Automotive and business brief

Snapshot

• Ukrainian harness gap widens beyond BMW: Handelsblatt now ties the shortages to Russian strikes on Kromberg & Schubert's Ukrainian plants and says Škoda's Enyaq and Elroq output was hit for weeks; Škoda says shift losses ended this week
• IG Metall districts formally request 24-hour warning strikes; the national board decides today (Thu 12 Nov), and plant-level member votes could start as early as Friday
• VW drops its 'Gamechanger' manufacturing concept for Wolfsburg, including large-scale casting, citing financial constraints; the works council calls it a 'flagrant breach' of the December 2024 deal

Top Developments

1. Ukrainian harness gap widens beyond BMW: Handelsblatt now ties the shortages to Russian strikes on Kromberg & Schubert's Ukrainian plants and says Škoda's Enyaq and Elroq output was hit for weeks; Škoda says shift losses ended this week

   Handelsblatt (12 Nov, 03:59), citing industry sources, links the missing wire harnesses at BMW Regensburg, Leipzig and Oxford to Russian attacks on Kromberg & Schubert's Ukrainian plants near Zhytomyr and in Lutsk, and reports that missing harnesses also disrupted Škoda's Enyaq and Elroq production for weeks. BMW describes 'short-term bottlenecks' and still names neither supplier nor part; K&S did not answer Handelsblatt's request. Handelsblatt adds that fallback sites appear only partly safe.…

   AI-generated summary · not individually reviewed · check the linked sources

   Sources: Handelsblatt (12 Nov, DE) · Novinky / ČTK (11 Nov, CZ) · Aktuálně.cz (CZ) · Kyiv Independent: K&S Lutsk halt (18 Oct)

2. IG Metall districts formally request 24-hour warning strikes; the national board decides today (Thu 12 Nov), and plant-level member votes could start as early as Friday

   After the third bargaining round failed everywhere, the regional bargaining commissions (Bavaria and the North/Küste unanimously) asked the board on Wednesday to approve full-day warning strikes at selected companies. Tagesschau calls approval 'considered certain'. Members at each selected plant must vote, and at least 50% must agree; Baden-Württemberg says votes start on Friday.…

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   Sources: tagesschau (11 Nov, DE) · IG Metall (11 Nov, DE) · IG Metall Bayern (11 Nov, DE) · Handelsblatt (11 Nov, DE)

3. VW drops its 'Gamechanger' manufacturing concept for Wolfsburg, including large-scale casting, citing financial constraints; the works council calls it a 'flagrant breach' of the December 2024 deal

   VW said on 11 Nov that it will not implement Gamechanger 'in the form originally planned'. All investments are under review, and the planned large-scale casting (giga-casting) facility at Wolfsburg will not go ahead. The SSP platform and vehicle simplification continue, but Cavallo says SSP cars will now be built mainly with conventional methods. Works-council chief Daniela Cavallo says the ICE Golf will not leave Wolfsburg (for Mexico) until there is transparency on volumes and jobs.…

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   Sources: Reuters via Euronext (11 Nov) · DW / dpa (11 Nov) · IG Metall Wolfsburg (11 Nov, DE)

4. Mercedes CEO Källenius: China needs a '100% China for China' model (electric E-Class built locally from H2 2027), and German costs must fall from an index of 100 to the US level of 80

   Speaking at the SZ Economic Summit in Berlin (11 Nov), Källenius said Mercedes' hybrid model (components from global sites, final assembly in China) no longer works after Q3 China sales fell 31%. The new electric E-Class will be the first fully localised model in H2 2027. On Germany, he put cost at an index of 100 against about 80 for the US and 10–20 for China.…

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   Sources: Bloomberg via CNBC-TV18 (12 Nov) · SZ / dpa (11 Nov, DE)

5. EU 2035 car CO₂: ambassadors fail to agree; the Irish presidency now targets a political deal at the 11 Dec Environment Council, with 'Made in Europe' scope (Japan, UK, Türkiye) still open

   Wednesday's Coreper showed split positions on the 2035 target (100% versus an unconditional 90% versus 90% with offsets or low-carbon-steel super-credits), on keeping the PHEV utility factor until 2030, on a new category of cars running only on eligible fuels, and on the geographic scope of the Industrial Accelerator Act's automotive 'Made in Europe' rules. Japanese industry is lobbying for Japan, the UK and Türkiye to count. JAMA cites 13 European plants and about 620,000 vehicles a year.…

