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☆ Volvo Cars axes 1,300 jobs as it steps up cost cuts
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

COPENHAGEN, May 4 (Reuters) - Volvo Cars (VOLCARb.ST) will lay off around 1,300 office-based employees in Sweden as it steps up its cost cutting, the Swedish auto maker said on Thursday. While the group's efficiency drive had begun to show results, more was needed, Chief Executive Jim Rowan said in a statement. "Economic headwinds, increased raw material prices and increased competition are likely to remain a challenge to our industry for some time," Rowan said. About 1,100 jobs will be cut at Volvo Cars' main global operating unit, Volvo Personvagnar, while the remaining 200 positions will be identified after a review of the company's entities across Sweden, the group said. Reporting by Louise Breusch Rasmussen, editing by Terje SolsvikOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Auto giants are setting their sights on a new growth market for EVs: India
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Anmar Frangoul | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

When it comes to electric cars, however, the country is playing a game of catch up. During a recent interview with CNBC's Charlotte Reed, Thierry Koskas accepted that the market in India was "just starting." Citroën India, which launched the fully electric ë-C3 in Feb. 2023, is not alone when it comes to making a move in India's nascent electric car sector. According to the IEA, Tata was responsible for more than 85% of battery electric vehicle sales within India last year. Other Indian firms jostling for position in the sector include Mahindra and Mahindra and Ola Electric.

☆ Geely's EV brand Zeekr jumps on the 'gigapress' bandwagon
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Norihiko Shirouzu | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

REUTERS/Aly Song/File PhotoApril 27 (Reuters) - Geely's EV brand Zeekr is the latest to join a growing list of automakers that have turned to the "gigapress" die casting technique pioneered by Tesla to slash the cost of electric cars. "In the future, Zeekr will use giga-casting technology on more models," Jiang said. Metal and plastic die casting has long been used in manufacturing, but its application to large aluminium underbodies in carmaking is relatively new. The front and rear sections are then connected with large under-floor battery packs to form a three-piece EV chassis. 'MEGA-CASTING'Other automakers turning to large die casting include General Motors (GM.N), which is using the technology to help design its Cadillac Celestiq electric saloon.

☆ Shares of this Swedish EV maker could nearly double, Cantor Fitzgerald says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Sarah Min | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Investors should consider buying Polestar Automotive as electric vehicle demand ramps up, according to Cantor Fitzgerald. PSNY 1D mountain Polestar Automotive shares 1-day Polestar is based in Sweden and started as a joint venture between the country's Volvo and China's Geely in 2017. Polestar shares dropped 54% in 2022, and are down about 35% this year. Polestar shares are up more than 2% during Thursday trading. "The company reported annual revenue of ~$2.5B in 2022, after delivering 51,491 vehicles (above company guidance of 50,000)," Sheppard wrote.

Volvo Cars, majority-owned by China's Geely Holding, said operating earnings fell to 5.1 billion Swedish crowns ($494.63 million) in the quarter from a year-ago 6 billion crowns, beating a mean forecast of 3.6 billion crowns, according to Refinitiv estimates. The automaker reaffirmed its outlook for "solid double-digit growth" in retail sales this year, provided there were no major supply disruptions. While demand for the company's cars was healthy, macroeconomic conditions were challenging, CEO Jim Rowan said. Lithium prices, a large source of cost for electric cars, had started to decline, expecting the full effect to kick in a few months' time, the CEO said. ($1 = 10.3107 Swedish crowns)Reporting by Marie Mannes, editing by Essi LehtoOur 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.

☆ Some electric vehicles from BMW, Nissan, Hyundai and Volkswagen will no longer get federal tax credits
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Emma Newburger | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Brown | AFP | Getty ImagesFewer electric vehicles now qualify for federal tax credits after the Biden administration this week unveiled stricter rules for battery sources that will prioritize domestically manufactured models. The new list published by the Treasury Department includes 16 U.S. manufactured models from Ford , General Motors , Tesla and Stellantis . Ten of the models on the new list will qualify for the full $7,500 tax credit, with the rest qualifying for half that amount. Vehicles losing credits include those from BMW, Hyundai, Nissan, Rivian , Volkswagen and Volvo Cars. The bill set various manufacturing requirements for new all-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles to qualify for the $7,500 tax credit.

