China to become top source of new cars in Australia, fuelled by emissions regs

Jaguar Land Rover CEO Mardell to retire at end of 2025

Perth Now

13 minutes ago

Perth Now

Jaguar Land Rover CEO Mardell to retire at end of 2025

Adrian Mardell, CEO of Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), has decided to retire and leave the automaker after 35 years at the firm. A spokesperson confirmed the news to Autocar Professional India, and added, 'His successor will be announced in due course'. It's unclear right now whether the automaker's new CEO will come from inside the company, another automaker or supplier, or from outside the industry altogether. Mr Mardell became Jaguar Land Rover's interim CEO at the end of 2022 after his predecessor Thierry Bollore quit suddenly 'for personal reasons' after just two years in the job. Mr Mardell signed a three year contract in the middle of 2023. CarExpert can save you thousands on a new car. Click here to get a great deal. Supplied Credit: CarExpert Prior to becoming CEO, he worked largely on the financial side, was deputy chief financial officer (CFO) from 2008 before later adding chief transformation officer to his responsibilities, and then becoming CFO in 2019. During his relatively short time in charge, Mr Mardell trimmed the company's net debt to around zero, and brought the British automaker back into the black, with the company making a £1.8 billion ($3.7 billion) profit in the year to March 2025. The turnaround has come courtesy of strong sales from the Defender and Range Rover ranges, which have helped the firm achieve a strong profit margin of 8.5 per cent during the previous financial year. Supplied Credit: CarExpert After taking control of JLR, Mr Mardell continued his predecessor's Reimagine plan to turn Jaguar into an Bentley-chasing EV-only brand, and introduce mild hybrid, plug-in hybrid and pure electric drivetrains to Land Rover models. In April 2023 he renamed the firm JLR, and split Land Rover into three new brands — Defender, Discovery and Range Rover — to sit alongside Jaguar. Despite the automaker's rosy-looking financials, there are storm clouds on the horizon. Tariffs, which have seemingly been rising and falling on a daily basis in the US, caused the manufacturer to pause shipments to one of its more important export markets. Supplied Credit: CarExpert While many countries are now slapped with a 25 per cent or higher tariff, there's now an agreement with the UK, which sees the first 100,000 cars per year from Britain taxed at just 10 per cent. A deal with the EU for a 10 per cent tariff is nearly complete, which will come as a relief to JLR as the Defender is produced in Slovakia. On top of this, Jaguar's new brand identity and design direction, as previewed by the Type 00 concept, has garnered plenty of attention and caused much gnashing of teeth on the internet. With three production cars set to launch from 2026, it remains to be seen whether the marque's relaunch will be successful, both critically and financially. Mr Mardell's upcoming departure is the latest in a series of leadership upheavals in the automotive industry this year. In March, Volvo hired its former CEO Håkan Samuelsson to lead it once again, and in May, Stellantis ended its long search for a leader by promoting quality boss Antonio Filosa to the top job. More dramatically, in June, Renault CEO Luca de Meo quit to head up the luxury conglomerate behind Gucci. His replacement, procurement chief François Provost, was only confirmed a few days ago. MORE: Everything Land Rover

