"As if Europe’s already hounded diesel car makers did not have enough on their plate. Tuesday’s much-awaited decision of Germany’s highest administrative court, effectively giving its legal blessing to a much-feared future city ban for some higher polluting diesels, is yet another nail in the coffin of diesel powered cars"
 
Peter Schmidt | Editor


  | January’s diesel car sales share in Western Europe sinks below 40% - 16-year low
  | Europe’s Diesel car sales share slumps to 14 year low

"Go for a drive, a walk, or for a coffee, and increasingly you will spot people communicating with each other. Some may actually be talking to each other, but increasingly it seems texting rather than talking has taken over. With personal mobile communication being today’s norm, echoed by today’s fast falling prices for state-of-the-art satellite navigation systems, minds of road safety experts have naturally focused on the next logical step in road-safety: Automatic car-to-car communication, linked to car communication with infrastructure systems"
 
Peter Schmidt | Editor


  | VW - Vorsprung durch Digital
  | VW unveils MOIA - landmark car-hailing UBER fighter - as Group’s 13th brand

"Europe’s car market, buoyed by strengthening economic growth and high consumer confidence in virtually all of mainland Europe, seems set to continue its forward momentum"
 
Peter Schmidt | Editor


  | Consequences of a falling diesel share – rising CO2 levels
  | Mitsubishi has highest plug-in sales share in Europe

EDITORIAL

"Although environmentalists like to read the news these days, with diesel car sales shares falling in near synchronised fashion across the vast majority of West European car markets, it is worth taking a brief look at Germany’s February KBA passenger car sales data. With February’s sales share of efficient diesel engines falling to a new recent low of just 43.4 per cent, Germany’s CO2 emissions from cars rose during the same month. That’s a 0.2 per cent rise to 127.7g/km according to KBA data. That’s in spite of a near doubling in February’s BEV electric car sales and a recent record month for hybrid car registrations"
Matthias Schmidt | Analyst


  | Hybrid sales share in Western Europe and US reach near identical 2%
  | Europe’s diesel car market is continuing to crumble

"If recent trends of average CO2 emissions from cars in Germany are any guide, chances are that some of today’s carmakers will miss the EU’s obligatory 2021 CO2 targets by some margin. In consequence, they have to face up to the unsavoury prospect of paying massive future fines. But help is on the way. Some experts now believes that a small single-digit sales share from both electric cars and plug-in hybrids (BEVs & PHEVs) are the silver bullet for avoiding the impending steep financial fines"
 
Peter Schmidt | Editor


  | Consequences of a falling diesel share – rising CO2 levels
  | Mitsubishi has highest plug-in sales share in Europe

"No doubt about it, Germany’s Volkswagen Group, infamous for its leading part in the market-changing dieselgate scandal, remains in the dog house. The company can be accused of many shortcomings. A prevailing culture of arrogance is just one. But as a smooth-running high-tech vehicle production machine Volkswagen takes some beating. In that respect at least it stands right at the very top with some of the autoindustry’s best. But then again, it surely has had enough practice"
 
Peter Schmidt | Editor


  | Consequences of a falling diesel share – rising CO2 levels
  | New passenger car sales fell by 2.8% in Western Europe last month

"The track record of mergers and acquisitions in Europe’s auto industry in general is not one that the industry would choose to boast about. But then again, whether through luck or good judgement, some have a significantly better track record than others. Today’s issue is whether Carlos Tavarez with his proven golden touch will succeed where others have blatantly failed"
 
Peter Schmidt | Editor


  | Consequences of a falling diesel share – rising CO2 levels
  | New passenger car sales fell by 2.8% in Western Europe last month

"The track record of mergers and acquisitions in Europe’s auto industry in general is not one that the industry would choose to boast about. But then again, whether through luck or good judgement, some have a significantly better track record than others. Today’s issue is whether Carlos Tavarez with his proven golden touch will succeed where others have blatantly failed"
 
Peter Schmidt | Editor


  | Consequences of a falling diesel share – rising CO2 levels
  | New passenger car sales fell by 2.8% in Western Europe last month

