BASF's Coatings division has announced the completion of a significant expansion to its polyester and polyurethane resin production capacity at the Caojing plant in Shanghai. Originally launched in 2015 with the capacity to produce 8,000 metric tons annually, the plant's capacity has now more than doubled to 18,800 metric tons per year. This expansion is aimed at supporting the growing market demands within the automotive industry in China and the broader Asia-Pacific region. In addition to the ...

The automotive industry is transforming as it faces sustainability pressures and must adapt to changing market dynamics. Recently, the focus on sustainability has intensified due to regulatory requirements, consumer demand for greener products and the urgent need to combat climate change. The S&P Global Mobility 2025 Supplier Outlook highlights the sustainability practices being adopted across the automotive supply chain. The growing pressure for sustainability Luz Mauch, executive vic...

The automotive industry is rapidly evolving, shaped by shifting consumer preferences and economic pressures. Suppliers must be agile and proactive, swiftly responding to consumer demands while balancing production costs and profitability in a fiercely competitive market. The S&P Global Mobility 2025 Supplier Outlook emphasizes the need for suppliers to tackle these market changes head-on. Consumer behavior in flux Economic factors are key in shaping how consumers behave. In turn, these...

In an era where vehicles are as much about software as they are about steel, partnering has become essential rather than just beneficial. It is the powerhouse driving advancements in connected vehicles, autonomous driving innovations and sustainable practices within the automotive industry. However, collaboration in this sector can be a double-edged sword; while it sparks innovation, it also presents challenges. Cultural clashes, intellectual property dilemmas and the need for agility in respons...

The automotive industry is grappling with a myriad of supply chain disruptions that have become increasingly common since the pandemic struck. In addition to Brexit complexities, rising material costs, natural disasters, geopolitical tensions and economic instability are forcing companies to rethink their logistics and sourcing strategies on the fly. While improvements are anticipated in the global car chip shortage, challenges persist. As Nimish Ashar, associate director of E/E & Semicon...

As the automotive industry evolves, suppliers must prioritize regulatory compliance due to stricter environmental laws linked to climate change. Investing in new technologies is essential to avoid penalties and enhance competitiveness. We examine the regulatory challenges facing suppliers and share insights from industry executives in S&P Global Mobility’s 2025 Automotive Supplier Outlook. Regulatory pressures: A catalyst for change Automotive suppliers are facing numerous challenges...

The European automotive supply industry is currently grappling with a severe labor shortage, exacerbated by record attrition levels that have plagued it over the past few years. This alarming situation has led to job losses that surpass even the darkest days of the pandemic. Despite optimistic forecasts for new job creation, the reality reveals a staggering net loss of nearly 56,000 positions since 2020, with the worst yet to come, according to The European Association of Automotive Suppliers (C...

Amid escalating trade tensions, US President Donald Trump has intensified pressure on key industries with a series of executive orders, ordering a review of US trade agreements and signaling further tariffs on automotive, semiconductors and pharmaceuticals. With a potential 25% tariff on all imported vehicles and new steel and aluminum tariffs set to take effect on March 12, 2025, the automotive sector faces mounting uncertainty. With the rise of software-defined cars, semiconductor content p...

Since his inauguration as US President last month, Donald Trump has been throwing caution to the rulebooks. Automotive industry stakeholders, both local and global, wait and watch for the many implications to unfold as President Trump brings key national issues to the fore—perceived security threats from mainland Chinese automakers and technology companies; environmental policy, particularly as it relates to vehicle emissions, infrastructure spending and safety regulations; and trade policy, a...

President Biden on Tuesday (Jan. 14) announced strong and decisive actions to safeguard the US connected vehicle supply chains against any potential security risks by the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the Russian Federation (Russia). The White House, in a fact sheet titled "Safeguarding America from National Security Risks of Connected Vehicle Technology from China and Russia", said, “The Biden-Harris Administration is committed to ensuring that our automotive supply chains are res...

As we approach the end of 2024, our Talking Heads series delves into conversations with the practice leads at AutoTechInsight. The aim is to explore the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead in their respective domains. In 2024, the automotive sector faced a series of challenges that tested its adaptability. Supply chain disruptions, coupled with declining raw material costs like lithium, added to these difficulties. Amidst these challenges, manufacturers began pivoting toward plug-in h...

This past week the Turin Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Automotive Industry Supply Chain (ANFIA) have presented the 2024 edition of their annual survey of automotive suppliers. The survey, formally known as the Observatory on Italian Automotive Components and Mobility Services, enlisted the help of 2,135 automotive suppliers. It comes at a troubling time for the sector with the iconic home plant of Stellantis's Fiat—and Europe's oldest plant—in the shape of the vast Mira...

The US Commerce Department issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) on Monday (Sept. 23) which, if approved, would ban the sale or import of vehicles that incorporate connectivity technologies plus systems incorporating prohibited hardware and software from countries of concern, specifically mainland China and Russia. The NPRM follows a process initiated by President Joe Biden in February and is based on public feedback to an earlier notice issued by the Commerce Department, which sought to...

