Latest news with #carindustry
Wall Street Journal
2 hours ago
- Automotive
- Wall Street Journal
Renault Names Procurement Head Francois Provost as New CEO
Renault RNO -2.98%decrease; red down pointing triangle said it appointed Francois Provost as its new chief executive, turning to a company veteran as the French carmaker navigates a tough automotive market. Provost, who has been with the group for more than two decades and was most recently head of procurement, partnerships and public affairs, will become CEO as of Thursday for a term of four years, Renault said.
Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Automotive
- Daily Mail
Will Britain's most popular car ever make a comeback?
It was officially axed only two years ago but speculation has been brewing that Britain's most popular car name of all time could make a comeback. Almost five million examples were snapped up by UK drivers during its 47-year availability between its arrival in 1976 to the end of its production in July 2023. So, it's unsurprising to see numerous reports talking up a return for Ford's Fiesta. And despite gradually disappearing from showrooms over the last 24 months, roughly 1.5 million are still used on our roads today - more than any other motor. Loved by learners, collected by enthusiasts and popular among senior motorists; this is a name that is deeply ingrained in hearts of drivers of all ages and passion levels for cars. If the nameplate is to make a dramatic reappearance, it will surely be stamped onto a very different vehicle to the one we've known and loved for decades. Without question, if Ford is to bring the Fiesta name back, it will not be used for a combustion-engine model. And the brand's existing deal with another car-making giant could fast track its return as it has done former iconic names associated to the brand with the blue oval badge. Ford-VW deal could be key to Fiesta comeback Ford and Volkswagen currently have an agreement in place. It sees Volkswagen granted access to its rival's commercial vehicle platforms - like that of the Transit - in return for sharing its electric vehicle architecture. The tie-up has already sparked the return of the Explorer nameplate as well as the highly-contentious return of the Capri badge in 2024 after a near 40-year hiatus. Both are underpinned by VW platforms, with the pair sharing DNA with the Volkswagen ID.4 and ID.5 respectively. Volkswagen's head of sales and marketing, Martin Sander, who left Ford to join the German automotive powerhouse, told Auto Express that the collaboration with Ford on EVs has already proven to be 'very, very, very successful,' and suggested the partnership could extend into the future. During a recent interview, he told the automotive title that he did 'not want to rule out' any future opportunities to 'share technology again'. And VW's plans for smaller models could potentially instigate a return of the Fiesta nameplate. Volkswagen's 2026 EV the ideal Fiesta candidate Volkswagen is due to launch a compact ID.2 in 2026 - and a year later, an even smaller ID.1 is scheduled to follow. While Ford itself has not signalled the possibility of building a new entry-level electric hatchback smaller in dimension to its Puma Gen-E, Auto Express has hinted that the Fiesta name would be a logical option if the larger of these two EVs were part of the shared-platform arrangement. Ford has also said it is 'confident in its ability to compete in the right segments' - and currently with no small models at all, this could be a possibility. The ID.2 - based on the ID.2all Concept revealed in 2023 - is a mere 18mm longer than the last-generation Fiesta sold in Britain and too shares a practical five-door layout. As such, it seems the perfect fit for a reborn battery-powered Fiesta. Ford has only one model that could qualify for UK's new Electric Car Grant What could also accelerate Ford's appetite to bring smaller EVs to market is the recent announcement of the UK Government's Electric Car Grant. This will be available to models priced under £37,000. However, brands also need to meet specific manufacturing emissions criteria in order to qualify for the full £3,750 subsidy - and even a lower £1,500 allowance. While Chinese brands are expected to be excluded due to their heavy reliance on coal power stations for manufacturing, there are some European marques that are expected to have a number of eligible vehicles below this price point. Not Ford, though. Only the Puma Gen-E is listed below the £37k threshold. Explorer, Capri and Mustang Mach-E are all steeper. It is currently unknown which EV models will be accepted into the scheme, though the DfT exclusively revealed to This is Money that the initial list of eligible battery-powered cars would be shared before 11 August. The final Ford Fiesta emerged from the brand's Cologne factory in Germany on 7 July. Having first arrived in 1976 and been sold across seven different generations, the plucky small car has topped Britain's annual sales chart 16 times and leads the Cortina and Escort as the nation's all-time favourite model. It is still the most common car on our roads today and remains a staple of Britain's streets. Ford confirmed to This is Money in summer 2023 that the last two Fiestas off the line have been kept by the company. One - which was signed by the whole factory workforce when it came off the assembly line - is retained in its international fleet in Germany while the final right-hand-drive model has formed part of Ford UK's heritage collection.
