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The British government has announced almost £130 million of investment in next-generation vehicle technology, backing Bentley, Nissan and a raft of smaller firms, in a bid to arrest a steep decline in domestic car production and reindustrialise the country's manufacturing heartlands. Delivered through the £4 billion DRIVE35 programme, described by ministers as the largest state investment in the UK car industry since the post-war era, the funding will support more than 1,800

The Black Sea has become the latest strategic chokepoint straining global energy flows, as an intensifying campaign of drone strikes on tankers loading Russian and Kazakh crude drives freight rates to Middle East levels and pushes war-risk premiums sharply higher. Repeated attacks on vessels at the Caspian Pipeline Consortium terminal near Novorossiysk have more than doubled tanker rates since June to around $400,000 a day, according to Seatrade Maritime. The Baltic Exchange'

Air France-KLM is positioning itself for the most acquisitive phase in its recent history, with a decision on its bid for TAP Air Portugal expected within weeks and its takeover of Scandinavian carrier SAS due to complete before year-end, in a twin push that would extend the Franco-Dutch group's reach from the Nordics to the South Atlantic. The nearer-term prize is TAP. Lisbon is expected to choose between Air France-KLM and Lufthansa in early September, having received bindi

Italy's state railway has placed a firm order for 19 high-speed trains to serve a planned Paris to London route, its first concrete rolling-stock commitment to the Channel Tunnel corridor and a decisive step toward ending the monopoly Eurostar has held since services began in 1994. FS Italiane, through its French subsidiary Trenitalia France, signed the agreement with Hitachi Rail on 7 August as part of an investment of around €2 billion covering construction, long-term maint

Sweden's Supreme Court has cleared the way for a seized cargo vessel to be transferred to Ukraine, in what officials are calling the first time a foreign court has ordered the handover of a ship linked to Russia's shadow fleet, establishing a precedent for holding accountable those accused of moving stolen goods from occupied territory. The court dismissed an appeal by the owners of the Caffa on 4 August, leaving intact earlier rulings by the Ystad District Court and the Cour

Skoda is preparing to open order books on the Peaq, a seven-seat electric SUV that becomes the most expensive model in the Czech brand's history, in a deliberate step upmarket that tests how far a marque built on value can stretch its pricing as it doubles its electric range. The Peaq is Skoda's new flagship and its largest car to date, measuring 4.87 metres in length, some 12 centimetres longer than the combustion-engined Kodiaq. Built on the Volkswagen Group's MEB platform,

Dutch national operator NS has rejected mounting calls to terminate its €600 million rolling-stock contract with Spanish manufacturer CAF, insisting that European procurement law leaves no room to break the deal on moral grounds, in a case that sharpens the tension between ethical campaigning and the rigid rules governing public contracts. The controversy centres on CAF's involvement in a light-rail project serving Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, which campaign

Wizz Air plunged to a first-quarter loss as the fuel bill from the Iran war overwhelmed rapid passenger growth, laying bare a widening split in European aviation between resilient flag carriers and the budget operators struggling to absorb higher costs while still selling cheap seats. The Budapest-based ultra-low-cost carrier reported an operating loss of €183.3 million for the three months to June, against a profit a year earlier, and a post-tax loss of around €198 million,

Porsche has agreed to eliminate a further 5,000 jobs at its German sites by 2035, taking its cumulative restructuring toward 9,000 roles, in a stark admission that the collapse of its Chinese business and a costly retreat from electrification have upended what was once the industry's most profitable carmaker. The executive board and general works council signed off on the "Future Package" on 27 July, a deal negotiated with the IG Metall union and the Südwestmetall employers'

Russia is quietly assembling a shadow fleet of liquefied natural gas carriers, extending to gas the same sanctions-evasion playbook it built for crude oil, in a move designed to keep Moscow's energy revenues flowing once the European Union's import ban takes effect. The Financial Times reported on Monday, citing data from maritime analytics firm Windward, that Russia's specialised covert gas fleet has grown to 25 vessels over the past six months. The expansion includes at lea

HS2 has renegotiated the contracts governing more than 100 kilometres of its high-speed line, tearing up a risk model that left taxpayers exposed to spiralling costs, in the most concrete sign yet that chief executive Mark Wild's sweeping programme reset is gaining traction. The state-owned company confirmed this week that it has signed revised commercial agreements with EKFB and Align, the two main civil engineering joint ventures building the route between London and the We

Europe's two largest airline groups both beat second-quarter profit expectations but trimmed their growth ambitions for the year, as the fuel bill from the Iran conflict reshapes strategy across a sector now prizing yield over expansion. IAG, owner of British Airways and Iberia, reported on Friday a 16 per cent drop in second-quarter profit, dragged down by soaring fuel costs and softer demand linked to the war that erupted at the end of February. The result nonetheless came