Automotive EIIR (Engineering, IoT, Industry 4.0, and R&D) Trends Q-3 2019

How are automotive enterprises leveraging R&D service providers? (Deals/Contracts/ Partnerships)

• 1

  A global automotive manufacturer has chosen LTTS for the development of AUTOSAR platform and integration of 5G telematics modules for the customer. Under the engagement, LTTS has also been selected by their after-market group for cloud migration and maintenance support.

• 2

  A European components supplier for autonomous vehicles has selected LTTS as its engineering partner for key programs in Advanced Driving Assistance Systems (ADAS) and Automated Driving (AD) domains.

• 3

  Dassault Systemes becomes Groupe PSA‘s digital partner. Dassault Systemes and Groupe PSA’s strategic partnership focuses on deploying the 3DEXPERIENCE platform that will be used as a key innovation enabler across the automaker’s activities.

• 4

  A leading European Premier Car Manufacturer selected KPIT for a large multi year project in the powertrain domain.

• 5

  A leading American Tier I Supplier selected KPIT for a large multi year license plus services project in the diagnostics domain.

• 6

  A leading European Tier I Supplier selected KPIT for a large multi year project in the AUTOSAR domain.

• 7

  A leading American OEM selected KPIT for a multi year project in the Connected Vehicle Program.

• 8

  A leading European Commercial Vehicle manufacturer selected KPIT for a large project in Diagnostics consulting.

• 9

  HCL is a strategic partner for a leading German automotive OEM in the area of product data management. Extending this engagement further, the customer chose HCL for a significant, first-of-its-kind initiative in data management. The scope of this initiative involves end-to-end development and implementation of a new application, using a distributed agile model to achieve significant improvements in user experience and performance compared with its existing system.

• 10

  ÅF Pöyry is partner to a new automotive customer and is supplying advanced vehicle simulations such as strength calculations, fatigue analyses, crash calculations and vibration simulations. The customer is developing new types of city vehicle and is at the forefront when it comes to developing driverless vehicles.

• 11

  Trinsic strikes a 5 year IoT deal with Vodafone IoT to connect Volvo Cars in UK.

• 12

  Infosys is selected by Toyota Material Handling North America (TMHNA) for providing cloud-based IoT and telematics product. As the development partner for TMHNA Global Telematics Solution (GTS), Infosys will enable remote monitoring and diagnostic capabilities including vehicle access control, system maintenance, condition sensing and location tracking. Infosys will help TMHNA draw insights from collected data to provide better service and improve after sales experience for consumers in the forklift industry.

• 13

  Eaton has chosen KPIT to support the development of next-generation electrified mobility technologies for its eMobility business unit. Eaton’s collaboration with KPIT initially will focus on developing and deploying technologies, software solutions and platforms for several components, including inverters, on-board chargers, DC-DC converters and power distribution modules. Eaton’s eMobility business focuses on three primary areas for both automotive and commercial vehicle customers: intelligent power electronics, power systems, and advanced power distribution and circuit protection.

• 14

  Cognizant helped MG Motor in connected car and implementation of SAP enterprise applications ( ERP, MES among others).

• 15

  EDAG has been commissioned by BMW to develop the next generation. EDAG will be the general developer for the entire process chain of body and interior production. The responsibilities range from the concept phase, development and simulation through to assurance and integration into production.

• 16

  General Motors in collaboration with the FEV Group has developed a Diesel engine for heavy applications (light-duty pickups and trucks) that easily complies with demanding emission limits while achieving best-in-class fuel economy combined with superior refinement and driving performance. In addition to a high-power density, this also includes a favorable torque curve, which is particularly important for heavy loads. Other positive aspects are the engine’s low noise emissions and high robustness.

• 17

  Mobileye, an Intel company, chooses Orange Business Services for IoT solutions.

• 18

  General Motors will use Google Android auto OS.

