Europe

Volkswagen Group is set to finalize plans this year to turn its mass-market Seat nameplate into a micro mobility platform as it continues to ready its sporty offshoot Cupra for a U.S. launch. The transformation of the unit, which makes the Leon hatchback and Ibiza compact car, will expand a range of electric scooters and

Ferrari and Porsche will benefit from plans to exempt cars that run on e-fuels from the European Union’s planned 2035 phase-out of combustion engine vehicles. “The good news for us as a company is that on top of electric cars, we will also be able to go on with our internal combustion engines ones,” CEO

DETROIT — Ford expects its electric vehicle business to lose $3 billion this year, even as it forecasts increased profits on its internal combustion and commercial vehicle operations. The automaker on Thursday projected that losses from its EV unit, called Model e, will increase nearly 50 percent in 2023 from $2.1 billion last year as

BRESCIA, Italy – Smart dealers say they are happy with the brand’s change to a direct-sales agency model, which the joint Mercedes-Geely brand initiated last year by negotiating new contracts ahead of the launch of the #1 full-electric small SUV. “We are happy about the commission structure we are getting for the #1; our only

Dacia and MG were big winners in France, where inflation is steering private car buyers toward less expensive models. The Dacia Sandero was the top-seller last month in France’s private market, which grew 19 percent, helping the overall market increase by 9.4 percent. The Sandero small hatchback was joined in the ranking of France’s top

Germany reached an agreement with the European Union on a landmark regulation that requires new cars to be carbon neutral by 2035, resolving a dispute that threatened to undermine the bloc’s ambitious blueprint to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The agreement, which will allow some combustion engines beyond 2035, was quickly condemned by opponents. The bloc

Germany’s transport minister on Friday said he was optimistic a dispute between Berlin and Brussels over the future of combustion engine cars running on e-fuels was close to resolution, though some questions still needed clarifying. Berlin has been in talks with the European Commission over the past weeks about allowing registrations of cars running on

MOSCOW — As the exodus of Western automakers narrows options for Russian consumers, Chinese automakers are filling the gap, forcing Russians to overcome their reluctance to embrace Chinese brands and accept higher prices. Chinese brands such as Haval, Chery and Geely now account for almost 40 percent of Russia’s new-car sales, data from analytical agency

Cupra, Volkswagen Group’s sporty EV-focused brand, is starting market testing for a possible expansion to the U.S., Seat and Cupra CEO Wayne Griffiths said. The potential move is part of a push to add new markets for Cupra, which was once a performance-oriented sub brand of VW’s Spanish brand Seat but now has its own

Volkswagen Group is hearing extremely high interest from investors for a stock market listing of its battery unit PowerCo, the chairman of the automaker’s largest shareholder Porsche SE said. “We are hearing from Volkswagen that interest is extremely high on the subject of PowerCo. That should be a positive case,” Chairman Hans Dieter Poetsch said

Stellantis will invest 130 million euros ($140 million) to build the next-generation Opel Grandland compact SUV at its factory in Eisenach, Germany, with production set to begin in the second half of 2024. The Grandland will be Opel’s first model on the coming “BEV-centric” STLA Medium platform, which will underpin models with an electric range

Nio is “very confident” of meeting its target of doubling sales to 250,000 electric vehicles this year, Chief Financial Officer Steven Feng said, prompting the Chinese automaker’s shares to surge in Hong Kong. “We are very confident to achieve our sales target in 2023,” Feng said in an interview with Bloomberg Television on Wednesday. That

MILAN — Italian-Japanese auto parts maker Marelli has reached an agreement with unions to cut 400 jobs in Italy voluntarily, amid rising costs of raw materials and falling sales due to supply chain problems. “On redundancies a framework agreement was reached that rules out forced layoffs,” Italian unions said in a joint statement after striking

Ford has applied its storied Explorer nameplate to its new electric compact SUV for Europe, the company has announced. Ford unveiled the new car in a digital event ahead of deliveries, which are set to start early next year. The Ford Explorer name was chosen “as a nod to our American heritage and the spirit

Mercedes-Benz will invest billions of euros to modernize its plants in China, Germany and Hungary over the coming years, Automobilwoche, a sister publication of Automotive News Europe, reported, citing Jörg Burzer, the automaker’s production chief. “We are investing a three-digit million amount per plant for the run up,” Burzer told AMW in an interview, adding

Audi CEO Markus Duesmann said the mid-2025 deadline to implement the pending Euro 7 pollution regulations should be pushed back because it does not give automakers enough time to prepare. “That time frame is simply not enough,” Duesmann said at Audi’s annual news conference.  The Euro 7 proposal, which governs tailpipe emissions of pollutants such as

Stellantis will spend more than 200 million euros ($213.3 million) to manufacture four Fiat models in Algeria, the automaker said on Sunday. “The 500 Hybrid will be the first Fiat to be built here followed rapidly by the Doblo and, in a few years, a brand-new model – now still in the hands of our

BERLIN — German Finance Minister Christian Lindner said France had declared a “showdown” in the dispute over the EU’s plans to end sales of new CO2-emitting cars in 2035. “It is very regrettable that the French government is declaring a showdown to ban the internal combustion engine,” Lindner told the Funke Media Group in an