Europe

BARCELONA — Seat has added advanced connectivity features and fuel-saving hybrid powertrains to its latest generation of its best-selling model, the Leon compact car. The fourth-generation Leon is the brand’s first fully connected car and its most innovative product to date, Seat said at the model’s unveiling here on Tuesday. The Leon will have an

MILAN — Maserati will use the Beijing auto show as a launchpad for its electrification push with the unveiling of its first hybrid model. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles’ sporty brand will debut a hybrid version of its Ghibli sedan at the show on April 21, a source familiar with Maserati’s plans said. The Ghibli is expected

LONDON — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is mulling to use the threat of high tariffs to raise pressure on the European Union, the United States and other nations to strike trade deals with Britain, The Times newspaper reported on Saturday. Johnson and his cabinet ministers discussed using tariffs as “leverage” in an effort to

PARIS — PSA Group said it will repatriate expatriate staff and their families from the Wuhan area in China, which is at the center of an outbreak of coronavirus. The maker of Peugeot and Citroen cars said that 38 people would be evacuated and that the initiative will be executed in full collaboration with the

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles filed a motion Friday to dismiss General Motors’ racketeering lawsuit against the company. In a sweeping suit filed in November, GM claims that its smaller rival secured an unfair advantage in labor costs by bribing UAW officials during key contract negotiations covering wages and benefits. The suit alleges that Sergio Marchionne, the

A U.S. regulator said it will review part of a recommendation made last fall that India’s Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd. infringed upon the intellectual property rights of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles’ Jeep design. The International Trade Commission (ITC) on Wednesday said it would review an administrative law judge’s initial determination last November that Mahindra’s Roxor off-road

PARIS — Renault said that France’s anti-corruption agency was carrying out checks at the company, though a source at the automaker said the inspection was a routine matter. French magazine Challenges was first to report the inspection but gave no further details. One of the remits of the anti-corruption agency is to ensure that French

For Aston Martin, side mirrors of the future could be a combination of old and new technology. The British automaker, along with mirror supplier Gentex Corp., has developed a system that combines aspects of traditional side mirrors with new camera monitoring systems. Aston Martin and Gentex’s collaboration, installed on a prototype DBS Superleggera, uses three

MUNICH — Sono Motors, the German startup working to serially produce a solar-charged electric car, said it has achieved a crowdfunding goal that will let the company stay in business. The sum passed its 50 million-euro ($55 million) goal Saturday, the company said. It had hoped to raise the amount by Jan. 21. Sono started

Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll is emerging as the front-runner to buy a stake in luxury carmaker Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings as interest from a rival Chinese investor wanes, people with knowledge of the matter said. Chinese tycoon Li Shufu’s Zhejiang Geely Holding Group is cooling on the idea of a deal with Aston Martin, the people

With the new Flying Spur, Bentley is fighting back against the popularity of Maybach and AMG versions of the Mercedes-Benz S-class upper-premium sedan. Bentley says the Flying Spur provides more luxury than the Maybach and offers more sporting prowess than the AMG in one car. The 12-cylinder Flying Spur launch model has a maximum output

BERLIN — German rangers stand guard to visitors away from a nondescript stretch of forest near Berlin, where a sign nearby warns of “Lebensgefahr” (danger to life). The precautions are part of the frantic activity underway to set up Tesla’s latest assembly plant, Elon Musk’s most daring attack yet on the German auto establishment. Workers

Korea’s Hyundai Group is backing a UK electric vehicle startup that plans to begin selling battery-powered delivery vans in 2021, the companies said on Thursday. Hyundai Motor and sister firm Kia Motors are making the investment of 100 million euros ($110 million) in Arrival Ltd. Founded in 2015 and based in London, Arrival has developed

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has threatened to impose a 25 percent tariff on European automobile imports if Britain, France and Germany do not formally accuse Iran of breaking the 2015 nuclear deal, the Washington Post reported on Wednesday, citing unnamed European officials. The three European countries triggered a dispute mechanism under the agreement on Tuesday,

LONDON — The rush to electrify transportation will shift to Europe from China in 2020 as automakers and governments work to cut carbon emissions that lead to global warming, according to a forecast from BloombergNEF, Bloomberg LP’s primary research service on energy transition. In the report, “EVs and New Mobility: Trends to Watch in 2020,”