• 19

  LTTS wins new electrification project from European Automobile OEM

• 20

  General Motors partners with TCS for engineering services for next 5 years. Over 1,300 employees of GM Technical Center – India (GMTC-I) in Bengaluru will transfer to TCS, including teams focused on propulsion systems, vehicle engineering, controls development, testing, creative design and special projects. This is easily one of the biggest automotive deal in engineering services

• 21

  Pininfarina and Evergrande Group are jointly working on the design of the new energy car brand Hengchi,

• 22

  Mazda has adopted the Capital electrical design software suite from Mentor, a Siemens business. Mazda uses Capital for model-based generative design for the electrical and electronic systems of the entire vehicle platform. The Capital automated generative design flow helps Mazda automotive design teams manage design complexity and changes across the entire vehicle platform, minimizing errors and reducing costs.

• 23

  Ricardo supports CNH Industrial with development of biomethane-powered tractor

• 24

  VinFast, Vietnam’s first volume car manufacturer, has successfully produced its first cars ahead of schedule using Siemens’ portfolio of integrated solutions including Teamcenter and NX.

How are automotive enterprises organizing their R&D? ( GICs/ R&D Best Practices/Solutions)

• 1

  New testing facility for EMC and antenna system inaugurated. Daimler invested about 50 million euros in the new building at the Mercedes Benz Technology Centre (MTC) in Sindelfingen.

• 2

  Volkswagen invests $2.6 billion in Ford Argo AI at $7 billion valuation.

• 3

  Innovation can help small auto suppliers to thrive in this tough business environment. Case in point of Kiekert a manufacturer of light vehicle door latches and competes with likes of Magna and Brose. It is thinking of how door latches can be made more safe and how they need to be adapted for electric and autonomous cars. Kiekert now holds more than 2,500 patents.

• 4

  Baidu partners with Geely, Toyota on AI and self-driving cars. Under their partnership, Geely and Toyota have joined Apollo, an autonomous driving platform by Baidu. Baidu will provide Apollo Minibus, a software product for autonomous bus vehicles, to Toyota’s e-Palette vehicles in the future. With Geely, Baidu will cooperate in AI applications such as intelligent connectivity and smart mobility.

• 5

  Ford acquires two firms recently. Journey Holding – which has developed vehicle tracking software and Quantum Signal – mobile robotics firm which has real-time simulation capability.

• 6

  Sumitomo Rubber is developing a new tire that can restore energy to a car as it drives down the road.

• 7

  Tata Motors has partnered with Tata Power to set up 300 fast charging stations for electric vehicles across Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, Bangalore and Hyderabad by end FY20. The companies has chosen to install these charging stations at Tata Motors dealerships, Tata Group owned retail outlets such as Chroma stores, Star Bazar outlets, Titan watch showrooms among other public locations. The chargers will be operated by Tata Power and will adhere to Bharat Standard (15 kW) for the initial 50 chargers. The companies also plan to install charging stations that will adhere to 30-50 kW DC CCS2 standard. The power of TATA ecosystem!

• 8

  Tesla‘s new R&D facility is coming up in Fremont with 250 employees.

• 9

  Sense Photonics came out of stealth mode and announced that it is set to open an Advanced LiDAR Research and Development Centre in Edinburgh, Scotland. Its technology called “Flash LiDAR,”delivers high performance 3D sensing that is simple, modular, scalable and reliable. Rather than using complex scanning solutions to create an image pixel-by-pixel, this approach captures the entire frame at once, similar to a camera. Rather than using complex scanning solutions to create an image pixel-by-pixel, this approach captures the entire frame at once, similar to a camera. Already, Sense holds intellectual property protected by some 200 patents.

• 10

  BharatBenz receives its first BS-VI certificate. It attains homologation certificate for its heavy-duty tractor trailer model 5528TT from ARAI. Its in-house R&D center gives it the advantage in customising platforms for local duty cycle and usage patterns.

