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Their options include drawing up a supplementary budget for 2023 and suspending Germany's self-imposed debt brake before reinstating it for next year. "Our goal is to discuss the budget quickly but with due care," said a joint statement of ruling party lawmakers. The delay has heightened uncertainty about spending in all areas of the German economy and meant the 2024 budget might not be concluded before the end of the year. "I firmly assume that the commitments for Intel and TSMC will remain," a government source said, adding: "This is very important to the chancellor, as well as to the economy minister." This will happen in the course of next early 2024 and we will see how far hydrogen is available," CEO Miguel Lopez said.

Persons: Olaf Scholz, Christian Lindner, Robert Habeck, Olaf Scholz's, Scholz's, Siegfried Russwurm, TSMC, Scholz, Miguel Lopez, Holger Hansen, Christian Kraemer, Victoria Waldersee, Andreas Rinke, Madeline Chambers, Matthias Williams, Miranda Murray, Alex Richardson, Christina Fincher Organizations: Finance, Climate, Government, Ukraine Industry, Intel, TSMC, Wednesday, Social Democrat, Greens, Free Democrats, Fund, Eurasia Group, U.S, BMW, Volkswagen, Thomson Locations: TSMC BERLIN, Germany's, Ukraine, EU, Saxony, Anhalt, Berlin, Germany

☆ EU to investigate 'flood' of Chinese electric cars, weighing tariffs
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-13 | by ( Philip Blenkinsop | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

"Global markets are now flooded with cheaper electric cars. It is also unusual in that it is brought by the European Commission itself, rather than in response to an industry complaint. GRINDING GEARSThe influx of cheaper Chinese electric vehicles has already prompted some European carmakers to take action. At the same time Von der Leyen stressed the importance of electric vehicles to the EU's ambitious environmental objectives. The founder of Nio warned in April that Chinese EV makers should brace for the possibility that foreign governments would impose protectionist policies.

Persons: Ursula von der Leyen, BYD, EVs, Nio, Mercedes Benz, Stellantis, France's, Tesla, VDA, Von der Leyen, Simone Tagliapietra, Kingsmill Bond, Foo Yun Chee, Philip Blenkinsop, Kim Miyoung, Brenda Goh, Anne Marie Roantree, Nick Carey, Kate Abnett, Gabriela Baczynska, Louise Heavens Organizations: EU, Investigation, European EV, European Commission, European Union, Renault, BMW, HK, China Passenger Car Association, Dynamics, Volvo, EV, VW, France's Renault, Japan, Rocky Mountain Institute, Thomson Locations: BRUSSELS, Brussels, China, Moscow, Ukraine, Germany, France, Europe, U.S

☆ VIEW Reactions to EU probe of Chinese electric cars imports
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

EUROPEAN COMMISSION PRESIDENT URSULA VON DER LEYEN"Global markets are now flooded with cheaper electric cars. "So I can announce today that the Commission is launching an anti-subsidy investigation into electric vehicles coming from China. UK TRADE MINISTER KEMI BADENOCH"I think it just highlights the difficulties that all countries are having with the supply chain for electric vehicles. "China's apparent advantage and cost-competitive imports are already impacting European auto makers' domestic market share, with a massive surge in electric vehicle imports in recent years. At the same time, the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) is also a game-changer in the electric vehicle value chain.

Persons: Annegret, URSULA VON DER, LAURENCE BOONE, BRUNO LE MAIRE, Von der, KEMI BADENOCH, MATTEO SALVINI, SIGRID DE VRIES, AIWAYS, ALEXANDER KLOSE, Aiways, KINGSMILL, they've, They've, STUART COLE, AJ BELL, DANNI HEWSON, Josephine Mason, Catherine Evans, Louise Heavens Organizations: REUTERS, European Commission, European Union, FRENCH FINANCE, EU, League, GENERAL, Volkswagen, BMW, Tesla, INSTITUTE SENIOR, CITI, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Berlin, Germany, China, Europe, Brussels

☆ China's Xpeng says German carmakers ready to tackle crisis in EV race
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Globally, China leads EV sales, the latest data from tech industry researcher Counterpoint shows. The U.S. has the fastest growing EV sales with Germany in third place. Chinese companies including Xpeng, BYD and Leapmotor (9863.HK) are seeking the higher margins and faster growth overseas markets can offer, which means they are challenging European companies on their home turf with cheaper models. "The Chinese companies are flooding into overseas markets like mushrooms, deepening their sense of crisis," Gu said. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said EV competition from abroad should be a spur, not a worry for German carmakers.

