Trade News

BAIC Motor Co.’s electric vehicle subsidiary, BluePark New Energy Technology Co., started mass production of robotaxis with domestic tech giant Baidu.

BluePark New Energy Technology, a Shanghai-listed company, disclosed the information Tuesday when taking queries from retail investors via an internet platform.

BluePark New Energy Technology declined to divulge additional details about the project.

The robotaxi program was first disclosed this year by Baidu, China’s largest internet search engine operator and leading autonomous driving technology developer.

Baidu said in June it was working with BluePark New Energy Technology to build and deploy 1,000 full electric crossovers as robotaxis with L4 autonomy over the next three years.

The robotaxi is adapted from BluePark New Energy Technology’s Arcfox-badged Alpha-T, a 5-seat midsize electric crossover, according to Baidu. 

The vehicle is fitted with 2 lidars, 13 cameras, 5 millime…

Sales of new light vehicles in China will rise 8 percent to 23 million next year as the semiconductor chip crunch and other supply-chain bottlenecks ease, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers predicted Tuesday.

With deliveries of commercial vehicles such as trucks and buses expected to contract 6 percent to 4.5 million, the overall market for new vehicles will expand 5.4 percent to 27.5 million in 2022, the industry trade group said.

Sales of electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids will remain robust, surging 47 percent to reach 5 million, CAAM added. 

Separately, IHS Markit analysts on Thursday said they see the mainland China market rising 3.3 percent to 24.2 million next year, with more meaningful recovery expected for 2023 — or back above pre-crisis levels to 26.9 million, and rising 11.3 percent from 2022 to 2023.

With one month to go, 2021 light-vehicle sales industrywide will increase 5.6 percent to 21.3 million while comm…

Li Yi’nan, founder of Chinese electric scooter manufacturer Niu Technologies, has formed a new company to make electric vehicles.

Niutron New Energy Technology Co. disclosed plans Wednesday to introduce its first EV product, a large crossover, under the Niutron brand in China in the first half of 2022.

Pure electric and range-extended versions of the crossover will be available. 

Niutron expects to start producing the crossover in March at a new EV plant in the east China city of Changzhou, which can build 180,000 vehicles annually at full capacity. 

Sales are scheduled to begin in September. 

Niutron was funded by Li along with international private equity firms IDG Capital and Coatue Management LLC. 

Li, a former executive of Chinese technology giant Huawei Technologies, incorporated Niu Technologies in Beijing in 2014. 

Niu Technologies, a Nasdaq-listed company, builds e-scooters at two factories in…

SHANGHAI -- The Chinese market for full electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids -- some 12 years old now -- expanded 120 percent to nearly 3 million cars and light trucks in the first 11 months of the year.

But it is way too early to call winners and losers as the explosive market emerges from infancy into adolescence while so far drawing limited participation from global brands.

China’s EV market took root in 2009 with the support of Beijing’s generous subsidy program. 

Despite exponential growth, the market is still young and its potential will be tested in the post-subsidy era.

Even with the latest cut in June 2019, the central government’s subsidies remain substantial: up to 18,000 yuan ($2,826) for an electric passenger vehicle or 6,800 yuan for a plug-in hybrid. 

On top of subsidies from the central government’s coffer, buyers of electrified vehicles also enjoy other forms of incentives from local municipalities. 

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Company that leases EVs to ride-hail drivers gains funding, plans fleet expansion

Electric vehicle leasing startup Hive Technologies said on Tuesday it closed a $30 million funding round to expand its fleet for ride-hail drivers who can otherwise not afford the vehicles' higher upfront costs.

The company, backed by investors with an environmental, social and governance focus, leases EVs to Uber and Lyft drivers on a per-mile cost basis, offering an option potentially cheaper than taking out a loan to buy a new EV.

"The more you drive, the faster the car payment goes to zero. So instead of going under the water on a loan, you're benefiting," Hive CEO Mathias Thomsen told Reuters.