• 11

  Woodbridge Foam, a key supplier of automotive foam, will spend C$100 million (US$76 million) on a modernization project and centralize its global research and development at a facility in Ontario. Woodbridge makes both urethane foam and polypropylene foam products for the auto industry, including soft foams for seats and interior products plus expanded foam for safety and functional products. Woodbridge of Mississauga, Ont., will receive up to C$20 million (US$15 million) from the federal government’s Strategic Innovation Fund to help pay for the upgrades at facilities in the Ontario towns of Woodbridge and Blenheim. The research and development center will be located in Woodbridge, as well.

• 12

  Plastic Omnium opens hydrogen storage R&D centers in Belgium, China. The new centers will focus on the development of emissions control and fuel systems, including high-pressure hydrogen tanks and fuel cells. The two centers represent a global investment of €100 million.

• 13

  Korean battery engineers from LG Chem, Samsung SDI and SK innovation are sought after for battery R&D. CATL world’s largest EV battery manufacturer with over 25% share is trying to recruit Korean engineers to boost its R&D power.

• 14

  A great milestone by Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. Iron ion batteries could be an interesting alternative in country like India, with 50% of capacity of Li-ion batteries but fraction of their cost. When fabricated under controlled conditions, the amount of energy that can be drawn from the iron ion battery is 220 Wh per kg, which is 55-60% of lithium ion battery’s performance. The energy density of lithium ion battery is around 350 Wh per kg.

• 15

  Hyundai transforms R&D center structure to architecture driven to streamline vehicle development process. Architecture-Driven structure conveys vehicle concept planning which takes numerous factors into account from the initial stage of development, including vehicle performance, parts sharing, standardization and even up to procurement, production and suppliers. Under this structure, system technology units of chassis, body, automotive electronics and powertrain are empowered to integrate engineering design, computer aided engineering and testing as part of their development efforts.

• 16

  Headlights manufacturer Odelo has opened a research and development centre in Sofia. The ongoing construction of odelo Bulgaria’s production facility for Mercedes-Benz taillights is completed. The R&D centre and the taillights plant are both part of a planned 40 million levs ($23.0 million/ 20.4 million euro) investment by odelo Bulgaria. which will open 40 new R&D jobs as some 400 plant jobs.

• 17

  Bosch to develop world’s biggest R&D Centre in Bengaluru. Currently, Bengaluru with 18000 R&D professionals is the second-largest R&D Centre for Bosch globally after its headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany with 30,500 R&D professionals. In few years, Bengaluru might take over Stuttgart.

• 18

  Kubota will spend some 9 billion yen to establish a research and development center for lawn mowers and utility vehicles in the U.S. state of Georgia. With the center, the Japanese machinery maker hopes to reduce the time needed for product commercialization. It also aims to meet needs in the North American market more swiftly, such as by releasing products that withstand cold weather in the region.

• 19

  Hyundai Motor to launch AI center in Silicon Valley.

• 20

  A quarry in Biel, Switzerland, is operating the world’s largest electric vehicle, a 110-ton dump truck based on Komatsu, to haul lime and marl off the side of a mountain to a cement factory. Perhaps best of all, it consumes no energy doing it. The dump truck, at 45 tons, ascends the 13-percent grade and takes on 65 tons of ore. With more than double the weight going back down the hill, the beast’s regenerative braking system recaptures more than enough energy to refill the charge the eDumper used going up.

• 21

  Continental will have stronger focus on electrified drive systems and e-mobility. It will decrease investment in hydraulic components such as injectors and high-pressure pumps. Also no plans to enter into the production of solid-state battery cells.

• 22

  Porsche invests in TriEye whose short-wave-infra-red sensing (SWIR) technology enables vision in adverse weather and night-time conditions. ADAS technology with enhanced safety and competitive pricing.

• 23

  Volkswagen develops all electric beach rover on MEB platform.

• 24

  JLR introduced 3D Augmented Reality in car cabins.

• 25

  Meritor opens a new assembly facility in India which increases it production capacity by 25%, equipping it to better serve customers in the commercial vehicle, off-highway and defense sectors. It also invests in R&D center that will focus on end-to-end testing and validation of Meritor’s domestic and global product solutions.

