Retail News CRM

Category: Automotive

Retail News Asia is committed to providing both local and global retailers with the latest Auto and Car news throughout the Asian market. This on a daily base.

  • Auto supplier Magna to manufacture BMW 5-series plug-in hybrids

    Auto supplier Magna to manufacture BMW 5-series plug-in hybrids

    Canadian auto supplier Magna International Inc will produce BMW’s new 5-series plug-in hybrid at its Austrian factory, the company said on Monday, part of a strategy to produce electric cars on a contract basis for global automakers.

    The BMW 530 plug-in hybrid will be manufactured beginning this summer at Magna’s plant in Graz, Austria, where it already plans to produce Jaguar’s I-PACE SUV beginning in early 2018.

    Global automakers and their suppliers are investing heavily in fully-electric and gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles. Consumer demand is still low versus that for gasoline engine vehicles, but companies are beginning to offer more choices to respond to government mandates for greater sales of vehicles that emit little or no carbon dioxide, and prepare for a future experts believe will be dominated by electric vehicles.

    Rival tier-one auto supplier Continental, for example, said in April it was increasing spending by 300 million euros ($334.68 million) on new products such as charging systems and battery management components related to electric vehicles.

    Magna, North America’s largest automotive supplier and the third globally, is alone among the top auto suppliers to perform contract manufacturing for carmakers. Its Austrian plant can produce about 200,000 cars per year. Magna is currently building a new paint shop in Slovenia due to increased demand.

    A Magna spokeswoman would not comment on a statement by the Slovenian government in March that the auto supplier would potentially invest up to 1.24 billion euros in the country, including a car plant with capacity of 100,000 to 200,000 vehicles per year.

    Having contract manufacturing in its portfolio creates a niche for the company as automakers slowly bring more electrified vehicles to market over the next decade. For automakers, outsourcing the assembly can be an advantage on low-volume models to minimize capital expenditures and avoid tying up their own production lines.

    Swamy Kotagiri, Magna’s chief technology officer, said he sees contract manufacturing of electric vehicles as a “near-term opportunity” for the company, given that by 2025, 40 to 50 percent of all vehicles produced will include some electrification elements.

    “We are setting up knowing the penetration will be higher.”

    Magna has also produced non-electric cars at its Austrian facility, including BMW’s Mini Countryman and Mercedes-Benz’ (DAIGn.DE) luxury G-Wagen SUV.

    Last month, Magna raised its full-year sales forecast on higher demand.

    Lees ook:

  • Takata would stop making air-bag inflators under new plan

    Takata would stop making air-bag inflators under new plan

    Japan’s Takata, facing bankruptcy over the biggest recall in automotive history, would stop making air-bag inflators after completing a global recall, under a restructuring plan under consideration by its steering committee, sources told Reuters on Friday.

    The committee is discussing plans with rival Key Safety Systems Inc (KSS) which is negotiating to take control of the company. Any plan would require final approval from Takata’s board before the air bag maker submits them as part of expected bankruptcy filings in the United States and Japan.

    Takata declined to comment on the plans.

    Takata is still building replacements required under a recall of around 100 million inflators that could detonate with excessive force after prolonged exposure to heat.

    Exploding Takata airbag inflators have been blamed for at least 16 deaths and more than 150 injuries worldwide.

    Takata would stop producing airbag inflators after it completes production of replacement parts and fulfills existing supply contracts for them with automaker clients, the sources said.

    One source said existing contracts would likely end around 2020.

    Job cuts are also on the table, the sources said, including upper-level managers involved in manipulating inflator test results to conceal possible defects. Many plant managers would likely remain to ensure that production continues during the transition period.

    The plan is critical for a bankruptcy restructuring that could be launched as early as next week. Takata is hoping to erase billions in liabilities and resolve the recall of air-bag inflators.

    Any bankruptcy would pose limited risk to Takata’s ability to supply the roughly 100 million replacement inflators required to complete the global recall, one of the sources familiar with the company’s plans said. U.S. vehicle safety regulators are putting pressure on Takata and automakers to speed up the replacement of defective inflators in the United States.

