Europe’s largest carmaker Volkswagen AG (VW) may set up an electric vehicle battery manufacturing plant in Indonesia, according to a news report published by Electrive.com on May 30. The report cited Ikmal Lukma, secretary of the Indonesian Ministry of Investment, who spoke to the local media about VW’s plan of investing around €4.7 billion in the battery factory. Without disclosing the location for the said plant, the report added that the construction is expected to begin later i...

Chinese carmaker Great Wall Motor Co. (Great Wall) plans to invest up to $30 million to set up a new battery-pack assembly plant in Thailand, according to a news report published by Reuters on May 30. The news report cited a company official. Great Wall already plans to commence assembling compact electric vehicles in Thailand from 2024. In addition, the company is also considering setting up a research and development (R&D) center in Thailand. The facility will do research o...

Hyundai Motor Group and electric vehicle battery manufacturer LG Energy Solution (LGES) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to establish a battery-cell manufacturing joint venture in the US, the two companies said in a joint announcement May 26. Hyundai Group and LGES will each hold a 50% stake in the planned battery cell JV, which will involve an investment of over $4.3 billion, the companies said. The MOU between the two companies entail local production of EV batteries ...

ZF Group has reached an agreement with the management committee of the Shandong Rizhao Economic and Technological Development Zone for a new project, which will see the auto-parts maker set up an automotive steering wheel project, INF News reported May 29. ZF will initially invest €20 million to start mass production within three months of the signing of the agreement. Once the project enters the final stage, it is expected that the annual output value will exceed 800 million Chinese yuan (...

US auto-component maker, BorgWarner announced plans to invest in its Ramos Arizpe Campus, Mexico, where it will produce innovative battery-cooling plates destined for a carmaker’s next generation of electric vehicles, the company said May 25, without revealing the investment figure. The company said this investment will strengthen its competitive position within e-mobility by adding specialized talent and increasing capacity for future EV application development. “This signif...

Alpitronic America Inc. (Alpitronic), a subsidiary of Italy-based electric vehicle charging equipment manufacturer Alpitronic Srl, plans to set up its North American headquarters in Charlotte, a commercial hub in North Carolina, US, according to an update published by the local government on its website May 23. The company plans to invest $9.3 million in setting up an EV charging equipment manufacturing plant off of Westpark Drive, NC, creating more than 300 new jobs, it said, addin...

In a press release May 25, Porsche Digital GmbH (Porsche Digital) announced the opening of a new office in Guadalajara, Mexico. The subsidiary of Porsche AG will develop and optimize digital products and services for Porsche customers at the Mexican location. With the new location in Mexico’s second-largest city, Porsche Digital now operates 10 offices in leading global technology centers in Europe, the US, China and Latin America. “We are expanding our international teams with ...

In a press release dated May 25, Stellantis and Lyten announced that Stellantis Ventures, the corporate venture fund of Stellantis, invested in Lyten to accelerate the commercialization of Lyten 3D Graphene applications for the mobility industry, including the LytCell Lithium-Sulfur electric vehicle battery, lightweighting composites and novel onboard sensing. Lyten, a pioneer of 3D Graphene, will leverage the unique tunability of the material to enable enhanced vehic...

Leading Indian automaker Tata Motors is expected to have chosen the UK for setting up its planned electric vehicle battery-manufacturing plant in Europe, according to a news report published by the BBC on May 25. The report cited people aware of the matter. The said gigafactory, which is expected to come up in Somerset, UK, would be a multibillion-pound project that would create up to 9,000 new jobs at the Bridgwater, UK, site, close to the M5, the report mentioned. The report pointed out tha...

Lear Corp. has announced plans to open a connection systems plant in Morocco in the third quarter of 2023 that will manufacture injection molded parts and engineered plastics for automakers, suppliers and Lear’s E-Systems and Seating business units, according to a press release dated May 23. “As one of the largest automotive employers in Morocco, Lear is proud to be opening a state-of-the-art facility in a country where we have been doing business since 2003,” said Enrique Orta, Le...

In a press release dated May 23, NI has announced the launch of its software-defined battery lab solution. Designed for electric vehicle battery-validation labs, the new offering marks a critical milestone in NI’s comprehensive testing capabilities covering the entire, sustainable battery life cycle from research and development to validation, production, second life and remanufacturing. Through software, the solution allows battery validation, data management and analysis of batt...

Analog Devices has announced a new €630 million investment at its European regional headquarters in the Raheen Business Park in Limerick, Ireland, a May 15 press release read. The investment enables the construction of a new 45,000-square-feet research and development (R&D) and manufacturing facility. The new facility will help ADI develop next-generation signal processing advances that will assist to expedite the digital transformation of the industrial, automotive, healthcar...