Persons: Olaf Scholz, Hildegard Mueller, Markus Soeder, Angelika Warmuth, Xpeng, China's carmakers, Brian Gu, Gu, Mueller, ” Gu, “, ”, Jia Jianxu, Zheng, Zhang Yan, Victoria Waldersee, Josephine Mason, Elaine Hardcastle Organizations: German Association of, Automotive, REUTERS, Rights, HK, IAA, Automotive Industry, EV, Germany, Reuters, Volkswagen, SAIC, Xuanyuan Academy, Germany's IAA, New Energy Vehicle Congress, Gang, Thomson Locations: Bavarian, Munich, Germany, Europe, China, U.S, Britain, France

[1/6] A view shows model TO3 of Leapmotor, a Chinese automobile manufacturer, displayed during an event a day ahead of the official opening of the 2023 Munich Auto Show IAA Mobility, in Munich, Germany, September 4, 2023. Chinese EV makers, including BYD (002594.SZ), Nio (9866.HK) and Xpeng (9868.HK) are all targeting Europe's EV market, where sales soared nearly 55% to about 820,000 vehicles in the first seven months of 2023, making up about 13% of all car sales. The arrival of Chinese EV makers in Europe has raised concerns they could dominate EV sales. Xpeng President Brian Gu said while European carmakers currently lag behind China, they have made a "huge commitment" to EVs with partnerships and large investments in technology. "I would never discount the large (carmakers) trying really hard to come back and focus on this important transition," Gu said.

Persons: Leonhard Simon, Luca de Meo, De Meo, Hildegard Mueller, Oliver Zipse, Oliver Blume, Brian Gu, Gu, Ferdinand Dudenhoeffer, Dudenhoeffer, Nick Carey, Victoria Waldersee, Gilles Gillaume Christina Amann, Zoey Zhang, Jan Schwartz, Friederike Heine, Clarence Fernandez, Sharon Singleton Organizations: REUTERS, China EV, Renault, Reuters, HK, Europe's EV, Zhejiang Leapmotor Technology, EV, German Association of, Automotive Industry, Jato Dynamics, BMW, Benz, Klasse, Volkswagen, Auto, Thomson Locations: Munich, Germany, China, MUNICH, BYD, Zhejiang, Europe, Asia

☆ German carmakers call for post-Brexit rules to be postponed
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BERLIN, May 18 (Reuters) - Germany's powerful auto industry association is urging the European Union and Britain to postpone post-Brexit rules it says would hamper the transition to electric vehicles, potentially boosting the hand of UK-based carmakers calling for the same. Under the trade deal agreed when Britain left the EU, 45% of the value of an electric vehicle (EV) sold in the EU must come from Britain or the EU from 2024 to avoid tariffs. Tariffs both on exports to Britain and imports from it would be "a significant competitive disadvantage for the European car industry in relation to its Asian competitors in the so important UK market", it said. "We hope to be able to come to a resolution with the EU on this," Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's spokesperson told reporters on Wednesday. Reporting by Christoph Steitz Writing by Sarah Marsh Editing by Mark PotterOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

[1/3] BMW's concept model i Vision Dee is unveiled during an event at the Auto Shanghai show, in Shanghai, China April 18, 2023. While the battery-electric vehicle market share of German automakers in China is rising, it is still miniscule. The EV sales of all four German brands added up to only a quarter of BYD's in 2022. "The Chinese market is no longer as stable for German carmakers as it was," Thomas Luk, partner at management consultancy Kearney, said on the sidelines of the Shanghai show. Many are also adopting direct sales, an approach German automakers like BMW and Mercedes-Benz have also said in recent months they are moving towards.

