Brussels, 3 April 2019 – As Europe prepares to elect a new European Parliament and appoint new Commissioners, the European Automotive and Telecoms Alliance (EATA) urges policy makers to step up efforts in order to ensure that the EU takes the global lead in connected and automated mobility. As global players launch new products and… Continue reading Press Releases – EU should take global lead in connected and automated driving, automotive and telecoms sectors urge
Tag: Volvo
Search giant Baidu has driven the most autonomous miles in Beijing
While the public is asking, “When are we going to ride in autonomous cars?” Technology companies have been moving apace to test them on designated roads. In China’s capital city Beijing, eight firms drove a total of 153,600 kilometers (95442.6 miles) through their autonomous fleets in 2018, and Baidu, the country’s largest search engine service… Continue reading Search giant Baidu has driven the most autonomous miles in Beijing
Monday Morning Auto News, Apr 01, 2019
Tesla boom lifts Norway’s electric car sales to 58 percent market share – Reuters: IndiaAlmost 60 percent of all new cars sold in Norway in March were fully electric, the Norwegian Road Federation (NRF) said on Monday, a global record set by a …
New Alfa Romeo GTV: 2022 hybrid super-coupe leaks – Autocar: Styling of upcoming hybrid two-door seemingly revealed well ahead of official unveiling A leaked image may have given us our best look yet at Alfa Romeo”s forthcoming GTV coupe, which isn”t due to be unveiled until 2021. The single image, purportedly…
Maruti Suzuki sales continue to fall as India car demand slows ahead of elections – Nikkei: Maruti Suzuki India’s sales continued to decline as demand for cars slowed further in March, piling up inventory and forcing …
Buying Lyft stock requires making ‘too many big assumptions,’ analyst warns amid IPO hype – CNBC: Guggenheim restrained its enthusiasm for shares of Lyft on Monday, beginning coverage of the rideshare company’s stock with a neutral rating due to what the firm sees as a hazy outlook.
Volvo XC40 full-electric variant to debut this year – Automotive News: Volvo will reveal the full-electric version of the XC40 before the end of the year. The XC40 will be the first battery-driven model from the brand.
Here’s what Uber can learn from Lyft’s IPO – CNBC: Triton Research co-founder and CEO Rett Wallace joins “Squawk Box” along with guest host Mohamed El-Erian, chief economic advisor at Allianz, …
Uber of Iran Hits Two Million Rides-a-Day Mark Amid Growth Spurt – Bloomberg: Snapp, also known as the Uber of Iran, said its ride-hailing app is generating two million fares a day as young people in Tehran embrace technology …
Skoda, Hyundai, Dacia among winners as French sales fall 2% in March – Automotive News: French new-car sales fell by 2.3 percent in March, with Skoda, Hyundai, Dacia and Seat recording double-digit increases.
For want of a quorum, America’s jobs are being lost – CNBC: … CRRC, China Mobile, SAIC Motor, China Railway, China Aerospace Science and Technology, the list of China’s national champions spans virtually …
Analysis: how to save the city car – Autocar: Cars like the Citroen C1 and Volkswagen Up are under threat Value small cars are at risk of extinction. Profits are slimming, costs are rising. Is there a solution? The message was as bleak as it was clear. “If Europe is pursuing this legal target,…
Hyundai Venue SUV: Launch, features, expected price revealed – Yahoo: Right, Hyundai Venue, I know the name, some more info please? This is a new sub-4m compact SUV by Hyundai and the much awaited rival to the …
Peugeot, Fiat Said to Explore Venture to Build Cars in Europe – Bloomberg: PSA Group and Fiat Chrysler are reportedly exploring a partnership to build cars in Europe. Bloomberg has learned the companies are holding …
The Auto Industry Is Overdue a Bout of Mega-Mergers – Bloomberg: It’s not clear that this necessary process can easily happen. As we’ve seen with the Renault-Nissan saga, the Trump administration’s automotive tariff …
VW, BMW, FCA, others make changes to protect profits in China – Automotive News: “The total market is cooling down, but the premium market is cooling down less,” Audi CEO Bram Schot told Automotive News Europe. “What’s more …
BUZZ-India’s Tata Motors rises; JLR confirms expectations of better Q4 results – Reuters: Automaker Tata Motors Ltd’s shares rise as much as 6.3 pct to 185.2 rupees, in their biggest intraday pct gain since March 5.
Toyota robot can’t slam dunk but shoots a mean 3-pointer – Washington Post: It can’t dribble, let alone slam dunk, but Toyota’s robot hardly ever misses a free throw or a three-pointer.
General Motors seeks dismissal of union lawsuit on closures – Washington Post: Attorneys for General Motors have asked a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit claiming the automaker sidestepped an agreement with union workers through its …
Toyota robot can’t slam dunk but throws a mean three-pointer – Washington Post: It can’t dribble, let alone slam dunk, but Toyota’s robot hardly ever misses a free throw or a three-pointer.
