Audi boss Bram Schot The new CEO Bram Schot plans a drastic austerity program at Audi. (Photo: AUDI AG) Ingolstadt If the AudiSupervisory Board meets on Thursday, then the management report for 2018 will probably be sobering. In the third year of the diesel crisis, sales are declining, yield in the basement, and the prospects… Continue reading Interview with Bram Schot: Audi CEO plans radical austerity program: “We have too many executives on board”
Tag: VW
VW’s Audi to cut 10 percent of management positions: CEO
Audi aims to reduce the number of engine types by one third. FRANKFURT: Volkswagen‘s premium auto brand Audi plans to eliminate one layer of management or about 10 percent of the division’s executive positions in a cost cutting drive, the unit’s chief executive told daily Handelsblatt. “One thing is clear, our cost base is too… Continue reading VW’s Audi to cut 10 percent of management positions: CEO
Back from the dead: 2 Long-gone cars will debut at Geneva Motor Show, and their electric makeover could come with $1 million sticker price – CNBC
Over the past century, hundreds of once-familiar brand names have been shipped off to the automotive scrapyard, but two long-dead makes will be vying for a revival next month at the annual Geneva International Motor Show.
Munich-based digital car subscription startup Cluno raises €25 million in Series B funding
Based in Munich, Cluno is a digital car subscription service that provides drivers with an alternative to buying their own car, and allows the entire process of booking a car to be carried out via an app.
Founded in 2017, Cluno has already raised €32 million in less than one year, and has just raised a Series B round of €25 million, which it will use to accelerate its expansion and enhance its technology. The latest round was led by Valar Ventures, along with existing investors Acton Capital Partners and Atlantic Labs.
Cluno launched its app for iOS on October 31st, 2018, and its Android app just launched in early 2019.
Cluno’s subscription model for car ownership lets consumers drive their own car without buying it. In just three minutes, users can digitally book a car in the app for an all-inclusive, monthly subscription fee and get it delivered to their desired location. In contrast to purchasing, financing or leasing a car, there is no long-term commitment – the minimum contract..
Daimler risks fine as German prosecutors launch new probe
BERLIN (Reuters) – German prosecutors have launched a probe into Daimler for allegedly failing to prevent diesel emissions cheating, possibly resulting in a fine for the carmaker, as its legal woes mount up over the affair. The Daimler is seen during a press conference on the second press day of the Paris auto show, in… Continue reading Daimler risks fine as German prosecutors launch new probe
Ahead of electric-car production, VW demands suppliers cut carbon emissions
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Volkswagen ID Neo concept, 2016 Paris auto show
As Volkswagen ramps up to build a new generation of mass-market electric vehicles in the aftermath of its diesel scandal, regulators and environmental groups will likely be paying close attention to their emissions—especially the emissions created in making them.
The Financial Times, in a Sunday report, presented some interesting pieces of information based on an interview with Marco Philippi, the corporate director for procurement for the VW Group, which oversees not just VW but Audi and many others.
In the upcoming ID Neo, the first MEB vehicle, which reaches the market late this year in Europe, the carbon emissions impact from the supply chain is 150 percent higher—2.5 times higher—than that of a Golf TDI.
DON’T MISS: VW’s new U.S. CEO: The tipping point on EVs is already here
Given that, it’s not surprising that VW has made some very strong demands to its suppliers—that as plans for its new generation of fully electric cars come together, they’ll need to comply with new, tighter rules about carbon emissions from their operations.
Volkswagen, among other automakers, already issues annual sustainability reports that have made sure that its suppliers—not just the top-tier ones, but down the supply chain—comply with environmental and social standards. One such example is the use of conflict minerals like cobalt.
What's new is the closer monitoring of carbon emissions, which has only in the last decade become a point of pride for top-tier suppliers. By adding second- and third-tier suppliers, VW will have a much more accurate picture of how much energy is going in—and the total emissions involved.
CHECK OUT: Volkswagen details the foundation for 10 million electric vehicles
All 40,000 suppliers could soon be issued “S-ratings,” for sustainability, that would affect their future use by the global automaker.
Philippi remarked to FT that right now for EVs the focus is on the reduction of cobalt and cutting the cost of manufacturing. So the carbon piece may prove an additional puzzle for some suppliers.
“This is a revolution,” said Philippi. “If there are violations, our partners will not be our partners.”
2018 Volkswagen e-Golf electric cars on assembly line in
The company has already made some large-scale changes to clean up its manufacturing. The cornerstone of that effort is its Zwickau factory, where VW has committed to convert from the production of 300,000 internal-combustion-engine vehicles a year to the same number of all-electric cars by 2021. It calls that facility, which is run by Austrian hydro-power, “Europe's most efficient e-car factory.”
The battery packs are what drives manufacturing carbon impact so high for EVs, relative to internal-combustion vehicles. VW has previously declared that its batteries, down to the cell production, will also be made with green energy.
READ MORE: Charging ahead: VW follows Tesla into power business
VW already plans to make other significant green-manufacturing commitments around the world, including two more plants in Germany, two in China, and an $800 million expansion in Chattanooga, Tennessee that will bring that plant an additional 1,000 jobs with the company and many more at suppliers.
The strategy also fits right in with VW’s creation, last month, of Elli, the company’s “electric life” affiliate that will sell all the ancillary home-related services to electric-vehicle ownership, such as clean power, energy storage, and charge points, in what we see as an attempt to help owners in all regions lower their carbon impact as well. So far, the service is limited to Europe.
Porsche Taycan production forecast may be ‘conservative’
Porsche’s production forecast for its first all-electric vehicle may be too conservative, the company’s head of production said this week. Porsche has targeted 20,000 Taycan electric vehicles for the first year of production. But interest in the vehicle could push those estimates higher, Albrecht Reimold, Porsche’s board member in charge of production, said in an internally… Continue reading Porsche Taycan production forecast may be ‘conservative’
Ford Exits Heavy Truck Business in South America; Key Milestone in Global Redesign of Company
Confirms exit from heavy commercial truck business as a key step toward returning its South America operations to sustainable profitability Ford remains committed to South America with a lean and agile business model, strengthened product offerings, and global partnerships Ford expects to record pre-tax special item charges of about $460 million as a result of… Continue reading Ford Exits Heavy Truck Business in South America; Key Milestone in Global Redesign of Company
UPDATE 4-Ford to close oldest Brazil plant, exit South America truck biz
SAO PAULO/DETROIT (Reuters) – Ford Motor Co said on Tuesday it will close its oldest factory in Brazil and exit its heavy commercial truck business in South America, a move that could cost more than 2,700 jobs as part of a restructuring meant to end losses around the world. FILE PHOTO: New Ford trucks are… Continue reading UPDATE 4-Ford to close oldest Brazil plant, exit South America truck biz
Audi’s new V2I feature helps drivers hit every green light
Audi has added a new feature to the vehicle-to-infrastructure technology embedded in its newer models that’s designed to help drivers catch every green light. The tech, called GLOSA, or Green Light Optimized Speed Advisory, is part of the automaker’s built-in traffic light-reading technology. And Audi says it’s the first automaker to include this GLOSA feature in its… Continue reading Audi’s new V2I feature helps drivers hit every green light