    The plan would also have Takata air bags and seatbelts rebranded as KSS products after Takata emerges from bankruptcy. Michigan-based KSS, owned by Chinese supplier Ningbo Joyson Electronic, currently is a smaller competitor to Takata in airbags and seatbelts.

  • Dutch firm aims to deliver first flying car in 2018

    Dutch firm aims to deliver first flying car in 2018

    From ‘The Jetsons’ to ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’, flying cars have long captured the imagination. While several futuristic projects are under way in different countries, a Dutch design may be the first one sold and soaring into the skies.

    After years of testing, the PAL-V company aims to pip its competitors to the post. It is poised to start production on what they bill as a world first: a three-wheeled gyrocopter-type vehicle which can carry two people and will be certified for use on the roads and in the skies.

    “This kind of dream has been around for 100 years now. When the first airplane was invented people already thought ‘How can I make that driveable on the road?’,” chief marketing officer Markus Hess told.

    The PAL-V (Personal Air and Land Vehicle) firm, based in Raamsdonksveer in the Netherlands, is aiming to deliver its first flying car to its first customer by the end of 2018.

    The lucky owner will need both a driving license and a pilot’s license. But with the keys in hand, the owner will be able to drive to an airfield for the short take-off, and after landing elsewhere drive to the destination in a “door-to-door” experience.

    Different versions of a flying car are being developed in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Japan, China and the United States.

    But final assembly on the PAL-V will start in October, with the company seeking to be the first to go into commercial production.

    ‘No falling from sky’

    The PAL-V uses normal unleaded petrol for its two 100-horsepower engines, and can fly 400 to 500 kilometers (248 to 310 miles) at an altitude of up to 3,500 meters (11,500 feet).

    On the road it has a top speed of around 170 kilometers an hour.

    In 2019, the company expects to produce between 50 and 100 vehicles, before ramping up to “quite a few hundred” in 2020.

    It won’t be cheap. The first edition, the PAL-V Liberty, costs 499,000 euros ($599,000), while the slightly cheaper PAL-V Liberty Sport, to be made next, has a price tag of 299,000 euros.

    PAL-V was founded in 2007 by Robert Dingemanse and pilot John Bakker.

    “In the beginning it was, let’s make a gyrocopter drivable,” said Hess.

    But the company, which has some 40 to 50 employees, realized the weight and length of a gyrocopter’s blades gave the vehicle a high center of gravity when driving, especially taking corners.

    They have designed the car so at the flick of a button the blades fold down and gather like a bat’s wings on the top.

    And they have incorporated into the car a 2005 breakthrough — when the Dutch company Carver invented a tilting system for three-wheelers — to counter the high center of gravity and make it roadworthy.

    The company insists the PAL-V is not a helicopter, in which the blades are powered by an engine. It is a gyroplane, in which the blades rotate thanks to airflow.

    Even if both engines cut out, the blades will still turn, so “even if you go at zero speed it still keeps rotating and you are not going to drop out of the sky,” said Hess.

    While he refused to divulge how many orders they have, he said the company “was more than satisfied”.

    ‘Selling a dream’

    Clients put down a non-refundable deposit of 10,000 to 25,000 euros depending on the model. A third option is to put 2,500 euros into an escrow account, which secures them a place in the line.

    “In some senses we are selling a dream,” Hess said, standing next to the sleek, black first model developed in 2012 which has already put in “substantial hours” of flying and driving time.

    Parts are on order, with the first already in stock. Once built, the vehicle will have to complete at least 150 flying hours, and undergo extensive tests to receive its certification from the Cologne-based European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).

    Hess defended the hefty price tag. It’s not a lot more than “a super-duper sports car with a few extras,” he said.

    “Considering the extra certification standards we have to go through for aviation, and that a super-duper sports car can’t even fly, we think it’s actually a bargain.”

    The PAL-V staff know many inventors in other countries also developing flying cars, but remain unconcerned by the competition.

    And Hess laughs when asked whether the skies will become too crowded.

    People at first “cannot even imagine flying cars. Then suddenly when they start imagining it, they see millions of flying cars in the air.”

    That new reality, for the time being, is still a long way off, he said.

