Europe

PARIS — Renault is considering cutting back on the real estate it occupies in the Paris region by 50 percent by 2025, a move that could save at least 60 million euros ($51.22 million). The property shift, affecting both offices it rents and owns, would affect white collar workers at the company in the Ile-de-France,

Jaguar Land Rover has settled patent fights it lodged against Volkswagen Group and its brands over a feature used in luxury SUVs that simplifies off-road driving for affluent but inexperienced drivers. The agreements resolve litigation in Germany and the U.S., but other terms of the deals weren’t disclosed in filings with courts in New Jersey,

DETROIT — Ford Motor Co., in what it says is the largest single manufacturing investment in its 118-year history, on Monday said it would spend US$7 billion and create nearly 11,000 jobs to build electric vehicles and batteries in Tennessee and Kentucky. The investment, meant to vault Ford among the leaders in EV output, will

BMW plans to build all its future cars on a single, electric-focused platform. The automaker showed its ideas for sustainable, premium transportation with its iVision Circular concept car. Development chief, Frank Weber, talked about these topics and more during a roundtable at the IAA Munich auto show that included Automotive News Europe Associate Publisher and

FRANKFURT — The planned opening of Tesla’s first gigafactory in Europe later this year will force local industry to step up its game, Volkswagen Group CEO Herbert Diess said. Diess’ comments, made on Twitter, come as Tesla continues work on its plant in Gruenheide, near Berlin, as it awaits final building approval for the 5.8

TURIN — Tesla CEO Elon Musk said there is an end in sight for the global chip shortage that has pummelled the car industry this year thanks to new semiconductor plants that are planned or under construction. Asked how long he thought the global chip shortage would affect vehicle production, Musk said: “short term I

German flying taxi startup Volocopter will sell 150 electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft to its joint venture with a unit of Chinese automaker Zhejiang Geely Holding Group. Volocopter, which counts Daimler, BlackRock and Intel Capital as some of its investors, said it expects the partnership to bring the air taxis to China within

TURIN — Stellantis Chairman John Elkann said an investment in a historical production plant in Italy showed manufacturing in the country remained key to the automaker. Elkann made the comments in response to criticism that Turin, the home of Fiat, was losing its importance after the merger between Fiat Chrysler and PSA Group that created

General Motors President Mark Reuss said on Tuesday the global supply of semiconductor chips will begin to stabilize but at lower levels than the auto industry wants as it tries to rebuild vehicle inventories. “We’re going to see a stablization to some extent before we see getting the volume we really need,” Reuss said at

It was just 10 years ago when the Chrysler brand starred in one of the most memorable ads in automotive history. Rapper Eminem touted the 200 sedan amid an inspirational narrative celebrating Detroit’s resilience during a time of economic turmoil. It was a story of resurgence. Today, Chrysler could use some of the hopeful energy

Valeo has given the clearest indication yet it intends to buy out partner Siemens from their electric-car components venture to counter a declining combustion-engine business. Siemens “entered this joint venture with the plan to eventually sell and we to buy,” Christophe Perillat, Valeo’s incoming CEO, told Bloomberg News on the sidelines of a Munich auto

IHS Markit, whose production projections are cited by automakers, suppliers and research analysts the world over just took its biggest chop yet to estimates that have been falling all year due to the global chip shortage. IHS Markit slashed its production forecast for this year by 6.2 percent — or 5.02 million vehicles — and

German automotive lobby groups oppose proposed new regulations that would make it harder for plug-in hybrids sold in the country to qualify for government subsidies. The minimum full-electric range for plug-in hybrids to receive incentives would rise to 60 km (37 miles) from 40 km starting in October 2022 and to 80 km on Jan.

