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Tag: Auto

  • Renault & Lotus Team To Electrify Alpine Brand

    Renault & Lotus Team To Electrify Alpine Brand

    The Alpine brand is already being re-energized as a halo sports car brand by Renault with the rebranding of its works F1 team as Alpine. Now it is teaming up with Lotus to create an all-electric Alpine car. Lotus and Renault are no strangers as Renault acquired what was the Lotus F1 team which later this year will again be rebranded to Alpine.

    This time around the intent is to create the successor to the Alpine A110 in an electric avatar. This one was announced late last week by Renault and Lotus – when both the manufacturers announced that they signed an MoU. “The signing of this MoU with Lotus shows the lean and smart approach we’re implementing as part of the new Alpine brand strategy. Both brands have an amazing legacy and we are most excited to start this work together, from engineering tailored solutions to developing a next-generation EV sports car,” said the two companies in a statement.

    The Alpine A110 has been an iconic vehicle since 1963 and the teaser also points towards the vehicle retaining its iconic design language. The A110 will be the first such electric vehicle but there are six more in the works. Renault at its Renaulution event even showed off an electric version of a car which is being called the Renault 5.

    Renault isn’t the only one all in on EVs. Like most of the auto industry, even Lotus is taking a radical approach towards electrification. It has been developing its Evija hypercar which costs $2 million. It has a 2,000 bhp all-electric powertrain which will come by 2025.

    This partnership clearly has a lot of synergies as the revival of the Alpine brand and the rebrand of the F1 project comes with the intent of creating a virtuous cycle between the popularity of the F1 team driving sales of Alpine cars which would further fuel the F1 project. It also helps that the F1 team was till 2015 the Lotus F1 team.

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  • Maruti Suzuki Hikes Prices Due To Higher Costs

    Maruti Suzuki Hikes Prices Due To Higher Costs

    Maruti Suzuki India Ltd will raise prices for some car models to mitigate the impact of rising costs, the country’s largest automaker by market value said on Monday.

    The move comes after rival Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd increased prices of its personal and commercial vehicles by 1.9% this month due to higher commodity prices and input costs.

    Indian automakers were already under pressure due to costs and weak demand when the pandemic dealt a blow last March.

    Since then, carmakers have resumed operations and seen demand return during India’s festive season in October-November, but have warned of demand uncertainties ahead.

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  • Tesla Asks U.S. Safety Agency To Declare Speed Display Issue Inconsequential

    Tesla Asks U.S. Safety Agency To Declare Speed Display Issue Inconsequential

    Tesla Inc filed a petition with U.S. auto safety regulators saying that 612,000 vehicles produced since 2012 do not fully comply with federal safety standards because displays can be switched from miles per hour to only metric measurements, documents released on Friday show.

    The automaker asked the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to declare the noncompliance issue inconsequential to safety, according to the agency’s filing.

    Tesla said it corrected the issue in production in September and that more than 75% percent of the affected U.S. vehicles have accepted the firmware update released in September.

    Tesla said if vehicles are set to only display to kilometers, all functions tied to speed limits like Traffic-Aware Cruise Control and Speed Assist will “convert mapped data from mph to km/h, resulting in the vehicle speed automatically matching the appropriate speed limit.”

    Tesla added that vehicle operators can change the display back to miles per hour, saying the option is “easily located in the display menu and is not buried in sub-menus.”

    Tesla said it has not received any reports of crashes related to this issue and noted that NHTSA granted two petitions for inconsequential treatment involving speedometer unit display noncompliance to Volkswagen AG in July and BMW in 2015.

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  • December auto sales hit monthly high

    December auto sales hit monthly high

    Auto sales climbed to 47,865 units in December, the highest monthly number last year, according to the latest data from Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers Association (VAMA).

    It represented a 32 percent rise from November and 45 percent increase from the same period in 2019.

    The data shows 36,856 units sold in December were passenger cars, up 28 percent over the previous month, 10,673 were commercial vehicles, up 50 percent and 331 units were special-purpose vehicles, down 30 percent.

