It is now definitive: the 2027 Dakar will take place. After many weeks of doubts, which had jeopardized the organization of the toughest rally on the planet, a solution has finally been reached. As ARA has learned, the event will change its venue and will be held between Europe and Africa, thus moving away from Saudi Arabia.

Peugeot has waited for the Paris Motor Show to reveal one of its best-kept secrets, the brand-new electric prototype E-T16. This vehicle is, in reality, a conceptual prototype that aims to pay tribute to the legendary Peugeot 205 T16, a rally car that conquered the world rally championships in the years 1985 and 1986 in the Group B category.

Elon Musk has reason to celebrate. Nine years after its announcement, Tesla has finally shown the first images and technical capabilities of the Roadster, the American brand's electric two-seater sports car. In fact, the first Tesla Roadster was presented in 2006, taking advantage of the Lotus Elise base in force at that time, but transforming it into an electric car. Tesla sold about 2,000 units of the first Roadster between 2008 and 2012, before ceasing production and turning it into a car highly coveted by collectors, especially after SpaceX (a company also under Musk's control) placed one into solar orbit in 2018 as part of the Falcon Heavy rocket's maiden voyage.

New setback for the European Union's climate goals. The continent's economic engines, France and Germany, reached an agreement this Friday to soften the climate requirements for the automotive sector and maintain the manufacturing of combustion vehicles beyond 2035. This was announced by the French government in a statement, in which it details that the pact also includes tools to strengthen production conditions within Europe. This proposal has been a major demand from European manufacturers, who are currently working hastily to electrify in the face of strong Chinese competition.

The automotive industry in Italy is experiencing confusing times: Ferrari has manufactured an electric car (Luce) that has little or nothing to do with the style of the legendary Maranello brand, while Maserati seems to be for sale and the Modena-based manufacturer is letting itself be courted by Chinese automotive groups. But the bleak transalpine landscape does not end there, as Abarth has not yet found the key to boosting model sales in a new electrified market and Lancia has become a brand that only sells a single model in a 100% electric format.

Seat models continue to sell –and a lot– throughout the Spanish territory. Although their future is up in the air given the company's plans not to electrify its models, its product range is consolidating in the State: according to the data released this Wednesday by the Catalan company, the brand totaled 52,660 registrations between January and September, which represents 4.3% more than in the same period of 2025.

For some years now, European brands have been inspired by their past to project their future in terms of electric mobility. In fact, it has been quite some time since Mini was reborn under the BMW umbrella and switched to zero-emission cars, as well as Fiat with its electric 500. It is true that in both cases (Mini and Fiat 500) the brands have also marketed versions with combustion engines, but the resounding success of Renault and its electric R5 has led Citroën, the brand that is traditionally Renault's greatest rival, to copy the strategy with a modern reinterpretation of the legendary 2CV.

“Right now we have no plans to electrify Seat models”. The CEO of the Catalan industrial company, Markus Haupt, assured this Monday in Paris that the brand does not plan to electrify any of its cars, despite stating that “the future is electric”. Thus, Haupt pointed out that “regulation” will be what dictates the future of the Seat brand in the face of demanding European regulations to decarbonize the automotive industry. It will also be necessary to see what the evolution of the market is, which is increasingly betting on electric vehicles: “Even if there is a second period of flexibility (regarding emission regulations), we have to see if customers in the main markets will continue to buy combustion vehicles”.

The Volkswagen Group – parent company of the Catalan brands Seat and Cupra – demanded this Sunday in Paris to "reward" the production of vehicles made in Europe to be able to compete on equal terms with Chinese manufacturers. Volkswagen CEO Oliver Blume asserted that Europe "must continue to guarantee fair competitive conditions in its own markets." "Whoever sells here must compete under comparable conditions and also create jobs and value here, in Europe," the executive emphasized, at an event also attended by the CEO of Seat and Cupra, Markus Haupt.

The new generation of BMW electric vehicles –called Neue Klasse by the Bavarian brand– is leaving everyone stunned. The Munich-based manufacturer was not the first brand to electrify its range, but when it decided to do so, it achieved industrial milestones unimaginable until now. The new iX4 is the most technologically advanced electric SUV ever built, equipped with the sixth generation of BMW's eDrive electric system; new electric motors and a cylindrical battery pack that, associated with the 800 V compatible platform architecture, allows for shorter charging times than ever before and offers more range than ever.

