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Mercedes-Benz expects electric vehicles to account for about half of its U.S. sales by 2030, executives revealed at the brand's national dealer meeting this month.

The German luxury marque is in the early days of an EV product offensive that will bring a handful of zero-emission models over the next year.

That effort will be critical to Mercedes' aspirations of delivering about 350,000 vehicles in the U.S. next year, according to a retailer who attended the event.

Mercedes aims to sell up to 45,000 EQ-branded electric vehicles in 2023, said the dealer, who asked not to be identified. In contrast, Mercedes sold 352,129 units in 2019, before the pandemic and a global supply chain crisis kneecapped production industry-wide.

Mercedes launched its all-electric EQ subbrand with the debut of a battery-powered S-Class sedan late last summer. This year, the automaker will unleash three EV models in the U.S., including the EQB compact crossover, EQE midsiz…

Nissan Motor Co.'s second-bestselling model — the Altima midsize sedan — is being freshened with an updated design, more standard safety features and new technology.

The 2023 Nissan Altima will go on sale in the fall. Pricing was not disclosed.

Nissan sold 38,295 Altimas in the U.S. during the first quarter, up 20 percent from a year earlier.

The updated Altima is offered with two four-cylinder powerplants — a 2.0-liter Variable Compression Turbo or a 2.5-liter double-overhead-camshaft engine.

The VC-Turbo, available on the Altima SR front-wheel-drive model, provides the acceleration of a V-6 engine with the fuel economy of a four-cylinder.

The front fascia features an updated interpretation of Nissan's V-Motion grille that adopts the redesigned brand logo, Nissan said. The SR trims sport a "black chrome" grille finish and a unique grille design.

Other exterior elements include now standard LED headlights with integrated turn signa…

PARIS -- The auto industry’s main lobbying group, ACEA, said it was "concerned" that the European Parliament had rejected efforts to weaken a 100 percent reduction in CO2 emissions from new cars from 2035, essentially outlawing sales of internal-combustion engines in the bloc after that date.

"Given that the transformation of the sector is dependent on many external factors which are not fully in its hands, ACEA is concerned that MEPs voted to set in stone a minus 100 percent CO2 target for 2035," the group said in a statement on Thursday, following Wednesday night’s vote by the parliament.

ACEA expressed general support for the target, however, and called for a halfway progress report to determine post-2030 targets

"Such a review will first of all have to evaluate whether the deployment of charging infrastructure and the availability of raw materials for battery production will be able to match the continued steep ramp-up of battery-elec…

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration on Thursday said it is proposing a rule that would set minimum standards and requirements for federally funded electric vehicle charging stations.

The standards will help ensure that a national EV charging network is accessible, user-friendly and interoperable among different charging companies and across a broad range of vehicles, White House and administration officials said.

"These new standards will make sure that these chargers can be used by everyone — no matter what car you drive, where you live or how you pay," Mitch Landrieu, the White House's infrastructure implementation coordinator, said during a press call.

The Federal Highway Administration said the proposed rule is expected to publish in the Federal Register next week. A final rule may be published after public comments are reviewed.

The proposal comes as the federal government moves forward on a plan to build a nationwide network of EV chargin…

SHANGHAI -- Tesla Inc. was proceeding with an online hiring event in China on Thursday and added two dozen new job postings for the country, a week after CEO Elon Musk threatened job cuts at the automaker and said the company was "overstaffed" in some areas.

Tesla has 224 current openings in China for managers and engineers under that category, according to a separate post on its WeChat account, 24 of which were newly posted on Thursday.

Among the posted positions are managers and engineers to supervise the operation of its 6,000-ton die casting machinery known as Giga Press, one of the world's biggest.

Tesla regularly holds such hiring events online in China, with the latest one held in May for summer interns.

Tesla's China revenue more than doubled in 2021 from a year ago, contributing to a quarter of the total income for the U.S. automaker.

The Shanghai plant, which manufactures Model 3 and Model Ys for domestic sale and export, produc…

Jaguar Land Rover said it will integrate geolocation program What3words into more than 350,000 existing vehicles to streamline in-vehicle navigation.

Only vehicles with the Pivi Pro infotainment system will be able to download the update, and all new vehicles with the system will include What3words. The Jaguar F-Type, which utilizes a different infotainment system, will be excluded.

The update, announced Thursday, follows the company's February release of Amazon Alexa for nearly 200,000 of its vehicles. Unlike that rollout, What3words will not require an online pack subscription, said Frankie Cowan, public relations manager for What3words.

The navigation software had been previously implemented in a number of new Land Rover vehicles that were chosen "semi-randomly," Cowan said. The software has been adopted by other brands such as Mercedes-Benz and Subaru, but Jaguar Land Rover will be the first to implement the system into vehicles already on the road.<…

HONG KONG -- China's Didi is in talks with state-backed Sinomach Automobile to buy a third of its electric-vehicle unit, two sources said, signalling the ride-hailer's regulatory troubles are in the rear view mirror as it focuses on growth.

