Mobility

Fincantieri has won its first $30 million contract from the U.S. Navy to build 4 LSM transport ships. The order is part of the Constellation program review. All the details.

Rumors are resurfacing that Stellantis is courting Chinese brands such as Xiaomi, Xpeng, and Dongfeng to allocate the largely underutilized European plants, including the Italian ones that are continuously under layoff schemes. This strategy is similar to what is being tested in Canada, where Leapmotor would replace the vehicles once destined for the US. Having promised 13 billion in investments on American soil, the Group is increasingly looking overseas.

Stellantis is accelerating not only in North Africa but also with the alliance with the Chinese company Leapmotor (of which it owns 20% and 51% of the JV for internationalization). And the more rumors circulate about new moves with the Hangzhou brand, the more the position seems to lean towards two European Group plants: Cassino and Poissy.

Ford wants to prevent Chinese cars from entering the United States, or there will be “devastating” consequences for domestic manufacturing. Chinese electric vehicles are already in Mexico and Canada, and Trump is not opposed to opening plants on American soil. All the details.

2026 risks being an uphill battle for Porsche, which has now lost appeal in China and faces the obstacles of Trump-era tariffs. The US president’s decision to scrap incentives for electric cars has reduced sales of the plug-in Macan and makes the launch of the Cayenne EV uncertain. Meanwhile, in Zuffenhausen, scissors are being sharpened as cuts no longer seem postponable.

Gianluigi Aponte has transferred ownership of MSC, the largest shipping company in the world, to his children Diego and Alexa. Little is known about the company’s finances, which is headquartered in Switzerland, where the Aponte family also resides.

The specter of white paint, which has caused significant problems for several Japanese companies such as Honda and Nissan, has reemerged. In Canada in 2022, Honda had to pay 27 million to settle a dispute, and now a class action is resurfacing in the USA.

According to the US ambassador to the Union, Brussels would not be respecting the agreements on tariffs (declared illegitimate by the American Supreme Court) and would be trying to exclude from the community market the bulky pickups that are so popular in the New World while historically leaving the consumer in the Old Continent lukewarm. Also for this reason, the goal of the Trumpian diplomat would actually be another: the community rules on safety standards and environmental issues, which are too burdensome for US manufacturers.

A U.S. senator complains about the reluctance of robotaxi companies to answer questions regarding remote human operator interventions, which are essential for resolving potentially dangerous situations where AI driving alone is insufficient. He promises a crackdown at the federal level.

The war in Iran has closed Middle Eastern airspace, disadvantaging Emirates, Qatar Airways, and Etihad, while offering Lufthansa, British Airways, Air France-KLM, and major US carriers a temporary window to regain traffic to Asia and Europe, despite soaring fuel costs and logistical challenges. Bloomberg’s in-depth analysis.

The delivery of the Triton ship to the Navy now appears imminent: it will be the first Italian unit dedicated to underwater surveillance and the protection of critical infrastructure on the seabed.

With the Euro7 regulations becoming more lenient compared to the initial drafts and electric car sales steadily slowing down, internal combustion engines, once considered obsolete, will continue to roar on the streets of the Old Continent, as evidenced by Volkswagen’s new strategy shift regarding the 1.0 TSI three-cylinder engine, previously deemed off the market.

The partnership with the Chinese startup established during the tenure of former CEO Tavares is one of the few things confirmed by Stellantis’ new CEO, who seems to have big plans for Leapmotor, both in Canada to try to appease Ottawa’s anger and in South America.

While production in Italian plants continues to stall year after year, the factory that Stellantis has in Algeria increased from 17,000 vehicles in 2024 to 53,000 in 2025. The group is aiming for 135,000 units. Among the possible cars produced in North Africa, the Alfa Romeo Junior is also mentioned; meanwhile, the Cassino hub, the birthplace of many Biscione models, is at risk of closure.

Italy is ready to become the first European operator, alongside Turkey, of the Bayraktar TB3 drone, which is expected to operate from the aircraft carrier Cavour. According to the head of the Turkish drone company, the formal acquisition will take place in the third quarter of the year.