UK-based Stellantis brand Vauxhall has appointed former Renault UK executive Adam Wood to lead marketing. Wood, 37, started in late August and reports to Vauxhall Managing Director Paul Willcox, the brand said in a statement. Wood joined Renault UK as part of its graduate management program in 2007 and rose to the position of marketing

STOCKHOLM — A Swedish court on Wednesday sentenced a 47-year-old man to three years in prison for spying for Russia by selling secret information from truckmaker Scania. The court said it had found the man guilty of acquiring and selling the secret information from the truckmaker to a Russian embassy official. The court acquitted the

Laurens van den Acker took over as head of Renault Group design in 2009 and presided over a successful revamping of the Renault brand’s lineup. Now, under new CEO Luca de Meo, he is stepping into a less hands-on role at the automaker as executive vice president, group design. Van den Acker spoke with Automotive

Qualcomm has made a formal bid to buy automotive technology company Veoneer for more than $4 billion, beating a previous offer from Magna International, according to people familiar with the matter. The U.S. semiconductor company has formalized its offer of $37 a share, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing confidential information. Qualcomm

MUNICH — Hyundai is considering whether to expand its full-electric Ioniq sub-brand to smaller cars based on the E-GMP platform, including a successor to the Kona small SUV, the brand’s marketing chief said. “It would make sense to extend all the benefits associated with the E-GMP platform to smaller vehicles,” Thomas Schemera, global head of marketing

MUNICH – Renault’s Mobilize mobility services unit will roll out production versions of its purpose-built vehicles in 2022, starting with the Limo, a Chinese-built midsize electric sedan for ride-hailing and taxi companies. The Limo had its public debut this week at the Munich motor show, where it was displayed alongside prototype versions of the Hippo,

BEIJING — China’s market regulator has fined three auto chip sales companies for driving up prices, in a move to help auto production in the world’s biggest vehicle market. The State Administration for Market Regulations said on its website that it fined three local companies a total of 2.5 million yuan ($388,300). The companies are

MILAN — The U.S.-Chinese startup Silk-FAW showed its S9 plug-in hybrid hypercar concept at the 2021 Milan Design Week. The automaker will start production of the vehicle at the beginning of 2023 in a new plant near to the Italian city of Reggio Emilia. Construction work is expected to begin by the end of the

MUNICH — Semiconductor supplier Qualcomm is open to working with foundries in Europe if incentive programs to boost automotive chip production on the continent attract the right partners, CEO Cristiano Amon said. Foundries in Europe are now geared towards mass production of semiconductors, Amon told Reuters at the IAA Munich auto show, but there is

MUNICH — Volkswagen Group CEO Herbert Diess is optimistic that there are sufficient funds, internal or external, to pull off its ambitious plan to build six large battery factories across Europe with partners by the end of the decade. “The required capital is available in the market. Northvolt has shown this,” Diess said on the

MUNICH — Mercedes-Benz previewed its upcoming EQS large full-electric SUV with a concept for its ultraluxury Maybach brand. The Concept Mercedes-Maybach EQS was unveiled at the Munich auto show on Monday. It’s a physical concept with a virtual interior designed to recreates the “feel-good atmosphere of an elegant yacht,” Mercedes said in a statement. The

MUNICH — Mercedes’ AMG performance arm expects its first full-electric car to win new fans for the subbrand with its quick acceleration and nimble handling. The subbrand unveiled the AMG EQS 53 4MATIC+ on Sunday, ahead of its public outing at the Munich auto show this week. Further all-electric AMG models will follow in the

Italy is in talks with the European Union on ways to shield supercar makers, including Ferrari and Lamborghini, from the planned phase-out of combustion engine vehicles by 2035. While the Italian government fully backs Europe’s commitment to cut emissions by phasing out the most-polluting engines, “in the gigantic cars market there is a niche, and

WASHINGTON — U.S. auto safety regulators are investigating a July 26 fatal crash in New York involving a Tesla that may have been using an advanced driver assistance system. In July, several media outlets reported that a 52-year-old man fixing a flat tire on the Long Island Expressway in New York was killed when he

HANGZHOU, China — “Do you know how big Volvo is?” asked Don Leclair, finance chief at Ford Motor. It was 2008, and Leclair was responding to an offer from a little-known Chinese businessman to purchase the Swedish carmaker, which Ford owned. The businessman, Li Shufu, had a company with less than half Volvo’s sales and

Volkswagen Group’s new EV family is being heralded by the UrbanRebel concept from the Cupra performance brand. The concept hints at an entry-level full-electric crossover that Cupra will launch in 2025. The car is a key strategic project for Cupra and the VW Group, Cupra CEO Wayne Griffiths said in a statement on Wednesday. “Our

MADRID — Renault will extend partial stoppages at its three assembly plants in Spain to the end of the year because of the global shortage of microchips. The company plans to halt production at its plant in Palencia, where it builds the Kadjar SUV and Megane compact car, for as many as 61 days and