Toyota Motor Corporation and Subaru Corporation disclosed today that they have agreed jointly to develop a platform dedicated to battery electric vehicles (BEVs) for midsize and large passenger vehicles and jointly to develop a C-segment-class BEV SUV model for sale under each company’s own brand. A BEV-dedicated platform Toyota and... Read more →

The BMW Group and Jaguar Land Rover are joining forces to develop next-generation electric drive units in a move that supports the advancement of electrification technologies necessary to transition to an ACES—autonomous driving, connectivity, electrification and services—future. The BMW Group brings its experience of developing and producing several generations of... Read more →

Volvo Cars and Varjo, the Finnish maker of high-end augmented reality headsets, have created a mixed reality approach to evaluating prototypes, designs and active safety technologies. The collaboration will be further strengthened by the Volvo Cars Tech Fund’s decision to invest in Varjo. The Tech Fund is the car maker’s... Read more →

The Volkswagen Group is further expanding its business in its most important market, China, with the entry of SEAT, a member of the Volkswagen Group, and the Smart City Project. Volkswagen Group China, SEAT and the Chinese auto manufacturer JAC, which together form the joint venture JAC Volkswagen, continue to... Read more →

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. delivered a non-binding letter to the Board of Groupe Renault proposing a combination of their respective businesses as a 50/50 merger. The combined business would sell approximately 8.7 million vehicles annually. The combination would create a brand portfolio that would provide full market coverage with a... Read more →

Volvo Car Group has signed long-term agreements with leading battery makers CATL and LG Chem to ensure the multi-billion dollar supply of lithium-ion batteries over the coming decade for next generation Volvo and Polestar models. The agreements cover the global supply of battery modules for all models on the upcoming... Read more →

Hyundai Motor Group and Rimac Automobili (Rimac) announced a strategic partnership aimed to strengthen the Group’s efforts to lead the high-performance electrified vehicle market and enhance its status as a game changer in Clean Mobility. Under the new partnership, Hyundai Motor Company and Kia Motors Corporation will each invest €64... Read more →

Daimler AG aims to have a carbon-neutral new passenger car fleet by 2039, said Ola Källenius, the future Chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler AG, and currently still responsible for Group Research & Mercedes-Benz Cars Development as a member of the Board of Management. Let’s be clear what... Read more →

Porsche is acquiring a majority stake in software company Cetitec. Cetitec was spun off from Karlsruhe-based K2L GmbH in 2012 and currently has around 100 employees. The company specializes in software development for platform solutions in the automotive sector. In the future, our customers will expect the kind of software... Read more →

Alliance Ventures, the strategic venture capital fund that invests in technology start-ups for Groupe Renault, Nissan Motor Company and Mitsubishi Motors, announced a partnership with Plug and Play China to cooperate on open innovation in the world’s second-largest economy. China is leading innovation in the automotive industry. By harnessing the... Read more →

Babson College and the Toyota Mobility Foundation (TMF), Toyota’s dedicated global foundation to help more people go more places, announced a two-year partnership aimed at accelerating the development of creative mobility solutions that could be deployed in communities in the United States and beyond. The Toyota Mobility Foundation will provide... Read more →

Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm Toyota AI Ventures (TAIV) has launched Fund II, a new $100-million fund dedicated to investing in early-stage startups developing technologies and business models in the autonomous mobility and robotics markets. Led by founding Managing Director Jim Adler, who also serves as executive advisor at the... Read more →

Ford Motor Company has made a $500-million minority equity investment in electric vehicle maker Rivian (earlier post). In addition to the investment, the companies have agreed to work together to develop an all-new, next-generation battery electric vehicle for Ford’s growing EV portfolio using Rivian’s skateboard platform. Rivian Skateboard Platform The... Read more →

Porsche Cars North America, Inc. (PCNA) has enrolled all cars at its two Experience Centers—sand its fleet in the monthly subscription pilot, Porsche Passport—sin Porsche Impact. Impact is a new program from Porsche Digital that enables owners to calculate emissions individually per car and then offset them by supporting environmentally... Read more →

Toyota Motor Corporation and Tsinghua University are establishing the Tsinghua - Toyota Joint Research Institute (Joint Research Institute). The two plan to conduct various research together over the next five years through the institute. By establishing the Joint Research Institute, Toyota sees an opportunity to further contribute to the development... Read more →

Daimler AG has acquired a minority equity stake in US battery material specialist Sila Nanotechnologies Inc. (Sila Nano) (earlier post) as part of Daimler’s research and development activities in support of electromobility. Founded in 2011, Sila Nano is a developer of new battery materials which outperform existing lithium-ion technologies. Along... Read more →

