Saturday, July 25, 2026

Geely went angular. China's largest private carmaker, owner of Volvo and Polestar, revealed its first boxy off-roader, the Galaxy Cruiser 700, with a claimed 1,113 hp, muscling into the rugged-SUV craze that Chinese brands have made their own. (via CarNewsChina)

Wagons are not dead in China. Lynk & Co, the Geely-Volvo joint brand, launched the 07 GT, a plug-in hybrid estate making up to 523 hp from a dual-motor setup, priced from 157,800 yuan (about $23,200). Geely quotes 200 km of electric-only range on China's optimistic CLTC cycle. (via CarNewsChina)

MG, the old British badge now owned by China's SAIC, rolled its new 07 sedan into dealers ahead of a July 29 pre-sale. It rides on an 800-volt architecture (which enables much faster charging) and claims 840 km of range, a CLTC figure worth treating as a ceiling, not a promise. (via CarNewsChina)

BMW's long-wheelbase iX3, built for China, surfaced in a regulatory filing claiming 919 km of range and a frugal 13.6 kWh per 100 km. Those are unverified homologation numbers, likely CLTC, but they show how hard BMW's new Neue Klasse EVs are chasing efficiency. (via CarNewsChina)

Audi revived the A2, its cult early-2000s aluminium hatch, as a small, affordable EV. Audi claims more than 400 miles of range ahead of the car's official debut, a manufacturer estimate rather than an independent test and almost certainly on Europe's lenient WLTP cycle. (via Electrek)

Ford flipped the switch on America's first mainstream LFP battery cells. Its BlueOval plant in Marshall, Michigan is now building lithium iron phosphate cells (a cheaper, cobalt-free chemistry) using technology licensed from China's CATL, destined for a roughly $30,000 electric pickup due in 2027. (via Electrek)

Volkswagen pulled its own guidance. Europe's biggest carmaker scrapped its 2026 sales target as second-quarter operating profit fell 9.5%, a blunt admission that tariffs, China and a costly EV switch are all biting at once. (via Automotive News)

General Motors went the other way, raising full-year guidance for the second time this year as North American second-quarter profit jumped 43%. Detroit's giant is squeezing more from trucks and holding the line even as EV incentives wobble. (via Automotive News)

Kia's EV push is paying off. The Korean brand sold about 110,000 electric vehicles in the second quarter, up 88% year on year, led by its boxy PV5 van and cheaper entry models. (via Electrek)

Tariffs are redrawing the map. Honda is weighing a new North American assembly plant to dodge US import duties, a move that could pull work away from its Canadian operations as July's stacked tariff deadlines squeeze every importer. (via Automotive News)

Porsche's electric Cayenne is a monster with manners. Autocar found the full-size electric SUV musters up to 1,141 bhp at launch control and over 1,000 bhp in Sport Plus, yet praised how progressively it doles out the shove rather than firing it like a switch. (via Autocar)

The Trump administration admitted it canceled $7.6 billion in clean-energy grants, some framed as retaliation, squeezing money that helps fund EV charging and battery projects. (via CleanTechnica)

Massachusetts may put faster electric two-wheelers on the road legally. A sweeping micromobility bill would legalize electric motorbikes up to 40 mph alongside e-bikes and scooters, part of a slow, state-by-state effort to write rules for machines that already exist. (via Electrek)