Industry
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India’s Mahindra, known as a manufacturer of tractors, trucks and SUVs, last week opened its first manufacturing plant in the United States. Located in Detroit, Michigan, the plant will initially manufacture an off-road vehicle called the Roxor Off-Road. The first examples are due in 2018 and are to be sold exclusively in India. However, sales in other markets including the U.S. are planned. Mahindra hasn’t said much about the vehicle, only that it will be a compact model for “off-highway” use. This suggests that it won’t be your typical soccer mom chariot...
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Bob Lutz: Tesla is “going out of business”After questioning the viability of Tesla two years ago in an op-ed titled “Is Tesla Doomed?,” Bob Lutz is now flat out stating the company is going out of business. “The company, folks, is going out of business,” he told CNBC in an interview Friday. “At this rate...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Uber orders 24,000 Volvo XC90s for its self-driving fleetUber is in the race to develop a fully self-driving system to one day power a fleet of driverless taxis. To develop the system, Uber is using a fleet of Volvo XC90 SUVs fitted with all the necessary hardware required for self-driving capability, such as cameras and sensors. The vehicles also...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Polestar starts construction of plant in ChinaPolestar, formerly Volvo's in-house tuner, will forge ahead as a standalone brand within Volvo Cars Group. On Monday, the brand announced it broke ground on its first manufacturing facility in Chengdu, China. It will be the assembly plant for all future Polestar models. Volvo already has a plant in...
Sean Szymkowski -
Self-driving Jaguar Land Rover prototypes take to public roads in UKSelf-driving prototypes from Jaguar Land Rover last week took to public roads in the automaker’s home market for the first time. The test was part of the United Kingdom’s Autodrive project, a government-backed 3-year initiative that involves testing of self-driving cars on the streets...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Tesla Semi promises 500-mile range, center driving positionTesla on Thursday took the covers off its long-awaited electric semi-trailer truck. Dubbed simply the Tesla Semi, the truck promises both the longest range for an electric hauler as well as the best safety credentials of any truck its class, in this case Class 8 Heavy Duty. The Tesla Semi also has...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Hyundai’s been caught out by the consumer shift to SUVs and pickup trucks, and this is reflected in the automaker’s sales which in the first half of the year are down nearly 11 percent compared to an overall market decline of only 2.9 percent. The picture is much bleaker when you focus solely on Hyundai’s sedans. In response, Hyundai is planning an onslaught of SUVs as well as a pickup truck. On Wednesday, the automaker presented a roadmap for its new SUVs. Timing on the pickup truck is still murky though we’ve heard a launch around 2020 is possible. As for the SUVs...
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Book by Cadillac expands to LA and DallasCar subscription services have begun to gain more widespread attention with launches such as Care by Volvo and Porsche Passport. Before both of those services, Cadillac arrived on the scene with its Book service, which launched early this year. Following a pilot program in New York City, Cadillac...
Sean Szymkowski -
Terrafugia sold to Geely, promises flying car by 2019Zhejiang Geely, the Chinese holding company that controls the Volvo, Lynk & Co., Geely and Lotus brands, announced on Monday plans to fully acquire American flying car startup Terrafugia. Terrafugia, based in Boston, Massachusetts, became one of the first firms in the flying car space when it...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Did Tata just buy a $900M stake in Faraday Future?Faraday Future may have just been thrown a life line in the form of a $900 million investment by Indian automaker Tata. Chinese automotive news aggregator Gasgoo claims media sources in China are reporting that the $900 million is for a 10 percent stake in Faraday Future, thus valuing the electric...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
The electric school bus of the future has arrivedIf Daimler has its way, the wheels on the bus will go round and round via electric motors and battery packs in the very near future. Last Friday, Daimler subsidiary Thomas Built Buses revealed the all-electric Saf-T-Liner C2 "Jouley" school bus. The nickname "Jouley" comes from the word "Joule,"...
