“Tipping Point:” Tesla Sales Surge, EV Registrations up Sharply as Australian Drivers Go Electric
Tesla’s Australian sales jumped to 3,485 units in March, a 22% year‑over‑year increase and the highest since September, driven by a sharp rise in Model Y demand. The company’s quarterly volume rose 40% to 7,260 vehicles despite supply bottlenecks that have extended wait times. Parallel spikes in EV registrations—50% growth in New South Wales and a 163% surge in online searches—signal a broader consumer shift amid a global fuel crisis. Tesla and other manufacturers are pledging higher deliveries to meet accelerating demand.
Honda Cuts Prologue EV Prices by $7,500 While It’s Still Available
Honda announced a $7,500 price reduction for the 2026 Prologue electric SUV, bringing the entry‑level EX FWD price down to $39,900. The move follows a steep 65% sales decline in the first quarter of 2026, after the federal EV tax...
Republican Senator Calls Chinese Cars A ‘Cancer,’ Vowing Stricter Ban
Republican Senator Bernie Moreno announced plans to broaden the U.S. ban on Chinese electric vehicles, targeting not only the cars themselves but also associated software, components, and joint‑venture partnerships. The proposal would reinforce the existing 100% tariff regime and aim...
The Hyundai IONIQ 5 EV Is Red-Hot After Another Record Sales Month in March
Hyundai’s IONIQ 5 recorded a second straight record month in March 2026, moving 4,425 units – a 13% increase over the same period last year. The model’s cumulative Q1 sales hit 9,790, up 14% year‑over‑year, helping Hyundai post its strongest first‑quarter...
Europe’s Auto Forecast 2026: Technology, Policy and EV Adoption
A JD Power‑Autovista24 webinar revealed that Europe’s 2026 new‑car outlook has been trimmed to a modest 0.1% growth, down from a 1.7% rise projected months earlier. The downgrade reflects slower GDP growth in the EU, the US and China, and potential...
Xiaomi Hires Tesla’s Former Head of Sales in China to Lead Its Auto Retail Push
Xiaomi has hired Kong Yanshuang, former Tesla China general manager, to head its automotive sales division. The move aims to professionalize Xiaomi’s retail operations as it targets 550,000 EV deliveries in 2026. Xiaomi’s refreshed SU7 sedan starts at ¥229,900 (about...
Subaru Unveils Getaway, a 420hp 3-Row EV SUV, and We Got a Sneak Preview
Subaru unveiled the Getaway, a 420‑horsepower three‑row electric SUV slated for an October launch. Built alongside Toyota’s Highlander EV at Toyota’s Kentucky plant, the Getaway features a 95.8 kWh usable battery delivering more than 300 miles of range and 150 kW fast‑charging via...
Ford’s CEO Says An Affordable Tesla Model 3, Model Y Rival Is Coming
Ford CEO Jim Farley announced that the automaker will launch an all‑electric, affordable vehicle to compete directly with Tesla’s Model 3 and Model Y. The new models will sit on Ford’s Universal Electric Vehicle (UEV) platform, the same architecture slated for a...
India: Energy In Motion Bags Order for 66 Electric Heavy-Duty Trucks
Energy In Motion (EIM) secured a contract to supply 66 electric 55‑tonne heavy‑duty trucks, branded as Ashwa, to Transvolt Mobility for operations at Kandla Port in Gujarat and Jawaharlal Nehru Port in Maharashtra. The trucks feature a 282 kWh lithium‑iron‑phosphate battery...
Curved Video Screen to Replace Conventional Auto Windshield — and More
A working group proposes replacing traditional laminated glass windshields with a large, curved video screen that can display forward‑view video, side‑mirror feeds, and dynamic data tiles. The screen would switch to a transparent mode or be manually shattered if electronics...
Urgency Sensors Enable Reliability as a Service for EVs
Urgency‑sensing circuits (USCs), once common in 1970s office equipment, are being revived for electric vehicles. A partnership between BOTCH and YoYo Dyne has produced programmable, single‑chip USCs with CAN‑bus and OTA capabilities, allowing automakers to modulate reliability on demand. BMW...
Norway Registers 17,400 New Battery-Electric Cars in March
Norway registered 17,406 battery‑electric cars in March, representing 98.4% of all new passenger‑vehicle registrations – a new monthly record. The total market volume reached 17,685 units, a sharp rebound from the 7,272 registrations in February and the 2,218 in January....
Monthly Market Update: Balanced Used Car Supply and Demand in Europe?
