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Welcome to the 15th edition of our newsletter on developments in the automotive industry published by Morgan Lewis’s automotive team with contributions from lawyers in our offices around the globe. We counsel our automotive clients on a broad range of industry-specific issues, including matters relating to mergers and acquisitions, antitrust, litigation, regulatory concerns, intellectual property, and labor and employment.
This issue of Morgan Lewis AUTOMOTIVE, which covers the first quarter of 2018, touches on matters relating to self-driving cars, proposed regulations for diesel engine vehicles, and other developments in the global automotive markets.
In this issue:
- Mergers & Acquisitions: VW cooperates with Aurora to push its self-driving cars; Ford acquires two tech companies; China’s Didi Chuxing to cooperate with 12 car groups; Daimler acquires 25% stake in Car2Go from Europcar; Toyota and its parts suppliers co-fund software company; Denso acquires stake in chipmaker Renesas; Daimler acquires French alternative to Uber; Schaltbau sells Pintsch Bubenzer to Dellner Group and AOC; Magna invests in Lyft and joins latest automotive driving alliance; Geely acquires stake in Daimler AG for $9 billion; Didi Chuxing acquires Brazilian ride-hailing app 99 for $1 billion; BMW and Great Wall Motor to sign letter of intent.
- Antitrust: Romanian Competition Council imposes fine on Rombat; EU Commission fines maritime car carriers and car parts suppliers; Philippine Competition Commission clears acquisition deal between Joyson and Takata; Knorr-Bremse and Wabtec to settle first US Department of Justice “no poach” investigation.
- Regulatory: Beijing regulates road testing for self-driving vehicles; VW reaches settlement with diesel owners in Canada; Polish motorway operator challenges order of EU Commission to repay public funding; German court allows cities to ban diesel-operated cars; China issues ‘Key Tasks for Standardization of Intelligent-Connected Vehicles’; Shanghai issues regulations on self-driving car road testing; China unveils policy for new energy vehicle battery recycling; UK kicks off regulatory review to pave way for self-driving cars.The agreements are mainly with Chinese carmakers such as Geely, Changan, and BYD, but also include foreign carmakers such as Kia and the Renault-Nissan Alliance, which includes Mitsubishi.
- Intellectual Property: Honda sues Great Wall Motor for patent infringement; China focuses on electric vehicle standardization; France Brevets sells 150 automotive, autonomous vehicle patents.