Nissan, VW, Audi, Toyota, AMG, Future Mobility.

Nissan sells battery business to GSR: What has been widely expected, is about to be realised: Nissan officially confirms that it will sell its complete battery business to Chinese financial investor GSR Capital in order to focus solely on EV designing and production. The package includes the battery unit AESC with its plants in Smyrna (Tennessee) and Sunderland (UK) as well as parts of the carmaker’s Japan-based battery production in Oppama, Atsugi and Zama. According to Nissan, the deal could be signed before the year’s end.
europe.autonews.com, newsroom.nissan-global.com

VW introduces premiums to buyers trading in an older diesel model – the step is part of the deal agreed on with German politicians at the “diesel summit” last week. Thus, buyers of VW cars trading in diesel models with Euro 1 to Euro 4 standards are benefiting from an environmental bonus of up to 10,000 euros. Parallel, Volkswagen offers so-called “future premiums” between 1,000 and 2,380 euros to buyers of alternatively powered cars. Both incentives are going to be granted solely in Germany and until the year’s end. Who trades in a VW Golf and buys an e-Golf, benefits for example of 11,760 euros – consisting of 5,000 euros environmental bonus, 2,380 euros future premium and the usual state subsidy, in this case 4,380 euros.
autoblog.com, volkswagen-media-services.com

Also Audi offers trade-in incentives: Similar to VW’s bonus system, Audi introduces a premium of 3,000 to 10,000 euros for buyers of new Audi cars trading in their old diesels in 2017 within Germany. Who buys a PHEV benefits also from Audi’s decision to double its share of the state subsidy programme from 1,500 to 3,000 euros.
audi-mediacenter.com

Toyota to launch more hybrids in Europe: The Japanese carmaker seeks to extend its hybrid vehicle line-up in order to benefit from the current diesel anxiety in Europe, reports Nikkei referring to Toyota Europe CEO Johan van Zyl. Thus, at the latest 2020, Toyota wants to offer every model in minimum two hybrid versions, pushing the share of hybrid cars towards 50 percent of its overall sales in this region.
asia.nikkei.com

Mercedes-AMG to show CLS hybrid: Mid-2018, the Daimler subsidiary intends to launch its next-gen CLS, the first model of a new series of AMG hybrid models, according to Autocar. It will be powered by AMG’s 3.0-litre straight-six engine and a 50kW electric motor and could be presented at the L.A. Auto Show in November. Further models with hybrid drive are to follow step-by-step.
autocar.co.uk

Fresh money for Future Mobility: The Chinese start-up has raised additional 200m dollars in its latest funding round. Supported by Foxconn, Tencent as well as Harmony Auto and led by former BMW i manager Carsten Breitfeld, the company seeks to present its first concepts before the year’s end and to kick-off serial EV production by 2019.
chinamoneynetwork.com