"Contrary to expectations, and with just two remaining months to the end of this year, there was no detectable heat loss in October. If anything, October car sales figures out early next week are expected to show a comfortable upturn in sales. October’s better than expected sales turnout, coming in the wake of a 2.8 per cent drop in September, supports the view that West Europe’s new car market still tells an upbeat tale. For the glass half-empty automotive forecasting community, which, at the start of this year predicted largely unchanged car sales for this year, West Europe’s car market has been doing rather well 
Peter Schmidt | Editor


  | Consequences of a falling diesel share – rising CO2 levels
  | New passenger car sales fell by 2.8% in Western Europe last month

"Finally, those in the electric car business, after spending large sums on new technology and frustrating years of going nowhere in particular, may feel as though they’re getting somewhere 
Peter Schmidt | Editor


  | Europe’s BEV picture brightens
  | For Mercedes, China still holds key to global prestige sector leadership

"Finally, those in the electric car business, after spending large sums on new technology and frustrating years of going nowhere in particular, may feel as though they’re getting somewhere 
Peter Schmidt | Editor


  | Consequences of a falling diesel share – rising CO2 levels?
  | Berlin diesel summit - Too little too late

"Finally, those in the electric car business, after spending large sums on new technology and frustrating years of going nowhere in particular, may feel as though they’re getting somewhere 
Peter Schmidt | Editor


  | Consequences of a falling diesel share – rising CO2 levels?
  | Berlin diesel summit - Too little too late

"There’s a chill wind blowing in Europe’s diesel car market. With signs that Europe’s limp diesel car balloon is sinking fast, potentially heading for an extra hard landing, Germany’s diesel segment-dominating carmakers are left with no option but to act fast. The familiar safe track out of the mire, government assistance, can be ruled out because Germany is about to stage its parliamentary election" 
Peter Schmidt | Editor


  | Consequences of a falling diesel share – rising CO2 levels?
  | Berlin diesel summit - Too little too late

"Better late than never. Finally, Germany’s carmakers, historically highly reliant on diesel powered cars have decided to act before the going gets worse. This past Wednesday, Germany’s leading carmakers got together in Berlin in order to hammer out a deal to stop the rot. No doubt, each participating autoindustry member knows only too well that to date the anti-diesel lobby has won hands down. That’s not at all surprising" 
Peter Schmidt | Editor


  | Consequences of a falling diesel share – rising CO2 levels?
  | Consumers’ eroding confidence in diesels

"Driving along the autobahn between Munich and Ingolstadt, car drivers and their passengers are confronted by unfamiliar new and different looking traffic signs. But perhaps stranger still, apart from the new black and white traffic signs, drivers on this stretch are now sharing this extremely busy section of Germany’s autobahn with cars chauffeured by a computer rather than a driver like you or me" 
Peter Schmidt | Editor


  | The future today - Norway's EV breakthrough
  | Vorsprung durch Technik – Audi’s promising new modus operandi ‘Smart Factory’

"Never in recent European history has tiny Norway attracted more interest and attention than today, and the reasons are all too easily spotted. This June a record 42.2 per cent of the new cars sold in Norway were sold with an electric plug. Closely linked - only this morning Volvo said that from 2019 all its new cars will also feature an electric motor" 
Peter Schmidt | Editor


  | Record 100,000 plus electric car sales in Western Europe this year
  | March sees highest-ever electric car sales total on record

"By any stretch of the imagination, particularly in the fast moving automotive world, it is a rare development indeed that a flopped product or technology is offered a second lease of life. But just such a second lease of life, at least here in Europe, is now in prospect for cars featuring Toyota-pioneered petrol-electric hybrid technology" 
Peter Schmidt | Editor


  | Toyota eyes on Europe’s slipping diesel car market, hybrids pushed as safe haven
  | Consequences of a falling diesel share – rising CO2 levels

"Everyone, including automakers and possibly even Donald Trump, agrees that air quality in most mega-cities must be improved. Given that traffic plays a significant part in this, it’s certainly not rocket science to conclude that public transport, as a first step of transformation, should make the first move to Ultra-low or better still, Zero vehicle emissions" 
Peter Schmidt | Editor


  | VW unveils MOIA - landmark car-hailing UBER fighter - as Group’s 13th brand
  | Consequences of a falling diesel share – rising CO2 levels

