Industry
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It has become an article of faith among some Tesla fans and owners that the company will inevitably rise to compete with and ultimately defeat the titans of the global auto industry. This belief is especially prevalent for the luxury sector, where three German carmakers dominate the global market for pricey and admired vehicles of all sorts. About Tesla's chances, reasonable minds may differ. DON'T MISS: How Tesla Model S alters car ownership: a buyer's one-year notes The Silicon Valley electric carmaker has done remarkable things in its 13 years of existence, and rattled those German luxury...
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China electric-car rules to start in 2019; aggressive totals are world's highest
You may not have heard it happen, but the global automotive industry changed forever on Thursday. China released its plan to require substantial sales of plug-in electric cars by all makers who want to sell in the world's largest car market, and they start in little more than a year. The levels far...
John Voelcker -
Foreign makers might build electric cars in China, but rumored rule change has a catch
China's announcement 10 days ago that it was assessing a timetable for ending sales of new cars with gasoline or diesel engines continues to reverberate. The country intends to dominate global production of lithium-ion battery cells and electric vehicles, for a host of reasons from industrial power...
John Voelcker -
China wants all electric cars: will it work? Reasons and reactions
It was quaint and adorable when Norway did it, saying it would end sales of cars with internal-combustion engines by 2025. The Netherlands followed suit, with little fanfare. More recently, France and the U.K. have enacted various forms of bans on non-electrified vehicles, on varying schedules. Now...
John Voelcker -
Nissan, Mitsubishi, Renault to launch 12 new electric cars by 2022
Some car companies release their business plans and goals publicly, others don't. This morning, the Renault Nissan Alliance (now including Mitsubishi as well) released a new six-year plan laying out its business goal through 2022. Among the most significant: The group said it will launch 12...
John Voelcker -
Do Frankfurt's electric cars cover German desperation over diesel decline?
This year's Frankfurt motor show was big, busy, and full of new concepts and production cars spanning the gamut from small electric cars to exotic supercars with prices in the millions. Every German maker showed one or more electric or electrified concepts, and renewed talk of driving on...
John Voelcker -
Predicting the future is always hazardous, but for the auto industry, this is a particularly uncertain time. Four trends—electrification, connectivity, autonomy, and sharing—are coming together in a whirlwind that could rearrange the industry and its businesses within a decade or two. That's a relatively short timeframe in an industry that spends $1 billion per platform and plans its products for seven-year lives. DON'T MISS: How important will plug-in hybrids be in 2025? Poll results The relatively rapid growth expected for plug-in electric cars, in particular, has combined with...
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Which carmaker will sell most electric cars in 2020, China included? Poll results
Last year, China's BYD sold more plug-in electric cars than any other company in the world. That includes General Motors, Nissan, and Tesla. Now GM has launched the Chevrolet Bolt EV, the second-generation Nissan Leaf is just days away, and advocates, analysts, and enthusiasts are watching how...
John Voelcker -
Who will be biggest electric-car maker in 2020? Take our Twitter poll!
Every week or so, Green Car Reports posts a poll on Twitter to survey our followers on their opinions on a variety of topics related to the news we cover. In general, we get 100 or so responses to our polls: more on electric cars, fewer on other subjects. In the many comments on a previous week's...
John Voelcker -
Ford pairs with Chinese maker Zotye for electric-car expansion
Ford was the first U.S. maker to build hybrid cars, starting in 2004, and it launched its Focus Electric hatchback in December 2011, just a year after the arrival of the Nissan Leaf. It also continues to sell Energi plug-in hybrid versions of its mid-size Fusion sedan and its compact C-Max tall...
John Voelcker -
Do German makers face 'iPhone moment,' after dodging diesel bullet?
The Volkswagen diesel scandal has largely fallen out of the public eye in the U.S., as VW and Audi buy back and modify roughly half a million noncompliant vehicles sold from 2009 through 2016. In Germany, meanwhile, the major sellers of diesel vehicles—not only VW Group but also Mercedes...
John Voelcker -
Faraday Future gets $14 million; factory moved to CA from Vegas
Electric-car maker Faraday Future has received an emergency injection of $14 million to move its FF 91 luxury electric car closer to market. The rescue funds come in the form of a loan from Innovatus Capital Partners, after Faraday Future pledged its California-based headquarters as collateral. For...
