Europe

Volkswagen Group is extending production stoppages in the U.S. and Mexico as coronavirus restrictions continue. The automaker said that a production halt at its plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, that started March 21 will be extended to April 12. Volkswagen of America said in a news release that it would continue to pay full salaries next

FRANKFURT — Continental withdrew its outlook for the year after measures to stop the spread of the coronavirus forced the supplier to shut down more than 40 percent of its production. Continental said it was applying for shortened working hours for 30,000 employees and reviewing further ways it can cut costs and preserve liquidity. Continental

Hyundai hopes to increase its share of Europe’s minicar segment with the third-generation i10. “The i10 is a key player for us in Europe,” Hyundai Europe’s head of marketing and product, Andreas-Christoph Hofmann, said at the car’s launch in Lisbon in January. The i10 rose into the segment’s top five during the runout of the

FRANKFURT — BMW revealed drivetrain details of an X5-based fuel cell vehicle that could go into small series production in 2022.   The automaker said it will continue cooperating with strategic partner Toyota to roll out the technology for customers for the second half of this decade, depending on market conditions. “Hydrogen fuel cell propulsion can

With factories and dealerships closed by the coronavirus crisis, European auto sales could fall by up to 20 percent this year, representing millions of vehicles, industry analysts and financial ratings services say. “The global auto industry is expected to witness an unprecedented and almost instant stalling of demand in 2020,” said IHS Markit, whose forecasts

PARIS — PSA Group is taking preparatory steps to reopen its European factories, which were closed in response to the coronavirus outbreaks, but unions said the the plan is premature. The automaker wants to restart production of transmissions at Valenciennes on March 30 and engines at Douvrin on April 3 using volunteers. Unions said it

Tesla plans to cut on-site staff at its Nevada battery plant by about 75 percent due to the coronavirus pandemic, the local county manager said on Thursday. The move comes after its battery partner Panasonic said it would scale down operations at the Nevada factory this week before closing it for 14 days. The factory

PARIS — Renault said that it was suspending production in Bursa, Turkey, starting on Thursday, adding to a global shutdown of its manufacturing operations because of the coronavirus crisis. The automaker’s manufacturing complex in Bursa, which operates as Oyak Renault, was pausing output “due to disruptions in the global supply chain,” Renault said on Wednesday.

TOKYO — Toyota has nominated James Kuffner, currently the CEO of its automated driving and robotics arm, to join the board of directors from June, signaling a shift in President Akio Toyoda’s priorities away from old-school automotive to next-generation new mobility. Kuffner will be the second non-Japanese director on the Toyota board pending his approval at

TOKYO — Mazda has become the latest Japanese automaker to suspend operations in Japan and overseas as it reacts to worldwide interruptions of demand and supply triggered by Covid-19. The Hiroshima-based automaker said it would completely suspend operations at its two plants in Japan for 13 days and run them on day shifts only for

Parts suppliers for General Motors are preparing to manufacture parts for at least 200,000 ventilators because of a projected shortage of the machines in the fight against the deadly respiratory illness COVID-19. Meridian Lightweight Technologies Holdings of Southfield, Michigan, is helping GM procure six different compressor parts made of magnesium for an estimated 200,000 ventilators,

PARIS — Renault may seek French government guarantees to bolster its finances in the face of the coronavirus crisis, but a renationalization of the automaker is not being considered, Chairman Jean-Dominique Senard told Le Parisien newspaper. “We may seek state guarantees like other companies,” Senard was quoted as saying by the French daily. Invoking the

MEXICO CITY — Volkswagen will temporarily close its factories in Mexico’s Puebla and Guanajuato states in a bid to preserve public health, amid growing worries over the spread of the coronavirus. The shutdowns will take effect on March 30 and extend through April 12, VW’s Mexican unit said in a statement on Friday. VW also

PARIS — Renault’s board will meet on Friday to discuss the coronavirus outbreak and its effect on operations, three sources close to the company said. The health crisis has hit automakers and their suppliers hard, and Renault has now suspended industrial activity in France and Spain and shut factories in Morocco and Romania too. The

PARIS — The French government has told PSA and Renault they are entitled to help such as guarantees on loans and leeway on bills as it seeks to help companies cope with the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. The autos industry worldwide has been hit hard by the health crisis, first as production stalled in