Wireless communication with vehicle electronic systems has become inevitable, and it is only improving. This trend is the driving force for the extensive expansion of all connected services and the uptake of telematics hardware. In addition, growth drivers include connected, autonomous, shared and electric (CASE) mobility megatrends; maturing of 5G connectivity; vehicle-smartphone integration; favorable legislation/regulations; V2X mandates, etc. Future autonomous vehicles will have multiple wir...

In a press release dated Aug. 6, Neo Performance Materials has announced that its subsidiary, NPM Narva OÜ, known as Magnequench Sintered Magnets, has secured a contract to supply sintered rare earth magnets to a top European tier 1 electric vehicle traction motor supplier. Projected to run from the second half of 2026 through 2033, with peak supply expected in 2029, this collaboration validates Neo's capability to meet intricate customer requirements, reaffirming its leading position...

Thanks to the proverbial software-defined vehicle (SDV) that is helping the industry realize the buzz around CASE (connectivity, autonomy, shared mobility, electrification) megatrends, data flowing out of vehicle ecosystems have spiraled out of control. To put things into perspective, a typical connected vehicle can generate nearly 25 GB of data per hour and collect information from more than 100 different datapoints, thanks to embedded features including geolocation and navigation, companion ap...

In a significant development in deep-sea exploration, 200 million metric tons of manganese nodules rich in battery metals have been discovered in the Pacific Ocean, which are abundant in cobalt, nickel, copper and manganese. Found at depths of about 5,500 meters, these minerals, comparable to the polymetallic nodules in the Pacific's Clarion-Clipperton zone, constitute an estimated 610,000 metric tons of cobalt and 740,000 metric tons of nickel, which could substantially meet Japan's consum...

Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares believes that the ongoing global transition to electric vehicles is a game of severe cost-cutting, and automotive suppliers must figure out how to reduce costs and adapt to the new requirements or risk losing their business in the next five to 10 years, according to a news report published by The Detroit News on May 29. Tavares was speaking during a fireside chat at the Berstein Strategic Decisions Conference in New York City, the report said. Tavares said tha...

In the latest Talking Heads feature, we spoke with Jeremie Bouchaud and Phil Amsrud, experts in E/E and Semiconductors at S&P Global Mobility. The focus of this discussion is on the pivotal role of semiconductors in today's technology landscape and the challenges arising from geopolitical tensions. We also consider how Mainland China has responded to export bans, leading to disruptions in the global automotive semiconductor supply chain. Click the link above to download the whole article.

As the world awoke on the morning of March 26 to the news that there had been a crash involving a container ship and the Francis Scott Key Bridge in the city of Baltimore, which had caused the bridge to collapse, immediate thoughts were with the safety and welfare of all concerned. Six people are missing, presumed dead in the tragic aftermath. Traffic through the port will be suspended until further notice and looks set to cause disruption to trade and supply chains. One of the sectors that w...

ReElement Technologies Corporation, a leading provider of high-performance refining capacity of rare earth and critical battery elements, has signed a sales and offtake agreement with USA Rare Earth LLC for the production and sale of ultra-pure rare earth elements using ReElement's patented purification and refining process, currently in production at its Noblesville, Indiana facility, ReElement announced on March 6. It said that the facility is currently being expanded at its Marion Advanced...

Those who think it is a case of job done in terms of action on climate change for the auto industry, in the wake of the industry’s rapid adoption of electric vehicles, need to think again. We were gently reminded of this when the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), in its recently released yearbook, highlighted that although businesses, investors and governments are stepping up to take climate action in greater numbers than ever before, it is not enough. The applica...

1. What has been banned by Mainland China? On December 21, 2023, mainland China imposed a ban on the export of rare earth magnet-making technology. The country’s Ministry of Commerce released a revised version of the Catalogue of Technologies Prohibited and Restricted from Export, which includes the ban on export of technology used for making rare earth magnets. As per the country, the revised ban and regulations are implemented with the intent to safeguard its national security and public ...

Geopolitical tensions and Yemen-based Houthi militant attacks in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden are exposing the vulnerability of global trade to regional conflicts, leading to detours, delivery delays and other repercussions for the auto industry.  Initial disruptions and global response The global shipping industry has faced major disruptions since December 2023, due to attacks on Western cargo ships that the Houthi have alleged to have affiliations to Israel. The Houthi have instigat...

The development of automotive hypervisor solutions is being fuelled by an increase in the use of embedded virtualization at the device level to support different operating systems. To support Infotainment multimedia and connected services, as well as safety-critical instrument clusters for electric vehicles and sophisticated safety features with ADAS L0 and L1, primary use cases may be seen in the cockpit domain electronics. Vehicles in the Entry and Mid-Price classes, supported by Chinese OEMs,...