Archives for April 2021

LONDON (AP) — British authorities are exploring the possibility of creating a new digital currency that Treasury chief Rishi Sunak touted as “Britcoin.”

The Bank of England and the Treasury said Monday that they will work together to assess the benefits of a central bank digital currency, at a time when cash payments are generally on the decline, partly as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

The bank said the new currency, if it comes to pass, would be a new form of digital money for use by households and businesses and would exist alongside cash and bank deposits, rather than replacing them.

Digital currencies, which are only available in digital or electronic form, are already being explored or even implemented in several other countries, with many proponents drawing inspiration from the success of Bitcoin and other so-called cryptocurrencies. However, digital currencies, like the one being considered in the U.K. are different in a key sense to Bitcoin as they are issued by state authorities.

“The world is going the way of digital currencies and we have to find a place for them in the mainstream,” said Anne Boden, founder and chief executive of app-based Starling Bank.

One of the benefits of a digital currency would be as a backup to card payments if cash payments continue to drop in the years to come — by the end of this decade, only one in 10 payments in the U.K. are expected to be made with traditional paper money. Proponents of digital currencies also think they can provide another way for people to make purchases online.

Currently, only the Bahamas has such a currency, though China is trialing it in several cities. Sweden has indicated it could have its own digital currency by 2026, while the European Central Bank has indicated an electronic euro might be created within four years.

The new British task force is part of a series of measures that Treasury chief Sunak hopes will help the U.K.’s financial technology sector.

“Our vision is for a more open, greener, and more technologically advanced financial services sector,” he told a fintech conference. “And if we can capture the extraordinary potential of technology, we’ll cement the U .K.’s position as the world’s preeminent financial center.”

Promoting Monday’s announcement on Twitter, Sunak was brief.

“Britcoin?,” he posited.

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SHANGHAI (AP) — Volkswagen, Ford and Chinese brands unveiled new SUVs for China on Monday at the Shanghai auto show, the industry’s biggest marketing event in a year overshadowed by the coronavirus pandemic.

Automakers are looking to China, the biggest auto market by sales volume and the first major economy to rebound from the pandemic, to propel a revival in demand and reverse multibillion-dollar losses.

Auto Shanghai 2021 takes place under anti-virus controls that included holding some news conferences by video link. Few executives from abroad are attending. Reporters were required to undergo virus tests.

The latest models reflect accelerating momentum toward electrification and designing models for Chinese tastes. Automakers rely increasingly on research and design centers in China to create models for global sale.

Ford Motor Co. presented a midsize SUV, the EVOS, the first vehicle created largely by a China-based team under a 2-year-old strategy to integrate Ford’s Chinese operations into global product development. The automaker also exhibited a plug-in hybrid SUV, the Escape, and an all-electric Mustang Mach-E.

“We’re moving away from just looking at list of features, but much more focused on how how does that all come together in terms of the experience for the customer,” said Tim Slatter, vice president of Ford China. “And that can all be enabled with this very rich, digitally connected environment.”

Volkswagen AG said its all-electric ID.6, available in six- and seven-seat models, aims to create a “lounge on wheels” with semi-automated driving and other technology. The German auto giant’s Audi unit displayed a concept version of its A6 e-tron sedan, the first of a family of electric cars due out next year.

Toyota Motor Co. introduced its bZ4X Concept battery-electric SUV, one of 70 electrified vehicles the automaker says it will release globally by 2025.

The show also highlights the growing technology and design skills of China’s young but ambitious domestic brands.

Geely Auto, part of the Geely Holding group of brands that includes Sweden’s Volvo Cars, debuted a new flagship SUV, the Xingyue L. The company says self-driving technology enables the Xingyue L to park itself and return to pick up its driver.

General Motors Co. debuted the Envision Plus midsize SUV and the Verano Sedan, among 13 new and refreshed models planned this year in China. Earlier this month, GM’s Wuling joint venture released the electric Macaron, part of its fast-selling, lower-priced Hong Guang line.

Peugeot, part of the Stellantis group created through the merger of Fiat Chrysler and PSA Group in January, showcased a new range of SUVs — the 4008, the plug-in electric hybrid 4008 and the 5008.

China’s first-quarter sales of SUVs, sedans and minivans in China jumped 75.6% over a year earlier, when the ruling Communist Party shut down the economy to fight the virus, according to the China Association of Auto Manufacturers. By contrast, Edmunds.com Inc. forecasts quarterly U.S. sales should rise 8.9% over a year earlier but would be off 8.6% from the final quarter of 2020.

