Archive for October, 2009

Toyota targets small car market in India

Tuesday, October 27th, 2009

Japanese cars are popular all over the world, however, they Japanese auto makers were very late in entering the Indian car market.  Suzuki was the first Japanese car maker to enter India in 1983, when the Indian Government relaxed entry of foreign car makers.  Toyota, the world’s largest car maker tied up with Kirloskar Group to form Toyota Kiroskar Motors 10 years ago; however, only recently they launched few car models like Innova, Corolla, Qualis and Fortrunner, Toyota Corolla Altis in India.  In spite of late entry of Toyota in Indian car market, Toyota car models have become very popular in India in a short time.

Toyota Motors, the Japanese automaker is now focusing on the small car market in India. Toyota has their next plan of introducing small 600 cc cars in India in the beginning of 2011.  Toyota expects to raise its market share by capturing the small car market in India, with a forecast of 5 % of its global sales coming from India.

Toyota plans to produce this small car at a new plant which they plan to build in Bangalore, which will have a .manufacturing capacity of 100,000 unit per year.  The company will make India a center for its small cars for which they will source 75 % of its components locally.  They plan to launch both diesel and petrol versions of small cars powered by a 1.2 and a 1.3 liter engine. The future plan of company is to export the car to neighboring countries.

The existing Toyota plant at Bangalore has an annual installed capacity of 80,000 units and employs about 4,200 people.  Toyota plans to hire 2,000 more employees for their new plant in Bangalore, India, so as to gear up their production to be able to launch their small car  by start of 2011.  The installed capacity of this new plant would around 70,000 units per annum initially and Toyota has plans to expand it up to 200,000 units per year later.  Toyota expects to build its presence in India through this small car.

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41st Tokyo Motor show 2009

Tuesday, October 20th, 2009

Tokyo Motor show is the event where Japan’s major automakers release details about the latest concept cars and motorcycle models they plan to unveil. The 41st Tokyo Motor Show will be held from Oct. 23 to Nov. 8, 2009 at Makuhari Messe, Chiba, Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA) will host the event.

This year’s theme for Tokyo Motor Show is  ‘Fun Driving for Us, Eco Driving for Earth’.  Japanese car makers like Honda, Nissan, Mazda, Toyota and Motorcycle makers Yamaha, Suzuki will participate in this grand motor show.

tokyo motor show 2009

Tokyo Motor Show 2009 will also offer visitors the opportunity to test-ride the next generation vehicles so as to arouse their interest in these cars to influence their buying decision.  Some models at this motor show will be for test-ride only. The participating staff would include drivers who will explain the cars’ controls and features.  The course will run on an approximately 3 km stretch of public roads around the venue.  Participation will be on a first-come first-served basis, with ticket distribution by category on the same day.  Twenty six vehicles from six different companies are scheduled to be available for test drive.

This year major Japanese car manufacturers Honda Nissan and Toyota will introduce their electric vehicles in the Green Car category in this event.

  • Nissan will unveil Land Glider, Leaf (electric car) and Nissan Roox “super space” minicar .
  • Toyota FT-EV II, an ultra-compact electric vehicle and  FT-86 will be the debutant by Toyota.
  • Honda EV-N and Honda Skydeck concepts will be introduced in this motor show.
  • Daihatsu will be launching Deca Deca concept car model at the Tokyo Motor show along some five other models from the manufacturer.
  • Mazda plans to exhibit an updated version of the Kiyora, a compact and lightweight concept car first unveiled in 2008, as well as Taiki concept car.

Due to recession and adverse economic conditions,  major Japanese truck makers such as Mitsubishi Fuso, Hino Motors, Nissan Diesel have decided not to participate in Tokyo Auto Show this year.  Also, foreign automakers such as General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. , Chrysler LLC , Porsche SE and Daimler AG will not participate in this event this year.  The only foreign companies showing off their cars will be Hyundai, Ferrari/Maserati, Lotus of Britain and Alpina Burkard Bovensiepen of Germany.

If you are a lover of cars, you should not miss this grand event, as you can get to see and test-ride the latest concept cars in this automobile show.  You can find more details about this event at Tokyo Motor Show official website.

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Nissan Eporo Robot Cars Avoid Crashing

Monday, October 5th, 2009

Ever wondered if the cars of the future would move like a shoal fish?  Well, it surely may be a possibility with the direction in which the reserarch team at Nissan is heading for.  Nissan recently revealed its tiny robot car named EPORO which is designed to mimic the swimming pattern of a shoal of fish.  The robot car can travel in group of cars and can avoid collisions with other obstacles including its traveling companions.

Though the Japanese car maker Nissan claims that they got the inspiration for the design of EPORO from fish, the car robot resembles a lot to the Jawas in Star Wars.  A formal launch of the EPORO car robot is planned at the CEATEC Japan Design Fair 2009, this week in Tokyo, Japan.  The robot car Eporo is available in various colors, including pink and brown, and also have tiny eyes just like those of the Jawas in Star Wars.

The robot cars by Nissan use ultra-wideband radio and laser range finders to determine how far it is from other obstacles and the cars in the group.  They communicate with each other through radio signals to avoid collisions with one another or other obstacles.

This is not the first time that Nissan has been inspired by the animal kingdom.  The Nissan Biomimetic Car Robot Drive or BR23C concept was inspired by the flight of the bumblebee.  The Japanese automaker points out that fish can change their direction abruptly while swimming without bumping with other fish.  They can also travel side by side with other fish while keeping a certain distance between each fish.

Nissan Eporo is the first robot car in the world that can move together in a group by communicating its position and other information within the group via modern communication technology.  Nissan predicts that this new technology will be used in future passenger cars to avoid collisions and accidents.

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Kenya #1 Importer of Japanese Used Cars

Saturday, October 3rd, 2009

At one time Russia and Chile have held the title of the largest importers of used Japanese vehicles. In 2009, however, as per Business Daily Africa News, Kenya has just taken the number one spot as the biggest importer of used Japanese cars.  In spite of the global slump in the auto industry, Kenya has achieved this feat – it just proves that importing a used Japanese car is a better alternative than buying a new one locally – in many countries of the world.

Kenya overtook South Africa as the biggest importer of Japanese used cars as used car imports in South Africa experienced a 34% decline in the second quarter of 2009.

Other countries like UAE, New Zealand, Bangladesh, who are also heavy importers of Japanese used cars recorded a drop in demand of up to 45% compared to 2008.  Russia recently changed its regulations to put restrictions on imports of right-handed used cars from Japan and other countries.  All these factors contributed to make Kenya as the largest importer of Japanese used vehicles.

Generally, Kenyans are not so keen on extra performance of the car, but they look for value for their hard earned money.  So, Japanese used cars are popular as they are reliable, efficient, low-dollar vehicles.  There has been a big demand of used cars in Kenya, but increased competition from used car dealers has made the market over-saturated.  Besides used car dealers, many private individuals from Kenya import cars and sell at lower prices as they don’t have to pay dealer fees.

Destination port for importing used cars is Mombasa in Kenya.  As per the Importing regulation in Kenya,   the age of the used vehicle has to be under 8 years, the vehicle should be Right Hand Drive, and it should be inspected and passed by Japan Export Vehicle Inspection Center (JEVIC).

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