On April 21, 2026, CATL unveiled the Qilin Condensed Battery, the third-generation Shenxing Superfast Charging Battery, the third-generation Qilin Battery, the second-generation Xiaoyao Super Extended-Range Hybrid Battery, the NaXin Battery, and the "Super Swap-Integrated" charging network plan at its "Super Tech Day" in Beijing.

Battery electric vehicle (BEV) registrations jumped 51% in March across 15 major European markets, as renewed conflict in the Middle East brought renewed attention to oil dependence. According to data from New Automotive and E-Mobility Europe, around 224,000 new electric passenger cars were registered during the month, representing 22% of total sales in the monitored markets.

[Polestar's Net Loss Widened to $2.36 Billion in 2025] Data recently released by Swedish EV brand Polestar showed that its net loss widened to $2.36 billion in 2025, compared with $2.05 billion in the same period last year. This marked the worst fiscal year for losses since Polestar was spun off from Volvo Cars and listed on Nasdaq in 2022. Despite the deepening losses, Polestar's revenue surged 50% YoY last year, reaching $3.06 billion, with full-year new vehicle sales exceeding 60,000 units.

Gold, long considered a reliable hedge against market volatility, has lost its luster as a safe-haven asset and now acts as a "high-beta asset" that actually amplifies market selloffs, according to economist Robin Brooks of the Brookings Institution.

[Nissan Calls on Trump Administration to Reduce 25% Tariff on Mexican-Imported Cars] Nissan executives said the company had studied relocating production of the Sentra sedan and Kicks crossover from Mexico to the US to avoid the 25% tariff, but the economics did not work out. Nissan Americas Chairman Christian Meunier said the 25% tariff imposed by the Trump administration on Mexican-imported cars was "unfair," especially compared with the significantly lower 15% import tariff on car models from the EU and South Korea. Christian Meunier said: "A tariff of 10%-15% is moderate, but a 25% tariff is unsustainable in the long term.

According to Xinhua News Agency, data recently released by the Netherlands' National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed that the total number of passenger cars in the Netherlands reached approximately 9.4 million units at the beginning of 2026, up nearly 2% from a year earlier, with nearly all of the increase attributable to electrified car models. Currently, the number of fully or partially electric-powered vehicles in the Netherlands has exceeded 2 million units, up nearly 6% from a year earlier, accounting for about one-fifth of total automobile ownership.

[US Used Car Prices Climbed to Highest Level Since Summer 2023] Driven by relatively tight new car supply, US used car prices continued to rise in March. Cox Automotive's Manheim Used Vehicle Value Index rose 6.2% YoY last month, reaching its highest level since the summer of 2023. The index tracks prices of used cars sold at its US wholesale auctions. Cox's report also noted that US used car inventory days' supply fell below 40 days in March, the lowest since the beginning of 2026 and below the level of the same period last year.

[Ford Recalls Over 420,000 Cars in US Due to Wiper Malfunction] Recently, Ford Motor announced a recall of over 420,000 vehicles in the US due to potential wiper failure, affecting several popular car models under the Lincoln and Ford brands, including the 2021-2023 Lincoln Navigator and Explorer, as well as the 2022-2023 F-250SD, F-350SD, F-450SD, F-550SD, and F-600SD models.

[Volvo Cars to Exclusively Sell Lynk & Co EVs in Europe] On March 30, Volvo Cars announced that it had signed a memorandum of understanding with Geely Automobile to become the exclusive importer and dealer of EVs under Geely’s Lynk & Co brand in the European market. Volvo Cars said: “The company plans to sell Lynk & Co car models through Volvo Cars’ retail network and use its sales and after-sales system in relevant markets.”

The German federal government recently approved the 2026 Climate Protection Plan and will allocate an additional 8 billion euros over the next four years to help achieve its 2030 emissions reduction targets through measures such as expanding installed wind power capacity and increasing subsidies for NEVs. Germany’s Environment Ministry stated that by 2030, these measures could additionally reduce carbon dioxide emissions by more than 25 million mt, while cutting consumption of nearly 7 billion m³ of natural gas and about 4 billion liters of gasoline. German Environment Minister Carsten Schneider said the climate protection plan would inject “new momentum” into climate action while helping reduce Germany’s dependence on costly and unstable oil and gas imports.