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TOP NEWS
* Renault SA removed Thierry Bolloré as its CEO and as president of Renault s.a.s., effective immediately, confirming earlier reports. The French carmaker named CFO Clotilde Delbos its interim CEO, while Chairman Jean-Dominique Senard will serve as president of Renault s.a.s. until a replacement is found. Bolloré previously reportedly had denounced news of his exit as a coup.
* Dyson Ltd. scrapped plans to build electric cars because it "cannot make it commercially viable." The British appliance-maker, which planned to invest £2.5 billion in the electric-vehicle project, said it now will use the funds to build solid-state batteries and for technologies like sensing, vision systems, robotics and artificial intelligence. The company said it can absorb most affected employees into its home business.
CARMAKERS
* General Motors Co. CEO Mary Barra met top United Auto Workers officials in an attempt to put an end to the nearly month-long strike that already has cost the automaker more than $1 billion, but an Oct. 10 letter from UAW Vice President Terry Dittes indicated that the impasse may not end anytime soon, the Associated Press reported.
* Volkswagen AG-owned Bentley Motors said its headquarters and plant in Crewe, England, was certified as CO2-neutral.
ELECTRIC VEHICLES
* Japanese trading company Itochu invested about $100 million to raise its stake in Chinese electric-vehicle maker SINGULATO MOTORS to about 7% and plans to invest "few hundreds of millions of dollars" if the EV startup completes development of an electric SUV, Reuters reported, citing sources.
* Nobel Prize awardee Akira Yoshino, one of the three scientists who won the award for developing lithium-ion batteries, said that recycling electric-vehicle batteries will help the auto industry transition to electric, Bloomberg News reported. Yoshino added that electric-car makers also can overcome high costs and scarce raw materials by storing solar and wind energy in batteries.
* Toyota Motor Corp. will unveil a concept of the next generation Mirai hydrogen fuel cell car at the 2019 Tokyo Motor Show.
AUTONOMOUS AND CONNECTED VEHICLES
* Carmakers General Motors and Toyota and auto-parts companies Bosch, Continental AG, DENSO Corp., NVIDIA and NXP Semiconductors said they formed the Autonomous Vehicle Computing Consortium and will collaborate on solving hurdles to full self-driving technologies.
POLICY, REGULATIONS AND SAFETY
* Hyundai Motor Group, which owns Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Motors Corp., said it will set aside 900 billion South Korean won, or nearly $760 million, to settle a class-action suit in the U.S. involving vehicle engine fires, Reuters reported. About 4.17 million Hyundai and Kia vehicles in the U.S. are equipped with the faulty Theta II gasoline direct injection engine. While the carmakers recalled some of the cars, the U.S. safety regulator is investigating whether the recalls covered enough vehicles and were conducted in a timely manner.
* Nissan Motor Co. Ltd.'s European operations could be in doubt if Britain leaves the European Union this month without a prenegotiated deal, the Financial Times (London) reported, citing comments by Nissan European Chairman Gianluca de Ficchy. "Our industry works with low margins," de Ficchy said, according to the newspaper. "If we're in a situation where we have to apply 10% export duties to 70% of production, the entire business model of Nissan Europe will be in jeopardy."
AUTOMOTIVE RETAIL
* Bayerische Motoren Werke AG saw sales grow 4.6% year over year in September to 248,684 vehicles, with sales growing 5.8% in China and 5.5% in the U.S. BMW's namesake brand sold 210,427 vehicles worldwide, up 4.8% year over year, while its sales of electrified vehicles jumped 10.1% to 16,035, due to 23.9% growth in BMW i and the launch of BMW 330e. Mini brand sold 37,786 vehicles during the month, up 2.9%.
* Ford Motor Co. saw China sales plummet 30.3% year over year to 131,060 vehicles during the third quarter, Gasgoo reported.
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