DAILY: Volvo EX60 Revealed, Tesla Puts Basic Safety Behind Paywall and VW Goes Top In Europe | 23 Jan 2026

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DAILY: Volvo EX60 Revealed, Tesla Puts Basic Safety Behind Paywall and VW Goes Top In Europe | 23 Jan 2026

Plus, stay tuned because later in the show I’ll tell you why another big name gives up on a hydrogen project.

On EV News China today we’re talking about: Geely Wants Overseas Clout, Luxeed R7 and XPeng Cheap Credit.

VOLVO EX60 GIVES BEST-SELLER AN ELECTRIC TWIN

Volvo’s best-selling car now comes in battery form. The EX60 is the electric counterpart to the XC60, which has quietly overtaken the old 240 with 2.7m units sold since 2008.

It lands in what Volvo claims is the world’s largest EV segment, aimed squarely at the Tesla Model Y and BMW iX3. On paper, it over-delivers. The all-wheel-drive P12 variant offers up to 503 miles on a charge, beating the iX3 and any plausible daily need. Its 800-volt system can add up to 210 miles in 10 minutes on a 400kW charger.

Volvo drops the traditional battery pack. A cell-to-body layout inserts cells straight into the next-generation SPA3 structure. The integrated casing stiffens the shell and trims mass, though kerb weight still runs from 2,115kg to 2,330kg, depending on version.

The range splits into three core models. The rear-drive P6 delivers 369bhp, an 83kWh battery, 385 miles of range and 0-62mph in 5.9 seconds. The twin-motor P10 uses a 95kWh pack for 503bhp, 410 miles and 0-62mph in 4.6 seconds. The P12 pairs 671bhp with a 117kWh battery, the full 503-mile range and a 3.9-second sprint to 62mph. All are limited to 112mph and offer passive or semi-active suspension.

A Cross Country version sits 20mm higher, with wheelarch cladding, black mouldings and a slightly wider track. It launches as a P10 with 398 miles of range, with a P12 to follow.

Inside, the Superset tech stack runs the car’s operating system on NVIDIA and Qualcomm hardware, promising brisk responses. Google’s Gemini AI allows natural speech rather than fixed commands. Safety hardware pairs with over-the-air updates. The design tightens XC60 cues for the electric era, with a boxy silhouette, panoramic roof, roomy cabin, natural-feel materials, ample storage and split-fold rear seats. A Bowers & Wilkins system adds speakers in all four main headrests. Returning boss Håkan Samuelsson says the EX60 removes the last obstacles to going electric; the figures suggest he plans for many drivers to test that claim.

https://evne.ws/3YSThvN

TESLA PUTS BASIC LANE‑KEEPING BEHIND FSD PAYWALL

Tesla has stripped Autosteer from every Model 3 and Model Y and put lane‑centring behind a Full Self‑Driving (FSD) paywall.

The standard Autopilot bundle, which once paired adaptive cruise control with steering assist, now offers only Traffic‑Aware Cruise Control. To get back basic lane‑keeping, buyers must take out a $99‑a‑month FSD subscription. From next month the software will be subscription‑only, ending one‑off purchases. The shift covers all Model 3 and Model Y trim levels, not just the previously decontented base versions.

This leaves Tesla’s mass‑market cars less well equipped than a base Toyota Corolla. The $22,925 Corolla includes both adaptive cruise control and lane‑centring steering assist as standard. Tesla buyers now pay more for less hardware functionality at delivery, plus an ongoing fee to restore what many rivals bundle in the price.

The move deepens Tesla’s shift from selling options to renting software. Elon Musk has said FSD subscription prices will climb as the software’s capabilities improve, so the $99 monthly fee looks more like an introductory tariff than a ceiling. The subscription push also lines up with the revenue and profitability milestones in his $1 trillion pay package, which leans on high‑margin software income rather than metal‑bending.

Yet the core promise remains unfulfilled. Full autonomy has been trailed for more than a decade without delivery, while Tesla sticks to a camera‑only perception stack instead of the lidar‑based approaches many rivals adopt. Customers now fund that bet not just once, at purchase, but every month.

Tesla has turned a former standard safety‑assist feature into a recurring‑revenue product. The firm gains a richer software stream. Its customers gain a new bill.

https://evne.ws/4resXIH

VW OUSTS TESLA AS EUROPE’S TOP EV BRAND

Volkswagen has pushed Tesla off its European perch. In 2025 the VW brand became the region’s biggest battery-electric seller, with BEV deliveries up 56 per cent to 274,417 units, while Tesla’s volume fell 27 per cent to 238,765. In 2024 Tesla sold nearly twice as many BEVs as VW, 326,714 to 175,654.