Sean Szymkowski -
End of an era as Ferdinand Piëch finally cut ties with VW GroupTwo years ago, Ferdinand Piëch, then chairman of the Volkswagen Group, resigned from his post following a public spat with Martin Wintekorn, who was the automaker’s CEO at the time. The 80-year-old has now cut all ties with the VW Group by offloading his sizable stake in Porsche...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Elon Musk met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday to discuss ways in which Tesla and SpaceX, both run by Musk, could aid Turkey in some ambitious projects the country is undertaking. Erdogan, who last year sought to punish a German comedian for making fun of him, met with Musk at a presidential palace complex in the capital Ankara. Among the topics of discussion were electric cars, sustainable energy and the launching of satellites. In fact, Musk was there to formalize a deal that will see SpaceX launch two communications satellites built for Turkey by Airbus. “Our...
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Opel gives glimpse at new design direction, potential electric SUVFinally free of years of mismanagement at the hands of General Motors, Opel has the potential to thrive under the stewardship of new owner PSA Group. In its new PACE! strategy announced on Thursday, Opel will address the complexities and inefficiencies that have led to almost two decades of losses...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Ford and Zotye will sell electric cars in China under new brandFord shied away from partnerships under former CEO Mark Fields, but that’s all out the door under new CEO Jim Hackett. And he’s gotten to work fast since taking up the reins in May. In that time we’ve seen Ford link up with Mahindra in India, with Lyft in North America, and now...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
EU proposes stricter emissions regulations for 2030A handful of European nations have recently announced calls to drastically reduce vehicle emissions and in some cases ban completely the sale of cars powered solely by gasoline or diesel. Now the European Union has joined the discussion by proposing tougher emission targets in addition to an...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Audi will turn renewable energy into synthetic dieselIn 2011, Audi announced radical plans to start energy production using wind farms located in the North Sea. By feeding this renewable energy back into the grid, Audi could boast that the energy used by its future electric cars would be completely clean. However, instead of stopping there, Audi...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
PSA Group announces strategy for OpelOpel has been a money pit going on two decades. It’s arguably the main reason General Motors finally decided to sell the brand to France’s PSA Group, which also controls the Citroën, DS and Peugeot brands. PSA itself wasn’t in ideal financial shape not long ago but the...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Annual new-car sales in Turkey come in around one million units, but the country doesn't have a car brand to call its own. That will change very soon. The country's government, under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is backing plans for a national car brand. Right now, the project is simply called "Automobile of Turkey" with five major local automotive and technology companies involved. With substantial financial backing, the brand should have its first prototype ready by 2019 and the report states an on-sale date may come as early as 2021. Like the automotive industry at large, the brand will...
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Service, not protectionism, is why American car brands suffer in JapanIt's something that has bothered numerous U.S. leaders for decades: Why do American automakers struggle to gain a foothold in the world's third-largest auto market, Japan? Recently, President Donald Trump opened up this conversation yet again on his 12-day-long Asia-Pacific trip. He referenced the...
Sean Szymkowski -
Bob Lutz gives grim prediction for the future of the automobileBob Lutz has been a senior figure in the automotive industry for longer than most, so when he speaks about where it’s headed there's a certain authority behind what he has to say. Some zingers include his skepticism of man’s effect on climate change, as well as the long-term viability...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Delphi buys self-driving startup nuTonomy for $450MBoston, Massachusetts-based self-driving car startup nuTonomy made headlines in 2016 when it launched the world’s first self-driving taxi service. Albeit a trial only, the service, which covered a few streets in Singapore, provided an early look at a likely future where self-driving cars run...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Tesla built just 260 Model 3 sedans in Q3 while losing $619MIt appears Tesla CEO Elon Musk wasn’t lying when he said in October the company was in “production hell” due to problems concerning production of the Model 3 sedan. The company on Wednesday announced its results for the quarter ending September 30 and some of the numbers released...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Ex-BMW engineer to oversee development of next-gen platforms at GenesisGenesis on Tuesday announced it has hired former BMW engineer Fayez Abdul Rahman as Vice President of Genesis Architecture Development. In his new role, Rahman will oversee development of next-generation vehicle platforms for Genesis cars and possibly some at Hyundai and Kia. His first task will be...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran