For the first time in five years, Palexpo opened its doors to the internationally-acclaimed Geneva Motor Show. It also celebrated its 100 year anniversary, however with so many OEMs not attending the format took on as slightly different shape and was geared more towards visitors interacting in an envisaged alternative mobility future. However, notable brands in attendance included Chinese EV manufacturer BYD, as well as MG and its luxury sub-brand IM. Renault, buoyed by its Car of the Year award for the new Scenic, unveiled the new 5 Electric, a take on the original ‘supermini’ and showcased in numerous formulations.

Staying with the Swiss market, sales continue to stagnate due to the introduction of its ‘EV’ tax of 4% in January.

German lawmakers last month finally rolled out its WLTP energy consumption labelling system for cars. This includes labelling information for online configurators and is expected to be live from the beginning of May.

Italian consumers are still waiting to hear of a proposed ‘Eco’ bonus for selected Plug-In Hybrid and pure EVs. It is suggested the incentives offered will be doubled with no scrappage requirements, although some OEMs are already offering incentives ahead of the Government’s proposition.

Croatian authorities are also looking into offering incentives for EVs and Hybrids based on CO2 emissions, although no details have been confirmed as yet.

The ministry of investment, trade and industry (MITI) for Malaysia is presently maintaining its target of having 10,000 electric vehicle (EV) charging stations up and running across the country by 2025, as outlined in 2021 under the Low Carbon Mobility Blueprint (LCMB) 2021-2030. The MITI minister said that although the target appears aggressive, given that the duration to the 2025 deadline is short, industry players have assured him that it can be achieved. This was shown by current data, which has seen the 1,430 EV charging stations nationwide as of November last year increase to a total of 2,020 at present.

BYD has recently registered naming trademarks in Taiwan for new models and is expected to re-enter the market later this year after a six year hiatus.

In China, BYD’s ‘Urban Navigation’ (also known as Urban NOA) will be launched on March 30, with the Denza N7 being the earliest model to apply advanced intelligent driving functions.

Hyundai Motor Group recently announced it has signed an initial pact with Saudi Arabian developer Red Sea Global (RSG) for partnership in future mobility solutions in the Middle Eastern country.

Under the memorandum of understanding signed in Riyadh on March 24, the two companies will test Hyundai Motor's electric vehicles in local resort and tourism areas, and explore joint business opportunities in next-generation mobility solutions, Hyundai said in a statement. Hyundai plans to test its pure electric and hydrogen fuel-cell electric vehicles at the Ummahat Islands resort in the Red Sea area and the eco-friendly Amaala tourism complex on the west coast of Saudi Arabia, which are being developed by RSG. They will introduce advanced air mobility (AAM) solutions and autonomous vehicles in the Ummahat resort and the Amaala complex in the long term, the statement said.

After talks about a medium- to long-term supply partnership related to automotive batteries, Subaru and Panasonic Energy have signed what has been termed as "a basic cooperative agreement." The deal covers the supply of cylindrical automotive lithium-ion batteries for Subaru's further all-electric car models. Subaru has been interested in Panasonic's latest high-capacity cylindrical batteries for some time and Panasonic intends to launch the first 4680-type batteries sometime between April and September of this year. Currently, Subaru's only all-electric car model on the US market, the Solterra, is equipped with prismatic battery cells supplied by CATL for a 72.8-kilowatt-hour battery.

Earlier this month, Stellantis announced that it will invest BRR 30 billion in Brazil by 2030, with the volume of investments programmed by automakers in the country reaching BRR 95 billion by 2032.

In late February, Ford announced that it had become the first non-Tesla automaker to use the Tesla Supercharger network across the US and Canada. To access the charging points, both new and existing Ford EVs will require an adaptor, which Ford has agreed to fund at no cost to the consumer.