Automobile

Bloomberg Tesla Inc. secured its own lithium mining rights in Nevada after dropping a plan to buy a company there, according to people familiar with the matter. The automaker held discussions in recent months with Cypress Development Corp., which is seeking to extract lithium from clay deposits in southwest Nevada, but the parties didn’t reach a deal, the people said, …

Bloomberg Bugatti Automobiles SAS has put on hold plans for a second model to flank the Chiron supercar ahead of parent Volkswagen AG’s annual investment review next month. The decision was prompted by the damage inflicted on the car industry by the Covid-19 pandemic, Bugatti chief Stephan Winkelmann said in a Bloomberg TV interview. Despite the outbreak, the carmaker expects …

Bloomberg Renault reported third-quarter revenue that beat estimates, partly fuelled by a surge in sales of its popular electric model that the carmaker said will allow it to meet European emissions rules. Although revenue falls 8.2% to 10.37 billion euros in a period still marked by the pandemic, it surpassed the 9.96 billion-euro average of estimates compiled by Bloomberg. The …

Bloomberg Mercedes-Benz, which has fixated for years on leading the auto industry in luxury-vehicle sales, will put less emphasis on volume and restructure its operations to be more profitable in the midst of a costly shift to electric cars. Daimler AG’s main division will aim for a return on sales in the mid to high single-digit range by 2025, even …

Bloomberg Automakers are so eager to replace less-lucrative cars with higher-margin SUVs, they’re willing to scrap iconic nameplates along the way. Volkswagen’s newest North American model, the Taos, is perhaps the starkest example of this yet. The German automaker made room to manufacture the compact sport utility vehicle in its Mexican assembly plant by ceasing production of the Beetle, one …

Bloomberg Volkswagen AG’s Audi is expanding its partnership with Chinese manufacturer FAW as the German premium brand seeks to build more battery-powered cars geared to customers in its largest market. Audi and FAW signed a memorandum of understanding to start a company that will produce electric cars for the Chinese market from 2024, Audi said in a statement. The new …

Bloomberg Sales of electric vehicles in Europe are growing at such a pace that the continent looks increasingly likely to outpace China in the near future. That’s one of the findings of a report by London-based automotive research firm Jato Dynamics. However, it found that Europe and the US still have a few things to learn from China, the world’s …

Bloomberg Tesla Inc.’s plan to build a $25,000 car within the next three years doesn’t seem to have fazed China’s most-promising electric vehicle startups, with executives at the Beijing Auto Show saying Elon Musk can bring it on. “It’s a good thing for us,” WM Motor Co. founder and Chief Executive Officer Freeman Shen said. “We are very happy Tesla …

Bloomberg Nissan Motor Co. expects to return to profitability in 2021 if the current momentum continues, with demand in China already bouncing back from the pandemic, Chief Executive Officer Makoto Uchida said. The company, which in May reported its first fiscal year loss in a decade and the biggest in 20 years, is forecasting a strong recovery in the Chinese …

Bloomberg Amazon.com Inc.’s self-driving-car unit, Zoox Inc., is getting a green light from California to test autonomous vehicles on public roads without a safety driver, becoming the fourth company to receive the state’s blessing for truly driverless testing. The permit allows Zoox to operate two vehicles without a driver behind the wheel, a step up from approval it received four …