Paul Myles

Following VW’s announcement of European production at the Zwickau plant, it also will assemble the ID.3 at the nearby Gläserne Manufaktur facility in Dresden.

Renault will use the new material – made from safety belts, textile scraps and plastic bottle recycling – in its new Renault Zoe electric car.

The SAIC Volkswagen plant is scheduled to start ID. model production at the same time as a plant belonging to the FAW-Volkswagen JV in Foshan, resulting in a combined capacity of 600,000 units per year.

With these three subsidiaries, Daimler says it is strengthening its customer focus and increasing the group’s agility. The parent company will be responsible for governance, strategy and control functions.

The Volvo sub-brand says test drives can be conducted on-site, deliveries can be scheduled to home or office addresses and there is no held stock to steer buyers away from their own preferred vehicle configuration.

The announcement of the battery-assembly plant follows FCA’s commitment to build an electric-powered Fiat 500 at the Mirafiori plant starting in second-quarter 2020.

Volvo expects the merger of its internal-combustion-engine operations with Chinese parent company Geely will allow it to focus exclusively on development of its all-electric range of vehicles.

Sekisui Chemical hopes to supply an expected growth in demand for high-performance interlayer films and thermal management materials deployed in EVs for lightweighting.