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AUTO SALES: China’s Car Slump Has Dealers Slashing Prices, Giving Cheap Loans

  • Date: 03-03-19
  • Category: AUTO SALES
  • Source: Bloomberg

China’s worst car-market slump in a generation is forcing manufacturers and dealers to resort to generous discounts and loan offers to lure buyers, as the slowdown hits automakers’ profits.

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ELECTRIC VEHICLES: German Car Industry to Invest $45 Billion in Electric Vehicles

Germany’s automotive industry will invest over 40 billion euros ($45 billion) in electric vehicles over the next three years to triple the number of models vying for buyers, the head of the VDA car industry association said.

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EMISSIONS: No-deal Brexit and US tariff threat, combined with CO2 targets, make 2019 a challenging year

  • Date: 28-02-19
  • Category: EMISSIONS
  • Source: ACEA

Europe’s automobile industry will face some fundamental challenges this year. These include the looming prospect of a no-deal Brexit, the ever-present threat of US tariffs on car imports from the EU, as well as meeting stringent CO2 targets – both those for 2020 and the recently-agreed post-2020 targets for cars, vans and trucks. Given the challenges ahead, it is more than ever vital that efforts to safeguard the competitiveness of Europe’s auto industry are stepped up, also bearing in mind the rather shaky growth forecast for the car market in 2019.

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MOBILITY: This Is What Peak Car Looks Like

  • Date: 28-02-19
  • Category: MOBILITY
  • Source: Bloomberg

After one too many snowstorms, Boston tech executive Larry Kim had had it with shoveling out his car and struggling to find parking. So in 2014 he ditched his Infiniti luxury sedan and began commuting by Uber and Lyft—at an annual cost of as much as $20,000. “I would never go back to owning a car,” says Kim, chief executive officer of MobileMonkey Inc., a Facebook Messenger marketing platform, who says he’s recovered an hour a day by not driving.

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PGM PRODUCERS: Implats Plans to Build Palladium Mine in 2021 on Bullish Outlook

Impala Platinum Holdings Ltd. plans to start building a new palladium mine that could begin producing as soon as 2024 as the company’s outlook for metals turns bullish. Implats, as the second-biggest platinum miner is known, plans to start work on the Waterberg project in South Africa in 2021, Chief Executive Officer Nico Muller said.

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PGM PRODUCERS: Implats pumps cash, slashes debt in applaudable turnaround

A higher platinum group metals (PGMs) rand basket price boosted by increases in palladium, rhodium and nickel resulted in an applaudable operational and financial turnaround by Impala Platinum (Implats) in the six months to end December.

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BATTERIES: Johnson Matthey and Lithium Werks sign long-term LFP battery materials supply agreement

  • Date: 28-02-19
  • Category: BATTERIES
  • Source: Johnson Matthey

Under the agreement, which will start 1 April 2019 and run for five years, JM will supply its lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery cathode material manufactured at its facility in Changzhou, China. The cathode material is a key component in battery cells produced by Lithium Werks, for a range of applications, including material handling, large motive, maritime and energy storage. Through incorporating JM’s advanced LFP technology into Lithium Werks’ batteries, both companies are excited to work together to support the growing demand from industry and consumers for higher performing energy storage technologies.

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AUTO SALES: Why cracking India's booming car market is not so simple

  • Date: 27-02-19
  • Category: AUTO SALES
  • Source: Europe Auto News

India's automotive market has been a sleeping giant. Only 18 out of 1,000 Indians own a car, compared with nearly 800 in the United States and around 500 in the European Union

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