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BEIJING -- Renault is looking to revive business in China by forming a joint venture with Geely Holding Group for hybrid vehicles.

The two companies have signed a framework agreement to set up the JV, which will build and sell Renault-branded gasoline-electric hybrid cars in China using Geely's technologies, supply chains and manufacturing facilities.

Renault will focus on sales and marketing.

As part of the partnership, announced Monday, the two automakers also agreed to explore a joint localization of Geely's Lynk & CO hybrid vehicles in South Korea, where Renault has been manufacturing and selling cars for more than two decades.

The venture would focus on China and South Korea initially but would likely be expanded to cover fast-growing Asian markets.

Geely and Renault are also looking at developing full-electric cars for the venture, one source familiar with the matter said.

The new venture is modeled on an EV-focused ve…

Silicon Valley automated trucking company Plus recently completed a driverless demonstration of its autonomous trucking technology. No human was aboard the company's big rig as it trundled along a 20-mile stretch of China's Wufengshan highway in regular traffic conditions near the Yangtze River delta.

Up in the sky above southern Norway, it's not a bird, a plane or even Superman. It was a Ford Explorer plug-in hybrid perched 154 feet off the ground.

A 21-year-old climber, Leo Ketil Boe, won a two-year lease from Ford Motor Co. by getting to the Explorer faster than 13 other competitors.

It took him 3 minutes and 33 seconds to scale the Over tower in Lillesand and win the Explore New Heights challenge.

In addition to the lease, Boe received a 3D-printed, 1/100-scale replica of the structure, which opened in June as the world's tallest free-standing climbing tower.

Ford said engineers and architects spent six months planning the stunt to make sure the tower could support the Explorer. A crane placed it on a specially built platform installed above the observation deck.

Although the Explorer itself is already spoken for, it will remain on top of the tower through Aug. 27, and Ford is giving anyone who reaches…

Here's the best look yet at the upcoming Mercedes-Benz EQS SUV, the brand's first battery-electric SUV for the U.S. Like with the EQS sedan, Mercedes designers focused on aerodynamics — important for range between charges on a high-riding vehicle — by steeply raking the windshield and blending the headlights, grille and hood into smooth shapes. The EQS SUV shares its underpinnings with the sedan and will be the second vehicle on Mercedes' dedicated electric vehicle architecture. It will be aimed at the Tesla Model Y, Jaguar I-Pace and Audi E-tron and is expected to debut next year as a 2023 model.

New cuts in vehicle production schedules due to the global shortage of microchips appeared to abate around the industry last week, although the number of lost units continued to rise, according to the latest report by AutoForecast Solutions, which has been tracking the crisis all year.

AFS raised its estimate for the toll of vehicles that have been cut from worldwide production plans to date to 5.8 million. It now forecasts that as many as 7.1 million vehicles eventually could be eliminated because of the supply problem.

Source: AutoForecast Solutions Inc. autoforecastsolutions.com

Today's vehicles are more connected than ever. Whether it's in-vehicle Internet access, gesture-controlled entertainment systems, or high-tech cameras designed to recognize the vehicle's surroundings, we are witnessing the power of data-driven connected car services unfolding before our eyes.

Looking to the future of autonomous automotive technology, as well as overall auto safety, much of what's possible for the development of next-generation vehicles will rely on the strategic application of data, the bulk of which will be generated while the vehicle is in motion.

Despite the growing interconnectedness of our real and digital lives, consumer unwillingness to share personal data remains a significant roadblock, with most apprehensive about who may have access to their information.

Research also indicates that many consumers are unaware of how much data they're sharing, and they are reticent to enroll in services that leverage da…

NEW YORK — The Jeep Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer demonstrated a duality in the dense chaos of Manhattan and at a secluded private estate last week that underscores the brand's quest to move upstream while retaining its adventurous spirit.

A small fleet of the hulking, upscale Grand Wagoneers started the day on the brick-paved streets of New York's trendy Meatpacking District before winding through the city's urban landscape. From there, journalists guided the burly SUVs to the countryside, where a set of the less pricey Wagoneer models confronted rocky terrain and rumbled along a tree-lined path.

It was a tale of luxury and utility in a place that has a special significance for Jeep.

The metro New York area is the largest Jeep market in the U.S., accounting for around 10 percent of its sales in the first half of this year.

The Grand Wagoneer "looks great in the city," said Mike Uhlmeyer, the chief engineer for both nameplates. "I think it has a r…

The auto industry's ongoing experiment in forced inventory reduction may be great for quarterly earnings, but it is starting to take sizable bites out of sales and altering the market share landscape.

Sales in July rose an estimated 5 percent over last year as record-low inventories caused by the severe microchip shortage and other supply chain disruptions, especially among the Detroit 3, dropped the annualized pace of sales to 14.8 million — well off the 17 million-plus pace from the first half of the year, according to Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas. It was the lowest SAAR since July 2020, when the industry was regaining steam from earlier COVID-19 related shutdowns.

Among the seven automakers reporting July sales, the differences reflected which ones were able to keep their deliveries to dealers coming. Mazda jumped 36 percent; Toyota Motor North America's sales climbed 33 percent; Hyundai-Kia rose 29 percent; Volvo was up 19 percent; an…

DETROIT — General Motors is retooling more than just cars and trucks as it plots a path toward cleaner skies.

GM envisions its batteries finding their way into other forms of transportation and possibly homes or businesses in the coming years as it seeks to maximize the profit potential and environmental benefits of the costly technologies it's developing.

"We came into this transformation of electrification as an automaker," said Charlie Freese, executive director in GM's hydrogen fuel cell and battery businesses. "We can come out as a provider of propulsion systems for other types of vehicles in different industries."

The tens of billions of dollars that GM is investing in electrification will go beyond its legacy auto portfolio. The automaker plans to implement its Ultium batteries and Hydrotec fuel cell technology in the locomotive and aviation industries — segments of the transportation landscape it abandoned decades ago. Recent partnerships and el…

WASHINGTON — With the White House outlining a voluntary, industry-supported goal for electrifying the nation's vehicle fleet alongside stricter federal emissions targets, it's up to carmakers and states to work out the details.

President Joe Biden's executive order signed last week establishes a nonbinding target for zero- emission vehicles — battery-electrics, plug-in hybrids and fuel cells — to make up half of all new passenger vehicles sold in 2030. It also directs the EPA and NHTSA to work on longer-term fuel economy and emissions standards for vehicles produced after the 2026 model year.

The ZEV goal props up the president's climate and energy ambitions. It also puts the onus back on states to set their own rules on ZEV sales and on automakers to carve out sales and manufacturing strategies so they can meet the more stringent auto pollution standards proposed last week by the EPA and NHTSA.

The EPA's proposed emissions standa…