Europe

NEW YORK — Lordstown Motors filed for bankruptcy protection and put itself up for sale after the U.S. electric truck manufacturer failed to resolve a dispute over a promised investment from Taiwan company Foxconn. Lordstown, named after the Ohio town where it is based, filed for Chapter 11 protection in Delaware and simultaneously took legal

China sold more cars abroad than any other nation in the first quarter in part because of a sales jump to customers in Russia. The Asian country exported 1.07 million vehicles in the three months through March, overtaking long-time leader Japan, consultancy AlixPartners said Monday.  China delivered 112,000 vehicles to Russia — roughly the same

LONDON — Hollywood actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney are joining Otro Capital and RedBird Capital Partners in an investor group taking a 24 percent equity stake in Alpine Racing, Renault Group’s Formula One team, Renault said in a statement. The 200-million-euro ($218.10 million) deal values British-based Alpine Racing at around $900 million following the

PARIS — Sustainability is the biggest challenge the automotive industry has ever faced, and the only way to meet the challenge of significantly lowering greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 is by acting together. That was the key message delivered by Polestar executive Fredrika Klaren to the Automotive News Europe Congress here last week. Klaren, who

Automotive News Europe honors the winners of the 2023 Rising Stars awards. We will showcase a winner each day through July 11. The Rising Star for Engineering is Fiona Coulter, who is Toyota Europe’s head of vehicle performance engineering 1. For her full profile click here. The 2023 Rising Stars winners were honored in Paris

Volkswagen Group is trying to build up a leading battery maker to supply its ever-expanding fleet of electric vehicles — a feat so challenging it’s leading to sleepless nights at the automaker. The cell plants VW is setting up in Germany, Spain and Canada will underpin its shift away from the combustion engine. The automaker

Former Volvo Cars Chief Technology Officer Henrik Green has joined Swedish autonomous truck startup Einride. Green will be general manager of autonomous technologies at the company, which last year received regulatory approval to operate its self-driving truck in the U.S. Einride in 2019 became the first company in the world to deploy an autonomous, electric

Volkswagen Group CEO Oliver Blume has promised to revive the fortunes of Audi after admitting the brand’s lineup was “lagging the competition,” particularly when it came to electric vehicles. As part of a shakeup at the Audi Group, which also includes the Bentley, Lamborghini and Ducati marques, the brands have been reclassified as “progressive” in

LONDON — The MG Cyberster all-electric sports car will lead new model launches at the performance-themed Goodwood Festival of Speed in July. MG’s Chinese parent company, SAIC, is giving the roadster its global physical debut at Goodwood to honor MG’s British roots. The Cyberster was revealed at the Shanghai auto show in April but only

MUNICH — German supplier Allgaier, whose customers include Porsche, has filed for insolvency, a court said on Wednesday, a year after being sold to a Chinese investor. The Goeppingen district court said it had appointed Pluta law firm’s Fritz Zanker as provisional insolvency administrator. Allgaier, which has about 1,700 employees, supplies major automakers with sheet

SEOUL – Renault’s South Korean unit plans to add infrastructure at its plant in the southeastern city of Busan to build electric vehicles, the city’s government said. The automaker aims to produce 200,000 EVs a year at its Busan facilities, a statement issued by the city cited Renault Group Executive Vice President Guido Haak as

Volkswagen Group is giving its brands including Audi and Skoda more independence on cost savings and efficiencies to make the automaker more nimble in the electric-vehicle shift and improve returns. The group has set “performance programs” for each brand, allocating them capital and setting a specific return on sales target, but delegating responsibility to the

European new-car registrations increased 18 percent in May, as demand for electric cars outpaced the broader market. Registrations in the EU, EFTA and U.K. markets were 1.12 million vehicles compared with 948,815 in the same month last year, according to data from industry association ACEA. The increase was the 10th consecutive month of rises. Sales

Global Auto Holdings plans to buy British car dealership chain Lookers for about 465 million pounds ($595 million) in cash. Lookers is Europe’s fifth-largest auto retail group, according to Automotive News Europe’s Guide to Europe’s Biggest Dealers. Global Auto Holdings values Lookers at 120 pence per share, a premium of 35 percent to the stock’s

BRUSSELS — Post-Brexit rules forcing European automakers to source more electric vehicle components from Britain or the EU could cost them up to 4.3 billion euros ($4.7 billion) in tariffs and hit output, industry lobbying group ACEA said. Under the EU-UK post-Brexit trade deal, EVs will need to have 45 percent EU or U.K. content

PARIS — Renault appointed its CEO, Luca de Meo, as the chairman and CEO of its Ampere electric vehicle business that the automaker is aiming to list on the stock market. The Ampere spinoff is part of de Meo’s reorganization of Renault to compete better in EVs and software-defined cars. The revamp includes pooling its

Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares said legacy and new automakers should compete on the same page following a squabble with France over where it expands output of the electric Peugeot e-208 and after European leaders flung open their doors to Elon Musk. Governments taking a keen interest in automakers is “a good thing” during the transition

PARIS — Renault’s new flagship model will be the Rafale, a midsize coupe-style SUV with a hybrid drivetrain that produces up to 300 hp with all-wheel drive. The Rafale, which was revealed Sunday at the Paris air show north of the city, takes its name from a record-breaking 1930’s airplane built by the aviation company