"It hardly comes as a surprise that Toyota’s hybrids are suddenly getting a second look from European motorists. That’s chiefly because hybrids were always seen as a means to save fuel. But unlike North America, here in Europe that role was already perfectly played by diesels, which, compared to most petrol powered cars offer real-world fuel economy savings of up to 30 per cent" 
Peter Schmidt | Editor


  | Toyota sales grow nearly four-times faster than overall market
  | Toyota eyes on Europe’s slipping diesel car market, hybrids pushed as safe haven

"Clearly, the idea of Britain as a nation of shopkeepers is no longer true. However, more appropriate today, particularly when seen with the eyes of the UK’s continental neighbours, the UK has become a nation driven increasingly by automotive badge snobbery" 
Peter Schmidt | Editor


  | Mercedes Cars, great strength, few problems
  | May unveils hard Brexit flight plan

"Profitability wars. Just last week Daimler was compelled to issue an ad hoc investor relations release sparked by higher than expected Q1 profits. But only yesterday - hot on its heels – BMW followed suit with its own release sparked also by Q1 pre-tax profits beating earlier market expectations. Making it three-out-three, previously tarred and feathered Volkswagen joined in the fun this Tuesday saying its Q1 operating profits also topped market expectations" 
Peter Schmidt | Editor


  | Mercedes Cars, great strength, few problems
  | Audi hurt by toxic waves of Volkswagen diesel emissions scandal

"The feature of yesterday's March car sales statistics for Germany which must give European carmakers serious pause for thought relates to the sudden unparalleled change in the type of car wanted by King buyer. No, it is not the on-going Crossover car buying spree. That too, as has been the case for months, remains a hot issue. But hotter still, signs are that growing numbers of Germany’s new car buyers are now beginning to drop all earlier thoughts of buying a diesel-powered car" 
Peter Schmidt | Editor


  | Anti-diesel campaign continues to take its toll
  | Hybrid sales share in Western Europe and US reach near identical 2%

"Commercial fortune is smiling at PSA’s Carlos Tavares. After treating lesser bigwigs to a memorable autoindustry masterclass in both 2015 and 2016, likelihood now is that his conviction – ‘there is no point to profitless growth’ - will be the one mantra he will best be remembered for. This belief, probably still seen sceptically by some other carmakers just a few years ago, is one, if not the only root cause of PSA’s remarkable financial turnaround" 
Peter Schmidt | Editor


  | Mercedes sets sights on global prestige sector crown and wins 4-years early
  | 2016 winners are? – Prestige carmakers continue to steal mass-carmakers sales

"The mind boggles. GM’s renewed decision to rid itself of Opel Vauxhall doesn’t look clear cut and lacks logic. There are sufficient reasons to suggest that now is not a good time to offload something on the cheap that potentially still looks like a still appreciating asset rather than a growing liability. So no surprise then that cunning Carlos Tavares, who knows a bargain when he sees one, is now showing a serious interest in Opel. A turnaround expert made from the same wood as Fiat’s Marchionne and Renault/Nissan’s Carlos Ghosn, Carlos Tavares sees value and hidden strength where lesser autoindustry mortals would likely call the undertakers" 
Peter Schmidt | Editor


  | Mercedes sets sights on global prestige sector crown and wins 4-years early
  | 2016 winners are? – Prestige carmakers continue to steal mass-carmakers sales

"For Daimler’s Mercedes car division the pendulum of success has swung back and forth several times in its long and tradition-rich history. The same goes for the fortunes of Daimler’s current CEO Dieter Zetsche, who boasts the combined rare skills needed for both top-notch leadership and professional showman" 
Peter Schmidt | Editor


  | All change, global autoindustry finds itself at a crossroads
  | Déjà-vu - return to infamous ‘Rip-Off Britain’ days?

"Now we know it. Theresa May and her government have now made it abundantly clear that post-Brexit Britain cannot remain within the European single market. What does it mean for the autoindustry?" 
Peter Schmidt | Editor


  | All change, global autoindustry finds itself at a crossroads
  | Déjà-vu - return to infamous ‘Rip-Off Britain’ days?