While Fiat cars recorded 63,000 registrations between January and February 2026, with a 36.9% year-on-year increase, Italian production is paradoxically at a low point and the brand is becoming less and less Italian. Our domestic plants find themselves having to compete internally not only with the Polish and Serbian facilities but also with the hub in Morocco, where Stellantis intends to produce two new SUVs bearing the “Turin” logo…

Due to a defect identified by the federal road safety agency in the wiper arms of Lincoln Navigator and Ford Expedition SUVs, as well as some F-series pickups, Ford has launched a massive recall campaign involving over 400,000 vehicles produced and sold in North America.

Geely is consolidating to withstand the onslaught from Byd, which intends to expand rapidly in Europe, and is leveraging its presence in the Old Continent (it owns the brands Volvo, Lotus, Polestar, and 50% of Smart) to build a supply chain that allows it to increase the rate of commercial offers by halving the time it takes for products launched in China to arrive, with global platforms that enable it to save.

Byd is hungry for new users, but its strategies to maintain high sales volumes have severely damaged its profit margins and financial statements. However, it now seems poised to apply the same strategies in Europe, where it will compete fiercely with other domestic companies, starting with the highly aggressive Geely. European brands, already in serious crisis, risk coming out quite battered from the new price war that is already breaking out.

US automakers and others want Trump to ban the entry of Chinese cars even if they set up factories and value chains in the United States, bringing investment and jobs. So far, however, the American president has taken a completely different approach.

Record gasoline prices caused by the conflict in the Middle East are increasing interest in electric cars in Europe, with more test drives and research, although the industry is wondering if this momentum will last. The Financial Times article.

In the coming days, Bocconi will host a meeting on the industrial future of the Italian car industry: among the speakers is economist Zirpoli, who is certainly not lenient when it comes to talking about Stellantis. But most notably, Landini will also be present, who has long been accused by Calenda of not taking care of the Elkanns’ companies for fear of being excluded from Repubblica. The letter from Claudio Trezzano.

Approximately 700,000 recently produced hybrid cars from the Stellantis group have been involved in a new recall campaign due to the possibility of onboard fires. The details

A new alliance signed by Uber aims to make Zagreb the European laboratory for robotaxis. The Chinese giant Pony.ai is also involved. In the US, Amazon’s Zoox is doubling the number of cities where it operates, although rides continue to be free. It is set to chase Tesla, which only began production of the Cybercab in February.

The European Union is dependent on the Persian Gulf for jet fuel and diesel: thus, the Commission has asked member countries to consider introducing “voluntary demand reduction measures” in transportation. Car travel and air travel, therefore, could be limited. All the details.

Byd recorded its first profit decline in four years in 2025, caused by the price war in China and six months of declining sales. The Chinese group is now urgently focusing on global expansion to compensate for the loss of domestic market share.

Toyota’s multibillion-dollar American plan is taking shape to avoid upsetting President Trump. The first to benefit from the funds coming from the Land of the Rising Sun will be the plants in Kentucky and Indiana. A few weeks ago, the president of the Japanese group wore the red “MAGA” cap. Meanwhile, the US-Japan friendship is secured by the flattery of Prime Minister Takaichi, a domestic iron lady who is extremely accommodating during her visit to the White House.

Last summer, the Japanese company Mitsubishi announced it would leave the Chinese market after 30 years: now the Bohemian brand Skoda will also exit China, where it has been present since 2006 through the joint venture between its parent company VW and Saic. This is another sign of the difficulties Volkswagen is facing, squeezed by competition from the Dragon.

“The Last Worker. Final Song of the Great Factory” by Niccolò Zancan (Einaudi) read by Tullio Fazzolari

The war in the Persian Gulf is also affecting aluminum producers and, along with them, the car manufacturers that use this metal. Europe and (especially) Japan import large quantities of aluminum from the Middle East and may struggle to find alternatives.

The holding company controlled by the Porsche-Piëch family, the main shareholder of the Volkswagen Group, saw its adjusted profit after taxes halt at 2.9 billion euros, down about 9% compared to the previous year. Hi-tech investments are doing well, however. And now it is looking towards defense.

A defect in the batteries of electric cars is forcing Volkswagen to launch a massive recall campaign for over 90,000 vehicles. All this while the Wolfsburg manufacturer is facing an unprecedented crisis. Numbers, data, and scenario.

