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Man struck by car while in Salt Lake City crosswalk, dies after being hit by 2nd vehicle KUTV 2News/cloudfront-us-east-2.images.arcpublishing.com/reuters/6CAJVPAYTVKL3N34WYHMR4MML4.jpg)
YOKOHAMA, Japan, Jan 31 (Reuters) - China's BYD Co Ltd (002594.SZ) unveiled its first dealership in Japan on Tuesday, taking on one of the biggest challenges in its explosive global rise as it seeks to win over customers deeply loyal to their own auto industry.
BYD, an acronym which stands for Build Your Dreams, has ambitious plans to open more than 100 dealerships in Japan by the end of 2025.
But it faces a tough task in a country where petrol and hybrid models are much more popular than battery electric vehicle (BEVs) and nine in 10 cars sold annually are built by domestic firms such as Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T).
"If customers trust us and give BYD a try, we'll have a good chance (at succeeding)," BYD Auto Japan Inc President Atsuki Tofukuji told Reuters at a media event to mark the opening of its maiden outlet in Yokohama, Japan's second largest city.
At the store, BYD is showcasing its ATTO 3 electric sports utility vehicle which has a cruising distance of 485 kilometres (301 miles) and costs 4.4 million yen ($33,744).
BYD was the world's biggest seller of BEVs and plug-in hybrids in 2022 with a total of 1.86 million vehicles - most of those in China and well ahead of Tesla with 1.3 million.
About 30 people have contacted the Yokohama dealership to enquire about the new cars, according to Kazuhisa Okamoto, who runs the store.
But convincing the broader population could be an uphill battle.
"There's no mistake that I'll buy a domestically made car if I ever buy an EV," said Kazumasa Hanegi, a transportation firm worker in his fifties who was walking his dog near BYD's new dealership and who owns a hybrid vehicle.
($1 = 130.39 yen)
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
BERLIN -- Volkswagen Group has no plans to offer discounts for its electric vehicles to counter price cuts by Tesla, CEO Oliver Blume told a German newspaper.
VW will not take part in a price war with Tesla, Blume told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung. "We have a clear pricing strategy and are focusing on reliability. We trust in the strength of our products and brands," he said.
VW wants to be a global leader in EVs but this should be achieved through profitable growth, Blume said.
In the U.S., Ford has followed Tesla's price cuts by reducing the price of the Mustang Mach-E crossover by $600 to $5,900, depending on the trim.
"The price cut is coming faster and more brutally than expected. Tesla could be aiming to push competitors out of the market," Antoine Weill, a partner at consultancy Simon-Kucher & Partners, told Automotive News Europe sister publication Automobilwoche.
Besides VW, Renault has no plans to cut prices for its EVs in response to Tesla discounting its Model Y and Model 3 cars by up to 20 percent.
"If you cut sales prices by 10 percent or more within a week's time it weighs on residual values and hurts existing customers,"Renault brand boss Fabrice Cambolive, told Automobilwoche. "What counts for us is stability. But it's foreseeable that prices for EVs will come under scrutiny," he said.
VW Group's Porsche brand is considering increasing its vehicle prices by up to 6 percent, according to dealer sources.
"Price adjustments at the change of model year are standard industry practice," a Porsche spokesman told Automobilwoche without confirming the size of the price rises or which models would be affected.
"The prices valid for the coming model year are expected to be published in March,” the spokesman said.
Tesla's Model 3 and Model Y cars were the No. 1 and No. 2 sellers in the German market in December, amid a big push by automakers and dealers to get full-electric cars registered ahead of a change in the incentives given to battery-driven models.
Progressive and State Farm, two of America’s largest auto insurers, are refusing to write policies in certain cities for some older Hyundai and Kia models that have been deemed too easy to steal, according to the companies.
Several reports say the companies have stopped offering insurance on these vehicles in cities that include Denver, Colorado and St. Louis, Missouri. The insurance companies did not tell CNN which cities or states were involved.
