for a low-cost EVs built in China.  The Spring, shown during an online event Thursday, is a version of the Renault K-ZE developed for the Chinese market and now sold there by Renault Group’s joint-venture partner,

First, Hyundai made headlines about its electric cars catching fire. Five days later, it was General Motors and Ford Motor. The next day, it was BMW Group. Vehicles going up in flames aren’t new to the electric era. An estimated 171,500 took place annually in the U.S. alone over a recent three-year period, and cars

PARIS – Renault Group has drawn down part of a 5 billion euro ($5.85 billion) loan guaranteed by the French government, put in place earlier this year to shore up its finances during the coronavirus crisis, Chairman Jean-Dominique Senard said. Senard did not detail how much of the loan Renault had tapped, but added that

FRANKFURT — Daimler is committed to Formula One but is working to slash costs and cut the environmental impact of motor racing, CEO Ola Källenius said on Wednesday. “We have as little reason to step out of Formula One as Bayern Munich has to step out of football,” he said during a virtual roundtable discussion

Renault has filed notice with the European Commission that it is accepting partners for an “open” emissions pool, an arrangement that allows automakers that are on track to meet tougher CO2 targets to combine their emissions with others that might be in danger of missing them, resulting in heavy fines. Open pools that have already

MEXICO CITY — Audi said on Monday it was ready for Mexican officials to audit its plant in the central state of Puebla after holding talks with state and municipal authorities following a dispute over bill payments last week. In a statement, Audi said it would hand over all documentation requested at Monday’s meeting, and

Audi is benefiting from a surge in China demand, but it won’t offset losses suffered during lockdowns around the world caused by the coronavirus pandemic, CEO Markus Duesmann said. The 51-year-old executive also ruled out a move to Wolfsburg to take on a bigger role within Audi’s parent, the Volkswagen Group. He discussed these topics

Opel/Vauxhall has given the Crossland small SUV the brand’s new “Vizor” front styling as part of a midcycle face-lift. The SUV will also be known simply as the Crossland, deleting the “X” from its model name. Opel/Vauxhall made the same change when it launched the second-generation Mokka earlier this year. The Vizor design, which integrates

India, the world’s fifth-largest automotive market, was perhaps the hardest hit by coronavirus restrictions. There were zero new cars sold in April, compared with 245,000 in the same month in 2019, with dealerships closed by government order.  One news site called it “the darkest month in the history of the Indian automobile industry.” But the market

Interior supplier Yanfeng has revealed its next step in its effort to attack germs including COVID-19 inside cars. Its Experience in Motion 2021 Shared (XiM21S) concept, which is due early next year, will include two ways to battle bugs, Yanfeng Technology Chief Technology Officer Han Hendriks told Automotive News Europe. The first solution is applying

TOKYO — Mazda is introducing its MX-30 compact crossover in Japan as a mild hybrid first, not as the full-electric vehicle it unveiled last year at the Tokyo auto show. Mazda also said a version of the new nameplate will be the first to get a revived rotary engine, when the company introduces it as

Western European auto sales barely budged in September, largely because of a slump in the UK,  signaling a “sluggish” recovery from COVID-19 lockdowns, analyst company LMC Automotive said in a report. Registrations rose by just 0.1 percent in the 17 countries in the region, despite there being one more selling day in the month than

TOKYO — A joint battery venture of Toyota and Panasonic will produce lithium ion batteries for hybrid cars at a plant in western Japan starting 2022 to meet growing demand for electric vehicles. The production line at a Panasonic factory in Tokushima prefecture will have enough capacity to build batteries for around 500,000 vehicles a

LONDON — British new-car registrations fell by about 4 percent in September, usually one of the top two months of the year for sales, as the coronavirus pandemic continued to affect the sector. The monthly figure of below 330,000 units was expected to be the lowest in more than 20 years. The decline in demand,

The first thing noticeable about the new board that will preside over the combination of Italy’s Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and France’s PSA Group is the distinctly global, non-automotive profile of the new independent directors. Which makes sense because the nonsensical name of this combined company — Stellantis — offers zero identity with anything automotive. But

Tesla Inc. has agreed to acquire German ATW Automation, a supplier assembling battery modules and packs for the auto industry, a person familiar with the transaction said Friday. ATW, a subsidiary of Canadian ATS Automation Tooling Systems Inc., was on the brink of liquidation due to a slump in orders, German media reported in September.

BEIJING — PSA Group will provide aid to bail out and revive a joint venture with Dongfeng Motor Group that has racked up prolonged financial woes.  The French automaker, which is in the midst of merging with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, said it will provide 50 million euros ($58.5 million) in the fourth quarter, which will

Genesis has named Dominique Boesch, a longtime Audi executive, its first managing director for Europe. The Hyundai premium brand still has not announced when it will start European sales and with which models, In a news release announcing Boesch’s appointment, Genesis said that more details would be coming soon. “Europe is the spiritual home of

MILAN – Fiat plans to reveal a variant of the New 500 electric minicar next month with a small, front-opening door that gives easier access to the rear seats. The third door will be on the right side of the car, and will add about 30 kg (66 lbs) to the vehicle’s weight because it

PARIS — Dacia is introducing new versions of its small cars, the Sandero, Sandero Stepway and Logan, as Renault Group’s Romanian budget brand hopes to regain sales momentum. The new models are now on the same Renault-Nissan Alliance CMF platform as the latest-generation Renault Clio and Captur, and they use Renault’s 1.0-liter, three-cylinder gasoline engines.

Nikola’s founder Trevor Milton purchased the original design for the company’s flagship truck from a Croatia-based designer, the Financial Times reported on Saturday, citing people with knowledge of the matter. Nikola One, the company’s flagship hydrogen-powered truck truck, is at the center of a design patent infringements lawsuit that Nikola filed against Tesla in 2018.

BEIJING — China’s auto market has rebounded smartly from the COVID-19 crash in recent months, especially for high-end cars, but questions about the durability of that recovery hung over the Beijing auto show that started on Saturday. A rare industry event being held in person during the pandemic, the show marks a triumph for the