Volkswagen is planning an extensive model offensive in China; the brand will double its SUV range by 2020. During Auto Shanghai 2019, Volkswagen announced that the share of SUVs is expected to rise to up to 40%. Volkswagen is targeting the traditional part as well as the growing e-mobility sector.... Read more →

Ford Motor Company is teaming up with Solid Power (earlier post) to develop all solid-state batteries (ASSB) for next-generation electric vehicles. The announced partnership will focus on further developing ASSBs toward automotive requirements. Solid Power’s solid-state technology combines a cathode, metallic lithium anode, and a safe, inorganic solid electrolyte layer.... Read more →

At the site of the Mercedes-Benz Untertürkheim plant in Germany, the construction of the battery factory at the Brühl sub-plant has begun with the symbolic foundation-laying ceremony. By the end of the decade, Mercedes-Benz Cars will produce high-efficiency traction batteries for future Mercedes-Benz electric vehicles of the EQ product and... Read more →

The Volkswagen Group and Ganfeng Lithium Co., Ltd. (GFL) registered in Jiangxi (China) have signed a memorandum of understanding on long-term lithium supplies for battery cells. Under the agreement, Ganfeng will supply lithium to the Volkswagen Group and its suppliers for the next ten years. Volkswagen is thus already securing... Read more →

Toyota announced that it will grant royalty-free licenses on nearly 24,000 patents it holds (including some pending applications) for vehicle electrification-related technologies. Also, Toyota will provide fee-based technical support to other manufacturers developing and selling electrified vehicles when they use Toyota’s motors, batteries, PCUs, control ECUs, and other vehicle electrification... Read more →

Daimler AG and Zhejiang Geely Holding Group , the German and Chinese automotive groups, have formed a 50-50 globally focused joint venture to own, operate and further develop smart, the pioneer of small urban vehicles, as a leader in premium-electrified vehicles. Under the joint venture agreement, a new generation of... Read more →

Volkswagen and Amazon Web Services (AWS) will develop the Volkswagen Industrial Cloud together. Both companies announced a multi-year, global agreement jointly to develop this project. In the future, the Volkswagen Industrial Cloud will combine the data of all machines, plants and systems from all 122 facilities of the Volkswagen Group.... Read more →

General Motors is investing $300 million in its Orion Township, Michigan, assembly plant to produce a new Chevrolet electric vehicle. The new Chevrolet electric vehicle is in addition to the existing Chevrolet Bolt EV and will be designed and engineered off an advanced version of the current Bolt EV architecture.... Read more →

Toyota Motor Corporation and Suzuki Motor Corporation have agreed to begin considering concrete collaboration in new fields. Toyota and Suzuki have been considering the concrete details of such collaboration since having concluded a memorandum of understanding toward business partnership in February 2017. (Earlier post.) Toyota and Suzuki, in addition to... Read more →

Volkswagen Brand China and its Chinese joint ventu... Read more →

Hyundai Motor announced that the new generation Sonata, scheduled to go on sale later this month, is based on the new third-generation vehicle platform. Hyundai says that the new platform will improve the market competitiveness of Hyundai’s newest Sonata and future vehicle models with greater flexibility for vehicle development—which enhances... Read more →

The US Securities and Exchange Commission charged Volkswagen AG, two of its subsidiaries, and its former CEO, Martin Winterkorn, for defrauding US investors, raising billions of dollars through the corporate bond and fixed income markets while making a series of deceptive claims about the environmental impact of the company’s “clean... Read more →

Toyota announced it will exceed its 2017 pledge to invest $10 billion in the US over five years with a new commitment to reach nearly $13 billion over the same period. Of that, Toyota announced nearly $750 million in five different states, with more to come. The new investments include... Read more →

The BMW Group is the first automobile manufacturer worldwide to join the Ship Recycling Transparency Initiative (SRTI). This independent platform, launched in March 2018 by the Sustainable Shipping Initiative, aims to improve measures, transparency and awareness relating to the issue of ship recycling. The SRTI adopts a voluntary market-driven approach... Read more →

Volkswagen’s ID. electric vehicle, the first to be based on the MEB, will be presented at the IAA later this year, with pre-bookings for the launch edition opening on 8 May. “Given the interest in the ID. family shown by our dealers, I think it is possible that the launch... Read more →

The Volkswagen Group is now planning to launch almost 70 new electric models in the next ten years instead of the 50 previously planned. As a result, the projected number of vehicles to be built on the Group’s electric platforms in the next decade will increase from 15 million to... Read more →

Volvo Cars, as a worldwide leader in safety, will limit the top speed on all its cars to 180 km/h (112 mph) from 2020. The company’s Vision 2020, which aims for no one to be killed or seriously injured in a new Volvo by 2020, is one of the most... Read more →

