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☆ Canada Lands Volkswagen Battery Plant With Billions in Subsidies
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Ian Austen | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Volkswagen’s first North American battery plant for electric vehicles will be built in Canada, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other Canadian politicians made it clear on Friday that the country had effectively been in a bidding war with the United States. “Everyone wanted this.”Volkswagen announced last month that it would put its first battery plant outside Europe in Canada, but provided few details. On Friday, Canada and the province of Ontario said they would give the company a combined 1 billion Canadian dollars — about $750 million in U.S. currency — to construct the factory, which will cost 7 billion Canadian dollars overall. A separate agreement will provide 8 billion to 10 billion Canadian dollars in subsidies over the next decade to match benefits that Volkswagen would have received under the Inflation Reduction Act if it had put the factory in the United States. That amount is tied to battery production.

☆ Volkswagen to invest $193 billion to hit EV target, picks Canada for battery cell plant
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Volkswagen plans to invest 180 billion euros ($193 billion) over five years in areas including battery production and the sourcing of raw materials in a bid to cut electric vehicle costs and protect its market share, it said Tuesday. Over two-thirds of the company’s five-year investment budget is allocated to electrification and digitalization, including up to 15 billion ($16 billion) for batteries and raw materials. Volkswagen board member Thomas Schmall Ronny Hartmann/AFP/Getty Images/FileOn Monday, board member Thomas Schmall also announced that Volkswagen’s first North American battery cell factory would be in Canada, with production starting in 2027. The carmaker is still aiming to bring an affordable EV — costing around 25,000 euros ($26,795) at today’s prices — to market by 2025. The most likely actual stock market candidate is battery unit PowerCo.

☆ Volkswagen Picks Canada for Site of First Battery Plant Outside Europe
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( William Boston | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

BERLIN— Volkswagen AG chose a site in the Canadian province of Ontario for its first battery plant outside Europe, taking advantage of the country’s rich raw materials—and possibly cashing in on U.S.-legislated incentives aimed at encouraging green-tech investments in North America. The location of Volkswagen’s next battery plant has been a recent flashpoint in the competition between the U.S. and Europe to boost investment aimed at transitioning to a low-emission economy. Last year, the Biden administration passed environmental, healthcare and tax legislation—called the Inflation Reduction Act—that included hundreds of billions of dollars in subsidies and incentives aimed at boosting the country’s clean energy industry and encouraging certain investments in North America.

☆ Volkswagen’s Xinjiang Plant Is No Longer Making Cars Amid Human-Rights Concerns
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Yoko Kubota | Selina Cheng | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com. https://www.wsj.com/articles/volkswagen-says-no-human-rights-abuses-at-downsized-xinjiang-plant-in-china-f47e4018

☆ Volkswagen sees no sign of forced labor at its plant in Xinjiang
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Volkswagen faced a barrage of criticism from campaigners Tuesday after the head of its Chinese business said he saw no sign of forced labor during a visit to the carmaker’s plant in Xinjiang. Activists and an international group of lawmakers said verifying labor standards in the region was impossible. Rights groups have documented human rights abuses in Xinjiang since the 2000s, including mass forced labor in detention camps which the United Nations said could constitute crimes against humanity. Brandstaetter said he saw no signs of forced labor and that workers’ comments matched the reports Volkswagen had received from SAIC about the plant. Reputational riskVolkswagen says it has never found evidence of forced labor among its Xinjiang workforce and its presence is positive for the local population.

LONDON/HONG KONG, Feb 1 (Reuters Breakingviews) - China has been a golden goose for western carmakers like Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) and BMW (BMWG.DE). Chinese groups like electric vehicle leader BYD (002594.SZ), (1211.HK) are targeting foreign markets. At JATO’s estimate of 56,000 euros, the average price of an electric vehicle in Europe is still too high for most punters. The lower cost of manufacturing in China may help Chinese carmakers absorb tariffs, while western groups could suffer from reprisals. The result may be that western groups have to jostle for a smaller place in their home markets but also cut prices, hurting profitability.

☆ Carl Hahn Boldly Advanced Volkswagen’s Global Reach
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-22 | by ( James R. Hagerty | William Boston | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Carl Hahn used his morning commute to test drive VW cars rather than relying on a chauffeur. Carl Hahn helped sell Americans on the Volkswagen Beetle in the 1960s and later, as head of the German auto maker, expanded boldly into manufacturing in China, Spain and Eastern Europe. After earning a doctorate in economics in Switzerland, the German-born Mr. Hahn worked in Italy and France. He joined VW in 1954 as an assistant to the chief executive officer, Heinrich Nordhoff. He was sent to head VW’s U.S. unit in 1959 and used clever marketing to expand sales of the Beetle, soon embraced by the peace-and-love generation.

