Leading autotech company CARS24 has teamed up with the Indian Road Safety Campaign (IRSC) to tackle road safety issues on a larger scale. This includes identifying and addressing accident-prone areas using data-driven insights, pushing for tougher enforcement of traffic laws to lower fatalities and interacting with legislators and urban planners to enhance road infrastructure for long-term effects. This is consistent with CARS24's mission statement, ‘Better Drives, Better Lives’, which emphasises that safety is a movement that calls for awareness, action and cooperation rather than merely a duty.

Pothole reporting using the CARS24 app is one of the most recent projects within this partnership. In order to contribute to the development of a centralised database of road hazards, users may now report potholes in real time. While the remaining information will be shared with local authorities to advocate for more extensive road repairs, IRSC will take steps to repair specific potholes after verification. Furthermore, every pothole that is reported will be geotagged, enabling other drivers to drive safely and steer clear of dangerous locations. By bridging the gap between public reporting and government action, this programme seeks to expedite the remediation of dangerous road conditions.

In addition to updating its app with new features and improving drivers' access to important information, CARS24 is getting ready to train all of its Autonauts (staff) as first responders. All 150 staff, including the co-founders, have already received training in emergency response, first aid and CPR as part of the project. In order to ensure that more individuals are ready to intervene when it counts most, this programme will be extended to provide them with life-saving skills.

Gajendra Jangid, Co-Founder, CARS24, said, "We’ve all seen it, a crash that changed a life forever. India has just one percent of the world’s vehicles but 11 percent of global road deaths. That’s not bad luck – it’s a failure of infrastructure, enforcement and awareness. Over 60 percent of these deaths are preventable, yet road accidents remain an everyday tragedy. It’s time to change that. CARS24 is stepping up not just to talk about road safety but to take action. Because no mother should have to fear every time her child steps out. No father should have to worry if their child will make it home. No family should receive a call that changes everything. Fixing potholes, improving accessibility and empowering people with knowledge and tool is our first step towards this mission. Having said that, road safety isn’t just one company’s effort; it’s something we all need to take responsibility for. Because a safe journey home shouldn’t be a privilege – it should be something we build together."

Vikram Chopra, CEO and Co-Founder, CARS24, said, "India loses three percent of its GDP annually due to road crashes. That’s more than what we spend on healthcare and education combined. Beyond the personal tragedy, road accidents impact the entire economy. If fixing roads, enforcing laws and driving responsibly can save lives and boost our nation’s progress, then we have no excuse not to act."

Amar Srivastava, Founder and President, Indian Road Safety Campaign, said, “We started IRSC more than a decade back due to loss of close seniors to a road-crash at IIT Delhi. However, India still loses more than 100,000-plus youth to road-crashes, and solving such a multi-sectoral problem would need the private, government and citizens to come together to solve this while using technology as the backbone for sustainable impact. With our collaboration with CARS24, we aim to save a million lives across the next decade by leveraging technological innovations to change behaviour and nudging citizens at scale to drive responsibly and help reduce crashes by active participation.”

Deepanshu Gupta, Co-Founder and Vice President, Indian Road Safety Campaign, said, “While a lot of people believe road-crashes are accidents, they are not. Each and every accident is preventable by systemic interventions, and with our collaboration with CARS24, we would work across the 4Es of road-safety [engineering, education, emergency care, enforcement] at 10x scale and speed. Road-crashes are today the leading cause of youth deaths. While this is a global menace, India leads the pack and am hopeful that if we all collaborate to act, we would also be the leaders in showing how to solve this sustainably. Time to act is now.”

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The German Association of Suppliers (ArGeZ), an interest group representing approximately 9,000 suppliers and supported by several industry associations, has reported that the domestic automotive supplier industry remains trapped in a deep structural crisis with no economic recovery in sight. Weak order intake, rising operational costs and mounting international competitive pressure continue to threaten industrial resilience and value chain stability.

This prolonged crisis extended into 2025, marked by a 1.1 percent drop in revenue and a 1.0 percent fall in production, the fourth consecutive annual decline. Excluding a temporary recovery in 2021, the sector has faced a structural downturn since 2019. Employment fell by 3.4 percent year-on-year in 2025, with growing job cuts underscoring the weakening state of German suppliers.

The first two months of 2026 offered no turnaround. Employment kept falling by another 3.4 percent, and production decreased by 0.4 percent. The ifo Business Climate Index for German suppliers plunged from -14.4 points in February to -24.1 points in March 2026, ending any hesitant stabilisation. ArGeZ spokesperson Christian Vietmeyer noted that only about one in ten suppliers rates their current situation as good, while just 16 percent expect improvement in the next six months.

Weak demand from key customer sectors remains the principal cause, with order intake too volatile for sustainable stabilisation. Geopolitical tensions, trade policy uncertainties and rising energy prices are compounding difficulties. International competitive pressure is increasing, as imports of iron and steel products rose about 10 percent in 2025, with even stronger growth for numerous automotive parts.

The German government is still expected to deliver bold economic transformation. High labour costs are forcing suppliers out of business and driving production shifts abroad. ArGeZ calls for longer working hours, curbing sick-leave absenteeism by abolishing phone-based sick notes and reducing non-wage labour costs to a maximum of 40 percent. Dr Martin Theuringer, Managing Director of the German Foundry Industry Association, stated that supplier management repeatedly invests in foreign plants instead of German locations, leading to a slow bleeding out of the industry.

Promised energy price reductions have not materialised. Many suppliers are excluded from electricity tax cuts. For small and medium-sized enterprises, gas prices are burdened by a national CO₂ price higher than the EU Emissions Trading System price. ArGeZ demands suspending the national CO₂ price until the European small-installation price (ETS 2) is introduced. The EU’s proposed ‘Made in Europe’ label is a step forward but must avoid bureaucracy, and technological openness beyond 2035 remains essential.