☆ Goldman Sachs just turned bearish on BMW and others — and Tesla could be to blame
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-07 | by ( Ganesh Rao | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Goldman Sachs has warned that European automakers are at risk of losing market share to Tesla and Chinese firms. The Wall Street investment bank said the transition toward battery electric vehicles in Europe could spark swings in some share prices. Europe's incumbent mass-market brands accounted for 72% of sales last year, Goldman Sachs analysts said. Chinese electric car maker Nio announced plans to open a manufacturing plant in Hungary last year. The change in regulation allowing for e-Fuel — a synthetic drop-in replacement for gasoline — also has the potential to de-risk companies and brands, according to Goldman Sachs.

☆ Volvo Car's sales up 8% in March
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

COPENHAGEN, April 5 (Reuters) - Sweden-based Volvo Car AB (VOLCARb.ST) said on Wednesday its sales increased by 8% year-on-year in March to 63,132 cars, helped mainly by the company's fully electric cars. Volvo Car, majority-owned by China's Geely Holding (0175.HK), said in a statement its fully electric models made up 41% of all its cars sold globally in the first three months of this year. In Europe, Volvo Car's fully electric models made up 62% of overall sales in the first three months of 2023. In February, the group's total car sales were up 22%, helped by a 187% month-on-month jump for its recharge models, with fully electric cars accounting for 19% of total sales. (This story has been refiled to say Volvo Car instead of Volvo Cars in paragraph 2)Reporting by Louise Breusch Rasmussen, editing by Essi LehtoOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

The EU has progressively tightened limits since "Euro 1" in 1992. The Commission's proposal widens real-driving emissions (RDE) testing and adds continuous testing of emissions via an on-board monitoring system. Euro 7 would take effect in mid-2025 for cars and in mid-2027 for trucks and buses. The European Commission estimates Euro 7 could add up to 150 euros to car prices and 2,600 euros for trucks and buses. A Commission spokesperson declined to comment on executives' statements, but said Euro 7's real-driving emissions tests were important because of "scandals in the past about cheating devices".

☆ Startup from ex-Apple team raises $100 million, works with OpenAI
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( Stephen Nellis | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

March 8 (Reuters) - Humane Inc, a startup founded by former Apple Inc (AAPL.O) employees, said on Wednesday it has raised $100 million and will release its first products this spring. Sam Altman, OpenAI's founder and a previous Humane investor, participated in funding round on Wednesday, the company said. Humane also said that Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O), which has built a massive cloud computing infrastructure specifically for AI, took part in the funding round. Humane said it will partner with Microsoft's cloud to bring Humane's software services platform to market. Reporting by Stephen Nellis in San Francisco Editing by Marguerita ChoyOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ His Porsche Looks Like a Glass of Rosé on Wheels
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-04 | by ( A.J. Baime | Photographs Winni Wintermeyer For The Wall Street Journal | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

John Paolo Canton , 40, head of communications at Polestar (an electric-vehicle brand recently launched by Volvo Cars), who lives in San Francisco, on his 1968 Porsche 912, as told to A.J. In 2005, I met a new friend named Pete at the Road America racetrack in Wisconsin. He had a Ducati dealership and was involved in racing, and I worked with racing motorcycles. On the day I met him, he had this Porsche 912 with him. He had restored the car and painted it a strawberry-red that was highly unusual, not just for a Porsche, but for any car.

☆ Volvo Cars' sales rise 22% in February
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

COPENHAGEN, March 3 (Reuters) - Sweden-based Volvo Car AB (VOLCARb.ST) said on Friday sales grew 22% year-on-year in February to 51,286 cars helped by a jump for its recharge models, sending its shares up. Volvo Cars, which is majority-owned by China's Geely Holding (0175.HK), said in a statement sales of fully electric cars soared 187% to account for 19% of total sales. All recharge models, also including those not fully electric, were up 49% to account for 40% of total sales. Volvo Cars' shares rose 3% in early trade. In January, the group's total car sales were up 2% as they were held back in China by Chinese New Year calendar effects.

