Tag: automotive articles

Transport technology startup funding plunged 43 percent in March

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Globally, deal activity in the mobility technology sector for the fourth quarter of 2022 was going flat into 2023, Jonathan Geurkink, a senior analyst at PitchBook, told Automotive News. “We are seeing investment shift away from the activity in and around autonomous driving and the ride-hailing and last mile stuff seems to be tailing off as well,” Geurkink said. “I think there are areas certainly in battery technology that look interesting. We’re probably going to put out an analyst note in the next month or so on sodium battery technology and some of the investments there.” Of the 47 investments…
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VW’s Cariad, ThunderSoft partner on connectivity, infotainment

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BERLIN — Volkswagen Group’s software unit Cariad will establish a joint venture with Chinese technologies provider ThunderSoft for connectivity and infotainment systems in China, with ThunderSoft holding a 51 percent stake. The partnership will develop software products for car cockpits, infotainment systems and cloud development. These are consumer-facing areas where automakers are competing to set themselves apart and retain control over valuable data on consumer behavior. “The needs and requirements of the Chinese customers are at the center of our strategic efforts,” VW Group China chief Ralf Brandstaetter said on Thursday. Cariad will be the minority shareholder in the joint…
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Used-car seller Canada Drives granted creditor protection

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Canada Drives obtained creditor protection March 20 under an order from the Supreme Court of British Columbia, according to a notice from court-appointed monitor PricewaterhouseCoopers Inc. While the company has focused mainly on ecommerce since 2020, Canada Drives was founded in 2010 as a lead-generating business, matching consumers looking for financing with local dealerships. Under CCAA protection, it plans to restructure its business, winding down the “capital intensive” online sales segment, and refocusing on the financing matching service it has provided for more than a decade. As part of the restructuring plan, Canada Drives also intends to maintain one aspect…
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These Automakers Can’t Quite Hold Onto Their First-Time Buyers

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The back of a Ram truck is seen on a sales lot on May 23, 2017 in Miami, Florida.Some automakers are struggling to convince first-time buyers to return to the showroom, Elon Musk tested that he really believed he’d be able to take Tesla private in 2018 with some help and Audi took Nio to court and won. All that and more in The Morning Shift for January 24, 2023. 1st Gear: The ‘Nomad Retention Challenge’ There’s apparently a name for people who purchase a car from a brand, but don’t buy their next vehicle from that same brand.…
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Rivian commits to more in-person customer contact in Canada

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Rivian, which makes high-end electric SUVs and pickups, is opening its first Canadian showroom in the Vancouver suburb of Burnaby. The move by the California EV maker marks a course change from a strategy that favored largely online contact with customers, Denise Cherry, senior director of design and retail development, said. The purchase process still won’t be conducted end-to-end in the showrooms, which Rivian calls Spaces. The store will give it more of a presence in the community and customers a better chance to interact with the product and staff, he said. “We did want a place to put down…
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Lithium iron phosphate curbs the battery gap with nickel, cobalt

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Battery expert Lukasz Bednarski, author of the 2021 book “Lithium: The Global Race for Battery Dominance and the New Energy Revolution,” believes automakers’ interest in building lower-priced EVs could be one of the drivers behind LFP’s rising popularity. “LFP provides good enough performance at a lower cost, which makes it an attractive proposition for EVs for the middle class,” he said. Bednarski added that the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) provides incentives “for the development of the whole battery chain (with no) preference for LFP chemistry.” Rising investment in LFP manufacturing facilities in the United States is coming not just…
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France beats Germany, Netherlands to host the ProLogium battery plant

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Macron, who personally met with ProLogium CEO Vincent Yang at the start of the vetting process, was due on Friday to officially announce in Dunkirk the 5.2-billion-euro ($5.7 billion) investment. Gilles Normand, ProLogium executive vice-president, said that after Macron, a former investment banker, pitched Yang more than a year ago Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire followed up and helped make the company’s case with the European Commission for EU financial incentives. “There was then the realization that there might be some interesting possibilities, which was maybe a little bit different from the clichés about France,” Normand told a small group…
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