Europe

STOCKHOLM — Automotive technology group Veoneer on Friday said it would return to organic sales growth in the final three months of the year, after a swift rebound from the effects of the pandemic across the automotive sector in the third quarter. The Sweden-based company, which was spun off from Autoliv in 2018, reported a

MILAN — Fiat’s new 500 full-electric minicar will have an entry price of 19,900 euros ($23,550) in Italy, including a 6,000-euro government incentive. Fiat will start selling three versions of the minicar this weekend, including two premium configurations. The automaker will offer two expensive versions at 23,700 euros and 25,200 euros, including the incentive, Olivier

Volvo Cars Chief Technology Officer Henrik Green says the Swedish automaker’s plans for next year remain on track, barring any unexpected setbacks caused by the ongoing pandemic. He also outlined Volvo’s battery localization strategy during an interview with Automotive News Europe Managing Editor Douglas A. Bolduc. Has the pandemic forced Volvo to adjust any of

Failure to strike a Brexit trade deal with the EU would be “extremely damaging” and cut profits by up to a quarter at Bentley, CEO Adrian Hallmark told Reuters, as the government urges companies to plan for potential disruption. Britain said on Monday there was still no basis for talks with Brussels to resume, just

Tesla will start exporting Model 3 sedans from China to more than 10 countries, including Germany, France and Switzerland, the automaker said. The exports of cars built at its factory on the outskirts of Shanghai will begin later this month, the automaker said in a statement sent via WeChat. The Chinese exports will help Tesla

BARCELONA – Renault Group will unveil an eight-year plan next year as the automaker contends with a demand slump exacerbated by the coronavirus crisis, CEO Luca de Meo said in an interview with a Spanish newspaper. De Meo had flagged last month that Renault might have to dig deeper than the 2 billion euros ($2.3

PARIS — Dacia will introduce the Spring electric minicar first for short-term rental ventures, as it tests the market for a low-cost EVs built in China.  The Spring, shown during an online event Thursday, is a version of the Renault K-ZE developed for the Chinese market and now sold there by Renault Group’s joint-venture partner,

BMW Group will stop making the Mini Countryman in the Netherlands when the current model finishes, moving output of the premium compact SUV’s successor into one of its own factories, the company said. “Unfortunately, we are unable to comply with VDL Nedcar’s request for the production of the Mini Countryman successor,” BMW said in statement

PARIS — Renault will launch its next generation of electric cars with a compact hatchback, moving up a segment from the Zoe and using a new Renault-Nissan alliance platform developed for battery-electric vehicles. Renault CEO Luca de Meo on Thursday showed a concept called the Megane eVision, a show car that he said was “95

Volvo Cars has named Odgard Andersson CEO of its newly formed autonomous drive software development company, Zenseact, the automaker said Wednesday. It is Andersson’s second big promotion in the last year and a half. The previous one came in May 2019 when she succeeded Atif Rafiq as Volvo’s chief digital officer. Andersson, 48, joined Volvo

Daimler and BMW are exploring a sale of their jointly owned parking app business, Park Now, according to people familiar with the matter, as the German luxury automakers focus on their core automotive operations. The companies are working with advisory firm Rothschild & Co. on the potential divestment, said the people, who asked not to

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Mike Manley will offer views on how to revive the European auto market next week in a seminar sponsored by industry association ACEA. Manley, who is president of ACEA, will deliver his address ahead of a debate among industry figures on how to ensure that the recovery is also environmentally sound. 

Opel/Vauxhall has given the Crossland small SUV the brand’s new “Vizor” front styling as part of a midcycle face-lift. The SUV will also be known simply as the Crossland, deleting the “X” from its model name. Opel/Vauxhall made the same change when it launched the second-generation Mokka earlier this year. The Vizor design, which integrates

FRANKFURT — European lawmakers should promote electric car charging infrastructure as aggressively as they seek to lower CO2 emissions, Daimler’s labor boss, Michael Brecht, said. Automakers have warned that European Commission proposals to cut average new car emissions in 2030 by 50 percent below 2021 levels threaten manufacturing jobs, which are heavily dependent on assembling

BERLIN — German Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer has dropped plans for a car toll on motorways across Europe, bowing to opposition from within the German government and from EU partners. His ministry had drawn up a draft EU toll directive in July that would have imposed tolls on lorries, vans and cars within eight years.

