NewsBite

Electric vehicles

This Month

Nissan Motor CEO Makoto Uchida (left) and Honda Motor CEO Toshihiro Mibe attend a joint press conference on Monday in Tokyo, Japan.

Japan’s car industry consolidates: Honda and Nissan reveal merger plan

The Japanese car giants will merge to create the world’s third-largest automotive group by 2026, as the two companies struggle to keep up with global competitors.

  • Jessica Sier
A Nissan electric vehicle displayed inside the company’s Ginza showroom in Tokyo.

Foxconn throws curveball in Nissan-Honda merger talks

The iPhone maker has thrown a potential spanner in the works by approaching struggling Nissan about acquiring a stake, according to sources and media reports.

  • Nicholas Takahashi
Nissan CEO Makoto Uchida, left, and Toshihiro Mibe, Honda CEO, this week confirmed merger talks.

Merge or die: Honda-Nissan talks mark pivotal moment in painful transition

Japanese discussions signal industry-wide consolidation as carmakers struggle with electric vehicle transition costs and growing competition from China.

  • Updated
  • Jessica Sier
JET Charge founders Ellen Liang and Tim Washington.

Natixis’s Mirova backs millions into EV charging biz JET Charge

Natixis Investment Managers-affiliate Mirova led the $72 million funding round via its energy transition strategy.

  • Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport

This year’s highs and lows in motoring

We farewelled the Audi TT – and a car driven only by maths professors and architects – but there were good times too.

  • Tony Davis
Advertisement
Honda Motor CEO Toshihiro Mibe

Honda, Nissan consider merger to take on Tesla, China EVs

Such a deal would create an automotive rival to Toyota that would effectively consolidate the Japanese car industry into two camps.

  • Updated
  • Chester Dawson
A Huawei-Aito M5 electric vehicle at the Smart China Expo in Chongqing, China.

‘A different animal’: Inside Huawei’s new EV business

The Chinese tech giant’s multibillion-dollar unit is setting its sights on becoming a big supplier to the electric car industry despite US sanctions.

  • Edward White and Tina Hu
Victoria, under Premier Jacinta Allan, is being urged to overhaul its payroll tax settings.

Tax hit for homeowners, EV drivers as Vic deficit blows out to $3.6b

Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas revealed property owners face a doubled fire services levy while electric vehicle drivers will lose a registration discount.

  • Gus McCubbing
The weight for the new two-seater coupe is a comparatively low 1399 kg.

The only car you’ll ever need (if you have a spare $3.8m)

McLaren’s fastest road car ever, the new W1, also has a reasonable amount of luggage space. Everything you’d want in a car, surely?

  • Tony Davis
Matthew Hiller is finding success with his original “I Bought This Before We Knew Elon Was Crazy” bumper stickers.

Why the ‘Anti-Elon Tesla club’ is booming

Some customers are cooling on the best-known electric vehicle brand as the billionaire CEO cultivates close ties to Donald Trump.

  • Claire Bushey
solar

Why people really decide to install solar panels

In an ideal world we would not need to be prodded into greener behaviour. But in many cases, the social contagion effect is a key motivator.

  • Pilita Clark
BYD launched its Shark 6 plug in hybrid ute in Australia last month.

EVs to get even cheaper as price war enters ‘knockout’ round

Australia will benefit from a brutal and stepped up cost-cutting battle between China’s manufacturers.

  • Jessica Sier
Chris King, the chief executive of Spend, says its fleet will grow to 10,000 vehicles next year.

Macquarie inks $300m deal to finance EVs for ride-share drivers

Splend, a start-up that leases electric vehicles to Uber drivers, plans to increase its fleet of ride-share vehicles to 10,000 after signing a new debt deal.

  • Tess Bennett
Carlos Tavares, chief executive of Stellantis, alongside a Peugeot EV on the assembly line at the Stellantis plant in Sochaux, France.

Why this ‘extraordinary’ global CEO was axed

Carlos Tavares was forced from major carmaker Stellantis, which has brands like Jeep, Peugeot and Maserati, as global EV sales slump and cost-cutting ramps up.

  • Silvia Sciorilli Borrelli, Kana Inagaki and Ian Johnston
Carlos Tavares (left) with a Ram electric pickup truck in Las Vegas.

Boss of Jeep, Maserati, Peugeot quits as sales plunge

The world’s fourth-largest car maker, with brands like Fiat and Ram, has suffered a sharp decline in profits this year.

  • Wyatte Grantham-Philips and Albertina Torsoli
Advertisement

November

A big electric SUV with sporty intent

The Lotus Eletre is mechanically similar to the Emeya sedan and shares many interior parts and much of the tech.

  • Tony Davis

Electrification and renewables could slice 20pc off energy bills: AEMC

The agency that writes the rules governing the electricity and gas markets estimates big savings for families if they move away from petrol cars and gas.

  • Angela Macdonald-Smith
Nissan vehicles on the production line at the Renault Nissan plant in  Chennai, India.

Nissan seeks major investor with just ‘months to survive’

The car maker looks for a steady shareholder as longtime partner Renault sells down its holding.

  • Harry Dempsey, David Keohane and Kana Inagaki
The pure electric Mercedes-AMG EQS53.

Prestige new electric vehicles being sold for a loss by dealers

Demand for EVs above $70,000 is stalling, and the government’s tougher emissions standards scheme may worsen an oversupply next year.

  • Simon Evans
Ethics experts note that Elon Musk will now potentially have the ability to strip out regulations that affect his own companies.

Musk’s ascent to White House hands Australian fund $140m windfall

The rapid rise of the Tesla CEO through the US political ranks has proven very profitable for one Brisbane firm. But there are other reasons it owns the stock.

  • Joshua Peach

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/topic/electric-vehicles-1mqf