"Whichever way recent events are looked at, we are witnessing the start of a paradigm shift in the automotive world. All-round drastic change is underway. The few unwilling to change will eventually be swept away by a whirlwind of change. If not in the next five or so years, but then in all likelihood during the mid to late 2020s at the very latest " 
Peter Schmidt | Editor


  | Goals, to be meaningful, must be achievable
  | Uber and Volvo self-driving taxi joint-venture

"Given German carmakers’ decision to boost the number of genuinely high-power BEV recharging stations in key European locations, is there reason to believe that anything will change? By close of next year, thanks to their efforts, there’s hope that electric car drivers will be able to drive from Berlin to Barcelona and Prague to Paris without the dreaded range anxiety. But whether that cuts any ice with Joe Public, interested at best in a battery powered Golf, Leaf or possibly Zoe, remains an altogether different question " 
Peter Schmidt | Editor


  | Has the US car sales bubble finally popped?
  | Never in US history have Light-Trucks captured a higher share of sales

"The way things stand today, CAFE, the benchmark for current and future vehicle fuel-economy in the US, may be relaxed. That’s chiefly because they are seen by some as too challenging for America’s autoindustry. Now, while driving some environmentalists to despair, that’s not as far-fetched as some might believe. On this issue, Trump has a point " 
Peter Schmidt | Editor


  | Bellwether - Truck Market
  | Never in US history have Light-Trucks captured a higher share of sales

"Has America’s car market peaked? US October Light vehicles fell 5.9 per cent marking the third successive fall in a row and this year’s second biggest decline. So when looking even casually at latest underlying US light vehicle sales trends, few would probably disagree that this market, following more than half a dozen years of strong recovery growth, and culminating last year with a record 17.47m sales, has probably peaked" 
Peter Schmidt | Editor


  | Bellwether - Truck Market
  | Never in US history have Light-Trucks captured a higher share of sales

"The difference between the car and commercial vehicle market couldn’t really be bigger. Unlike a shiny, brand-new private car, which, for its proud owner start losing money the day it is first parked on the owner’s home driveway, the trucks acquired by haulage or construction companies for example are acquired to generate profits from day one" 
Peter Schmidt | Editor


  | Déjà-vu - return to infamous ‘Rip-Off Britain’ days?
  | For German carmakers Britain’s bumpy roads are still paved with gold

"With ‘hard Brexit’ fears lingering, the pound is taking a hammering. The consequence? Short term hedging, for example, will help to damp the softening pound shock. But sooner rather than later there’s the likelihood that a large chunk of these hedges will expire. Bad news for a nation of seemingly tireless shoppers. If not this year, then next year, they face the prospect of significantly higher prices. And that is expected to damp their spirits a great deal" 
Peter Schmidt | Editor


  | Déjà-vu - return to infamous ‘Rip-Off Britain’ days?
  | For German carmakers Britain’s bumpy roads are still paved with gold

"The truck business is a man’s world. A relentless toil of countless lonely hours, night-time work and unsocial hours. For the driver, that’s it in a nutshell. Yet, almost the same goes for senior management of today’s few remaining heavy truck makers. And yet, almost everyone in this business is wary of the fact that the global truck business, unlike the highly volatile car business, is comparatively future-proof and is not subjected to the whims of fashion. Whatever the economic conditions, just like bread and water, trucks are a prime essential part of daily living" 
Peter Schmidt | Editor


  | Trucks | Deliberate autoindustry attempts to keep observers in the dark
  | Scania wheels out all-new heavy truck range

"In whatever industry, and the autoindustry is no exception, lucky them who come up with a fashion icon. Particularly so if rivals cannot jump on this particular speeding bandwagon simply because your product stands out as a unique creation tied rigidly to your company. Clearly, that rules out today’s automotive trendsetter; the SUV, or for that matter Apple’s iPhone. Ford, not renowned for its trendsetting automotive creations, but thanks to a great piece of luck, however did just that" 
Peter Schmidt | Editor


  | Uber and Volvo self-driving taxi joint-venture
  | Déjà-vu - return to infamous ‘Rip-Off Britain’ days?