• 26

  Now Uber can be booked without a phone. Trials are going on at Toronto airport.

• 27

  Grab will invest $2 billion in Indonesia. It announced plans for a second headquarters in Indonesia as part of the company’s long-term commitment to Indonesia. The new headquarters will house Grab’s rapidly growing R&D center in Jakarta.

• 28

  Bosch‘s car multimedia business unit has inaugurated a new Bosch digital cabin research and development center in Shanghai. This new R&D center will develop smart digital cabin products, such as information domain computers, driver and passenger monitoring systems and 5G-V2X (vehicle-to-everything) connectivity control units.

• 29

  Avis Budget Group partners with Otonomo to unlock the potential of its Connected Car data. The fleet will cover an estimated 4 billion road miles this year. J.D. Power is among the first companies to use Avis Budget Group data. One key application is using data captured directly from vehicles to complement its consumer research on different makes and models (over 200 makes and models, spanning multiple years).

• 30

  The Stuttgart regional administrative authority has approved a test program by Bosch and Daimler for a fully automated parking system. The system is being installed in the multi-story parking garage at the Mercedes-Benz museum. Drivers will be able to pull up to the garage entrance, get out and have the car park itself.

• 31

  CNH Industrial invests $250 Million in Nikola Motor Company at the valuation of $3 Billion. It is strategic and exclusive Heavy Duty Truck partnership to accelerate industry transformation towards emission neutrality of Class 8 / Heavy Duty Trucks in North America and Europe.

• 32

  UPS in partnership with Tevva introduces hybrid long range trucks which can switch based on regulation or range requirement. So customers with large requirement can directly work with startups bypassing traditional OEMs.

• 33

  Toyo Tires is setting up an R&D centre in Willich, Germany to support its future factory in Serbia.

• 34

  Ford will set up its product R&D center in Nanjing, China. This will be the upgrade of Ford’s research and engineering center, one of the company’s nine largest product development centers around the globe, which was established in Nanjing in 2007.

• 35

  India’s first affordable, low-voltage, high-performance instantly-charged electric three-wheeler from The SHADO Group. Proprietary ultra-capacitor battery is able to charge in 5 minutes for 70 km range.

• 36

  TVS Srichakra to expand its tire R&D center in Milan, Italy. This will enable the company to know the international trend in tyre technologies.

• 37

  Great Wall will establish an R&D center in Jiading, a suburb of Shanghai. The new center will conduct advance research and engineering on hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicles and related key components. Great Wall plans to introduce its first fuel-cell passenger vehicle in 2022.

• 38

  Magna has opened a new electronics manufacturing plant in Michigan that will increase production of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), especially in cameras and components to support vision-based driving systems. The facility also houses Magna’s advanced research and development testing lab. This new lab allows the testing and implementation of artificial intelligence and robotics, which are adaptable, flexible and work in collaboration with people.

• 39

  3D Systems and TOYOTA Motorsport GmbH (TMG) have announced a partnership to develop “first-to-market” additive manufacturing solutions. Both 3D Systems and TMG will merge their respective expertise to create advanced 3D printing technologies and materials catered for high-performance applications in the motorsport industry.

• 40

  Porsche finally pulled the wraps off its first EV, which starts at $150,900.

• 41

  Daimler abandons internal combustion engine development to focus on EVs.

• 42

  Hyundai and Aptiv to set up $4 billion autonomous driving joint venture. Under the agreement, Aptiv will contribute its autonomous driving technology and intellectual property. Hyundai Motor, Kia Motors and Hyundai Mobis will together contribute $1.6 billion in cash and $400 million in research and development resources, vehicle engineering services and access to intellectual property.

• 43

  General Motors to bring Amazon Alexa to millions of vehicles. Integration of Amazon Alexa In-Vehicle Experience enables drivers to get routing information, play music, control their smart home and more with their voice.

