Mercedes-Benz AG and Google have struck a long-term partnership designed to give the German automaker control over its IP and marketplace while offering drivers navigation, maps and YouTube provided by the tech giant.

It’s an unusual deal that attempts to strike a Goldilocks-type balance between offering the Google services consumers want without ceding control over the entire operating system in the car.

“This is a licensing agreement that is a ‘win-win’ for both parties,” Mercedes-Benz CEO Ola Kaellenius said during a press briefing in Sunnyvale, California.

Calling it a licensing agreement is accurate, but perhaps downplays the relationship. The partnership will bring the Google Maps platform, Cloud and YouTube into future Mercedes-Benz vehicles equipped with the automaker’s next-generation operating system called MB.OS.

Mercedes wants its MB.OS to be so compelling, drivers no longer opt to use middleware products like Apple CarPlay.

“I mean, that’s the ultimate goal of MB.OS ultimately, it will create a customer experience so there’s no need to plug in your phone,” CTO Markus Schäfer said.

The Renault-Nissan Alliance will bring new models to Europe, but it also has the potential to reshape fundamental operations such as finance, distribution, retail and end-of-life disposal of cars.

Renault and Nissan announced they will activate a series of joint “high value creation” projects on Monday involving new cars, vans and pickups.

Beyond cars, several newly announced collaborations could help the partners cut operational costs and increase dealer margins in Europe.

Renault CEO Luca de Meo said, the number of shared dealerships owned by outside investors will be doubled by 2025. “This will substantially increase those investors’ profitability and reduce distribution costs.”

Torc Robotics, an independent subsidiary of Daimler Truck AG and a pioneer in commercializing self-driving vehicle technology, announced today that it has signed an agreement to acquire Algolux.

“We’re thrilled to welcome Algolux to the Torc family,” said Peter Vaughan Schmidt, Torc CEO. “Algolux’s technology, at the intersection of deep learning, computer vision, and computational imaging, will help Torc strengthen key capabilities.”

“Torc shares in our commitment to create robust technology to realize the potential of autonomy and help save lives, which is one of the many reasons why joining forces makes sense for our teams, ” said Allan Benchetrit, Algolux president and CEO.

Algolux has been consistently recognized for excellence in its field and has been named to the 2021 CB Insights AI 100 List of the world’s most innovative artificial intelligence startups.

The company will pivot its business model to “exclusively retrofitting and integrating its solar technology onto third party vehicles.” Sono Motors says the termination of the Sion program reflects a decision “to focus on a capital-light business model in light of depressed capital market conditions.”

The Sion solar EV placed a heavy burden on the company’s budget since an estimated 90% of the funding needs for 2023 were generated by the solar passenger car project.

The Munich-based company noted that it is now implementing a significant cost reduction program. In this context, Sono Motors plans to lay off approximately 300 employees.

“Even though we had to terminate our original passion project, shifting our entire focus to business-to-business solar solutions provides us with an opportunity to continue to create innovative products in the solar space.”

… “It was a difficult decision, we were compelled to react to the ongoing financial market instability and streamline our business”, said Laurin Hahn, co-founder and CEO of Sono Motors.

Drew Baglino, answered the question by noting that the lack of bidirectional charging was not really a conscious decision, but rather not a priority at the time. But, as Tesla has improved its power electronics units, it has found ways to reduce cost while also bringing bidirectional charging to its vehicles.

Immediately after, CEO Elon Musk stepped in to differ, stating, “I don’t think very many people are going to want to use bidirectional charging, unless you have a Powerwall, because if you unplug your car, your house goes dark, and this is extremely inconvenient.”

The answer was interesting because it gives a little insight into what Tesla’s thinking has been about bidirectional charging all along.

Bidirectional charging is the capability of a car to not only take power to charge the battery, but to send that power back to power devices, a home, or even the grid.

Stellantis has chosen Italy’s historic carmaking city of Turin for an investment to boost its role in low emission vehicle production and as a center for the recycling of cars and their parts.

The automaker signed an agreement with its Belgian partner Punch Powertrain to increase production of electrified dual-clutch transmissions (eDCT) for hybrid and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles at its Mirafiori plant.

Producing and selling more electric and hybrid vehicles is a key plank in plans set out in March by Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares to double revenue to 300 billion euros ($300 billion) a year by 2030.

The Mirafiori production will complement the existing capacity of a plant in the French city of Metz, Stellantis said in a statement on Tuesday

Tavares said on Tuesday that the automaker was investing upwards of 10 million euros in the gearbox upgrade, without giving a precise figure.

Stellantis plans to produce 600,000 eDCT transmissions annually in Mirafiori and 600,000 in Metz. At full production, the two facilities will supply all relevant Stellantis manufacturing sites in Europe.

The Mirafiori site is expected to start production in the second half of 2024.

‘Circular economy’
The Mirafiori complex will also become the company’s main hub for its so-called ‘circular economy’ business, focusing on reconditioning and dismantling of vehicles and reusing components, with Tavares seeing a prolonged shortage of raw materials.