ACCRA, Ghana — Volkswagen Group and Nissan are among automakers planning new plants in Ghana to target West Africa’s largely untapped market of 382 million people. But they face the challenge of finding banks that will offer loans to make buying new cars affordable to the population. In a country where about 70 percent of

PARIS — The Peugeot family aims to increase its holding as soon as possible in the new automaker resulting from the merger of PSA Group and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. The Peugeot family will own a 6.2 percent stake in the merged company. PSA and Fiat Chrysler reached a binding agreement last month on a $50

At his explosive press conference in Beirut Wednesday, Carlos Ghosn claimed the Japanese public still love him, and haven’t fallen for the image of the “cold, greedy dictator,” as he says Tokyo prosecutors have sought to paint him. The reality is more complicated. He was once celebrated for rescuing Nissan from ruin two decades ago,

China’s Geely Automobile Holding is in talks with Aston Martin management and investors about taking a stake in the iconic British luxury carmaker, according to a source familiar with the discussions and the Financial Times on Friday. Geely is conducting due diligence as it considers taking a stake in the 107-year-old UK firm, the FT

FRANKFURT — Volkswagen Group said it delivered 10.8 million vehicles to customers last year, up 0.9 percent from 2018. VW Group’s divisions include the VW, Audi, Skoda, Seat, Porsche, Bentley, Lamborghini and Bugatti car brands, as well as the Scania and MAN and heavy truck makers. VW Group CEO Herbert Diess issued the revised outlook during an

Carlos Ghosn may be the world’s most famous fugitive, with his picture in newspapers around the globe, but that doesn’t mean Interpol could find a photo of him for the “Red Notice” they added to their website. In the hours before the former Nissan CEO held a press conference to defend himself to a packed

PARIS/FRANKFURT — The head of Volkswagen Group’s Seat brand, Luca de Meo, is stepping down with immediate effect. De Meo will be replaced by the brand’s finance chief, Carsten Isensee, until further notice, Seat said in a statement on Tuesday. De Meo will remain with VW Group for the time being, Seat said. In a

The Land Rover Defender could be fording a stream tires-deep in the middle of nowhere while its onboard computers are being updated, thanks to a new connectivity system that includes two modems and two eSIMs. One modem and eSIM is dedicated to Jaguar Land Rover’s technology that updates the vehicle’s software over the air —

WASHINGTON — German automaker Daimler AG said on Saturday it will recall 744,000 Mercedes-Benz vehicles in the U.S. from the 2001 through 2011 model years because the sunroof glass panel could detach and pose a hazard. The large recall covers more two dozen vehicles from C-class, CLK-class, CLS-class and E-class model lines. The automaker said

ISTANBUL — A manager at Turkish jet operator MNG Jet has told authorities that he assisted unwittingly in the escape of ex-Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn from Japan because he had been threatened by a former acquaintance, Hurriyet newspaper reported on Saturday. Turkish authorities have arrested five suspects, including MNG Jet operations manager Okan Kosemen, on

MILAN — A maintenance worker was killed on Friday at a plant of Italian light commercial vehicles maker Sevel, according to a spokesman for Fiat Chrysler, which operates the unit under a joint venture agreement with PSA Group. The worker was employed by a subcontractor for Fiat Chrysler’s Comau industrial automation unit, the spokesman said.

German auto supplier Robert Bosch said it developed a sensor that lets cars “see” a three-dimensional view of the road, aiming to lower the cost of technology that could speed the development of self-driving vehicles. Privately held Bosch said the internally developed lidar sensor, which it will show at the CES in Las Vegas next

Dacia is a huge success in Europe for parent Renault Group because it delivers on its “value-for-money” philosophy. However, the cost of achieving emissions compliance, especially with electrified powertrains, could pose a threat to the low-cost brand’s profits and sales. Philippe Buros, a veteran of Dacia in Romania who is the chairman of Renault’s Europe

If there’s one thing France doesn’t need right now, it’s Carlos Ghosn on the loose. The fallen automotive titan was supposed to be facing trial for financial crimes in Tokyo where he’s been detained for more than a year. But late on Monday it emerged that he’d escaped the Japanese authorities to take refuge in

Indicted former Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn has surfaced in Lebanon, despite being under strict bail conditions not to leave Japan as he awaits trial there on charges of financial misconduct during his time at the helm of the automaker. It is unclear when and how Ghosn left Japan. But a person familiar with the matter