Trade News

Volvo wants a quarter of its vehicle sales in Europe this year to be plug-in hybrids to help the automaker avoid fines if it misses the European Union's latest CO2 emissions reduction goals.

The increase would represent a huge jump from 2019 when Volvo said it sold 46,000 plug-ins in Europe, representing around 10 percent of its volume.

The stakes are high for Volvo's electric strategy because conventional SUVs made up more than half of sales last year and are largely behind the automaker's success since the takeover by China's Zhejiang Geely Holding Group a decade ago. 

PA Consulting Group puts Volvo's potential fines from the EU for this year at a quarter of its annual operating profit.

CEO Hakan Samuelsson said Volvo will achieve its EU target this year through increased sales of plug-in hybrids.

"We don’t plan to pay any fees or penalties. We want to use our money for product development, not paying Brussels,” Samuelsson said at a…

It would be difficult to quantify just how many federal government or affiliated agencies regulate Elon Musk's massive business empire — most notably Tesla Inc.

As a publicly traded auto manufacturer, Tesla must answer to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the National Transportation Safety Board, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the National Labor Relations Board, the IRS, the EPA and the Securities and Exchange Commission. Musk's SpaceX is intertwined with NASA, too. I'm sure there's plenty more.

So last week, during one of his running rants with journalists, President Donald Trump started talking about the "genius" Elon Musk. He credited Tesla's remarkable stock surge, putting its value north of $100 billion — more than Ford Motor Co. and General Motors combined. Incredible, right? Especially after some of the tumultuous controversies that have enveloped Musk and Tesla in recent years.

"I was worried about him, becau…

MILAN -- Maserati will use the Beijing auto show as a launchpad for an electrification push with the unveiling of its first hybrid model.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles' exotic sporty brand will introduce a hybrid version of the Ghibli sedan at the show on April 21, a source familiar with Maserati's plans said.

The Ghibli is expected to get a plug-in hybrid drivetrain, although Maserati has not disclosed details of the car's hybrid system.

The Ghibli hybrid could boost Maserati sales in the key China market because the Chinese government is promoting electrification. It also will help the brand in Europe where tougher CO2 rules are forcing automakers to add fuel-efficient, low-emissions plug-in hybrids.

Chinese buyers of a Ghibli plug-in hybrid would be eligible for 10,000-yuan subsidies ($1,440) from the Chinese government. The incentives are offered for plug-ins but no other types of hybrids.

Maserati's vehicle sales in China fell 27 percent t…

Honda Motor Co. plans to roll out the first two electrified models – an electric vehicle and a plug-in hybrid -- under the Honda brand in China later this year. 

The EV will be unveiled at the Beijing auto show in April. The other electrified vehicle will be the plug-in hybrid variant of the CR-V crossover, Honda Motor Co.’s China office said on its website. 

The Japanese carmaker didn’t disclose additional details about the two electrified vehicles. 

Honda’s joint ventures with Dongfeng Motor Group and GAC Motor Co. each launched sales last year of a battery-powered crossover under respective proprietary brands in China. 

In 2020, Honda also plans to introduce a seventh hybrid product -- the hybrid version of the Crider sedan. It sells six hybrids in China – variants of the Accord and Inspire sedans, the CR-V and Breeze crossovers, and the Odyssey and Elysion multi-purpose vehicles.  

Earlier this month, Toyota Mot…

SHANGHAI -- Most automakers closed assembly plants in China for the weeklong Lunar New Year holiday but the viral outbreak that has spread across the country, killing 81 people, has prompted many of them to take further steps and precautions to help contain the epidemic.

Ford Motor Co. called back some employees at its truck joint venture, Jiangling Motors Corp., to refit 600 Ford Transit vans into special ambulances for transporting infected patients, according to internet blogs run by Ford’s China unit.

Two state-owned Chinese automakers, SAIC Motor Corp. and Beiqi Foton Motor Co., are also assembling vans to help transfer victims, according to their internet blogs.

The vans will be shipped to central China’s Hubei province and its provincial capital of Wuhan – the epicenter of the viral outbreak.

To contain the new coronavirus, Chinese authorities have banned or limited travel and locked down 17 cities with more than 50 million people.

…

DETROIT -- General Motors will start making the Cruise Origin autonomous shuttle shortly after it starts making an all-electric pickup at the Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant late next year.

The company announced the production plan Monday morning as part of its planned $2.2 billion investment in the factory, which had been slated for closure prior to last year’s negotiations with the UAW. 