    Despite the late surge, total auto sales in 2020 still fell 8 percent year-on-year to 296,634 units due to deep plunges recorded in April and August after two major Covid-19 outbreaks.

    Local brand Truong Hai Auto (Thaco) retained the top spot in 2020 with a 35.5 percent share of the market as sales rose 10 percent to 100,727 units.

    It was followed by Toyota with 70,692 units, down 11 percent and Mitsubishi with 28,954 units, down 6 percent.
    Ford and Honda rounded out the top five.

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  • Tata Puts Post-Pandemic Bet On Digital

    Tata Puts Post-Pandemic Bet On Digital

    Tata Group plans to invest in digital, high-end electronics and healthcare in a post-pandemic world, the $100 billion conglomerate’s chairman said on Thursday. Tata, whose operations span hotels, steel, airlines, electronic goods and technology services, will also place big bets on electric vehicles, renewable energy and battery storage, N Chandrasekaran, who is also known as Chandra, added.

    “When you look at trends for the future, definitely there are clear signs you can pick up. Anything that is digital, we’re making a big bet on,” Chandra told the Reuters Next conference.

    The coronavirus pandemic has accelerated the adoption of technology, changing the way people live, work and consume as well as how companies operate, he added.

    Tata has already made public its intent to launch an umbrella app enabling access to all its consumer businesses, Chandra said, in a concept borrowed from China where apps such as Alipay allow everything from hotel bookings to e-commerce. Tata is also building an online business-to-business platform.

    The owner of British luxury brand Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) is placing big bets on electric vehicles as well as on battery storage and renewable energy for consumer and industrial use.

    “We are very serious about electric vehicles,” Chandra said, adding that Tata is investing in developing clean technology cars at home through Tata Motors and at JLR.

    Automakers are investing in EVs, largely driven by tighter government regulations on polluting vehicles, with Tesla, now the world’s most valuable car company, readying plans to launch in India this year.

    Chandra said the adoption of technology and shift in consumer and corporate behavior will lead to the creation of new and shared workplaces closer to where people live.

    Meanwhile, there will be a higher degree of automation in Indian factories driven by greater use of artificial intelligence, internet of things or connected devices and data.

    With some of these changes unlikely to reverse, Chandra is looking at new opportunities for Tata, particularly as India’s economy springs back from damage during the early stages of the pandemic last year.

    “I’ve been quite surprised with the speed with which the economy is recovering and bouncing back,” he said, adding that several Tata companies are already recovering losses as demand picks up except in areas like airlines.

    COVID-19 has also forced Tata to be more resilient to disruption in the global supply chains it depends on and for Chandra, one way to do this is to be a part of it.

    “There are couple of industries we have already identified. One is electronics, high-tech manufacturing, where we’ve already started the foray and we are developing plans for the future.”

    Tata also plans to cater to growing demand for medical devices in India and around the world, Chandra said.

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  • Trump’s China Tech War Backfires On Automakers As Chips Run Short

    Trump’s China Tech War Backfires On Automakers As Chips Run Short

    Automakers around the world are shutting assembly lines because of a global shortage of semiconductors that in some cases has been exacerbated by the Trump administration’s actions against key Chinese chip factories, industry officials said.

    The shortage, which caught much of the industry off-guard and could continue for many months, is now causing Ford Motor Co, Subaru Corp and Toyota Motor Corp to curtail production in the United States.

    Automakers affected in other markets include Volkswagen, Nissan Motor Co Ltd and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles.

    The problems stem from a confluence of factors as auto manufacturers compete against the sprawling consumer electronics industry for chip supplies. Consumers have stocked up on laptops, gaming consoles and other electronic products during the pandemic, creating tight chip supplies throughout 2020.

    They have also bought more cars than industry officials expected last spring, further straining supplies.

    In at least one case, the shortage ties back to President Donald Trump’s policies aimed at curtailing technology transfers to China.

    One automaker moved chip production from China’s Semiconductor Manufacturing International, or SMIC, which was hit with U.S. government restrictions in December, to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co in Taiwan, which in turn was overbooked, a person familiar with the matter said.

