Industry
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Last year we learned about a company by the name of Divergent 3D that had partnered with French automaker PSA Group to introduce 3-D-printed metal components in mass-produced cars. Now a rival firm in this space, Desktop Metal, has been linked with another automaker, this time BMW. BMW’s i Ventures investment fund, along with a number of other major companies including Google, has invested in Desktop Metal. The company, based in Burlington, Massachusetts, is a startup that has developed a complete end-to-end printing system capable of producing complex metal parts at scale, from...
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Official: Alfa Romeo platform to be used by Dodge, Jeep, MaseratiFiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne has finally confirmed what we’ve already known for some time—that Alfa Romeo’s brilliant Giorgio platform found in the Giulia and Stelvio will be used by fellow FCA brands Dodge, Jeep and Maserati. Marchionne made the confirmation...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
BMW North America to get new CEOEffective March 1, BMW North America will have a new CEO. Bernhard Kuhnt will take over the position from Ludwig Willisch, who stays on as Head of BMW Group Region Americas. Willisch took on the North American CEO role in late 2011. Kuhnt had previously spent nine years in sales management in the...
Kirk Bell -
India's Tata announces Tamo performance, technology sub-brandTata, the maker of the world’s cheapest car and owner of the Jaguar and Land Rover brands, on Thursday said it plans to introduce a new sub-brand for its namesake Tata brand. The new sub-brand will be called Tamo, and unlike traditional car brands Tamo will focus on both standalone vehicles...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Uber’s future fleet of self-driving cars to feature models from MercedesUber has made little secret of its desire to launch self-driving taxi fleets all over the globe. Uber is currently spending up big to develop the technology but it won’t limit its popular ride-sharing network to its own self-driving cars only. Instead, Uber will allow other firms including...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
VW agrees to $1.2B settlement with owners of 3.0-liter dieselsVolkswagen on Wednesday announced it reached proposed agreements to resolve outstanding civil claims in the United States from owners of approximately 78,000 vehicles fitted with 3.0-liter diesel engines found to be equipped with the “defeat device” software at the heart of the...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
If FCA chief Sergio Marchionne's recent statements are anything to go by, the Italian-American automaker isn't far from reaching an agreement on just how it will address the EPA's emissions concerns that affect 140,000 turbodiesel Jeep Grand Cherokee SUVs and Ram 1500 pickup trucks. A refresher: a couple of weeks ago, the EPA announced that it was seeking an explanation from FCA about why it found eight emissions control devices that the automaker hadn't disclosed previously. The EPA stopped short of suggesting that the auxiliary emissions control devices (AECDs) could be defeat devices like...
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McLaren to partner with BMW on next-gen engine techThe last time McLaren and BMW collaborated on an engine, the result was the world-beating McLaren F1. Now the two firms are joining forces again to develop next-generation engine technology. Working with a number of other firms including current McLaren engine supplier Ricardo, as well as metals...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
GM, Honda form joint venture for mass production of fuel cellsGeneral Motors and Honda on Tuesday announced plans to produce a next-generation hydrogen fuel cell system together starting around 2020. The two automakers are making equal investments totaling $85 million in the joint venture, labeled Fuel Cell System Manufacturing, and will use the resulting...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Saab 9-3 production to live on… in ChinaProduction of the Saab 9-3 sedan will restart for the second time, only this time around the cars will be sold under the NEVS brand, feature electric powertrains and be produced in China. NEVS, which bought the assets of Saab following the Swedish firm’s bankruptcy in late 2011, and briefly...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Despite scandal, VW is now world’s biggest automakerThe Volkswagen Group has overtaken Toyota to become the world's biggest automaker by volume, with its sales for 2016 coming at 10.31 million vehicles. That compares to Toyota’s tally of 10.175 million over the same period. It’s the first time VW has been at the top of the sales ranks...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Prosecutors drop charges against Fiat heir Lapo ElkannFiat heir Lapo Elkann, brother to Fiat Chrysler Automobiles [NYSE:FCAU] Chairman John Elkann, was arrested in November in New York City on charges of filing a false kidnapping report. The office of Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance on Wednesday said the charges were dropped but added no...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Ford Motor Company's [NYSE:F] sixth-generation Mustang has scored just two out of a possible five stars in the latest crash test run by Euro NCAP, the first time since 2008 such a low score has been handed out to a major automaker by Europe’s main safety body. Euro NCAP also issues scores, measured as a percentage, in four critical areas of safety: Adult Occupant Protection, Child Occupant Protection, Pedestrian Protection and Safety Assist. In the case of the Mustang, the scores came in at 72 percent for Adult Occupant Protection, 32 percent for Child Occupant Protection, 64 percent...
