The automotive industry has seen a great deal of changes and week by week, Ennis & Co aim to provide a snapshot of topical news and information within the sector, by collating media sources from UK and international press.
This week’s update covers the following topics:
· New appointments in the industry
· Sales trends
· Diversity & inclusion in automotive
· Automotive trends
· “Ones to Watch”: the latest automotive webinars
| New Appointments in Automotive |
Change in Board of Management of Volkswagen Financial Services AG Effective August 1, 2020, Dr. Alexandra Baum-Ceisig has been appointed Member of the Board Management of FS AG responsible for HR & Organization. Read the full article here |
| Hyundai Motor Group Hyundai Motor Group names former Daimler engineer to head commercial vehicle development  Hyundai Motor Group – the owner of South Korea’s two largest carmakers Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Motors Corp. – has appointed Martin Zeilinger, former engineering head at Daimler Trucks AG, to head its commercial vehicle development business as it moves to integrate innovative technologies with future commercial vehicles. Read the full article here |
| Groupe PSA Christian Müller appointed new Head of Powertrain & Chassis Engineering for the Group  Christian Müller, currently Managing Director Engineering Opel Automobile GmbH has been appointed new Head of Powertrain & Chassis Engineering of Groupe PSA effective August 1. He will report to Nicolas Morel, EVP Research & Development. He will succeed Alain Raposo who has served in this position since May 2018. Read the full article here |
| Volvo Volvo Trucks UK & Ireland names new MD  Christian Coolsaet has been appointed MD of Volvo Trucks UK & Ireland. He succeeds Robert Grozdanovski who will move to Gothenburg to take up an appointment as Volvo Trucks’ senior vice president for sales area Europe Central East & East. Read the full article here |
| Sales Trends The Chinese equivalent of the Rolls-Royce and Aurus was marked by record sales  Chinese luxury car brand Hongqi, which is called the local analogue of the British Rolls-Royce and the Russian Aurus proved to be very popular. In June of 2020, this brand has set another record in terms of sales. Read the full article here |
Used car sales surge 27% in June following lockdown Dealers got off to a good start in June with used car sales up 27.4% compared to June last year. Pent-up demand saw an increase in new car sales after the lockdown, up 16.5% compared to June last year. Find out more here |
Groupe PSA becomes a major player in connected car insurance Offered with each car purchase, this PSA Assurance contract option rewards policyholders for responsible driving behaviour and allows them to benefit from a discount on the standard insurance premium, effective on sign up. Read the full article here |
| Diversity & Inclusion in Automotive Mercedes  Mercedes will run a new black livery in Formula 1 in 2020 as a signal of their commitment to greater diversity and inclusion in motorsport. Mercedes said the Black Lives Matter movement had “shone a searching light on how much we need new measures and actions in the fight against racism”. Read the full article here |
Ferrari receives equal salary certification Ferrari S.p.A. has been awarded the Equal Salary Certificate for providing equal pay to men and women with the same qualifications and positions in the Company. Read the full article here |
Accelerating Change: Black Lives Matter and the Automotive Sector This week, Ennis & Co released a new publication investigating how organisations within automotive, and beyond, have pledged to make positive changes following recent events surrounding the Black Lives Matter movement. There are many actions outlined within this document that may highlight key changes for the future, as businesses revisit their core values, pledge to educate themselves further on the subject of diversity and inclusion and, importantly, admit where they may have been wrong in the past. Our publication is now live on our website, which you can download and read by clicking the link below. Read the full publication here |
| Automotive Trends EVs  Apple’s Upcoming Electric Vehicle Routing Feature Looks to End Range Anxiety Apple’s iOS 14 system will introduce a host of new changes. One of the more interesting ones is called “electric vehicle routing.” The feature keeps track of your current electric car’s range and automatically adds charging stops along your programmed route in Apple Maps. Read the full article here |
| Mobility Jaguar Land Rover targets mobility market with car subscription scheme  Jaguar Land Rover has launched a new ‘Pivotal’ car subscription service aimed at providing an alternative to traditional car ownership and leasing plans. Read the full article here |
| Emissions APC identifies seven UK SMEs working on battery projects that could help with UK Net Zero  As part of a recently announced £1 million investment, the Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC) has identified seven micro, small and medium sized UK-based businesses working on advancements in energy storage and management which it believes may help the UK reach its net-zero carbon targets. Read the full article here |
| Digital BMW connected cars set for major software update  BMW will begin rolling out its biggest connected car software update yet next month, bringing a range of new services and features to some of the most popular models in its line-up. Read the full article here |
Daimler Expands Relationship with IBM; Adopts IBM public cloud for its security capabilities  The adoption of IBM public cloud supports Daimler’s digital transformation and increases their agility and scalability in the after-sales area. Read the full article here |
| Ones to Watch Webinars MAN Truck & Bus  Webinar 16 July at 2pm (UK time) For the first time in 20 years, MAN Truck & Bus introduces a completely newly developed truck generation, which is consistently oriented towards the changing requirements of the transportation industry and sets new standards for – among other things – assistance systems, driver orientation and digital networking. Find out more here |
| Automotive World Ubisense: Lessons from restarting an automotive plant safely  Automakers face a dilemma over social-distancing and contact-tracing technology: should they opt for low cost but single-use solutions, or invest in technologies that have the power to transform? Many are using this tipping-point to go ‘all-in’ on factory-digitization, benefiting from both business continuity, and a taste of the transformation to come. In this free, 60-minute webinar, Adrian Jennings, Chief Product Advocate at Ubisense will discuss all of this and more. July 14, 2020, 10am EDT | 4pm CET Find out more here |