The country where 76 per cent of cars sold are electric

Sydney Morning Herald

4 hours ago

Sydney Morning Herald

The country where 76 per cent of cars sold are electric

'We're interested in making sure that this rapid growth in these emerging markets doesn't follow the same trajectory as the developed markets,' said Rob de Jong, head of sustainable transportation for the United Nations Environment Program. But as Nepal has learnt, there are obstacles. The country has spent heavily on subsidies for EVs, and getting rid of the support too quickly could derail the shift to battery power. Even if petrol-powered passenger cars are phased out, cleaning the air will require public transportation to go electric as well. The Asian Development Bank, a multinational development lender, has been a key financier of Nepal's dams, transmission lines and charging networks. The head of the bank's resident mission in Nepal, Arnaud Cauchois, is cautious about the risk of backsliding. 'Given the economic sense that this EV conversion represents for Nepal, I think I would see it as unlikely that we would have major policy change,' Cauchois said. 'But that's basically a wish more than a conviction.' From Indian petrol to Chinese cars Many countries are trying to electrify their vehicle fleets, but the case for doing so is even more obvious in Nepal, with its clean energy embodied in the rivers that run down from the Himalayas. A 2015 border skirmish with India squeezed Nepal's petroleum imports, then its largest energy source. After that, the government invested heavily in hydropower and grid infrastructure, which have provided cheap, non-polluting sources of electricity. Nearly all households now have access, and the rolling blackouts have ended. To maximise the potential of its homegrown power, Nepal would need to use it for transportation. But EVs were still too expensive for mass adoption in a country with a per-capita economic output of about $US1400 ($2150). So, the government pulled all the levers it had to provide incentives. Nepal's primary source of revenue is taxes on imports. To make EVs cheaper, the government set its customs and excise taxes on the cars at a combined maximum of 40 per cent in 2021, compared with 180 per cent for petrol-powered cars. Now, the electric version of one Hyundai SUV costs less than $US38,000, while the petrol-powered model is about $US40,000. The Nepal Electricity Authority built 62 charging stations, in Kathmandu and on highways across the country. It allowed anyone to build chargers, levied negligible tariffs on their import and gave away transformers – the priciest component. Finally, the government set electricity costs for chargers at less than market rates. At those prices, fuelling a petrol-powered car cost about 15 times as much as charging an electric one. That was enough to create a business model for hotels, restaurants and other roadside entrepreneurs to install chargers on their own. 'At first, everybody was scared – how to establish and whether it would run or not,' said Kul Man Ghising, who managed the electricity authority until March. 'But we tried and tried and tried.' Businesses have now installed about 1200 chargers, according to the agency, and private residences are likely to have thousands more. 'A win-win situation' At first, automotive dealers were sceptical. But Yamuna Shrestha saw the potential. Originally a distributor for solar power equipment made by BYD, the largest electric car company in China, she saw some of its new models on a trip to the company's Shenzhen headquarters in 2016. She secured the licence to distribute BYD vehicles in Nepal a few years later, when few others thought EVs could gain traction. 'Many people were pushing for fossil fuels, but there was no one advocating for electric vehicles,' Shrestha said. Her sales took off when BYD released cars that could go further on a single charge and had high enough clearance to cope with Nepal's rough roads. Now, she has 18 dealerships and expects to sell 4000 vehicles in 2025. Loading But the competition is withering, as dozens of Chinese brands have entered the market. Dealers of Indian-made vehicles say they can't match the low price and high quality of vehicles coming from Chinese manufacturers, which have been pressing to get into any markets they can. 'There is a kind of geopolitical push when it comes to EVs that come into Nepal,' said Karan Kumar Chaudhary, who runs Suzuki dealerships and leads the Automobiles Association of Nepal. 'You are talking about models that compete with Tesla that are coming in at half the price of a Tesla, which is unrealistic, right? As a consumer, it's a win-win situation.' Jit Bahadur Shahi was convinced. After retiring from the national police last year, he paid about $US33,000 for a new electric minibus. He ferries passengers seven hours from Kathmandu to his town, Janakpur, on the Indian border. Ten round trips are enough to cover his monthly loan payments, and he expects to pay off the van in four years. 'It's OK. I'm happy,' Shahi, 43, said while charging the van on a Saturday. 'But the problem is that charging stations are not everywhere.' He also worries how much it will cost to fix the van after the warranty expires, and what will happen when its battery wears out. Loading Businesses and advocates in the country are concerned that Nepal may already be backing off its commitment to the electric transition. The young democracy has had three prime ministers in the past five years, and priorities have shifted with each of them. The nation's central bank doubled down-payment requirements for EVs this year. The federal government, seeing declining revenues from car imports, has been inching up its tariffs on EVs. The government also does not have a plan for the collection or recycling of batteries. And auto dealers worry that faulty vehicles from some of the smaller Chinese brands could discredit the category. They're pushing for an agency that would independently certify safety and quality. Rajan Babu Shrestha holds the licence to distribute cars in Nepal from Indian manufacturer Tata Motors. He has seen sales rocket on his electric models, but he could go back to selling petrol-powered vehicles if tariffs rose or subsidies for charging stations went away. 'It's a very positive direction they are going in, but it really comes down to the long-term policy,' Shrestha said. 'Stability is always a question mark.' EVs for everybody For now, the electric shift in passenger vehicles is moving swiftly. But a vast majority of Nepal's residents don't have cars. Instead, they use cheaper motorbikes or mostly petrol- and diesel-powered buses. If Nepal is to clean its air, it will have to electrify and expand its public transportation fleet as well. Chiri Babu Maharjan is the mayor of Lalitpur, the city across the Bagmati River from Kathmandu. Legions of scooters have made it difficult for vehicles of any kind to get anywhere on the narrow roads. Electric two-wheelers have not gained much traction in Nepal, as they have in India. 'We are trying to reduce fossil fuel vehicles in my town,' Maharjan said. 'This is very difficult, but we must do something.' The solution, he said, was to give his constituents a better alternative. To do that, Maharjan has placed his trust in Sajha Yatayat, a bus company that is mostly owned by the state. Electric buses are expensive, and transit fares in the region are capped at about US36¢ (55¢) for the longest ride. That makes financing the purchases difficult. Nepal's government has stepped in with about $US22 million to buy them. For the past two years, Sajha Yatayat has been running 41 green-painted electric buses. But Kanak Mani Dixit, who until recently served as Sajha Yatayat's chair, thinks about 800 of them are needed to establish a network of routes with enough frequency to replace individual vehicles. China is stepping into this front, too. Recently, the Chinese government offered to give Nepal 100 more 12-metre-long buses at no cost. Dixit acknowledges that China may have its own motivations, such as increasing acceptance of its larger electric models, but he doesn't worry about it. 'We have been accepting foreign assistance since 1950, and this is foreign assistance,' he said. Even with more buses, taming the chaotic scrum of exhaust-spewing motorbikes will require a regional transportation authority that could clear more space for public transit. The agency's creation has been mired in political disagreement, but Dixit hopes it can finally make clean, accessible mobility a reality. 'The Kathmandu Valley is just waiting for someone to turn the key,' Dixit said. 'Coincidentally, this is the time exactly when the electric buses have made an entry. And you could just suddenly find things much different another five years from now.'