The March 2026 Autovista24 market update shows a growing equilibrium between used‑car supply and demand across major European markets. Sales‑volume index (SVI) and active‑market volume index (AMVI) rose in most countries, with Germany, Spain and the UK posting double‑digit gains,...
REDSEL Project Targets Elimination of 12-Volt Battery in Electric Vehicles
The REDSEL research project, a collaboration between Silicon Austria Labs, Infineon Technologies Austria, and AVL List, has created a new vehicle electrical architecture that eliminates the conventional 12‑volt battery in electric cars. The design leverages two high‑voltage batteries with active...
JD Power Holds Its 2026 US Light Vehicle Sales Forecast at 16.3m Units
JD Power reaffirmed its 2026 U.S. light‑vehicle sales outlook at 16.3 million units, despite geopolitical tension in the Middle East and rising fuel costs. Demand remains solid, reflected in March 2026 retail sales of 1.12 million vehicles, the year’s highest month. The...
Nissan Urges that Low-Cost US Cars Can only Be Made in Mexico
Nissan Americas Chairman Christian Meunier told an industry forum that entry‑level cars cannot be built profitably in the United States without tariff relief, citing margins eroded by a $2,500‑$3,000 per‑vehicle duty. The automaker has already discontinued the Versa, leaving the...
Milan: ATM Launches Tender for 110 Electric Buses
ATM, Milan’s public transport operator, has issued a tender exceeding €100 million (≈$108 million) for 110 electric buses. The order comprises 80 low‑floor city buses with three doors and 30 intercity variants with two doors, plus a ten‑year full‑service maintenance agreement beginning...
Leapmotor Launches A10 (B03X) in China
Leapmotor, the Stellantis China joint venture, unveiled the A10 (global B03X) as the first model on its new A‑platform, targeting mainstream markets with premium features. The SUV boasts a 505 km CLTC range, dual Qualcomm 8295/8650 chips, LiDAR‑enabled ADAS and a...
char.gy to Deploy 1,500 Chargepoints on Isle of Wight
Char.gy has secured a contract with the Isle of Wight Council to install more than 1,500 public electric‑vehicle chargepoints across the island. The rollout is funded by £1.625 million of public money—about $2.05 million—and private investment, with no direct cost to the...
Vauxhall's Grandland Plug-In Hybrid Is Here and It's only a Tempting £915 More than the Normal Hybrid
Vauxhall has launched a plug‑in hybrid version of its Grandland SUV, priced between £36,615 and £39,740, roughly £915 more than the conventional hybrid. The PHEV uses the same 1.6‑litre turbo engine and 21 kWh battery as the Peugeot 3008 but delivers...
Macron Courts Asian Battery Makers on East Asia Tour
French President Emmanuel Macron is on a diplomatic tour of Japan and South Korea to persuade Asian battery makers to set up production in France. The effort already yielded a $1.75 billion subsidy for Taiwanese solid‑state battery leader ProLogium, which broke...
Rivian Sees “a Ton of Opportunity” In Digital Key Tech
Rivian has migrated its proprietary digital‑key system to the Connected Car Consortium (CCC) standard, completing an 18‑month integration that culminated in a December 2025 rollout. Early user surveys show markedly higher satisfaction, positioning Rivian’s solution as a benchmark for reliability...
German Operator MVG Deploys 20 eCitaro Buses in Lüdenscheid, with Five More Due in 2026
Märkische Verkehrsgesellschaft (MVG) has introduced 20 Mercedes‑eCitaro electric buses into its Lüdenscheid depot, with five more slated for delivery in 2026. The fleet will operate across roughly 131 routes and 2,300 stops, supported by 21 charging points at Lüdenscheid and...
Mercedes-Benz Trucks Plans New Czech Assembly Plant
Mercedes‑Benz Trucks announced a new assembly plant in Cheb, Czech Republic, slated to begin construction in 2027 with production starting by the end of the decade. The facility will add roughly 25,000 trucks per year, handling both conventional and electric...
Volvo Trucks Begins Road Testing Hydrogen Combustion Trucks
Volvo Trucks has begun on‑road testing of heavy trucks powered by hydrogen combustion engines using High Pressure Direct Injection (HPDI) technology. The HPDI system injects a small amount of ignition fuel before hydrogen, delivering higher efficiency and power than conventional...
Volvo Cars Set to Become Lynk & Co’s Sole Importer in Europe
Volvo Cars and Geely Auto have signed a memorandum of understanding that would make Volvo the exclusive importer of Lynk & Co vehicles in Europe. The deal would see Lynk & Co sold and serviced through Volvo’s existing dealer network,...
