Automotive News Europe Blogs
Posted 12:01 am U.S. ET, May 23
 | Nick Gibbs is UK correspondent at Automotive News Europe. | |
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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 Post Comment |
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Posted 12:01 am U.S. ET, May 21
 | Luca Ciferri is Editor of Automotive News Europe. | |
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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 to
Continue reading "U.S. and Brazil bright spots for Fiat-Chrysler as Europe declines" » May 21, 2013 12:01 am U.S. ET Post Comment |
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Posted 12:01 am U.S. ET, May 20
 | Douglas A. Bolduc is Managing Editor at Automotive News Europe. | |
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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 Post Comment |
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Posted 12:01 am U.S. ET, May 16
 | Douglas A. Bolduc is Managing Editor at Automotive News Europe. | |
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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.
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Continue reading "How a pope inspired Zetsche to become a Mercedes man" » May 16, 2013 12:01 am U.S. ET Post Comment | Permalink
Posted 12:01 am U.S. ET, May 15
 | Douglas A. Bolduc is Managing Editor at Automotive News Europe. | |
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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 Post Comment |
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Posted 12:01 am U.S. ET, May 13
 | Douglas A. Bolduc is Managing Editor at Automotive News Europe. | |
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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 Post Comment |
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Posted 12:01 am U.S. ET, May 10
 | Luca Ciferri is Editor of Automotive News Europe. | |
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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 Post Comment |
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 | Guido Reinking is editor-in-chief of Automobilwoche, a sister publication of Automotive News Europe. | |
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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 Post Comment |
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 | Luca Ciferri is Editor of Automotive News Europe. | |
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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 Post Comment |
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 | Douglas A. Bolduc is Managing Editor at Automotive News Europe. | |
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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 Post Comment | Permalink
Posted 12:01 am U.S. ET, April 19
 | Luca Ciferri is Editor of Automotive News Europe. | |
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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 Post Comment |
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Posted 12:01 am U.S. ET, April 19
 | Yang Jian is managing editor of Automotive News China. | |
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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 Post Comment |
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Posted 12:01 am U.S. ET, April 12
 | Yang Jian is managing editor of Automotive News China. | |
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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 Post Comment |
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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 ...
