Europe

PARIS — Stellantis will begin exporting commercial vans to Europe from its factory in Kaluga, Russia, to meet increased demand. Exports will start with three midsize sibling models, the Peugeot Expert, the Opel Vivaro and the Citroen Jumpy. Shipments are  planned to start in February. The vans produced in Russia would add to those made

PARIS – Stellantis will add 850 jobs at its plant in Mulhouse, eastern France following strong orders for the Peugeot 308 compact car, labor unions said. Stellantis plans to set up a third production team at the plant in mid March and hire the staff over the coming months, unions FO Metaux and CFE-CGC said

Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors plan to triple their investment to jointly develop electric vehicles, two people with knowledge of the plan told Reuters. As established automakers face pressure from new competitors and an expected shift in demand toward EVs, the French-Japanese alliance is seeking to deepen cooperation. The three are expected to announce on

LONDON — Jaguar has recorded its lowest quarterly sales since 2013 as parent Jaguar Land Rover focused scarce microchips on the more profitable Land Rover brand. Jaguar’s global vehicle sales in the quarter ending Dec 31. fell 49 percent to 14,407, the lowest three-month total since the last quarter of 2013. Jaguar and Land Rover

BEIJING — Volkswagen’s vehicle plant with FAW in Tianjin, China, resumed production on Friday after shutting on Jan. 10 because of recent COVID-19 outbreaks in the eastern Chinese city, the German automaker said. “The FAW-Volkswagen vehicle plant had temporarily shut down operations due to missing parts from suppliers and pending COVID-19 test results of employees.

When Aston Martin prepared for its stock market debut in 2018, it sought to lure investors with scarcity value. There were few publicly traded luxury-car makers to invest in, and Aston at least stood a chance of replicating the success of Ferrari, whose value almost tripled in the three years after its 2015 initial public

Quantum computer maker IonQ said that it is partnering with Hyundai to use quantum computers to develop more effective batteries. The partnership will create a battery chemistry model to simulate the structure and energy of lithium oxide, to help improve the performance, costs, and safety of lithium batteries, IonQ said. Researchers believe quantum computers could

BERLIN — Volkswagen and Robert Bosch plan to set up a joint venture by the end of this year to equip battery cell factories and help make Europe self-sufficient in battery production. The unit will explore the possibilities of industrial-scale solutions for battery manufacturing in Europe, VW and Bosch said in a statement on Tuesday. The new

BERLIN — Germany’s goal of getting 15 million electric vehicles on the road by 2030 includes full-electric and hybrid vehicles, the country’s transport minister said, in a retreat from a pledge in the coalition government’s agreement late last year. “We want electrically powered vehicles. Of course, hybrids also make a contribution to this,” Volker Wissing

LONDON — Jaguar Land Rover sales dipped 1.2 percent in 2021 on reduced deliveries of Jaguar cars and a shortage of semiconductors. JLR sold 420,856 vehicles last year, with the Land Rover brand posting 334,586, up 3.4 percent, and the Jaguar marque down 16 percent to 86,270, the automaker said in a statement. Semiconductor shortages

Guido Dumarey is an outspoken Belgian engineer who in 1986 created Punch Group, a family-owned collection of businesses and investments in Europe with annual revenue of more than 500 million euros. Much of that revenue comes from Punch Group’s automotive arm, which supplies powertrain parts and engineering services. Dumarey, who is CEO at Punch Group,

PARIS — Citroen’s global sales increased by 7 percent in 2021 amid the semiconductor shortage, with gains in every region, the automaker said. The Stellantis brand recorded 796,868 sales, with 624,140 in Europe (a gain of 1.2 percent), 61,695 in the Middle East and Africa (up 12 percent); 48,615 in South America (up 39 percent);

PARIS — Renault will become an electric-only brand in Europe by 2030, CEO Luca de Meo said, as the automaker moved up its timetable to halt sales of internal combustion engines. Renault joins a growing list of brands including Stellantis brands Peugeot, Fiat and Opel, and Ford of Europe that have made similar pledges. “Renault

California is evaluating whether Tesla Inc.’s self-driving tests require regulatory oversight, following “videos showing a dangerous use of that technology” and federal investigations into Tesla vehicle crashes, a state regulator said. The California Department of Motor Vehicles had said that Tesla’s “full self-driving,” or FSD, beta requires human intervention and therefore is not subject to

PARIS — Renault has hired two experts in new technologies from PSA Group, now part of Stellantis, two sources close to the company told Reuters, to help its efforts in developing electrified and connected cars. Jean-Francois Salessy, PSA’s former head of electronics and electric systems until 2019, has become Renault’s head of advanced technologies, the