  • Fiat Chrysler recalling 297,000 vehicles for inadvertent air bag deployments

    Fiat Chrysler recalling 297,000 vehicles for inadvertent air bag deployments

    Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV is recalling 297,000 older minivans because of a wiring problem that can lead to inadvertent air bag deployments, the company said on Thursday.

    The recall of 2011-2012 model year Dodge Grand Caravan minivans is linked to eight minor injuries, the automaker said, after initially reporting 13 injuries. Wiring may short-circuit, resulting in the driver-side air bag deploying without warning.

    The recall will begin in late July and includes 209,000 vehicles in the United States and nearly 88,000 vehicles in Canada. Dealers will replace the wiring if needed and add protective covering.

    Fiat Chrysler share fell nearly 2 percent to $10.69 on the New York Stock Exchange.

    Automakers have been recalling tens of millions of vehicles in recent years for a series of air bag problems, mainly tied to Takata inflators.

    More than a dozen automakers have called back 46 million Takata air bag inflators in 29 million U.S. vehicles that can rupture and emit deadly metal fragments. By 2019, automakers will recall 64 million to 69 million U.S. inflators in 42 million vehicles, U.S. regulators said in December.

    The new Fiat Chrysler recall is not linked to Takata, the company said.

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • Cummins to make electric powertrains for city buses in 2019

    Cummins to make electric powertrains for city buses in 2019

    Engine maker Cummins plans to start production of electric powertrains for transit buses in cities around the world in 2019, executives said on a conference call on Wednesday.

    Company executives said that more industrial and commercial uses will follow in the years to come, especially as the battery range for electric vehicles increases.

  • Hyundai Motor bets on new small SUV as China sales skid

    Hyundai Motor bets on new small SUV as China sales skid

    Hyundai Motor unveiled its first subcompact sport utility vehicle Kona for advanced markets, including the United States, Europe and South Korea, as it tries to offset sliding sales in China and catch up with rivals in the segment.

    The South Korean automaker said it would also launch an electric version of the Kona small sport utility vehicle (SUV) next year and a smaller SUV and a large SUV by 2020.

    This comes at a time when Hyundai looks set to miss its sales target for a third straight year due to the unpopularity of its mainstay small sedans and political tensions between Beijing and Seoul that have battered sales in China, the company’s biggest market.

    Hyundai, which together with its affiliate Kia is the world’s No.5 automaker, previously sold subcompact SUVs only in emerging markets, missing out on strong growth in the segment in South Korea, the United States and Europe.

    The subcompact SUV is the top-performing segment globally, growing at an annual average of 46 percent from 2010 to 2016, Hyundai said, citing IHS Automotive data.

    “Even as the global SUV market is nearing saturation, we believe that extra small or small SUVs have more room for growth than large SUVs,” Hyundai Motor Co Vice Chairman Chung Eui-sun said during a launch event near Seoul.

    The automaker launched the Kona in South Korea on Tuesday, and said it would roll out the small SUV in Europe in August and the United States in December. It aims to sell over 200,000 of the vehicles globally next year.

    The Kona will compete with Nissan’s Juke and Honda’s CR-V in the United States.

    Hyundai and Kia in January said they aimed to increase global sales by 5 percent this year, but their combined sales fell 7 percent over January to May, hit by slowing Chinese and U.S. sales.

    “Our sales plan has suffered a setback, but we will use this as an opportunity to overhaul our products,” said Chung, the only son of Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Mong-koo.

    He also said Hyundai would beef up cooperation with technology firms like Cisco, Baidu and Uber instead of buying other automakers.

    Kia will join Hyundai in the launch of the former’s subcompact SUV, Stonic, starting next month.

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • Tesla Model X electric cars to hit Indonesian roads

    Tesla Model X electric cars to hit Indonesian roads

    Indonesians can now purchase US-made Tesla Model X electronic luxury cars with price tags starting from US$200,000. Prestige Image Motorcars, the sole Tesla motor car distributor in Indonesia, began exhibiting one of the cars at its showroom in Pluit, North Jakarta, on Tuesday.

    Prestige president director Rudy Salim said his company started receiving orders for the car in June with deliveries, beginning in September.