Jaguar has presented the controversial Type 01, an electric car that is set to mark a before and after in the history of the English brand. The fact is that Jaguar has undergone one of the most spectacular metamorphoses in the history of the automotive industry, attempting to transform a brand focused on a conservative client with a classic style into a disruptive and groundbreaking brand focused on a target audience very different from its historical market segment.

The main Chinese automotive groups (BYD, Geely, Chery, Changan, SAIC, and Great Wall Motors) have begun the conquest of the European market, despite the tariff war between the Asian giant and the European Union. The Chinese offer products packed with technology with a very competitive price-quality ratio that has attracted hundreds of thousands of European buyers over the last five years, coinciding with the massive arrival of vehicles – especially electric and plug-in hybrids – from China.

Matías Carnero (UGT) is not only the president of the Seat works council, but he is also a member of the Volkswagen Group's supervisory board, the highest control body of the German company. He speaks with ARA in the midst of the consortium's crisis: the group is expected to eliminate up to 100,000 jobs worldwide and significantly reduce its models. The historic Catalan brand Seat could be greatly affected.

It was the year 1948 when the National Institute of Industry (INI), the Italian manufacturer Fiat, and a consortium of Spanish financial entities led by Banco Urquijo agreed to collaborate on the creation of a vehicle plant in Barcelona. Two years later, in 1950, the birth of the Spanish Society of Touring Automobiles (SEAT) would be signed before a notary, which would later become the industrial giant of Catalonia.

The most open MotoGP World Championship in years is knocking many contenders out of the running and it seems it could be a duel between two men: Marc Márquez (Ducati Desmosedici GP26) and Jorge Martín (Aprilia RS-GP). Márquez (Ducati Desmosedici GP26) has had a perfect weekend: he won the Japanese Grand Prix at the Mobility Resort Motegi circuit after also triumphing on Saturday in the sprint race. Two victories to put pressure on the World Championship leader. Martín finished second and sees how the difference between the two in the general standings is cut to just two points, with six races to go. The Italian Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia RS-GP) is third.

For the first time in history, the best-selling car during a calendar month in Spain has been an electric car. The Tesla Model 3 has been the best-selling car of the month with 2,528 units registered, surpassing all of its combustion rivals. The Seat Ibiza occupied the second step of the podium with 2,183 units registered during the month of September 2026, and the Dacia Sandero, which until now had dominated the ranking of best-selling cars with an iron fist, falls to fourth position with 2,157 registrations in Spain.

The Volkswagen group remains in the eye of the storm. Less than two weeks after announcing its reorganization plan (which will affect hundreds of thousands of workers in Europe and entail the closure of factories in Germany), the industrial group based in Wolfsburg must face a new problem affecting more than 2.8 million passenger cars from the Audi, Volkswagen, and Seat brands manufactured between September 2013 and July 2024.

France and Germany are by tradition, history, and commercial volume the two great engines of European industry, especially in the automotive sector, and possibly the two European giants are the representative examples of the state of the economy and industrial trends in the European Union.

The Volkswagen group stars in two of the main appointments of the week: on one hand, Daniel Cortina will be the new director of institutional relations for Seat and Cupra; on the other, Skoda loses its CEO, Klaus Zellmer, who is joining Volvo as executive president. Another notable move is the hiring of Isabel Schnabel, from the European Central Bank (ECB), by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Also noteworthy is the announcement from Delivery Hero –owner of Glovo–, which is backtracking and, finally, Niklas Östberg will continue as CEO, after assuring in May that he was leaving the position.

107 years after its foundation, the English brand Bentley, specialized in luxury and high-performance cars, has presented its first electric car, which it has christened with the name Torcal and which has a truly impressive technical specification. The brand-new Torcal uses two electric motors with a total power of 888 hp and giant batteries of 113 kWh capacity with 800 V architecture and a range in mixed use of 600 kilometers. Furthermore, the Torcal is compatible with a charging point of up to 400 kW of power, which allows it to reach up to 80% of the battery capacity in just 20 minutes.