Micron Technology (Micron) has announced that it will be introducing extreme ultraviolet (EUV) technology to Japan to manufacture its next generation of dynamic random-access memory (DRAM), the 1-gamma (1γ) node, according to a press release May 17. Micron will be the first semiconductor company to bring EUV technology to Japan for production, with its Hiroshima, Japan, fab playing a critical role in the company’s development of the 1-gamma node. Micron expects to invest up to ¥500 bil...

Startup Mogo Auto has successfully raised 580 million yuan ($83 million) in C2 round financing, according to a report published by 36Kr on May 6. Chengdu Science and Technology Investment Group, Zhuhai Haidou Science and Technology Investment Group, Tencent, and car-finance business Yixin Group are among the investors in this round. Mogo Auto, founded in 2017, has developed a Level 4 autonomous driving system on its own. The business has created a standardized product package for se...

German luxury-car maker BMW Group (BMW) announced May 18 that the company plans to commence local production of its upcoming Neue Klass range of electric vehicles in China from 2026. The announcement, which marked the 20th anniversary of the carmaker’s joint venture in China — BMW Brilliance Automotive Ltd. (BBA), stated that the next-generation EV models from the Neue Klasse range will be produced by BBA in Shenyang, China, following the market launch of the said vehicles in 2025....

Stellantis and its battery supplier LG Energy Solution (LGES) have suspended the construction work of their US$3.7 billion electric vehicle battery manufacturing plant in Canada as the government has failed to provide the promised support, according to a news report published by Reuters on May 16. Citing a company spokesperson, the news report said, “Effective immediately, all construction related to the battery module production on the [Windsor, Ontario, Canada] site has sto...

Spinframe, the developer of vehicle inspection systems based on AI, computer vision and machine-learning technologies that create Digital Twins for vehicles throughout the supply chain and detect anomalies from the assembly line throughout the vehicle journey to the dealership and end customer, has received a fresh funding of $8 million led by ZIM Integrated Shipping Services, according to a press release from PRNewswire dated May 17. Spinframe's monitoring platform has already been...

Chicago-based materials company Anovion Technologies announced May 15 that it plans to build a manufacturing plant for critical battery materials at Decatur County in Southwest Georgia. The planned facility will be Anovion’s first large-scale expansion of manufacturing capacity for production of its premium synthetic graphite anode materials, the company said. It added that the said location was chosen for its initial 1.5 million-square-foot facility based on its proximity to existing ...

According to a press release May 11, Nokian Tyres broke ground for the company’s new passenger-car tire factory in Oradea, Romania. A groundbreaking ceremony has been held at Nokian Tyres’ upcoming, zero-CO² emission factory in Oradea. The total investment for the site is estimated to be approximately €650 million. Upon completion, the facility will have an annual capacity of 6 million tires with the potential to increase this number if required. Commercial tire producti...

Ethernovia has announced that it has completed its A-round financing of $64 million, according to a press release dated May 15. The funding round consists of multiple investors, including Porsche Automobile Holding SE (Porsche SE), Qualcomm Ventures, VentureTech Alliance, AMD Ventures, Western Digital Capital, Fall Line Capital, Taiwania Capital, ENEA Capital and others. “The connected car of the future requires high bandwidth and secure in-vehicle communication,” said Carlos Kokron,...

Automotive system software startup AutoCore.ai has completed its Series A+ round of fundraising, a company press release dated May 15 read. The round was led by Bosch Ventures and BoYuan Capital, joined by existing shareholder GL Ventures. The investment will propel the startup to its next phase of growth. The partnership with Bosch will enable AutoCore.ai to move its computing solutions to mass production stage. The startup will be able to leverage Bosch's network and communities for the sof...

In a significant development toward clearer mobility, Faurecia, a company of the Forvia group, Michelin and Stellantis announced the signing of a binding agreement for Stellantis to acquire a 33.3% stake in Symbio, a leader in zero-emission hydrogen mobility. Faurecia and Michelin will remain shareholders with 33.3% holding each, a company statement dated May 16 said. The announcement is an important initiative in the decarbonization of the mobility industry and illustrates Symbio�...

Swedish battery-maker Northvolt AB (Northvolt) plans to set up a 60 GWh gigafactory in Germany and will be supported by the German federal government in this initiative, according to a joint press release published May 12 by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action and Northvolt. “The German [federal] government as well as the Schleswig-Holstein [state] government stand ready to support the establishment of a gigafactory for battery cells in [Heide, Germany] ...

Hyundai Motor Co. (Hyundai) announced plans to invest $2.45 billion in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu over the next 10 years to beef up electric vehicle (EV) production, Reuters reported on May 11. Hyundai, through its Indian subsidiary Hyundai Motor India, will also set up a battery-pack assembly unit with an annual capacity of 178,000 units and install 100 EV charging stations across the southern state in the next five years, it said in a statement. The company plans to increase the...

