Industry

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.

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.

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.

On the redesigned Avante in Korea and the new Ioniq 3, the screen behind the steering wheel is no longer standard equipment. Avante buyers can add the 9.9-inch driver's display for 350,000 won ($255). On the entry UK Ioniq 3 it cannot be added at any price. Without it, the speedometer lives on the central touchscreen.

Audi and SAIC have opened the AUDI Innovation & Technology Center in Shanghai, a roughly 300-person R&D operation for the China-only AUDI brand covering chassis, software, AI cockpits and driver assistance. The two companies will jointly develop four models on the new ADP 2.0 platform, the first arriving in 2028.

Tesla has published an online form inviting companies to register interest in buying Cybercab fleets and building Robotaxi infrastructure. It is the first public sign that the two-seat robotaxi may be operated by outside owners rather than only by Tesla itself. Nothing about prices, delivery timing or operator requirements has been confirmed.

Carwow's latest tracker puts UK consideration of Chinese brands at 49%, twice the 24% it recorded in the first half of 2023. Awareness of the individual badges has climbed faster still, though the survey is of the site's own audience rather than a national panel.

BYD's second-quarter net profit rose about 30% to 8.2 billion yuan ($1.21 billion), its first quarterly increase in five quarters, on revenue that still fell 3.2%. Overseas sales carried it: more than half of first-half revenue now comes from outside China, where revenue dropped by roughly a third.

Toyota is finishing a Lexus factory in Shanghai's Jinshan district, the brand's first production site in China and the first Japanese-owned car plant in the country with no local joint-venture partner. Investment is 14.6 billion yuan ($2.02 billion), capacity around 100,000 cars a year, and production starts in the second half of 2027.

Li Auto delivered 37,679 cars in August, its first year-on-year growth in four months and its fastest in two years. The eight-month total is still 0.6% below last year's, and hitting the company's own third-quarter guidance now requires a September bigger than August.

Honda and Nissan concluded a joint development agreement to standardize the electronic control units, in-vehicle operating system and control software in their next-generation cars, for use from fiscal 2029. Mitsubishi, named in earlier reporting, is not a signatory and says it is still considering whether to join.

The Times reports that JLR has paused work on the next-generation Defender, pushing the full electric version into the 2030s. Staff were told the reason is that the current car keeps selling, at around 110,000 units a year. What JLR has confirmed itself is separate: a smaller Defender-family model on the EMA platform, now offered as a hybrid as well as an EV.

Stellantis and Dongfeng have registered Dongfeng Stellantis Automotive Technology, a company with 8.2 billion yuan ($1.2 billion) of capital that will develop two electrified Jeeps and two Peugeots. They are built at DPCA's Wuhan plant from 2027, and the Jeeps are meant for export.

An independent importer is buying AUDI E5 Sportbacks and E7Xs in China, shipping them to Germany and homologating them there. The E5 lists at €59,980 (about $70,200) against a Chinese guide price of ¥235,900 ($34,900), and the cars carry no factory support in Europe.

Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen and Hyundai have all restored physical controls after customer complaints. BMW Group Australia chief Vikram Pawah says the company reads the same evidence differently, and the new iX3 carries no climate switches on its dashboard at all.

Fuyao has solar cells laminated inside panoramic roof glass and says it can mass-produce it. What the roof actually delivers is harder to pin down: the company has published no specification sheet, and the 720 W figure attached to it by Chinese media has been confirmed by nobody.