The proposed tie up between FIAT Chrysler (FCA) and the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance was always going to be a long road to travel and a tough one to pull off. If it had happened, it would have put the new structure in second place to Toyota in market capitalisation terms, leapfrogging their European rival Volkswagen. The pressure to run with the idea came from two very … [Read more...]
Would GM Bring Back Hummer?
Here at Motoring Weekly, we recently read an article in Automotive News about whether General Motors will resurrect the Hummer brand. This was on the back of sales successes for large SUVs and in recent days we have seen reports that RAM pretty much saved FIAT Chrysler in June with ever increasing sales. Let's start by looking at the brand that had a love/hate relationship with … [Read more...]
Ford Reduces European Workforce
Last month Ford announced the closure of an engine plant in South Wales as part of a drive to close unprofitable operations. 2,000 workers will be affected and they built an EcoBoost motor for the company. It is one of the largest employers in the small town of Bridgend and its closure will affect the town quite badly. Ford had invested over £300m in the plant over the last … [Read more...]
BMW Self Driving Consortium
Over the last few weeks, Motoring Weekly has been publishing articles about the companies behind the scenes of autonomous vehicle development. Most are unknown to the general public, however this article covers a name that everyone knows about: BMW. Firstly though, it is important to define what “autonomous” means and the levels of autonomy that the industry has agreed on - … [Read more...]
Self Driving Trucks
In the last few weeks Motoring Weekly has introduced two companies who are working in the background of autonomous vehicles: drive.ai and Nauto. Both are definitely not household names like Tesla or Uber, even Waymo is starting to be more well known globally and General Motors has its Cruise Automation division making some noise. Now it is time to introduce you to two more … [Read more...]