Auto News 5

China's SAIC Motor entered the Thai pickup segment this week with the launch of its locally-made MG Extender.

Baidu is partnering with Elektrobit (EB) to provide automotive infrastructure software for the former's Apollo Computing Unit (ACU) for autonomous driving.

Opinion 8 Aug, 2019

Aston Martin's recent money troubles have become headline news, but Steve Fowler believes this is just a minor bump in the road

Continental has posted second-quarter net income attributable to the shareholders of the parent down 41% to EUR484.8m (US$544m).

India's auto industry demanded tax cuts and easier access to finance for dealers and buyers at a meeting with Indian government officials on Wednesday to discuss the sector's woes, sources told Reuters, in an effort to revive sales that have slumped.

News 7 Aug, 2019

Highways England has laid the surface of a section of the M1 with a new asphalt compound containing rubber from disused tyres

Why isn't Nissan Europe a more powerful force in small cars? Intense competition in the Qashqai segment and the surrendering of the B-SUV class to every other brand as the Juke has grown ever older are the reasons for the current woes. Yet none of that should be affecting the performance of the Micra. It's a cracking little car and deserves to be more popular.

SsangYong never gives up. European sales are tiny, a former decent presence in Russia unraveled, attempts at agreeing a JV in China came to nothing and we don't hear much these days about a once heralded US market launch. Against that, it's big in Korea and greatly helps parent company Mahindra with rebadged SUVs in India. Can the new Korando also reinvigorate the brand in Britain?

News 7 Aug, 2019

Between three and four vehicles crash into stationary cars on the hard shoulders of major roads every day according to new data

Daimler's Mercedes-Benz said it started the third quarter of 2019 with a new sales record for July - 188,857 cars delivered (+12.7% year on year).

News 7 Aug, 2019

Motorists who renew their insurance policies in August pay 10 per cent less on average than those who renew in January

Renesas Electronics said Nissan Motor was using its chips for the ProPILOT 2.0 system in the new Skyline unveiled on 16 July.

After tax profit at Porsche SE was EUR2.38bn in the first six months of 2019 compared to EUR1.90bn a year ago.

Having expanded the Mini range earlier this decade, BMW says its aim is now to fully focus on profitability. Deliveries dipped by 3.9 per cent in the first half of 2019 to 174,344 units. Considering the steep fall of the Chinese market that's a good result. As for Rolls-Royce, a record 2018 may even be beaten in 2019, the total for H1 being 2,534 cars, a year-on-year surge of +42.3 per cent.

The penultimate feature in the BMW AG future models series takes a look at BMW i. At the moment, only the I01 i3, I12 i8 Coupe and I15 i8 Roadster exist but that will soon change, as more fully electric and plug-in hybrid models are added. At least one hydrogen fuel cell model is said to be in the planning stages too.

Daimler says it won't replace the Mercedes SLC, Audi plans to axe the TT and Nissan keeps trying to fathom how it can make a business case for a new 370Z. These are troubled times for sports cars. Or are they? BMW has orders coming out of its ears for the new Z4, and the car's global roll-out isn't even complete.

Japanese new vehicle sales expanded by 4.1% to 459,456 units in July 2019 from year earlier sales of 441,533 units, after a slight year on year decline in June, according to registration data released by the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association.

Russia has posted yet another monthly fall in sales of new passenger cars and LCVs, with the market dropping 2.4% in July.

Karamba Security is collaborating with Cypress Semiconductor to enhance security hardening for the automotive industry.

Japanese electric motor manufacturer Nidec Corporation has agreed to set up a new joint venture company with GAC Components Company, a subsidiary of China's Guangzhou Automobile Group, for the production of drive motors for electric vehicles.