In North America’s Biggest Uber Holdout, It Pays to Know Chinese – Bloomberg: Welcome to Vancouver, one of Uber’s most obstinate holdouts — the largest North American metro region without legal ride sharing, where …
Italy Seen Needing Energy Storage to Deliver on Pollution Pledge – Bloomberg: … cars might help balance the grid, since the batteries in those vehicles might … the executive said in an interview at Bloomberg’s European headquarters in London. “Today in Italy, we have a limited number of electric vehicles. … a battery is a…
French interest in Jeep: Deja vu? – Automotive News: Last week’s French drama, in which PSA Group and Renault-Nissan were said in dueling media reports to both be interested in a bid for Fiat Chrysler …
Merger buzz rings with irony – Automotive News: And how odd that with both Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne and former Renault-Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn gone, their companies find …
What a truck”s off-road package really gets you – Detroitnews: Are off-road packages worth the money?
GM brushed off UAW concessions to idle Lordstown plant – Detroitnews: Union workers are angry they agreed to make $118 million in annual concessions to save the plant in mid 2017.
Convicted Fiat Chrysler exec raises questions about former UAW boss – Detroitnews: Retired UAW President Dennis Williams could be questioned about alleged illegal payments amid corruption scandal involving Fiat Chrysler.
Jettisoned Chrysler dealers challenge U.S. in court – Automotive News: Almost 300 of the Chrysler dealers whose franchises were terminated in the 2009 bailout will continue their fight in Washington on April 8, nine years after they sued the U.S. Treasury.
U.S. sales drop with no reason for buying – Automotive News: “Consumers simply haven’t had a compelling reason to buy,” Cox Automotive’s chief economist said.
Sun plays tricks on Cadillac’s Super Cruise – Automotive News: The issue involves a critical part of the system that monitors the driver’s attentiveness.
Toyota’s Lentz: U.S. has a lot to lose in trade fight – Automotive News: If the U.S. and Japan can’t find common ground, tariffs could knock down 2 million new-vehicle sales as quick as a Texas windstorm, the automaker’s North America chief warned.
JLR wins a rare challenge against Chinese copycat Landwind – Automotive News: A Chinese court ruled recently that Jiangling Motors’ LandwindX7 SUV from 2014 was too similar to Range Rover Evoque. In a rare decision, it ordered the …
Survey finds flagging loyalty in the pickup truck market – Automotive News: What does it take to get a truck owner to switch brands?
Cadillac’s next-gen Super Cruise system to address camera’s sunlight issue – Automotive News: The issue involves a critical part of the system that monitors the driver’s attentiveness.
Rakuten says to book $990 million gain on Lyft investment – Reuters: Japan’s Rakuten said on Monday it will book a 110 million yen ($989.74 million) gain in the quarter through March on its investment in Lyft following the U.S. ride-hailing firm’s listing last week.
GRAINS-Corn ticks up after deep cuts; abundant supplies cap gains – Reuters: China’s State Council said on Sunday that the country would continue to suspend additional tariffs on U.S. vehicles and auto parts after April 1, in a …
Porsche looking at subscription model for special models? – Autocar:
Nissan CEO, Ghosn Mulled Fourth Partner for Alliance, Email Says – Bloomberg: Last September, two months before his arrest in Tokyo, then Nissan Motor Co. Chairman Carlos Ghosn and the carmaker’s chief executive officer considered …
Rakuten to book $990m profit from Lyft IPO – Nikkei: … ($990 million) profit in its first-quarter earnings from a jump in the value of its stake in Lyft, after the U.S. ride-hailing company went public on Friday.
Related
Faurecia employees fight participation in the transformation
Their plant is to be converted into a modern digital pilot operation, fully automated, with robots. It starts on April 1st. In the next two years, the automotive supplier Faurecia is investing 1.3 million euros in its location in Scheuerfeld, Rhineland-Palatinate, where nearly 300 employees produce instrument panels for Mercedes, Opel and Volvo. The employees… Continue reading Faurecia employees fight participation in the transformation
Aptiv to share its self-driving car data to help other researchers – CNET
Aptiv operates self-driving vehicles in partnership with Lyft in Las Vegas. Aptiv Automotive technology company Aptiv wants to help advanced research into computer vision and autonomous-driving technologies by sharing some of the information it has already gathered in the real world. Aptiv announced this week it will share what it’s calling the largest public dataset… Continue reading Aptiv to share its self-driving car data to help other researchers – CNET
Cars in Europe could soon be fitted with technology to stop drivers speeding
Silas Stein | picture alliance | Getty Images
Illuminated panels indicate a speed limit of 120 kilometers per hour above the A3 motorway near Frankfurt Airport, Germany.
A range of mandatory safety features for new vehicles, including technology that could limit speed, are set to be introduced in the European Union (EU).
In an announcement Tuesday, the European Commission — the EU's executive arm — said that EU institutions had come to a provisional political agreement on the new measures. That agreement is now subject to formal approval from the European Parliament and Council, with the new technologies set to be introduced in 2022.
The proposed safety features include the introduction of intelligent speed-assistance technology, or ISA. According to the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC), ISA uses technology such as GPS, digital mapping and cameras to give vehicles location and speed limit information.