The switch comes in a fast-growing market. Europe’s BEV sales rose 30 per cent in 2025 to 2,582,595 units, according to preliminary Dataforce figures covering 98 per cent of EU, UK and EFTA markets. VW’s gains were not confined to pure EVs. The brand also took the plug-in hybrid crown from Mercedes, with PHEV sales up 205 per cent to 159,173 units.

Conventional engines lost ground. Petrol sales fell 7 per cent to 5,815,620 units and diesel plunged 19 per cent to 1,524,349.

Europe’s buyers are shifting towards electrified SUVs. VW now leads in BEVs, PHEVs and key SUV segments, but its absence in full hybrids, and the rise of MG and other challengers, show the race has only shifted lanes, not finished.

https://evne.ws/4qBIMce

LEMONADE BACKS TESLA’S FSD WITH 50% PREMIUM CUT

A small insurer is making a big call on Elon Musk’s safety claims. Lemonade, a US firm, will cut premiums by 50% for Tesla owners when Full Self-Driving (FSD) software, not the human, steers the car.

The change signals more than cheaper cover. Regulators are still probing Tesla’s driver-assistance system. Yet an insurer now says the numbers back Mr Musk’s argument that FSD reduces crashes. Traditional underwriters, meanwhile, still struggle to price different levels of automation as carmakers race to deploy them.

Tesla will feed Lemonade detailed telemetry that separates miles driven by FSD from those driven by humans. Lemonade will apply the 50% discount to its pay-per-mile product, which draws on the millions of signals Tesla cars emit every second.

Lemonade will launch the new “Autonomous Car insurance” in Arizona on January 26th and in Oregon in February, and plans further rate cuts as Tesla rolls out software updates that enhance safety.

https://evne.ws/3Z0yTc6

DACIA RIDES BUDGET BOOM INTO ELECTRIC MANDATE WALL

One in every 55 cars sold in Europe last year was a Dacia Sandero. Yet the brand that built its name on cheap, simple transport now must live with electric mandates and a crowded SUV market.

Dacia became Europe’s second-largest brand by private car sales in 2025, taking 7.9% of that segment. The Romanian brand, relaunched under Renault Group in 2004, passed 10 million vehicles sold, with 697,408 cars registered worldwide last year. Global volume rose 3% year-on-year. Its share across passenger cars and light commercial vehicles reached a record 4%, keeping it 10th overall.

The range, though, leans heavily on a few models. The Sandero remained Europe’s best-selling car for a second year with 289,295 units worldwide, despite a 6.5% drop versus 2024. The Duster ranked as Europe’s second best-selling SUV behind Volkswagen’s T-Roc but slid 9.8% to 193,974 units globally. The Jogger fell faster, plunging 23.6% year-on-year.

Electric models now drive what growth there is. The Spring became Europe’s top A-segment EV with 35,034 sales, despite a one-star Euro NCAP rating.

Weak markets in Italy, France and Romania—40% of Dacia’s volume—dragged on performance. Northern Europe resists too. Dacia sits 16th in the UK, where ZEV mandate compliance bites hardest. Renault Group refuses to pay ZEV penalties, so Dacia must broaden its electric line-up.

An electrified C-segment model to sit beside the Bigster and Jogger will be unveiled in spring 2026. A new A-segment EV based on the Renault Twingo will arrive by year-end, alongside rather than instead of the Spring, and is expected to cost about £2,000 more. The Hipster concept hints at Dacia’s next step in ultra-compact urban mobility, with four seats squeezed into the smallest possible footprint.

https://evne.ws/3NDnFb5

COLORADO VW DEALERS SUE TO BLOCK SCOUT LICENCE

Ten Colorado dealerships for Volkswagen, Audi and Porsche have taken their own parent group to court. On January 20th they sued the state after Colorado’s Motor Vehicle Dealer Board voted 6-2 on December 16th to grant a dealer licence to Scout Motors, a Volkswagen-backed electric start-up.

The case turns on a narrow point of law with broad implications for direct sales. Colorado bars manufacturers from owning, operating or controlling dealerships if they already have franchised dealers of the same line-make in the state. The dealers argue that Scout, given its financial and operational ties to Volkswagen Group and plans to source engines from the group’s Mexico plants, is in effect the same line-make as Volkswagen, Audi or Porsche.

Regulators treated Scout as something different: an electric-vehicle-only maker entitled to carve-outs that also cover Rivian and Lucid. The dealers say that rests on a misreading of Scout’s own product plans. Scout will sell battery-electric versions of the Terra pickup and Traveler SUV, but also a “Harvester” extended-range system. The suit frames that system as a plug-in hybrid and so outside the pure-EV exemptions.

https://evne.ws/3YSweRM

PLUG-IN HYBRIDS COST BRITONS FAR MORE THAN ADVERTISED

Drivers of Britain’s best‑selling plug‑in hybrids pay far more for fuel than the glossy brochures suggest. New research from Transport & Environment finds that these cars burn 490 per cent as much fuel as manufacturers claim, pushing real‑world fuelling costs to £985 a year instead of the advertised £530 for petrol and electricity combined. That is over £450 more than promised.

