Sep 28, 2016 - 08:17 am

Håkan Samuelsson, Karl Schlicht, Michael Grewe.

“Diesel is becoming more and more expensive. We will have to rely on an alternative.”

Volvo CEO Håkan Samuelsson predicts the end of the diesel within the next 15 years due to tightening emission legislation. Therefore, carmakers will need to rely on EVs and self-driving cars.
global.handelsblatt.com (paid content)

“We’re on track to sell close to 300,000 hybrids this year.”

Karl Schlicht, Executive VP of Toyota Europe, proudly talks about numbers that pose a new record for the Japanese firm. So far, hybrid sales are up 45 percent compared to 2015 and Europe is Toyota’s fastest-growing region for hybrid sales.
automotiveworld.com

“I cannot say when the factory will be built, but we intend to have high-voltage battery production here to support Thailand’s future car market.”

Michael Grewe, President and CEO at Mercedes-Benz Thailand, is thinking about building a PHEV battery facility in the country to serve local demand better.
bangkokpost.com

Jul 13, 2016 - 08:43 am

Karl Schlicht, Mark Baxter, Max Boon.

“I think that anyone looking at investing in a new diesel plant, which might have a lifespan of 10 to 15 years, will have to look long and hard at whether they would get payback.”

Karl Schlicht, executive vice-president of Toyota Europe, says the carmaker is looking to stop investing in diesel cars altogether. He used the Yaris as an example, saying the diesel variant only accounts for about 10 percent of sales and “could [therefore] be dropped in time.”
autocar.co.uk

“We’re open to all avenues. There’s no reason why we couldn’t encompass that technology with the driving dynamics of N, but I haven’t seen anything to confirm that at this stage.”

Hyundai UK’s product planning manager Mark Baxter comments on the possible electrification of the high-performance model of its N division sub-brand.
autocar.co.uk

“The vast majority of complaints we receive are about PHEVs clogging up chargers. We want to encourage electric car use and if we can do that by discouraging plug-in hybrids from using our network, that’s a good thing.”

Ecotricity spokesperson Max Boon explains why the charge point operator has chosen to implement a flat rate at its chargers along the UK’s motorways. Initially set at 5 pounds per 20 minutes (now 6 ponds for 30 minutes), the move had earned Ecotricity a lot of criticism.
motoringresearch.com

Oct 8, 2014 - 08:42 am

Karl Schlicht, Carlos Ghosn, Henrik Olsen.

“The advantage of selling seven million units means we know what works. The myth that our hybrid has peaked and that we have to move to lithium [batteries] or plug-in has been greatly exaggerated.”

Karl Schlicht, Executive Vice President of Toyota Europe, indeed has no reason to doubt the company’s strategy that saw Toyota selling over seven million hybrids within 17 years. It remains to be seen if the fuel cell technology will be similarly successful.
autoexpress.co.uk

“As long as we don’t see many competitors in the battery business allowing us to be able to access the technology we want for our cars and allowing us to make competition work between the different suppliers, we’re going to continue to make our own batteries.”

Renault-Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn repels speculations of cutting battery production anytime soon but is taking a generally open and pragmatic approach to the matter.
greencarreports.com

“I have not seen any other country moving in that direction. On the contrary, subsidies are cut. But you only need a couple of markets to trigger the trend and Norway has been very helpful to Tesla.”

Henrik Olsen, partner at the Environmental Technologies Fund, who counted 15 Teslas at a recent visit to Norway’s capital Oslo. At the Ecosummit in London he was asked on his expectations for the EV market.
Source: electrive.com on site