Several malfunctions have been detected in the driver assistance systems that can disable the onboard cameras: for this reason, the federal road safety agency has issued a new recall campaign for Ford-branded vehicles.

With negotiations with fellow countrywoman Rheinmetall stalled, Volkswagen appears to be continuing discussions with the Israeli company Rafael Advanced Defence Systems: the only hope to save the Osnabrück plant, which has no industrial project after the end of T-Roc Cabriolet production, increasingly seems to lie in weapons and defense.

The tsunami hitting Honda caused by Chinese competition, Trump-era tariffs, and the electric car bubble is also overwhelming Afeela, a vehicle announced in ’22 that was supposed to be developed with Sony and that on paper seemed set to revolutionize the way we think about transportation. Many concepts, just as many presentations at CES, but the dazzling vehicle of the future apparently will never hit the road.

Msc will acquire 50% of the South Korean company Sinokor, which owns a large fleet of very large crude carriers. Thus, the company founded by Gianluigi Aponte—after investments in rail and air transport—also enters the crude oil maritime trading market.

In many of the incidents examined by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, “Full Self-Driving lost track of or never detected” the presence of obstacles “in its path,” the agency stated. And while U.S. authorities investigate, Tesla aims to obtain approvals for its driver assistance software in China and Europe as well.

Stellantis, the Filosa Plan requires investments and employment, while Cassino is in the midst of an “industrial decline” now in its eighth year. The intervention of Fernando Uliano from Fim-Cisl.

Bentley pulls the handbrake on the plan that was supposed to lead it to a fully electric future by 2030 and, while increasingly focusing on hybrid solutions, announces hundreds of layoffs after a difficult 2025.

Last summer, the diesel engine was the cause of a recall campaign involving 636,000 family and commercial vehicles and already benefits from an extended warranty of up to 10 years or 240,000 kilometers. Now, in this new round, Stellantis will bring 50,000 vehicles back to the workshops. Again, due to the 1.5 Blue HDi engine.

From 12 noon today, dealers will be able to book the eco-bonus dedicated to those who purchase a new electric or hybrid vehicle. Many Italian brands benefit from the measure, but even more foreign ones, especially Chinese.

For 40 years, Western companies have been forced by Beijing to transfer know-how to Chinese competitors in order to operate in China: now the opposite is happening more and more often. After Volkswagen, which has established an important high-tech collaboration with Xpeng, Mercedes is reportedly courting Geely.

Curiosities, sponsors, and earnings of the 19-year-old from Bologna, Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who won the Formula 1 Grand Prix in China.

Uber, which with its arrival has shaken taxi drivers worldwide, now seems to want to unseat drivers from the driver’s seat: there are indeed numerous partnerships underway to prepare for the advent of robotaxis, also providing data collected during the service to serve as a “driving school” for AI.

The need to thoroughly revise its industrial strategies related to electric cars, combined with the increasingly intense competition from nearby Chinese brands, has pushed Honda to lower its forecasts for the fiscal year. The Tokyo-based company expects the reorganization to incur costs of 16.7 billion. The new outlook for the 2026 fiscal year now indicates a net loss, compared to the previously estimated profit of 300 billion. The president and vice president will cut their salaries and forgo bonuses.

American car manufacturers risk being reduced to niche producers of gas vehicles. The New York Times article

According to rumors promptly denied by the Franco-Italian Group, Stellantis is reportedly trying to forge an alliance with several Chinese brands: know-how in exchange for sharing production facilities. Asian companies would thus gain access to a widespread industrial system while avoiding Western restrictions on Chinese technology. But the rumors go further, suggesting a possible division of the American and European operations of the giant chaired by Elkann, and they again raise the possibility of the partial sale of Maserati.

The Munich-based company closed the 2025 fiscal year with a net profit of 7.45 billion euros, representing a 3% decline compared to the previous year. Despite revenues falling by 6.3% to 133.45 billion, BMW managed to maintain a stable pre-tax profit margin (EBT) at 7.7 percent.

Porsche’s operating profit has effectively crumbled: a 92.7% collapse resulting in a drop to just 410 million from 5.64 billion in 2024 due to 3.9 billion in one-off charges. Deliveries have stalled mainly in China. And now Zuffenhausen must get back on track.