☆ Tesla shares fall on US and European price cuts
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

More stable cost inflation was also a factor in reducing prices, said a spokesperson for Tesla Germany, confirming price cuts in its top European market. The US price cuts, announced late Thursday on its global top-sellers the Model 3 sedan and Model Y crossover SUV, were between 6% and 20%, Reuters calculations showed. For a US buyer of the long-range Model Y, the new Tesla price combined with the US subsidy amounts to a discount of 31%. In China, where Tesla cut prices last week by 6% to 13.5%, owners protested at delivery centres, calling for compensation. Before the cuts, Tesla inventory in the United States, as tracked by models its website shows as immediately available, had been trending higher.

☆ VW's CARIAD software chief promises progress one jump at a time
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-09 | by ( Joseph White | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/2] A technician works on the final inspection of an electric Volkswagen ID. REUTERS/Matthias Rietschel/DETROIT, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Volkswagen’s software division, CARIAD, has emerged from a review ordered by VW's new chief executive with a plan to work toward a unified software architecture for future vehicles one jump at a time, according to CARIAD chief Dirk Hilgenberg. “I call our program 'triple jump',” Hilgenberg told Reuters at the CES technology trade show in Las Vegas. “You do one jump after another.”The next key step will be the launch of the Porsche Macan SUV in 2024, which will have VW’s new premium software architecture. Volkswagen's current status is in-between: Software now deployed allows its "ID" electric vehicles to be updated remotely, with a fix for what Hilgenberg called “teething problems”.

☆ Analysis-Bumper green aluminium output is good news for carmakers, and climate
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-17 | by ( Eric Onstad | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

Next year’s forecast increase in “green aluminium” output would reduce that by 13 million tonnes, or about 1.2%. Polestar said it pays slightly more for green aluminium, partly due to the administrative costs of changing suppliers, but did not say how much more. Producers, however, are still managing to sell some of their low-carbon output at higher prices under quarterly and annual contracts. Rising output of both will keep green premiums relatively low in the coming years, said Marcelo Azevedo at the McKinsey consultancy. GRAPHIC: Abundant Supplies of Green Aluminium - here

☆ Mahindra CEO sees U.S. entry for new electric vehicles at least five years away
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( Paul Lienert | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

“I don’t see us launching in the U.S. in the next five years,” Anish Shah, Mahindra’s CEO and managing director, said Tuesday in an interview. A U.S. market entry “could likely be longer than five years because we have to win in some of our key markets first,” including Europe, he added. “We are in the process of doubling our capacity” in part to fulfill demand in the Indian market, Shah said. Much of the new capacity is earmarked for electric vehicles, he said. Mahindra in August unveiled a portfolio of five future electric SUVs, the first of which is slated to go into production in January.

☆ Volkswagen’s China Joint Venture to Halt Manual-Car Production as Demand Declines
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-18 | by ( Raffaele Huang | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

SINGAPORE— Volkswagen AG plans to stop manufacturing manual cars at one of its two China joint ventures, as Chinese consumers shift their buying from traditional combustion-engine cars to electric vehicles. The German car maker will end production of such vehicles at its joint venture with Chinese state-owned auto maker SAIC Motor Corp. in August 2024 due to changes in market demand, a Volkswagen spokesman said Friday. The move won’t involve job cuts and affected workers will be reassigned to different production lines, a person familiar with the company said.

☆ Volkswagen’s New CEO Puts Self-Driving Car Plans Under Review
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( William Boston | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

BERLIN— Volkswagen AG Chief Executive Oliver Blume has put plans for a self-driving vehicle under review in the first sign since his appointment two months ago that he is walking back some of his predecessor’s most ambitious technology ventures. Mr. Blume is likely to delay the Trinty self-driving electric car project and could cancel plans to build a new factory for the vehicle near its headquarters, people familiar with the matter said.

☆ ‘Complicit’ Review: Going Along, Avoiding Blame
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( Julian Baggini | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

Corporate malfeasance is all too common and hurts far more than a company’s bottom line. Purdue Pharma’s promotion of opioid use was, by one calculation, the single largest cause of the decrease in U.S. life expectancy during the mid-2010s. Separately, an estimated 45,000 disability-adjusted life years were lost as a result of the pollution from the Volkswagen diesel engines that, in 2008-15, had fraudulently passed emission tests. The Sackler family name—which used to adorn galleries and buildings that the family funded with wealth from Purdue’s success—is mud. But to pin all the blame on the stand-out villains is too easy.

