Automotive News Europe Blogs

Batteries pose tough transport challenges

Posted 12:01 am U.S. ET, June 17
blogs Nick Gibbs is UK correspondent at Automotive News Europe.
 
The fragility -- and dangers -- of lithium ion batteries for electric cars came up again at our recent Congress in Paris when DHL's head of automotive logistics pointed out the difficulties of transporting them.
Not only are they heavy, they also are classified as "dangerous goods" when flown, Fathi Tlatli told us last week.< ...
     Continue reading "Batteries pose tough transport challenges" » Jun 17, 2013 12:01 am U.S. ET
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Foreign competition leads to new partnerships in China

Posted 12:01 am U.S. ET, June 14
blogs Yang Jian is managing editor of Automotive News China.
 
SHANGHAI -- In China's auto industry it is common to see joint ventures between global brands and state-owned Chinese companies.
But now a new type of partnership -- between big state-owned automakers and small private domestic companies -- is emerging.
This is occurring because the Chinese ...
     Continue reading "Foreign competition leads to new partnerships in China" » Jun 14, 2013 12:01 am U.S. ET
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Ford Ka faces uncertain future

Posted 12:01 am U.S. ET, June 5
blogs Nick Gibbs is UK correspondent at Automotive News Europe.
 
The future of the Ford Ka appears uncertain after a senior marketing executive said that the minicar has been left out of a new, brandwide advertising campaign.
"For quite a long time we have not produced new advertising" for the Ka, Elena Cortesi, Ford of Europe's director of social media, told Automotive News Europe. "It is ...
     Continue reading "Ford Ka faces uncertain future" » Jun 5, 2013 12:01 am U.S. ET
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Driver's license in Japan comes with lots of ritual

Posted 12:01 am U.S. ET, May 31
blogs Hans Greimel is Asia editor for Automotive News.
 
TOKYO -- Japan's automakers love to moan about all the red tape that discourages young people here from buying cars: high taxes, thickets of registration, the need to show proof of an overnight parking spot, onerous inspection regimes.
Add to all that the trials and travails of simply getting a driver's license and then keepi ...
     Continue reading "Driver's license in Japan comes with lots of ritual" » May 31, 2013 12:01 am U.S. ET
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Nazi past keeps VW from celebrating landmark event

Posted 12:01 am U.S. ET, May 28
blogs Douglas A. Bolduc is Managing Editor at Automotive News Europe.
 
Volkswagen's Nazi past kept it from celebrating the 75th anniversary of a big event in the automaker's history.
During a gala celebration on May 26, 1938, Adolf Hitler laid the foundation stone for what would become VW's Wolfsburg plant.
Series production of what we know today as the Beetle ...
     Continue reading "Nazi past keeps VW from celebrating landmark event" » May 28, 2013 12:01 am U.S. ET
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Ralph Lauren's Bugatti shows fascination with cars definitely is not dying

Posted 12:01 am U.S. ET, May 27
blogs
Ralph Lauren's 1938 Bugatti won the Coppa D'Oro at the Villa d'Este Concourse d'Elegance.
LUCA CIFERRI:  We keep hearing that the iPod generation doesn't care as much about cars as their fathers and grandfathers. That theory was proved wrong over the weekend during the 2013 Villa d'Este Concourse d'Elegance in Como, Italy.
Fashion designer Ralph Lauren's 1938 Bugatti Atlantic was voted Best in Show by visitors to the event -- in ...
     Continue reading "Ralph Lauren's Bugatti shows fascination with cars definitely is not dying" » May 27, 2013 12:01 am U.S. ET
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Muller says Saab period was painful

Posted 12:01 am U.S. ET, May 23
blogs Nick Gibbs is UK correspondent at Automotive News Europe.
 
Reports say that the Swedish government wants to question former Saab Chairman Victor Muller as part of an inquiry into suspected tax offenses at Saab. Muller defended payments he received from the automaker in a recent interview with me and talked about how he has moved on from painful memories of Saab.
The Dutch entrepreneu ...
     Continue reading "Muller says Saab period was painful" » May 23, 2013 12:01 am U.S. ET
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U.S. and Brazil bright spots for Fiat-Chrysler as Europe declines

Posted 12:01 am U.S. ET, May 21
blogs Luca Ciferri is Editor of Automotive News Europe.
 
Global April sales for Fiat-Chrysler show how much the Americas, especially the United States and Brazil, are supporting the automaker.
Fiat-Chrysler's global vehicle sales were 394,100 units last month, up 10.8 percent compared with the same month a year before, according toContinue reading "U.S. and Brazil bright spots for Fiat-Chrysler as Europe declines" » May 21, 2013 12:01 am U.S. ET
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Celebrating Europe's Rising Stars

Posted 12:01 am U.S. ET, May 20
blogs Douglas A. Bolduc is Managing Editor at Automotive News Europe.
 