☆ German auto association sees 2023 electric passenger car output up 50%
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BERLIN, April 16 (Reuters) - Germany's auto industry association VDA expects the number of electric passenger cars produced in Europe's biggest economy to jump by 50% to over a million this year, due to rising foreign demand and carmakers ramping up e-mobility production. "We assume that the domestic production of electrically-powered passenger cars will increase by 50 percent to 1.33 million units, of which 980,000 will be purely battery-electric cars," VDA head Hildegard Mueller was quoted as saying by Automobilwoche on Sunday. Some 885,000 electric cars were produced in Germany last year, 300,000 of which were plug-in hybrids, according to VDA. Mueller said the forecast was based on new e-models on offer and rising production at Tesla's Gruenheide and Mercedes-Benz's Bremen plants, adding that demand from abroad was stronger than in Germany due to partial reductions in government subsidies that went into effect this year. Reporting by Riham AlkousaaOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Biotech company Illumina pushes back against Carl Icahn’s proxy fight over $7.1 billion Grail deal
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( Annika Kim Constantino | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Biotech company Illumina pushed back Monday against Carl Icahn's proxy fight over the company's acquisition of cancer test developer Grail, saying the activist investor's board nominees "do not add value." "To paraphrase William Shakespeare's Hamlet, something is rotten in the state of Illumina," Icahn wrote. Illumina said winning a jurisdictional appeal would eliminate any potential fine and "gives the greatest optionality for Illumina to maximize value for shareholders." The company also claimed Icahn recognizes the value of Grail to shareholders, pointing to a CNBC interview last week where Icahn referred to Grail as Illumina's "best equipment." Illumina touted Grail in its release, saying it has "tremendous long-term value creation potential."

☆ Scholz to seek reforms to boost EU competitiveness at Brussels summit
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BERLIN, March 16 (Reuters) - German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Thursday he will seek to boost European competitiveness through reforms at an EU summit in Brussels next week, including making state aid more flexible and completing capital markets and banking unions. In a speech to the German Bundestag, Scholz urged the European Union to pull together to face a raft of challenges, including in response to a massive U.S. subsidy programme for clean technologies known as the Inflation Reduction Act. The EU is unveiling a Critical Raw Materials Act aimed at keeping pace with the United States and China in access to raw materials. Scholz said raw material security will also top the agenda when he visits Japan for talks this week. Turning to the war in Ukraine, Scholz said that EU member states will agree further measures to improve the continued supply of arms and ammunition to Kyiv, without going into specifics.

Experts estimate that about half of the German electric vehicles registered in the United States are leased. While the scale of the U.S. subsidies has attracted most attention, the EU has large potential resources of its own. THE REAL PROBLEM"The amounts of subsidies in Europe are in line or even more than those in the United States, that is not the problem," said one senior European Union official. "The real problems are the incentives to make firms move production to the United States," said the official, referring to the local content requirements. To ensure Europe can compete with the United States, the European Commission on Wednesday proposed measures including loosening EU state aid rules and repurposing existing EU funds.

The plan envisages a 14-fold increase in the number of charging stations, climbing to 1 million by 2030 from around 70,000 now. It also aims to have 15 million electric vehicles on German roads by 2030 from around 1.5 million now. Other measures in the government's plan include speeding up state approvals to build charging points. The electric vehicle push comes against a backdrop of surging electricity prices, resulting from an energy crisis fuelled by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The electric vehicle plan drew a mixed reaction from industry associations, which have long complained that the government has not kept pace with the rapid expansion of electric vehicles.

☆ Rocketing energy costs are savaging German industry
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-07 | by ( Anna Cooban | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

“We don’t need a crystal ball to see a further weakening of German industry in the coming months. The full impact of higher energy prices will only be felt in the last months of the year,” he said. Energy prices started rising last fall, and then shot even higher when Russia invaded Ukraine in late February, sparking an energy standoff between Europe and Moscow. Energy costs at Prysmian’s six German factories are expected to soar to €20 million ($20 million) this year from just €5 million ($5 million) in 2021. “German industry, the so-called ‘Mittlestand’, the small and medium [sized] companies, are quite resilient and adaptable,” he said.

☆ Daimler Truck begins producing Mercedes-Benz branded trucks in China
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Visitors surround an Actros truck of German truck maker Mercedes-Benz at the IAA truck trade fair in Hanover, Germany September 19, 2018. REUTERS/Fabian Bimmer/File PhotoBERLIN, Sept 23 (Reuters) - Daimler Truck (DTGGe.DE) has begun producing Mercedes-Benz branded trucks in China, with the first vehicles rolling off production lines at its joint plant with China's Foton Motor Co (600166.SS) in Beijing on Friday, the truck and bus maker said. China is the world's biggest market for heavy trucks, with around 1.5 million units sold in 2021 - more than in the U.S., Japan and Europe combined, according to data from German car association VDA. Daimler Truck has so far only produced the joint venture's brand, Auman, in China, while selling Mercedes-Benz trucks imported from Germany at a higher price. A document seen by Reuters in 2020 on plans for the revamp of the joint plant to begin heavy truck production said the target was to produce 50,000 Actros trucks a year.

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