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Tuesday 10 March 2026

SK On cuts nearly 1,000 jobs at US battery plant as EV demand wanes

South Korea's SK Innovation (SKI) subsidiary SK On announced on March 6 a reduction of 968 employees—37% of its 2,566-strong workforce—at its battery factory in Commerce, Georgia. The move reflects mounting pressure on the global electric vehicle (EV) supply chain as sales growth slows.

Monday 9 March 2026

EU policies tighten costs and complexity for automakers, industry warns

The EU's simultaneous push for stricter emission rules and industrial localization is increasing operational costs and complicating transformation for European carmakers, industry representatives say. The EU's flexible emission mechanism and the newly unveiled Industrial Acceleration Act (IAA) have failed to ease industry concerns.

Monday 9 March 2026

Research Insight: Global EV charging stations to surpass 9 million by 2026 as China, Europe expand

Global public electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure is projected to reach 9.01 million stations worldwide by 2026, according to DIGITIMES Research. The market is expected to show increasing regional divergence as China and Europe maintain steady expansion, while momentum in the US softens.

Monday 9 March 2026

Beyond the firefighter: Why automakers are overhauling the corner office

From early 2025 through 2026, nine major automakers across Europe, the US, Japan, and South Korea have replaced their CEOs. The scale of the reshuffle goes beyond routine succession planning. It reflects a pivotal moment for an industry grappling with deep uncertainty about its technological and strategic future.

Monday 9 March 2026

Automaker leadership reshuffle deepens strain on Europe's tier 1 suppliers

Major automakers in Europe, the US, Japan, and South Korea have recently undergone significant executive changes, with nine leading carmakers replacing their chief executive officers (CEO) over the past year. The leadership shake-up reflects deep strategic shifts at the top and signals structural changes ahead for the automotive industry.

Sunday 8 March 2026

Global auto giants retreat to 'survival defense' as electrical revolution triggers CEO reshuffle

The global automotive industry is currently navigating its most seismic leadership transition in decades as the Electronic/Electrical (E/E) revolution fundamentally rewrites the rules of competition.

Friday 6 March 2026

February EV registrations reveal new market dynamics in Taiwan

According to the latest vehicle registration data released in early March 2026, Taiwan's auto market saw a sharp drop of nearly 40% in total vehicle registrations to about 22,000 units in February, due to fewer working days from the Lunar New Year holiday. However, the electric vehicle (EV) segment displayed a pronounced "watershed" effect, with certain models bucking the general trend and reshaping the competitive landscape for 2026 between domestic and imported EVs.

Friday 6 March 2026

Europe's automakers brace for energy and logistics shocks from Middle East tensions

Rising tensions in the Middle East are adding a new layer of uncertainty for the global automotive industry, raising the risk that geopolitical disruptions could once again ripple through production costs, energy supply and logistics networks.

Thursday 5 March 2026

Tesla's Grunheide overhaul signals shift to multi-product 'superfactory' with implications for European automakers

Tesla's Gigafactory in Grunheide, Germany, is being repurposed into a multi-product manufacturing hub after CEO Elon Musk outlined five transformation initiatives to address falling capacity utilization and mounting labor disputes.

Wednesday 4 March 2026

BYD sales surpass Tesla in 20 countries with vertical integration and local production

Within the past five years, BYD has overtaken Tesla in sales across more than 20 countries and regions to reshape the landscape in the global electric vehicle (EV) market. This competition reached a dramatic turning point in 2025, as BYD surpassed Tesla for the first time in the UK, while also claiming the title of the world's top annual EV seller.

Wednesday 4 March 2026

Gogoro gains market share in Taiwan with entry-level scooters amid Lunar New Year slump

Taiwan's scooter market declined in February 2026 due to the Lunar New Year holiday, with fewer working days for vehicle registration. Total monthly sales dropped to 44,817 units in February, down 22.55% from the previous month's 57,867 units and 24.37% lower than the 59,258 units recorded in February 2025.

Wednesday 4 March 2026

Strait of Hormuz closure threatens China auto exports, triggers 15-25% cost surge

Following US and Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, disrupting global energy and shipping flows. The move has lifted prices for petrochemical feedstocks, synthetic rubber and plastic components, creating 15-25% raw material cost pressure for automakers and compressing margins.

Tuesday 3 March 2026

Audi's rebranding experiment backfires as Germany's big-three automakers plunge into China's price wars

Volkswagen AG's "in China for China" strategy is facing an uphill battle in the market after less than six months, with the company now entering a fierce pricing war that has spread from the electric vehicle (EV) market to internal combustion engine (ICE) cars, and even dragging BMW and Mercedes-Benz into the crossfire.