The visit — the first by a G7 leader to China in roughly three years — comes as Germany slides towards recession. A spokesperson for Hamburger Hafen und Logistik (HHLA), the company operating the port terminal, told CNN Business on Thursday that it was still negotiating the deal with Cosco. “The restrictions are suffocating economic growth and heavily impact China’s attractiveness as a destination for foreign direct investment,” he told CNN Business. The ministry did not respond to a request for comment from CNN Business. He predicted that “the large majority will stay committed to the Chinese market and is expecting to expand their business.”Companies appear to be toeing that line.

☆ Porsche overtakes Volkswagen as Europe’s most valuable carmaker
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-06 | by ( ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

Porsche took pole position as Europe’s most valuable automaker on Thursday, overtaking former parent Volkswagen (VLKAF) as the price of the sportscar maker’s newly-listed shares sped higher. The rise pushes Porsche’s valuation beyond Volkswagen’s 77.7 billion euros ($76.6 billion). Porsche’s share price regained momentum after investment banks involved in its flotation purchased almost 3.8 million shares for 312.8 million euros ($308 million) as part of the so-called greenshoe option, designed to support the listing. The shares purchased between Sept 29. and Oct 4. represented around 11% of the total trading volume since the listing, the spokesperson added, consisting of around 34 million shares. Overall, up to 14.85 million shares worth 1.2 billion euros are available via the greenshoe option in the four weeks after the offering as a stabilization measure.

☆ Markets in a tailspin get a big dose of chill from the Bank of England
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-28 | by ( Allison Morrow | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

The global financial system is “like a pressure cooker” right now, said Chris Turner, global head of markets at ING. Once, the idea of paying sticker price at a dealership was laughable — a trap that only suckers would fall into. The South Korean company’s sedans and SUVs are selling for about 6% over their sticker price, according to data from Edmunds.com. Used car prices — which shot up to dizzying heights early in the pandemic — have finally begun falling. “Speak to any (very) large used car dealer and you will hear the same - an absolute vortex of deflation is coming to used car prices,” tweeted Ophir Gottlieb, the CEO of Capital Market Laboratories, earlier this month.

☆ Robert Shiller: Fed risks ‘disgrace’ if it doesn’t control inflation
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-19 | by ( Julia Horowitz | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

If people think prices will continue to rise at a fast pace, they’ll start demanding higher wages. Americans are getting stuck with credit card debt for longerMore Americans are saddled with credit card debt for longer periods of time as emergency expenses and the rising cost of living make it harder for them to pay down their balances, according to a new survey. But 31% of Millennials pointed to daily expenses as the main reason for their credit card debt. The survey found that rising costs would have a major impact on 41% of total credit card holders, and on more than half of those with outstanding debts. It also helps that American credit card balances are down 4% compared to late 2019.

☆ Porsche IPO: Volkswagen targets 75 billion euro valuation
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-18 | by ( ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

Volkswagen is targeting a valuation of up to 75 billion euros ($75.1 billion) for luxury sportscar maker Porsche, it said on Sunday, in what will be Germany’s second-largest initial public offering (IPO) in history. Volkswagen (VLKAF) will price preferred shares in the flotation of Porsche AG at 76.50 euros to 82.50 euros per share, the carmaker said, translating into a valuation of 70 billion to 75 billion euros. As part of the listing, 911 million Porsche AG shares will be divided into 455.5 million preferred shares and 455.5 million ordinary shares. Total proceeds from the sale will be 18.1 billion to 19.5 billion euros. A stock exchange prospectus is expected to be published on Monday, after which institutional and private investors can subscribe to Porsche shares.

☆ Porsche IPO has two investor roadblocks to clear
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-16 | by ( Neil Unmack | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

The 2020 Porsche 911 Carrera 4S is introduced during a Porsche press conference at the Los Angeles Auto Show in Los Angeles, California, U.S., November 28, 2018. Porsche’s valuation rests on how closely it can mimic peer Ferrari (RACE.MI), and what discount should be applied to its complex governance. VW’s influence in Porsche will be diluted by Porsche SE’s stake. Volkswagen will divide Porsche’s shares into voting ordinary and preferred shares, which carry no voting rights. Porsche’s valuation is likely to be between 70 billion euros and 80 billion euros, Reuters reported, citing a source close to the matter.

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