The plans recently announced by a number of large European and American car companies show that they are increasing their investment and setting up factories in emerging markets. Analysts pointed out that with the acceleration of the transition to electrification, chip, battery-related raw material resources have increasingly become the focus of car companies.
German automaker Volkswagen Group said on July 4 that it will invest 1 billion euros in Brazil by 2026, which will involve the development of ethanol-based internal combustion engines locally and the expansion of subscription business models for rental cars. The company will also launch two all-electric models in Brazil by the end of this year and 15 new electric and hybrid vehicles in Brazil by 2025.
Volkswagen plans to achieve significant business growth in the South American market by 2030. In response, the company is systematically implementing its strategy to rapidly expand its business in growth markets.
Ford Motor Company of the United States recently announced that it will invest $4.5 billion in a nickel processing plant in Indonesia to secure the supply of nickel, a key mineral used in electric vehicle batteries.
Drake, vice president of electric vehicle industrialization at Ford Motor, said in a statement that the program gives Ford direct control over the sources of nickel it needs in one of the industry's lowest costs. At the same time, the company directly controls the nickel supply process, allowing it to ensure that the mining of the nickel it uses is in line with its sustainability goals.
The plant will use a process called high-pressure acid leaching and is expected to come on stream in 2026. Ford said the plant will help it obtain raw materials to meet its goal of producing about 2 million electric vehicles that year.
A few days ago, the boards of directors of Renault Group and Nissan Motor announced that they have reached a framework agreement on the restructuring of the alliance, in which the two automakers will each hold 15% of each other's shares and voting rights, hoping to improve governance efficiency through cross-shareholding and strengthening the alliance. In addition, the two parties detailed new cooperation projects in Latin America and other markets.