The Age

4 hours ago

The Age

The country where 76 per cent of cars sold are electric

'We're interested in making sure that this rapid growth in these emerging markets doesn't follow the same trajectory as the developed markets,' said Rob de Jong, head of sustainable transportation for the United Nations Environment Program. But as Nepal has learnt, there are obstacles. The country has spent heavily on subsidies for EVs, and getting rid of the support too quickly could derail the shift to battery power. Even if petrol-powered passenger cars are phased out, cleaning the air will require public transportation to go electric as well. The Asian Development Bank, a multinational development lender, has been a key financier of Nepal's dams, transmission lines and charging networks. The head of the bank's resident mission in Nepal, Arnaud Cauchois, is cautious about the risk of backsliding. 'Given the economic sense that this EV conversion represents for Nepal, I think I would see it as unlikely that we would have major policy change,' Cauchois said. 'But that's basically a wish more than a conviction.' From Indian petrol to Chinese cars Many countries are trying to electrify their vehicle fleets, but the case for doing so is even more obvious in Nepal, with its clean energy embodied in the rivers that run down from the Himalayas. A 2015 border skirmish with India squeezed Nepal's petroleum imports, then its largest energy source. After that, the government invested heavily in hydropower and grid infrastructure, which have provided cheap, non-polluting sources of electricity. Nearly all households now have access, and the rolling blackouts have ended. To maximise the potential of its homegrown power, Nepal would need to use it for transportation. But EVs were still too expensive for mass adoption in a country with a per-capita economic output of about $US1400 ($2150). So, the government pulled all the levers it had to provide incentives. Nepal's primary source of revenue is taxes on imports. To make EVs cheaper, the government set its customs and excise taxes on the cars at a combined maximum of 40 per cent in 2021, compared with 180 per cent for petrol-powered cars. Now, the electric version of one Hyundai SUV costs less than $US38,000, while the petrol-powered model is about $US40,000. The Nepal Electricity Authority built 62 charging stations, in Kathmandu and on highways across the country. It allowed anyone to build chargers, levied negligible tariffs on their import and gave away transformers – the priciest component. Finally, the government set electricity costs for chargers at less than market rates. At those prices, fuelling a petrol-powered car cost about 15 times as much as charging an electric one. That was enough to create a business model for hotels, restaurants and other roadside entrepreneurs to install chargers on their own. 'At first, everybody was scared – how to establish and whether it would run or not,' said Kul Man Ghising, who managed the electricity authority until March. 'But we tried and tried and tried.' Businesses have now installed about 1200 chargers, according to the agency, and private residences are likely to have thousands more. 'A win-win situation' At first, automotive dealers were sceptical. But Yamuna Shrestha saw the potential. Originally a distributor for solar power equipment made by BYD, the largest electric car company in China, she saw some of its new models on a trip to the company's Shenzhen headquarters in 2016. She secured the licence to distribute BYD vehicles in Nepal a few years later, when few others thought EVs could gain traction. 'Many people were pushing for fossil fuels, but there was no one advocating for electric vehicles,' Shrestha said. Her sales took off when BYD released cars that could go further on a single charge and had high enough clearance to cope with Nepal's rough roads. Now, she has 18 dealerships and expects to sell 4000 vehicles in 2025. Loading But the competition is withering, as dozens of Chinese brands have entered the market. Dealers of Indian-made vehicles say they can't match the low price and high quality of vehicles coming from Chinese manufacturers, which have been pressing to get into any markets they can. 'There is a kind of geopolitical push when it comes to EVs that come into Nepal,' said Karan Kumar Chaudhary, who runs Suzuki dealerships and leads the Automobiles Association of Nepal. 