Weekly Roundup: 1st-7th February
- General Motors to spend $7B on EV plant
- Tesla forecasts 50% growth in 2022
- Volkswagen to build 1 million electric vehicles per year from 2023 in China
An Electrified Future
GM to spend $6.6B on EV plant investments
General Motors announced that it would spend $6.6 billion to build a battery plant in Michigan and overhaul an existing factory outside Detroit to begin producing electric pickup trucks by 2024. The investment plan aims to ramp up production of electric vehicles and dethrone Tesla as the top EV seller. Read more about this story here.
Renault, Nissan to work together in $26B electric bet
Renault and Nissan Motor Co. outlined a $26 billion electrification plan that will deepen ties within the struggling Franco-Japanese alliance as competition intensifies. The funds will be spent over five years to roll out 35 new battery-powered cars by the end of the decade across five common manufacturing platforms. Check out more about this story here.
Volkswagen vows to build 1M electric vehicles per year in China from 2023
Volkswagen aims to boost its electric car production capacity in China to one million by 2023. The decision comes as the German automaker is trying to replicate its success with petrol-powered vehicles in China’s tough electric vehicle market currently dominated by the local brands and Tesla. Read more about this story here.
Ford to spend $20B in shift to electric vehicles
Ford will spend as much as $20 billion to reorganize its business for the electric future. The company had already said it would spend $30 billion on electric and autonomous vehicles earlier. The reorganization will include converting its factories from gas-powered to electric vehicle production to compete with others. Check out the full story here.
Earnings
Ford sees 8.2B gain on investment from Rivian
Ford Motor Co. announced the company’s fourth-quarter results would include an $8.2 billion gain on its investment in Rivian following the electric-vehicle maker’s market debut in November. Earlier, Rivian soared 53% to cross $100 billion in the biggest IPO of 2021. Ford, an early investor in Rivian, currently owns about 12% of the company. Read more about this story here.
Tesla forecasts more than 50% growth in 2022 despite supply chain issues
Tesla announced that the forecasted vehicle deliveries would grow by more than 50% year-over-year in 2022 despite persistent supply chain issues that the company expects to be alleviated next year. The US-based automaker has fared better than its counterparts in managing the chip shortage issue by using less scarce chips and re-writing software quickly. Read more about this story here.
Toshiba to invest $1B to expand chip production capacity
Toshiba Corp. will spend about $1.13 billion to expand the manufacturing capacity of its power management chip business. The Tokyo-based company also announced that it plans to add more chip manufacturing capacity. Toshiba is starting the initiative to expand its semiconductor production capacity a few months after announcing plans to split up into three separate companies. Check out more about this new story here.
About Us
This week in Transport is a weekly round-up of everything happening in the transportation world; from sustainable transport initiatives to expansion plans, and implementation of an intelligent transport system. Watch this space for more sector news!