    “Tesla cars have good prospects in the Indonesian market, considering they are not the most expensive among the super cars in the country,” Rudy said.

    Each Telsa cars is equipped with a battery that supports up to 350 kilometers of travel, much more than Indonesians generally needed, Rudy said.

    A director of the Association of Indonesian Automotive Manufacturers (Gaikindo), Jongkie Sugiarto, said that Tesla cars would have their own fans in Indonesia.

    However, he said, luxury cars belonged to a specific and limited market, which did not grow significantly.

    According to Gaikindo, the domestic sales of diesel and petrol cars in the first four months of the year increased by 5.71 percent to 373,407 from 352,072 in the same period of 2016.

    Tesla Inc. of the United States was quoted by Reuters as saying in April 2 that its first-quarter vehicle deliveries jumped by 69 percent to 25,000 vehicles compared to the same period last year.

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • Electric vehicles reach 2 million cars in 2016

    Electric vehicles reach 2 million cars in 2016

    The number of electric cars on the roads around the world rose to 2 million in 2016, following a year of strong growth in 2015, according to the latest edition of the International Energy Agency’s Global EV Outlook.

    China remained the largest market in 2016, accounting for more than 40% of the electric cars sold in the world. With more than 200 million electric two-wheelers and more than 300,000 electric buses, China is by far the global leader in the electrification of transport. China, the US and Europe made up the three main markets, totalling over 90% of all EVs sold around the world.

    In Norway, electric cars had a 29% market share last year, the highest globally, followed by the Netherlands with 6.4%, and Sweden with 3.4%. The electric car market is set to transition from early deployment to mass market adoption over the next decade or so, says the Global EV Outlook.

    Between 9 and 20 million electric cars could be deployed by 2020, and between 40 and 70 million by 2025, according to estimates based on recent statement from carmakers.

    Still, electric vehicles only made up 0.2% of total passenger light-duty vehicles in circulation in 2016. They have a long way to go before reaching numbers capable of making a significant contribution to greenhouse gas emission reduction targets.

    In order to limit temperature increases to below 2°C by the end of the century, the number of electric cars will need to reach 600 million by 2040, according to IEA’s Energy Technology Perspectives. Strong policy support will be necessary to keep EVs on track.

    Cities are taking leadership roles in encouraging EV adoption, often because of concerns about air quality. Major urban centres often achieve higher EV market shares compared to national averages. A third of global EV sales took place in 14 cities in 2015.

    Paris, for instance, has mandated that any electric car is allowed to re-charge at the re-charge stations of its car-sharing program, called Autolib.

    Amsterdam has a strategy of offering the installation of charging points on public parking spaces to people who make a request, ensuring that charging infrastructure is installed where it’s actually needed. London for its part encourages EV adoption by waiving its congestion charge.

    The analysis shows that fleet procurement is an important means of encouraging early EV uptake. Fleet operators, both public and private, can contribute significantly to the deployment of EVs, first from demand signals that they send to the market, and second thanks to their broader role as amplifiers in promoting and facilitating the uptake of EVs by their staff and customers.

    Clear and ambitious policy support is vital to keep the growth of EVs on track. Despite impressive improvements in costs and energy density over the past decade, battery packs are still expensive, driving up retail prices. Financial incentives for EV adoption and taxes on fossil fuels will continue to be important in the current phase of EV technology deployment to initiate and reinforce a positive feedback loop that, through increasing sales, production scale-ups and technology learning, will further support cost reductions for batteries and other components.

    Lees ook:

  • Tata Motors global sales decline 1 per cent in May

    Tata Motors global sales decline 1 per cent in May

    Tata Motors today reported over 1 per cent decline in global sales in May at 86,385 units, including that of Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) vehicles.

    The company had sold 87,414 units in May 2016, Tata Motors said in a statement.

    In the passenger vehicles category, global sales stood at 58,075 units last month as against 55,039 units during the same period in 2016, up 6 per cent.

    Sales of luxury brand Jaguar Land Rover grew 2 per cent to 47,131 units in May compared to 46,204 units in the same month of 2016.

    However, sales of commercial vehicles declined by 13 per cent to 28,310 units as against 32,375 units in the year-ago month.

