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China's Geely buying majority stake in Lotus

Geely, the Hong Kong car company that owns Volvo, is acquiring control of British car company Lotus. Geely is purchasing a 51-percent stake in Lotus from struggling Malaysian car company Proton, and a 49.9 percent stake in Proton itself. Etika Automotive will gain the other 49 percent of Lotus. France's PSA Group and Japan's Suzuki had apparently also been interested in acquiring Proton. Geely says it plans to revive both Proton and Lotus. "The agreement lays the foundation for a wider framework for both Geely Holding, Proton and Lotus to explore joint synergies in areas such as research and development, manufacturing and market presence," Geely said in a news release. Those joint synergies will be highlighted by the lightweight chassis technology Lotus is known for, which could help Geely improve fuel efficiency. Geely CFO Daniel Donghui Li said the company aims to "unleash the full potential of Lotus Cars" by expanding and accelerating new products and technologies. Proton was nationally held but was privatized in 2007 to Malaysian conglomerate DRB-Hicom, which is owned by tycoon Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary. It was supposed to be the flagship for Malaysia's economic development.Though it owns two factories, Proton mainly rebadges foreign-made cars and sells them in Malaysia. What it has, what Geely presumably wants, is a distribution network in Southeast Asia to pit Chinese cars against Japanese automotive dominance in the region. Retaining a 50.1-percent stake in Proton is seen as a face-saving move. "Proton will always remain a national car and a source of pride, as Proton will still have a majority hold of 50.1 percent," Malaysian finance official Johari Abdul Ghani said. "Our very own much-loved brand now has a real chance in making a comeback, a huge one I hope." Related Video:

California adapts ZEV mandate with PHEVs for smaller automakers

California is the nation's largest market for zero-emissions vehicles with over 100,000 of them estimated to be on the roads there. The state's goal is to keep that number growing every year. To that end, the California Air Resources Board is now tweaking its rules in a way that might not boost ZEVs but could mean more plug-in hybrids for the Golden State. Jaguar Land Rover, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Subaru, and Volvo asked for an exemption to the state's zero-emissions vehicle mandate last year due to their relatively small development budgets compared to larger automakers. CARB denied their request but did craft a compromise, according to Automotive News. Rather than being required to offer a ZEV in the state, companies with an annual global revenue of less than $40 billion, like those in this group, may instead sell plug-in hybrids to earn ZEV credits. The companies aren't completely off the hook, though. If these plug-in hybrids don't earn enough credits, the corporations must buy them on the market to make up the difference. Automakers with popular electric models like Nissan and Tesla have made a big business through this trading system by selling their surplus to rivals. Tesla alone pocketed $51 million in the first quarter from this part of its business, according to Automotive News. The changes to the regulations also aren't set in stone, yet. CARB is meeting in 2016 and could adjust things further at that time. Related Video: News Source: Automotive News - sub. req. via Hybrid CarsImage Credit: Justin Sullivan / Getty Images Government/Legal Green Jaguar Land Rover Mazda Mitsubishi Subaru Volvo Emissions Electric Hybrid California zev credits zero emissions vehicle

Volvo Concept XC Coupe does the full monte ahead of Detroit debut [w/video]

When the doors open at the Cobo Center next week for the 2014 Detroit Auto Show, Volvo will lift the veil on its new Concept XC Coupe. But you don't have to even wait that long. A set of images leaked out yesterday to accompany a teaser video released by Volvo, but now the Swedish automaker has revealed the full thing.
The second of three new concept cars aiming to show the way forward for the brand, the Concept XC Coupe follows the Concept Coupe revealed last September. Based on Volvo's Scalable Product Architecture, the Concept XC Coupe is expected to preview the next-generation XC90 crossover, but with two fewer doors and a four-seat cabin.
With orange details, matte rubber moldings and underbody skid plates, the design is said to have been inspired by outdoor equipment manufacturer POC - naturally also based in Sweden - whose products are favored by extreme athletes around the world. It rides on 21-inch wheels and incorporates T-shaped DRL headlights, with distinctive tail-lights earmarked to make their way onto the next generation of production Volvos.