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Volvo aiming for a stock IPO by the end of 2021

Volvo Cars is "making good progress" toward a potential initial public offering by the end of this year, the chief executive of the Swedish premium auto brand told Reuters on Wednesday. "We are looking at the possibility of doing an IPO before the end of the year," listing shares on the Nasdaq Stockholm exchange, company CEO Hakan Samuelsson said in an interview. Samuelsson and other Volvo executives on Wednesday laid out an extensive road map to becoming a fully electric car maker by 2030, including plans to sell 600,000 battery electric vehicles at mid-decade and build a European battery gigafactory in 2026. Volvo earlier this year scrapped a proposed merger with the company's Chinese parent, Hong Kong-listed Geely Automobile. In March, Geely said Volvo would explore capital market options, including an initial public offering and stock market listing. Many startups have gone public in the United States and China over the past two years, following electric vehicle market leader Tesla Inc in taking advantage of investor enthusiasm to raise cheap capital to compete with established brands such as Volvo. Samuelsson said Volvo and Geely will continue to share vehicle architectures, internal combustion powertrains and other components. But the companies will do so at "an arm's length distance," consistent with the way independent companies do business, he said. During Wednesday's briefing, Volvo also said it plans to equip many of its future vehicles with self-driving technology, including standard lidar sensors from Luminar Technologies Inc and computers from Nvidia Corp. "Our goal is to build the safest cars possible, using all available technology," Samuelsson said. As it launches new electric vehicles, Volvo also plans a slew of related products, including insurance and vehicle subscription payment plans offered directly by the automaker, Samuelsson said. "The whole vehicle business will be recurring revenue," Samuelsson said. In Europe, the company plans to change its retail operations so that customers order new electric vehicles directly from the manufacturer, with dealers paid commissions to deliver them, Samuelsson said. In the United States, where laws protect existing dealers, Volvo will still sell vehicles through franchised retailers. For its future electric vehicles, Volvo is working with Swedish partner Northvolt on a new generation of batteries with higher energy and designed to be packaged as a structural element of the vehicle.

Polestar gets $1.6 billion boost from Volvo, other big stakeholder

Polestar said on Thursday it had secured $1.6 billion in financing from its two main shareholders to help it deliver its growth plans amid volatile markets. Volvo, which co-founded the brand with China's Geely in 2017, said it would provide an $800 million loan to the firm. Its other major shareholder, PSD Investment, will provide the same amount through "direct and indirect financial and liquidity support," Polestar said. Volvo, which owns just over 48% in Polestar, said its loan included options for Volvo to convert some of its loans to equity in a potential future equity raising by Polestar. "We welcome the continued support from our major shareholders at a time when the capital markets are volatile and unpredictable," Polestar CEO Thomas Ingenlath said in a statement. The Sweden-based carmaker said the funding, alongside previously secured resources, would provide the company with sufficient funds through 2023. In June, Polestar was listed on the Nasdaq through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). Volvo, like other major carmakers, has in recent years invested heavily in making its own electric vehicles and has also said it was committed to supporting Polestar. Volvo aims to sell only fully electric cars by 2030, while Polestar has a goal to launch three more cars by 2026. In February, Volvo formed a joint venture with battery manufacturer Northvolt to build a battery plant in Gothenburg which would produce battery cells specifically for electric Volvo and Polestar cars. However, carmakers and suppliers are struggling as costly investments in an electric future coincide with rampant inflation and soaring energy prices. Polestar's third quarter results are due on Nov. 11 Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. 2024 Polestar 3 revealed

Poor headlights cause 40 cars to miss IIHS Top Safety Pick rating

Over the past few months, we've noticed a number of cars and SUVs that have come incredibly close to earning one of the IIHS's highest accolades, the Top Safety Pick rating. They have great crash test scores and solid automatic emergency braking and forward collision warning systems. What trips them up is headlights. That got us wondering, how many vehicles are there that are coming up short because they don't have headlights that meet the organization's criteria for an "Acceptable" or "Good" rating. This is a revision made after 2017, a year in which headlights weren't factored in for this specific award. This is also why why some vehicles, such as the Ford F-150, might have had the award last year, but have lost it for this year. We reached out to someone at IIHS to find out. He responded with the following car models. Depending on how you count, a whopping 40 models crash well enough to receive the rating, but don't get it because their headlights are either "Poor" or "Marginal." We say depending on how you count because the IIHS actual counts truck body styles differently, and the Infiniti Q70 is a special case. Apparently the version of the Q70 that has good headlights doesn't have adequate forward collision prevention technology. And the one that has good forward collision tech doesn't have good enough headlights. We've provided the entire list of vehicles below in alphabetical order. Interestingly, it seems the Volkswagen Group is having the most difficulty providing good headlights with its otherwise safe cars. It had the most models on the list at 9 split between Audi and Volkswagen. GM is next in line with 7 models. It is worth noting again that though these vehicles have subpar headlights and don't quite earn Top Safety Pick awards, that doesn't mean they're unsafe. They all score well enough in crash testing and forward collision prevention that they would get the coveted award if the lights were better.