Category Archives: News

News

In 2024, almost every new car sold in Norway was an EV

Demand for electric vehicles in Norway has been growing for years, and the country’s plan for 2025 is that every vehicle sold will be an EV. They are currently very close to that goal. According to published data for the year 2024, 89 percent of new cars sold were EVs.

In 2012, electric cars accounted for only 2.8 percent of sales, but since then they have been on the rise thanks to various incentives. They were exempt from more taxes, tolls, had free parking in public car parks and could use public transport lanes, which made them competitive with highly taxed internal combustion cars.

“We only need 10 percent more to reach the 2025 target,” the Opplysningsrådet for Veitrafikken (OFV) said in a statement.

Despite the fact that the Scandinavian kingdom is an oil and gas producer, this does not prevent it from being a European and world leader in electrification. The plan to become the first country with zero emissions from 2025, which is 10 years ahead of EU regulations, means that Norway is way ahead of everyone else.

In 2024, 128,691 new cars were registered in Norway, of which 114,400 were EVs, which is a 7 percent increase compared to 2023 (82 percent). “It is crucial to maintain the incentives that favor the purchase of electric cars if the government and parliament are to achieve the goal they have set themselves,” said OFV director Oyvind Solberg Thorsen.

Source: Opplysningsrådet for Veitrafikken (OFV)

News

Citroën is thinking about the return of the C4 Cactus

The growth in sales of the new C3 Aircross, and the fact that the future C5 Aircross will be a more compact model, have discouraged Citroen from introducing another compact model into its range. The technological pressure on compact cars is currently the greatest and logically it is the first on the list for cutting. The cars that could be a hit in the future are the affordable ones, with a fair price, so we could soon see the return of the subcompact crossover SUV, the Citroen Cactus.

The latest information suggests that the third generation of the compact Citroen C4 is coming to an end, although a refreshed version has recently arrived on the market, and the French manufacturer is already thinking about the successor to this model. CEO of Citroën Thierry Koskas is convinced that a new C4 is possible, but with a very careful strategy with equipment, giving priority only to what customers normally use.

“What we said about the B segment and the need for cars with a certain level of equipment will one day also apply to the C segment,” said Koskas. He also added that families are interested in more spacious cars, but at a reasonable price.

Tata Consultancy Services developed the new C3 “Smart Car” platform for Stellantis’s cheap brands, putting price first and then budgeting for individual components. This helped Dacia achieve great results, and it is clear that Citroën is trying to use the same tactics as the Romanian brand, whose Sandero model is still the best-selling new car in Europe.

Source: Reuters

News

Data from nearly 1 million VW Group vehicles leaked

In 2023, a study by the Mozilla Foundation found that many car manufacturers collect more data than necessary, and sometimes even resell it. Now, it has emerged that data from nearly a million VW Group vehicles has been compromised.

GPS data from a large number of EVs was left unprotected and publicly available for months, allowing unauthorized parties to create detailed profiles of the vehicles’ users. According to Reuters, the vehicle data could reveal the names and contact details of drivers, owners and locations for nearly 500,000 vehicles. Among the owners of these cars are a large number of people from politics and business, as well as people from professional groups dealing with security (police officers).

The problem was discovered by the Chaos Computer Club (CCC), which informed VW, and the company quickly reacted and fixed the problem. However, given the length of the problem, it is not excluded that some of the data ended up with third parties. VW said the data is used to improve batteries and software, and is not used to create profiles about individuals or vehicle movements. Still, this incident should force EV manufacturers to do a better job of protecting vehicle data.

Source: Reuters