The Highway Loss Data Institute released insurance claims data last September that confirmed what various social media accounts had been saying: Some 2015 through 2019 Hyundai and Kia models are roughly twice as likely to be stolen as other vehicles of similar age, because many of them lack some of the basic auto theft prevention technology included in most other vehicles in those years, according to the HLDI.
Specifically, these SUVs and cars don’t have electronic immobilizers, which rely on a computer chip in the car and another in the key that communicate to confirm that the key really belongs to that vehicle. Without the right key, an immobilizer should do just that – stop the car from moving.
Immobilizers were standard equipment on 96% of vehicles sold for the 2015-2019 model years, according the HLDI, but only 26% of Hyundais and Kias had them at that time. Vehicles that have push-button start systems, rather than relying on metal keys that must be inserted and turned, have immobilizers, but not all models with turn-key ignitions do.
Stealing these vehicles became a social media trend in 2021, according to HLDI, as car thieves began posting videos of their thefts and joyrides and even videos explaining how to steal the cars. In Wisconsin, where the crimes first became prevalent, theft claims of Hyundais and Kias spiked to more than 30 times 2019 levels in dollar terms.
“State Farm has temporarily stopped writing new business in some states for certain model years and trim levels of Hyundai and Kia vehicles because theft losses for these vehicles have increased dramatically,” the insurer said in a statement provided to CNN. “This is a serious problem impacting our customers and the entire auto insurance industry.”
Progressive is also cutting back on insuring these cars in some markets, spokesman Jeff Sibel said in an emailed statement.
“During the past year we’ve seen theft rates for certain Hyundai and Kia vehicles more than triple and in some markets these vehicles are almost 20 times more likely to be stolen than other vehicles,” he wrote. “Given that we price our policies based on the level of risk they represent, this explosive increase in thefts in many cases makes these vehicles extremely challenging for us to insure. In response, in some geographic areas we have increased our rates and limited our sale of new insurance policies on some of these models.”
Progressive continues to insure those who already have policies with the company, he said. Progressive is also providing them with advice on how to protect their vehicles from theft.
Michael Barry, a spokesman for the Insurance Information Institute, said it was very unusual for auto insurers to simply stop writing new policies on a given make or model of vehicle.
“They generally want to expand their market share depending on where they’re doing business,” he said.
Hyundai and Kia operate as separate companies in the United States, but Hyundai Motor Group owns a large stake in Kia and various Hyundai and Kia models share much of their engineering.
Engine immobilizers are now standard on all Kia and Hyundai vehicles, the companies said in separate statements. Both automakers also said they are developing security software for vehicles that were not originally equipped with an immobilizer. Kia said it has begun notifying owners of the availability of this software, which will be provided at no charge. Hyundai said its free software free update will be available next month.
Hyundai also said it is providing free steering wheel locks to some police departments around the country to give local residents who have Hyundai models that could be easily stolen. Hyundai dealers are also selling and installing security kits for the vehicles, the company said.
Correction: A previous version of this story misstated the cost of Hyundai security kits.
(CNN) — Progressive and State Farm, two of America’s largest auto insurers, are refusing to write policies in certain cities for some older Hyundai and Kia models that have been deemed too easy to steal, according to the companies.
Several reports say the companies have stopped offering insurance on these vehicles in cities that include Denver, Colorado and St. Louis, Missouri. The insurance companies did not tell CNN which cities or states were involved.
The Highway Loss Data Institute released insurance claims data last September that confirmed what various social media accounts had been saying: Some 2015 through 2019 Hyundai and Kia models are roughly twice as likely to be stolen as other vehicles of similar age, because many of them lack some of the basic auto theft prevention technology included in most other vehicles in those years, according to the HLDI.
Specifically, these SUVs and cars don’t have electronic immobilizers, which rely on a computer chip in the car and another in the key that communicate to confirm that the key really belongs to that vehicle. Without the right key, an immobilizer should do just that — stop the car from moving.
