Transport

EU car sales fell 14% in the first half of this year as manufacturers continue to experience supply shortages, AFP reported.

As chip shortages still hamper production, sales of new cars in the European Union fell to 4.6 million, data from the European Association of Automobile Manufacturers showed.

German national carrier Lufthansa said Wednesday it was scrapping another 2,000 flights this summer because of staff shortages, adding to a chaotic travel season as the industry attempts to bounce back from the pandemic.

The cancellations between now and the end of August will affect Lufthansa's hubs in Munich and Frankfurt, a company spokesman told AFP.

Dilara Gül, a 23-year-old woman dancer, who was hit by a car while using an electric scooter on her way home, lost her life on July 12.

Gül was seriously injured by being thrown onto the road and was taken to hospital but couldn't be saved.

Hakan Akçelik, the driver of the vehicle, was detained.

French carmaker Renault said yesterday that sales of its conventional and electrical vehicles fell in the first half of this year, impacted by the worldwide shortage of semiconductors.    

It said it sold 1,000,199 units in the first half of 2022, down 12 percent compared to the same period last year. 

The data for both years did not include sales in Russia.     

On the fifth day of the specialized police operation, 26 drivers were caught behind the wheel after drinking alcohol - 17 of them drove after drinking alcohol from 0.5 to 1.2 per thousand, and nine - with more than 1.2 per thousand.14 drivers were caught driving under the influence of narcotic substances or their analogs, the Ministry of the Interior reports.

If the sales maintain their current pace in the coming months, electric vehicle sales may reach around 4,500 units, according to a business group.

In the first six months of 2022, the number of registered electric vehicles increased by 170 percent from a year ago to 2,413, according to a recent report by the Electric and Hybrid Vehicles Association (TEHAD).

Fiat sold a total of 62,154 vehicles in the first six months of 2022, dominating the local market in terms of sales.

The carmaker sold more than 41,000 passenger cars and around 21,000 light commercial vehicles in January-June, according to data from the Automotive Distributors' Association (ODD).

Volkswagen celebrated the beginning of work on its first in-house battery factory, as the German auto giant looks to head off competition from U.S. and Chinese electric vehicle upstarts.

The firm plans to "steer the worldwide battery offensive" from the new plant in Salzgitter in central Germany, CEO Herbert Diess told a ceremony on July 7 attended by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

Ljubljana – Import of bicycles in 2021 totalled some 82,600 bicycles, up by around 17,000 bicycles or a fifth compared to 2011, shows the latest data from the Statistics Office, with electric bikes also gaining in popularity over the last five years.

Eşarj aims to include 495 fast-charging stations to its existing charging station network by investing 300 million Turkish Liras as part of its Fast-Charging Stations for EVs Program, the company has said in a statement.

Thanks to new investments, Eşarj will have the largest and fastest EV charging station network in Türkiye in terms of installed capacity, the statement added.