Mercedes-Benz plans to build the complete powertrain for its new MMA and MB.EA electric architectures entirely in-house starting in 2024, a top executive said. “To do this, we are significantly increasing the depth of added value and are also switching from third-party sourcing to in-house production, Markus Schaefer, head of development at Mercedes parent Daimler,

Mercedes-Benz sold 2.05 million passenger vehicles globally in 2021, losing its crown as the world’s top-selling luxury brand to BMW. It’s the first time in five years that the BMW brand has outsold Mercedes. Sales of Mercedes brand passenger cars fell 5 percent to 2.05 units last year, parent Daimler said Friday. Volume slumped by

PARIS — Stellantis and Renault Group will focus on launching compact and midsize vehicles in 2022, with key models that include the Renault Megane E-Tech Electric, the Alfa Romeo Tonale and the Dacia Jogger. Others include the Chinese-built Citroen C5X, the Maserati Grecale, the Renault Austral (replacing the slow-selling Kadjar) and a widely rumored coupe/crossover based

Aston Martin Chairman Lawrence Stroll has approached Steven Armstrong, a senior Ford Motor executive, to gauge his interest in becoming CEO of the British automaker, according to people familiar with the matter Stroll reached out to Armstrong, a former chairman of Ford Europe, twice last month, according to one of the people, who asked not

Volkswagen Group plans to unveil the ID Buzz, an electric iteration of its iconic hippie-era microbus, on March 9. CEO Herbert Diess announced the date Thursday in a Twitter post that sketched out the contours of the new design, which draws on the lines of the original model. VW’s original microbus — the colorful, bread

Volvo Cars will make what it calls “unsupervised autonomous driving” available first to customers in the U.S. state of California before rolling it out in other markets. The official launch of the automaker’s so-called Ride Pilot is pending Volvo’s internal verification that it is safe as well as approvals for use from local authorities in

MILAN — New-car sales in Italy fell 28 percent in December, according to data from the country’s ministry of infrastructure and transport. There were 86,679 registrations last month, according to the ministry, down from 119,620 in December 2020 which had one less selling day. The result marked the sixth consecutive monthly decline. Industry association UNRAE

Mercedes-Benz said its battery-powered Vision EQXX prototype, which it says is capable of being driven more than 1,000 km (621 miles) on a single charge, is the “most efficient and aerodynamic vehicle” it has built to date. The Vision EQXX’s battery and weight-saving technologies are designed to combat the challenge from Tesla. “This isn’t a

Tesla delivered 308,600 vehicles worldwide in the fourth quarter, smashing the previous record for the EV maker and setting a capstone on a year in which the company joined the exclusive $1 trillion market valuation club. The better-than-expected results posted Sunday pushed Tesla’s total sales for the year to more than 936,000, up about 87%

Mercedes-Benz removed a video advertisement from a Chinese social media website, state media said, after the clip got swept up in a charged national debate over depictions of Asian-looking features by foreign companies. The video was posted on Mercedes-Benz’s official Weibo account on Saturday and later removed due to public backlash, the Communist Party’s Global

MADRID — Spanish authorities have selected local automotive group QEV Technologies as lead candidate to take over Nissan’s main plant in Barcelona after Chinese carmaker Great Wall Motor withdrew its interest, Nissan said. Catalonia-based engineering group QEV plans to turn the facility into a hub for electric vehicles, including participation from Swedish producers Inzile and

Tesla is recalling more than 475,000 of its Model 3 and Model S EVs to address rearview camera and trunk issues that increase the risk of crashing, the U.S. road safety regulator said. The EV maker is recalling 356,309 2017-2020 Model 3 vehicles to address rearview camera issues and 119,009 Model S vehicles due to

BERLIN — BMW plans to create up to 6,000 new jobs next year to prepare for growing demand for its electric vehicles, the carmaker’s CEO told German daily Muenchner Merkur. BMW is on a very good path through the transformation and has its plants prepared for e-mobility, Oliver Zipse was quoted as saying in an

German executive Michael Lohscheller is stepping down as CEO of VinFast Global, the automotive arm of Vietnamese conglomerate Vingroup. Lohscheller will leave the position and return to Europe due to personal reasons, Vingroup said in a statement on Monday. Lohscheller quit his job as CEO of the Stellantis brand Opel in July to lead VinFast’s

German executive Michael Lohscheller is stepping down as CEO of VinFast Global, the automotive arm of Vietnamese conglomerate Vingroup. Lohscheller will leave the position and return to Europe due to personal reasons, Vingroup said in a statement on Monday. Lohscheller quit his job as CEO of the Stellantis brand Opel in July to lead VinFast’s