The Volkswagen Group Components brand will be showcasing the near-series design study of its flexible quick charging station at the Geneva Motor Show. With compact dimensions, it can be installed wherever there is demand or where there is still no charging infrastructure. Connected to the grid or even off-grid, the... Read more →

The Volkswagen Group is opening its Modular Electric Toolkit (MEB) developed in recent years to other manufacturers. The purpose is to achieve a significant reduction in the cost of e-mobility through the widest possible deployment of the MEB and the associated economies of scale, thus enabling broad access to individual... Read more →

BMW Group sales of electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles in the US totaled 1,110 in February 2019, a decrease of 42.7% over the 1,936 sold in the same month a year ago. The company said that model changeover has limited the current BMW Group electrified lineup to five models... Read more →

Volkswagen is setting up a pilot plant for Li-ion battery recycling at Salzgitter factory, south-west of Braunschweig, Germany. (Earlier post.) Batteries can be recycled here as early as 2020—initially 1,200 tons per year. This corresponds to 3,000 vehicle batteries. A further increase in capacity is envisaged for subsequent years. However,... Read more →

Toyota Research Institute-Advanced Development, Inc. (TRI-AD) and CARMERA, Inc. are conducting a joint proof-of-concept project to develop camera-based automation of high definition (HD) maps for urban and surface roads. This is the first step towards realizing TRI-AD’s open software platform concept known as Automated Mapping Platform (AMP) to support the... Read more →

BMW i Ventures and Volvo Cars Tech Fund each have invested in Zūm, a fast-growing on-demand ride sharing service for student transportation for school districts and working families. The company, which celebrates its fourth birthday this month, aims to become the world’s safest and largest child transportation provider. The new... Read more →

Daimler AG and the BMW Group are to partner on automated driving. Initially, the focus will be on advancing the development of next-generation technologies for driver assistance systems, automated driving on highways and parking features (up to SAE Level 4). The two companies have signed a Memorandum of Understanding jointly... Read more →

Daimler Buses (EvoBus GmbH) is acquiring a 5.25% stake in Berlin-based software solutions provider IVU Traffic Technologies AG. The seller of the equity stake is the charitable foundation Gerlind & Ernst Denert-Stiftung established by IVU’s previous CEO, Prof. Ernst Denert. The transaction also involves a strategic partnership between IVU and... Read more →

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. will invest a total of $4.5 billion in five of its existing Michigan plants, and will work with the city of Detroit and state of Michigan on building a new assembly plant within city limits. The move would increase capacity to meet growing demand for its... Read more →

Mercedes-Benz Cars and Icertis, a leading provider of enterprise contract management solutions in the cloud, have developed a blockchain prototype for consistent documentation of contracts in the supply chain. Daimler requires its direct suppliers to pass on and control standards and contractual obligations with regard to working conditions, human rights,... Read more →

The BMW Group and Daimler AG are pooling their mobility services to create a new global player providing sustainable urban mobility for customers. The two companies are investing more than €1 billion (US$1.13 billion) in total to develop and more closely intermesh their offerings for car-sharing, ride-hailing, parking, charging and... Read more →

Swedish car makers NEVS AB and Koenigsegg AB are forming a strategic partnership, enabling the development of parallel vehicle models in slightly higher volumes with emphasis on electrification, as well as strengthening growth opportunities in the hypercar segment. NEVS is investing €150 million, thereby taking a 20% minority stake in... Read more →

Didi Chuxing, the world’s leading one-stop transportation platform, announced a new joint venture with Beijing Electric Vehicle Co., an affiliate of BAIC. BAIC-Xiaoju New Energy Auto Technology Co. Ltd (JingJu) aims to combine the two companies’ strengths in new energy fleet operation and AI transportation solutions to develop next-generation connected-car... Read more →

Volkswagen Group Components—the new brand within the Volkswagen Group that supplies components including engines, gearboxes, electric drive systems, steering systems and seats towards e-mobility—will begin series production of the flexible fast charging station (earlier post) from 2020 onwards. This station, based on the principle of a powerbank, can charge up... Read more →

Volkswagen AG and Ford Motor Company announced the first formal agreements in a global alliance. Volkswagen CEO Dr. Herbert Diess and Ford CEO Jim Hackett confirmed that the companies intend to develop commercial vans and medium-sized pickups for global markets beginning as early as 2022. The alliance will drive significant... Read more →

Volkswagen of America, Inc., unveiled the new 2020 Passat at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit today. Together with the Beetle (21.5 million units) and Golf (35 million units), the Passat is one of the three most successful Volkswagen models, with global sales of more than 29 million... Read more →

During its Capital Markets Day presentation, GM said that Cadillac will be GM’s lead electric vehicle brand and will introduce the first model from the company’s all-new global battery electric vehicle architecture (BEV3), GM’s foundation for an advanced family of profitable EVs. The mission of the new architecture is 1)... Read more →