Auto File: VW goes for broke

Carparts.Com

08/09/2026 16:00

By Nick Carey
Sept 8 - Greetings from London!  Before we get into the nitty gritty of what has been yet another jam-packed news week in the auto industry, just a reminder that starting September 22, Auto File will become exclusively available as part of the Reuters subscription.  
Subscribe today for just £1/Week to continue receiving the newsletter and gain unlimited access to Reuters.com, with fewer ads and reporting tailored to your interests.  
The Auto File will remain your source for our in-depth coverage of the automotive sector as it navigates this tumultuous period. 
The rapid global expansion of China’s automakers and how legacy automakers in the United States, Europe and Asia respond, not to mention the shift to electric cars and deployment of autonomous vehicles will keep us all very busy for years to come.  
Which brings us to today’s Auto File…   
VW’s surprise win  
Dacia moves Spring from China 
Automakers to Congress: keep China out 
       
VW gets nod for cuts 
Few expected Volkswagen CEO Oliver Blume to succeed in getting his proposed massive job cuts approved by the automaker’s supervisory board, having failed to do so just two months ago. 
But in a late-night surprise move, the board unanimously approved a turnaround package.  
You can read all about it here. 
The push to get approval included threatening a ‘nuclear option’ of calling an emergency general meeting to get shareholders to vote on cuts – a move that would likely have resulted in years of legal fights.  
According to great reporting from Reuters colleagues Christina Amann and Christoph Steitz, VW management’s willingness to use that nuclear option helped broker a deal with labor representatives and the German state of Lower Saxony, a key shareholder. 
Check it out here. 
VW must still battle unions over its plan, but it has overcome its first major hurdle to change. 
Recommended reading:   
Looming ship fuel shortage 
Nvidia’s $13 billion Hugging Face deal 
JLR to cut 10% of workforce  
     
Dacia Spring’s European vacation  
When Renault’s low-cost Dacia brand decided to make its electric Spring model in China, it looked like an easy way to sell an affordable EV to European car buyers when few other options were available. 
But that calculus has changed, as the Dacia Spring has been hit by European tariffs on Chinese-made EVs and the car has missed out on French subsidies for low-income electric car buyers that are only available for European-made models. 
So now, as Reuters colleague Gilles Guillaume reports, Dacia will make the next version of the Spring in Europe to make it more affordable and qualify for government cash. 
You can read all about it here. 
     
Automakers urge U.S. China ban 
China’s automakers have gained share rapidly around the world, with the exception of the U.S. market, where huge tariffs and an effective ban on Chinese car technology introduced in the dying days of the Biden administration have shut them out. 
The U.S. Congress has compiled legislation to permanently shut the Chinese out and as Reuters colleague David Shepardson reports, automakers have urged them to do so as quickly as possible. 
You can read all about it here. 
Lobby group the  Alliance for ‌Automotive Innovation argued in a letter seen by Reuters that “Chinese automakers are dumping subsidized vehicles with connected software and hardware around the world” and called on Congress to pass the bill before the end of the year. 
     
Musk tests the limits 
Tesla has launched limited rides in Austin in its Cybercab, which has no steering wheel or pedals, drawing immediate scrutiny from the U.S. auto safety agency. 
The move by Elon Musk brings Tesla back into renewed conflict with regulators and as Reuters colleague Abhirup Roy reports, tests the limits of the U.S. self-certification system. 
You can read all about it here. 
U.S. regulators limit commercial deployment of vehicles that do not adhere to decades-old federal safety standards that were written for human-driven vehicles and require manual controls. But industry experts said regulatory gray areas and Musk’s litigious track record could give Tesla a chance to force the Cybercab into broad use. 
Unlike most other countries, where new vehicle models and technology need regulatory clearance ahead of launch, automakers in the U.S. can deploy them on the public roads by self-certifying ​that they meet federal standards. 
Whether Musk’s use of that loophole works remains to be seen. 
     
FAST LAPS   
Volkswagen struck a preliminary deal that ‌will see one of its German sites switch to defence production under new ownership, a first in the automaker's efforts to restructure plants struggling to compete with lower-cost Chinese rivals. 
Honda aims to cut more than $9 billion in ​costs over the next four years and has instructed suppliers to drastically reduce their prices, according to internal documents and one person familiar with ‌the matter. 
Vietnamese electric taxi operator Green and Smart Mobility (GSM), a partner of EV maker VinFast, plans to expand into ​the U.S. and Europe ahead of a targeted 2028 initial public offering in Hong Kong. 
Amazon's Zoox and Alphabet's Waymo announced expansions of their driverless ride-hailing operations into new ​U.S. cities, weeks after Zoox started paid services. 
UK registrations of fully electric cars rose ‌about 30% in August from a year earlier, making it the single biggest fuel type in the market last month, New AutoMotive data showed. 
Stellantis is in talks with China's Huawei and JAC Group for long-term industrial cooperation on its struggling luxury brand ​Maserati, two sources told Reuters. 
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 (Editing by Alexandra Hudson)