Car parts supplier Bosch will temporarily close down select production areas or shops at its Nashik plant from November 28-29.
The company would also temporarily halt the manufacture of starters and generators at its Bangalore-based Naganathapura plant between November 26-29.
The shutdowns would avoid unnecessary inventory build-up and adjust production to meet demand for products.
Honda Motor Co., Ltd. began leasing the FCX Clarity fuel cell vehicle in Japan, delivering the first vehicle to the Ministry of the Environment. This transaction follows directly upon a completed lease to the Ministry of the FCX fuel cell vehicle, predecessor to the FCX Clarity. Initially, Honda plans to lease the FCX Clarity in Japan only to governmental agencies and certain corporate entities. Honda has leased the vehicle in the US since July 2008.
Designed as a dedicated fuel cell vehicle, the FCX Clarity is powered by the Honda V Flow fuel cell stack. Thanks to the innovative layout of the fuel cell power plant, the FCX Clarity offers superior design, packaging and driving performance. Emitting no CO2 in operation, the FCX Clarity offers not only the ultimate in environmental responsibility but also real-world performance and appeal. The combined sales plan for Japan and U.S. calls for about 200 units within three years.
Plans to make the Prius at Toyota’s new US plant in Mississippi are being reviewed by a new emergency task force charged with propping up the company’s profits.US production of the Prius, originally scheduled to begin in 2010, could now be pushed back to 2011 or later, Japan’s Nikkei newspaper reported November 14. The newspaper did not cite sources.
Toyota confirmed that the committee is currently reviewing all future products and capital investments.
But nothing has been decided yet, the Japanese automaker said.
“That includes the Prius,” spokeswoman Kayo Doi said.
Toyota’s Mississippi plant had been slated to build the Highlander SUV.
But amid falling sales of big vehicles, Toyota opted instead for the Prius to tap booming demand for fuel-efficient cars.
Nissan North America has dropped out of next year’s Detroit and Chicago auto shows, citing depressed economic conditions.
The decision makes Nissan the biggest automaker to skip out on Detroit’s North American International Auto Show. In addition to Nissan and its Infiniti brand, Mitsubishi, Suzuki, Land Rover, Rolls-Royce and Ferrari have withdrawn from the January venue. Chicago’s show is scheduled for February.
Both events draw media attention from all over the world in addition to displaying product line-ups to local consumers.
Nissan corporate spokesman Alan Buddendeck said the decision reflects the state of the industry and not the Detroit and Chicago shows themselves.
He said the Japanese automaker believes it got its new-product messages for 2009 across at the Los Angeles auto show last week. The company unveiled the 370Z roadster and the upcoming Cube in Los Angeles.
‘Not a small line item’
Automakers across the industry are tightening budgets to conserve cash as sales of new vehicles plummet to 25-year lows.
In comments to reporters in Los Angeles, Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn said he is no longer interested, for now at least, in creating an affiliation with a North American automaker, as he has been over the past two years. Instead, he said, he is focused on conserving cash.
Buddendeck declined to say how much Nissan will save by pulling out of Detroit and Chicago.
He added: “It’s not a small line item on your marketing budget.”
Car use reduction polices could have unforeseen economic and social consequences according to Elizabeth Dainton, Research Development Manager for the Royal Automobile Club Foundation, speaking today at the 7th International Mo.Ve Mobility Forum in Venice* (25th November).
In response to the panel debate titled ‘Car Dependency of individuals: lazy and wasteful drivers or lack of viable and acceptable alternatives?’ Ms Dainton will explain that the vast majority of UK car users are not wasteful or lazy drivers, they simply lack viable and acceptable alternatives to the private car. If badly designed policies are implemented to reduce car usage for climate change, carbon emission, congestion, road safety or human health reasons unforeseen economic and social consequences are likely to result. Ms Dainton will argue that the trade-offs required need to be better understood before policy is developed and implemented.
Drawing on the RAC Foundation’s previous** and forthcoming research*** Ms Dainton will explain that the reason people use cars is complex, motivated by individual needs and wider society planning. The term ‘car dependence’ has so far helped and hindered the debate, by confusing the issue, suggesting that all administrations addressing car usage require a fresh way of looking at future challenges.
Ms Dainton will describe car use as an activity that has now spread across the UK population, especially to those groups who have not traditionally had access, such as women, older people and lower income groups. Car ownership continues to be aspirational, particularly for young people.
The growing pressures on car usage are such that non-voluntary car restriction policies are likely to increase. Ms Dainton will argue that these policies should not proceed without full understanding of the social and economic consequences of reducing people’s travel horizons in this way.