Sales of electric vehicles in China, which accounts for about half of global purchases of the technology, nearly tripled in the first three months of 2021 over a year earlier to 515,000 units, according to CAAC.

Honda Motor Co. unveiled a prototype SUV that will be its first electric vehicle sold in China and the Breeze, the first plug-in hybrid from its joint venture with state-owned GAC. Honda plans to release 10 electric models within five years.

Nissan Motor Co. displayed its X-Trail crossover for the China market and its e-POWER electrified power train.

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Auto Shanghai (in Chinese): https://www.autoshanghai.org/

Auto Shanghai (in English): https://www.autoshanghai.org/?lang=en

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MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Foxconn Technology Group, the world’s largest electronics maker, has reached a new deal with reduced tax breaks for its scaled back manufacturing facility in southeast Wisconsin, Gov. Tony Evers and the the company announced on Monday.

Details of the new deal were not immediately released. It was scheduled to be approved at a Tuesday meeting of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp., the state’s top jobs agency that previously negotiated the initial deal with Foxconn.

The new deal will reduce the potential tax breaks by billions of dollars and still have potential tax breaks worth more than $10 million for the company, a person with knowledge of the new contract who was not authorized to speak publicly about the deal said Monday.

The original contract with nearly $4 billion in state and local tax incentives was struck in 2017 by then-Gov. Scott Walker. It was based on Taiwan-based Foxconn’s promise to build a massive $10 billion flat screen panel manufacturing facility in Mount Pleasant, near the Illinois border, employing up to 13,000 people.

Then-President Donald Trump heralded the original deal as a sign of a revitalized American manufacturing economy, calling the envisioned plant “transformational” and the “eighth wonder of the world.” He traveled to Wisconsin in 2018 for the ground breaking ceremony.

But Foxconn, best known for making Apple iPhones, has continually scaled back its plans for the site and missed employment targets that would trigger state tax credits. The state told Foxconn last year that it would not award it tax credits because the company had made substantial changes in its manufacturing plans and was out of compliance with the tax credit agreement. Foxconn employed 281 people in 2019 in Wisconsin, according to the state economic development agency.

David Callender, a spokesman for the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp., said the agency does not comment on its discussions with companies “unless and until action has been taken by the board.”

One of the agency’s board members, Democratic Assembly Minority Leader Gordon Hintz, said he was encouraged that both sides had agreed to a deal but he still had questions about the contract he will be voting on at the Tuesday meeting.

“All of us want more transparency and clarity on what’s happening,” Hintz said. “That’s something the company has been dishonest, deceptive and failed on.”

Evers, a Democrat who ran as a critic of the project in 2018 and defeated Walker, a Republican, said in a statement that the new deal “works for everyone.”

“I’ve said all along that my goal as governor would be to find an agreement that works for Wisconsin taxpayers while providing the support Foxconn needs to be successful here in our state,” Evers said.

Jay Lee, Foxconn’s vice chairman, said Foxconn approved the new deal with a desire to lower taxpayer liability in exchange for the flexibility to pursue business opportunities the meet market demand.” He said Foxconn was grateful that a solution could be found.

After the original deal was signed, Foxconn said it was downsizing the factory to be built over 2,500 acres (1,012 hectares) of land from what is known as a Generation 10.5 plant to a Generation 6 plant that makes smaller thin-film transistor liquid crystal display screens for cellphones and other devices, rather than the larger screens that were first proposed.

Foxconn has announced, and then quickly ended, other projects at the site including “a cutting-edge, cloud-based, robotic retail platform” for caffeine sales and ventilators to help the state respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Most recently, Foxconn’s chairman said last month it was now considering making electric vehicles at the facility.

The company’s changing plans led Evers to call for its contract to be rewritten.

Foxconn also made promises about basing its North American headquarters in Milwaukee and hiring 500 employees, but that has not happened. It also promised to open “innovation centers” in Green Bay, Eau Claire, Racine and Madison that would employ up to 200 people each. Buildings were purchased, but the company did not move forward with its plans.

In 2018, Foxconn said it planned to invest $100 million in engineering and innovation research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Since then, research center and off-campus location have not been established. Foxconn did sponsor a $700,000 research project at UW-Madison and university officials said in March that talks with Foxconn were ongoing.

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