    Ford also will idle its Focus plant in Saarlouis, Germany, for a month starting next week because of chip shortages.

    An auto supplier confirmed TSMC has been unable to keep up with demand.

    “The systemic aspect of the crisis is giving us a headache,” said a supplier executive, who asked not to be identified. “In some cases, we find substitution parts that could make us independent from TSMC, only to discover that the alternative wafer manufacturer has no capacity available.”

    TSMC and SMIC did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

    On an earnings call with investors Thursday, TSMC Chief Executive C.C. Wei said there was a shortage of automotive chips made with “mature technology” and that it is working with customers “to mitigate the shortage impact.”

    It only takes the tiniest of chips to throw off production: a Ford plant in Kentucky that makes the Escape sport utility vehicle idled because of a shortage of a chip in the vehicle’s brake system, a union official in the plant said.

    Ford also will idle its Focus plant in Saarlouis, Germany, for a month starting next week because of chip shortages.

    The situation is unlikely to improve quickly, since all chips, whether bound for a laptop or a Lexus, start life as a silicon wafer that takes about 90 days to process into a chip.

    The chipmaking industry has always strained to keep up with sudden demand spikes. The factories that produce wafers cost tens of billions of dollars to build, and expanding their capacity can take up to a year for testing and qualifying complex tools.

    “The long and short of it is, demand is up about 50%. And there’s no asset-intensive industry like ours that has 50% capacity lying around,” said Mike Hogan, senior vice president at chip manufacturer GlobalFoundries and head of its automotive unit.

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  • Porsche Sold More Than 20,000 Taycans In 2020

    Porsche Sold More Than 20,000 Taycans In 2020

    Porsche announced that it has sold 20,015 units of the Taycan all-electric car in 2020. The company has been able to achieve this feat even after the disruption caused due to the coronavirus pandemic. The company had shut down all production activities for 6 weeks and this, when the company was ramping up production as many markets globally, were planning premieres in the coming months.

    It needs to be noted here that Porsche sold a total of 4480 Taycans from January to June 2020, and 6464 units were sold in the next 3 months. Therefore in the first 9 months of 2020, the company had sold more than 10,000 units of the car and the next 10,000 took just about 3 months, showing how strong the demand is for the all-electric sedan.

    Detlev von Platen, Member of the Executive Board for Sales and Marketing at Porsche AG said, “The coronavirus crisis posed a great challenge from spring 2020 onwards. Nevertheless, we were able to keep deliveries comparatively stable for the year as a whole. Our fresh, attractive product range, the successful start of the Taycan as the first all-electric Porsche and the charisma of our brand – all this contributed to this positive result despite the difficult times.”

    The Porsche Taycan is scheduled to hit the Indian shores as well very soon. We know that it’s good because we’ve driven the car and told you all about it. The Porsche Taycan sports two permanently excited synchronous electric motors that can churn out a maximum of 600 bhp and will a range of over 500 km thanks to its high voltage lithium-ion batteries. The electric car will get 800-volt chargers with fast charging capability, which can offer a 400 km range in 15 minutes of charge time. It can go from 0-100 kmph in under 3.5 seconds.

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  • Tata Motors’ Global Wholesales Grew 1% In Q3 FY2021

    Tata Motors’ Global Wholesales Grew 1% In Q3 FY2021

    Tata Motors has released the Group’s global wholesales numbers for the third quarter of Financial Year 2020-21. In the quarter that ended on December 31, 2020, Tata Motors Group’s global wholesales stood at 2,78,915 units (including Jaguar Land Rover), registering a marginal 1 percent growth as compared to what the company sold during the October-December period in 2019. However, compared to the second quarter that ended on September 30, 2020 (Q2 FY2021), when the company’s total wholesales were 2,02,873 units, Tata has witnessed a 37 percent growth.