Immobilizers were standard equipment on 96% of vehicles sold for the 2015-2019 model years, according the HLDI, but only 26% of Hyundais and Kias had them at that time. Vehicles that have push-button start systems, rather than relying on metal keys that must be inserted and turned, have immobilizers, but not all models with turn-key ignitions do.
Stealing these vehicles became a social media trend in 2021, according to HLDI, as car thieves began posting videos of their thefts and joyrides and even videos explaining how to steal the cars. In Wisconsin, where the crimes first became prevalent, theft claims of Hyundais and Kias spiked to more than 30 times 2019 levels in dollar terms.
“State Farm has temporarily stopped writing new business in some states for certain model years and trim levels of Hyundai and Kia vehicles because theft losses for these vehicles have increased dramatically,” the insurer said in a statement provided to CNN. “This is a serious problem impacting our customers and the entire auto insurance industry.”
Progressive is also cutting back on insuring these cars in some markets, spokesman Jeff Sibel said in an emailed statement.
“During the past year we’ve seen theft rates for certain Hyundai and Kia vehicles more than triple and in some markets these vehicles are almost 20 times more likely to be stolen than other vehicles,” he wrote. “Given that we price our policies based on the level of risk they represent, this explosive increase in thefts in many cases makes these vehicles extremely challenging for us to insure. In response, in some geographic areas we have increased our rates and limited our sale of new insurance policies on some of these models.”
Progressive continues to insure those who already have policies with the company, he said. Progressive is also providing them with advice on how to protect their vehicles from theft.
Michael Barry, a spokesman for the Insurance Information Institute, said it was very unusual for auto insurers to simply stop writing new policies on a given make or model of vehicle.
“They generally want to expand their market share depending on where they’re doing business,” he said.
Hyundai and Kia operate as separate companies in the United States, but Hyundai Motor Group owns a large stake in Kia and various Hyundai and Kia models share much of their engineering.
Engine immobilizers are now standard on all Kia vehicles, according to a statement by the automaker and the company says it has been developing and testing security software for vehicles not originally equipped with an immobilize. Kia said it has begun notifying owners of the availability of this software, which is being provided at no charge.
Hyundai said it is providing free steering wheel locks to some police departments around the country to give local residents who have easily stolen Hyundai models. Hyundai dealers are also installing free security kits for the vehicles, the company said.
Progressive and State Farm, two of America's largest auto insurers, are refusing to write policies in certain cities for some older Hyundai and Kia models that have been deemed too easy to steal, according to the companies.
Several reports say the companies have stopped offering insurance on these vehicles in cities that include Denver, Colorado and St. Louis, Missouri. The insurance companies did not tell CNN which cities or states were involved.
The video featured is from a previous report.
The Highway Loss Data Institute released insurance claims data last September that confirmed what various social media accounts had been saying: Some 2015 through 2019 Hyundai and Kia models are roughly twice as likely to be stolen as other vehicles of similar age, because many of them lack some of the basic auto theft prevention technology included in most other vehicles in those years, according to the HLDI.
RELATED: CPD, Cook County Sheriff's Office have free tools to help prevent Kia, Hyundai car thefts
Specifically, these SUVs and cars don't have electronic immobilizers, which rely on a computer chip in the car and another in the key that communicate to confirm that the key really belongs to that vehicle. Without the right key, an immobilizer should do just that -- stop the car from moving.
Immobilizers were standard equipment on 96% of vehicles sold for the 2015-2019 model years, according the HLDI, but only 26% of Hyundais and Kias had them at that time. Vehicles that have push-button start systems, rather than relying on metal keys that must be inserted and turned, have immobilizers, but not all models with turn-key ignitions do.
Stealing these vehicles became a social media trend in 2021, according to HLDI, as car thieves began posting videos of their thefts and joyrides and even videos explaining how to steal the cars. In Wisconsin, where the crimes first became prevalent, theft claims of Hyundais and Kias spiked to more than 30 times 2019 levels in dollar terms.
"State Farm has temporarily stopped writing new business in some states for certain model years and trim levels of Hyundai and Kia vehicles because theft losses for these vehicles have increased dramatically," the insurer said in a statement provided to CNN. "This is a serious problem impacting our customers and the entire auto insurance industry."
