Car production bounces back on 12-month anniversary of factory shutdowns May 27, 2021 UK car production returned to near normality in April compared to the same month a year before as automakers continued to struggle with the shortage of semiconductor chips. Britain made 68,306 cars last month, up from 197 a year ago when factories were shuttered due to the initial Covid-19 lockdown. Compared to April 2019, the [...]
Ford aims for 40 per cent electric car sales by 2030 May 26, 2021 Ford today said that it was aiming for 40 per cent of its sales to be of electric cars by 2030, sending shares up 7.0 per cent today. The announcement came as the Michigan-headquartered firm unveiled a new strategy, call Ford+, that will see it put $30bn into electrification over the next decade. That is [...]
Nissan ‘in talks’ to build Sunderland battery gigafactory May 26, 2021 Nissan is reportedly in talks with UK ministers over plans to build a new battery gigafactory at its existing site in Sunderland. The new facility, the FT reported, would be run by the Japanese car giant’s subsidiary Envision AESC, and would produce enough batteries for 200,000 electric cars each year. Nissan said it had “no [...]
Ready, set, go: Britain is bound for the next space race May 26, 2021 The UK is bound for a seat in the next space race, the transport secretary has said today, as the government preps for Virgin’s commercial Orbit mission – the UK’s first space-bound flight. The National Space Agency (NSA) confirmed on Monday that spaceflights will soon be a reality as the government has funded spaceports that [...]
UK companies to help plot ‘constellation’ of satellites around the Moon May 20, 2021 UK space companies have begun developing navigation and telecommunication capabilities to put a ‘constellation’ of satellites around the Moon, according to the European Space Agency (ESA) today. With funding from the UK Space Agency, Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL), Inmarsat and MDA Space and Robotics have bagged £2m contracts with the ESA for the satellite [...]
Airbus to shut a Spanish production plant May 19, 2021 Airbus SE have announced plans to merge the activities of its two plants in Spain since the end of the production of A380 superjumbos has left the factories without enough work to sustain them both. The French company has already held discussions with the Spanish government and unions and aims to avoid forced layoffs, according [...]
Jaguar Land Rover sinks to a loss after new CEO’s £1.5bn strategy reset May 18, 2021 Jaguar Land Rover sinks to a loss after new CEO's £1.5bn strategy reset
Rocket debris racing for Earth, expected to arrive tomorrow May 7, 2021 Debris falling from a Chinese rocket is expected to land on Earth tomorrow, amid concerns it could cause damage upon re-entry into the atmosphere. A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin urged today that most of the debris will be burned up on re-entry and is highly unlikely to cause any harm. The Defence Department [...]
German e-car boom will hit 178,000 workers unless companies focus on re-skilling May 6, 2021 The electric cars boom will hit 178,000 workers in Germany unless companies gear up efforts to re-skill their employees, a report has shown today. The country’s auto industry will suffer more employees retiring than the labour market can keep up within the coming years, the Ifo institute said. With battery-driven cars requiring less assembly work [...]
Reopening of showrooms boosts new car sales in April May 5, 2021 The reopening of England’s car showrooms boosted sales of new vehicles in April, prompting the car industry to hail the “light at the end of the tunnel” after lockdown. In total, 141,583 new vehicles were registered last month, a thirty-fold jump on the same month a year ago, when the initial coronavirus lockdown all but [...]