“We believe there will be scarcity of raw materials and we think we can extend the life of materials we use, this is going to be very important for our company,” Tavares told a news conference in Turin. “The scarcity of raw materials will continue over the next decades,” he said.

Stellantis aims to boost recycling revenues ten-fold to 2 billion euros by 2030.

Union officials said the recycling operation could create work for 550 people by 2025.

Turin is the historic home of Fiat, which merged with France’s PSA Group last year to form Stellantis.

It is one of Stellantis’ main production sites in Italy along with Melfi in the south and Atessa’s Sevel for light commercial vehicles in central Italy. Including white collar staff, Mirafiori now employs 20,000 workers.

Production at Mirafiori, which also hosts the Stellantis battery hub for Italy, includes the full-electric 500 small car, one of the group’s bestsellers in Europe.

British auto dealer Pendragon is in advanced discussions with BYD to be its UK launch partner as China’s biggest electric-vehicle maker enters the market later this year.

The move is part of Pendragon’s broader efforts to boost its new car franchise business, the London-based company said in a statement Wednesday, after posting 1.6 percent first-half revenue growth.

Supply problems with both old and new cars contributed to “challenging trading conditions” in the period, said CEO Bill Berman, along with high levels of inflation. Berman said he expects “the environment to remain challenging in the second half of the year.”

However, the company said it was “excited to be in advanced discussions with electric vehicle manufacturer BYD to be the UK launch partner.”

Talks come as BYD strives to expand its business beyond China and become a global brand.

Early in September, the company signed a land-purchase deal in Thailand to construct its first EV plant in Southeast Asia.

Elsewhere, BYD is also targeting Cambodia, Denmark, Japan, Sweden and Israel in its push to build presence abroad.

SAIC’s MG Motor is achieving success on the British market with cars imported from China. MG was a storied British brand before it was bought by the Chinese.

MG sales in the UK rose 69 percent to 29,553 in the first eight months, giving the brand a 3.01 percent market share, according to industry association SMMT.

Original Article: https://europe.autonews.com/retail/pendragon-talks-bring-chinese-evs-uk

Tesla is planning to have “thousands of Humanoid Robots within its factories,” according to a new job listing for the Tesla Bot program.

Original Article: https://electrek.co/2022/09/23/tesla-thousands-humanoid-robots-factories/

McLaren will enter the Indian market, with its first retail outlet set to open in Mumbai later this year.

India is largely a low-cost and price-sensitive car market in which luxury models account for just over 1 percent of total annual sales of about 3 million.

McLaren said it had selected Infinity Cars, which also distributes brands including BMW, Lamborghini, Porsche and Ducati, as its retail partner in the country, with the Mumbai outlet set to open in October.

McLaren will sell a wide range of models including the GT, 720S and 765LT vehicles and its first plug-in hybrid car, the Artura.

Tesla put on hold plans to sell its electric cars in India and abandoned a search for showroom space after failing to secure lower import taxes, Reuters reported in May.

Maruti Suzuki, majority-owned by Suzuki Motor, dominates the entry-level, small car segment in India and is the country’s biggest automaker.

Original Article: McLaren to launch sales in India later this year | Automotive News Europe (autonews.com)

Leaked documents that detail Porsche’s plan to buy half of Red Bull Technology are reliable, a Red Bull Racing spokesperson confirmed on July 28.

The filing, first reported on July 27, shows that Porsche petitioned Moroccan race authorities on July 8 regarding an impending 10-year deal with the F1 team. The notification outlined a 50% purchase of Red Bull Technology, which builds chassis for the Formula 1 team Oracle Red Bull Racing; it indicated that the partnership would also extend to the separate F1 team business.

Details regarding how the deal is to be be structured are not finalized, say sources close to the matter. Instead, phone conversations and email exchanges with insiders at both parties suggest that questions persist regarding how much technology Porsche will supply Red Bull Racing, compared to its Red Bull-owned sister racing team, AlphaTauri. Also unresolved are questions as to which brand will have the ultimate power to name drivers for a joint race team.

“The companies remain engaged in constructive discussions,” Thomas Hagg, Porsche’s director of international events and sports communications, said in an email on July 28. “A final decision has yet to be taken.”

A source close to the matter says the timing to finalize the deal remains uncertain, but that Porsche and Red Bull could reach an official agreement by the end of summer—though not necessarily as soon as Aug. 4, as some reports have stated.

Word of a possible Porsche entry to Formula 1 has been percolating for years. Porsche executives teased a possible entry as far back as 2010. The decision to join was confirmed in April, when VW Group’s supervisory board approved plans for Porsche and Audi’s potential entry to F1.

In May, Herbert Diess, then chairman of Volkswagen Group, acknowledged that Porsche had already started developing a F1 engine. (On July 22, VW announced it would replace Diess with Oliver Blume as chairman of the group, effective Sept. 1. Blume is also the chairman of Porsche AG and will retain that role going forward.)