Tuesday newspaper round-up: EVs, Aviva, Doncasters Group

(Sharecast News) - Motorists in the UK and EU should not expect a sharp drop in the cost of electric vehicles despite increased competition among Chinese manufacturers, one of the country's biggest electric carmakers has said. Brian Gu, the vice-chair of the manufacturer Xpeng, said that Chinese carmakers could compete on quality to win customers in the EU and UK, rather than unleashing a brutal price war as they have in China. - Guardian Keir Starmer has vowed to "choke off" Russian revenue with further sanctions and to provide hundreds of millions of pounds worth of energy support for Ukraine, as he met world leaders in France for the G7. After a torrid political week at home, the British prime minister sought to put himself on the front foot on the international stage at the meeting of the group of seven, which kicked off on Monday in the French spa town of Évian-les-Bains, on the shore of Lake Geneva. - Guardian

London mansions are being advertised to benefit claimants to rent for as little as £750 per month, highlighting the widening gulf with private renters in the capital. HomeSwapper, a website which allows social housing tenants to trade their tenancies, has listings for a seven-bed terraced house in Brixton for just £744 per month and a two-bed Notting Hill maisonette for £720. - Telegraph

The boss of Aviva, who is embroiled in the fiasco over BP's ousted chairman, will be questioned by the insurer's City shareholders about the amount of time the affair is consuming. Dame Amanda Blanc, who has run Aviva for six years, is at the centre of the controversy at BP because she sits on the oil major's board as its senior independent director. - The Times

One of Britain's most august manufacturers has snubbed London in favour of a $4 billion-plus initial public offering in New York instead. Doncasters Group, a Derby-based specialist engineer founded in 1778, unveiled plans on Monday to float in the US and raise up to $747 million. - The Times