Industry

Volkswagen is running a feasibility study into selling models developed by its Chinese operations in Europe, and building them at underused European plants rather than importing them. Zwickau has been named as a possible site. Six candidate models have been reported, none of them confirmed.

China's market regulator has ordered nearly 4.3 million vehicles from 11 manufacturers back for a fix, the largest recall in the country's history. The fault is the emergency door release inside the cabin, which occupants and rescuers may not find after a crash cuts the power. Tesla accounts for about 2.98 million cars.

Negotiations broke down on August 21 after Washington moved to cut tariff relief for Canadian-made vehicles. New duties are already in force, and Canada retaliates from September 8.

Volkswagen's regional Amarok will be a separate vehicle from the global, Ford-based one, built on the architecture under SAIC's Maxus Interstellar X. It goes into production at General Pacheco in Argentina in 2027, backed by $580m, and Volkswagen says it is doing the design, chassis tuning and testing itself rather than rebadging.

An Conghui, the new chairman of Geely Automobile, told the company's half-year results conference that from 2028 cars from the Geely Auto portfolio will be built at Volvo Cars' European plants. No model has been confirmed, but Geely Auto covers Geely, Zeekr and Lynk & Co, and Ghent is the plant with the electric lines already running.

JPMorgan analysts visited Tesla's Fremont factory and came away with the company's clearest statement yet on hardware: the HW4 computer already fitted to cars on the road is sufficient for Full Self-Driving without driver supervision. The note also covers FSD v15, a faster AI4.5 chip, Cybercab scaling from late 2026 and an Optimus line going into the old Model S and X space.

Canada restored federal electric-car incentives on 16 February 2026 through the Electric Vehicle Affordability Program, and EV sales rose more than 80% in March over February. The rebate is deducted at the dealership and reimbursed by Ottawa afterwards, and dealers report waits of up to 90 days against a 20-business-day service standard, with some carrying more than C$200,000 in unpaid claims.

LG Energy Solution has started production at its $2 billion battery plant in Lansing, Michigan, and Toyota is the named automotive customer. The site builds the NMC cells for the 2027 Highlander EV, which Toyota assembles in Kentucky. General Motors part-built the plant, then sold its stake.

Ford is rolling out its AI Assistant to up to 8 million eligible Ford and Lincoln vehicles through the brands' phone apps. It answers questions about the specific car using live telemetry, reads photos, and moves into the dashboard from 2027. Google Gemini arrives separately as a voice assistant option.

Subaru's new electric crossovers have lifted its US EV sales, but at a steep cost. Incentive spending averages $9,650 per Solterra, $9,155 per Uncharted and $8,982 per Trailseeker, against $3,036 for the gasoline Outback, and the spending has already cut into quarterly profit.

Series production of the electric BMW i3 has begun at the Munich plant, the second Neue Klasse model after the iX3. BMW spent about 650 million euros (roughly $760 million) converting the site, which stops building combustion cars in 2027. The launch version is the i3 50 xDrive: 463 hp, 108.7 kWh, and up to 906 km WLTP.

CALB, China's third-largest battery maker, has launched a manufacturing quality overhaul after a 177 Ah LFP cell it supplied swelled into a curved "banana" shape and lost power in about 213,000 high-mileage Aion S Plus, Charming 580, and Max sedans built 2022-2023. GAC Aion extended the affected cars' battery warranty to 8 years or 300,000 km rather than issue a recall.

Li Auto signed a local-assembly agreement with Kazakh dealer group Allur to build its first production base outside China, at Kostanay. The move follows the L9's launch in Uzbekistan, where the brand has logged 5,056 deliveries and four stores since October 2025.

Maruti Suzuki's Plant D at Hansalpur, Gujarat has entered commercial production, lifting the site's annual capacity from 750,000 to 1 million units - the first time any single Suzuki factory worldwide has reached that figure. Plant D's first model off the line is the e Vitara.

Two Mercedes-AMG owners have filed a proposed class action against Mercedes-Benz in California, saying the metal AMG badge built into the seatback heats up in the sun and burned their skin on contact. One plaintiff's dermatologist recorded first- and second-degree burns matching the emblem's shape.

General Motors and SAIC have run their joint venture out to 2047 and given it a new job: at least 30 new-energy models by 2030, built in China and shipped to the Middle East, Africa, South America, Mexico and Asia-Pacific. The Buick Electra E7 goes first, in October. Chevrolet, meanwhile, stops selling in China.

Nissan posted a ¥3.8 billion ($24 million) net profit for the first quarter of its 2026 fiscal year, against a ¥115.8 billion loss a year earlier. Global sales still fell 6.7% in the first half of 2026, and the company trimmed its full-year volume forecast to 3.15 million cars.

Ford and Geely are forming a joint venture at Ford's Valencia, Spain plant, with Ford holding 66% and Geely 34%. One of the first projects could be a next-generation Ford Kuga, reportedly moving to Geely's GEA architecture around 2029.

Uber and Rivian will build a robotaxi fleet on the electric R2 crossover, with Uber investing up to $1.25 billion in Rivian through 2031 if autonomy milestones are met. The service starts in 2028 in San Francisco and Miami.

BMW is preparing its biggest lineup overhaul in years, with more than 40 launches promised across every segment as Neue Klasse design and technology spread from electric models to petrol, diesel, and hybrid cars. The electric iX3 and i3, an updated 7 Series, and the new X5 and iX5 are already underway, with a first electric M model and a BMW Alpina due in 2027.