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ev.news Briefly: Volvo, Nissan, Polestar & more | 10 Sep 2026
It's ev.news Briefly for Thursday 10 September 2026, only todays headlines and nothing else, in just 4 minutes if you haven't got time for the full show.Patreon supporters fund this show, get the episodes ad free, as soon as they're ready and are part of the ev.news Community. You can be like them by clicking here: https://www.patreon.com/evnewsVOLVO TO DISTRIBUTE LYNK & CO IN EUROPE FROM 2027Volvo Cars becomes Lynk & Co's exclusive European distributor from January 2027, selling through Volvo retailers and servicing via its network of several hundred locations, while Geely Auto retains design, development, certification, global brand strategy and all non-European operations. Volvo says the deal grows retailer sales and service revenue without the financial risk of investing in the brand — notable given it sold its 30% Lynk & Co stake to Zeekr for 5.4 billion yuan (about $805m).VOLVO DROPS EX40 AS EX50 EXPECTED IN 2027Volvo is discontinuing the EX40 in the US and Canada, with its expected replacement, the slightly larger EX50 on the cheaper SPA3 platform and priced in the high $40,000s, not due at dealerships until autumn 2027. The EX40 rode on the near decade-old CMA platform and sold best through the Care by Volvo subscription scheme that ended in 2024; the EX60 P6 now marks Volvo's electric SUV entry point at $59,795 against the EX40's $56,545.NISSAN REVIVES PIXO AS ITS MOST AFFORDABLE EUROPEAN EVNissan will revive the Pixo name for its cheapest European EV, an A-segment model sitting below the Micra and premiering on 23 September 2026, built on Renault's RGEV Small platform alongside the Twingo and Dacia Spring at Novo Mesto in Slovenia. Expected to be mechanically identical to the Twingo Electric with a 27.5 kWh CATL LFP pack and around 263 km of range, it gets Nissan-designed styling drawing on late-80s and early-90s Pike cars such as the Figaro and Be-1, against Twingo and Spring prices of €20,000 and €18,000.POLESTAR FORMULA 2030 SIGNALS POLESTAR 2 AND 7 STYLINGPolestar has revealed Formula 2030, a design concept previewing the next Polestar 2 due in 2027 and the forthcoming Polestar 7, tied to its 2030 strategy for higher sales and a route to profitability. Only a dark image of the front has been released, showing a lower, wider stance, Dual Blade headlights and a motorsport-style vertical wiper, marking a new phase under design head Philipp Römers that Polestar calls an evolution rather than a replacement of its existing language.MERCEDES VLE 400 4MATIC STARTS AT €78,500Mercedes-Benz has added the 310 kW VLE 400 4MATIC, which gains a rear-axle motor for all-wheel drive, a 6.5-second 0-100 km/h time and 2.5 tonnes of towing against the VLE 300's 1.75 tonnes, from €78,500 (about $91,500) with five seats or €79,000 with six. The performance costs range: both share a 115 kWh usable NMC pack, but the 4MATIC manages up to 654 km WLTP versus 713 km, with 800-volt architecture allowing DC charging at up to 300 kW.AMAZON STARTS EACTROS 600 DELIVERIES IN GERMANYAmazon has begun larger-scale German deliveries with Mercedes-Benz eActros 600 electric trucks on middle-mile runs between logistics centres and urban areas, drawn from a 2025 order of more than 200 trucks — around 50 for Germany and 140 for the UK, where operations started in late 2025. The trucks carry 621 kWh across three LFP packs for around 500 km of range and charge at up to 400 kW, as Amazon installs several hundred truck charging points and commits more than €1bn to electrifying its European transport network, including over €400m in Germany.RENAULT SETS TWO-YEAR FLOOR FOR VEHICLE DEVELOPMENTRenault is targeting two years or less from concept freeze to public reveal but CEO Francois Provost says it will go no faster, treating the timetable as a quality floor as well as a speed ambition under the Futuready 2030 investor plan. The aim is to match Chinese rivals gaining European share — standard at two years and moving towards 18 months, against three to five years for Western rivals — while avoiding defects and recalls, a concern echoed by Chinese regulators now running a yearlong campaign of unannounced quality and safety inspections.FORD TRANSIT CITY TO COST $50,000 IN AUSTRALIAFord Australia will launch the Transit City in November at AUD$50,000 driveaway (about USD$36,000), claiming the country's most affordable electric van against the Kia PV5 Cargo Long Range at AUD$55,990, with a 56 kWh LFP battery giving 254 km WLTP, 87 kW DC charging, 10-80% in about 33 minutes, a 1085 kg payload and 6.4 cubic metres of cargo space. The price comes with limits — no towing, no V2L, a solid bulkhead with no pass-through or window and colour as the only option — and the van is built by JV partner JMC in Nanchang on the E-Fushun platform rather than being related to the European Transit.BYD UK OPENS 138-SITE APPROVED REPAIR NETWORKBYD UK has launched a nationwide network of 138 approved body repairers developed with Vizion Network, which BYD describes as the UK's largest repair network. Every site uses technicians trained in BYD procedures, genuine parts and manufacturer-specified methods, adding accident repair to an ownership package that already includes a six-year warranty, maintenance support and up to four years of free roadside assistance.ZF PLANS MORE THAN 100 ELECTRIC AXLE DRIVE REPAIR-KIT VARIANTSZF will launch more than 100 repair-kit variants for electric axle drives in the coming weeks, each bundling the components needed for a specific repair as the company targets independent workshops servicing a growing EV fleet, though it has disclosed neither prices nor vehicle applications and has not substantiated its claim to cover around 92% of the European fleet of the 20 most widespread electric models. ZF also plans up to 200 catalogue references for Chinese-brand vehicles in Europe by Q1 2027, covering ten of the most popular Chinese models by the end of that year.