2021-02-23
Haval Motor Manufacturing has recalled 16,075 cars F7/F7x, sold from May 2019 until January 2021. This affects about all the cars in the market.
A fuel system problem in some cars in low temperatures has caused several cars to catch fire in cold weather.
The Union Budget 2021 is very important since it comes during an unprecedented pandemic. The most significant pain points of the economy are the lack of demand and liquidity. The shrinking market’s impact and the weak demand is evident after the Economic Survey said that the country would experience a current account surplus for the first time in 17 years.
The automotive industry is the key stakeholder of the country’s economy. It suffered extensive sluggishness in the past 10-12 quarters after introducing GST, the new safety norms, insurance regulations, axle, and emission norms. These led to a hefty increase in purchase costs. The industry was waiting for direct announcements to reduce purchase cost and improve customer sentiment
The Indonesian government announced on Feb. 5 that it had received an investment proposal from Tesla. The country is the world’s largest producer of nickel, which is essential for the production of batteries for EVs. In order to promote the EV and battery related industries, Indonesia had invited Tesla to invest in the country.
Details of the talks between Indonesia and Tesla cannot be disclosed due to confidentiality agreements, but it is said that they have mainly discussed battery and energy storage solutions. The Indonesian vice-minister said, “If Tesla only wants to buy raw materials, we are not interested. The proposal is more than the procurement of raw materials and extends to energy storage systems such as MegaPack, PowerPack and Powerwall,” he said.
South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Group is launching a new business to produce EVs to order, according to customer preferences. It is designed to be used for corporate purposes such as delivery and car sharing, and the body design and loading capacity can be flexibly changed to suit the intended use.
The company will take advantage of the characteristics of EVs, which have a higher degree of freedom in design than gasoline vehicles. The company will also introduce a business model that does not involve mass production to accelerate the growth of its EV business.
Honda announced the “GYRO e:” and “GYRO CANOPY e:” as planned commercial models of electric three-wheeled scooters for business use that use replaceable batteries. The new models will be marketed as the Honda e: Business Bike series together with the BENLY e: business electric two-wheeled scooter, which has been sold to corporate customers since April 2020.
The GYRO series will be used in many business applications such as deliveries. The GYRO series is a three-wheeled model with one wheel in the front and two in the rear to increase stability, and there is also a “CANOPY” model with a roof and wipers that can handle a little rain.
2021-01-25
UAZ plans to sell is Patriot SUV under the Bremach Taos brand in the US. It will be sold by a branch of Italian Company Bremach, which specializes in AWD special cars. Patriot is being upgraded to meet the standards required on US public roads.
Assembly is planned to be performed in California. The base cost of the SUV is expected to be about US$ 26,000. US modifications of the car will include an automatic transmission and 4-cylinder of 2.7 liter and 150hp. It will have 5-year general warranty and 10-year warranty on engine.
Hyundai has closed its purchase of the GM plant in St Petersburg, but the production start date has not been determined. The announcement was made during a company press-conference.
Financial details and company plans related to the production site were not disclosed.
The Russian automotive sector is expanding and has a good chance to meet existing payable demand, reports industry minister Mr. Manturov. He said the domestic market has taken fourth place in Europe by volume for the first time.
Car sales have been growing the last three months, and dealers are talking about a shortage of inventory. If the production does not recover until Spring, the market will be short, they say. But the minister said OEMs will handle this challenge easily.
Officials at Volkswagen, Ford, Fiat Chrysler, Toyota and Nissan all say they have been hit by the shortage and have been forced to delay production of some models in order to keep other factories running.
A widening global shortage of semiconductors for auto parts is forcing major auto companies to halt or slow vehicle production just as they were recovering from pandemic-related factory shutdowns.
“This is absolutely an industry issue,” Toyota spokesman Scott Vazin said in an email. “We are evaluating the supply constraint of semiconductors and developing countermeasures to minimize the impact to production.”
Hyundai Motor and Apple are negotiating a partnership in the field of self-driving EVs, reports the Korean newspaper Korea IT News. Other media reported that Hyundai and Apple are aiming to launch a self-driving EV in 2027. Soon after this report, Hyundai announced that it was in early stage talks with Apple. (The above is excerpted from Newsweek)
Hyundai is playing a central role in the Apollo Project, the self-driving EV strategy of Chinese IT giant Baidu and is also actively mass-producing EVs.
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