The future of the European automotive industry looks bright because of the strength of the young executives who are making huge strides forward. Automotive News Europe will honor 18 of these talented executives in Paris on June 12.
From automakers to suppliers, manufacturing to design, logistics to purchasing, each R ...
     Continue reading "Celebrating Europe's Rising Stars" » May 20, 2013 12:01 am U.S. ET
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How a pope inspired Zetsche to become a Mercedes man

Posted 12:01 am U.S. ET, May 16
blogs Douglas A. Bolduc is Managing Editor at Automotive News Europe.
 
A religious experience set Dieter Zetsche on his path to becoming CEO of Mercedes-Benz. During the launch of the new S class in Hamburg last night, Zetsche said what he remembers most from a pastoral visit that Pope Paul VI made to the area where he was living as a young man was the Mercedes that his holiness was being driven in.
...
     Continue reading "How a pope inspired Zetsche to become a Mercedes man" » May 16, 2013 12:01 am U.S. ET
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Is the S in the new Mercedes S class for Shanghai?

Posted 12:01 am U.S. ET, May 15
blogs Douglas A. Bolduc is Managing Editor at Automotive News Europe.
 
The new Mercedes-Benz S class makes its world premier today in Hamburg, Germany, but Shanghai might have been more appropriate. Why? China accounted for 49 percent of all S-class sales from 2010-2012.
By comparison, 15 percent of total S-class sales were in Europe during the three-year period and the United States accounted f ...
     Continue reading "Is the S in the new Mercedes S class for Shanghai?" » May 15, 2013 12:01 am U.S. ET
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Audi outsells BMW brand globally for 2nd time in 4 months

Posted 12:01 am U.S. ET, May 13
blogs Douglas A. Bolduc is Managing Editor at Automotive News Europe.
 
Audi has won rounds two and four of its 12-round fight with BMW brand, but the world luxury-car champ is still ahead on the overall scorecard.
Audi outsold BMW brand by 4,474 units in January and by 2,902 vehicles in April, according to the data from the companies.
BMW brand beat Audi by 4, ...
     Continue reading "Audi outsells BMW brand globally for 2nd time in 4 months" » May 13, 2013 12:01 am U.S. ET
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Europe will end 18-month sales slump with positive April

Posted 12:01 am U.S. ET, May 10
blogs Luca Ciferri is Editor of Automotive News Europe.
 
Strong April UK car sales and a solid rebound in Germany last month will help western Europe end 18 consecutive months of year-on-year declines, analysts predict. But market watchers stopped short of saying Europe is on the verge of an extended rebound.
LMC Automotive calculates that April sales grew 2 percent to 1,016,693 un ...
     Continue reading "Europe will end 18-month sales slump with positive April" » May 10, 2013 12:01 am U.S. ET
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Will VW give new Seat boss time to succeed?

Posted 12:01 am U.S. ET, April 26
blogs Guido Reinking is editor-in-chief of Automobilwoche, a sister publication of Automotive News Europe.
 
Juergen Stackmann could certainly use some luck as the new boss of Volkswagen Group's ailing Spanish unit Seat.
Generations of senior executives have struggled with VW's problem child, but none have tamed it.
Volkswagen employees who criticize rival mass-market carmakers PSA/Peugeot-Citroen ...
     Continue reading "Will VW give new Seat boss time to succeed?" » Apr 26, 2013 12:01 am U.S. ET
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Why even a weak China is good news for European automakers

Posted 12:01 am U.S. ET, April 24
blogs Luca Ciferri is Editor of Automotive News Europe.
 
The Shanghai auto show proved once again that China is the promised land for automakers, particularly Europeans bracing for a sixth straight year of declining car sales in their home region.
None of the European executives I spoke with at the show was too concerned that China's car sales are expected to grow just 5 p ...
     Continue reading "Why even a weak China is good news for European automakers" » Apr 24, 2013 12:01 am U.S. ET
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Green group spills oil; makes confusing point on CO2

Posted 12:01 am U.S. ET, April 23
blogs Douglas A. Bolduc is Managing Editor at Automotive News Europe.
 
Green lobby group Transport & Environment has released a YouTube video that it hopes will put pressure on lawmakers to prevent them from weakening Europe's passenger-car CO2 target of 95 grams per kilometer by 2020. The trouble is that the video's message is difficult to understand.
The video, Continue reading "Green group spills oil; makes confusing point on CO2" » Apr 23, 2013 12:01 am U.S. ET
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Looking for a Chinese car in Shanghai

Posted 12:01 am U.S. ET, April 19
blogs Luca Ciferri is Editor of Automotive News Europe.
 
