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Stellantis has signed a five-year strategic collaboration with Microsoft to embed artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and cloud infrastructure across its operations, the latest sign that Europe's legacy carmakers are leaning on US tech platforms to close a widening capability gap with Chinese rivals. The Amsterdam-listed group, whose brands include Peugeot, Citroën, Fiat, Opel and Jeep, said on Thursday that joint teams would co-develop more than 100 AI initiatives across

Alstom has taken the rail hydrogen fuel-cell business of Cummins in-house, concluding a deal that underscores how Europe's flagship alternative-traction programme is shifting from a growth story to a maintenance commitment. The French train manufacturer confirmed on 2 April that it had acquired the engineering, product and support operations supplying fuel cells for its Coradia iLint trains, including the Herten assembly site in north-west Germany and the Hydrogenics entity t

Europe's aviation industry is confronting its most acute supply shock since the pandemic, as the continued closure of the Strait of Hormuz drains jet fuel reserves at airports across the continent and forces carriers to begin cutting flights weeks before the peak summer season. Airports Council International Europe, which represents airports across the European Union, warned the bloc on 9 April that unless stable transit through the Strait resumes within roughly three weeks,

The China-Europe rail corridor has staged a sharp recovery in early 2026, as shipping disruptions in the Middle East and rising ocean freight rates push European importers back toward overland freight and drive up the cost of moving goods by train. China State Railway Group recorded 3,501 freight train trips on the China-Europe route in January and February, a 31.7 per cent increase year on year, with cargo volumes rising 25.2 per cent to 352,100 TEU. The figures reverse a di

With Chinese rivals flooding showrooms and EV targets in flux, Renault and Volkswagen are looking to rearmament to fill their idle factories Europe's automotive industry has spent the better part of three years searching for a way out of a structural slump. It may have found a temporary answer in a rather unexpected place: the arms industry. The shift is being driven by a convergence of pressures. Chinese electric vehicle makers, led by BYD, have taken an increasingly aggress

Germany's state rail operator books a second consecutive billion-euro loss, with no quick fix in sight Deutsche Bahn ended 2025 with a net loss of 2.3 billion euros, widening from 1.8 billion euros the previous year, as decades of underinvestment in Germany's rail network continued to erode the group's finances and test the patience of its passengers. The headline figure was heavily shaped by a 1.4 billion euro impairment charge at DB Long-Distance, reflecting reduced revenue

Deutsche Lufthansa AG has entered the most turbulent stretch of industrial action in years, with a full week of strikes threatening to inflict significant financial damage on Europe's largest carrier and casting a shadow over what should have been a landmark centenary celebration. The Vereinigung Cockpit pilots' union launched a two-day walkout on Monday and Tuesday, grounding the majority of flights at Lufthansa's Frankfurt and Munich hubs and affecting operations across Luf

European shipping executives are confronting a compounding crisis in the Strait of Hormuz, with no clear resolution in sight and costs mounting across every major trade lane connecting the continent to the Gulf. The strait has been effectively closed to commercial traffic since late February, when US and Israeli strikes on Iran triggered retaliatory IRGC attacks on merchant vessels and the laying of sea mines across key shipping channels. For the first time in modern history,

Europe's automotive industry has a crisis and a potential lifeline, and they happen to share the same factory floor. As slumping car sales hollow out production capacity across the continent, a growing number of manufacturers are turning to defence contracts to fill the gap. Analysts at Citi have taken to calling it the "anything but autos" trade. Renault has moved furthest and fastest. The French carmaker confirmed earlier this year that it will produce long-range strike dro

Germany's state railway is carrying more passengers than ever and losing money at scale. Deutsche Bahn posted a net loss of €2.3 billion for 2025, the company confirmed in late March, a result that lays bare the tension at the heart of one of Europe's most ambitious infrastructure programmes. Group revenues rose 3% to around €27 billion and operating profit returned to positive territory at €297 million, but those headline figures were overwhelmed by a €1.4 billion writedown

The fragile US-Iran truce has failed to reopen the world's most critical energy corridor, leaving European carriers counting the cost Two days after Washington and Tehran announced a tentative ceasefire, the Strait of Hormuz remains, in all practical terms, closed. For Europe's major shipping lines, the diplomatic pause has done little to ease a crisis that has reshaped global trade flows since February. Nils Haupt, communications chief at Hamburg-based Hapag-Lloyd, one of th

A last-minute cabin crew walkout lays bare the depth of labour tensions at Europe's largest airline group The timing could hardly have been worse. On Friday 10 April, as thousands of passengers attempted to return home from Easter holidays, cabin crew at Deutsche Lufthansa AG walked out across Germany's busiest airports, cancelling more than 520 flights and stranding an estimated 90,000 travellers at Frankfurt, Munich and a string of regional hubs. The one-day strike, called