The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, a government-backed industry trade group, called on domestic provinces that haven’t adopted State 6 vehicle emission standards not to enact the new rules ahead of schedule. Widespread adoption of the new standards, equivalent to Euro 6 rules, in China would make more consumers reluctant to buy new vehicles and aggravate inventory pressure on car dealers, the association warned in an open letter last week. Taking their cue from the Blue Sky Protection campaign Beijing launched last year, four municipalities – Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin and Chongqing -- and 11 provinces in China have pledged to enact the new standards on July 1, one year ahead of the original schedule set by the Ministry of Environment Protection. The four cities and provinces accounted for 65 percent of China's new light-vehicle sales in 2018.Upgrading the emissions standards to State 6 from State 5, which are similar to Euro 5, has been a major cause of the prolonged downturn in China’s new-car market in the past few months, according to the association
German prosecutors are investigating the chairman of Volkswagen's powerful works council, Bernd Osterloh, as part of an inquiry into whether some of its members were paid excessively, turning him from a witness into a suspect.Osterloh is being investigated over an allegation that he contributed to the "conclusion of the remuneration agreement that is suspected of being unlawful," said a spokesman for the public prosecutor's office in Braunschweig in VW's home state of Lower Saxony on Tuesday.Osterloh has not yet been questioned and has requested, via his lawyer, access to relevant files and will respond to any allegations, a spokesman for the Volkswagen works council said, adding that its chairman was "beyond reproach."Prosecutors have been investigating four people since 2016 on suspicion of preferential treatment of works council members and, on the basis of those investigations, prosecutors decided to investigate Osterloh, who had previously been a witness.Osterloh is a member of VW supervisory board.Volkswagen said in November 2017 it had obeyed the law in its payment of Osterloh, a day after prosecutors and tax authorities raided the offices of several senior executives at the carmaker in an inquiry into whether he had been overpaid.A newspaper reported in May that prosecutors were investigating the chief executive of Volkswagen's Porsche business, Oliver Blume, over a possible breach of fiduciary trust linked to payments made to a Porsche works council member.
Ford Motor Co. is set to start selling its first electric vehicle in China in the second half of the year.The EV is the battery-powered version of the Ford Territory compact crossover. It has a range of 360 kilometers (224 miles) on one charge, Ford said. The Territory last year became the first Ford-badged passenger vehicle produced at Jiangling Motors Corp. -- Ford’s truck venture with Changan Automobile Co. Like the gasoline variant, the electric Territory will also be assembled at Jiangling Motors, rather than Changan Ford Automobile Co. -- Ford’s car partnership with Changan. The electric Territory is the first electrified vehicle to be launched under the product plan for China that Ford disclosed in April. The Dearborn, Mich., company will introduce more than 30 new and upgraded vehicles including 10 electrified vehicles under the Ford and Lincoln brands in China over the next three years. Ford currently markets only one electrified vehicle -- the plug-in hybrid version of the Ford Mondeo – in China. In addition, an agreement Ford signed with Zoyte Automobile Co. in 2017 to jointly build inexpensive EVs hasn’t been approved by China regulators.Beijing enacted a carbon credit program this year, adding pressure on Ford to accelerate the rollout of electrified vehicles in the Chinese market.