Industry News | Power Systems Research

2025-12-08

Ford Uses Revised Strategy for Success

Ford Motor Company’s decision to re-enter the Indian market marks one of the most closely watched developments in the auto industry this year. After exiting mass-market operations in 2021, due to persistent losses and an increasingly competitive environment, Ford’s return signals a significant strategic recalibration driven by changing market dynamics, India’s rising manufacturing relevance, and the company’s global EV transformation agenda.

Unlike the last decade—when Ford struggled with scale, cost structures, and a limited product pipeline—its new India plan is built around focused investments, platform sharing, premium positioning, and leveraging India as an export and engineering powerhouse.

Shifting from Mass-Market to Strategic Segments
Ford’s earlier struggle stemmed largely from competing in high-volume, price-sensitive segments dominated by Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai, and later Tata and Kia. The new strategy avoids this path.

Categories: Indian Subcontinent, Passenger Cars, Minivans, and SUVs, Production, Sales

Office: India Office

Delays in Agricultural Equipment Delivery Worsen

Akihiro Komuro

The increase in 2025 rice prices has provided farmers with more financial flexibility, leading to a surge in demand for upgrades to agricultural machinery. However, farmers are reporting longer wait times for machinery orders, sometimes up to a year. They are expressing concerns such as, “We can’t plan next season’s operations,” and “If delivery is delayed until next year, can we really count it as an expense for this year?”

Many small- and medium-sized farms had delayed replacing machinery due to prolonged low rice prices, opting instead to repair old equipment or purchase used machinery. The 2025 rice harvest, however, saw more farmers gain financial leeway, increasing the demand for replacing or purchasing new machinery.

While agricultural machinery manufacturers have been increasing production of high-efficiency models, such as smart farm equipment, targeting large-scale agricultural corporations, the supply-demand balance has shifted. This has created a situation in which supply cannot keep pace with the sudden surge in demand.

Source: JA.com

Categories: Agricultural, Japan, Production, Sales

Office: Japan Office

2025 EV Motorcycle Promotion Project Continued

Akihiro Komuro

South Korea’s Ministry of Environment is continuing the “Electric Motorcycle Subsidy Program and Battery Swap Charging Facility Support Program,” which was launched in spring 2025. Its effects appear to be gradually emerging in the market.

Categories: Alternative Power, Electrification, EV, Legislation, Recreational Products, South Korea

Office: Japan Office

EU-US Trade Deal Threatens European Production

Emiliano Marzoli

The EU-US trade agreement is facing intense criticism from European policymakers and industry leaders who deem it unbalanced, unfair, and a “significant policy mistake.” The persistence of high US tariffs and mounting non-tariff barriers are severely hurting Europe’s export-oriented industrial sector. Experts warn the deal has cornered the EU, increasing its dependency on critical raw materials and semiconductors.

Specifically, US Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminium derivatives are crippling the machinery sector with complex compliance rules. Failure to comply can trigger punitive tariffs up to 200%, prompting some firms to halt US exports entirely and leading to a sharp drop in sales (e.g., German machinery exports have fallen 18.5%). EU lawmakers are now pushing for amendments, including sunset clauses and safeguards, amid concerns that the current framework is unsustainable.

Source: Euractiv Read The Article

Categories: Europe, Industrial, Legislation, Production, Tariff

Office: Europe Office

EPA Won’t Delay 2027 NOx Rule, Plans Changes

Chris Fisher

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is moving forward with the 2027 timeline for its heavy-duty NOx rule—currently set to take effect with the 2027 model year—but says changes are in store.

The American Trucking Associations (ATA), National Tank Truck Carriers, Truckload Carriers Association, and 49 state trucking associations in August penned a letter to EPA, asking the regulator to push implementation to 2031, citing “substantial compliance costs and operational burdens at a time when the trucking industry is already contending with historically difficult market conditions.”

Administrator Lee Zeldin in March announced that the EPA was reevaluating the Biden-era 2022 Heavy-Duty Engine and Vehicle rule that regulates oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and other emissions beginning with Model Year 2027.

Categories: Commercial Vehicles, Emissions, Legislation, North America

Office: United States Offices

2025-12-07

EV Sales Growth Has Slowed

Guy Youngs

Over the course of the last two years or so, sales of battery electric vehicles, while continuing to grow, have posted lower year-over-year percentage growth rates than they had in years prior. EV sales used to grow at 50%+ per year, but for the last couple years, they have grown closer to about 25% per year.

