#IndustryNews

Despite Alpine and Lotus having previously indicated plans to jointly develop a successor to the A110 sports coupe, reports have emerged stating that all work on the project has stopped. With both companies vowing to go electric, the partnership was supposed to help both companies benefit from their performance expertise.

Honda, Suzuki, Kawasaki, and Yamaha have just collectively promised to develop a slew of hydrogen-reliant engines designed to power small vehicles. While this is supposed to encompass construction equipment, small boats, airborne drones, and even motorcycles, the scheme doesn’t seem to focus on automobiles. However, Japanese automakers have already been working on hydrogen fuel cell vehicles for years and Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda has even been championing the development of hydrogen-burning motors for some of the brand's racing applications.

It’s largely counter to what the rest of the world is doing and begs the question of why Japan seems so intent on making hydrogen power work. What exactly makes the scheme so appealing to the island nation?

On Tuesday, General Motors confirmed Apple’s Mike Abbott as the executive vice president of its Software division — an important role considering that the automaker is betting large on shifting revenue toward connectivity. The company has been stressing the importance of integrated mobile services for years and recently announced it would be dumping Apple CarPlay so that drivers would be required to interface with its proprietary operating system.

Lucid Group’s report for the first quarter of 2023 was off the mark, with the automaker suffering a $780-million net loss. While any burgeoning carmaker should expect to burn through cash for a while, electric-vehicle firms seem broadly dedicated to the practice. Many EV startups have floundered and some have even bordered on shell games, promising things they shouldn’t in the hopes to draw in more investment capital. However, Lucid has seemed committed to delivering enviable products — making the financial report genuinely disappointing. 

Ford Motor Company is tweaking plans in China and seeking to turn around financial losses after five years of lackluster sales within the region. The new strategy will be focused on exporting to other countries, commercial product, and reinforcing the necessary supply chain for all-electric vehicles.

Mercedes-Benz CEO Ola Kallenius has told the German media that the brand has no intention of cutting ties with China, saying such a move would be unwise for the whole of Germany industry. 

"The major players in the global economy, Europe, the U.S. and China, are so closely intertwined that decoupling from China makes no sense," he was quoted as saying in Bild am Sonntag.

On Monday, Rivian announced a plan to sell $1.3 billion in bonds as a way to cope with rising production costs.

The news comes just days after the company addressed rumors that it might build as many as 62,000 vehicles through 2023. Despite credible reporting, Rivian said its official production forecast remains set at the original 50,000 electric vehicles by year’s end.

France’s Renault has already announced that it has been considering how best to sell Alpine sports cars in North America and the latest plan appears to involve getting cozy with AutoNation. With no dealer base of its own on our market – and Alpine being an incredibly small brand – leveraging one of the largest used dealer networks in the United States could be an ideal way to get a foot in the door.

The United States Department of the Treasury appears to have caved after receiving sustained pressure from the auto lobby, modifying how vehicles are classified in the updated EV tax credit scheme in a manner designed to make more vehicles eligible. Rather than leaning on Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards, the Treasury has said it will instead use the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Fuel Economy Labeling standard to determine when a vehicle is an SUV, pickup, sedan, or van.

The strategic partnership between France’s Renault and Japan’s Nissan has been a tenuous alliance throughout most of its history. However, the duo is attempting – once again – to tweak the nature of their complicated relationship in the hopes it produces better cooperation and reduced animosity. 

Qualcomm has released a new automotive processor chip designed to help contend with supply chain issues by handling both driver assistance features and the more standard functions tied to the infotainment system. 

Automotive executives are reportedly scaling back their expectations for EV adoption, according to an annual survey conducted by KPMG International. Last year, professionals working at the top of the industry reported that they believed (on average) that over half of all new vehicles sold in the United States by 2030 would be battery-electric. But their faith in electrification appears to be evaporating, with most respondents suggesting that particular goal is no longer achievable. 

The Senate Finance Committee has formally requested that eight major automakers provide detailed information about their supply chains in order to determine whether or not they benefit from slave labor. In a letter sent Thursday, the group referenced a report from Sheffield Hallam University claiming that the auto industry is “unwittingly” utilizing metals, batteries, wiring, wheels, and other components that were coming from questionable sources – namely ethnic slaves living in Western China.

Rivian and Mercedes-Benz Vans signed a memorandum of understanding to create a new joint venture for building electric vans in September. But the deal seems to have fallen apart, with reports confirming that the EV startup has pulled the plug just a few months into the planned partnership.

The organizer of the Beijing International Automobile Exhibition has announced that the show will not go on due to the COVID-19 situation in the country. Though those with a memory longer than that of a goldfish will recall that the event was already postponed in April for that very same reason.