According to the German press agency (dpa), the German cabinet took a notable decision on Wednesday --- to grant tax relief for electric or hybrid company cars. The move is apparently aimed at increasing the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) in Germany.

As a result of the decision by the German government, the large scale subsidy will be applicable to electric or hybrid company cars which are either purchased or leased between January 1, 2019 and December 31, 2021.

Till now, employees driving company cars privately were required to file a monetary benefit of 1 percent of the official list price of the car. This tax will be reduced by half -- to 0.5 percent -- for electric and hybrid vehicles in the future.

In an evident effort to explore the use of technology for transforming the transport system in the UK, the country’s government is drafting new plans that underline the ways in which congestion and pollution levels in city centers can be reduced.

The government’s plans, aimed at finding ways to tackle the traffic problem in cities, have been put together in the recently-published Whitehall’s ‘Last Mile and Future of Mobility’ document. The document highlights the fact that the UK is apparently on the verge of a green ‘transport revolution.’

As part of the plans underlined in the document, UK ministers are considering a possible ban on van and lorries that make deliveries into city centres, and replace them fleets of environmentally-friendly electric cargo vehicles.

UK industry regulator Ofgem has recently announced plans aimed at encouraging electric-vehicle (EV) owners to charge their vehicles during off-peak periods or during sunny/windy periods when plenty of renewable energy -- from solar farms or wind turbines -- is being generated.

With cheaper ‘time of day’ tariffs already available in the UK to around 11 million homes in which smart meters have been installed, the plans announced by Ofgem are essentially aimed at promoting the practice of ‘flexible’ or smart charging among EV owners in the country.

In a move which underscores an effort by the European Union (EU) to clamp down on the dumping of Chinese electric bicycles (e-bikes) in Europe, new tariffs have been imposed on e-bikes imported from China.

The European Union’s implementation of new tariffs on China-produced e-bikes has come after a fairly long review period. For determining the amount of new tariffs levied on Chinese e-bike companies and the proper course of action for levying the tariffs, the European Commission visited several Chinese e-bike companies, including Bodo, Giant, Suzhou Rununion and Jinhua Vision.

In a move which will potentially increase the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) in the UK by making their recharging easier and wireless, the government has plans underway to install a new generation of Scalextric-style EV charging points.

According to a UK government plan recently unveiled by the Department for Transport (DfT), an investment of £40 million will be earmarked for developing wireless charging systems which will enable EV drivers to charge their vehicles on the road, in car parks, or at the roadside, without having to plug the vehicles. As the wireless charging will be easier, drivers would be more inclined to buy electric vehicles.

US electric vehicle maker Tesla’s exports to China are possibly on the verge of a possible slowdown because of a recent move by the Chinese government to increase import duties from the current 25% to a significantly high 40%.

The tariff-hike move by the Chinese government apparently underscores a retaliatory decision, resulting from the US government’s latest list of tariffs for Chinese goods. The move by the US government has escalated the ongoing trade war between the two countries.

The recent announcement by the Chinese government about an increase in tariff to 40% has delivered a hard blow to Tesla Motors, in terms of the cost of the electric vehicles which the company is presently selling in China.

According to the latest car-sales figures from Norway, the best-selling car in the country for June 2018 and year-to-date is Japanese automaker Nissan’s LEAF electric compact hatchback.

With Norway having recorded its third best monthly result for passenger plug-in electric car sales in June, the Nissan LEAF topped the charts among all the models available in the country for all types of cars --- electric, gas, diesel and others.

As per the latest figures, the number of new registrations of the LEAF in Norway in June was 1,152, which accounted for 7.3% of all new registrations in the country during the month. The total new registrations for the vehicle year-to-date were 5,791, which underscores a 7.5% market share.

Indian automobile giant Tata Motors is aiming at improving its service network in order to boost consumer confidence in its vehicles. Tata Motors is working on a plan to rationalise the number of platforms to two from the six at the present. The company said that the motive behind the move is improved efficiency, better consumer satisfaction and cost cutting.

New Delhi [India], Mar 31 : Tata Motors on Friday announced the launch of JT Special Vehicles Pvt. Ltd., a 50:50 joint venture with Jayem Automotives Pvt. Ltd., for the development of special performance vehicles based on the latest series products.

As part of the agreement, both Tata Motors and Jayem Automotives will work towards performance enhancement and appearance of series vehicles to offer an exciting and innovative range of niche aspirational products for the passenger car customers.

New Delhi [India], Mar 17 : Jugnoo, a hyper local startup, power-driven by its vast auto rickshaw network, today announced that the demand for its services doubled in Coimbatore. The announcement came soon after Uber suspended its auto rickshaw services in the city.

The aggregator had shut down their auto operations in the bustling cities of Coimbatore and Indore on Monday and Thursday respectively, following which Jugnoo's services witnessed this spike in demand. With Jugnoo's vast network and increasingly popular services across Tier II and Tier II cities, this was an expected trend for the brand.

New Delhi [India], Mar 4 : In a major step ahead, towards its goal of nurturing micro entrepreneurship and skilling 50 lakh drivers by 2020, taxi aggregator Ola has signed a Memorandum of Understanding ( MoU) with Madhya Pradesh State Skill Development Mission (MPSSDM) and Directorate of Skill Development (Technical Education and Skill Development Dept.) Govt. of Madhya Pradesh here today.