ISA systems can “limit engine power” to stop drivers from going above the speed limit. The ETSC says it recommends ISA technologies that can be temporarily overridden. This would mean that drivers could, in scenarios such as overtakes on lower-speed sections of road, override the system by putting their foot down on the accelerator.
The mandatory ISA system proposed by the Commission would not automatically slow a car down, but warn a driver that they were travelling above a road's speed limit.
Several major car manufacturers already offer various iterations of ISA systems in their vehicles.
Other proposed safety features include advanced emergency braking, cameras that assist with reversing, and lane-keeping assistance. Vehicles will also provide warnings if they detect a driver is drowsy or distracted and will use data recorders to document accidents.
“Every year, 25,000 people lose their lives on our roads,” EU Commissioner Elzbieta Bienkowska said in a statement.
“The vast majority of these accidents are caused by human error,” she added. “We can and must act to change this. With the new advanced safety features that will become mandatory, we can have the same kind of impact as when the safety belts were first introduced.”
A number of major car firms are looking to introduce increasingly sophisticated and connected safety features to their vehicles.
Just last week, Volvo Cars announced it would install in-car cameras and sensors to monitor drivers for signs of intoxication and distraction.
The firm said the technology would be used to monitor drivers and, when needed, enable the car “to intervene if a clearly intoxicated or distracted driver does not respond to warning signals and is risking an accident involving serious injury or death.”
Actions the car could take include limiting speed to slowing down and then parking the car in a safe place. Installation of the technology will start in the early 2020s.
At the beginning of March, the company announced it would introduce a 180 kilometers per hour (112 miles per hour) speed limit on all its cars from 2020.
Follow CNBC International on Twitter and Facebook.
Clarification: This story has been updated to reflect how the ISA system proposed by the European Commission would work.
Volvo Cars issues new EUR bond
VOLVO CAR AB STOCK EXCHANGE RELEASE 26 March 2019 at 17:20 CET Volvo Cars issues new EUR bond Volvo Cars has today successfully issued a EUR 600m bond under its Euro Medium Term Note programme. The bond matures in April 2024 and pays a fixed coupon of 2.125%. The issue price was 99.625,… Continue reading Volvo Cars issues new EUR bond
Volvo to boost plug-in hybrid production to 25 percent of fleet
2020 Volvo XC90
While other automakers are moving away from plug-in hybrids to electric powertrains, Volvo is finding unexpected success with its lineup of plug-in hybrids.
At a recent roundtable with journalists in Sweden, Volvo CEO Hakan Samuelsson said the company is disappointed that it underestimated demand for its plug-in hybrids.
DON'T MISS: Volvo XC90, XC60 T8 plug-in hybrids add electric miles for 2020
“We are not happy because we could sell more [plug-in hybrids],” he said, according to Automotive News (subscription required.) “We underestimated the demand.” He said the company did not have a big enough supply of batteries, motors, and other electrical components to build more of its plug-in hybrids, which sell for about 30 percent more than non-hybrid versions of the cars.
Samuelsson said the company will boost its capacity for those plug-in hybrid components for 2019, from its current 10 or 15 percent worldwide, up to 25 percent of its sales.
READ THIS: Audi plans new plug-in hybrid Q5, A6, A7, and A8 for Geneva reveal
Last year in the U.S., Volvo sold a little less than 1,500 XC90 T8 PHEVs, a little more than 2,100 XC60 T8 PHEVs, and fewer than 500 S90 T8 sedans, but it sold almost 27,000 plug-in hybrids in Europe, combined.
At the same time, the company announced an upgrade to upcoming XC60 and XC90 T8 hybrids to boost their plug-in range by about 15 percent.
CHECK OUT: Fiat Chrysler lays groundwork to build electrified Jeep models
The new models haven't been rated by the EPA, but current models have an estimated 17 miles of electric range, which would put the new ones up around 20 miles. The Volvos use a 2.0-liter turbo-4 and an 8-speed automatic transmission to drive the front wheels, and an electric motor to provide another 87 horsepower and 177 pound-feet of torque to the rear wheels.
Volvo also announced a new B5 line of mild-hybrid SUVs for Europe.
Other automakers, such as Audi, BMW, and Jeep have also announced plans to boost their lineups of plug-in hybrid SUVs, earlier this month at the Geneva auto show, so the new Volvos will have plenty of competition.
Lynk&Co tests fifth model in run-up to European launch
The new Lynk&Co 05 SUV-coupé, which is set to rival the BMW X6 and Mercedes-Benz GLE Coupé, has been spotted testing in Germany ahead of an expected unveiling at the Shanghai motor show next month. The high-riding model will be offered by the Chinese brand, which is owned by Volvo parent firm Geely and intends to… Continue reading Lynk&Co tests fifth model in run-up to European launch
Volvo chief issues warning on self-driving car safety
The chief executive of Volvo has warned that the premature launch of self-driving cars could erode trust among the public and regulators and effectively kill off the technology. Tom Braithwaite spoke to Peter Campbell, motor industry correspondent about Volvo’s warning. Contributors: Katie Martin, capital markets editor, Tom Braithwaite, Companies editor, and Peter Campbell, motor industry correspondent.… Continue reading Volvo chief issues warning on self-driving car safety