Monday 2 March 2026

Chinese tech brands push premium devices and ecosystem integration at MWC 2026

Chinese suppliers at MWC 2026 are showcasing premium smartphones, AI-driven hardware, and vertically integrated ecosystems, signaling a strategic shift toward higher-end global competition and deeper control over key technologies.

Monday 2 March 2026

Commentary: German automotive price war in China threatens used car residual value system

Germany's automotive giants—Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Audi (collectively known as BBA)—have engaged in aggressive price cuts in China's auto market, sparking fierce competition that has extended from electric vehicles (EVs) to internal combustion engine (ICE) cars. This price war threatens the long-standing asset value preservation moat these German luxury brands have built over 30 years.

Saturday 28 February 2026

UK self-driving startup Wayve secures US$1.2 billion to expand robotaxi plans

Wayve, the UK-based autonomous driving startup, has raised US$1.2 billion in a Series D funding round, pushing its valuation to US$8.6 billion. The round was led by venture capital firms Eclipse Capital, Balderton Capital, and SoftBank Vision Fund 2, and included major tech and automotive investors such as Nvidia, Microsoft, Uber, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, and Stellantis. Uber also committed up to an additional US$300 million in milestone-based funding to accelerate the deployment of Wayve-powered robotaxi services globally.

Thursday 26 February 2026

Chinese automakers surge in Europe as plug-in hybrids outpace diesel

Europe's auto market stumbled at the start of 2026. Overall vehicle sales fell 3.9% in January from a year earlier, as most major manufacturers reported declines and consumer demand remained uneven.

Thursday 26 February 2026

Japan's EV market faces a reckoning as Mazda embraces NACS

As the global EV industry consolidates around a handful of charging standards, Mazda has made its choice.

Thursday 26 February 2026

Hotai Motor shifts to ecosystem strategies with AI data platform, aftermarket expansion in 2026

Taiwan's car market showed strong resilience in 2025 against headwinds ranging from inventory adjustments, interest rate fluctuations, and geopolitical uncertainties, with total sales for the year reaching 414,000 units. Although slightly down from previous peaks, this figure nevertheless reflects steady demand in the domestic market. As macroeconomic factors and policies stabilize in 2026, the industry expects Taiwan's car market to return to its usual levels, while competition will shift from sales volume toward enhancing value chains and integrating services.

Wednesday 25 February 2026

US tariff ruling sparks transatlantic tensions, European auto industry on edge

After the US Supreme Court ruled that tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) were unconstitutional, President Donald Trump reacted sharply, invoking Section 122 of the 1974 Trade Act to impose a 15% tariff on global imports. The move has once again cast a shadow of uncertainty over US trade policy.

Wednesday 25 February 2026

BMW retreats from L3 autonomy, betting instead on a smarter L2

In late January 2026, Mercedes-Benz removed its Level 3 autonomous driving function from the facelifted flagship S-Class. By the end of April, BMW followed with a strategic pivot of its own. In the refreshed BMW 7 Series—the first model built on its Neue Klasse architecture—the company opted to abandon Level 3 capability, instead doubling down on an enhanced Level 2+ driver-assistance system.

Tuesday 24 February 2026

Supreme Court ruling leaves most US auto duties intact

The Supreme Court of the US has ruled unconstitutional the auto tariffs imposed under President Donald Trump's invocation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), delivering a major blow to one of the administration's most controversial trade tools. While the ruling opens the door to potential refunds, it leaves the broader auto tariff framework largely intact — and companies should not expect swift relief.

Tuesday 24 February 2026

Waymo's Gen6 shift targets cost and climate barriers to autonomous taxi rollouts

Alphabet's Waymo has refocused competition from pure perception advances to real-world feasibility and business model viability with its sixth-generation autonomous driving hardware system, Gen6, targeting two long-term commercialization bottlenecks: high costs and climate adaptability.

Thursday 19 February 2026

Uber's US$100 million AV charging push signals asset-light pivot

Uber Technologies Inc. announced on February 18, 2026, that it will invest more than US$100 million to develop specialized charging infrastructure for autonomous vehicles (AVs), marking a significant pivot as the company moves to own physical assets and secure its robotaxi future.

Wednesday 18 February 2026

What the EU's 70% local content threshold means for its industrial base

The European Union is preparing a structural shift in industrial policy, linking electric vehicle subsidies and public procurement to binding "Made in Europe" content rules that would reshape automotive supply chains.

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