Elizabeth Dainton, Research Development Manager at the Royal Automobile Club Foundation says:
‘Car use has become the norm. It is an important feature of modern life, which has provided an unparalleled level of mobility and access to people going about their everyday activities. Car ownership and use has formed the basis of people’s decisions on where to live, work and educate their families. These decisions are hard to reverse’.
‘Nationally and Internationally we face the same significant challenges of climate change, carbon emissions, congestion, road safety and human health problems. Transport generally and car use in particular has an important role to play in addressing these concerns and it is likely that non-voluntary car reduction policies will be increasingly developed. These policies should not be implemented without a full understanding of the social and economic consequences of limiting travel horizons by reducing car use. Policy in this area must not race ahead of understanding’.
General Motors will sell back its 3 percent stake in Suzuki Motor for $232 million as the struggling U.S. automaker seeks to raise cash.
Suzuki said it would pay 1,363 yen per share — the price at which its shares closed on Monday, 11/17/08 – to buy back the 3.02 percent stake.
The two firms plan to continue to cooperate in emerging markets and in developing new auto technology, Suzuki said in a statement.
“We understand full well that GM faces a need to sell its shareholdings to secure funding,” Suzuki said in a release.
GM previously sold a 17 percent stake in Suzuki in March 2006.
The bosses of the three biggest US carmakers, Ford, GM and Chrysler, have asked Congress for a $25bn bail-out.
They told a Senate hearing that without the rescue package, their firms risked collapse, and warned of broader risks to the US economy.
GM chief executive Rick Wagoner said the firm needed a loan to span the “financial chasm” that had opened up.
However, Republicans and the White House do not want to use the $700bn bank rescue to help car firms.
GM has warned it could run out of cash in a matter of weeks and cannot wait until President-elect Barack Obama - who has promised to help the industry - is sworn in in January.
The BBC’s Richard Lister in Washington says the last thing Mr Obama wants is to oversee the death of manufacturing icons during his first few months in office.
Oil prices have fallen to the lowest levels since the beginning of 2007, amid fears over lower energy demand and worsening economic prospects.
US light sweet crude declined by $1.43 to $57.90 a barrel in New York before rebounding to $58.40. Brent crude fell $1.20 to $54.51 a barrel.
Crude oil has fallen about 60% after reaching a record $147.27 in July.
Investors had hoped for solid growth in oil demand from China, but it has been weakening there, as well as in the US.
“We have a pretty good idea that global growth is going to be pretty awful next year and probably not much better in 2010,” said Mark Pervan, senior commodity strategist at ANZ Bank in Melbourne.
Most analysts predict the US Energy Department will report on Thursday that US oil inventories have risen for the seventh week in a row, highlighting falling demand.
Analysts also expect the International Energy Agency (IEA) to cut its global oil demand forecast in its report to be published on Thursday. “With definitive slowing in China, the market is even more sensitive to negative economic news out of the US and Europe,” Mr Pervan added.
At the same time, the International Energy Agency (IEA) says the era of cheap oil is over and prices could soon be back up to $100 a barrel.
The IEA, in its World Energy Outlook for 2008, says prices could soar to as high as $200 a barrel by 2030.
With sales in major markets worldwide shrinking because of the financial turmoil, Nissan Motor Co. aims to double its share of South Korea’s auto-import market by adding Nissan-brand vehicles, the automaker said Tuesday.
The automaker, which has been selling the luxury Infiniti brand in South Korea
The Rogue crossover vehicle and Murano sport utility vehicle will be introduced first, with the Altima sedan and GT-R sports coupe following next year.
Nissan joins rival Honda Motor Co. in selling midrange models in South Korea, challenging Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea’s largest carmaker. Still, tightening access to consumer credit
Honda Motor Co., Ltd. announced that sales in Japan of the all-new Life will begin on November 7, 2008. Continuing a tradition of superior comfort and utility, the new Life offers enhanced drivability and is the first minicar in Japan to include an audio system with a backup camera as standard equipment. In addition, a special mobility-assistive version of Life with lift-up frontpassenger seat will go on sale December 5.
The all-new Life was developed with the concept of “daily smile technology” to achieve a level of drivability and utility customers can enjoy in their everyday lives. Based on this concept, Honda evaluated every aspect of the vehicle from the customer’s point of view to develop a minicar that will put a smile on the customer’s face every day.
Customers may select from three Life variations to express their individuality and lifestyle: the Life G-type is simple, modern and practical, the Life Diva is perky and sporty, and the Life Pastel is refined, elegant and fashionable. With an emphasis on advanced safety technologies, the Life is also the world’s first automobile equipped with a driver-side i-SRS airbag system with continuously staged inflation, which accommodates a broad range of occupant positions and potential collision situations.