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China's Geely to add $4.6 billion battery plant in EV push

BEIJING — Geely said on Monday it would build an electric vehicle battery factory with a planned annual manufacturing capacity of 42 gigawatt hours (GWh) in China's eastern city of Ganzhou, as it expands its EV lineup in the world's biggest car market. For comparison, the Tesla-Panasonic Gigafactory in Nevada announced an expansion last fall to just under 40 gigawatt hours. The total investment in the project by Geely's technology arm will be 30 billion yuan ($4.6 billion), according to a separate statement from the local government. Geely's technology group has previously invested in Ganzhou-based EV battery maker Farasis. The planned factory comes after Geely announced a flurry of tie-ups in January aimed at turning the automaker into a leading EV contract manufacturer and engineering service provider, as it fights the incursion of EV leader Tesla. Geely, which owns Volvo Cars and a 9.7% stake in Daimler AG, is competing with Great Wall and Nio, among others. China's government has heavily promoted new energy vehicles (NEVs) — such as battery-powered, plug-in petrol-electric hybrid and hydrogen fuel cell cars — in response to chronic air pollution, spurring interest from technology companies and investors alike. China forecasts NEVs will make up 20% of its annual auto sales by 2025 from around 5% in 2020.   Green Plants/Manufacturing Volvo Electric Geely

Jaguar turns down offers to join V8 Supercars, questions AMG, Volvo participation

Rumors have swirled in recent weeks that Jaguar may be the next manufacturer to join the V8 Supercars racing series, made popular in Australia but now well-known in other parts of the world as well. Sadly, Jag's participation is not to be. In fact, it would be "insane," according to Jaguar Land Rover Asia Pacific Managing Director David Blackhall, for it to accept either of the two offers it has received to bring Jaguar into V8 Supercars.
Not only is Jaguar not interested in entering V8 Supercars, says Blackhall, it also fails to understand the recent entries from AMG and Volvo. "I don't know what it does for AMG to get flogged by a V8 Commodore week after week, but it's their brand, their issue. And the same thing will happen to Volvo to be honest."
Judging by Blackhall's statements to motoring.com.au, after not-so-serious consideration, the automaker decided the monetary commitment it would take to compete for wins would be more than any potential exposure would be worth, despite the fact that Jaguar has a 5.0-liter V8 to go along with what would seem to be a tailor-made rear-wheel-drive chassis. For what it's worth, one offer would have had Jaguar putting its name across an engine made by someone else, an option that was flatly turned down.

How many other cars does it take to kill a Volvo?

We all know how safe Volvo cars are, but a European junkyard has decided to put it to the test by crashing, jumping and rolling the life out of an 850 wagon. While government tests use automated systems to crash new cars, the guys in this video do so with a driver behind the wheel. Aside from what looks like a safety harness and roll bar for the driver, it seems like this car is otherwise bone stock.
Not wanting to spoil the fun for you, we'll just point out that at the start of the video, our hero car looks pretty flawless, and by the end, well, let's just say the Craigslist ad for the car would say "needs some body work." Check out the video below to watch some stunts that even the Duke Boys might shy away from.