The work of staying marketably relevant and financially solvent leads companies to many places — mostly forward, but sometimes backward and all-around-wards. As always, hindsight will be the true judge of these decisions.
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Australia is considering updating its vehicle efficiency standards to include penalties based on emission-intensive imports. Toyota and the main automotive lobby in the country are against it (not a surprise), while VW and Tesla are for stricter emission standards (also not a surprise).
While the lobby debates, VW actually excused itself from the conversations.
Halfway across the world, VW has canceled its plans to produce ID.3s in Wolfsburg, Germany, due to low demand but will continue producing ICE and PHEVs in greater numbers than 2023's 500K.
VW is in talks with France’s Renault and China's Xpeng for the development of new BEVs to introduce to the market.
The company is making moves on multiple fronts in alignment with its "Every Euro Counts" decision to cut back and work toward its plan to save $11B by 2026.
Toyota is partnering with WeaveGrid to optimize their BEV and PHEV for grid-supporting charging. Enrolled EV owners will receive incentives from their electric companies, saving costs and improving grid resilience.
In non-business jargon terms, it's like software that schedules charging times based on individual use and acts as a vehicle to grid meter in times of high use. A story we've all heard before, but now Toyota is involved.
The on again/off again is on again as GM restarts Chevy Blazer EV sales after a $6,420 price cut and repairing software issues. The vehicle starts at $50,195 now and qualifies for the full $7,500 federal tax credit.
The software-only repairs fixed issues with infotainment and charging, while the price change gets the EV closer to its ICE counterpart.
Mercedes is joining the "pump the brakes" party a little bit with a plan to extend its A-Class production to 2026 due to high EV costs. It's dropped its electrification goal from 50% to 20% by 2024 (that's like... now, y’all) with the 50% plan moved back to 2030.
Look at this wild thing! The Microlino is a cheap, small, easy-to-manage park that is an electric option for people looking for that sort of thing.
Electric bikes are on the uptick as urban living leaves little space for private charging and long lines for public charging. This is somehow the size of an electric bike but with none of the "carry it into your apartment" convenience.
But for real, we could see ourselves in one someday…if you promise to help pull us out when we get stuck. 🥁 💥
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Don’t get us wrong. Somebody somewhere will dream about, buy, and be totally satisfied with something like the Microlino. It may not be your cup of tea, but it leaves more of the tea you like in the pot for you to enjoy, so it’s still a win.