Trade News

SEOUL -- Hyundai Motor Co. has so far avoided a chip shortage that has plagued global automakers, largely maintaining its stockpile of chips last year and even accelerating purchases towards the end, three people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

The shortage has forced production cuts worldwide, including at Volkswagen Group and General Motors, prompting Germany and the U.S. to ramp up efforts to resolve the shortage.

Other than Japan's Toyota Motor Corp., which said this month it had enough chip inventory to last it about four months, Hyundai and its sister firm Kia Corp. are the only global automakers to have maintained a stockpile of low-tech chips that helped them keep up production.

If it doesn't ease soon, though, the shortage could hit Hyundai too, as tight capacity on factory floors starts pressuring production of even high-tech auto chips, said two of the people, who are familiar with the company's purchases.

The South Korean au…

Ford Motor Co.'s production in Europe will continue to be affected by the global semiconductor shortage until late in the second quarter, said the automaker's regional boss, Stuart Rowley.

The shortage will stop production at Ford's factory in Saarlouis, Germany, where it builds the Focus compact car, for five weeks Rowley told Automotive News Europe. "That is a huge impact on our operations," he said.

Ford's plant in Valencia, Spain, is the second worst hit, he said.

"We have taken significant downtime and lost production," Rowley said. He did not specify how much production has been lost.

Microchip shortages at Valencia affected production of the Kuga crossover, Mondeo midsize model and Galaxy minivan, he said.

Ford's factory in Cologne, Germany, home of the Fiesta small hatchback, was also impacted but to a "relatively minor" extent, Rowley said.

Ford has extended short-time work in the Cologne and Valencia plants, as well as in…

HONG KONG/BEIJING -- Huawei plans to make EVs under its own brand and could launch some models this year, four sources told Reuters, as the world's largest telecommunications equipment maker, battered by U.S. sanctions, explores a strategic shift.

Huawei Technologies Co. is in talks with state-owned Changan Automobile and other automakers to use their car plants to make EVs, two of the people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Huawei is also in discussions with Beijing-backed BAIC Group's BluePark New Energy Technology to manufacture its EVs, said one of the two and a separate person with direct knowledge of the matter.

The plan heralds a potentially major shift in direction for Huawei after nearly two years of U.S. sanctions that have cut its access to key supply chains, forcing it to sell a part of its smartphone business to keep the brand alive.

Huawei's push into the EV market is currently separate from a joint smart vehicle company it co-…

Soh Weiming, one of Volkswagen Group’s most senior executives in China, is leaving the automaker after more than 15 years and considering an offer to become Renault’s China country head, according to people familiar with the matter.

Soh may join Renault as soon as next month, the people said, asking not to be identified because the discussions are private. A spokesperson for VW China confirmed Soh had left the company, declining to comment further, while Renault in China said it didn’t have any information at the current time. Soh declined to provide details on his future plans when contacted via WeChat.

Something of an iconic figure in China’s auto industry, Soh helped to establish VW’s Mobility Asia unit in 2018. A wholly owned subsidiary of VW, Mobility Asia is at the heart of the carmaker’s high-tech efforts in the region, driving research and development around autonomous driving, artificial intelligence and smart-car ecosystems.

Most recently, Soh …

Nissan Motor Co. said on Friday it has reached a breakthrough in achieving a 50 percent thermal efficiency with its in-development e-Power hybrid technology, which could lead to a further reduction of car CO2 emissions.

This new thermal efficiency level would improve fuel consumption by 25 percent over the 40 percent thermal efficiency level in the upcoming e-Power engine, the company said.

"Nissan's latest approach to engine development has raised the bar to world-leading levels, accelerating past the current auto industry average range of 40 percent thermal efficiency, making it possible to even further reduce vehicle CO2 emissions," the company said in a statement.

Nissan did not disclose when the e-Power technology with 50 percent thermal efficiency would be launched.

Toshihiro Hirai, senior vice president of the powertrain and EV engineering division at Nissan, told reporters on Friday that the automake…

Fisker Inc. is open to borrowing money rather than issuing equity to fund development of four future EVs by 2025, CEO Henrik Fisker said.

Speaking after the company’s first-ever earnings report, the entrepreneur and longtime auto designer said he’d rather take on debt and sell zero-emission vehicle credits to raise money. These credits could be available as soon as production of the Ocean electric SUV -- the company’s first model -- starts in the fourth quarter of next year, Fisker said. Potential buyers have reserved 12,467 Oceans so far.

Raising cash will be vital as the company prepares to roll out two vehicles in as many years. The Manhattan Beach, Calif.-based business has just under $1 billion in cash, and will spend about $450 million of it on capital expenditure this year, Fisker said in an interview.

“There are various ways to raise money besides equity,” he said. “We didn’t put electric-vehicle credits in the business model. Eventually that wil…

Nikola Corp. is dialing back projected output of its first commercial zero-emission vehicles and said an internal review of claims about its technology concluded the startup and its founder made several inaccurate statements -- marking a break with the company’s previous denials of misleading communications with the public.

