Why London black cabs might ferry you around the Tokyo Olympics January 21, 2020 Londoners visiting Tokyo this summer will find a small part of home on the streets of the Japanese capital, after a fleet of London black cabs comes to the city in time for the Olympic Games. The London Electric Vehicle Company, the UK-based maker of the plug-in hybrid version of London’s black cabs which is [...]
The wheels come off: Are car sales still a bellwether for the UK economy? January 21, 2020 Route planning is always tricky. For investors, charting a path through the busy roadworks of the UK economy in 2020 can be especially hard, so markets are quick to pounce on any data that might provide a turning signal for the future. That’s why figures released earlier this month by the Society of Motor Manufacturers [...]
Renault sales fall 3.4 per cent amid doubts over Nissan alliance January 17, 2020 French car maker Renault suffered a 3.4 per cent fall in global sales last year, despite growing in its home European market. Sales grew by 1.3 per cent to 1.94m cars in Europe, but fell 17.2 per cent in China. Sales fell by 19.3 per cent in Africa, Middle East, India and the Pacific region. [...]
PSA suffers 10 per cent slump in sales for 2019 January 16, 2020 The parent company of Vauxhall and Peugeot suffered a 10 per cent slump in sales last year, as declining volumes in China, the Middle East and Africa came to bear on the car maker. PSA, which is part-way through a merger with Fiat Chrysler, saw sales decline by 2.5 per cent in its home European [...]
Renault chairman: ‘Real desire’ to make faltering Nissan alliance work January 16, 2020 Renault’s chairman has dismissed claims that the 20-year partnership between the French manufacturer and Nissan might be breaking down. Jean-Dominique Senard said today that there was a “real desire” at the alliance to make a success of it. This comes despite more than a year of turmoil caused by the arrest of its architect Carlos [...]
Hyundai and Kia inject €100m in London electric vehicle scaleup January 16, 2020 Car making giants Hyundai and Kia will today reveal a €100m (£85.6m) in London-headquartered electric vehicle firm Arrival. The move will mark the beginning of a strategic partnership between the trio which will see Hyundai and Kia use the scaleup’s technology to develop mobility solutions and electrify their vehicles. Arrival, which has more than 800 [...]
Chinese car sales tumble again in 2019 January 13, 2020 The Chinese car market was in reverse for the second consecutive year in 2019, as the cooling economy and the nation’s trade disputes with the US hit consumers. Sales slumped 8.2 per cent to 25.8m vehicles last year, after a 2.8 per cent fall to 28.1m in 2018, according to the China Association of Automobile [...]
Nissan executives and Japanese officials hit back at Carlos Ghosn January 9, 2020 Former chief executive of Nissan and successor to Carlos Ghosn, Hiroto Saikawa, has slammed his former mentor’s daring escape from the authorities in Tokyo to his childhood home of Lebanon. Ghosn fled the country late last month while awaiting trial for four charges of financial misconduct. Read more: Carlos Ghosn lambasts Japanese government and Nissan [...]
Carlos Ghosn lambasts Japanese government and Nissan for ‘collusion’ January 8, 2020 Carlos Ghosn has accused the Japanese state and Nissan executives of instigating a co-ordinated plot against him, in an explosive first appearance since his sensational escape from Japan last month. In a defiant but rambling press conference in Beirut, the former Nissan-Renault chairman said the charges of financial misconduct for which he had been arrested [...]
Millennials drive record Rolls-Royce sales as luxury car firm targets youth January 7, 2020 Rolls-Royce’s high-end, luxury cars may not immediately come to mind as the playthings of the younger generation. But thanks to a concerted push to appeal to younger buyers, the 111-year-old company has managed to bring the average age of its clientele down by 13 years over the last decade to just 43. Read more: Aston [...]