Nathan Eddy

Entering the racing series would be costly but would give the two brands increased marketing exposure in key Asian markets including China and to a growing audience in the U.S.

VW Group 's 2021 sales fell to lowest in 10 years as microchip shortages restricted production, with Porsche, Seat only brands to show growth; Electric car sales were bright spot.

According to Tesla, the results of the tests done so far have not been satisfactory, the German press agency dpa said. The automaker plans to build up to 500,000 vehicles annually at the plant near Berlin for the European market.

The sports-car brand showed little interest in sharing production of its new electric flaghship with Audi and Bentley.

Output of the Opel Grandland SUV has resumed and the model will now be manufactured exclusively at the plant.

The Vietnamese automaker is working with the German trade promotion agency to find a location for a factory to build electric cars and buses.

IG Metall has opened an office close to Tesla's new factory near Berlin. The union says the automaker is paying 20 percent less than the collectively bargained wages offered by German rivals.

A decision will be taken in the coming weeks on an exact location for the plant, which is expected to begin series production of the Trinity flagship EV in 2026.

VW is sending company veteran Brandstaetter to Beijing to fix the automaker's troubled China operations.

Hildegard Wortmann will be tasked with creating new digital sales formats for the group.

Leadership changes at VW Group will see company veteran Ralf Brandstaetter move to China and Thomas Schaefer replace him as VW brand CEO, according to German press reports.

The automaker says it will lose about 70 days of output in 2021, which it says is a "massive cut" in production of the Passat and Arteon models, which are built at the site.

The factory will begin building cars underpinned by BMW's electric-focused New Class architecture in 2025.

Production of the compact EV, which is a sister model to the VW ID3, would be the second new electric car to be added to the Belgian plant's output.

Walker will move to Audi from his current role as head of VW Group production.