Bloomberg
4 days ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Russia's Once-Hot War Economy Shows More Cracks
Russia's economy surprised many by remaining resilient in the face of international sanctions following President Vladimir Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than three years ago. At one point it even appeared to be running the risk of overheating. But cracks in the $2 trillion economy are now abundantly clear. This newsletter suggested in November that 2025 would be a year of consumer retrenchment as Moscow was forced to choose guns over butter. That dynamic was on display this week: Putin attended a flag-raising ceremony for Russia's latest nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine, the fifth of the new Borei-A class built in the past six years. Meantime, car sales for June came in with a 30% plunge.
Auto Express
22-07-2025
- Automotive
- Auto Express
This car giant is £260m down thanks to Trump and his tariffs
President Trump's tariffs are starting to bite across the car industry, if the latest news from the owner of Citroen, Peugeot, Vauxhall, Fiat and Jeep is anything to go by. The multi-brand Stellantis group says that it's in a 300m Euro (£260m) hole as a result of extra costs associated with importing cars to the US market. Advertisement - Article continues below The fall in revenue resulting from the tariffs contributed to a 2.3 billion Euro loss in the first half of 2025. But given that the measures were only imposed part of the way through that reporting period, worse could be still to come. "We'll see significantly more in the second half unless things change," said Doug Ostermann, Stellantis Chief Financial Officer. 'Given the current outlook, I would expect to see that figure probably double in the second half, or more.' Stellantis revealed that shipments to North America declined by 25 per cent in the three months to June compared with the same period last year. The likes of Peugeot, Citroen and Vauxhall don't have a presence in the US market, but Stellantis also owns Jeep, Chrysler, Dodge and Ram, as well as Alfa Romeo and Maserati, which do. US customers might end up paying more for cars but you don't have to. Check out the latest deals on the Auto Express Find a Car service. The giant Stellantis group does manufacture cars in the US but has a total of 52 plants in other countries around the world - including in Europe, Canada and South America - that import vehicles to the US market. The global nature of the car industry means that there will be other brands in a similar boat, both those importing completed vehicles and those sending components to feed US factories - although Trump did take measures to lower tariffs on these components in April. The UK arrived at a trade deal with the US government in May that lowered the 25 per cent tariffs on complete cars built here to 10 per cent, but this is still significantly higher than the previous tariff of 2.5 per cent. There could be further problems for Stellantis if President Trump follows through on his threat to impose 50 per cent tariffs on Brazil. The group has a major manufacturing operation there producing Fiat and Jeep cars. Come and join our WhatsApp channel for the latest car news and reviews...
Auto Car
17-07-2025
- Automotive
- Auto Car
I drove the Jaguar C-X75 - they should have built it
Did it feel like the start of something that would change the car industry? Not entirely. But it was clearly a more credible product than anyone with whom I spoke about it at the time was ready to believe. I wouldn't have known that much from a show car. There are prototype drives, by contrast, when you know precisely what strategic significance you're dealing with. Little can give you a better idea of that than turning up at the gates of a brand-new factory built to manufacture the car you're about to sample, a model that is being hailed as the saviour of its long-ailing creator. That's how I first sampled an Aston Martin DBX: with a car load of engineers along for the ride through the Welsh mountains. ('What do you think, Matt?' No pressure, there, then…) And, just occasionally, you know that a test drive in a prototype is all you're ever going to get. That is exactly how it was with Jaguar's great aborted hybrid hypercar, the C-X75, when we managed a handful of laps of JLR's Gaydon high-speed and handling circuits in 2013. This was the time of the hypercar 'holy trinity'. Jaguar had been bold enough to invest big and, with the help of Williams Advanced Engineering, take its particular vision for such a car all the way through to a highly polished place. But, rather crushingly, it had also already decided not to build it. That competitors from Porsche, Ferrari and McLaren were all coming to market at the same time was too great a risk. Above all, JLR couldn't afford another XJ220. The car certainly didn't deserve description in those terms. I never drove a LaFerrari, but I have driven both a McLaren P1 and a Porsche 918 Spyder, and honestly, the C-X75 was right up there. It had bucketloads of star quality; its chassis and steering were outstanding; and its 1.6-litre, 10,000rpm twin-charged four-cylinder combustion engine topped the lot. It was like some mutant superbike motor backed by epic electric torque fill. It was monumental. The C-X75 might well be the greatest performance car that the British industry never made. And being in the position to learn that – however bittersweet it may feel on reflection – is why you don't turn down drives in prototypes.