• 44

  Daimler gives access to Mercedes-Benz Mobile SDK to external developers. Open ecosystem comes to automotive world.

• 45

  Tesla acquires computer vision startup DeepScale.

• 46

  Schaeffler is planning to set up a new R&D facility in Hunan province. With the support of local government authorities, the new R&D center will partner with other providers of autonomous driving technologies to create an entire value chain for intelligent vehicles, complete with supporting industrial ecosystem.

• 47

  Korea’s Mando opens automotive R&D center in Frankfurt. It will have 120 engineers and researchers working on development in new auto parts and innovations like self-driving and electric cars. Mando supplies chassis parts including brakes, steering, and suspensions to world’s major car makers.

• 48

  Chery plans to assemble battery-powered light commercial vehicles in China with Deutsche Post’s electric van subsidiary StreetScooter. The two companies plan to invest 500 million euros in a joint venture. The partnership, which will be able to produce up to 100,000 vehicles a year, is expected to launch sales in China in 2021. The joint venture will operate its own R&D center to develop an EV refit platform, Level 4 autonomous driving and smart mobility solutions for the logistics industry.

• 49

  Engineers at the LG Electronics America R&D Center in Silicon Valley are working with machine learning experts at Unity Technologies to develop advanced simulation software that will enable autonomous vehicle developers to accelerate system development for safer self-driving cars.

• 50

  DENSO will invest $1.3M to open the Texas Innovation and Connected Service Center in Plano, Texas. DENSO will use the state-of-the-art R&D lab to innovate connected technologies and vehicle service solutions. With close proximity to Toyota Motor North America, Inc., headquarters, the facility will help strengthen DENSO’s longstanding relationship with Toyota and afford each new opportunities for industry-advancing collaboration.

• 51

  Velodyne Lidar introduced the Puck 32MR™ sensor to address key markets in the autonomous industry. This product offers a cost-effective perception solution for low speed autonomous markets including industrial vehicles, robotics, shuttles, and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The Puck 32MR bolsters Velodyne’s robust portfolio of patented sensor technology, delivering rich perception data for mid-range applications.

How are automotive service providers developing their solutions and capabilities?

• 1

  Akka‘s goal is to create a specialized centre of digital expertise in Magdeburg with 2,000 digital engineers to meet the strong demand from the German automotive clients, particularly in ADAS, connectivity systems and electric vehicles.

• 2

  EDAG and MERKLE & PARTNER (Heidenheim) are starting a cooperation in the field of CFD simulation technology, in order to be able to provide their customers with all-round, state-of-the-art integrated solutions. The range of services in fluid mechanics extends from single-phase and multi-phase flows to particle simulations.

• 3

  EDAG has now developed a system for the efficient validation of the functions of driver assistance systems. Available under the name of EDscene, this testing system is characterised by a high degree of measuring accuracy and results that can be reproduced at any time. EDscene.portable is a validation system for mobile applications, and is used in tests to ensure the accuracy of the parking aid’s assistance functions. The second variant of the new technology for validating driver assistance systems is EDscene.laboratory. The focus here is on the autonomously operated reproduction of the vehicle’s environment under laboratory conditions. The simulation range measures 10 x 20 metres, which is very large, and at the same time the position accuracy of obstacles is checked down to just 5 millimetres.

• 4

  EDAG has developed a scalable floor assembly platform for electric vehicles, SCALEbase which will provide major brands and startups with distinct advantages in bringing about the automotive revolution. The only thing that is predefined in the SCALEbase is the distance between the front wheel and the heel point. All other measures of length and width can be varied, as its steel structure makes extensive use of sections. This makes it possible for the electric vehicle floor assembly to be scaled to fit just about any mid-range and luxury class eCar.

• 5

  In cooperation with nine European partners, EDAG has developed a new hybrid joining process which will make the production of lightweight components for the automotive industry more efficient. In the EU research project FlexHyJoin, weight-optimised combinations of steel and thermoplastic polymer composites were produced in a fully automatic manufacturing cell – without the use of any adhesives or mechanical joining elements during the “fusion” of these extremely different materials. In an application demonstrator, a 40 percent weight-saving potential compared to the reference construction method in steel.