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Trump meets with automakers: More plants, fewer regulationsOn only his second business day since moving into the White House, President Donald Trump met for breakfast with the CEOs from each of Detroit's three automakers—Ford, Fiat Chrysler, and General Motors. During the meeting, he outlined two basic desires that could be backed by corporate...
Andrew Ganz -
BMW chief designer leaving the companyAutomotive News (subscription required) has confirmed that BMW chief designer Karim Habib is quitting the company. It is not known where Habib will end up. Habib, 46, has been the chief designer for the BMW brand since 2012. He started at BMW in 1998 and worked there since, with the exception of a...
Kirk Bell -
Oil firms, automakers form council to promote hydrogenElectric cars have moved from the fringes of the new car market to the mainstream, thanks mostly to the efforts of Tesla [NSDQ:TSLA] but also the ease and low cost at which owners can “refuel” their cars. Coming as no surprise, it’s the exact opposite for hydrogen fuel cell cars...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Zenos sports car startup goes bustZenos burst onto the scene in 2013 as a more modern rival to track car specialist Caterham. However, the company on Wednesday confirmed it has entered administration, a process similar to bankruptcy protection, due to a number of canceled orders for its sole product, the E10 track car. “It is...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Genesis mulls building cars in USHyundai and its sister company Kia are the latest to commit to increasing investment in vehicle manufacturing in the United States in the wake of threats from President-elect Donald Trump of new tariffs on vehicles and components imported into the country. The Korean automakers on Tuesday confirmed...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
The past 12 months have been very good for Mercedes-Benz. The luxury marque recorded worldwide sales of 2,083,888 million cars in 2016, the first time it’s cracked the 2.0 million mark and the first time since 2005 that it’s outsold arch rival BMW. The figure represents a substantial 11.3 percent increase on sales in 2015. It was records all around with BMW passenger vehicle sales in 2016 coming in at 2,003,359 units, up 5.2 percent on 2015’s results. In third place was Audi whose sales of 1,871,350 units were up 3.8 percent on its 2015 results, even with the diesel scandal...
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Breaking: EPA accuses Ram and Jeep of using cheating software on its diesels (updated)UPDATE: FCA CEO Sergio Marchionne spoke to CNBC regarding this issue later in the day. This story is updated to include his comments. The Environmental Protection Agency has accused Fiat Chrysler Automobiles [NYSE:FCAU] of failing to disclose engine management software for 2014-2016 Ram 1500s and...
Kirk Bell -
6 VW execs charged, including former R&D bossOn the same day that Volkswagen agreed to plead guilty to three felony counts and pay fines totaling $4.3 billion to the Justice Department and Customs and Border Protection regarding criminal misconduct linked with the diesel scandal, the Justice Department confirmed that six executives have been...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
VW to plead guilty, pay $4.3B, to settle diesel-scandal criminal charges (Update)The Volkswagen Group has reached agreement on another part of its diesel emissions scandal in the United States, at least as far as regulators are concerned. Having already settled with EPA officials and its customers regarding its 2.0-liter and 3.0-liter diesel engines—which in 2015 were...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Jeep confirms Wagoneer, Grand Wagoneer and pickupFiat Chrysler Automobiles [NYSE:FCAU] used the 2017 Detroit auto show to make some major product announcements concerning its Jeep brand. First and foremost, FCA confirmed that plans for separate Jeep Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer full-size SUVs remained on track. These will be range-topping models...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Report: VW nearing $3B settlement with Justice Department over DieselgateVolkswagen may be nearing a settlement over its criminal and civil investigations with the U.S. Department of Justice for $3 billion, Reuters reported. The agreement hasn't yet been finalized but could be announced as early as next week, according to the report. A spokesman for Volkswagen declined...
Aaron Cole