Daimler plans to build the Research and Development Tech Center China with a total investment of more than 1.1 billion RMB (approximately €145 million). This marks the further expansion of the company’s footprint in its single largest market and will be its second major R&D site in Beijing, following the... Read more →

Ballard Power Systems has successfully closed a strategic collaboration transaction with Weichai Power Co., Ltd., initially announced in August. (Earlier post.) This strategic collaboration with Weichai—a leading automotive equipment manufacturer specializing in the production of powertrains, automobiles, intelligent logistics, automotive parts and components—underscores our high conviction in the opportunity for... Read more →

Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., a subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated, announced continued efforts with China’s growing ecosystem of leading automakers and suppliers to commercialize LTE Vehicle-to-Everything (LTE-V2X) direct communication technology based on 3GPP Release 14 specifications. Also known as C-V2X across the globe, LTE-V2X is a solution for V2X communications, which is... Read more →

Volvo Cars has reached an agreement with Baidu, the leading Chinese internet search provider, jointly to develop electric and fully autonomous drive-compatible cars with the aim of mass producing them for China, the largest car market in the world. The partnership will allow both companies to develop and to sell... Read more →

Ford Motor Company and Baidu, Inc. have begun a two-year joint autonomous vehicle test project, under which the two companies will further advance the development and on-road testing of autonomous vehicles in China. The Baidu-Ford L4 Autonomous Vehicle Test Project is a two-year initiative, with on-road testing slated to begin... Read more →

Nearly half of the world’s electric vehicles are in 25 cities, according to a new briefing by the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT). As of the end of 2017, these 25 cities were home to nearly 1.4 million of the world’s 3.1 million passenger electric vehicles. These 25 cities,... Read more →

Alliance Ventures, the strategic venture capital arm of Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi, has become the lead strategic investor of WeRide.ai (formerly JingChi.ai), China’s leading autonomous driving company focused on Level 4 (L4) self-driving technology, following completion of the company’s Series A funding. The investment in WeRide.ai is Alliance Ventures’ first in China and... Read more →

Hyundai Motor has entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Beijing-Tsinghua Industrial R&D Institute (BTIRDI) to establish a Hydrogen Energy Fund. Under this agreement, the South Korean automaker and its Chinese counterpart expect to strengthen their influence in the hydrogen ecosystem while accelerating the advent of a Hydrogen Society.... Read more →

Daimler Mobility Services and Geely Group Company, Geely Holding Group’s new business entity, will form a premium ride-hailing joint venture in China. Headquartered in Hangzhou, the 50:50 JV will provide ride-hailing mobility services in several Chinese cities using premium vehicles including but not limited to Mercedes-Benz vehicles. The fleet initially... Read more →

Ford Motor Company is reorganizing its Asia Pacific operations. As part of those actions, which include hiring a new President and CEO (Anning Chen) for Ford China, Ford China is elevated to a stand-alone business unit reporting to Ford global headquarters. Peter Fleet, president Ford Asia Pacific, will facilitate the... Read more →

Volkswagen Group China is beginning construction in Anting of the Group’s first factory specifically designed for the Modular Electric Drive Kit (MEB) platform. The first model that will be produced in the factory of SAIC Volkswagen will be an electric Volkswagen brand SUV in 2020. Together with the FAW-Volkswagen factory... Read more →

Momenta, a China-based autonomous driving company, has secured a new round of funding from industry-leading strategic investors and government funds at a valuation north of $1 billion, making Momenta the first autonomous driving unicorn company in China. Existing investor NIO Capital and Pagoda Investment increased their investments. Strategic investors, including... Read more →

Groupe Renault and Brilliance China Automotive Holdings Limited (Brilliance), who earlier this year formed Renault-Brilliance-Jinbei Automotive Co., Ltd., a joint venture to manufacture and sell light commercial vehicles (LCV), signed a Strategic Cooperation agreement with Chinese officials from Liaoning Province to further accelerate growth of LCVs in China. Renault also... Read more →

WiTricity announced an intellectual property licensing agreement with Anjie Wireless, a China-based automotive Tier 1 supplier. Under the terms of the agreement, Anjie Wireless will license WiTricity’s patented magnetic resonance technology and industry-leading designs to develop and commercialize highly efficient wireless electric vehicle (EV) charging systems for sale to leading... Read more →

Novelis, the global leader in aluminum rolling and recycling, broke ground on the expansion of its automotive aluminum manufacturing facility in Changzhou, China. The $180-million investment will double the facility’s production capacity of heat-treated aluminum sheet by 100,000 metric tons in order to better meet the growing demand for automotive... Read more →

The BMW Group and Brilliance China Automotive Holdings Ltd. (CBA) announced the early extension of the joint venture contract for BMW Brilliance Automotive (BBA) and the further deepening of the existing successful collaboration. The extended contract is valid for 22 years (from 2018 to 2040). Furthermore, the BMW Group intends... Read more →