"If there is one trend that most prognosticators agree on, urbanisation the world over is in full swing. Today, more than half of the world’s population already lives and works in cities. Say in a couple of decades from now, that proportion is likely to rise to two thirds. By contrast the rural population will continue to shrink. Around the world, city planners are hounding the private car, effectively encouraging car-less cities. That’s urban planning for people, not vehicles. As is already the case today, public transport systems will convey city dwellers within city limits. Accordingly, the significance of taxis will, due in part to a growing elderly population, continue to grow in line with urbanisation" 
Peter Schmidt | Editor


  | Badge culture, what’s safety got to do with it?
  | New Volvo XC-90 faces harsh competition from Germans, Range Rover

"Europe’s heavy truck makers no less acted as though they were untouchable. From a governmental or regulatory point, to grant such sweeping powers and trust and then to be surprised when they are abused is as naive as to hand the drug cupboard key to an addict and not to expect it to be used. As Volkswagen’s diesel deceit tragedy now illustrates, the financial penalties for such behaviour have now rocketed to new stratospheric heights. As if that weren’t enough, Europe’s heavy truck makers also enriched themselves by breaking the rules big time" 
Peter Schmidt | Editor

  | Renault’s ZOE, thanks to home advantage, remains W.Europe’s leading PEV
  | Far from picking up speed, in Europe electric car demand has lurched into reverse

"Europe’s heavy truck makers no less acted as though they were untouchable. From a governmental or regulatory point, to grant such sweeping powers and trust and then to be surprised when they are abused is as naive as to hand the drug cupboard key to an addict and not to expect it to be used. As Volkswagen’s diesel deceit tragedy now illustrates, the financial penalties for such behaviour have now rocketed to new stratospheric heights. As if that weren’t enough, Europe’s heavy truck makers also enriched themselves by breaking the rules big time" 
Peter Schmidt | Editor

  | Europe’s heavy truck market on fire
  | Editorial | It’s like lunatics running the asylum

"The UK’s decision to exit the EU is likely to lead to higher UK car prices, born out of intensifying added costs stemming mainly from the now widely predicted future weakness of the pound and the conceivable imposition of future UK tariffs on EU manufactured cars and components" 
Peter Schmidt | Editor

  | Editorial | It’s like lunatics running the asylum
  | Editorial | Europe still bathed in wall to wall sunshine

"Brazil’s car market, after decades of next to no change, has also undergone a profound sea change. Almost overnight, it seems, the changes ended a cosy carmaking oligopoly in Latin America’s biggest market. Volkswagen and Fiat, effectively calling the shots there for decades, while making the most of their Brazilian cash cow, appear to have been caught on the hop. Like a rabbit mesmerised by the headlights of a speeding car, both Volkswagen and Fiat appear to have been taken by surprise" 
Peter Schmidt | Editor

  | Editorial | It’s like lunatics running the asylum
  | Editorial | Europe still bathed in wall to wall sunshine

"Yes, today’s world is gripped by the SUV-Crossover bug. And judged by very latest car sales trends, and almost regardless of appalling economic conditions - as illustrated for instance in today’s slump-struck Brazilian car market - consumers love them with a passion" 
Peter Schmidt | Editor

  | Editorial | It’s like lunatics running the asylum
  | Editorial | Europe still bathed in wall to wall sunshine

"The autoindustry’s governing bodies, charged with the responsibility to ensure that carmakers stick to the rules, ended up with egg on their faces. Worse still, they stand accused of sitting back happily twiddling their thumbs, while the carmakers effectively continued to regulate themselves. Meanwhile, the regulatory agencies - set up principally to act in the public interest, were cosying-up to the autoindustry for years. For ages, it seems, the lunatics were given licence to run the asylum" 
Peter Schmidt | Editor

  | Editorial | Europe still bathed in wall to wall sunshine
  | Editorial | Is it thumbs up for Germany’s autoindustry lobby?

"Outwardly at least, the stored up heat in the market, thanks to a continuing flow of upbeat tell-tale indicators on Europe’s economic front, is such that this year's passenger sales alone remain on track for a likely 14m sales" 
Peter Schmidt | Editor

  | Editorial | Fast rising Crossover tide lifts even the leakiest boats
  | Editorial | Is it thumbs up for Germany’s autoindustry lobby?