  • Indonesia May motorbike sales up 15.2% yoy

    Indonesia May motorbike sales up 15.2% yoy

    Motorcycle sales in Indonesia rose 15.2% in May from a year earlier, data from an industry association showed on Monday.

    These sales are also the highest growth rate since August 2014.

    Sales stood at 531,496 motorbikes in May, up from 461,506 sold in the year-ago period.

    It was also higher than the 388,045 bikes sold in April. Motorbikes are hugely popular in Southeast Asia’s biggest economy and their sales are a key indicator of consumption.

    Sales in May were led by Honda Motor , Yamaha Motor Co Ltd and Suzuki, data showed.

  • Automakers diverge on how fast to deploy automatic braking

    Automakers diverge on how fast to deploy automatic braking

    Big automakers are rushing to launch self-driving cars as early as 2021, but the industry’s major players are moving slowly when it comes to widespread deployment of a less expensive crash prevention technology that regulators say could prevent thousands of deaths and injuries every year.

    Nissan Motor said on Thursday it would make automatic braking systems standard on an estimated 1 million 2018 model cars and light trucks sold in the United States, including high-volume models such as the Rogue and Rogue Sport compact sport utility vehicles, the Altima sedan, Murano and Pathfinder SUVs, LEAF electric car, Maxima sedan and Sentra small car.

    Rival Toyota Motor has said it will make so-called automatic emergency braking standard on nearly all its U.S. models by the end of this year.

    Overall, however, most automakers are not rushing to make automatic brake systems part of the base cost of mainstream vehicles sold in the competitive U.S. market. The industry has come under pressure from regulators, lawmakers and safety advocates to adopt the technology, which can slow or stop a vehicle even if the driver fails to act.

    So far, only about 17 percent of models tested by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety offered standard collision-avoiding braking, according to data supplied by the auto safety research group backed insurance industry. Many of the models with standard collision-avoiding brake systems are luxury vehicles made by European or Japanese manufacturers.

    The systems require more sensors and software than conventional brakes, and automakers said they need time to engineer the systems into vehicles as part of more comprehensive makeovers.

    Last year, 20 automakers reached a voluntary agreement with U.S. auto safety regulators to make collision-avoiding braking systems standard equipment by 2022.

    Safety advocates have petitioned the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to begin a regulatory process to require the technologies, but the agency has said the voluntary agreement will result in faster deployment than a formal rule-making process. NHTSA says the technology could eliminate one-fifth of crashes.

    “Do the math. That’s 5 million crashes every year – 20 percent reduction means 1 million less. Those are big numbers,” Mark Rosekind, the NHTSA’s then-administrator, told last year.

    But customers would likely experience the benefits of the technology infrequently. The technology to enable a car to drive itself is far more costly, but industry executives foresee autonomous vehicles driving revenue-generating transportation services that could be attractive to investors.

    General Motors Co (GM.N) offers automatic braking as optional equipment on about two-thirds of its models. The company did not say on Thursday how many vehicles have the technology as standard equipment. GM has not made public its plans to make the technology standard across its lineup.

    “Any time you have a voluntary agreement you have a spectrum of implementation,” Jeff Boyer, GM’s vice president for safety, told Reuters earlier this week. Asked when GM would roll out standard automatic braking, Boyer said, “let’s just say we honor the voluntary commitment.”

    Ford Motor “has a plan to standardize over time,” the company said in a statement on Thursday. Currently, automatic braking systems are optional on several 2017 Ford and Lincoln models, and will be offered on certain 2018 models including the best-selling F-150 pickup truck.

    Fiat Chrysler Automobiles offers automatic braking as optional equipment in nine model lines, using cameras and radar to detect hazards ahead. The company has said it will meet the 2022 target for making the systems standard.

    As 2018 models roll out during the second half of this year, more vehicles will offer automatic braking, said Dean McConnell, an executive with Continental AG’s North American business. Continental’s automatic braking technology systems will be on certain Nissan models.

    “We see it accelerating,” he said. “It varies. There are some (automakers) that are being aggressive” and others that are waiting.