The EV maker’s probe found nine statements made by the company and its founder and former chairman, Trevor Milton, were wholly or partially inaccurate, according to a regulatory filing made public Thursday.

Nikola commissioned the law firm Kirkland & Ellis to conduct the review after a short seller’s report in September accused the company and its founder of misleading investors. The startup had repeatedly denied the allegations against it and Milton, who stepped down shortly after short seller Hindenburg Research published the report and the company’s share price plummeted.

The accusations prompted inquiries by the U.S. Secu…

Geely Automobile Holdings, China’s largest private passenger vehicle maker, is looking to incorporate its electric vehicle businesses into a separate company, company founder Li Shufu said. 

“Geely will form a brand-new pure electric vehicle company to participate in the competition in the smart pure electric vehicle market,” Li said last week during an internal company meeting.

Geely later disclosed transcripts of what Li said at the meeting. Li is chairman of Geely’s parent company Zhejiang Geely Holding Group which also owns Volvo Cars. 

Geely’s EV company is likely to be incorporated in Hefei in east China’s Anhui province, Shanghai-based China Business News reported this week. 

Hefei, Anhui’s provincial capital, is home to Chinese EV startup Nio Inc.’s vehicle assembly plant and Volkswagen Group’s EV joint venture with Jianghuai Automobile Co. 

Geely is based in Hangzhou in east China’s Zhejiang provi…

Honda will sell its new HR-V small crossover in Europe only with a full-hybrid drivetrain as the automaker continues to drop diesels and expand its electrified offerings.

The new-generation HR-V will go on sale in Europe later this year as the automaker’s third full-hybrid after the launch of hybrid versions of the CR-V compact crossover in 2019 and the Jazz small hatchback in 2020.

In a statement, Honda said the HR-V expands its electrified line up as the brand moves further toward its goal of electrifying all of its European mainstream models by 2022.

Honda has said it wants two thirds of its vehicles sold in Europe to be electrified by 2025.

The automaker also said an HR-V successor is under development for the U.S.

"This new HR-V will be designed to meet the distinct needs of U.S. customers, and will differ from the Honda Vezel/HR-V that will be introduced in other regions," Honda said in a separate statement. "Honda will have more inf…

Two major French suppliers, Valeo and Faurecia, said their China sales outpaced the country’s light-vehicle production by big margins in 2020.

While China’s auto output shrank 7 percent last year, Valeo said sales to auto manufacturers in the country rose 7 percent to 2.08 billion euros ($2.54 billion). 

The French supplier attributed the growth to a second-half recovery in auto production, during which its sales to automakers rallied 16 percent to top 1.26 billion euros. 

In the fourth quarter, Valeo’s revenue surged 18 percent to 686 million euros on demand for advanced driver-assistance and thermal systems. 

At Faurecia, China sales totaled 2.56 billion euros in 2020, a decline of 1.2 percent from 2019, with second-half revenue rebounding 11 percent, according to the company’s latest financial report.

Hyundai Motor Co.’s commercial vehicle subsidiary in China plans to upgrade a plant in Ziyang in southwest China’s Sichuan province to produce hybrid and electrified vehicles, including fuel cell and all-electric vehicles. 

The subsidiary – Hyundai Truck and Bus China Co. – will invest 2.23 billion yuan ($345 million) to upgrade production facilities and add new equipment at the factory, according to information the Sichuan provincial government disclosed Wednesday. 

After the upgrade, the plant will produce up to 100,000 vehicles a year by 2025. 

Hyundai Truck and Bus China, previously known as Sichuan Hyundai Motor Co., was established in Ziyang in 2012 as a 50-50 joint venture between Hyundai and private Chinese truckmaker Nanjun Automotive Group.

In 2020, it became a wholly owned subsidiary of Hyundai. The Ziyang plant assembles Hyundai-badged heavy-duty and light trucks. Last year, the subsidiary sold around 15,300 tr…

SHANGHAI – More than 60 percent of China’s 14.4 billion residents live in cities. And these days, the country’s sprawling urban areas are becoming more torn between a desire to ease traffic congestion and to promote green vehicles. 

Shanghai, the largest Chinese city, has become the first to craft a solution: Phase out incentives for plug-in hybrids and extended-range EVs, and go all out to popularize EVs. 

That’s part of the plan the Shanghai municipal government released Thursday on how to develop the local new-energy vehicle marketplace over the next five years. 

In Shanghai, a city with 24.2 million people, buyers of EVs and plug-in hybrids have been exempted from paying exorbitant license plate fees, which can exceed 90,000 yuan ($14,000) per vehicle. 

Because of the popular incentive policy, Shanghai has become home to the largest electrified vehicle fleet among Chinese cities. 

In 2020, sales of EVs and plug-…