New-car sales in Europe fell 7.2 percent to 1.067 million vehicles in February, as weakening global economy, higher vehicle taxes and the coronavirus outbreak weighed on consumers’ appetite for new cars. The decline comes after a 7.4 percent drop in January. The monthly drops mean car sales in Europe are off to their worst start

FRANKFURT — Volkswagen Group warned that the spread of the coronavirus made it impossible to give an outlook for 2020 as it unveiled a rise in full-year operating profit, boosted by strong sales of SUVs. “The corona pandemic presents us with unknown operational and financial challenges,” VW Group CEO Herbert Diess said Tuesday in a

MILAN — Fiat Chrysler is halting production through March 27 at the majority of its plants in Europe following the coronavirus crisis which is disrupting the economy. FCA said production for its Fiat and Maserati units would stop in the next two weeks at the Italian plants of Melfi, Pomigliano, Cassino, Mirafiori, Grugliasco and Modena.

BARCELONA — Supply problems caused by the coronavirus epidemic prompted Renault-Nissan and Volkswagen Group’s Spanish division, Seat, to announce temporary stoppages that could last for days or weeks. Most affected will be Seat’s main plant in Martorell, near Barcelona, where about 7,000 people will stop working on Monday for an unspecified period of time because

The Volkswagen Group has stopped development on new cars powered by compressed natural gas. CEO Herbert Diess recently told top executives the powertrain would be phased out so the automaker had more to spend on its electrification shift, according to German business newspaper Handlesblatt. Diess added that CNG development costs “are higher than potential revenues,”

DETROIT — Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Mike Manley is encouraging employees to work remotely in an effort to combat the spread of the coronavirus. Staffers in places such as China and Italy have been doing this already, but that approach is being expanded to all office employees, Manley said in a message to the workforce.

BARCELONA/MILAN — Europe’s major car and parts makers rushed on Wednesday to close factories and cut output in Italy and considered sending workers home elsewhere, in the first signs that coronavirus is disrupting the region’s struggling automotive industry. Fiat Chrysler said it was temporarily halting operations at some of its Italian factories and would reduce

BERLIN — The coronavirus outbreak is hitting the German economy leaving supply chains at risk the in coming weeks, Economy Minister Peter Altmaier said on Tuesday. Asked if Europe’s largest economy was heading into a recession in the first half of this year, Altmaier said the situation was very difficult and that he hoped Germany

German supplier Webasto disputes media reports linking it to Italy’s fast-growing coronavirus outbreak that is blamed for more than 360 deaths in the country. In January the roof-systems maker was hit with an outbreak that infected 16 employees but was contained. Webasto’s efforts had been held up as an example of how to stop the

TURIN – The Italian automotive industry expects to find a way to operate amid havoc caused by new measures taken by the government to contain Europe’s worst coronavirus outbreak, with almost 6,000 confirmed cases and 233 deaths. The Italian government on Sunday approved sweeping restrictions on travel and public activities in the Lombardy region that

RUEIL-MALMAISON, France — PSA Group boss Carlos Tavares said on Friday that the automaker and its future merger partner Fiat Chrysler Automobiles will need to review their strategy in China in order to boost sales after the tie-up. PSA and FCA are hoping to finalize a $50 billion merger in early 2021 that would create

MILAN — The coronavirus outbreak and a weak economic outlook could trigger a fall of more than 15 percent in car sales in Italy this year, industry association UNRAE said, calling on Rome for support. Without “timely and robust” measures, Italy’s car market risks losing about 300,000 registrations this year from around 1.92 million in

Skoda will include a plug-in hybrid model in its Octavia RS performance range for the first time.   The Octavia RS iV will be the second plug-in hybrid in the new Octavia range when it goes on sale later this year. Its drivetrain mates a 1.4-liter gasoline engine with more powerful 114-hp electric motor to

FRANKFURT — Mercedes-Benz is embarking on a sweeping cost-cutting plan to free up cash to build electric and self-driving cars, a step which could see entire engine families and platforms eliminated, Daimler board member Markus Schaefer said. “We will review our current lineup and the idea is streamlining the portfolio,” Schaefer said on a conference

Munich will succeed Frankfurt as the German auto show’s host city starting in 2021, the VDA German automakers association said. Munich convinced the VDA’s board that its city center and highly attractive locations close to downtown could be used to host events for the show, VDA President Hildegard Mueller said in a news release on