Cruise, based in San Francisco, showed the Origin for the first time last week. But the company’s first autonomous ride-hailing offerings will use the Chevrolet Bolt-based third-generation autonomous vehicle, which still has a steering wheel and brake pedals.

Cruise Origin production will start in late 2022, AutoForecast Solutions told Automotive News on Friday.

The investment will create more than 2,200 jobs. Today, 900 workers are employed on one shift at the plant. Production of an all-electric pickup will begin in late 2021, GM said. GM will also …

Hyundai released an early peek at its Super Bowl ad, which takes a very Boston-centric look at one of the tech features on the new-generation 2020 Sonata sedan.

The feature is technically known as Remote Smart Parking Assist, but that's before a group of Boston-area celebrities put it though the local accent and shortened it to "Smaht Pahk."

In a spot that will run in the first quarter, Chris Evans, of Marvel Comics movie fame, and former "Saturday Night Live" regular Rachel Dratch watch as John Krasinski, from "The Office," prepares to fit his new Sonata into a tight parking spot. Evans says there's no way the sedan will fit in the space in front of a coffee shop.

Krasinski tells Evans to stop being a "smahty pants" because the Sonata has a new trick. "Look who's got 'smaht pahk,'" Krasinski says, exiting the vehicle. "Just hit the clicker — 'cah pahks' itself." The Sonata then slowly steers itself between two poorly parked cars. Read more

FRANKFURT -- Tesla CEO Elon Musk sought to allay environmental concerns about the automaker's planned factory in Germany, saying the plant would use less water than was estimated originally.

The company had said in planning documents that the factory would need 372 cubic meters of water from the public drinking water network per hour, sparking protests by local residents earlier this month.

"Sounds like we need to clear up a few things! Tesla won't use this much net water on a daily basis. It's possibly a rare peak usage case, but not an everyday event," Musk said on Twitter on Saturday.

The automaker announced plans last November to build its first European car factory in Gruenheide, in the eastern state of Brandenburg in the outskirts of Berlin.

Politicians, unions and industry groups have welcomed the move, saying it will bring jobs to the region, but environmental groups have aired concerns and a Brandenburg water association warned against "e…

TOKYO — Subaru's first full- electric crossover points to a greener future for an all-wheel-drive brand long seen as an electrification laggard.

But executives aren't particularly bullish about the sales prospects of doing that in their biggest market, the United States.

"The U.S. market is really tough," Subaru CEO Tomomi Nakamura said at a technology briefing here last week where he announced big, new targets for electrifying the automaker. "I think that the market for electrified vehicles will take some more time to form in the U.S. Only Tesla's EVs are selling well."

Subaru will attempt to derive at least 40 percent of its global sales from full electrics or hybrid vehicles by 2030, with its entire lineup being electrified in the first half of the 2030s, the company said.

But electrification adds cost, and Americans don't see the value in added fuel economy, Nakamura said.

Subaru provided a glimpse of its direction last week, showing a…

The first Genesis crossover is finally on the way, and the upstart brand is using the new model not just to ignite sales after struggling to build a dealer body with three sedans. It's also leveraging the Super Bowl, celebrity couple John Legend and Chrissy Teigen, a new logo and the Young Luxury slogan to raise its profile with American consumers.

The recruitment of the "spokes- couple" goes beyond enlisting two A-list stars with nearly 40 million followers combined on Instagram. It speaks to the very aesthetic the marque wants to carve out for itself: young at heart, stylish but not snobby, accessible, fun-loving and different from the boomer brands that take themselves too seriously.

"When we think about John and Chrissy, they're approachable, they're fun, they're young luxury," Mark Del Rosso, CEO of Genesis North America, told Automotive News last week. "America and the world can relate to Chrissy and John." Del Rosso himself is part of…

Editor's note: This story is part of a special section on the 100th anniversary of Mazda to be published in the Jan. 27 print edition of Automotive News.

Mazda wasn't always Mazda, and the company it was born from didn't always make cars.

The company, which began as Toyo Cork Kogyo Corp., eventually picked the name Mazda as a way of paying homage to Jujiro Matsuda, the second president of Toyo — the pronunciation of his family name was similar.

Additionally, Mazda comes from Ahura Mazda, the god of harmony, intelligence and wisdom in Zoroastrianism.

Follow the company's journey from humble beginnings in Japan to a global producer of automobiles.

1920

Toyo Cork Kogyo Corp., a producer of cork and machine tools, is founded by Shinpachi Kaizuka in Hiroshima, Japan.

1921

Jujiro Matsuda becomes president of Toyo Cork.

1927

The company becomes Toyo Kogyo Co. Ltd.

1929

Prototype 250 cc two-stroke …