Auto News 5

New vehicle sales in Vietnam continued to rebound strongly in July 2019, by close to 28% to 25,828 units from 20,212 units a year earlier, according to wholesale data released by the Vietnam Automotive Manufacturers Association (VAMA).

Britain's Transport Secretary, Grant Shapps has unveiled an extra GBP2.5m (US$3m) for 1,000 new charge-points on residential streets.

Coast Autonomous has signed an MoU with Lidar manufacturer Ouster.  

A dealer group has welcomed extra funding for EV charge points in the UK.

Volvo recently launched the third-generation S60, marking its first model offered without a diesel engine. It is also the first Volvo car made in the US, where diesel remains a less popular fuel option. Continuing QUBE/just-auto's review of interior design and technology trends, we take a closer look inside this sleek mid-size petrol-powered sedan.

Israeli company UVeye has expanded its automotive scanning capabilities with its new tyre inspection system, Artemis.

Brose Group and IPG Photonics are collaborating on the development of what they say is the first direct weld measurement technology for automotive seat rails.

Sales of imported light passenger vehicles in South Korea declined by 5.2% to 19,453 units from 20,518 units a year earlier, according to data released by the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association (KAIDA).

Valmet Automotive is investing around EUR7m (US$7.8m) in the construction of its new Germany Battery Test Centre (BTC) at Bad Friedrichshall, with full test capacity available from February next year.

Sales of new passenger vehicles in China fell by 5.3% to 1.5m units in July 2019, based on dealer retail data released by the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA).

Toyo Tire is to establish a new R&D centre, the first European technology development site, in Willich, North Rhine-Westphalia.

Aston Martin Lagonda's recent announcement that it no longer expects a GBP20m payment for IP from Detroit Electric sent the share price into a steep decline. Speculators continue to short the company, with many seeing GBP850m of net debt and lease liabilities as a major concern. AML is determined to ride out the current financial storm though, trusting in a business plan which includes several high priced future models.

New car sales in Western Europe grew by just 0.1% year-on-year (YoY) in July according to data released by LMC Automotive. The annualised selling rate (SAAR) climbed to 14.3m units a year in July, from 14.2m units a year in June.

Ride-hail firm Uber has posted a larger than expected second quarter loss of USD5.5bn. The scale of the loss in the three month period to the end of June follows the company's IPO in May and sent its share price sliding. In the same quarter last year, Uber's loss was USD0.7bn.

We had some advice for Ford of Europe this week - don't kill the Fusion and Mondeo. Is there a future for the Mondeo, we asked? At the moment, Ford of Europe isn't saying either way as speculation suggests there are plans to replace this model, the S-Max and Galaxy with a new global crossover. Considering the age of the design, sales are holding up well, with 20,800 delivered during the first half of 2019.

Malaysia will collaborate with Japan's Daihatsu Motor to develop a third national car with the first model expected to be ready by 2021, according to Malaysian international trade and industry minister Darell Leiking.

Daimler with its subsidiary Mercedes-Benz Energy and Beijing Electric Vehicle Co., Ltd. (BJEV) a subsidiary of the BAIC Group, say they are to intensify their cooperation in the field of energy storage systems.

Three senior British Ministers have travelled to the Port of Dover to meet representatives from the haulage and freight industries to discuss plans for the UK's planned Brexit date of 31 October, by which new Prime Minister, Boris Johnson has pledged the country will leave the European Union (EU).