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Bridgend engine plant to be closed next year

A Ford engine plant in Wales that employs 1,700 people is "economically unsustainable" and will close next year, the carmaker announced on Thursday. The company blamed declining sales of gasoline engines and the end of a contract with Jaguar Land Rover for the closure, due in September 2020. Ford's European president, Stuart Rowley, said "changing customer demand and cost disadvantages, plus an absence of additional engine models for Bridgend going forward make the plant economically unsustainable in the years ahead". He said there would be an "enhanced separation program", including help for employees to get new jobs or start their own businesses. The Bridgend plant opened in 1980 and is a major employer in Wales.

BMW and JLR to team up on electric motors

German high-end car giant BMW and British group Jaguar Land Rover announced on Wednesday that they are teaming up to develop a new generation of electric motors. A joint team will be based in Munich and tasked with developing the "next-generation electric drive units" which BMW will launch together with JLR. "Cooperation between car manufacturers to share know-how and resources is important" as the automotive industry tackles "the significant technological challenges" posed by the electric cars of the future, said BMW in a statement. The partnership is for research and development and the engines will be produced "by each partner in their own manufacturing facilities," BMW said in a statement. Both groups hope the partnership will reduce development costs at a time when the transition to electric vehicles weighs heavily on manufacturers' balance sheets.

Firms call for talks on US mileage standards

Major automobile manufacturers urged the Trump administration and California on Thursday to restart negotiations over vehicle mileage standards to prevent a lengthy legal battle. They warned that moving ahead with two sets of standards would create instability in the auto market. "What works best for consumers, communities, and the millions of US employees that work in the auto industry is one national standard that is practical, achievable and consistent across the 50 states," the 17 companies including Honda, Ford and Mercedes-Benz wrote in a letter addressed to Trump.

Power grid will need an upgrade to charge cars

Norway's power grid is likely to need an 11 billion Norwegian kroner ($1.27 billion) upgrade over the next 20 years to meet demand from the country's growing fleet of electric cars, with consumers likely to have to foot the bill, a study has shown. Electric car sales in Norway reached a record-high in March. Almost 60 percent of new cars sold are fully electric, a result of state policy to exclude such vehicles from certain taxes and offer free or cheaper road tolls, parking and charging points. Aiming to end fossil-fueled car sales by 2025, electric vehicles now account for 220,000 of Norway's total fleet of 2.7 million cars. It aims to have a mostly carbon-neutral fleet on its roads by 2040.

Fewer vehicles recalled in 2018, says regulator

Around 12.51 million cars were recalled in China last year, down 37.6 percent year-on-year, data showed. Carmakers made 221 recalls in 2018, decreasing 12 percent from 2017, according to the State Administration of Market Regulation. Some 1,700 recalls have been made involving 69.25 million cars since China established the system in 2004, saving consumers about 52 billion yuan ($7.5 billion). The defect investigation by the regulator resulted in over 6.79 million vehicles being recalled, accounting for about 54 percent of the total recalls. China is the world's largest auto market, with about 327 million car owners by the end of 2018.

ROK carmakers suffer export decline in May

All of the five automakers in the Republic of Korea saw their car exports decline last month on weak demand from emerging economies, industry data showed last Monday. The country's top automaker, Hyundai Motor, said its car exports retreated 11 percent from a year earlier to 289,757 units in May. It was attributed to the weakened demand from Turkey and China. In the domestic market, Hyundai's auto sale increased 9.5 percent to 67,756 vehicles. Kia Motors, the No 2 automaker affiliated with Hyundai, logged overseas sales of 196,059 units in May, down 2.2 percent from a year earlier. Its local sales shrank 8.6 percent to 43,000 vehicles. Hyundai and Kia kept a downward trend in auto exports for the three months since March on soft demand from China, ROK's biggest trading partner.

Motoring - Agencies

(China Daily 06/10/2019 page19)