Greetings from London!

Greetings from London!

I’m just back from a holiday in Crete and aside from the island’s stunning scenery, I was struck by the fact that I did not see a single electric vehicle.

That’s a sharp contrast from my neighbourhood in London’s suburbs where Teslas, Polestars and others are common. Someone near me even has a left-hand drive Rivian of all things.

It also illustrates the challenge facing the European Union.

Unlike Belgium, where EVs made up 34% of new car sales in the first seven months of 2025, only 5% of sales in Greece were EVs. The story is the same across southern and eastern Europe, where the idea of a ban on fossil-fuel cars by 2035 looks like a pipe dream.

That leaves the EU in a bind, with European carmakers calling for the ban to be changed, while those who have invested billions in charging infrastructure want it kept.

What could possibly go wrong?

Which brings us to today’s Auto File…

The mess over Dutch chipmaker Nexperia is beginning to feel like a rehash of China’s approach to rare earths.

Nexperia was taken over by the Dutch government last month over an intellectual property dispute, prompting Beijing to block exports of its simple, ubiquitous chips from China.

This has prompted fears of mass production shutdowns in the auto industry reminiscent of the global semiconductor chip shortage during the coronavirus pandemic – spurring a mad dash for chips.

China has now said companies can apply for exemptions from its export ban, so suppliers and automakers are now scrambling to apply for them.  

These exemptions sound like just another name for the rare earth export licenses automakers and suppliers have rushed to apply for.

They are also a reminder of how much of the automotive supply chain China controls and that Beijing is expected to continue flexing its muscles.

Toyota considers costly way to appease Trump. REUTERS/Issei Kato.

Japan’s automakers need access to the lucrative U.S. market, so much so that they are weighing an impractical and expensive solution to help Tokyo placate U.S. President Donald Trump in trade negotiations.

As Reuters colleagues Daniel Leussink, Aditi Shah and Maki Shiraki report, Japan’s big car companies are considering importing some of the cars they build in U.S. factories back to Japan.

You can read all about it here.

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's government has already been hashing out plans to buy some Ford F-150 pickups that are so impractical for narrow Japanese roads that they may end up just being  used as snowplows.

But the "reverse imports" of U.S.-built cars top executives from Toyota and Nissan say they are considering would not make business sense because of higher U.S. labour costs and the impact of a weak yen.

Japan exported just short of 1.4 million vehicles to the U.S. last year, according to the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association. So Japanese automakers would have to import vast quantities of cars at a loss to make a dent in the $68.5 billion U.S. trade deficit with Japan.

Norway's "nei" unlikely to stop Musk's payd deal - REUTERS/Daniel Cole. 

Norway's sovereign wealth fund, the world's largest, is voting against Tesla CEO Elon Musk's $1 trillion pay package – which investors will decide on this Thursday.

The fund is the largest outside Tesla investor to say how it plans to vote. The next-largest to do so, Baron Capital, is backing Musk's package.

But although the package – larger than the entire U.S. annual defence budget – is also opposed by proxy advisors ISS and Glass Lewis, resistance appears futile.

The package will almost certainly pass with broad investor support, especially from the Musk-loving mom-and-pop shareholders who overwhelmingly backed a $65 billion pay package for him last year.

Also a new law in Texas, where Tesla moved its headquarters last year, allows him to vote his large stake, giving him about 13.5% of Tesla's voting power. So Norway’s “nei” is unlikely to make a difference.

Toyota will launch 15 new and refreshed models in India by the end of the decade as it aims to raise its market share to 10% from 8%, sources said.

As Reuters colleague Aditi Shah reports, Toyota will also deepen its rural network in India as record profits there have made it increasingly important.

You can read more here.

The aim would be for Toyota to become less reliant on alliance partner Suzuki, which provides it with vehicles that are then rebadged under the Toyota brand.

The 15 models will include Toyota's own cars, vehicles supplied by Suzuki, as well as upgrades of existing models, sources told Reuters.

Nissan said it expects to book 275 billion yen ($1.82 billion) in annual operating losses due to the impact of U.S. tariffs and warned that supply chain risks would be the biggest problem it faces in its fiscal second half.

First Brands sued former CEO and founder Patrick James, accusing him of orchestrating frauds that left the U.S. auto parts maker insolvent.

Tesla sales plunged in October in several European countries including Spain, the Netherlands and Nordic markets in the latest sign that its struggles on the continent continue.

Renault is in talks with automakers including