Trade News

WASHINGTON -- A group of 15 U.S. states and the District of Columbia on Tuesday unveiled a joint memorandum of understanding aimed at boosting the market for electric medium- and heavy-duty vehicles and phasing out diesel-powered trucks by 2050.

The announcement comes weeks after the California Air Resources Board approved a groundbreaking policy to require manufacturers to sell a rising number of zero-emission vehicles, starting in 2024 and to electrify nearly all larger trucks by 2045.

The 14 states said the voluntary initiative is aimed at boosting the number of electric large pickup trucks and vans, delivery trucks, box trucks, school and transit buses, and long-haul delivery trucks, with the goal of ensuring all new medium- and heavy-duty vehicle sales be zero emission vehicles by 2050 with a target of 30 percent ZEV sales by 2030.

The states include California, Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Hawaii, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oreg…

SEOUL -- Hyundai Motor Group leader Euisun Chung said Tuesday flagship Hyundai Motor and sister company Kia Motors aim to sell 1 million electric vehicles in 2025, together targeting more than 10 percent of global market share of EVs.

Hyundai Motor plans to launch a next-generation electric vehicle with a driving range of 280 miles per charge and charging time of 20 minutes or less, Chung said in a televised video message. It aims to export 1,600 hydrogen-powered trucks to Europe by 2025, and develop a new system that doubles battery life at half the price, he said.

Chung's statement came as South Korea outlined a plan Tuesday to spend 114.1 trillion won ($94.6 billion) on a "New Deal" to create jobs and help the economy recover from the coronavirus fallout, anchored in part by investment in electric vehicles and hydrogen cars.

The six-year plan will build digital infrastructure and a stronger safety net for job seekers, but its "Green New Deal" aspects …

BEIJING -- Volkswagen Group and its Chinese joint venture partner, SAIC Motor, plan to invest 4.13 billion yuan ($590 million) to revamp their car plants in Shanghai to make new Audi A7L sedans, according to a government document seen by Reuters.

SAIC Volkswagen, the joint venture of the German company and China's biggest automaker, currently sells cars under the VW and Skoda brands.

With the revamp at its Shanghai plants, the JV is aiming for an annual manufacturing capacity of 60,000 Audi A7Ls and 60,000 new Volkswagen utility vehicles. The total capacity at the plants will remain unchanged.

The revamp, expected to be done by the end 2020, comes as demand for luxury cars in China remained firm even as sales in the world's biggest auto market slumped over the past two years.

SAIC Chairman Chen Hong has previously said the JV plans to roll out the first Audi product in early 2022.

ID4 output

VW hopes to start production based on its …

DETROIT — Ford Motor Co., resurrecting a historically popular nameplate with modern amenities such as a trail-mapping system and 360-degree camera views, aims to attract a new generation of overlanding enthusiasts with the first members of the Bronco family of off-roaders.

The 2021 Bronco SUV and Bronco Sport crossover signify a new direction for the automaker as it aims to wrest back a slice of the market long ago ceded to rivals -- particularly Jeep. Under CEO Jim Hackett, Ford is pruning its lineup to focus on more profitable vehicles that elicit more emotion and passion from customers.

It expects the pair of rugged utilities — unveiled Monday directly into the living rooms of would-be buyers via primetime introductions on ESPN, National Geographic and ABC — to do just that.

Under development for the past half-decade and arriving nearly 25 years after the last Bronco departed, the sixth-generation SUV will serve as the flagship for a new off-road sub…

Tesla Inc. needs to succeed in China if it wants to dominate the world of electric cars -- especially in a post-virus world. To do that, Elon Musk is turning to a battery engineer who once helped Apple Inc. extend the life of its MacBook laptops.

Zeng Yuqun, 52, built Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. into China’s battery champion in less than a decade, creating the largest global producer of rechargeable cells for the plug-in vehicles considered to be the future of cars. That effort has helped propel Zeng from a modest hillside village and $30-a-month job with a state-run company to an estimated $17 billion fortune.

CATL’s products are in the vehicles of almost every major global auto brand, and starting this month they’ll also power electric cars manufactured by Tesla at its new factory on the outskirts of Shanghai. It’s an alliance with lucrative potential, combining the sector’s most-popular plug-in model -- the Tesla Model 3 -- with low-cost batteries in…

Electric vehicle maker Fisker Inc. plans to go public through a merger with a special purpose company backed by private equity firm Apollo Global Management Inc. at a $2.9 billion valuation, the companies said on Monday.

Reuters reported last week that the special purpose acquisition company, Spartan Energy Acquisition Corp., was leading a bidding war among special purpose companies for Fisker.

The proceeds are expected to be used to bring the company's first product, the Fisker Ocean, to production in late 2022.

Spartan's shares rose 19.4 percent in premarket trading.

The deal will provide Fisker with $1 billion in gross proceeds, including $500 million of funds from existing and new investors such as AllianceBernstein and BlackRock Inc.

Henrik Fisker, a one-time Aston-Martin designer, launched the eponymous Los Angeles-based company in 2016, and plans to begin selling the Fisker Ocean luxury electric SUV at a starting price of $37,500. Read more

FRANKFURT -- Labor representatives at Daimler said Monday that discussions with management over cost cuts had become "rougher" after a board member said over the weekend that more than 15,000 jobs were at risk.

The auto industry has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, which shut factories and showrooms forcing traditional automakers to seek deeper cuts.

Daimler had already said in November, before the pandemic started, that it would cut at least 10,000 jobs worldwide over the following three years, following peers as they cut costs to invest in electric vehicles while grappling with weakening sales.

The owner of the Mercedes-Benz brand had stuck with a pledge at the time to avoid forced redundancies at its German workforce until 2029.

Daimler board member Wilfried Porth told the Stuttgarter Zeitung over the weekend that more than 15,000 workers would now have to take a buyout or retire to avoid forced layoffs.

The works council for D…

DETROIT — By killing the Chevrolet Cruze last year and now the Sonic in a few months, General Motors is leaving itself with just two vehicles that start at less than $20,000.

That includes the new Trailblazer, which aims to put Chevy on more consumers' radars by landing in one of the industry's fastest-growing segments: small crossovers.

The Trailblazer complements the Trax, which posted a 30 percent U.S. sales gain last year but is too small for some buyers, by giving Chevy a roomier option with a more mature look. And unlike the Trax, it was designed from the ground up with U.S. consumers top of mind.

"We're thinking the Trailblazers are going to catch on in a big way," said Paul Waatti, industry analyst at AutoPacific.

In the second quarter, Chevy sold 6,699 Trailblazers, which just started reaching dealerships in March. It's already more popular than GM's other sub-$20,000 entry, the Spark, which logged 5,311 sales i…