Category: Brands

Porsche confirmed plans last July to launch a range-topping, full-electric flagship crossover that Blume described at the time as “a very sporty interpretation of an SUV.”

The crossover, codenamed K1, will be built in Leipzig starting from the middle of the decade, and will incorporate technology seen on the Mission R concept presented in 2021 at the IAA auto show in Munich. In addition to a new high-performance battery, the Mission R also had a 920-volt electrical system designed to reduce charging times.

Porsche is also planning to set up a new Car-IT department, headed by former Daimler digital chief Sajjad Khan. The move follows protracted problems at VW’s Cariad software unit that have delayed several important models, including Porsche’s electric Macan.

Dividend payment

Porsche is proposing a dividend of 911 million euros following the company’s partial listing in September, equating to 1 euro per ordinary share and 1.01 euro per preferred share.

Bloomberg and Reuters contributed to this report

Ford is set to cut 1,100 jobs from its plant in Valencia, Spain, as it shuts down production of its once-popular models, the S-Max and Galaxy minivans. This move comes as part of the company’s overhaul of its car production lineup in Europe, which will see it shift focus to SUVs and electric cars. The announcement was confirmed by a Ford spokesperson to Automotive News Europe.

The S-Max and Galaxy MPVs’ end of production was announced last year, and is set to happen in April. Beyond the two minivans, the Valencia plant will continue to produce the Transit Connect compact van and the Kuga compact SUV. According to Ford’s spokesperson, the company has pledged to work with its union partners to minimize the impact of the layoffs on its employees, their families, and the local community.

Last year, Ford ceased production of the Mondeo midsize car at Valencia, which was also part of its restructuring plan. The move highlights the challenges facing traditional car manufacturers as they navigate the shift toward more sustainable and efficient models of transportation.

This isn’t the first layoff from the Blue Oval. As confirmed last month, Ford will be cutting 3,800 jobs in Europe by 2025. 

Ford’s decision for the massive layoff reflects the company’s adaptation to the evolving automotive industry, particularly in terms of the shift to electric vehicles. With the simplification of EV drivetrains, there is less engineering work required, which led to the elimination of 2,800 engineering positions. The remaining 1,000 jobs will be cut from administrative, marketing, sales, and distribution functions, as Ford streamlines its operations.

The job cuts will have a significant impact in Germany, where 2,300 employees will be let go, followed by 1,300 in the UK, and 200 in other parts of Europe.

Martin Sander, General Manager of Ford Model e in Europe, explained the rationale of the job cuts to Automotive News, “There is significantly less work to be done on drivetrains moving out of combustion engines. We are moving into a world with less global platforms where less engineering work is necessary. This is why we have to make the adjustments.”

Witnesses spotted the two getting into the Model X with boxes of gaming consoles and electric toothbrushes, and police broadcast the EV’s description. The suspects stopped at a Tesla Supercharger only a few exits south on Interstate 85.

Police arrested them at the charger site and shared photos on social media of the vehicle packed with $8,000 worth of stolen merchandise. It wasn’t clear whether the Tesla was owned by one of the suspects or had also been stolen.

Chuck Thelen, vice president of North American operations for Gotion, said he “cannot confirm at this time” the new details.

The company shared its revised plans with township officials last week, Chapman said. The entire project, expanded and all, would be in Green Township, as it is currently mocked up. The new buildings would house additional manufacturing processes that the company is looking to bring on site.

Chapman said he welcomed the development, adding that he believes the project is “significantly closer” to being a done deal.

“Two hundred to three hundred jobs in this community is something we set off fireworks for,” he said. “If they want to bring more jobs and economic development to my community, come on down.”

Gotion still has not made any final commitment to the project, which Thelen previously said is contingent on a number of approvals at the state and local levels, as well as the signing off on $715 million in state incentives.

The project originally straddled two townships in Mecosta County, but after Big Rapids Township board members voiced concerns over its ties to China and impact on the water table and environment, the company turned its focus solely onto Green Township.

Michigan Democrats moving to repeal the “right-to-work” law is also a concern for the company, according to Chapman, who said he heard the concern raised Friday during a Mecosta County economic development group meeting.

The plant, which would be the company’s first in the U.S., would make anode and cathode materials for EV batteries. Most of the product from the factory would be supplied to make Gotion battery packs, according to the company. It has not disclosed its automotive customers.

Thelen said last week that the company has a backup plan should the project in Big Rapids fall through.

“We wish to start quickly. It’s all dependent on the state and local governments,” he said. “But we do not have a final obligation from either side yet.”

Zooming out, the plant means a lot more to Michigan’s economy than plant jobs and temporary construction work, proponents say. Officials have argued that the state has only a brief window to capitalize on the flood of investment during a once-in-a-century industry transformation.

“This helps anchor the other investments in the state,” said Kristin Dziczek, automotive policy adviser with the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago’s Detroit Branch. “If the supply chain is local or regional, then you get jobs in supply chains.”

Manufacturing jobs have a significantly higher economic multiplier than other types of positions because of all the inputs needed at manufacturing jobs, Dziczek said. And higher-wage engineering jobs often follow manufacturing jobs.

Ford’s planned plant has an employment multiplier of 3.38, meaning that for every direct job from Ford, the state’s economy will add 3.38 indirect jobs.

Economic developers are already at work readying sites for Ford’s suppliers in Marshall. While the battery plant will take up 950 acres, the Marshall Area Economic Development Alliance has closed on 1,100 acres and has most of the 2,000-acre megasite under option, said Jim Durian, CEO of the agency.

Additionally, there are about 150 acres ready or near ready for development at a nearby industrial park.

“We’ve got everything from housing developers to industrial developers looking to identify sites,” Durian said. “I think that when you land a big deal like this, it builds more momentum for opportunities.”

Durian said conversations have started with automotive suppliers, but no deals have been cemented. “We just know that the supplier usually follows a large project like this,” he said.

VinFast’s bold ambitions to sell electric cars to consumers in the US have suffered another setback with production at its as-yet-unbuilt facility in North Carolina now not expected to start until 2025.

The Vietnamese company had most recently said it planned to start trial production at the plant by 2024. Earlier this week a company spokesperson said VinFast had “received the air permit and we are preparing for sub-contractors bidding and will start the construction soon.”

An updated filing for VinFast’s planned U.S. initial public offering released Friday however said that commissioning of the facility is targeted for 2025.

“Pre-construction work for phase one commenced in the third quarter of 2022, with commissioning targeted for 2025,” the filing said. “Phase one of the facility is expected to have an initial capacity of 150,000 vehicles a year” rising to 250,000 cars upon completion of phase two.

Tesla Inc.’s factory in China, by way of comparison, pumps out around 70,000 cars a month.

VinFast said to Bloomberg News that the delay was because “we need more time to complete administrative procedures.”

That delayed timeline also means VinFast won’t be able to take advantage of tax credits provided for under President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act. The IRA EV tax credits are only eligible for electric cars that are made in the US. Currently, VinFast is making its electric cars at a factory north of Hanoi and putting them on a ship.

“If purchases of our EVs are not able to qualify for tax credits under the IRA, demand for our EVs may decrease,” VinFast said in the filing.VinFast’s latest pre-IPO filing also showed the company lost $2.1 billion in the 12 months ended Dec. 31 versus around $800 million in 2020 and a deficit of $1.4 billion in 2021. Revenue last year from vehicle sales was just $525 million, down from about $586 million in 2021.

VinFast is part of Vingroup JSC, owned by billionaire Pham Nhat Vuong, who has a net worth of around $4.1 billion.

As of the end of last year, Vingroup, its affiliates and external lenders had pumped about $8.2 billion into VinFast. Vuong has no plans as yet to personally invest any more money in VinFast, the carmaker’s Chief Executive Officer Le Thi Thu Thuy said in February.

The EV maker’s owners and lenders had invested about $7.5 billion to fund operating expenses and capital expenditures as of September, an earlier pre-IPO filing showed.

The cars that were shipped over from Vietnam started to be delivered to US customers this month. There were 45 so-called VF 8 City Edition electric SUVs delivered to buyers and VinFast said the vehicles will continue be delivered to customers at VinFast’s stores or through a home delivery service. Some 999 cars are expected to be handed over in total.

Responding to questions from Bloomberg about some cars not starting upon arrival in the US, a company spokesperson said “some vehicles might have run out of batteries and need to be recharged when they arrived in the US. This is normal thing.”

VinFast says it has around 12,000 pre-orders for the VF 8 and VF 9 models.

VinFast said in its latest filing that the City Edition cars, which have a limited driving range, were the first version of the VF 8 to go through relevant testing and approval process in the US and therefore were available sooner than the VF 8 with enhanced driving range.

Donkervoort has announced that it will be adding another 25 cars to the production run of the all-new F22 due to the high demand. The announcement came after the fact that the initial 75 models announced last December were all sold out. Donkervoort will be producing a total of 100 units of the F22. Of note, the production is already in full swing, and the first cars have already been delivered to their new owners.

According to the Dutch boutique carmaker, the bulk of the orders came from Western Europe. However, it also received orders and inquiries from as far as North America, the UAE, the UK, southern Europe, Scandinavia, and even Israel. Five cars were allocated to the US.

Denis Donkervoort, the Managing Director of Donkervoort Automobielen, commented, “We had hoped people would appreciate the F22, and they did. They appreciated it so much we had to turn back to our logistics chain to source enough high-quality pieces to create another 25 cars after all the regular production slots had been filled. This is where it ends, though.”

Of course, the additional Donkervoort F22 units will have the same power, torque, weight, and performance specifications as the initial models.

That said, all 100 units of the 1,653-pound (750-kilogram) F22 will have a power-to-weight ratio of 666 horsepower per metric ton – better than a Bugatti Veyron. Power comes from an Audi-sourced turbocharged 2.5-liter inline-five that churns out up to 492 horsepower (367 kilowatts). That power goes to just the rear wheels via a five-speed manual transmission, paired with a Torsen limited-slip differential.

The Donkervoort F22 can sprint from zero to 62 miles per hour (100 kilometers per hour) in 2.5 seconds, and ceilings at 180 mph (290 km/h).

Donkervoort had planned to end production of the F22 at the end of 2024, but the additional units will push the production out until midway through 2025. This extension will allow the automaker to broaden its extended customer family and introduce a new buyer group to its brand.

BERLIN — BMW’s core carmaking business hit its 2022 earnings target, the company said in a statement on Thursday, helped by strong pricing and consolidation of its China joint venture.

Group revenue rose 28 percent to 142.6 billion euros ($150.66 billion) versus a Refinitiv SmartEstimate of 141.6 billion.

Its autos business reported an 8.6 percent margin on earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) of 10.6 billion euros and cash flow of 11.1 billion euros.

Almost half of the latter came from a cash contribution from Chinese joint venture BMW Brilliance Automotive (BBA).

It proposed a dividend to shareholders of 8.50 euros, up from 5.80 a year earlier.

BMW said last February it would pay 3.7 billion euros to take majority control of BBA after securing the necessary license from Beijing, increasing its stake to 75 percent from 50 percent.

The company said over the year it had faced higher costs of sale, including materials, commodities, logistics and refinancing.

The batteries will supply Shyft’s Blue Arc, a new line of electric last-mile-delivery vehicles. The company declined to specify customers, but its largest clients include Amazon Inc. and FedEx Corp.

It also has an initial order of 2,000 electric vehicles from North Carolina-based Randy Marion Automotive Group. The loss of defunct Electric Last Mile Solutions is Shyft’s gain. Marion had placed an order of 1,000 units from Troy-based ELMS before the company crumbled, and Mullen Automotive Inc. absorbed its assets.

ONE will produce a new variation of its 79kWh Aries battery for Shyft’s Class 5 truck. ONE is dividing the battery into two 62 kWh segments and double stacking them for 248 kWh and 540 volts. The company said the flexible configuration allows for better energy efficiency and more discretion over how to use vehicle storage capacity, a key concern for delivery vehicles.

LFP batteries do not contain nickel or cobalt — elements that are problematic for their limited supply and origins. The chemistry offers less range than the current industry standard NMC (nickel, manganese, cobalt), but LFP is ideal for last-mile delivery vehicles that are frequently charged. Shyft’s other battery supplier, California-based Proterra, makes NMC batteries.

Shyft joins Berkshire Hathaway, Motiv and Bollinger Motors, also acquired by Mullen last year, as ONE customers that have been announced.

ONE’s commercial vehicle batteries are being produced in a Piston Group plant in Van Buren Township near ONE’s planned $1.6 billion plant, which will make batteries for passenger vehicles.

Production for the Shyft batteries is to begin at the end of the month. The company announced last month that it would invest $16 million at its plant in Charlotte, MIch., to build EVs.

“We feel very confident in the product’s ability to function in their system because we have been driving their vehicles in metro Detroit for months,” Ijaz said.

The auto industry lags others in cybersecurity, said Mohammed Ismail, chair of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at Wayne State University in Detroit.

“With any new technology, this is a very typical situation,” he said. “When Wi-Fi and Bluetooth started 25 years ago, it took years for those technologies to be seamless and mature.”

Ismail estimates the auto industry needs about five more years of R&D to produce millions of predominantly software-based vehicles that are very secure.

Friendly hackers will help the industry get there.

“Using a bug bounty platform has proven to be an effective way to bring on board the knowledge and expertise of the security community,” Katja Liesenfeld, Mercedes-Benz Cars & Vans’ manager for IT communications, said in an email. “We cannot give more details on any technical details as the programs are private.”

Automakers are reluctant to talk about their reward programs and cybersecurity issues. Ford, Jaguar Land Rover, Nissan, Stellantis and Subaru declined to discuss their cybersecurity programs with Automotive News. BMW, Porsche and Volkswagen did not respond to queries. Honda said it doesn’t have a bug bounty program.

Nonetheless, most of the auto industry is proactive about cybersecurity issues, said Kevin Tierney, General Motors’ chief cybersecurity officer and vice chair of the Automotive Information Sharing and Analysis Center, known as Auto-ISAC. The group of automakers shares information about potential cyberthreats, vulnerabilities and incidents.

“Everyone’s making big moves and big investments,” Tierney said. “It’s not always obvious to the end consumer with everything that’s happening.”

GM started its bug bounty program in 2016. It is administered by HackerOne, of San Francisco, which also runs programs for BMW, Ford, Rivian and Toyota.

HackerOne’s automotive business jumped 400 percent from 2021 to 2022 as clients added services to their contracts. In addition to bug bounty management, HackerOne provides vulnerability disclosure programs, penetration testing of online systems and other services.