'You are talking about models that compete with Tesla that are coming in at half the price of a Tesla, which is unrealistic, right? As a consumer, it's a win-win situation.' Jit Bahadur Shahi was convinced. After retiring from the national police last year, he paid about $US33,000 for a new electric minibus. He ferries passengers seven hours from Kathmandu to his town, Janakpur, on the Indian border. Ten round trips are enough to cover his monthly loan payments, and he expects to pay off the van in four years. 'It's OK. I'm happy,' Shahi, 43, said while charging the van on a Saturday. 'But the problem is that charging stations are not everywhere.' He also worries how much it will cost to fix the van after the warranty expires, and what will happen when its battery wears out. Loading Businesses and advocates in the country are concerned that Nepal may already be backing off its commitment to the electric transition. The young democracy has had three prime ministers in the past five years, and priorities have shifted with each of them. The nation's central bank doubled down-payment requirements for EVs this year. The federal government, seeing declining revenues from car imports, has been inching up its tariffs on EVs. The government also does not have a plan for the collection or recycling of batteries. And auto dealers worry that faulty vehicles from some of the smaller Chinese brands could discredit the category. They're pushing for an agency that would independently certify safety and quality. Rajan Babu Shrestha holds the licence to distribute cars in Nepal from Indian manufacturer Tata Motors. He has seen sales rocket on his electric models, but he could go back to selling petrol-powered vehicles if tariffs rose or subsidies for charging stations went away. 'It's a very positive direction they are going in, but it really comes down to the long-term policy,' Shrestha said. 'Stability is always a question mark.' EVs for everybody For now, the electric shift in passenger vehicles is moving swiftly. But a vast majority of Nepal's residents don't have cars. Instead, they use cheaper motorbikes or mostly petrol- and diesel-powered buses. If Nepal is to clean its air, it will have to electrify and expand its public transportation fleet as well. Chiri Babu Maharjan is the mayor of Lalitpur, the city across the Bagmati River from Kathmandu. Legions of scooters have made it difficult for vehicles of any kind to get anywhere on the narrow roads. Electric two-wheelers have not gained much traction in Nepal, as they have in India. 'We are trying to reduce fossil fuel vehicles in my town,' Maharjan said. 'This is very difficult, but we must do something.' The solution, he said, was to give his constituents a better alternative. To do that, Maharjan has placed his trust in Sajha Yatayat, a bus company that is mostly owned by the state. Electric buses are expensive, and transit fares in the region are capped at about US36¢ (55¢) for the longest ride. That makes financing the purchases difficult. Nepal's government has stepped in with about $US22 million to buy them. For the past two years, Sajha Yatayat has been running 41 green-painted electric buses. But Kanak Mani Dixit, who until recently served as Sajha Yatayat's chair, thinks about 800 of them are needed to establish a network of routes with enough frequency to replace individual vehicles. China is stepping into this front, too. Recently, the Chinese government offered to give Nepal 100 more 12-metre-long buses at no cost. Dixit acknowledges that China may have its own motivations, such as increasing acceptance of its larger electric models, but he doesn't worry about it. 'We have been accepting foreign assistance since 1950, and this is foreign assistance,' he said. Even with more buses, taming the chaotic scrum of exhaust-spewing motorbikes will require a regional transportation authority that could clear more space for public transit. The agency's creation has been mired in political disagreement, but Dixit hopes it can finally make clean, accessible mobility a reality. 'The Kathmandu Valley is just waiting for someone to turn the key,' Dixit said. 'Coincidentally, this is the time exactly when the electric buses have made an entry. And you could just suddenly find things much different another five years from now.'

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Jaguar Land Rover CEO Mardell to retire at end of 2025

The country where 76 per cent of cars sold are electric

The country where 76 per cent of cars sold are electric

China to become top source of new cars in Australia, fuelled by emissions regs

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Jaguar Land Rover CEO Mardell to retire at end of 2025

The country where 76 per cent of cars sold are electric

The country where 76 per cent of cars sold are electric

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