    Between October and December 2020, the Tata Motors Groups passenger car wholesales stood at 1,88,550 units, witnessing a growth of 4 percent compared to Q3 FY2020. Out of this, global wholesales from Jaguar Land Rover alone accounted for 1,19,658 vehicles, which includes the 17,078 vehicles sold by CJLR the joint venture between JLR and Chery Automobiles, in Q3 FY21. Jaguar’s wholesales for the quarter were 22,466 vehicles, while Land Rover’s wholesales for the quarter were 97,192 units.

    Tata Motors vehicle sales in the domestic market have also been quite impressive in the previous quarter. Between October and December 2020, the company’s total Passenger Vehicle (PV) sales stood at 68,803 units, registering a massive 89 percent growth as compared to Q3 FY2020, when it sold 36,354 units. It was Tata’s highest-ever quarterly results for passenger vehicles in 33 quarters or over eight years.

    At the same time, the Group’s global wholesales from commercial vehicles, including, the Tata Daewoo range in Q3 FY21 were at 90,365 units, witnessing a decline of 4 percent, compared to what to company sold in Q3 FY20.

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  • Tesla To Set-up Operations In Bengaluru, Registers Indian Subsidiary

    Tesla To Set-up Operations In Bengaluru, Registers Indian Subsidiary

    The wait is nearly over as American electric carmaker Tesla is all set to set-up operations in India and zeroed down on Karnataka, as its preferred state to set-up its headquarters. The electric auto giant has registered its Indian subsidiary under the name ‘Tesla India Motors and Energy Private Ltd’, which was incorporated in Bengaluru on January 8, 2021. The company is expected to commence operations by June this year and the first product to be made available will be the Model 3 sedan, according to reports.

    According to the document filed with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Vaibhav Taneja, Venkatrangam Sreeram, and David Jon Feinstein have been named as directors. The company has been registered as a private unlisted company with an authorized capital of ₹ 15,00,000 and a paid-up capital of ₹ 100,000. The document also reiterates Tesla co-founder and CEO, Elon Musk’s tweet last year that said the automaker would enter India “next year for sure.

    India has been on Tesla’s radar since 2016 but plans did not materialize despite a number of speculations. It was also reported recently that state governments including Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka had talks with the automaker to set-up operations in their region, while the company is also considering local partnerships. Reportedly, the Karnataka government has already offered a land parcel to Tesla in Tumkur, on the outskirts of Bengaluru, to set-up a manufacturing facility.

  • Biggest Drop In UK New Car Sales Since World War Two

    Biggest Drop In UK New Car Sales Since World War Two

    British new car sales fell nearly 30% last year in their biggest annual drop since 1943 as lockdowns to curb the spread of the coronavirus hit the sector, an industry body said on Wednesday. Demand stood at 1.63 million cars in 2020, according to data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). It was particularly hard hit by a 97% fall in April, the first full month of a national lockdown.

    Dealerships gradually reopened in June on differing dates across the United Kingdom’s four nations.

    “We lost nearly three-quarters of a million units over three or four months, which we never got back,” said SMMT Chief Executive Mike Hawes.

    Showrooms in England have closed again during a second lockdown in November but many were better prepared with “click and collect” options, allowing more purchases, but still leading to a 27% year-on-year slump.

    The performance leaves new car sales at their lowest level since 1992, and suffering the biggest drop since 1943, when sales fell by more than 90%.

    Then, Britain was fighting World War Two, and the industry was repurposed for the effort.

    In 2020, diesel car registrations more than halved, while nearly 30% of sales were electric, hybrid, and mild hybrid vehicles as Britain brought forward a ban on the sale of new combustion engine-only cars to 2030.

    The sector was also awaiting a trade deal with the European Union. An agreement was reached on Dec. 24, meaning immediate tariffs and disruption were avoided, but the sector has warned of additional costs.

    The car sector, like others, now faces the challenge of new lockdowns announced in England and Scotland this week.

    The SMMT expects sales to be below 2 million this year, with the sector nervously looking ahead to March, one of the top two selling months of the year due to the change in the license plate series.

    “Where the industry is focussed at the moment, is what do we need to do to try to sustain sales …, sustain manufacturing over the next two to three months, especially with March being such a critical month for the industry and that will undoubtedly be affected,” said Hawes.

