VW has 'bet the farm' on its electric future, committing over € 66bn ($72bn) to an electric car future. The group plans to have introduced up to 75 all-electric models by 2029, plus some 60 hybrid vehicles. € 33bn of that will be dedicated to developing electric cars across its global brands - Volkswagen, Porsche, Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini and its Skoda and Seat Europe specific brands.
BMW Group, BASF SE, Samsung SDI and Samsung Electronics have started "Cobalt for Development" to promote responsible artisanal cobalt mining in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The pilot project intends to improve working conditions at a pilot mine site and living conditions in the surrounding communities.
Yamaha Motor is investing further in Autonomous Driving Technology Developer "Tier IV", strengthening development capabilities for low-speed autonomous driving vehicles through the development of Autoware (autonomous driving OS software). Through this investment, Yamaha Motor aims to strengthen development capabilities and acquire knowledge regarding low-speed autonomous driving technology. This additional investment forms part of "ART for Human Possibilities, Rethinking Solutions", one aspect of the company's long-term vision to provide multi-use vehicles and alternative mobility systems to regions where there are many elderly and other people with limited access to transportation.
Harley was in sixth place for a 9.05% market share in Germany for the eleven months to November 2019, having sold 10,052 units, -6.91% over the same period of 2018. There's no surprise that BMW is market share leader in its home market with 24,447 units sold YTD for a 22.03% share, followed by Honda, KTM, Kawasaki and Yamaha.
Michelin has signed an agreement to acquire 80% of PT Multistrada Arah Sarana TBK ("Multistrada"), a tire manufacturer based in Indonesia. Michelin will pay USD 439m for the controlling stake. With a production capacity of more than 180 thousand tons (i.e., 11 million passenger car tires, 9 million two-wheel tires and 250 thousand truck tires), Multistrada generated net sales of USD 281 million in 2017. With this transaction, Michelin will strengthen its presence in the highly promising but local-production dominated Indonesian market by acquiring a very competitive local plant with good quality facilities and immediately available production capacity.
The International Federation of Robotics (IFR) has announced that South Korea has doubled the number of industrial robots it has in operation within the past five years to 300,000 and now ranks third globally behind Japan and China.
Sources: AMD, IDN, FT, Reuters, PSB, MPN, B&B, BDN, MCN, AP, Bloomberg, MSNW, Electrek