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   Sources: ANSA (11 Nov, IT) · Agence Europe · The European Post (11 Nov) · AutoNext: Honda (4 Nov)

6. UK ZEV mandate: the cabinet 'crunch meeting' slips to Thursday; Business Secretary Reynolds pushes for 50% in 2030, while Labour MPs warn against any cut from 80%

   According to the Guardian (11 Nov), Louise Haigh will meet the energy, business and transport secretaries on Thursday 12 Nov, after the Wednesday meeting was postponed. Reynolds wants the 2030 target cut to 50%; earlier reporting pointed to about 60% and flexibilities extended to 2034. The Climate and Nature Crisis Caucus of Labour MPs calls any weakening 'shortsighted'. BEVs reached 26.6% of UK sales year to date, against the 33% target for 2026.

   AI-generated summary · not individually reviewed · check the linked sources

   Sources: The Guardian (11 Nov) · Reuters via Yahoo Finance (8 Nov)

7. Chinese hybrids flood into the EU ahead of the planned quota: Bernstein sees Q3 PHEV exports up 172%, and about 670,000 Chinese hybrids reached the EU in January–September, almost double the whole of 2025

   Heise (11 Nov) reports that Bernstein reads the Q3 surge as shipments brought forward before the EU safeguard. Under the 9 Oct political understanding, the first-year quota is 350,000 Chinese-built hybrids, rising 6% a year for four years, with provisional measures planned for early December. Chinese customs show about 100,000 hybrids exported to the EU in September (+204%). Dataforce counts 411,479 Chinese-brand hybrid registrations (+191%) in Europe in January–September.…

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   Sources: heise autos (11 Nov)

8. Tesla Grünheide: cell production to start in mid-2027 (raising Model Y local content to about 90%), output nearing 7,500 cars a week after 2,000 hires, and a second building 'not another Model Y factory'

   Plant manager André Thierig told an Automobilwoche congress in Berlin (11 Nov) that the plant is approaching the 7,500 Model Y a week needed to use its installed 375,000-a-year capacity, after hiring 2,000 people and cutting the takt time to 45 seconds (60–90 seconds is typical in Germany). Cell production in an existing hall, now making components for US 4680 output, is due in mid-2027. Automotive News reports this would lift the Model Y's European content to about 90%, above the proposed EU content rules.…

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   Sources: Reuters via NewsX (11 Nov) · teslamag.de (12 Nov, DE)

9. Varroc moves exterior-lighting programmes and equipment out of its under-used Cambiano (Italy) plant to Târgu Mureș (Romania) and Hanoi

   Capital.ro (11 Nov), citing Profit.ro, reports that Varroc is relocating production programmes and equipment from Cambiano, which runs at 35.9% of capacity, to its existing exterior-lighting plants in Târgu Mureș and Hanoi. The company says the move will cut conversion costs, improve gross margin and spread fixed costs better. Varroc also runs electronics operations in Timișoara (Varroc Elba Electronics).…

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   Sources: Capital.ro (11 Nov, RO)

10. Visteon–Shinry JV and Infineon develop a single-stage onboard charger on GaN bidirectional switches (22 kW three-phase / 19.2 kW single-phase, V2X), removing the bulk capacitors of two-stage designs

    Announced at electronica (11 Nov), the Visteon–Shinry Power Electronics JV design merges the conversion stages and uses Infineon's monolithic GaN bidirectional switches. The partners claim fewer power semiconductors, smaller magnetics, smaller packaging and lower cost. It supports full V2X bidirectional charging. No customer or SOP date was disclosed; Shinry says it is validating against global OEM reliability standards.

    AI-generated summary · not individually reviewed · check the linked sources

    Sources: Visteon release via MarketScreener (11 Nov)

11. Hyundai Nošovice (Czechia): over half of output is now hybrid or electric, and the Hyundai Mobis battery-system assembly area on site is set to grow from 360,000 to 450,000 systems a year

    In a press release (11 Nov), Hyundai says HMMC (capacity 350,000 a year) has built more than 650,000 electrified vehicles since 2020, contributed about 50% of the development of the current Kona Electric, and introduced automatic windscreen placement and gap-measurement systems in 2026. Part of the plant has been converted into a Mobis-run battery-system assembly centre with an initial 360,000 systems a year, rising to 450,000.

    AI-generated summary · not individually reviewed · check the linked sources

    Sources: Hyundai Italy press release (11 Nov, IT)

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