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  • Bentley Posts Highest Ever Sales Numbers In 101 Years In 2020

    Bentley Posts Highest Ever Sales Numbers In 101 Years In 2020

    Bentley Motors announced total sales of 11,206 in 2020, an increase of 2 percent over 2019. Although the pre-COVID sales forecast was much greater, new model introductions fuelled this significant achievement which was the highest sales performance in any of the luxury British marque’s 101 years. Bentley’s production was shut down for seven weeks beginning in March, and running at a 50 percent output for a further nine weeks thereafter, as social distancing measures were

    The Americas remained Bentley’s number one region although a strong performance in China, posting an increase of 48 percent came in a close second. The Bentley Continental GT (24 percent) and GT Convertible (15 percent) together accounted for 39 percent of total sales. However, in spite of the run out of the previous generation model, and delays to market entry of the all-new Bentayga due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the SUV was still the biggest selling single model, accounting for 37 percent of total sales.

    The Americas region delivered 3,035 cars, an increase of four percent on the corresponding figure for 2019, 2,913. Placing the region as Bentley’s number one market, this strong performance was boosted by the introduction of the Flying Spur and a full year of sales of the Continental GT and GT Convertible luxury Grand Tourer.

    Bentley’s biggest growth was reserved for China, posting a sales increase of 48 percent, 2,880 cars, against 1,940, as the traditional sedan market welcomed the introduction of the all-new Flying Spur, with Bentayga sales remaining strong.

    Europe closed the year with the delivery of 2,193 cars, against a figure of 2,670 in 2019, a decrease of 18 percent with the region impacted because of the market entry delays of the all-new Bentayga.

    Bentley’s home market in the UK continued its consistently strong performance, recording sales of 1,160 cars. This represented a decrease of 22 per cent over the previous year. Bentley delivered 735 cars to the Middle East in 2020, against a total of 852 the previous year.

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  • Tesla Shares Set To Start 2021 At Record High

    Tesla Shares Set To Start 2021 At Record High

    Tesla Inc shares were set to open at a record high on Monday after the electric-car maker reported better-than-expected vehicle deliveries in 2020, extending a meteoric rally that has seen the stock surge more than 700%.

    It delivered 499,550 vehicles last year, above Wall Street estimates of 481,261 vehicles, according to Refinitiv data, but 450 units short of Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk’s target.

    “We are raising our forecasts to reflect higher 4Q deliveries and reports of strong demand for the Model Y in China, which is also suggestive of higher future deliveries,” J.P. Morgan analysts said in a client note.

    Tesla has reported profit in five straight quarters, defying last year’s auto industry trends of slumping sales, quarterly losses and global supply chain disruptions.

    Shares of the company, which joined the benchmark S&P 500 index in December, were up 3% in premarket trading.

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  • Daimler AG And Infosys Announce Strategic Partnership For IT Infrastructure

    Daimler AG And Infosys Announce Strategic Partnership For IT Infrastructure

    Daimler AG and Infosys announced a long-term strategic partnership for a technology-driven IT infrastructure transformation. After the receipt of all regulatory approvals, Daimler AG will transform its IT operating model and infrastructure landscape across workplace services, service desk, data center, networks and SAP Basis together with Infosys. The partnership will enable the company to deepen its focus on software engineering and to establish a fully scalable on-demand digital IT infrastructure and anytime-anywhere workplace. The collaboration will empower Daimler to strengthen its IT capabilities, and Infosys, its automotive expertise.

    As software becomes modular, digital infrastructure continues to play an important role in defragmentation. Daimler will work towards a model that ensures a robust IT infrastructure across its plants and regions and supports consolidation of its data centers, scaling its IT operations, and bringing innovations to the fore. Some of the key deliverables from this partnership include – a smart hybrid cloud, leveraging Infosys Cobalt and leading cloud providers, accelerating the multi-cloud journey with a focus on open source adoption. A carbon-neutral solution, by consolidating and rationalizing data centers across all regions. Standardized technology stack by bringing in an eco-system of best of breed partners. Creation of a state of the art Zero Trust network with seamless technology upgrades. Persona-driven and cognitive, AI-powered anytime-anywhere workplace solution that empowers the end-users.