Global clean energy investment was $67.8 billion in the third quarter of 2018, down 6% from the same period last year, according to the latest Clean Energy Investment Trends report from research company Bloomberg NEF (BNEF). The slip in the July-September quarter leaves clean energy investment for the year so... Read more →

TRATON AG, formerly Volkswagen Truck & Bus AG, announced two strategic partnerships. The first is with Solera, to develop smart and secure solutions to answer challenges of transport and logistics customers. The second is an expansion of TRATON’s long-term partnership with Sinotruk to establish a joint venture to localize a... Read more →

Geely Auto’s flagship B-segment hybrid sedan Bo Rui GE has been selected as an official diplomatic concierge vehicle by the Beijing Service Bureau for Diplomatic Missions. The Bo Rui GE comes in either a MHEV 48V mild hybrid or full PHEV plug-in hybrid version. The Bo Rui GE MHEV is... Read more →

Daimler and Bosch announced the successful premiere of their joint Automated Valet Parking pilot in Beijing. The infrastructure-supported driverless parking technology, which made its debut in the parking garage at the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart in 2017 (earlier post), marks the first pilot of its kind in China. Automated Valet... Read more →

With the opening of three new FAW-Volkswagen vehicle plants at three locations—in Qingdao, Foshan and Tianjin—as well as the Volkswagen FAW Platform Tianjin Branch component plant, the Volkswagen Group is strengthening its localization strategy in China. With the opening of a second vehicle production plant in Foshan, a mega plant... Read more →

ZF has secured contracts for its dual pinion steering systems with three domestic Chinese manufacturers. ZF’s pinion drive electric steering system delivers enhanced fuel economy, advanced functions and will be a key contributor to automated driving. The dual pinion EPS mechanical configuration is based around a steering rack carrying two... Read more →

In China, people breathe ozone-laden air two to six times more often than people in the United States, Europe, Japan, or South Korea, according to a new international study published in Environmental Science & Technology Letters. By one metric—total number of days with daily maximum average ozone values (8-hour average)... Read more →

Chinese manufacturer Yutong is placing 22 hydrogen fuel cell buses into service in Zhengzhou (two now, 20 to follow) as well as the first batch of 25 units to Zhangjiakou. As the host city of the 24th Winter Olympic Games, Zhangjiakou aims to create a green winter Olympics and is... Read more →

Ballard Power Systems has entered into a strategic collaboration with Weichai Power Co., Ltd. which includes: A substantial equity investment by Weichai in Ballard of approximately $163 million, representing a 19.9% interest in the company and reflecting a price based on a 15% premium to the 30-day VWAP; Establishment of... Read more →

Eberspaecher Exhaust Technology International GmbH and China Yuchai International Limited will form a joint venture company: Eberspaecher Yuchai Exhaust Technology. The JV Company will produce and sell exhaust emission control systems for Chinese commercial vehicles to meet the highest domestic emission standard, China National 6. The new exhaust emission control... Read more →

Westport Fuel Systems Inc. has entered into definitive development and supply agreements with Weichai Westport Inc. (WWI) to develop, to market, and to commercialize a heavy-duty, natural gas engine featuring the Westport HPDI 2.0 technology, based on one of Weichai Power Co., Ltd.’s (Weichai Power) heavy-duty engine platforms. Weichai Power... Read more →

Researchers from China and the US have found that long-term exposure to air pollution impedes cognitive performance in verbal and math tests. In a study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), they report that the effect of air pollution on verbal tests becomes more pronounced as... Read more →

CHAdeMO Association and the China Electricity Council (CEC) will jointly develop a next generation Ultra-Fast charging standard. CEC is China’s official association of utilities in charge of their national regulations and standards related to electricity. The two entities will sign a Memorandum of Understanding on 28 August in Beijing to... Read more →

The Nissan Sylphy Zero Emission, the first Nissan electric car made for China (earlier post), has begun rolling off the production line. The start of production by Dongfeng Nissan Passenger Vehicle Co. (Dongfeng Nissan), Nissan’s joint venture with Dongfeng Motor Group Co., Ltd., coincides with another milestone—the companies have built... Read more →

China-based premium EV maker Nio (earlier post) has filed for a $1.8-billion IPO with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The company is initially targeting China’s premium battery-electric SUV market. Source: Nio F-1. Nio introduced its first model, the EP9 supercar, in 2016. (Earlier post.) The EP9 set a world... Read more →

Dongfeng Motor Company Limited (DFL), the joint venture between Nissan Motors and Dongfeng Motor Group, will accelerate the “Green 2022 Plan” rollout with a focus on green products, production and materials reuse. DFL plans to introduce 20 electrified (EV and e-POWER) models under its four brands by 2022, with Nissan... Read more →

Ford has released the first images of the new Territory, a mid-size SUV targeted at new buyers in emerging cities in China. Ford developed the Territory together with its joint venture partner, Jiangling Motors Corporation (JMC). Territory customers can choose between a fuel-efficient gasoline engine option; 48V mild hybrid with... Read more →