Categories: Alternative Power, AltPwr, EV, Sales

Office: United States Offices

2025-11-17

Auto Sector Driven by 2Ws, Stable PV Demand

Aditya Kondejkar

INDIA REPORT

India’s auto sector delivered a resilient performance in the first half of FY26 (April–September 2025), supported by healthy two-wheeler volumes, steady passenger-vehicle demand, and a modest recovery in commercial vehicles — even as the industry navigated EV market churn and shifting policy tailwinds.

Two-wheelers continued to underpin volume growth: production and domestic sales surged, with about 10,200,000 (1.02 crore) two-wheelers produced/sold in 1H FY26. This strength was driven by durable rural demand, improved affordability, and strong scooter and motorcycle cycles during the pre-festive and monsoon seasons.

Passenger vehicles showed robustness across the board, with roughly 2.05 million units recorded in the six-month period (Apr–Jun ~1.01m; Jul–Sep ~1.04m). OEMs benefited from a combination of steady urban demand, renewed festive spending and a partial easing of supply constraints. Strong export momentum — India recorded a record H1 export tally — also helped OEM plant utilizations.

Categories: Economics, Indian Subcontinent, Passenger Cars, Minivans, and SUVs, Production, Recreational Products, Sales

Office: India Office

2025-11-16

Trucking Recovery To Be Driven by Supply Side?

Chris Fisher

The signs of a freight recovery that appeared early this year are gone, replaced by a tough market where recovery will have to come from a supply-side correction, American Trucking Associations’ Chief Economist Bob Costello said at ATA’s 2025 Management Conference & Exhibition in San Diego.

Costello delivered a blunt and sobering economic warning: new tariffs, persistent stagflation, and a slowing labor market have created “absolutely unsustainable” conditions for many carriers, and the only way out, at least near-term, is to erase capacity from the highway.

“It’s not easy to talk about because it’s people’s livelihoods, but it’s a necessary evil,” Costello said, noting that freight demand is unlikely to improve anytime soon. “This has got to be a supply-driven change in the market.”

The current 18% effective tariff rate, nearly six times higher than it was during the first Trump administration, is a level not seen since the 1930s. Costello warned that the industry is only in the “bottom of the second or top of the third inning” of feeling the impact. “Any benefits of putting tariffs on foreign goods… are years in the future, but the cost hits much quicker,” he said.

Categories: Commercial Vehicles, Economics, North America, Supply Chain, Tariff

Office: United States Offices

2025-10-19

GST 2.0 Could Be Fiscal Reset for Auto Industry

Aditya Kondejkar

INDIA REPORT

The Indian automobile industry has received a significant policy boost with the rollout of GST 2.0, a major change in indirect taxes aimed at restoring affordability and stimulating consumption. The reform, which reduces GST rates on vehicles and components, arrives at a crucial juncture when entry-segment sales, rural demand, and OEM margins have been under pressure.

Scale of reduction and market impact. GST 2.0 lowers the rate on small cars and two-wheelers from 28% to 18%, while standardizing the rate on most auto components at 18% instead of the earlier 18%–28% range. Larger SUVs and luxury models now fall under a simplified 40% composite slab, down from nearly 50% earlier. These changes translate into tangible price cuts—ranging from $750 USD (₹65,000) for hatchbacks to over $3,400.00 USD (₹3 lakh) for premium models—resulting in an estimated 10-percentage-point drop in overall tax burden for the sector. Analysts see this as a long-awaited correction that could lift FY26 passenger-vehicle demand by 8–10%.

Categories: Indian Subcontinent, Legislation, Passenger Cars, Minivans, and SUVs, Production

Office: India Office

U.S. Tariffs Up To 50% Impact South Korea Exports

Akihiro Komuro

SOUTH KOREA REPORT

The U.S. Department of Commerce has announced tariffs of up to 50% on 407 steel and aluminum derivative products from South Korea.

The department’s Bureau of Industry and Security said this measure would apply to hundreds of products, including wind turbines and their components, mobile cranes, bulldozers, railway vehicles, furniture, compressors and pumps.

Categories: Japan, Off-Highway Equipment, Production, South Korea, Tariff

Office: Japan Office

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