If I were an executive at a Chinese domestic automaker, I would be very worried. Why? It is difficult to find a Chinese-brand car on the streets of Shanghai, the country's largest city with more than 23 million inhabitants.
I experienced this first hand visiting the city for the auto show. During a long bus ride from the Shan ...
     Continue reading "Looking for a Chinese car in Shanghai" » Apr 19, 2013 12:01 am U.S. ET
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Chinese automakers will showcase strategies at Shanghai show

Posted 12:01 am U.S. ET, April 19
blogs Yang Jian is managing editor of Automotive News China.
 
SHANGHAI -- For most automakers, the Shanghai auto show will provide a showcase for hot cars, glitzy technology and preening models. But Chery Automobile and BYD will take the opportunity to declare they've learned their lesson from past mistakes.
Both companies grew too quickly, but China's gold-rush economic expansion conce ...
     Continue reading "Chinese automakers will showcase strategies at Shanghai show" » Apr 19, 2013 12:01 am U.S. ET
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Global brands take more control of China sales

Posted 12:01 am U.S. ET, April 12
blogs Yang Jian is managing editor of Automotive News China.
 
SHANGHAI -- When global automakers entered China, they had no idea how to sell their products here. To play it safe, they let managers from their Chinese joint venture partners oversee sales but over the years, global automakers have learned a lot about Chinese consumers.
Several years ago, they started to take control of sal ...
     Continue reading "Global brands take more control of China sales" » Apr 12, 2013 12:01 am U.S. ET
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New China leaders may boost auto industry

Posted 12:01 am U.S. ET, April 11
blogs Yang Jian is managing editor of Automotive News China.
 
SHANGHAI -- China's government has kept a tight grip on the domestic auto industry for years. But that may be about to change: The country's new leaders seem likely to take a more open and pragmatic approach to the industry.
China started shifting from a controlled economy to a market economy in 1978. Thirty-five years later, the government maintains clos ...
     Continue reading "New China leaders may boost auto industry" » Apr 11, 2013 12:01 am U.S. ET
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Thatcher forged lasting imprint on Europe's luxury brands

Posted 12:01 am U.S. ET, April 9
blogs Richard Johnson is managing editor of Automotive News.
 
Britain's auto industry changed dramatically on Maggie Thatcher's watch. Japanese carmakers began setting up assembly plants in the UK in the 1980s, starting with Nissan in Sunderland in 1986. It was Europe's first Japan transplant and was a particular triumph for the Iron Lady.
Thatcher died on Monday at age 87.
Continue reading "Thatcher forged lasting imprint on Europe's luxury brands" » Apr 9, 2013 12:01 am U.S. ET
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Automakers rethink cockpits to help save lives

Posted 12:01 am U.S. ET, April 5
blogs Bruce Gain is an Automotive News Europe correspondent in France.
 
Automakers are rethinking the way they design car cockpits to reduce cognitive overload as more sophisticated infotainment systems risk increasing driver distraction, a problem that has been linked to an increasing number of fatal accidents.
To allow people to use their smartphones and other electronic devices in their cars w ...
     Continue reading "Automakers rethink cockpits to help save lives" » Apr 5, 2013 12:01 am U.S. ET
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Germany stumbles in global sales race

Posted 12:01 am U.S. ET, April 4
blogs Luca Ciferri is Editor of Automotive News Europe.
 
Germany knows just how powerful the BRIC nations have become. Once the world’s third-largest vehicle-sales market, Germany is at risk of falling to seventh in the global ranking this year because of the rise of the BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India and China). China has been world No. 1 since 2010, which was the same year that Brazil passed Germany and into fo ...
     Continue reading "Germany stumbles in global sales race" » Apr 4, 2013 12:01 am U.S. ET
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Infiniti aims 1-series rival at 'Pascale'

Posted 12:01 am U.S. ET, April 3
blogs
The Etherea concept (shown) previews Infiniti's new entry-premium model, which goes into production in the UK in 2015.
NICK GIBBS:  Infiniti knows who will be buying its BMW 1-series rival. "The target customer is a French lady called Pascale. She's 34 years old, living in London with an English guy who works in banking," Nissan global product planning boss Andy Palmer told Automotive News Europe.
Like other automakers, Nissan's luxury subsidiary ...
     Continue reading "Infiniti aims 1-series rival at 'Pascale' " » Apr 3, 2013 12:01 am U.S. ET
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BMW, Audi show off rival visions

Posted 12:01 am U.S. ET, April 2
blogs Luca Ciferri is Editor of Automotive News Europe.
 
The escalating rivalry among Germany's premium automakers was fully on show at the annual financial results conferences of Audi and BMW.
Audi gave two strong messages to industry watchers and reporters at its event in Munich last month:
    • Audi is not just a single brand. It now oversees Volkswage ...
         Continue reading "BMW, Audi show off rival visions" » Apr 2, 2013 12:01 am U.S. ET
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