The deal, if completed, would accelerate Didi Global Inc.'s strategic expansion in the world's largest EV market and help cushion the impact of the pandemic on its core ride-hailing business.

Scrutiny from Beijing for suspected violation of data security has forced Didi to pursue a delisting from New York and rein in its business but there are signs of a thaw. The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday that regulators are set to conclude their investigations into the company.

Didi aims to acquire shares in small automaker Sinomach Zhijun Automobile from minority shareholders and inject new capital into the company, one of the sources told Reuters. A stake of that proportion would cost Didi more than 1 billion yuan ($…

BEIJING - Baidu's electric vehicle arm Jidu Auto on Wednesday launched a "robot" concept car, the first vehicle to be revealed by a Chinese internet company.

The concept, which is free of door handles and can be fully controlled via voice recognition, was launched through an online press conference held on Baidu's metaverse-themed app Xirang.

Jidu, an EV venture controlled by Baidu and co-funded by Chinese automaker Geely, plans to mass produce the model, which would be 90 percent similar to the concept car, in 2023.

The 'robot' EVs will possess autonomous Level 4 capabilities that need no human intervention as well as utilize Qualcomm's 8295 chips, which will enable users to access voice assistance offline when internet connection is poor. 

Baidu's EV ambitions come as tech companies around the world race to develop smart cars after Tesla Inc.'s success in commercializing electric vehicles.

Besides equipping the vehicle with autonom…

WASHINGTON — Ford Motor Co., along with BMW Group, Honda, Volkswagen and Volvo Cars, on Tuesday filed a motion to intervene in a federal lawsuit to support California and defend the EPA's reinstatement of a waiver that restored the state's authority to limit vehicle greenhouse gas emissions.

The action comes after a group of 17 Republican attorneys general last month sued the EPA over its decision to reissue the waiver allowing California to set its own auto tailpipe rules and zero-emission vehicle mandates that are more stringent than federal standards.

"Two years ago, after EPA relaxed federal greenhouse gas emission standards, Ford and four other automakers entered into settlement agreements with California to abide by GHG emission standards that were stricter than EPA's then-relaxed standards," Steven Croley, Ford's chief policy officer, said on a press call Tuesday. "We believe that was right then, and we think so today."

General Motors, which aspi…

PLANO, Texas — Toyota Motor Corp. believes that it can at least triple U.S. sales of its redesigned 2023 Sequoia three-row large SUV with a bevy of much-needed powertrain and technology improvements, better towing capacity and a starting price of $59,795, including shipping.

The Sequoia was redesigned — for the first time in 14 years — onto the automaker's new global F1 platform for body-on-frame vehicles and shares attributes with the redesigned Tundra full-size and the next-generation Land Cruiser SUV, which is no longer available in the U.S.

Toyota marketing manager Joe Moses told reporters here last week that the automaker "already has 100,000 hand-raisers" who have expressed interest in the redesigned Sequoia since its January reveal, adding that he believes U.S. sales would at least triple this year from just 8,070 in 2021.

The SUV comes standard with the same hybridized i-Force Max powertrain as the Tundra, featuring a 3.5-liter turbocharged V-6 …

Robert Bosch, the auto industry's largest supplier, said it will invest $420 million in its North American automotive business to gear up for electrification amid a barrage of supply chain challenges.

The spending is part of a $664 million investment across its North American business units and will go toward machinery and equipment for each of its automotive plants in North America, including its factory in Charleston, S.C., the company said Tuesday.

Bosch said it received about $11.8 billion in new electrification-related orders from customers worldwide last year.

"As those programs come into play in the next four to five years, we have to be ready for them," Paul Thomas, Bosch executive vice president of mobility solutions, said during a press conference Tuesday at which executives discussed the company's 2021 North American financial results.

The North American automotive business reported sales of $7.9 billion in 2021, up 5 percent from a ye…

Vehicle listings company TrueCar has acquired online dealer sales platform Digital Motors in a move to bolster the company's launch of its new digital retailing service, TrueCar+.

Digital Motors, a software company based in Irvine, Calif., that serves dealers looking for online retailing support, launched its flagship product earlier than planned, in March 2020. It soon caught on with dealers looking to take advantage of pandemic-fueled consumer interest in online automotive retailing.

Terms of the deal weren't disclosed.

Digital Motors CEO Andreas Hinrichs said in a news release Monday that his company's "transactional focus" will pair well with TrueCar+.

"We are excited to join TrueCar and help support the expansion of TrueCar+, making online car buying a delightful, empowering and efficient experience for all parties involved," Hinrichs said.

TrueCar said in May it was exploring acquisition options, touting funds to do so via the company…