BMW is on track to meet its full-year targets after a recovery in auto sales led by China helped the company weather the coronavirus pandemic. The automaker will meet both its full-year forecasts and the European Union-mandated CO2 targets this year, Chief Financial Officer Nicolas Peter said Thursday. He cited a boon from China, where

OSLO — Electric cars will likely make up 90 percent of Volkswagen Group’s sales in Norway next year and could completely replace diesel and gasoline engines in the Nordic country by 2023, the automaker’s local importer said on Wednesday. The debut last month of Volkswagen’s highly anticipated ID3 model vaulted it to the top of

ESSEN/BERLIN/FRANKFURT — Germany on Tuesday downplayed hopes for a state bailout of the ailing steel unit of money-losing conglomerate Thyssenkrupp. Along with rivals, Thyssenkrupp Steel Europe, Europe’s second-largest steelmaker after ArcelorMittal, has been plagued by high raw material costs, weak demand from the car industry and cheap Chinese imports. The comments by Economy Minister Peter

Matthias Mueller, the former CEO of Volkswagen Group, has been named chairman of Piech Automotive, an electric-car startup run by the son of former VW Group Chairman Ferdinand PIech. Mueller is one of a number of high-profile figures involved in Piech Automotive, which was founded by Toni Piech and Rea Stark Rajcic, a Swiss designer and entrepreneur.

Tesla Inc. has agreed to acquire German ATW Automation, a supplier assembling battery modules and packs for the auto industry, a person familiar with the transaction said Friday. ATW, a subsidiary of Canadian ATS Automation Tooling Systems Inc., was on the brink of liquidation due to a slump in orders, German media reported in September.

Polestar is recalling the Polestar 2, its first mass market full-electric car, to repair a software glitch. The call back of 2,189 vehicles delivered to customers in Europe and China is being made after three of the cars lost power to the wheels while driving, causing them to come to a stop. “We take this

The first thing noticeable about the new board that will preside over the combination of Italy’s Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and France’s PSA Group is the distinctly global, non-automotive profile of the new independent directors. Which makes sense because the nonsensical name of this combined company — Stellantis — offers zero identity with anything automotive. But

NEW YORK — Berlin-based technology group IOTA said on Wednesday it has teamed up with several large corporations around the world including Jaguar Land Rover in the launch of software that would grant consumers remote access and control of items such as cars and appliances. The software, called IOTA Access and developed by the University

LONDON — Automakers with UK production will not be able to count components from countries such as Turkey and Japan toward a content threshold in a trade deal with the European Union, reports said. Nissan and Toyota, which have car factories in England, likely will be affected by the decision. The EU will not accept

Thyssenkrupp plans to cut 800 jobs at its automotive system engineering activities. In announcing the move, the German steel supplier warned that the car market remained extremely challenging. “We don’t expect output figures in the auto industry to return to pre-crisis levels for at least two to three years,” Ingo Steinkrueger, head of Thyssenkrupp System

PARIS — Symbio, the joint venture between Michelin and Faurecia to develop hydrogen fuel-cell powertrains, has landed a contract to supply components for PSA Group light-commercial vans.  The company already supplies fuel-cell stacks to Renault, which at the end of last year started selling electric versions of the small Kangoo and large Master vans with

FRANKFURT — Investors welcomed former Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche’s decision to forgo his role as chairman of the automaker, starting a race to find an independent head of the company’s supervisory board. Zetsche, 67, a former head of the Mercedes-Benz brand, was due to take a seat as chairman of the board of directors at

BEIJING — China’s auto market has rebounded smartly from the COVID-19 crash in recent months, especially for high-end cars, but questions about the durability of that recovery hung over the Beijing auto show that started on Saturday. A rare industry event being held in person during the pandemic, the show marks a triumph for the

BRUSSELS — Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and PSA Group have offered concessions to address EU antitrust concerns about their plan to create the world’s fourth-biggest automaker, a European Commission filing showed on Friday. The EU antitrust enforcer temporarily halted its investigation into the deal in July while waiting for the companies to provide requested data. It

LONDON — Britain should prevent viable suppliers in trouble because of the coronavirus pandemic from going bankrupt, McLaren Automotive CEO Mike Flewitt said. McLaren Automotive, part of the McLaren Group best known for its Formula One team, is expecting a significant drop in sales this year. “If one of our suppliers got into distress because