    Nissan did not disclose how much prices for vehicles would rise to offset the cost of standard automatic emergency braking. The 2018 models will be launched later this year. Currently, Nissan, like most carmakers, offers automatic braking as part of a bundle of optional safety and technology features.

    A 2017 Nissan Sentra compact sedan has a starting price of $17,875. To buy the car equipped with automatic braking requires spending another $6,820 for a Sentra SR with a premium technology package.

    German auto technology suppliers Continental and Robert Bosch will supply the systems, Nissan said.

  • Renault plans foray into energy market with mega battery

    Renault plans foray into energy market with mega battery

    Renault-Nissan is drawing up plans to build a 100 megawatt power storage plant in Europe, sources told Reuters, hoping to give electric car batteries a second life in a project that could eventually compete with utility companies.

    Like rival Tesla’s energy storage business, the Renault-Nissan move underscores its desire to cultivate a second-hand battery market while encouraging the development of energy infrastructure that works for electric cars.

    The Renault-Nissan alliance plant, which has yet to be built, would be big enough to power 120,000 homes, or supplant the role of a gas- or coal-fired power station in meeting peak electricity demand on the grid, the sources said.

    Rather than generating power, a storage plant charges up in times of excess supply and sells electricity back to the grid when needed. Proponents say such plants can play a key role in smoothing out unpredictable wind and solar power generation.

    Renault-Nissan is working in partnership with energy storage specialist The Mobility House on the mega battery which would be assembled from new or used electric car batteries, one of the sources said.

    “We’re working with The Mobility House on several programs including a major energy storage project that is currently still in the study phase,” Renault spokeswoman Celine Farissier said, declining to give further details.

    Makers of electric cars stand to benefit from the creation of a market for used lithium-ion batteries that can no longer power vehicles to drive far enough. Higher second-hand battery values could help bring down the cost of electric cars and mega batteries are one avenue for recycling the power cells.

    Nissan, 44 percent-owned by French alliance partner Renault, has already built a back-up power storage system for the Amsterdam Arena, which is home to soccer club Ajax, in a first partnership with the German start-up.

    Marcus Fendt, its managing director, said the Munich-based company was working on a 100 MW plant with partners he declined to identify, citing confidentiality agreements. He said the studies were aimed at determining where to build the plant.

    Locations and end markets under consideration for the Renault-Nissan plant include Germany, which is suitable because of its high energy prices and its shift from nuclear to renewable energy, as well as the Netherlands, sources said.

    CARMAKING UTILITIES

    Renault-Nissan studied an existing power storage project in the United States before embarking on its own plan to recycle electric car batteries.

    California’s Public Utilities commission selected a 100 MW battery storage system to replace a natural-gas power plant providing electricity for Southern California Edison in the Los Angeles area.

    Large batteries can help stabilize the primary reserve electricity market, which is responsible for ensuring the grid has at least 50 Hertz. Carmakers can also earn money competing with conventional power stations to guarantee the provision of electricity during periods of high demand or volatility.

    “We forecast the combined market for electric passenger vehicles, electric buses and battery storage to increase eight-fold to over $200 billion by 2020, a five-year compound annual growth rate of more than 50 percent,” Berenberg analysts said.

    With about 4 million electric cars expected to be on the roads by 2020, vehicle manufacturers looking at ways to recycle batteries, including Tesla, which already sells everything from solar panels to batteries and electric cars.

    Daimler, BMW, Volkswagen and China’s BYD Co Ltd are also exploring so-called second-life storage projects with batteries.

    That includes partnerships such as the recent collaboration between BMW and Vattenfall, in which the luxury automaker will deliver up to 1,000 lithium-ion batteries to the Swedish utility for storage projects this year.

    “What will end up happening is that BMW and Daimler will become utilities themselves,” said Gerard Reid, founder of Alexa Capital LLP, a corporate advisor in the energy, power infrastructure and technology sectors.

    “They use Vattenfall now because they need to learn but I think the amount of batteries coming back will be so big that I think they’ll end up engaging directly with the end customer themselves. And they’ve got the brand name to do that.”

