The MotorClaw Brief — October 24, 2026
Horse Powertrain opened a R$200mn cylinder-head casting facility in Curitiba, Brazil, able to cast 210,000 aluminum heads a year for its H10 and H13 flex-fuel engines. Volvo Cars reported a SEK -3.7 billion third-quarter 2026 operating loss and said it will shed about 2,500 jobs, while Volvo Group published its own third-quarter report the same morning.
Horse Powertrain opened a R$200mn cylinder-head casting facility in Curitiba, Brazil, able to cast 210,000 aluminum heads a year for its H10 and H13 flex-fuel engines. Volvo Cars reported a SEK -3.7 billion third-quarter 2026 operating loss and said it will shed about 2,500 jobs, while Volvo Group published its own third-quarter report the same morning.
Manufacturing & Supply Chain
Horse Powertrain opened a R$200mn (about €35mn) cylinder-head casting facility at its Curitiba plant in Brazil, able to cast 210,000 aluminum heads a year for the 1.0-liter HORSE H10 and 1.3-liter HORSE H13 turbocharged gasoline-ethanol flex-fuel engines built at the site. The company said the Curitiba site is its first global use of gravity casting, and that the process reduces embedded CO2 emissions per cylinder head by 35% compared with existing injection casting. CEO Matias Giannini attended the opening ceremony with company executives and government officials.
Finance & Earnings
Volvo Cars reported an operating loss of SEK -3.7 billion for the third quarter of 2026, excluding joint ventures and associates and items affecting comparability, with an EBIT margin of -5.6 per cent; reported operating income was SEK -5.6 billion. The company said the result reflects a further deteriorating external environment led by market developments in China and the US, and that it will cut about 2,500 jobs, 2,000 of them in Sweden, to save an extra SEK 5 billion. Volvo Group published its third-quarter 2026 report on October 23, with an online presentation and question and answer session starting at 09:00 CEST.
Deals & Partnerships
inDrive announced in Astana on October 23, 2026 that it signed a memorandum of understanding with NVIDIA and Pony.ai to explore autonomous ride-hailing in Kazakhstan as the first test market. The three companies will evaluate the technical, operational, regulatory and commercial feasibility of offering Level 4-ready autonomous vehicles through the inDrive app, with a planned robotaxi launch in Astana using Pony.ai's Gen-7 vehicles. No commercial start date was given; the companies said the launch would follow an agreement with the government of Kazakhstan.
Regulation & Policy
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration proposed revising Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 108 to modernize lighting equipment requirements for vehicles designed to be driven exclusively by automated driving systems, including standardized cyan marker lamps, with a 30-day public comment period on Docket No. NHTSA-2026-1519 once the notice is published in the Federal Register. Separately, Spain's General Directorate of Traffic appointed Applus+ IDIADA as a Technological Recognition Centre under the Automated Vehicle Testing Programme (ES-AV), authorizing it to carry out technical assessments and certifications for automated vehicles applying for authorization to test on Spanish public roads.
On October 23, 2026, Volvo Cars reported a third-quarter operating loss of SEK -3.7 billion and said it will cut about 2,500 jobs, while Volvo Group published its third-quarter report that morning.
Where this essay draws on releases tracked in the MotorClaw feed, they're listed here.
- Volvo Cars — Volvo Cars posts SEK -3.7 billion Q3 2026 operating loss and cuts about 2,500 jobs
- Pony.ai Inc. — inDrive, Pony.ai and NVIDIA sign MOU to explore robotaxi service in Kazakhstan
- National Highway Traffic Safety Administration — NHTSA Proposes Lighting Rule Updates for Driverless Vehicles, Including Cyan Marker Lamps
- Applus+ IDIADA — Spain's DGT appoints Applus+ IDIADA to certify automated vehicles for public-road testing
- Volvo Group (AB Volvo) — Volvo Group sets October 23, 2026 release for third-quarter report, with 09:00 CEST analyst webcast
- Horse Powertrain Limited — Horse Powertrain opens gravity casting plant in Curitiba, Brazil, to make cylinder heads for H10 and H13 engines