Sean Szymkowski -
It may be human nature to avoid doing things that are for the long-term good but impose short-term costs. Exercising more, giving up smoking, or paying more for a car that is better for the environment all challenge many otherwise responsible citizens. And it's abundantly clear that the emergence and sales of electric cars benefit greatly from government regulations designed to encourage them. DON'T MISS: China revises electric-car incentives to reward longer ranges With the U.S. withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement, China is poised to emerge as the globe's large-scale leader in...
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Fuel-efficiency rules create jobs too, contrary to industry plaints
Fuel economy and emission standards have been a contentious issue in recent months as the auto industry and government officials clash over regulations and their potential benefits. Earlier this year, one of the largest pieces of evidence against more stringent fuel economy regulations came from...
Sean Szymkowski -
Will VW Group's electric cars "leapfrog" Tesla by 2025? Poll results
Looking back from the 2020s or 2030s, it's entirely likely that the unexpected arrival of Tesla Motors was a major force—along with legislation, perhaps the major force—in getting legacy automakers to produce electric cars. Competition has always spurred innovation, and German makers in...
John Voelcker -
VW to cut environmental impact of carmaking by 45 percent
In the wake of its diesel emission scandal, Volkswagen has done its best to portray itself as a cleaner, more thoughtful automaker. Part of the damage control plot includes a slew of new electric vehicles to round out the German automaker's portfolio in the coming years. But, what about the...
Sean Szymkowski -
German electric-car industry centers in 'Silicon Saxony'
Silicon Valley seems to grab many of the tech headlines in the United States, especially when it comes to autonomous vehicles, cars that plug in, and the future of transportation. Electric-car maker Tesla has undeniably contributed to Silicon Valley's automotive chops, but other makers are working...
Sean Szymkowski -
Ford fires CEO Fields, in part, for lagging on electric cars
It's all the buzz of the auto industry this morning: Ford has fired its CEO Mark Fields and will replace him with Jim Hackett, former CEO of Michigan furniture maker Steelcase. Hackett presently oversees the Ford unit working on autonomous vehicles. The company is expected to make the announcement...
John Voelcker -
When Tesla arrived on the scene 10 years ago, no major automaker took it very seriously—let alone thought it would cause the disruption it has in the market for luxury cars. At the same time, BMW, once the harbinger of performance and luxury, worries that it may be falling behind when it comes to electric vehicles and technology innovation. Now, the automaker has turned to scaring its employees, according to Bloomberg, with conferences revolving around the threats BMW faces from Tesla, Mercedes-Benz, and even Jaguar. DON'T MISS: What diesel backlash? 2018 BMW 540d coming to U.S.: report...
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Manufacturing expert says Tesla Model 3 plan to skip beta testing is risky
Tesla is taking a major gamble regarding the production of its upcoming Model 3 sedan in skipping prototype tooling and jumping straight to permanent production tooling, says a noted auto-manufacturing expert. "He's pushing the envelope to see how much time and cost he can take out of the process,"...
Sean Szymkowski -
Q: Why is Tesla worth more than GM? A: The sins of Detroit
It remains unclear whether Tesla will survive as an independent company, given that it's had exactly two profitable quarters in its 12-plus years of existence. And yet, last week, Tesla briefly passed General Motors to become the most valuable U.S. automaker by market capitalization. It had passed...
John Voelcker -
Putting plug-in electric car sales in perspective: they're still very low
Volume sales of plug-in cars, both battery-electric and plug-in hybrid models, began more than six years ago. From a first-year total of about 17,000 in 2011, they rose tenfold over five years, to roughly 160,000 last year in the U.S. But it's important to understand that despite their growth rate...
John Voelcker -
Europe's emission limits, small cars far from global mainstream: is this why GM sold Opel?
At the 2017 Geneva auto show, General Motors announced the sale of its entire European operations—comprising factories and the Opel and Vauxhall brands—to PSA Peugeot Citroën. German Opel and its British Vauxhall sibling have represented GM's main presence in Europe for decades...
Stephen Edelstein -
Has GM really 'already lost' the electric-car race to Tesla?
Lots of people like horse races, win-or-lose competitions, and rankings. They're easy to understand, and definitive. They may also lose the forest for the trees, which is what we're tempted to suggest about a new article that addresses the launch of the 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV electric car. GM's...
John Voelcker