    Lees ook:

  • Honda to focus on self-driving cars, robotics, EVs through 2030

    Honda to focus on self-driving cars, robotics, EVs through 2030

    Japanese carmaker Honda Motor on Thursday spelled out for the first time its plans to develop autonomous cars which can drive on city streets by 2025, building on its strategy to take on rivals in the auto market of the future.

    Unveiling its mid-term Vision 2030 strategy plan, Honda said it would boost coordination between R&D, procurement and manufacturing to tame development costs as it acknowledged it must look beyond conventional vehicles to survive in an industry which is moving rapidly into electric and self-driving cars.

    Honda has already spelled out plans to market a vehicle which can drive itself on highways by 2020, and the new target for city-capable self-driving cars puts its progress slightly behind rivals like BMW.

    “We’re going to place utmost priority on electrification and advanced safety technologies going forward,” Honda CEO Takahiro Hachigo said.

    Developing new driving technologies, robotics- and artificial intelligence-driven services and new energy solutions also would be key priorities for Honda in the years ahead, the company said.

    LEVELING UP

    Honda established a division late last year to develop electric vehicles (EVs) as part of its long-held goal for lower-emission gasoline hybrids, plug-in hybrids, EVs and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles (FCVs) to account for two-thirds of its line-up by 2030, from about 5 percent now.

    By 2025, Honda plans to come up with cars with “level 4” standard automated driving functions, meaning they can drive themselves on highways and city roads under most situations.

    Achieving such capabilities will require artificial intelligence to detect traffic movements, along with a battery of cameras and sensors to help avoid accidents.

    BMW has said it would launch a fully autonomous car by 2021, while Ford Motor has said it will introduce a vehicle with similar capabilities for ride-sharing purposes in the same year. Nissan Motor is planning to launch a car which can drive automatically on city streets by 2020.

    Honda has been ramping up R&D spending, earmarking a record 750 billion yen ($6.84 billion) for the year to March.

  • All terrain Michelin LTX Force SUV tyres launched in India

    All terrain Michelin LTX Force SUV tyres launched in India

    Tyre maker Michelin has today announced the availability of Michelin LTX Force range of SUV tyres in India. Designed for all types of terrain, Michelin LTX Force tyres offer durability, superior grip on-road and higher traction off-road, claims the company statement.

    The introduction of this new range in India helps the company further strengthen its product portfolio.

    Mohan Kumar, Commercial Director, Michelin India said, “The SUV market is one of the fastest growing segments in India. Industry estimates indicate one in four vehicles sold last year was an SUV and as more Indians opt for SUV’s, this segment is estimated to continue growing, both in cities and upcountry towns. Our LTX Force is an all-rounder and is ideal for SUV owners who regularly use their vehicle on both paved and unpaved road.”

    ” Innovation is at the heart of our product development and this tyre is a perfect example of it, where we showcase a seamless transformation from track to road. By using this range, the SUV users in India will benefit from the international technology that has enjoyed numerous podium finishes at grueling all terrain competitions such as Rally WRC.” he added.

    Michelin LTX Force uses compact tread technology which takes advantage of two contradictory performances: durability plus grip. The tread pattern inspired by endurance races is designed to provide a greater contact area thanks to higher tread blocks which favours both durability and traction.

    The comoany claims that the tyres are a result of tried and tested motorsport technologies

    Motorsport offers the ideal proving ground for Michelin to test tyres in the most extreme conditions. Michelin LTX Force tyre is yet another example of our from track to road philosophy. These tyres have been tested in extreme mining conditions to ensure off-road traction and robustness.

    The Michelin LTX Force range tyres are available nationally at Michelin premium dealerships – the Michelin Priority Partners, the TYREPLUS network and Michelin retailers.

  • Jaguar Land Rover overall retail sales up 1.2 pct in May

    Jaguar Land Rover overall retail sales up 1.2 pct in May

    Jaguar Land Rover says overall retail sales for Jaguar Land Rover were 45,487 in May, up 1.2 percent year-on-year.

    Jaguar Land Rover says Jaguar May sales were 13,613 vehicles, up 28 percent year-on-year. Jaguar Land Rover says Land Rover retailed 31,874 vehicles in May, down 7.1 percent year-on-year.

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook: