Guangzhou, China | Xinhua | China is certain to become the world’s largest automobile exporter this year, as its auto exports in the first 10 months hit 3.9 million units, an official with the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade has said. Wang Xia, head of the council’s …
Read More »CHINA: Swill oil from hotpots transformed into jet fuel
Swill oil from hotpots transformed into jet fuel Chengdu, China | Xinhua | At a bustling hotpot restaurant in southwest China’s Sichuan Province, waiters pour each pot of leftover oil into a funnel-shaped oil-water separator in the kitchen. This oil is then sent to energy companies including Finnish Neste, PetroChina …
Read More »Daimler to cut ‘thousands’ of jobs by 2022 to fund electric shift
Frankfurt am Main, Germany | AFP | Luxury automaker Daimler on Friday said it was scrapping “thousands” of jobs to help fund the switch to electric vehicles, in the latest layoffs to hit the stuttering German car industry. The Mercedes-Benz maker said it wanted to save 1.4 billion euros ($1.5 …
Read More »Volkswagen unveils new Golf as end of era nears
Francfort, Germany | AFP | Volkswagen unveiled the newest incarnation of its iconic Golf hatchback on Thursday, counting on the bestseller to help fund a costly switch to the electric era and bridge the gap to the cars of the future. The eighth generation of the unglamourous but trusted …
Read More »Blame game as wheels come off India’s auto sector
New Delhi, India | AFP | When India’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman claimed that a preference by millennials for ride-hailing apps was contributing to a painful slump in car sales, it sparked an online backlash from furious youngsters. They started a campaign using ironic hashtags such as #BoycottMillennials and #SayItLikeNirmalaTai …
Read More »Ghosn to appear in court: what happens next?
Tokyo, Japan | AFP | The case of auto tycoon Carlos Ghosn has gripped Japan and the business world since his stunning arrest in November, and now he is finally getting his day in court. Ghosn will be able to make his first public statement at a brief hearing on …
Read More »Ghosn set for court hearing in Japan over detention
Tokyo, Japan | AFP | Former Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn is likely to appear in a Japanese court next Tuesday to hear the reasons for his detention, after his lawyers deployed a little-used article of the Constitution. The shock move was the latest in a series of unexpected twists in …
Read More »372,000 German drivers join legal action against Volkswagen
Frankfurt am Main, Germany | AFP | Some 372,000 German owners of Volkswagen cars fitted with motors that cheated emissions tests have joined a collective legal action against the auto giant, official figures showed Thursday. Hundreds of thousands of people signed up to the collective action between late November and …
Read More »Ford recalls 874,000 pickups in US, Canada on fire risk
New York, United States | AFP | Ford is recalling 874,000 of its best-selling F-series pickup trucks due to fire risk from the engine block heater system, the company announced Friday. The problem occurs when there is corrosion in a connector in the engine block heater, which is used in …
Read More »Daimler, BMW win green light for car-sharing merger
Frankfurt am Main, Germany | AFP | German carmakers Daimler and BMW said Wednesday they had won final approval to merge their car-sharing services Car2Go and DriveNow, paving the way for the creation of a European giant to challenge the likes of Uber. In a joint statement, the companies said …
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