Strategy & innovation newsletter | Edition 5 | 2024
Great Wall to close its European headquarters in Munich
Chinese car manufacturer Great Wall plans to close its European headquarters in Munich at the end of August and lay off all 100 employees. The company will stop its expansion into other European markets, but does not intend to withdraw from Europe.
As the German publication Manager Magazin revealed, citing insiders, Great Wall informed employees and business partners about this step on Tuesday.
BYD dominates China’s EV market as price cuts take effect
As BYD cuts the prices of its electric vehicles (EVs) in China, other manufacturers suffered in March. José Pontes, data director at EV Volumes (part of J.D. Power), looks at the impact on registrations with Autovista24 special content editor Phil Curry.
EVs, made up of battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) and plug-in hybrids (PHEVs), recorded strong growth in China during March. The market ended the month with registrations up 29% compared to the same month in 2023, with 743,289 deliveries.
Polestar 2 to be replaced by Polestar 7 in new Apple iPhone-style naming plan
Polestar has announced that future models will be named chronologically upon their release, rather than use the numbers of the existing models they replace. That means the current Polestar 2 will be replaced by a similar model in future called the Polestar 7.
Polestar is growing its range of all-electric vehicles with the Polestar 3 large SUV and Polestar 4 coupe-SUV, the upcoming Porsche Taycan-rivalling Polestar 5 and the drop-top Polestar 6. A new Polestar 1 has been ruled out, however, with the Swedish firm saying it’ll keep increasing model name numbers with each new release.
China's Nio unveils Tesla Model Y rival
Chinese electric vehicle (EV) maker Nio has unveiled the first car from its new lower-priced brand Onvo, in a direct challenge to Tesla's best-selling car.
With prices starting at 219,900 yuan ($30,465, £23,990), the L60 SUV is more than 10% cheaper than the world's most popular EV, Tesla's Model Y, which has a price tag of 249,900 yuan.
Protesters vow to keep up pressure on Tesla as it expands German gigafactory
Environmental protesters vowed to keep up the pressure on Tesla after failing to stop plans by Elon Musk’s company from expanding its sprawling electric vehicle plant outside Berlin.
The town council of Grünheide, guarded by police and plain-clothed security guards, gave the green light on Thursday to the US automaker after a heated, nearly three-hour debate disrupted by heckling and booing from the audience of about 200 people.
Jaguar Land Rover achieves record-breaking sales as luxury car demand booms
Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has achieved its highest ever yearly sales and its biggest profit in nearly a decade, as the luxury carmaker shrugs off any signs that budget-squeezed consumers have been reining in spending.
The company said it made £29 billion in revenues over the year to the end of March, more than a quarter higher than the previous year.
Ford threatens to restrict petrol car sales to meet the UK’s EV targets
Ford could resort to limiting the sales of its petrol cars in the UK, as it struggles to meet the electric car sales targets laid down in the government’s Zero-Emissions Vehicle Mandate.
Introduced at the start of this year, the ZEV mandate requires manufacturers to ensure that a minimum percentage of their overall sales are battery-powered, or face fines of up to £15,000 for every ICE car sold over the limit. This year, the target is set at 22 per cent, however, while EV sales continue to grow due to fleet demand, private buyers are proving reluctant to make the transition and EV targets are looking hard to meet. According to the latest industry figures, fewer than 17 per cent of models registered in April boasted zero-emissions powertrains.
Honda expects hybrid boom to last until end of decade
Honda's chief executive expects the boom in global hybrid sales to continue to the end of the decade, helping fund its ¥10tn ($65bn) investment plan to expand electric-vehicle production.
At a news conference on Thursday, Toshihiro Mibe said the company would stick with its target to phase out petrol and diesel cars by 2040, one of the most ambitious of Japanese carmakers.
Insurance news
How ADAS Technology Is Shaping The Automotive Industry
The automotive sector is poised to undergo a significant transformation, primarily driven by the rapid advancements in Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS). Valued at $122.86 billion by 2031, and growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14.6%, the ADAS market is not just expanding; it’s revolutionising the way we think about driving.
Surge In Demand Driven By Safety, Luxury
The increasing stringency of vehicle safety regulations globally is a primary catalyst for the rise of ADAS, according to a recent research by Meticulous Research—a leading global market research company. These systems, which range from adaptive cruise control to automatic emergency braking and blind-spot detection, are becoming indispensable in new vehicles.
AI drives major rise in car insurance fraud as criminals fake evidence
Scammers are now using artificial intelligence (AI) to doctor photographs in order to commit car insurance fraud. An investigation by Allianz, parent company of insurance firm Liverpool Victoria (LV=), has found that such cases across the entire insurance industry have risen by as much as 300 per cent in the last year, with new investment targeted at trying to identify such false claims.
Generative AI features on photo editing apps are more accessible than they’ve ever been, and crooks are utilising this technology in order to edit and then submit so-called ‘shallowfaked’ images and videos as evidence in fraudulent insurance claims.
Digital marketing and retail news
Will Keyloop and ATG coming together benefit dealers?
The acquisition of ATG by Keyloop brings together two of the largest technology companies that support a large number of franchised and independent dealers across the UK.
The question for the industry is whether the coming together of these two companies will benefit retailers. The news made headlines a few weeks ago, and the deal is set to transform the technology landscape in UK automotive retail.
Three major trends that were touted to be in the future and threatened to transform the motor trade are now here and represent an ‘opportunity’ for car dealers.
That’s the view of Auto Trader. The firm’s chief operating officer recently appeared on Car Dealer Live to discuss how retailers are adapting to unprecedented change in the motor trade, and to discuss how the new and used car markets are currently performing.