In line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Skill India initiative, the MOU is focused towards training, skill development and empowerment of 25,000 driver partners in the next two years.

New Delhi [India], Mar 1 : MAN Trucks India Pvt. Ltd. a 100 percent subsidiary of MAN Truck and Bus AG, Germany, the world's leading manufacturer of trucks and buses in association with M/s Bhagyodaya Automotive, today inaugurated a new state of the art dealership for its commercial vehicle brand in Pune.

The new dealership is spread over an area of 55000 sqft and is equipped with state-of-the-art equipment, eight service bays and sophisticated infrastructure.

New Delhi [India], Feb 9 : Reacting on the two-wheelers sales post demonetization, which has seen improvement although the January sales were recorded negative, Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) on Thursday said that the January two-wheelers sales registered a decline of -7.39 percent as compared to January last year.

During the demonetization period sales of two-wheelers slid 22 percent in December 2016 as compared to the figures, which came in December 2015, marking the highest monthly contraction since SIAM started recording the data since 1997.

Mentioning the domestic sales for the month of January 17, it said that the overall automobile sales have declined by -4.71 percent in January as compared to January 16.

New Delhi [India], Feb. 3 : BMW Group India presented the 13th BMW Art Car created by Italy's most renowned contemporary artist Sandro Chia. His creation will be exclusively exhibited from 2 to 5 February 2017 at the India Art Fair in New Delhi. Sandro Chia created the 13th Art Car for BMW in 1992 with the BMW M3 GTR which is celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2017.

The BMW Art Cars or the 'Rolling Sculptures' are original masterpieces of art that demonstrate an individual synthesis of artistic expression and automobile design. Since 1975, eighteen prominent artists from across the world have created Art Cars on the basis of contemporary BMW automobiles of their times, all offering a wide range of artistic interpretations.

New Delhi[India],Jan.24 : e-automobile manufacturer Okinawa Autotech has launched high-speed electric two-wheelers/scooters for the Indian market to alter the belief that e-automobiles can't match the power, speed and efficiency of traditional petrol vehicles.

With a charging duration of six to eight hours, Okinawa's e-scooters can cover distances of around 200 km in upcoming models. Furthermore, it offers dual charging systems. While the normal mode takes anywhere between six to eight hours, the option of a fast mode is available which gets the vehicle up and running within two hours.

New Delhi [India], Jan. 21 : Jaguar Land Rover India on Friday announced the opening of a world-class facility in the city of Noida, Uttar Pradesh, thereby expanding its network in Delhi NCR.

The state-of-the-art 3S facility (Sales, Service and Spare parts) was inaugurated by Rohit Suri, President and Managing Director, Jaguar Land Rover India Ltd (JLRIL) and Amit Garg, Director, Shiva Group marking the launch of a second retailer in Delhi NCR.

This dealership facility is designed and equipped to provide the highest quality of sales and after-sales services. The facility boasts of a display space for 18 cars enabling Jaguar Land Rover to showcase almost its entire range.

New Delhi [India], Jan 11 : Taxi aggregator Ola on Wednesday announced appointment of Shalabh Seth as the CEO of Ola Fleet Technologies, a wholly owned leasing subsidiary.

Shalabh joins Ola from SAB Miller India, where he served as the Managing Director and was responsible for business expansion and growth in the country.

He joins Ola at a time when the company is experiencing rapid growth and is transforming the ride-sharing industry through product and business innovation.

As CEO of Ola Fleet Technologies, Shalabh will drive supply growth through leasing and other driver focused initiatives, to consolidate Ola's position as the market leader in the Indian ridesharing space.

New Delhi [India], Dec 6 : Taxi aggregator Uber on Tuesday announced the launch of 'UberFLEET', an android app for its fleet-partners in India to improve the overall productivity for fleet owners by making the process of managing drivers more efficient and reducing their downtime.

Largest on-demand ride-sharing company has hundreds of thousands of driver partners in India, and a lot of them have progressed forward in life as entrepreneurs.

"We built technology that supports them in managing their fleets.

Mumbai: The 2017 Nissan GT-R, Nissan Motor India's flagship sports car, was launched for the first time in India priced at Rs 1.99 crore (ex-showroom, New Delhi).

"The GT-R is a very special car for Nissan and we are delighted to add it to our Indian line-up for the first time in its history," Guillaume Sicard, President - Nissan India Operations was quoted as saying in a statement.

"It also continues our commitment to our Indian customers to offer an evolving range of dynamic and exciting new models. The GT-R will give a great boost to the Nissan brand in India and is guaranteed to turn many heads."

According to the company, 2017 Nissan GT-R is produced at Nissan`s state-of-the-art plant in Tochigi, Japan, and will be brought to India as a CBU (completely built-up unit).

Iwata [Japan], Dec.1 : Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. announced today that local group company Yamaha Motor Philippines, Inc. (YMPH) has produced its one-millionth motorcycle today since the company's establishment.

To mark this event, the Batangas Province-based YMPH held a memorial ceremony attended by Katsuhito Yamaji, Senior Executive Officer and General Manager Manufacturing Center, Yoshihiro Hidaka, Executive Officer and Manager of Motorcycle Business Operations 1st Business Unit, 800 YMPH employees, and other guests.