Page 24 - ARUBA TODAY

A24 TECHNOLOGY
Monday 19 noveMber 2018

VW wants to storm car market with cheaper electric model

By DAVID McHUGH ing to Volkswagen’s web-
AP Business Writer site, and goes up as op-
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) tions are added. The next
— Volkswagen intends to model up the scale starts at
invest 44 billion euros ($50 30,625 euros. General Mo-
billion) in the electric and tors, Nissan and Mitsubishi
autonomous car technolo- already are selling mass-
gies expected to reshape market electric vehicles,
the industry — and said it but they’re still more costly
would make battery-pow- than cars with gasoline en-
ered vehicles more acces- gines, and they haven’t
sible to mass-market auto sold in great numbers.
buyers by selling its new I.D. Higher cost is one reason
compact for about what a consumers are not yet buy-
Golf diesel costs. ing purely electric vehicles
The investment plans for the in large numbers. The lack
next five years aim to make of charging points is anoth-
Volkswagen “a worldwide er, leaving many owners
supplier of sustainable mo- of electric vehicles to use
bility,” Chairman Hans Di- them mainly in cities or for
eter Poetsch said Friday. shorter trips. Volkswagen
He added that the compa- and other automakers are
ny is in talks with Ford about In this Wednesday, Aug. 1, 2018 file photo, the logo of Volkswagen is seen on top of a company working together on build-
possible cooperation in building in Wolfsburg, Germany. ing a freeway network of
making light commercial Associated Press fast-charging stations to
vehicles. aim to fight global warm- places to charge. Battery- $80,700 while the Model S enable longer trips with
Established automakers as ing. Automakers like Volk- only vehicles were only starts around $74,500. battery powered cars.
well as several U.S. start- swagen, Daimler and BMW 0.6 percent of the market VW’s upcoming I.D. com- Chinese automakers as well
ups are rolling out electric risk penalties of thousands in the European Union last pact could take mass- as U.S. startup companies
models to compete with of euros per vehicle if they year. They are running from market buyers from Tesla’s also are getting into the
Tesla , currently the market can’t meet requirements 1 to 2 percent of U.S. new- Model 3, a mass-market electric car market. Rivian,
leader. Auto companies for lower average emis- vehicle sales so far this year. car with a base price of a Detroit-area company,
need electrics to meet new sions. Major new models unveiled $35,000 before tax credits. plans to unveil a high-end
environmental standards in Authorities in China, where in recent weeks from Daim- In reality, though, you can’t electric pickup and SUV lat-
many countries. Volkswagen gets much of ler’s Mercedes-Benz and order one yet for less than er this month, to go on sale
In Europe, manufacturers its profit, have also man- Volksagen’s Audi brand $46,000. in late 2020. Lucid Motors, a
need to sell more battery- dated a bigger share of have been expensive SUVs; Poetsch said the I.D. com- Newark, California, startup
powered cars to meet electrics and hybrids. Audi’s e-tron starts at a pact would be about the whose leadership includes
tougher EU limits on car- Yet right now, such vehicles German price of 80,000 cost of a Golf diesel today, six former Tesla executives,
bon dioxide emissions that remain a niche market due euros. The starting price for which is priced at 23,875 plans to deliver its first cars
come into force 2021 and to higher price and lack of Tesla’s Model X is around euros in Germany, accord- in 2020 as well. q

Ousted Sri Lankan PM’s party asks Facebook to protect users

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — The ousted Sri restored it on Saturday. yet responded to the letter.
Lankan prime minister’s party urged Face- “It is very likely that officials from the current Facebook said in an email to The Associated
book to safeguard the identity of its supporters illegal administration ... may ask Facebook for Press: “Facebook takes data protection and
on the social media platform, fearing informa- information on selected Sri Lankan users of people’s privacy very seriously and we have
tion sharing with what it calls the country’s “il- Facebook that should rightfully be private,” a responsibility to keep people safe on our
legal” government can lead to a crackdown said the letter, sent on Thursday. services — whether from terrorism, bullying,
against the users. “Such requests may include information on or other threats. We also have a broader so-
In a letter to Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg, named individuals, geo locations and other cial responsibility to help bring people closer
the United National Party said such informa- identification details of users who view and together — against polarization and extrem-
tion could be used against the users “in ways post on these pages,” the letter said. “It is vital ism.” Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was
which are legally prohibited.” this information be safeguarded as the cur- sacked last month by President Maithripala
Party spokesman Piyasena Dissanayaka said rent illegal administration will most likely use Sirisena. Sirisena replaced Wickremesinghe
Sunday that Facebook blocked its official these in ways which are legally prohibited.” with Mahinda Rajapaksa, who has had two
page ahead of a public rally on Thursday but Dissanayaka said Facebook officials had not no-confidence motions against him.q