RELATED: Thieves stole their Kias multiple times, now their insurance companies are dropping them
Progressive is also cutting back on insuring these cars in some markets, spokesman Jeff Sibel said in an emailed statement.
"During the past year we've seen theft rates for certain Hyundai and Kia vehicles more than triple and in some markets these vehicles are almost 20 times more likely to be stolen than other vehicles," he wrote. "Given that we price our policies based on the level of risk they represent, this explosive increase in thefts in many cases makes these vehicles extremely challenging for us to insure. In response, in some geographic areas we have increased our rates and limited our sale of new insurance policies on some of these models."
Progressive continues to insure those who already have policies with the company, he said. Progressive is also providing them with advice on how to protect their vehicles from theft.
Michael Barry, a spokesman for the Insurance Information Institute, said it was very unusual for auto insurers to simply stop writing new policies on a given make or model of vehicle.
"They generally want to expand their market share depending on where they're doing business," he said.
ALSO SEE: Car insurance rates to rise 8.4% in 2023: Report
Hyundai and Kia operate as separate companies in the United States, but Hyundai Motor Group owns a large stake in Kia and various Hyundai and Kia models share much of their engineering.
Engine immobilizers are now standard on all Kia and Hyundai vehicles, the companies said in separate statements. Both automakers also said they are developing security software for vehicles that were not originally equipped with an immobilizer. Kia said it has begun notifying owners of the availability of this software, which will be provided at no charge. Hyundai said its free software free update will be available next month.
Hyundai also said it is providing free steering wheel locks to some police departments around the country to give local residents who have Hyundai models that could be easily stolen. Hyundai dealers are also selling and installing security kits for the vehicles, the company said.
(The-CNN-Wire & 2022 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. All rights reserved.)
INTERACTIVE SAFETY TRACKER Track crime and safety in your neighborhood
DETROIT — As automakers chase Tesla-like profits on new electric vehicles, they face an existential question: how best to bring franchised auto dealers along with them as they transition to EVs.
Some, such as General Motors, are asking luxury dealers to go all-in on EVs or get out of the business. Others like Ford Motor are offering dealers different "EV-certification" levels, while most other carmakers, or OEMs, know they need to change the sales process to fit the evolving industry, but are still try to figure out how to do it.
"I think we're all building this airplane as we fly," Michael Alford, president of the National Auto Dealers Association, a trade association that represents more than 16,000 U.S. new franchised dealers, told CNBC. "Depending on the OEM, the level of engagement or the intensity of the engagement varies."
Automakers and franchised dealers have a complex relationship that is backed, in many states, by laws that make it difficult, if not illegal, to bypass franchised dealers and sell new vehicles directly to consumers. (Tesla and other newer EV startups have worked around such regulations to cut costs.)
Both automakers and franchised dealers want to maximize profits, but they're separate businesses that heavily rely on one another to succeed. Dealers rely on automakers for product to fill and move off lots, and the carmakers in turn rely on dealers to sell and service vehicles as well as serve as concierges for customers.
How that historical relationship fits into an all-electric future is expected to be at the forefront of discussions between automakers and dealers at the National Auto Dealers Association Show occurring through Sunday in Dallas. The event attracts thousands of franchise dealers annually to hear from their respective automotive brands.
For dealers — from mom-and-pop shops to large publicly traded chains — EVs will mean new employee training, infrastructure and substantial investments in their stores to be able to service, sell and charge the vehicles. Depending on the size of the dealer, those upgrades could easily cost hundreds of thousands, or millions, of dollars. Of course, they want to make sure their investments will pay off.
"The tone and tenor of this subject matter has evolved, and I think it's very, very clear this year that our legacy OEMs absolutely realize that we are essential going forward," said Alford, who runs Chevrolet and Cadillac dealerships in North Carolina.
As more automakers introduce EVs, they're rethinking the sales process, including selling new vehicles largely, if not fully, online. Tesla was among the first automakers to embrace online sales for a large portion of its business, though it still has physical dealerships, information sites and service shops.
