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Child cobalt miners: Automakers pledge ethical minerals sourcing for EVs

BERLIN - Leading carmakers including Volkswagen and Toyota pledged on Wednesday to uphold ethical and socially responsible standards in their purchases of minerals for an expected boom in electric vehicle production. Demand for minerals such as cobalt, graphite and lithium is forecast to soar in the coming years as governments crack down on vehicle pollution and carmakers step up their investments in electric models. To cover its plans for more than 80 new models by 2025, Volkswagen alone is looking for partners in China, Europe and North America to provide battery cells and related technology worth more than 50 billion euros ($59 billion). Talks with major cobalt producers, including Glencore, at VW's Wolfsburg headquarters last week ended without a deal. More than half of the world's cobalt comes from the Democratic Republic of Congo, a country racked by political instability and legal opacity, and where child labor is used in mines. On Wednesday, a group of 10 leading passenger-car and truck manufacturers announced an initiative to jointly identify and address ethical, environmental, human and labor rights issues in raw materials sourcing. The partnership dubbed "Drive Sustainability" consists of VW, Toyota Motor Europe, Ford, Daimler, BMW, Honda, Jaguar Land Rover, Volvo Cars and truckmakers Scania and Volvo. The alliance "will assess the risks posed by the top raw materials (such as mica, cobalt, rubber and leather) in the automotive sector," said Stefan Crets of the CSR Europe business network. "This will allow Drive Sustainability to identify the most impactful activities to pursue" to address issues within the supply chain.Reporting by Andreas Cremer.Related Video: Image Credit: Michael Robinson Chavez/The Washington Post via Getty Images Green BMW Ford Honda Jaguar Land Rover Mercedes-Benz Automakers Toyota Volkswagen Volvo Green Automakers Green Culture Electric Scania ethics mining

Jaguar Land Rover opens new $1.6 billion factory in Slovakia

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia — Jaguar Land Rover is opening a new, $1.6 billion plant in Slovakia, the luxury car maker's first in continental Europe. The U.K.-based company, owned by India's Tata Motors, built the plant near Nitra, about 65 miles east of Bratislava, to initially produce 150,000 cars a year. The Slovak government is giving the carmaker investment subsidies of up to 130 million euros ($148 million). Slovakia is a regional car-making powerhouse. Germany's Volkswagen AG, France's PSA Peugeot Citroen and South Korea's Kia Motors all have a major plant in this Central European country of 5.4 million people. The company said it will shift all production of its Discovery model from Birmingham, England, to Slovakia amid falling diesel sales, vehicle taxes and uncertainty about Britain's Brexit departure from the European Union.Related Video:

Jaguars and Land Rovers to feature in 007's Spectre

James Bond may be more closely associated with Aston Martin, but Jaguars and Land Rovers have featured in 007 movies new and old. Skyfall, the most recent installment in the series, opened with Bond and Moneypenny ripping through the streets of Istanbul in a Defender and saw M being chauffeured around London in an XJ. And the upcoming feature Spectre is set to feature some of JLR's finest as well. While Bond himself will be piloting the new Aston Martin DB10, the movie will also feature a Jag and a couple of Landies. The Jaguar C-X75 concept, as we know, will be part of a chase scene against the DB10, now revealed to be set in Rome. But the movie will also include the new Range Rover Sport SVR (with what looks like some auxiliary lighting) and at least two Defenders modified by JLR Special Operations to "Big Foot" specifications with 37-inch off-road tires, upgraded suspensions and added bodywork protection. As you may recall, a couple of months ago a fleet of nine vehicles used in the film were stolen from a garage in Dusseldorf, including five Range Rover Sports. This is the first confirmation we're seeing of any of them being SVR models, or of the Big Foot Defenders being part of the mix as well. The scenes including the Land Rovers have already been filmed in Austria, and we're looking forward to seeing them all on the silver screen come November. Related Video: JAGUAR AND LAND ROVER ANNOUNCE PARTNERSHIP WITH SPECTRE, THE 24TH JAMES BOND ADVENTURE - Continuing Jaguar Land Rover's successful involvement with the Bond franchise, Jaguar C-X75, Range Rover Sport SVRandLand Rover Defender Big Foot to feature in new James Bond movie, SPECTRE - C-X75 concept vehicles will form part of spectacular chase scene in Rome Monday 9 Feb 2015 12:01 GMT: Jaguar Land Rover has announced its line-up of vehicles set to feature in SPECTRE, the 24th James Bond adventure, from Albert R. Broccoli's EON Productions, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, and Sony Pictures Entertainment. These will include the Jaguar C-X75, Range Rover Sport SVR and Defender Big Foot, which have been provided by Jaguar Land Rover Special Operations. The Jaguar C-X75 will feature in a spectacular car chase sequence through Rome alongside the Aston Martin DB10. The C-X75 vehicles used in filming have been built in collaboration with Williams Advanced Engineering facility in Oxfordshire, England.