General Motors Corp. is recalling 857,735 vehicles equipped with a heated windshield wiper fluid system for a potential short-circuit problem, according to federal safety regulators.

A short-circuit in the system may cause other electrical features to malfunction, create an odor or cause smoke, increasing the risk of a fire, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said.

The recall involves the 2007-2008 model year Chevrolet Silverado, Tahoe, Avalanche and Suburban, Cadillac Escalade, Escalade ESV and Escalade EXT, GMC Acadia, Sierra, Yukon, Yukon XL and Saturn Outlook; 2006-2008 Hummer H2, Cadillac DTS and Buick Lucerne; and the 2008 Buick Enclave.

That is interesting!  Volvo covered with 520 Barack Obama campaign stickes.

Volkswagen overtook Ford in the first half of the year as the world’s third-largest carmaker by vehicle sales, VW said in a statement on Thursday(Aug. 28th), in yet another sign of Detroit’s waning influence.

Although the figures underline the difficulties Ford is having in particular in the United States, the data is not entirely new, since both published results for the first half late in July.

Nissan Motor Co. said that it will raise the domestic prices of several commercial vehicle models on Oct. 1 amid higher material procurement costs.

The markup will average 2.2 pct for the standard versions of the models.

Nissan will thus raise its commercial vehicle prices for the first time since February 1992.

The company opted to raise only the prices of commercial vehicles after industry leader Toyota Motor Corp. decided to limit its price hike to two hybrid vehicle models and some commercial vehicle models. Toyota will implement the markup in September.
Nissan will lift the price of the Caravan by 30,000 yen and that of the Vanette van by 50,000 yen. The price will be raised by 35,000 yen for the AD, and by 70,000 yen for the Atlas series light trucks and the Civilian microbus.
The automaker refrained from raising the price of the Clipper light van.

Caravan Price up 30,000yen

Vanette Price up 50,000yen

AD Price up 35,000yen

Atlas Price up 70,000yen

Civilian Price up 70,000yen

Clipper No Price up

Toyota Motor Corp. will reduce its expenditure on mass media advertising in fiscal 2008 by nearly 30 pct from the previous year due to surging material costs and a sluggish performance in the North American market.

Toyota, which books some 100 billion yen for overall ad spending every year, plans to reduce such outlays in the domestic market. The company has examined how domestic sales performance compares with that abroad in light of ad spending levels.

Nissan Motor Corp. is also reviewing its ad spending, which totals several tens of billion yen a year.

The Shinkansen is a network of high-speed railway lines in Japan operated by four Japan Railways Group companies. Since the initial Tōkaidō Shinkansen opened in 1964 running at 210 km/h (130 mph), the network (2,459 km or 1,528 miles) has expanded to link most major cities on the islands of Honshū and Kyūshū with running speeds of up to 300 km/h (188 mph), in an earthquake- and typhoon-prone environment. Test run speeds have been 443 km/h (275 mph) for conventional rail in 1996, and up to a world record of 581 km/h (361 mph) for maglev trainsets, in 2003.

Itsukushima Shrine is a Shinto shrine on the island of Itsukushima (popularly known as Miyajima) in the city of Hatsukaichi in Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan.

My friend took the picture below.

The dramatic gate (torii) of Itsukushima Shrine is one of Japan’s most popular tourist attractions.

The shrine are built in the water.

How to get there 

Miyajima is accessible by ferry from Hiroshima. High-speed ferries fro Ujina Port take only 20min, but are much more costly (1465 JPY) than taking the train (25min, 400 JPY) or tram (55min,  270 JPY) to Miyajima-guchi station, then a ferry from there (10min, 170 JPY).

Hyundai’s new luxury sedan is a good car to have a crash in — if you must.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has awarded the Hyundai Genesis five-star test ratings in front- and side-impact crashes — the highest government rankings in the New Car Assessment Program.

“Genesis was engineered with a lightweight but strong body shell, featuring ultrahigh-tensile steel, laser welding and advanced adhesive bonding,” said John Krafcik, vice president of strategic planning and product development at Hyundai Motor America.

“Add eight airbags and electronic active head restraints, and you can see the focus we placed on designing Genesis for occupant safety,” Krafcik said in a statement.

The Genesis is Hyundai’s first luxury car. The Korean automaker hopes to sell 50,000 units a year once the coupe joins the sedan early next year. The Genesis also is available with Hyundai’s first V-8 — a 375 hp, 4.6-liter, 32-valve engine.

In July, the first month the Genesis was available, Hyundai sold 1,200 units.

Nearly 300,000 electric bicycles have been sold in Japan in the past 12 months, and opting for one means never again paying for gas or parking tickets — and no more dreaded and impoverishing shaken vehicle-inspection tests.

Overseas, less than 100,000 electric bikes are sold in the United States each year, and they sell in small numbers in Western Europe — held back by their unfashionable image as a “ladies’ bike.” But they have gained a solid foothold in India, and in China, the biggest market of all, there are sales of over 10 million electrical bicycles a year, some selling for as little as 30,000JPY.

BMW is reducing its vehicles’ emissions at four times the rate of other major manufacturers, according to a leading Brussels-based environmental watchdog group.

The group compiled the report from data submitted by EU governments to the European Commission. Some carmakers have in past disputed the figures T&E uses, and BMW was not immediately available for comment.