☆ Polestar cuts annual losses in half as it ramps up EV production
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Michael Wayland | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Swedish electric vehicle maker Polestar cut its annual net losses in half last year, while revenue surged and it attempted to set itself apart from other EV startups. The company on Thursday reported an 84% increase in revenue for 2022 to roughly $2.5 billion as it exceeded a 50,000-vehicle delivery target. The majority of that increase will come from an updated Polestar 2 EV, according to Ingenlath. The company is releasing two new EVs this year – Polestar 3 and Polestar 4 – that are expected to hit their production strides in 2024. Polestar's relatively positive results come after other EV startups like Lucid , Nikola and Rivian reported ongoing problems with supply chains and production, causing them to miss production or sales targets.

"We will not engage in a price war...we are aiming to become a very premium sportscar company...," chief executive Thomas Ingenlath told Reuters. "It's very clear that this is a completely different aim from where Tesla is going, with 20 million cars per year." Demand for electric cars has weakened for U.S. EV startups Rivian (RIVN.O) and Lucid (LCID.O), with both carmakers forecasting 2023 production well below analyst estimates. But Polestar reaffirmed the 2023 production outlook it gave in January of 80,000 cars, up from the roughly 51,000 it delivered in 2022. The company reported a gross profit of $61.9 million versus a loss of $0.2 million in the same quarter in 2021.

☆ Luminar, Mercedes-Benz expand deal for self-driving tech
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Feb 22 (Reuters) - Self-driving sensor maker Luminar Technologies Inc (LAZR.O) announced an expanded partnership with Mercedes-Benz Group (MBGn.DE) on Wednesday to enable fully automated driving for its next-generation vehicles. Automakers from Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) to General Motors (GM.N) are focusing on autonomous vehicles, but technological and regulatory hurdles remain. Tech firms such as Alphabet Inc's (GOOGL.O) Waymo and Aptiv-Hyundai Motor joint venture, Motional, are also looking to develop autonomous vehicles for commercial use. Luminar and Mercedes-Benz had announced a partnership in January last year. Palo Alto, California-based Luminar also said it plans to build a factory in Asia to support the multi-billion dollar deal.

☆ Gigapresses - the giant die casts reshaping car manufacturing
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( Giulio Piovaccari | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

GIGAPRESS 9,000Metal and plastic die casting has been largely used in manufacturing, but its application to large aluminium underbodies in carmaking is relatively new. The global aluminium die casting market was worth almost $73 billion last year and is projected to top $126 billion by 2032, according to an AlixPartners analysis based on Apollo Reports data. Ralf Bechmann of manufacturing consultant EFESO said the benefits of die casting would push it "to be applied to an increasing number of new models of BEV vehicles, also by other manufacturers". Yet not all automakers are convinced, and EFESO's Bechmann cautioned that large module die casting required product design to be "super solid". After initially considering die casting for its upcoming Trinity model, Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) has backtracked, while BMW (BMWG.DE) has never expressed an interest.

"We don't see (price cuts) at this point in time," Rowan told Reuters. "Demand for our (battery electric vehicles) is the highest that we've ever seen, the backlog for that as well." Those price cuts are expected to hit EV startups like U.S. firm Rivian RIVN.O more than established brands. Henrik Fisker, CEO of U.S. EV maker Fisker (FSR.N), told Reuters he also has no plans to lower prices, arguing that the EV startup's cars were already competitively priced. Despite the price cuts, some suppliers say they have seen no EV production surge so far.

Volvo Cars, which is majority-owned by Chinese automotive company Geely Holding (0175.HK), said its fourth-quarter operating profit dropped to 3.4 billion crowns ($322.2 million)from 3.7 billion crowns a year earlier. "Despite the global turbulence, uncertainty and our recent price increases, we continue to see healthy demand for our cars," Volvo Cars said, adding it expected a "solid" double-digit growth in retail sales during 2023. Volvo Cars and its peers have faced lingering chip shortages over the past year that have periodically hit manufacturing with the Sweden-based company forced at times to halt production at some factories temporarily. However, Volvo Cars reaffirmed its mid-decade targets, which include by 2025 selling 1.2 million cars per year. This, like Volvo, is despite its vehicles sales rising.