"Not so long ago, autoindustry whispers rather than predictions, forewarning of the slow death of Fiat, joined more recently by trouble-struck Peugeot Citroën, have proved overly pessimistic. Likewise, albeit after first biting the bullet and declaring itself bankrupt, previously woe-struck Chrysler also bounced back from the brink. Add GM and Ford to this list, and earlier still, Japan’s Nissan and Germany’s tradition-laden Porsche and Britain’s Jaguar, and what you’ve got is a pattern" 
Peter Schmidt | Editor

  | Editorial | Fast rising Crossover tide lifts even the leakiest boats
  | Editorial | Honda – another missed opportunity?

"In just two year’s France’s SUV-Crossover share sky-rocketed from 16.3 per cent in 2013 to last year’s 26.1 per cent. That’s a gain of close on 10 percentage points in just two short years. Moreover, in the three months to March this year France’s Crossover share ballooned to 27 per cent. Significant for the bottom line, these vehicles are among the autoindustry’s most profitable products" 
Peter Schmidt | Editor

  | Star wars – Mercedes force awakens
  | Brand with the four rings kept dealers’ tills ringing, fight on for future sector positions

"This year, following compatriots Daimler and Audi in this year’s results’ reporting season, BMW didn’t even attempt to spoil Audi’s annual full year results party. Instead, BMW’s first-off results were published well after this year’s notably more sober and distinctly less glitzy Audi results presentation. This year BMW has plainly ignored Audi’s numbers show. Is Audi no longer seen as a threat?" 
Peter Schmidt | Editor

  | Star wars – Mercedes force awakens
  | Brand with the four rings kept dealers’ tills ringing, fight on for future sector positions

"AID has learned that Germany’s government insists that two-thirds of the subsidy, say €3,500 of a conceivable €5,000 subsidy must come out of the carmakers’ own bulging pockets" 
Peter Schmidt | Editor

  | Editorial | Paradox of today’s PHEV market
  | Last year the Netherlands stood out as Europe’s towering PHEV capital

"The underlying message for manufacturers in today’s European car sales climate, if you want to shift PHEVs, make sure it’s an SUV. The paradox for taxpayers, surely - in countries where these vehicles are subsidised - given that today there is no means of checking the way these vehicles are driven, scarce public funds are spent to subsidise automotive toys already well within reach of these SUV hybrid buyers" 
Peter Schmidt | Editor

  | Editorial | CO2 battle, odds stacked against carmakerss

"Happy workers, they say, provide higher quality service. If metal bashing is their trade, more often than not these happy workers also churn out some quality products, snapped up the world over by equally happy customers. In reflection, Daimler’s bigwigs can look back at 2015 with a great deal of gratitude, with shareholders and the workforce reaping the rewards of a true vintage year" 
Peter Schmidt | Editor

  | China’s prestige sector rally fizzles out as year closes

"Carmakers, thanks to the higher CO2 emission from petrol cars would stand next to no realistic chance of complying with the EU’s ultra tough 95g/km fleet-average levels by 2021. Billions ploughed of late into diesel engine technology would be wasted and the global oil industry could conceivably drown in a forever expanding ocean of surplus diesel fuel?" 
Peter Schmidt | Editor

  | Sub $40 oil aimed to stall electric car take-off?

"The prospect of a lasting cheap oil era, say for the next half decade or so, allied to the absence of discriminatory taxes aimed specifically against conventionally powered vehicles, will conceivably prolong the useful life of combustion-powered vehicles well beyond 2025. Likewise, the continuing flow of cheap oil is likely to stall greatly the otherwise inevitable massive future inroads from hydrogen powered fuel-cell vehicles." 
Peter Schmidt | Editor

  | CO2 battle, odds stacked against carmakers

"The industry faces tough EU CO2 limits on the one hand, while on the other hand consumers are flocking in droves for higher emitting cars because of comparatively cheap fuel. No two ways about it, a no win scenario for the industry" 
Peter Schmidt | Editor

  | SUV-Crossovers heading for new European sales record, again