The gap matters well beyond household budgets. Over their lifetimes, the UK’s top‑selling plug‑in hybrids cost £81 per year more to own and run than equivalent petrol cars. Set against battery‑electric vehicles, the numbers look worse: plug‑in hybrids carry total costs of ownership almost £1,000 higher each year. Petrol’s higher per‑mile cost compared with electricity explains most of the difference.

Policy now risks locking drivers into these higher costs. In 2025 the government chose to weaken the Zero Emission Vehicle Mandate, adding flexibilities that let manufacturers meet targets with a mix of battery‑electric models and lower‑emission petrol and diesel cars.

https://evne.ws/3LQyohG

RENAULT SCRAPS AMPERE SPIN-OFF AND PULLS EV UNIT BACK IN-HOUSE

Renault SA will fold its Ampere electric-vehicle and software arm back into the group, ditching a stand‑alone strategy that never lived up to its billing. Chief executive Francois Provost will brief labour unions on Wednesday on a reorganisation Renault says will simplify its structure and speed decisions.

The move closes former boss Luca de Meo’s plan to float Ampere, once pitched at a valuation of as much as €10 billion ($11.7 billion). He scrapped the listing in 2024 as European demand for battery‑only cars cooled and listed EV makers slumped. The rethink puts Renault in line with other European manufacturers retreating from pure‑EV ambition.

https://evne.ws/3Ztkc1h

MITSUBISHI PLOTS FOXCONN-BUILT EV HOT HATCH FOR AUSTRALIA

Mitsubishi will launch a performance electric hatchback in Australia in the second half of 2026, built in partnership with Foxconn. The car will sit on Foxconn’s Foxtron Bria platform, which sells in Taiwan from NT$899,000 ($42,500), but will wear Mitsubishi badges and gain a locally developed chassis tune.

The firm aims at keen drivers. The flagship dual-motor all-wheel-drive variant will deliver about 300kW and a 0-100km/h time of 3.9 seconds. It will use Mitsubishi’s Super All-Wheel Control system with torque vectoring and may add a rally-bred drift mode. Trademark filings point to ASX VR-e or ASX GT-e badges, though Ralliart, VR-4 or even Evo remain in play.

Australian engineers will carry out a full local suspension tune, including hardware changes and market-specific software calibration.

https://evne.ws/4pRZR0n

FORD USES F1 TO FIGHT CHINA ON SOFTWARE

Ford will return to Formula 1 in 2026 after two decades away. The aim is less trophies than survival in a market reshaped by Chinese software.

Jim Farley, Ford’s boss, frames the tie-up with Red Bull Racing as a way to catch up with Chinese carmakers that now lead in software, seamless digital integration and over-the-air updates.

Ford’s answer is to turn F1 into a software and data laboratory. With Red Bull it will co-develop a 350-kilowatt electric motor and a combustion engine that runs on sustainable fuels, built for the sport’s 2026  hybrid-heavy rules. Farley calls the power unit one of the hardest projects in Ford’s recent history, thanks to complex demands and real-time data processing on an extreme scale.

https://evne.ws/3ZvtPfY

HONDA ENDS GM FUEL-CELL JV TO GO IT ALONE ON HYDROGEN

Honda will stop making fuel-cell systems at Fuel Cell System Manufacturing (FCSM), its joint venture with General Motors, by the end of 2026. That will close a partnership that began in January 2017 and produced the car industry’s first joint venture dedicated to advanced fuel-cell system production.

The move matters less for what ends than for what starts. Honda will shift to its own next-generation fuel-cell technology, signalling a change in its hydrogen strategy and a desire to control both technology and deployment. It says it will use its independently developed systems to seek new business in the hydrogen market.

FCSM was meant to blend Honda’s and GM’s strengths. The partners set out to cut cost and improve performance, and say the joint work produced systems with better durability, improved low-temperature resistance and greater cost efficiencies. Talks between the companies have now led to an agreement to discontinue FCSM production and go their own way.

Honda can fall back on more than 30 years of work in hydrogen and fuel-cell research, and treats hydrogen as a key energy carrier alongside electricity. That history underpins its broader corporate pledge: carbon neutrality across all products and all corporate activities by 2050.

The end of FCSM does not mean Honda has lost faith in hydrogen. It marks a bet that the shortest path to profit in fuel cells now runs through its own labs.

https://evne.ws/4ab5QZD

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