A CleanTechnica delegation recently visited a super-secret Renault presentation. It was the press presentation of the soon-to-arrive Renault Twingo ZE. This is Renault’s second mass market fully electric passenger vehicle.
Many organizations have to improvise at the last minute to replace their media communication from the Geneva International Motor Show (GIMS) with something else.
When visiting the leading car shows in Geneva, Paris, and Frankfurt, the carmakers will take you on a journey, showing their grand visions about future mobility with vehicles that merge into houses, are lounges on wheels, or are just crazy, impractical futuristic works of art.
Hyundai is a case of a company listening well to its customers, and not understanding what it is hearing.
It is a luxury problem every company likes to have — the customer base of Dutch charging provider Fastned grew by 30% or 30,000 drivers in Q4 2019. Luckily, the Fastned network was never sized to facilitate existing demand. It was built to create and service future demand.
The Global e-Mobility Funding Report for the third quarter of 2019 showed a total of $2.7 billion raised by 45 electric vehicle (EV) companies across the world. This funding amount is even higher in reality since another 18 EV-related companies didn’t disclose any financial details.
Most people in the renewable energy ecosphere know that battery electric mobility is ahead of hydrogen fuel cell mobility. Many people are also aware that progress in battery technology is going faster than in hydrogen fuel cell technology.2
All markets have their peculiarities. Especially around the end of one year and the start of the next. Consumers look for presents and fun shopping for the holidays. Companies have to spend their budget or wait for the new budget next year.
In last week’s press release about Renault’s 2019 sales success, there was a stealth announcement about the introduction of the Twingo Z.E. “For the group, 2020 will mark a new stage in its electric offensive with the launch of Twingo Z.E. and the deployment of its new E-Tech hybrid and plug-in hybrid offers.” Only a few obsessive followers realized that this was news.
After the bankruptcy of the iconic British carmaker MG/Rover, the MG brand name was sold to a Chinese company. A few years ago, it was bought by SAIC Motor Corp. (formerly Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation). This is about the brand name, the logo, the goodwill, claims to its history, the models, and intellectual property. The production facility was used for a few years, but ultimately all production was relocated to China.
