Short Torque

Tesla secures financing for new Shanghai plant

US electric carmaker Tesla Inc said on Thursday that it signed an agreement with lenders in China for a 12-month facility of up to 3.5 billion yuan ($522 million) for the electric carmaker's Gigafactory in Shanghai, and secured new commitments from banks that could be used for investments in the United States and elsewhere. The company broke ground on the factory in January. A Shanghai city government official said on Wednesday that the factory is expected to be completed in May. Tesla has said that the Gigafactory will cost around $2 billion.

Hyundai may suspend production in Beijing

Hyundai Motor Co is considering plans to suspend production at a plant in Beijing, the South Korean carmaker said on Wednesday, as it reels from tumbling sales and massive overcapacity in its biggest market. The Korea Economic Daily newspaper reported the suspension could start as early as next month. All of Hyundai's five factories in China are operated by its Chinese joint venture with BAIC Motor Corp, at which about 2,000 employees have taken voluntary retirement or transferred to other factories, the carmaker said in a statement.

VW signs up partner in standardizing drive

Volkswagen AG has signed German start-up e. GO Mobile as the first external partner for its modular platform for electric vehicles, as it seeks to simplify production across a variety of models. The partner will use VW's so-called MEB production system to "bring e-vehicles to market that complement Volkswagen's model offering," the carmaker said in a statement. The platform seeks the cost advantages of large production numbers by standardizing as much as possible even across very different models. Volkswagen plans to invest 30 billion euros in e-mobility through 2023, it said in a statement last week.

Geely's Volvo to limit top speed in vehicles

Geely-owned Volvo Cars said on Monday it will introduce a 180 kilometers per hour speed limiter on all new vehicles as the Swedish automaker seeks to burnish its safety credentials and meet a pledge to eliminate passenger fatalities by 2020. While Volvo, whose XC90 flagship SUV currently has a top speed of 212 km/h, has made progress on its so-called "Vision 2020" target of zero deaths or serious injuries, CEO Hakan Samuelsson said it is unlikely to meet the goal without additional measures to address driver behavior.

BMW may move jobs from post-Brexit UK

BMW could move some production of engines and its Mini model out of Britain if the country does not secure an orderly departure from the European Union, the German carmaker said on Tuesday, in the latest Brexit warning from the auto industry. Britain, the world's fifth-largest economy, is due to leave the EU on March 29 but an agreement between London and Brussels has been rejected by UK lawmakers, leaving open the possibility of a chaotic exit that could hit trade. Britain's car industry employs around 850,000 people and is largely owned by foreign manufacturers.

Singapore's Grab plans expansion in Indonesia

Southeast Asian ride-hailing firm Grab said on Wednesday that it has secured $1.5 billion in fresh financing from a fund run by Japan's SoftBank and will use a significant portion of it to expand in Indonesia. Grab has seen its business grow rapidly since it bought United States-based rival Uber's regional ride-hailing and food business in March last year. Uber received a 27.5 percent stake in Grab in return.

Motoring - Agencies

(China Daily 03/11/2019 page19)