Saudi Aramco has agreed to invest in the Renault-Geely engine join-venture by furthering technological progress with synthetic fuels and hydrogen propulsion. They will take a minority stake in the partnership. Click this Automotive News Europe article link to read more.
Germany and Italy are now expressing doubts over the EU’s proposal to ban new ICE and hybrid vehicles from 2035. Italy have said it is a flat no, from them, as they claim industry and consumers will be affected. Germany, however, want some changes, mainly around synthetic fuel use being allowed in new ICE vehicles after 2035. The formal ratification vote has been delayed as a consequence. Click this link here to read more, from Euroactive.
February was a genuinely impressive month, after several that were only good when compared with Covid affected years, with 74,441 new cars registered. The breakdown of ‘what you put in it to make it move’ is continuing along the trends, with BEVs slightly up, PHEVs slightly down and diesel down again. The real surprise is petrol, a big jump there and that is not great in terms of CO2 emissions.
Click here for the SMMT article explaining the month’s figures.
Click here for Tristan Young’s breakdown of what makes the cars go.
Aston Martin announced a loss of £495 million in 2022, but the last quarter saw an operating profit of £6.6 million. Whilst the losses are not good, there is a glimmer of hope that things are being turned around for the company. Click the link here to read more from The Guardian.
Tata, Jaguar Land Rover’s owner has announced they are expanding the workforce of their UK R&D centre at Leamington Spa. They are looking for an extra 350 staff. You can read more by clicking this Autocar Business article link here.
Tata, the Indian owner of Jaguar Land Rover, is looking for funding assistance from the UK Government in order to build a battery factory in this country, rather than Spain. There are serious question marks over the Government’s commitment to the UK car industry and this is a real test. JLR has already moved some production out of the UK. To read more, click this AM Online article link.
Having been famously staged at Wörthersee for many years, the region had decided to no longer approve the festival. Volkswagen, though, has stepped in and will stage the event at Wolfsburg.