A greater shift online may limit the role of dealers to strictly processing, maintenance and as delivery centers going forward and eliminate the need for large lots of cars that they then sell to consumers.
"By and large, the franchise system remains in place even for EVs by traditional automakers, although they all seem to be looking at ways to tweak it to be more competitive, so they say, with the Teslas of the world," said Michelle Krebs, Cox Automotive executive analyst.
Automakers believe doing so will provide consumers a more streamlined and cohesive sales process, but they also consider the dealers to be their partners and to offer "strategic advantages" when it comes to other sales and maintenance issues.
Honda Motor has said it plans to move more sales online, including 100% online sales for its luxury Acura brand for EVs. Mamadou Diallo, American Honda vice president of sales, said the plan is to facilitate the ordering process online, but with the vehicle being picked up or delivered by dealers. Those procedures are still being worked out, though, he said.
"We want to proceed with ensuring that we provide convenience with what customers are looking for, with no intention of bypassing our dealer body," Mamadou said Tuesday during a media call.
Jay Vijayan, who assisted in building out Tesla's digital and IT systems, doesn't believe selling EVs exclusively online will pan out. He said a mix of sales points is best, which is why Tesla and newer EV startups are selling online as well as opening new showrooms and service centers.
"Apple still opens new stores, right? And every company you think is going to go direct is also opening new stores in the automotive space," said Vijayan, founder and CEO of Tekion, a cloud-based dealer service provider.
Wall Street analysts have largely viewed direct-to-consumer sales as a means to optimize profit. However, there have been growing pains for Tesla when it comes to servicing its vehicles.
Ford CEO Jim Farley has said he wants the automaker's dealers to cut selling and distribution costs by $2,000 per vehicle to be competitive with Tesla's direct-to-consumer model.
Ford is among the automakers receiving the most pushback from dealers for its EV push, which includes EV-certification tiers that could cost more than $1 million per store, depending on the size of the dealership.
The Detroit automaker is facing legal challenges to the certification program from dealers who argue that the plan violates franchise laws. A group of 27 dealerships in Illinois filed a protest with the state's motor vehicle review board, and four dealers in New York filed suit against the automaker last month, according to Automotive News.
Ford dealer Marc McEver said he signed on for the highest EV-certification tier at his dealership near Kansas City, Kansas, but he worries about the cost and timing of the program.
"I think we're all concerned that what they're having us put in now, by the time we really get some vehicles, will be outdated and need to be upgraded or replaced," McEver, who also owns a Lincoln dealership, said.
Aside from the investments, dealers who opt into selling Ford EVs will need to abide by five standards to stay within good standing: clear and nonnegotiable pricing; charging investment; employee training; and improved vehicle purchasing and ownership experience for customer, both digitally and in person.
Ford on Saturday plans to outline some changes to its EV-certification tiers, according to two people familiar with the plans. The changes, as first reported by Automotive News, would narrow the differences between the program's two tiers. The bottom tier comes with lower capital investment but also a smaller allocation of EVs from Ford.
Ford, though, unlike archrival General Motors, is allowing dealers to opt out of selling EVs and continue to sell the company's gas-powered cars.
GM has offered buyouts to its Buick and Cadillac dealers that don't want to shell out to sell EVs. About 320 of Cadillac's 880 retailers took buyouts. Buick's buyouts are ongoing, according to a spokesman.
Toyota Motor, for its part, has no plans to overhaul its franchised dealership network as it invests in electrified vehicles, CEO Akio Toyoda told dealers to resounding applause in September.
"I know you are anxious about the future. I know you are worried about how this business will change. While I can't predict the future, I can promise you this: You, me, us, this business, this franchised model is not going anywhere. It's staying just as it is," said Toyoda, who will step down as CEO to become chairman in April.
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Car stolen during repair at South City auto shop; tow truck also taken KMOV4Progressive and State Farm, two of America’s largest auto insurers, are refusing to write policies in certain cities for some older Hyundai and Kia models that have been deemed too easy to steal, according to one of the insurance companies and media reports.