• 6

  An automotive use case by EDAG trive.me combining IoT, blockchain & telecom for automated parking app. More importantly it opens door for further use cases by enabling machine to machine payment say parking of self driving cars or taxis.

• 7

  The new self-driving minibus for HEAT (Hamburg Electric Autonomous Transportation), Germany’s unique research and development project to integrate an autonomous shuttle bus into regular street traffic. IAV is responsible for the development, delivery and maintenance of the minibus in the project.

• 8

  The i-CoBat project – a collaboration between M&I Materials, WMG and Ricardo – aims to develop and demonstrate a new form of EV battery cooling technology based on cell immersion cooling using dielectric fluid. This innovation promises improved power output and cell longevity, faster charging rates and lower costs, significantly addressing the key consumer issue of range anxiety

• 9

  Accenture has launched a new Customer Experience Center in Stuttgart to help auto manufacturers, dealers and mobility providers envision and showcase the future of the mobility industry.

• 10

  Bertrandt launched a new labelling tool for annotating sensor data.

• 11

  EDAG has launched SRD Fusion Engine. In sensor raw data fusion (SRD fusion), data is already merged at the level of the raw data of all sensors, and the objects are recognised and marked from this overall database.

• 12

  SEGULA Technologies opens a centre of excellence for automotive engineering in Agadir (Morocco). This new centre is expected to employ 300 people by the end of 2020 and 2,000 by 2025.

• 13

  FEV launched V2I (Vehicle-to-Infrastructure) data management system on Microsoft Azure for the development and validation of autonomous driving functions.

• 14

  The Formel D Group acquires Vdynamics GmbH, a Munich-based engineering service provider focused on physical and virtual testing of automotive software and ECUs (electronic control units). Vdynamics GmbH employs over 100 employees, mainly engineers. Founded in 2012, the company has locations in Munich and Ravensburg offering both engineering expertise and proprietary software solutions.

Automotive industry news

• 1

  Volkswagen and Ford agree to share electric and self-driving vehicle technology

• 2

  A loss of $1.6 billion in a quarter when sales is growing is an exception. Actually $4.2 billion exception for Daimler. Hope this is one time exception and not a trend.

• 3

  Volkswagen engine unit MAN Energy Solutions which makes large engines for ships and power stations generates Euro 3.1 billion in sales. It is up for sale. Possible suitors for this unit may include Cummins, Wärtsilä , Jenbacher, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. Many auto OEMs will divest their non-core assets for preparing for electric and autonomous future.

• 4

  While Indian auto sector is down, Indian auto battery manufacturers are expected to do well because of strong replacement demand and lower lead prices though long-term threat of Li-ion batteries remains.

• 5

  Tata Group has committed an investment of Rs 4,000 crore to set up a lithium-ion battery plant in Dholera Special Investment Region, Gujarat.

• 6

  India will deploy both CHAdeMO and Combined Charging System (CCS) fast-charging technologies, besides the existing Bharat Standard. Bharat Standard is a low voltage charging technology (72 volts – 200 volts) and can only be used to charge the Mahindra and Tata electric vehicles and similar vehicles present in the domestic market. The CCS and CHAdeMO chargers are high voltage chargers (200 volt and above) and the newly-launched Hyundai Kona will be the first vehicle in the country that can use these fast chargers. Kona will be charged using CHAdeMO.

• 7

  Jaguar Land Rover R&D capitalization ratio is 80% vs 30-40% for other Auto OEMs such as Daimler and BMW Group.

• 8

  Having presided over the German marque for four years, Harald Krueger is stepping down as CEO of BMW. Krueger is under fire for losing BMW’s lead in luxury car sales, and for failing to capitalize on an early lux EV start.

• 9

  BMW Group Plant Spartanburg doubles battery production capacity. Investment of around ten million US dollars in production of fourth-generation batteries to be used in BMW X5 Plug-in Hybrid.