A study led by scientists at the US Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory found that, in the western United States, increases in aerosols from East Asia decreased the radiative warming effect induced by reductions in US emissions by 25% from 1980-2014. The open-access study appears in the AGU... Read more →

The Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and Tongji University in Shanghai are researching standardizable methods for joint technology development in dispersed locations. In the research project Project MovE2China, funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the Chinese government, engineers in Germany and China will simultaneously... Read more →

With collaboration between German and Chinese companies accelerating in the areas of automated driving and intelligent connected vehicles, Daimler and Baidu recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to enhance their Sino-German cooperation in these strategic fields. The two companies have agreed to deepen their partnership through joint automated driving... Read more →

Celanese Corporation has signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) with Chengzhi Shareholding Co., Ltd., to further the development of acetic acid-based ethanol in China. From 2014 to 2017, Celanese operated a 275,000 metric ton per year industrial ethanol unit at the Nanjing, China Chemical Industrial Park. This ethanol unit used... Read more →

China-based Didi Chuxing, the world’s leading one-stop mobile transportation platform, and Booking Holdings, a global leader in online accommodations and travel e-commerce, have entered into a strategic partnership. Booking Holdings has invested US$500 million in DiDi, recognizing DiDi as a leader in the mobile transportation industry. Under the partnership, DiDi... Read more →

Automobile modular architectures—for example, TNGA of Toyota, and MQB, MLB and MEB of the Volkswagen Group—hav become a major trend in the auto industry. Modular technology has become an important criterion for evaluating whether an automobile company is combining global R&D technology and market layout with a cost-effective manufacturing approach.... Read more →

Daimler and Chinese partner Tsinghua University signed an agreement further to deepen their research cooperation in the fields of automated driving and intelligent mobility. Through the Tsinghua Daimler Joint Research Center for Sustainable Transportation, the cooperation has been extended for an additional three years. With an annual multi-million RMB (1... Read more →

BYD opened a 24 GWh power battery factory in Western China’s Qinghai province; the company is preparing to increase its total production capacity to 60 GWh by 2020. Power battery factory in Western China’s Qinghai province. The factory—equivalent to the size of 140 football fields—will be the largest in the... Read more →

The Volkswagen Group is expanding its successful business relationships in China with a particular focus on e-mobility. As part of the 5th German-Chinese government consultations, the Volkswagen Group China signed letters of intent with a long-time joint-venture partner, the FAW Group, and with the China Intelligent and Connected Vehicles (Beijing)... Read more →

The BMW Group and the Chinese manufacturer Great Wall Motor signed an agreement to produce MINI electric vehicles through a new 50:50 joint venture based in China. During an event for autonomous and connected driving attended by China’s Premier Li Keqiang and Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin, the BMW... Read more →

Volkswagen Group China, Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Group Corp., Ltd. (JAC) and SEAT will establish a new China R&D center with a focus on developing electric vehicles, connectivity and autonomous driving technologies, as well as a competitive platform for battery electric vehicles (BEV). Volkswagen’s SEAT brand will be introduced to China... Read more →

The BMW Group and its partner Brilliance Automotive Group Holdings signed a long-term framework agreement to further expand their joint venture BMW Brilliance Automotive (BBA). BBA is increasing the capacity of its two local production facilities Tiexi and Dadong in Shenyang, Liaoning Province, to a total of 520,000 BMW brand... Read more →

Daimler became the first international automaker to receive a road test license for highly automated driving research vehicles (level 4) in Beijing, marking a major new milestone in the company’s local research and development efforts in China. Urban traffic is one of the biggest challenges on the road to autonomous... Read more →

Countries seeking to meet Paris Agreement targets on CO2 emissions must get a grip on the amount of pollution produced at city level, according to a new open-access study published in Science Advances by an international team of researchers from Europe and China. The researchers set out a framework for... Read more →

Dana Incorporated and Hydro-Québec announced a joint-venture partnership in which TM4 Inc., a subsidiary of Hydro-Québec, will become Dana’s source for electric motors, power inverters, and control systems. As part of this agreement, Dana will become a majority shareholder of TM4 in exchange for CA$165 million (approximately US$127 million). Hydro-Québec... Read more →

Through the completion of the Foshan Plant Phase II, Volkswagen Group’s Foshan production site’s capacity will double from 300,000 to 600,000 cars annually. The first SUV-model of the Volkswagen brand built by FAW-Volkswagen—the T-Roc—successfully rolled off the line in April this year. Together with the Audi Q2L, which will also... Read more →

Buick has introduced the new-generation Excelle to its China lineup. It features the brand’s latest styling, a new more efficient powertrain, and a broad range of advanced safety and connectivity technologies. The Buick Excelle has been among the most popular family sedans in China, with nearly 2.7 million sold since... Read more →