New BMW iX3 Gets Cheaper with ‘40’ Trim Added, and It’ll Still Go 395 Miles
BMW unveiled the iX3 40, an entry‑level electric SUV priced at £53,250, £5,525 less than the 50xDrive. It uses a smaller 82.6 kWh battery, delivering a still‑competitive 395‑mile WLTP range. Powered by a single rear‑mounted motor, it produces 315 bhp and 0‑62 mph in...
Copenhagen Switches Fully to Electric Buses
Copenhagen has finished converting its entire municipal bus network to battery‑electric vehicles, with routes 19 and 5C switched on 29 March. The final rollout added 15 electric buses on route 19 and 37 on the capital’s busiest line, 5C, which carries about 17 million passengers...
Car Deal of the Day: Vauxhall Frontera Electric Has a Big Battery for a Small £155 a Month
Vauxhall’s new Frontera Electric ‘Extended Range’ model now offers a 249‑mile (400 km) range for families on a budget, priced at $194 per month after a $2,693 upfront payment for a two‑year lease. The top‑spec Ultimate trim includes heated seats, a heated...
As Electric Truck Demand Craters, GM Lays Off Workers and Idles Plant
General Motors temporarily idled its Factory Zero plant in Hamtramck, Michigan, laying off 1,300 workers until production resumes on April 13. The shutdown affects the assembly of the Escalade IQ, Chevrolet Silverado EV, GMC Sierra EV, and GMC Hummer EVs....
New Cupra Raval Reveal Days Away as EV Prepares to Take on the Supermini Elite
Cupra will unveil its Raval electric supermini on 9 April, with UK deliveries slated for autumn. The B‑segment hatchback offers a 208 bhp base model delivering up to 280 miles of range, while the VZ Extreme tops out at 223 bhp and 249 miles. Priced at...
Proactive AI for EV Charging
Denmark‑based Monta has embedded an AI layer into its EV charging platform, analyzing data from over 260,000 charge points and 3 million monthly sessions. The system continuously surfaces anomalies, recommends actions such as firmware updates, and even answers natural‑language queries about...
Volvo, Daimler Truck and Toyota Unite on Fuel Cell Venture
Volvo Group, Daimler Truck and Toyota have signed a non‑binding memorandum of understanding to make Toyota an equal, third shareholder in cellcentric, the fuel‑cell joint venture owned by Volvo and Daimler. Toyota will contribute more than three decades of fuel‑cell...
Accelerator-Equipped MCU Brings Greater Access to AI in Cars
STMicroelectronics introduced the Stellar P3E, an automotive microcontroller that embeds a Neural‑ART accelerator for on‑chip AI inference. The MCU consolidates multiple ECUs, features six Cortex‑R52+ cores up to 500 MHz, and includes high‑density xMemory. By offloading machine‑learning tasks to the NPU, the...
What Is Shaping Europe’s New-Car Forecast in 2026?
The upcoming "Europe’s Auto Forecast 2026" webinar will dissect how shifting emissions policies, uneven electric‑vehicle adoption, and divergent OEM strategies are reshaping Europe’s new‑car market outlook. Panelists from JD Power and Autovista24 will evaluate the European Commission’s Automotive Package, the...
Can Smart Freight Tech Fix Congestion on I-40 Near Memphis?
The Tennessee Department of Transportation has teamed with Cavnue, LLC to launch a smart freight corridor pilot on I‑40 between Memphis and the upcoming Ford Blue Oval City campus. The initiative will deploy connected and autonomous trucking technologies, installing temporary...
Zero-Emission Buses Move Beyond Cities: Intercity Transition in Sustainable Bus’ Session at BUS2BUS
The Sustainable Bus Tour will host a panel titled “From city to intercity: the next step for zero‑emission bus transition” at Bus2Bus 2026 in Berlin on April 15. The session highlights Europe’s move to electrify intercity and coach services, with...
Higer Posts +14k Units Sold in 2025 as It Expands European Cooperation and Prepares New E-Bus Launch
Chinese bus manufacturer Higer reported sales of 14,246 complete vehicles in 2025, bringing its global new‑energy bus total to 55,714 units. The company now serves nearly 30 European countries, with 80% of its European fleet being zero‑emission models, and plans...
Turntide’s Semi‑integrated Electric Drive Powers Off‑highway Electrification
Turntide unveiled a semi‑integrated Electric Drive Unit (EDU) that pairs an axial‑flux motor with a gearbox and a flexible inverter placement for off‑highway vehicles. The motor’s pancake shape delivers two‑to‑four times the power density of conventional radial‑flux designs, while thermal‑fluid...