☆ Chinese New Year slows Volvo Cars' sales growth in January
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Volvo Cars, which is majority-owned by China's Geely Holding (0175.HK), said the increase at group level was led by markets such as Britain, Italy and Belgium while in China sales fell 20% due to the timing of the Chinese New Year. It said fully electric vehicles accounted for 16% of total sales. Recharge models, also including those not fully electric, accounted for 41%. In December, the car sales growth stood at 13%. In 2022, sales were down 12% for the full year.

☆ Exclusive: Volvo readies EV blitz in biggest product revamp under Geely
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Norihiko Shirouzu | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/5] A Volvo S60 is displayed during the inauguration of Volvo Cars first U.S. production plant in Ridgeville, South Carolina, U.S., June 20, 2018. The Swedish carmaker, wholly owned by China’s Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, is expected to launch at least six new battery electric vehicles through 2026, the two people told Reuters. The previously unreported product plans amount to the largest revamp of Volvo’s model line-up since Geely acquired the brand from Ford Motor Co (F.N) in 2010. Under Geely, Volvo initially started to share technologies such as car platforms with Geely. Volvo has carved out and sold its gasoline engine and hybrid powertrain operations to Geely.

☆ Israel's StoreDot partners with Circulor on supply chain tracking
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] Circulor, a British start-up specialised in blockchain being used at the Gatumba mine, is pictured on a smartphone in Ngororero district, Western Rwanda October 17, 2018. REUTERS/Clement UwiringiyimanaFRANKFURT, Jan 31 (Reuters) - StoreDot, an Israeli start-up developing fast-charging batteries, said on Tuesday it has partnered with UK start-up Circulor, which uses blockchain technology to map supply chains for companies pursuing greener, more sustainable production. StoreDot has begun using Circulor's technology to track the origin and carbon emissions of the raw materials in its battery cells. Legislative pressure is rising on electric vehicle makers and battery producers to track the human rights and environmental impact of their supply chains. Reporting by Victoria Waldersee; editing by Jason NeelyOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ U.S. hits Volvo Group North America with $130 mln penalty over delayed recalls
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said Volvo Group agreed to a three-year consent order that includes one of the largest-ever penalties for violations under the recall law. Volvo Group North America agreed to oversight by an independent third-party auditor and will meet regularly with NHTSA to ensure it addresses any potential safety issues, the agency said. Volvo Group North America is the parent company to Mack Trucks, Nova Bus, Prevost Car (US), VNA Holding and Volvo Group Canada. Volvo Group must pay $65 million within 60 days and $45 million is due if it fails to comply with the agreement. Volvo Group is a separate entity from Volvo Cars.

PREVIEWDave Edwards, the chief executive at Greenville-Spartanburg, said just over a decade ago his airport had no international air cargo operations. BMW today accounts for about a quarter of Greenville-Spartanburg’s roughly 15 international cargo flights a week. Air cargo volumes fell through most of last year as manufacturers and retailers pulled back on orders because of slowing consumer spending. Rockford, about 70 miles from Chicago O’Hare International Airport, has become one of the most successful regional airports for cargo. It is a hub for United Parcel Service Inc. and has attracted air operations for companies including Amazon.com Inc., DSV and A.P.

☆ Volvo Cars recalls around 106,900 cars worldwide
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

STOCKHOLM, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Sweden-based Volvo Cars (VOLCARb.ST) is recalling around 106,900 cars worldwide over a suspected fault related to the brakes, a Volvo Cars spokesperson said on Tuesday. The vehicles being recalled are of the 2023 year model of the C40, XC40, S60, V60, XC60, V90 and XC90 models, the spokesperson said. Reporting by Anna Ringstrom, editing by Terje SolsvikOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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