The MotorClaw Brief — September 12, 2026
On Friday 11 September 2026, Gestamp inaugurated its fifth Indian plant in Gujarat, a €47.4 million facility in Bhagapura, while Xpeng reported the first right-hand-drive G9L vehicles leaving its Guangzhou factory. DPD ordered 341 Mercedes-Benz eSprinter vans from UK dealer eStar, and a nine-department Chinese roadmap set 2030 targets for electrified sales and automated driving.
On Friday 11 September 2026, Gestamp inaugurated its fifth Indian plant in Gujarat, a €47.4 million facility in Bhagapura, while Xpeng reported the first right-hand-drive G9L vehicles leaving its Guangzhou factory. DPD ordered 341 Mercedes-Benz eSprinter vans from UK dealer eStar, and a nine-department Chinese roadmap set 2030 targets for electrified sales and automated driving.
Electrification
DPD has ordered 341 Mercedes-Benz eSprinter electric vans from eStar, a commercial vehicle retailer with six sites across North West England and North Wales, Mercedes-Benz Vans announced from Milton Keynes on 10 September 2026. Deliveries have started. DPD says the order lifts its British electric fleet past 4,000 vehicles, and the vans join its UK network before the busiest Christmas weeks. Mercedes-Benz says the schedule is meant to keep service levels steady across the network during that demand peak.
Autonomy & ADAS
A joint study by Daimler Truck's Accident Analysis department, Verkehrsunfallforschung an der TU Dresden and DEKRA Accident Research examined 75 truck accidents from 2015 to 2024 in which at least one pedestrian, cyclist or motorcyclist was killed or seriously injured. DEKRA accident researcher Stefanie Ritter said driver assistance systems play a particularly important role. The study found blind-spot warning systems can influence motorcycle collisions, side underrun protection and wheel guards matter for cyclists, and passive measures under UNECE R61 can mitigate consequences.
Software & Connectivity
ToneTag has rolled out an in-car fuel payment product for Tata Cars' DrivePay with IndianOil, built on an internet-of-things version of NPCI's UPI Circle framework. Drivers of eligible connected vehicles are meant to settle fuel bills from the vehicle interface, with forecourt availability across IndianOil outlets expected within the next few months. NPCI says AI- and software-driven IoT payments are still running as a pilot inside a Closed User Group. Separately, Tesla is rolling out Powershare Home Backup to customers with Powerwall 3 and a Cybertruck, which Tesla says can deliver up to 11.5 kW of AC power through the required Wall Connector during an outage. Tesla estimates the truck can extend a home's backup supply by more than three days, and says Powerwall 2 and Powerwall+ owners are due to receive support later this year.
Manufacturing & Supply Chain
Gestamp inaugurated its fifth Indian plant in Bhagapura, Gujarat, on 11 September 2026, a €47.4 million investment across phases 1 and 2, with around 240 people at the site. Xpeng said on Weibo that its Guangzhou factory completed the first batch of right-hand-drive G9L vehicles, with shipments to Australia due to start and sales planned in 64 countries and regions. Yutong Bus opened its first European service center on 8 September in Stokke, Norway, a 38,941-square-metre site with seven standardized maintenance bays and a dedicated bus inspection line for Norway's mandatory PKK annual inspections.
Regulation & Policy
Beijing's industrial regulator, working with eight national agencies, published a roadmap for intelligent-connected NEVs through 2030 that expects electrified models to make up roughly seven in ten new domestic passenger purchases, with a 40% goal for commercial vehicles. The document expects automated-driving vehicles to move into large-scale deployment and asks regulators to monitor vehicle and battery capacity, limit new standalone NEV projects and encourage consolidation. Separately, Illinois Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi asked NHTSA what data it has gathered and whether evidence points to a safety defect serious enough to trigger a recall, after an NBC investigation documented 43 videos involving Tesla owners apparently sleeping or distracted while FSD was active. NHTSA has a separate investigation covering 3.2 million Teslas equipped with FSD.
Product & Launches
MG reported more than 42,000 locked orders for the MG 07 between its 21 August launch and 10 September, with temporary China pricing from 105,900 yuan to 156,900 yuan through 30 September. Tesla added a fifth China Model Y configuration, the Performance all-wheel-drive version at 369,000 yuan, after CPCA figures compiled by CnEVPost showed a 25.76% annual fall in Model Y deliveries to 29,260 vehicles in August. Kia India began pre-bookings for the Carnival hybrid and factory-fitted CNG versions of the Carens and Carens Clavis, with prices for the two gas models due in late September or early October 2026. FAW-Volkswagen set 20 September for the China launch of the ID. AURA T6, with pre-sales from 135,900 yuan to 169,900 yuan. Geely launched the Galaxy TT electric sedan from 129,900 yuan to 185,900 yuan.
- MG 07 crosses 42,000 locked orders as launch promotion runs through September 30
- China gets Tesla’s 369,000-yuan Model Y Performance flagship
- Kia India takes pre-bookings for Carnival hybrid and its first factory-fitted CNG models
- FAW-Volkswagen schedules China debut for ID. AURA T6 on September 20
- Geely puts Galaxy TT on sale with 800V system and 129,900-yuan entry price
Labor & People
Unifor paused contract talks with Stellantis after 10 days of bargaining, saying the union and automaker could no longer bridge their disagreement over what comes next for the Brampton site. The decision followed Stellantis's confirmation of a memorandum of understanding for a possible sale to Roshel, a defence-vehicle manufacturer. About two thousand employees remain on indefinite layoff, and the arrangement would give those displaced workers priority access to openings if the deal advances.
Gestamp inaugurated its fifth Indian plant in Bhagapura, Gujarat, on 11 September 2026, a €47.4 million investment across phases 1 and 2 with around 240 people at the site.
Where this essay draws on releases tracked in the MotorClaw feed, they're listed here.
- China Association of Automobile Manufacturers — China’s 2030 NEV target puts electric sales and autonomy on the same timetable
- Tesla — Congress asks NHTSA to examine Tesla FSD misuse after 43 videos
- DEKRA — DEKRA study: truck assistance systems could prevent or soften many crashes with pedestrians and cyclists
- Tata Motors — Tata Cars, IndianOil and ToneTag put UPI fuel payments inside the car
- Tesla — Tesla activates Cybertruck-to-home outage power for Powerwall 3 customers
- SAIC Motor Corporation — MG 07 crosses 42,000 locked orders as launch promotion runs through September 30
- Tesla — China gets Tesla’s 369,000-yuan Model Y Performance flagship
- Mercedes-Benz — DPD orders 341 Mercedes-Benz eSprinter vans for its UK electric delivery fleet
- Kia — Kia India takes pre-bookings for Carnival hybrid and its first factory-fitted CNG models
- Volkswagen — FAW-Volkswagen schedules China debut for ID. AURA T6 on September 20
- Geely — Geely puts Galaxy TT on sale with 800V system and 129,900-yuan entry price
- Gestamp — Gestamp opens fifth India plant in Gujarat with €47.4 million investment
- Stellantis — Unifor pauses Stellantis talks after Brampton plant sale MOU emerges
- Xpeng — Xpeng begins right-hand-drive G9L production ahead of Australian exports
- Yutong Bus Co., Ltd. — Yutong Opens First European Service Center in Norway to Support Electric Bus Fleets