The company operates only with General Motors' Chevrolet Bolts in Califo…

Plenty of EVs are set to arrive in 2022, perhaps none more highly anticipated than the F-150 Lightning. Ford Motor Co. says it has nearly 200,000 reservations for the electric pickup, which will go up against the newly launched Rivian R1T and GMC Hummer as well as upcoming trucks from Tesla, Lordstown Motors and, in 2023, Chevrolet.

The burgeoning segment has the potential to make EVs a much bigger proportion of U.S. new-vehicle sales a year from now.

Meanwhile, updates are on tap for some high-volume internal-combustion nameplates, including the Toyota RAV4, Honda CR-V and Accord, and Lexus RX.

Here's a look at what automakers will be sending to U.S. showrooms throughout 2022.

Acura will launch a compact hatchback to replace the ILX sedan and is bringing back the Integra name. The new hatch will be the first Integra with a turbo motor.

Production of the new Tonale subcompact crossover, which will have a plug-in hybrid variant, starts in…

WASHINGTON -- President Joe Biden's nominee to serve as the top auto safety regulator vowed to address the massive increase in U.S. road deaths, according to his prepared congressional testimony.

Steven Cliff, who was tapped to head the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, told a Senate panel Thursday the U.S. has "seen an unprecedented rise in roadway fatalities. I am committed to turning this around."

He added the U.S. must learn "how to change a culture that accepts the loss of tens of thousands of people in roadway crashes as inevitable."

U.S. traffic deaths soared by 18.4 percent in the first six months of 2021 compared with the same period a year earlier, representing the most deadly first half of a year on American roads since 2006, NHTSA said. It was the largest six-month increase recorded since the current tracing system has been in use since 1975.

Cliff, a former California Air Resources Board official who since February has s…

The base single-motor, long-range variant of the Polestar 2 fastback was rated by the EPA to get 270 miles of range, the most of any Polestar model to date, the electric vehicle maker said Wednesday.

That range narrowly beats that of the base Tesla Model 3, the Polestar 2's biggest competitor in the market. According to Tesla's website, the base rear-wheel-drive Model 3 gets an estimated 267 miles of range.

Polestar, set to go public next year via a merger with a special-purpose acquisition company, introduced the single-motor variant as a way to lure in cost-conscious consumers. According to Polestar's website, the model starts at $47,200 after the shipping fee but before federal and state incentives.

The EV maker also announced a host of free over-the-air updates for the Polestar 2 across all trims and model years. Those updates include "refinements" to the advanced driver-assistance systems and the ability to schedule charging sessions, the company sa…

DETROIT — Pamela Fletcher, an engineer who launched the Chevrolet Bolt and had been charged with leading much of General Motors' transformation heading into the electric vehicle era, has left the automaker to become an executive with Delta Air Lines.

Fletcher, 55, will become Delta's chief sustainability officer on Feb. 1, Delta CEO Ed Bastian said in a letter to the carrier's employees Wednesday. It's her first job outside the auto industry in a career that spans more than three decades.

"Pam is credited for her natural ability to build talented teams, especially when working on new technologies like EV and AV, for developing innovative business models and seeing what's possible," GM said in a statement confirming Fletcher's departure.

Fletcher has held leadership roles with GM for more than a decade, including overseeing the automaker's electric and autonomous vehicle technology and much of its software expansion plans.

Most recently, Fletcher w…

Growing Ed Morse Automotive Group, in two December acquisitions, has entered a new state and bolstered its presence in another.

The Delray Beach, Fla., group on Dec. 6 bought Sellers-Sexton Ford-Lincoln-Mazda in Saint Robert, Mo., from Larry Sexton. He was represented by CliftonLarsonAllen in the transaction.

Ed Morse Automotive CEO Teddy Morse told Automotive News that the transaction did not include the Lincoln or Mazda brands. The store was renamed Ed Morse Ford.

In May, Ed Morse Automotive entered Missouri with the purchase of four dealerships including a store in Saint Robert, which is southwest of St. Louis along Interstate 44.

"Our Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram store in Saint Robert, Mo., was about three quarters of a mile off the highway," Morse said. "Every time we would drive to it, we would pass this other dealership called Sellers-Sexton Ford. It was a good-looking dealership, right on the road. Every time we went by it, I just found my hea…