    As a part of this partnership, automotive IT infrastructure experts based out of Germany, wider Europe, the U.S., and the APAC region will transition from Daimler AG to Infosys. Infosys is well placed to realize this transition as an expert having integrated more than 16,000 employees through other partnerships in recent years with a high acceptance, retention, and satisfaction rate. The transfer will also enable Infosys to bolster and grow its automotive business while offering employees strong prospects for long-term career growth and development.

    Talking about the partnership, Jan Brecht, Chief Information Officer (CIO) of Daimler and Mercedes-Benz, said, “Software becomes modular and IT infrastructure becomes big. Daimler will take three steps at once to transform its IT infrastructure: consolidation, scaling, and modernization. We need to think of infrastructure beyond the size of our company. With Infosys we found a partner to scale, to innovate and to speed up. Moreover, this is a strategic partnership for Daimler’s IT capabilities and Infosys’ automotive expertise. Infosys wants to grow with us in the automotive industry, which gives career opportunities for our employees. With this partnership, Daimler also strengthens its overall technology investment and partnership strategy.”

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  • Honda To Pull The Plug On Car Sales In Russia In 2022

    Honda To Pull The Plug On Car Sales In Russia In 2022

    Honda Motor Company has said that it won’t be supplying new cars to its authorized dealers in Russia in 2022 as the company is trying to restructure its operations. The Japanese automaker has confirmed that it would keep its presence in the Russian market with motorcycle and power equipment sales only. The news comes after a drastic drop of 50 percent in its sales operations last month in Russia.

    Even in India, Honda has shut down its Greater Noida plant and has shifted its entire production unit to the company’s other facility in Tapukara, Rajasthan. The carmaker has said that it has realigned its production operations “to maintain sustainability by leveraging production and supply chain efficiencies.” To that effect, from this month, the manufacturing operations for vehicles and components will happen at the Tapukara plant for all domestic sales and exports. Until last month, the Greater Noida plant produced models like the Honda City sedan, CR-V SUV, and the Civic sedan. While the transition will see the production of the City move entirely to the Tapukara unit, at present, the company has also stopped the production of its flagship models, the Civic sedan and CR-V SUV.

    As far as the Russian market is concerned, Honda does not have any manufacturing unit in Russia unlike its other Japanese counterparts like Toyota and Nissan. All Honda models are sold as CBUs in the Russian market and the carmaker sold just 79 units last month. Its sales from January to November were down by 15 percent at 1,383 units, while over 1.3 million new cars were sold in Russia during that period.

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  • Tesla Working On Amazon And Apple Music Integration

    Tesla Working On Amazon And Apple Music Integration

    One of the biggest influences for the massive in-dash display for the Tesla Model S was the iPad. But even though Teslas have offered this sophisticated in-car infotainment experience, what’s strange is that lack of native Apple Music and Amazon Music integration. Instead, Tesla’s offer native Spotify integration. But this is set to change.

    Tesla notably doesn’t support phone mirroring options like Apple’s CarPlay and Android Auto so if you use Apple Music or Amazon Music as your streaming service of choice you can only play music via Bluetooth but not enjoy the advances of a deep user interface integration.

    Elon Musk has already stated that Tidal, lossless high fidelity audio streaming service will be integrated into the dashboard experience of the Teslas. However, now Electrek is reporting that the world’s largest automaker is also integrating Apple Music and Amazon music into the dashboard.

    The Electrek report cites a hacker called “green” who has spotted early versions of the integration in Tesla’s UI which he has also shared in a post on Twitter. He noticed this update in a recent software update which has enabled Tidal, Pandora, SiriusXM, and Audible. TuneIn Radio, Amazon and Apple Music remain disabled. But they should be coming soon as Audible is also owned by Amazon.

    There is no timeline as to when this will become official but considering Tidal is already active, it seems to be the furthest along in development. Apple Music and Amazon Music will almost certainly have a more delayed official release.

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