• 10

  Grim situation of auto industry in India. 2 lakh laid off in last 3 months by auto dealers in India. Around 25 lakh (2.5 million) people were employed directly through around 26,000 automobile showrooms operated by 15,000 dealers in the country.

• 11

  General Motors is consolidating couple of smaller part processing plants into one big plant with economics of scale, increased order efficiency and better part availability. GM opens a $65 million parts processing center outside Flint, Mich., that will employ more than 800 workers. It marks GM’s largest investment in a U.S. warehouse and logistics facility in nearly 40 years.

• 12

  Robotic Automation in EV charging may come to SFO. The robotic charging station attendants coupled with its “intelligent” scheduling software means that the locations will also require fewer chargers yet be able to support a larger fleet. This means that EV drivers won’t need to drive around to find an immediately available charger. Rather, they’ll be able to can leave their vehicle, and the robotic attendant will plug in the 150kW DC fast-charging cable without human assistance when it becomes free.

• 13

  Hundreds of electric buses per year will be ordered by Moscow. Local manufacturer Kamaz caught the wave and is building a plant for 500 EV buses per year.

• 14

  Honda to move Accord hybrid production from Japan to Thailand taking advantage of tax sops and economics of scale. Mitsubishi also announced its plans to start hybrid production in Thailand. Toyota and Mazda also plan to make electrically driven vehicles in Thailand. Good going Thailand in attracting EV/hybrid production investment.

• 15

  BAIC Group will invest in Daimler AG to strengthen the long-term strategic cooperation between the two companies. The transaction will allow BAIC to purchase 2.48 percent of Daimler shares and obtain additional voting rights equal to 2.52 percent of the company’s shares

• 16

  UK to host 2,500 EV fast-charging locations under proposed new network. Box Energi says its planned EV fast charging network in the U.K. will be one of the largest single-country DC networks in the world, and that it will be supplied with 100% renewable energy.

• 17

  Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M), along with its local partner in Sri Lanka Ideal Motors, has set up the island nation’s first passenger car assembly plant. The unit will have an installed yearly capacity of up to 5,000 units and will provide direct and indirect employment to about 200 people over the next two years. The Sri Lanka passenger car market’s size is in the range of 32,000-35,000 units per annum.

• 18

  While auto sector in India is facing challenges, situation is not that bad for Hyundai India. Its production marginally grew by 1% in H1. In comparison Hyundai China’s production declined over 30% in H1. Now India pips China to become largest production base after Korea.

• 19

  Toyota and Suzuki are strengthening their relationship by taking stakes in one another. Toyota will acquire about 5% of Suzuki shares for about 96 billion yen ($907 million), while Suzuki will get a smaller holding valued at about 48 billion yen in Toyota.

• 20

  Renault-Nissan join hands with ICAT for traffic data collection. A great initiative to study and analyze automotive accidents in India in detail with collaboration of public and private sector. Combination of analytics and engineering to develop insights for planning and prevention

• 21

  Mahindra & Mahindra acquires 55% stake in Meru Cabs. The trend of auto OEMs investing in shared mobility continues.

• 22

  Dana acquires Nordresa Motors which is a prominent integration and application engineering expert for the development and commercialization of electric powertrains for commercial vehicles.

• 23

  Electric car sales fall for first time ever in July after China cuts subsidy.

• 24

  Electric cargo bikes outselling electric cars in Germany.

• 24

  Electric cargo bikes outselling electric cars in Germany.

• 25

  Amazon will buy 100,000 electric vans from Rivian for tackling climate change. Interesting thing is Amazon has invested in Rivian earlier.

• 26

  Maruti Suzuki hires KPMG, PwC to advise suppliers on how to survive auto slowdown

• 27

  Ford transfers its India operation to JV with Mahindra & Mahindra. Ford retains only its engine plant, business service, credit and mobility unit.

Automotive resources: consultant/ analyst updates

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