South Korean carmaker Hyundai Motor Group plans to invest about $1.59 billion to build a dedicated EV manufacturing plant in the southeastern coastal city of Ulsan, according to a news report published by The Korea Herald on May 9. It said that with the new EV plant, Hyundai aims to consolidate its position in the emerging electric car segment. The new EV plant, which will be spread across an area of 230,000-square-meters, is expected to be Hyundai’s new car manufacturing plant being built ...

Chinese battery manufacturer EVE Energy Company Ltd plans to build a battery production plant in Debrecen, Hungary, according to a news report published by Chinese news agency Xinhua on May 10. The report cited Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto, who confirmed the development on Tuesday. EVE Energy is expected to invest about $1.18 billion in the Eastern European country to set up its production base. The planned battery plant is estimated to create more than 1,00...

US electric vehicle (EV) maker Tesla Inc. (Tesla) broke ground on its in-house lithium refinery located in the greater Corpus Christi area of Texas, the company announced in a blog post on its website on May 8. Tesla said it has earmarked investments of more than $1 billion for the said facility. “This investment is critical to our mission to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy and represents our efforts to aggressively increase the supply of battery-grade lithium...

German automotive component supplier ElringKlinger AG (ElringKlinger) has received a new contract from luxury carmaker BMW Group (BMW) wherein it will supply the carmaker with cell contact systems for the latter’s upcoming "Neue Klasse" range of EVs, ElringKlinger said May 5. The Dettingen-headquartered company from Germany said that the order from BMW is a new high-volume series production contract covering a period of several years. Commenting on the securing of the...

US-based auto-component maker, Fisher Dynamics Corp. (Fisher Dynamics) is planning an expansion of its manufacturing footprint with an estimated investment of $81 million in its production base in Matamoros, Mexico, which will generate over 1,000 jobs, Mexico Now said in a report dated May 9. Fisher Dynamics, led and managed directly by the Fisher family, has been operating in the border municipality for more than 25 years, where it generates employment for 1,380 people. Now, with t...

Marquardt Group (Marquardt) is set to invest approximately $66 million to expand its activities in Tunisia, L'Economiste Maghrebin reported on May 3. The company will begin construction of a second factory at the Neopark El Fejja industrial zone. The first stage of the project involves the construction 32,000-square-meters plant. Construction began in January 2023, with start of production scheduled for 2024. The unit will produce high technical level HMI (human-machine interface) c...

Webasto Group has opened a second production facility in India, it said in a press release on May 5. The plant at Irungattukottai Sipcot, a suburb of the south Indian city of Chennai, has an initial production capacity of 250,000 units per annum, and a production and storage area that extends over 9,500 square meters. There is scope for expansion in the future. “The Indian roof system market is experiencing a period of extremely rapid growth and openable panoramic roofs are in par...

American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings, Inc. (AAM) has announced a $10 million investment in the Global Strategic Mobility Fund (GSMF), a venture capital fund managed by EnerTech Capital, according to a press release dated May 5. As a strategic partner, AAM gains access to EnerTech's vast network of business alliances and emerging technology, all supporting mobility innovation that can help enhance AAM's products and operations. EnerTech, founded in 1996, has a long history of working wit...

Impact Nano LLC, a startup engaged in making specialty chemicals for the semiconductor industry and others announced that it raised $32 million in funding from investors including Intel Capital and Goldman Sachs Asset Management, according to a press release on May 4. In conjunction with the latest financing, Sean Doyle, Intel Capital managing director, will join the board of directors. The Impact Nano facilities in Massachusetts provide the ability to safely manufacture critical materia...

Governor Gretchen Whitmer and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) announced that Tier 1 auto supplier AGS Automotive Systems is expanding in Sterling Heights, Mich., according to a press release by MEDC on April 27. The project is expected to generate a total capital investment of $20 million and create 120 good-paying jobs in advanced auto manufacturing and future mobility. “AGS is driving $20 million of investment and creating 120 good-paying jobs in Southeast Michig...

As part of their strategic partnership announced earlier this 2023, ZF Friedrichshafen and Wolfspeed revealed their plans to establish a joint European research and development (R&D) center for Silicon Carbide (SiC) power electronics in the Nuremberg Metropolitan Region, Germany. The new joint research facility is supported by the German federal government and the regional government of Bavaria. Funding for the new center, such as that for the planned Wolfspeed SiC chip facility...

According a press release on May 2, Foretellix announced that it has raised $43 million in the first closing of its Series C funding round led by 83North, bringing its total raised capital to over $93 million. Woven Capital, the growth fund of Toyota, and NVIDIA joined the financing round, along with Artofin. All major existing shareholders participated, including MoreTech, Nationwide, Volvo Group and Jump Capital. Foretellix will use the funding to accelerate development of its expandin...

