- BMW challenges Mercedes-Benz for premium car crown – FT: Who wears the crown for world’s biggest maker of premium cars in 2017 comes down to who you ask, as both BMW and Mercedes-Benz stake their claims. BMW Group today said sales for the year totalled 2.46m cars, or 4.1 per cent more than 2016. The numbers…
- BMW Group remains world’s Number One premium automotive company – Bmw: Seventh consecutive year of record sales +++ Global sales total 2,463,526: up 4.1% +++ Record sales for BMW, MINI, BMW Motorrad +++ New all-time highs for both BMW i and BMW M +++
- Toyota Gazoo GR Super Sport Concept hints at Supra hybrid powertrain – Autocar: Race-influenced model showcases technology grown from Toyota”s Le Mans racing programme and emphasises brand’s intent
- Vauxhall boss says UK plant’s future linked to sales – Automotive News: The new boss of PSA Group’s British Vauxhall brand said the future of the automaker’s Ellesmere Port plant, where a third of the workforce is being cut, is closely linked to Opel-Vauxhall’s sales, which have nosedived in Britain. PSA acquired Vauxhall…
- Audi, BMW workers stage strikes amid talks over wages, hours – Reuters: Workers at German companies including premium carmakers Audi (NSUG.DE) and BMW (BMWG.DE) are staging further walkouts on Friday amid labor talks seeking higher pay and shorter working hours which are set to continue next week. Powerful labor union IG…
- Volvo’s first driverless buses to be tested in NTU centre in Singapore – Yahoo: Come 2019, Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and Volvo Buses will begin testing the Swedish company’s driverless electric passenger buses at the school’s autonomous vehicle test circuit in Singapore. In an agreement signed at the university on…
- GM Drops the Steering Wheel and Gives the Robot Driver Control – Bloomberg: Next year, General Motors Co. will no longer need an engineer in the front seat babysitting the robot brain that controls its self-driving Chevrolet Bolt. … GM, Zoox, Waymo and others have all tested Level 4 cars, but usually with a driver still at…
- Why a Natural Gas Tanker Is Looking for Your Car – Bloomberg: If natural gas catches on, look for it first in fleets of small trucks, cars and buses from China to Italy, as well as in giant ocean-going vessels. Natural-gas proponents say their technology could be a bridge to a future dominated by electric…
- How GM”s Cruise AV works – Detroitnews: Safety gets emphasis in GM”s robotic ride-hailing fleethttp://rssfeeds.detroitnews.com/~/i/516873862/0/detroit/autosinsiderhttp://karkontent.com/
- GM moves to deploy driverless car fleet in 2019 – Detroitnews: GM seeks federal approval to launch fleet of cars without steering wheels or gas…
- GM Wants to Launch a Self-Driving Car Without a Steering Wheel or Pedals – Fortune: General Motors (gm, +2.77%) filed a petition asking the federal government permission to deploy self-driving Chevy Bolts that have no steering wheel, pedals, or other manual controls as it prepares to launch a robo ride-sharing service by 2019. The…
- GM takes steering wheel, pedals out of Chevy Bolt, asks feds to allow testing – Freep: Look Ma, no hands and no feet. But first, what does Uncle Sam say? General Motors has asked the government to approve test fleets of the latest iteration of its autonomous Chevy Bolt, which has no steering wheel, accelerator or brake pedal. Such…
- Fiat Chrysler to Spend $1 Billion to Modernize Michigan Plant – New York Times: Fiat Chrysler Automobiles said on Thursday that it planned to spend $1 billion to move production of heavy-duty pickup trucks from Mexico to a factory in Michigan, where it will add 2,500 new jobs as a result. The automaker also said it would award…
- Toyota Taps Le Mans in Bid to Rival Tesla With Hybrid Sports Car – Bloomberg: Japan’s biggest automaker unveiled a prototype sports car Friday that’s born from hybrid technology developed at the FIA World Endurance Championship. The two-seat GR Super Sport is on display at the Tokyo Auto Salon, the nation’s annual aftermarket…
- Toyota, Mazda Offered at Least $700 Million Incentive Package for Alabama Plant – WSJ: Tax and other incentives have come to play a major role in luring companies to hire and invest in various regions of the U.S. Toyota already has major parts-making operations in Alabama and builds cars in several U.S. assembly plants, while Mazda’s…
- Alabama incentives for Toyota-Mazda factory top $700 million – Washington Post: Alabama’s total incentive package to Toyota and Mazda will top $700 million after local incentives are added to what the state offered to land the companies’ new U.S. factory. The Huntsville City Council on Thursday approved a $320 million local…
- SpaceX Customer Blames Northrop Grumman for Missing Satellite – Bloomberg: Iridium is one of SpaceX’s largest commercial satellite customers, with four launches in the past 12 months from Vandenberg Air Force Base on California’s central coast and four upcoming launches listed on SpaceX’s manifest. Iridium has come to…
- China Neck and Neck With Silicon Valley In Showcasing Auto Tech at CES – Bloomberg: The biggest gadget show on the planet has become a key stomping ground for Chinese startups, especially makers of autonomous and electric vehicles, as they seek to disrupt the global passenger-car industry with new technology and woo investors. The…
- Ford expected to debut Ranger at Detroit auto show – Detroitnews: Midsize Ranger pickup to return to U.S. showrooms for the first time since 2011