Regarding the expected introduction of the EU End-of-Life Vehicles Directive (ELVR) this summer, Michael Weigelt has demanded that the competitiveness of secondary materials be guaranteed. He called for streamlined, low-bureaucracy processes and energy cost relief for recycling companies, because only economically viable recyclates will enable international competitiveness.

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TIP Group has signed a new agreement with Verdis to supply modern, environmentally efficient waste-collection vehicles for the company’s expanding operations in Malmö. The deal includes 16 garbage trucks, featuring 12 NTM Quatro four‑compartment bodies and four NTM KG‑HL single‑compartment bodies, all mounted on Scania CNG L340 6x2 chassis.

The collaboration provides Verdis with a future‑ready fleet without major upfront investment, ensuring predictable costs and financial flexibility. TIP will deliver full‑service fleet support, managing all maintenance and lifecycle performance to guarantee strong uptime and efficient operations. This marks the beginning of a reliable partnership for waste management solutions across Sweden.

By combining modern equipment with comprehensive lifecycle care, TIP reinforces its growing role as a trusted partner in the Nordic waste management sector. The agreement allows Verdis to focus entirely on delivering high‑quality collection services while scaling capacity as operational needs change.

Christian Petersen, VP & Managing Director, Nordic at TIP Group, said, “We are proud to support Verdis with a future-proof, environmentally conscious fleet solution. This agreement highlights our capability within waste management equipment and reflects TIP’s broader role as a strong partner for heavy transport equipment across many sectors.”

Per-Eric Bjurenborg, VD from Verdis, said, “For us, the partnership with TIP Group brings real stability and efficiency to our daily operations. Their comprehensive support package reduces administrative complexity and gives us peace of mind in a sector where reliability is critical. This allows us to stay focused on providing the best possible service to the municipalities we serve.”

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Orion S.A. is preparing to demonstrate the role of its speciality carbon blacks in advancing sustainability, high-jet performance and electrical conductivity within coatings systems. The global speciality chemicals company will make these presentations at the 2026 American Coatings Show + Conference, scheduled for 5–7 May in Indianapolis.

Visitors to Orion’s Booth 1466 will be directed to three key product lines. The first is ECOLAR 50 POWDER, a bio-circular feedstock-based carbon black that has previously won industry awards. The company is also featuring COLOUR BLACK FW 310 and COLOUR BLACK FW 255, two grades recognised for their exceptional jetness in both waterborne and solvent-borne formulations. Beyond product displays, Orion will offer technical guidance on achieving effective dispersion of speciality carbon blacks in electrically conductive coating systems.

ECOLAR 50 POWDER functions as a low to medium furnace black, delivering medium jetness in mass tone applications alongside reliable tinting strength. Meanwhile, the FW 310 and FW 255 grades rank among the deepest black pigments available for automotive coatings, producing a clean and elegant finish. FW 310 achieves Orion’s highest jetness levels with a deep blue undertone, making it suitable for automotive OEM basecoats, refinish coatings and premium industrial uses. FW 255 is engineered for automotive OEM and refinish systems, providing very high jetness and a similar blue undertone in both solvent-borne and waterborne environments. An additional after-treatment step enhances its wetting and dispersion properties.

A technical presentation by Orion’s Jaelene Matos, North American Technical Marketing Manager for Coatings Systems, is scheduled for 9 a.m. on 6 May. Her talk will examine how the dispersion process influences the final conductive properties of new specialty conductive carbon blacks in waterborne and solvent-borne coating systems. The discussion will cover the fundamental role of carbon black in conductive coatings, as well as the effects of dispersion method, processing time and dosage on conductive performance. Matos will also compare the conductive behaviour of medium and high conductive carbon black grades across different coating system types.

Zack Hays, Marketing Manager for Coatings and Printing Systems in North America, Orion, said, “The colouristic properties of ECOLAR 50 POWDER compare favourably with traditional specialty carbon blacks across a broad range of coatings systems and applications, with the added benefit that it contains 100 percent biogenic raw material per 14C analysis. Since we officially launched ECOLAR 50 POWDER last year, industry response has been overwhelmingly positive. We’re very proud of introducing an industry-leading?  100 percent bio-based carbon black, and we look forward to helping our customers produce truly sustainable products, contribute to a healthier planet and promote a more circular economy.”

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Kia India has introduced Digital Passport, a new customer-centric feature aimed at improving vehicle ownership transparency. Available through the Kia Connect app under the ‘New Services’ tab, the digital tool provides a secure, data-driven vehicle health report that covers a vehicle’s complete lifecycle. Priced at INR 399 plus applicable taxes, the service is offered as a three-month subscription.

As customers increasingly seek transparency and trust in vehicle management, the automaker designed Digital Passport to solve the problem of fragmented vehicle data spread across multiple platforms. The feature consolidates essential information into a single, verified report that includes a clear health summary and an easy-to-understand vehicle health score, offering a reliable view of the vehicle’s overall condition. Key data points covered are service history, accident and repair records, driving insights and warranty status.

By bringing all essential vehicle information onto one platform, Digital Passport provides a verified, data-backed picture of a vehicle’s true state, enhancing confidence in its value. The feature strengthens engagement with the Kia Connect ecosystem while delivering convenience and peace of mind throughout the ownership journey.

Atul Sood, Senior – Vice President Marketing & Sales, Kia India, said, "At Kia India, we continuously strive to enhance the ownership experience through meaningful digital innovations. Digital Passport brings greater transparency and reliability to vehicle information, reinforcing customer confidence and trust. This initiative reflects our commitment to delivering technology-led solutions that simplify ownership and strengthen long-term relationships with our customers."

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