Infineon Technologies has broken ground for a new plant in Dresden, Germany, together with political leaders from Brussels, Berlin and Saxony, according to a press release on May 2. EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, German Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Saxony's Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer and Dresden's Mayor Dirk Hilbert symbolically launched construction work together with Infineon CEO Jochen Hanebeck. The investment volume amounted at €5 billion in the new plant. In...

German auto supplier Hella is planning to expand its design and manufacturing operations for the automotive industry in Jalisco, Mexico, with an investment of $4 million, MEXICONOW reported on April 28. Currently, the company dedicated to the development and manufacture of electronic components and lighting systems has five plants installed in Mexico, one of which is located in the municipality of El Salto. “It is an investment, from the point of view of the automotive and mobility secto...

According to a report published by Reuters on April 28, STMicroelectronics and GlobalFoundries has secured EU approval to build a chip factory with French state aid in France. “The aid will take the form of direct grants to STMicroelectronics and to GF, to support their investments in the project worth totally 7.4 billion euros ($8.13 billion),” the European Commission said in a statement. The new facility, which will be built next to STMicroelectronics' existing plant in Crolles,...

Gentex announced that it has closed an agreement with ADASKY as the lead investor in a Series B round of financing and has also established a commercial, engineering and manufacturing collaboration agreement to help bring ADASKY’s proprietary technology to market, according to a press release on May 1. “After several years of investigation, research and dialogue with the ADASKY team, we became very convinced that now was the time for Gentex to help accelerate the technology’s ...

SAIC Motor-CP and MG Sales Thailand, manufacturer and distributor of MG cars in Thailand, have held a foundation stone laying ceremony for the NEW ENERGY INDUSTRIAL PARK to build an electric vehicle (EV) manufacturing plant. The company plans to invest 500 million Thai baht ($14.6 million), it said on April 30. Significance: SAIC Motor-CP was established to produce and distribute MG cars sold in Thailand and other ASEAN countries. The factory is located in the WHA Eastern Seaboard Indust...

Stellantis and Alliance Nickel Ltd (formerly GME Resources) have signed a binding offtake agreement for the supply of 170,000 tons of nickel sulphate and 12,000 tons of cobalt sulphate in total over an initial five-year period, Stellantis announced on April 28. “This represents approximately 40% of forecast annual production of the NiWest Nickel-Cobalt Project in Western Australia,” the carmaker said in a statement, adding that the pricing for the nickel and cobalt sulphate is linked to i...

Honda Motor and Japanese battery-maker GS Yuasa will set up a joint venture this 2023 and committed an investment of ¥400 billion (about $2.99 billion) to develop and mass-produce cells for electric vehicles (EVs) and homes in Japan, Nikkei Asia reported on April 28. As a first step, the companies will construct a domestic lithium ion (Li-ion) battery factory with a target capacity of 20 GWh or more. Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry will provide a roughly ¥150 billion&nb...

In a press release announcement on April 24, tire manufacturer Continental said that it has opened its new Solution Center in Lousado, Portugal on April 20. In the presence of the employees, Christian Kötz, head of the Tires group sector and member of the executive board of Continental AG, formally inaugurated the recently completed building. Cross-functional teams drive forward stated digitalization subjects at the Solution Center, which is located near the tire production. The busines...

South Korean electric vehicle (EV) battery-maker, LG Energy Solution is planning to add a new mother factory to its Ochang manufacturing complex, as part of its goal to turn the home manufacturing site into a global technology research and development hub for new battery technologies amid growing demand for different forms of EV batteries, The Korean Economic Daily reported on April 25. The company announced a plan to invest 600 billion South Korean won (US$449 million) to build a m...

Autoliv has announced plans to build a new airbag cushion and fabric plant in Vietnam, according to a press release dated April 20. The investment in the new textile facility will cater to the growing demand for airbag production in the Asia market. The new facility will be built in Amata City Ha Long Industrial Park, located in the northern part of Vietnam. “I am excited to open our first Autoliv facility in Vietnam. We continuously look for ways to improve our footprint and reduce our cos...

Hyundai Motor Group has announced its plans to set up an electric vehicle (EV) battery-cell production joint venture in the US with partner SK On. Group affiliates Hyundai Motor Company, Kia Corporation and Hyundai Mobis each approved the plan at their respective board meetings, the company said on April 25. In November 2022, the Group signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with SK On to secure EV battery supply for North America. The total investment amount for the joint venture is expec...

German luxury carmaker BMW plans to invest €350 million in expanding EV manufacturing capacity at its Regensburg-based plant in Germany, the company said on April 21. The carmaker also plans to hire around 500 new employees at the plant as it looks to commence rolling out fully electric BMW iX2 models off the assembly lines at the site. The plant currently manufactures the BMW iX1, which also is the smallest electric SUV model from the company. Commenting on the expansion drive, Carsten ...