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China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and eight other departments issued a five-year plan on September 9, 2026 targeting new-energy vehicles at 70% of domestic passenger-car sales and 40% of commercial-vehicle sales by 2030. The plan lands as China's own retail data already shows NEVs at a record 65.2% of the domestic market in August - a smaller gap than the headline number suggests. It also calls for consolidation among automakers and tighter battery-capacity controls.

Hyundai has opened European orders for the Staria Electric, its first fully electric van-based MPV, priced in Germany from EUR 57,450. The Trend and Prime trims seat nine; only the range-topping Calligraphy drops to seven.

A consortium led by HOF Capital and BlueFive Capital has bought out Porsche's stakes in both Rimac Group and the Bugatti Rimac joint venture, a deal that closed 9 September 2026. Rimac Group now controls Bugatti Rimac outright, ending Volkswagen and Porsche's ownership connection to Bugatti entirely. Mate Rimac becomes Bugatti's president.

Xiaomi's Skynomad N70 and N90 EREV SUVs began deliveries in China on September 13, 2026, both carrying the "Dragonscale" battery pack Xiaomi revealed alongside their September 7 launch. Xiaomi will replace a car outright if its Dragonscale pack self-ignites from a manufacturing defect, and will cover the gap between insurance and market value if it catches fire after a collision - for the first, non-commercial owner only, with an active connected-services subscription.

BMW has shown the new iX5 Hydrogen undisguised as it finishes its testing programme. Third-generation fuel cells developed with Toyota sit 25% more compactly than before, seven 700-bar tanks hold at least 7 kg of hydrogen, and BMW quotes up to 750 km of WLTP range on prototypes with a refuel of under five minutes. Series production starts in 2028.

AMG has built 30 examples of the CLE 646 Spezialanfertigung, a Mythos-series coupe assembled by hand in Affalterbach. A flat-plane-crank 4.0-litre twin turbo V8 replaces the CLE 53's straight six, driving the rear wheels through a nine-speed automatic, and carbon fibre plus deleted rear seats take about 170 kg out of the car. All 30 are sold.

Renault has revealed the production Niagara, a midsize pickup built on the RGMP platform for Brazil, Argentina and Colombia. It replaces the Oroch and is built at the Santa Isabel plant in Córdoba, Argentina, launching with a 1.3-litre turbo petrol rated 156 hp and sales starting November 2026.

Volvo has restyled the XC40, EX40 and EC40 together for the first time since the XC40 debuted in 2017, with new Matrix LED "Thor's hammer" headlights, a redesigned front end, an 11.2-inch infotainment system with Google's Gemini assistant, and new safety hardware. Powertrains carry over: the mild-hybrid XC40 stays at 163 or 197 hp, the electric EX40 and EC40 at up to 436 hp. German pricing starts at €43,990 for the XC40.

Geely launched the Galaxy TT on 10 September at prices from ¥129,900 ($19,170), the entry car 16,000 yuan under the ¥145,900 it had set at pre-sale in August. Range also improved: the 540 km entry tier is gone, replaced by 640 km as the new base across three of the five prices, with a 725 km version added on top.

Audi has published the full specification of its entry-level electric hatchback: four rear-wheel-drive versions from 125 to 240 kW, batteries of 52, 61 and 84 kWh, up to 646 km WLTP and German prices from €38,200 to €51,200 (about $41,600 to $55,800). Orders open on 10 September, deliveries start in December.

Cadillac has launched a plug-in hybrid version of the China-market XT5. A 1.5-litre turbo engine and two electric motors make a combined 517 hp and 740 Nm, enough for 0-100 km/h in 4.8 seconds, with a 35.5 kWh battery good for 215 km of electric range and 1,360 km in total on the CLTC cycle. It lists at ¥279,900 to ¥299,900, well under the petrol XT5's ¥379,900 guided price.

Dacia has revealed the second-generation Spring and opened orders in France. The cheapest electric car in its range is no longer assembled in China: it moves to Renault Group's Novo Mesto plant in Slovenia, onto the new RG-EV small platform, with a 60 kW motor, a 27.5 kWh LFP battery and up to 250 km WLTP. Prices start at €17,990 (about $19,600) before incentives.

Li Auto has revealed an updated MEGA, its seven-seat electric MPV. The range narrows to a single Home trim at ¥509,800 (about $75,840), ¥50,000 (about $7,400) below what the previous MEGA Home listed at, while the sensor count goes from one lidar to four and combined output rises from 400 kW to 413 kW. A 108 kWh CATL battery is rated at 710 km CLTC.

Taiwan's ProLogium has begun mass production of a large-format solid-state battery cell rated at 381 Wh/kg by TÜV, verified against a new Chinese solid-state standard by UL Solutions. Output is currently about 0.5 GWh a year, roughly enough for 6,250 packs the size of an 80 kWh EV battery, with a much larger plant planned in France.

Volkswagen has confirmed more than 30,000 European orders for the ID. Polo, with dealers quoting a minimum ten-month wait on individually configured cars - order now and delivery falls in May-June 2027. The company points to demand and to planned capacity at its Martorell plant. Sibling MEB+ models show the same pattern: Skoda has over 35,000 orders for the Epiq, and the Cupra Raval is booked out for months.

Volkswagen Group and India's JSW have signed a non-binding memorandum on a joint venture to widen the model range, deepen local component sourcing and raise in-country production and R&D. Nikkei and the Economic Times report a 51:49 split favouring JSW, unconfirmed by either party, with a final agreement targeted before the end of 2026.

Jaguar Land Rover will cut around 4,000 jobs over two years, close to 10% of its global workforce, and lower the volume it needs to break even to 300,000 cars a year. Pre-tax profit before exceptional items fell from £2.5 billion to £14 million in FY2026.

Volkswagen Group's supervisory board has signed off Future Plan 2030, which cuts the model range by up to 50% and configuration options by up to 75%, and sizes the production system for around 9 million cars a year. SEAT says no final decision has been taken on its future.

BYD has put the Sealion 08 on sale in China in eight versions between 229,900 and 279,900 yuan ($33,900 and $41,300). Every version uses the second-generation Blade Battery, which brings flash charging to the Ocean flagship: 10 to 70 percent in five minutes on the electric cars, which carry a 115.072 kWh pack and up to 900 km CLTC.

MIIT has launched a year-long quality campaign aimed at the trade-off behind China's 18 to 24 month development cycles, saying aggressive new technology is reaching production cars without enough testing. Inspectors have already visited XPeng, GAC Aion, NIO, Chery and JAC plants and pulled vehicles and battery packs for independent testing.