Several reports say the companies have stopped offering insurance on these vehicles in cities that include Denver, Colorado and St. Louis, Missouri. The insurance companies did not tell CNN which cities or states were involved.
The Highway Loss Data Institute released insurance claims data last September that confirmed what various social media accounts had been saying: Some 2015 through 2019 Hyundai and Kia models are roughly twice as likely to be stolen as other vehicles of similar age, because many of them lack some of the basic auto theft prevention technology included in most other vehicles in those years, according to the HLDI.
Specifically, these SUVs and cars don’t have electronic immobilizers, which rely on a computer chip in the car and another in the key that communicate to confirm that the key really belongs to that vehicle. Without the right key, an immobilizer should do just that – stop the car from moving.
Immobilizers were standard equipment on 96% of vehicles sold for the 2015-2019 model years, according the HLDI, but only 26% of Hyundais and Kias had them at that time. Vehicles that have push-button start systems, rather than relying on metal keys that must be inserted and turned, have immobilizers, but not all models with turn-key ignitions do.
Stealing these vehicles became a social media trend in 2021, according to HLDI, as car thieves began posting videos of their thefts and joyrides and even videos explaining how to steal the cars. In Wisconsin, where the crimes first became prevalent, theft claims of Hyundais and Kias spiked to more than 30 times 2019 levels in dollar terms.
“State Farm has temporarily stopped writing new business in some states for certain model years and trim levels of Hyundai and Kia vehicles because theft losses for these vehicles have increased dramatically,” the insurer said in a statement provided to CNN. “This is a serious problem impacting our customers and the entire auto insurance industry.”
A Progressive Insurance spokesperson has been quoted in other media outlets confirming the change but the company has not yet provided any statement to CNN.
Michael Barry, a spokesman for the Insurance Information Institute, said it was very unusual for auto insurers to simply stop writing new policies on a given make or model of vehicle.
“They generally want to expand their market share depending on where they’re doing business,” he said.
Hyundai and Kia operate as separate companies in the United States, but Hyundai Motor Group owns a large stake in Kia and various Hyundai and Kia models share much of their engineering.
Engine immobilizers are now standard on all Kia vehicles, according to a statement by the automaker and the company says it has been developing and testing security software for vehicles not originally equipped with an immobilize. Kia said it has begun notifying owners of the availability of this software, which is being provided at no charge.
Hyundai said it is providing free steering wheel locks to some police departments around the country to give local residents who have easily stolen Hyundai models. Hyundai dealers are also installing free security kits for the vehicles, the company said.
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Mom of 5 struggles with SUV from Dice Auto Sales WLNSSlowly but gradually the turquoise-green license plates issued for electric cars in Slovakia are becoming more a familiar sight in the country's capital Bratislava. The Slovak government subsidizes the purchase of a new all-electric car with €8,000 ($8,700), and millions are being invested in expanding the charging infrastructure.
And yet, the Eastern European state's transformation toward e-mobility is still in its infancy, and so is its current business model of building cars at low labor costs.
In 2021, about one million new cars rolled off production lines in Slovakia — a global record, when measured against the country's population of 5.4 million. The Slovak automotive industry contributes close to 13% to the country's gross domestic product (GDP). By comparison, the German auto industry generates only about 5% of Germany's GDP.
Slovakia's cars are mainly destined for the European market and make up 33% of the country's entire exports.
However, Slovakia's growth engine, as it were, is still powered by fossil fuels, thus making further growth a huge challenge amid the industry's transformation.
Under the European Union's new mobility strategy, only zero-emission cars will be allowed to be sold from 2035, meaning new vans or cars with combustion engines will be banned in the bloc in a little over a decade.
Slovakia's automakers began gearing up for the industry shift in 2013, as Germany's Volkswagen (VW) launched the production of its e-up! compact car in its factory in Bratislava. According to a VW spokesperson there, a total of 41,500 units of the car were delivered in 2021, while data for 2022 are not yet available.
The total output at the Bratislava plant, however, was 309,000 vehicles in 2021, the spokesperson told DW, noting that VW has also begun to produce hybrid SUV models there in recent years.
As the traditional combustion engine still powers most of the cars rolling off VW's Bratislava factory, the challenges facing future production at the plant are becoming ever more apparent. Electric motors are much simpler to build, and they require fewer parts, less work and ultimately fewer staff. As a result, the Slovak auto industry is facing a painful transition amid the new realities.
"In the worst case, GDP could be 10% lower," says a 2020 study by the Bratislava-based think tank Globsec, which has analyzed the transformation of the automotive sector over the next two decades. Its "best-case scenario" expects the creation of up to 8,000 new jobs, but only if the production of key components such as car batteries is located in the country.
Radovan Durana of the Institute of Economic and Social Studies in Bratislava says Slovakia could be happy that one of the world's biggest carmakers has chosen the country for producing its cars. "But if Volkswagen decides to make its electric cars in Germany, then we have no choice in Slovakia," the auto analyst told DW.
And, indeed, the auto giant is already manufacturing its ID.3 and ID.4 electric models at its German factory in Zwickau, Saxony, and produces the batteries for its e-up! car in Braunschweig, while e-motors are coming from Kassel, also in Germany.
Durana believes that state subsidies won't help much in the current industry transition and that it's know-how that matters more. "They [the carmakers] base their decisions regarding production sites on whether or not they make sense economically," he said, which is why the number of likely suppliers and the qualifications of the people in any specific region are more important. This would be true for the whole auto industry in Eastern Europe, including those in Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic, he added.
At the moment, the government in Bratislava is pinning high hopes on Swedish carmaker Volvo, which recently announced it wants to build a new electric-car factory in Kosice, in eastern Slovakia. About 20% of the €1.2 billion funding for the project will come from the Slovak state. Volvo is planning to produce 250,000 electric vehicles in Kosice from 2026, with the government hoping the new plant will narrow the wealth gap between the poor east and the richer west of the country.
In the meantime, a lively auto industry startup scene is beginning to thrive in the shadow of the legacy carmakers' sprawling factories. Homegrown startup InoBat — a manufacturer of special batteries for busses, sports cars and aircraft — is setting up shop in the Voderady industrial park, a half-hour's drive from Bratislava.
At the time of DW's visit, workers were pouring a special white floor covering on the screed to prevent electrostatic charging in the huge factory building. Founder and CEO Marian Bocek told DW that production machines are currently on their way from China. "Batteries are to me what the internet was in the 1990s," Bocek said. They are a "groundbreaking technology" without which the energy transition wouldn't work, he said. "Batteries are the heart of the industrial transformation."
In Voderady, InoBat wants to combine all battery production processes, including a test lab and a recycling plant for used batteries. The facility is planned to be operational by 2024. It would be the only site in Europe, he said, where all this can be found in one location. The first batteries made by InoBat are scheduled for production in the second quarter of 2023.
Bocek spent a long time of his professional career as an investment banker in the United States. He believes his home country Slovakia may one day become an innovation cluster for a new European car industry.
"What we have here is a European Shenzen where many auto industry majors are located closely together," said Bocek, referring to the famous Chinese high-tech industrial cluster. The Voderady industrial park is an ideal location, he added, with carmakers such as Jaguar/Landrover or Stellantis located in a distance of not more than 250 miles.
The region along the Danube river, he said, could become what he called the "Danube Tech Valley."
Until that dream becomes reality, said industry analyst Durana, InoBat first has to prove it's able to stand on a sound commercial footing and can expand its business. "We still have to see if it's successful or not."
So far, Slovakia's auto industry is still based on the old combustion engine technology. The sprouts of a new era of carmaking are few and far between, and still not strong enough to keep up with industry leaders elsewhere.
This article was originally published in German.
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Toyota Appoints Lexus Chief as CEO to Replace Akio Toyoda Bloomberg
