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Hyundai Motor Co says to step up monitoring of possible revisions of South Korea’s free-trade deal with the United States.
To raise the number of its SUV models in China to 7 by 2020 from 4.
To consider “flexible” cooperation on green cars with China’s local firms.
Mercedes-Benz has successfully defended its dominance as the largest foreign car seller in the Korean imported car market for four straight months in September 2017.
But, the BMW 520d has held the lead as the best-selling model for two consecutive months after it snatched the crown from Mercedes-Benz’s E-Class sedan in August 2017.
According to the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association (KAIDA) on Oct 13, a total of 20,234 imported vehicles were sold in September, up 20.6 percent from a year ago and 15.3 percent from a month ago.
By brand, Mercedes-Benz ranked first after selling 5,606 units. It was followed by BMW (5,299 units), Land Rover (1,323 units), Lexus (1,128 units), Honda (1,022 units), MINI (933 units), Ford (832 units), Chrysler (767 units), Toyota (755 units), Nissan (541 units), Volvo (466 units) Jaguar (414 units) and Peugeot (306 units), according to KAIDA data.
Land Rover was the most noticeable among them as it has moved up four notches to the third largest seller only in a month thanks to the Discovery Sport TD4 that sold 600 units.
The best-selling model in September 2017 was BMW 520d, delivering 1,382 units, followed by BMW 520d xDrive with 886 units and Mercedes-Benz’s E200 with 854 units.
Six out of 10 imported vehicles sold in Korea last month were from Germany, the statement said, and seven out of 10 imported vehicles sold during the first nine months of the year were from Europe.
The share of imported vehicles in the Korean passenger car market rose to 15.1 percent in the first nine months of the year from 14.6 percent during the same period last year, an association spokeswoman said.
Japanese automaker Nissan Motor Co Ltd’s domestic sales for the Oct. 1 to Oct. 20 period plummeted 20 percent following recent allegations of misconduct in its inspection procedures, the Nikkei said.
The Yokohama-based automaker’s domestic sales fell to 12,300 units during the period, the newspaper reported. (s.nikkei.com/2lc9nAm)
Last week, the country’s second-largest automaker said it would halt production of domestic market vehicles at all six of its Japanese assembly plants to consolidate their inspection lines to comply with the country’s transport ministry requirements.
The inspection scandal was expected to end the company’s 11-month streak of year-on-year domestic sales growth through September, the business daily said.
The company could not immediately reached for comment.
Electric car maker Tesla Inc said on Sunday it is talking with the Shanghai municipal government to set up a factory in the region and expects to agree on a plan by the end of the year.
China levies a 25 percent duty on sales of imported vehicles and has not allowed foreign automakers to establish wholly owned factories in the country, the world’s largest automaker. Those are problems for Tesla, which wants to expand its presence in China’s growing electric vehicle market without compromising its independence or intellectual property.
China’s government has considered allowing foreign automakers to set up wholly owned factories in free trade zones in part to encourage more production of electric and hybrid vehicles – which the government calls “new energy vehicles” – to meet ambitious sales quotas.
Tesla would still have to pay a 25 percent duty on cars built in a free trade zone, but it could lower its production costs.
“Tesla is working with the Shanghai Municipal Government to explore the possibility of establishing a manufacturing facility in the region to serve the Chinese market. As we’ve said before, we expect to more clearly define our plans for production in China by the end of the year,” a Tesla spokesperson said in a statement emailed to Reuters.
Tesla said in June it was beginning talks with Shanghai.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Tesla and the Shanghai government have already reached a deal in that city’s free trade zone. Shanghai is China’s de facto automotive capital and a significant market for luxury vehicles of all kinds.
Chinese internet company Tencent Holdings Ltd has a five percent stake in Tesla and is seen as a potential ally for Tesla’s efforts to enter the Chinese market.
It was unclear if the Chinese government will conclude a deal with Tesla to coincide with U.S. President Donald Trump’s visit next month.
Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk has said the company eventually will need vehicle and battery manufacturing centers in Europe and Asia.
Tesla is wrestling with production problems at its sole factory, in Fremont, California. It is trying to accelerate output of its new Model 3 sedan, but conceded earlier this month that production bottlenecks had held third-quarter production to just 260 vehicles, well short of the 1,500 previously planned.
Australia’s near 100-year automotive industry ended on Friday as GM Holden, a unit of U.S. carmaker General, closed its plant in South Australia to move manufacturing to cheaper locations.
The closure comes a year after Toyota and Ford similarly moved out, eliminating thousands of manufacturing jobs. It adds pressure on the government to help those made redundant find work in a battleground state ahead of a federal election in 18 months.
“The end of Holden making cars in Australia is a very sad day for the workers and for every Australian. It is the end of an era,” Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull told reporters at a regular briefing on Friday. “Everyone has a Holden story.”
Turnbull has sought to soften the impact of a declining automotive industry in a state which historically determines who forms government by making South Australia a defense industry hub.
The government plans to increase defense spending by nearly A$30 billion ($23.52 billion) by 2022, with the manufacture of a fleet of frigates, armored personnel carriers and submarines to be concentrated in South Australia.
But John Camillo, state secretary at Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union in South Australia, said nearly 2,500 newly unemployed will need government help finding work.
“They need to be retrained to be able to work in defense, mining, aerospace, because we are going to be building ships,” Camillo told reporters outside the GM Holden plant in Elizabeth, 26 kilometers (16.1 miles) north of state capital Adelaide.
Camillo was joined outside the factory by hundreds of workers and car enthusiasts who had gathered to greet the last car off the production line.
“A BEAUTY”
Rising discretionary income and record-low interest rates have encouraged consumers to buy new cars, but many turned against the large passenger cars for which GM Holden is known.
“Consumers want fuel-efficient small cars and sports utility vehicles (SUVs), and overseas manufacturers have been able to profit from changing tastes,” William McGregor, industry analyst at IBISWorld, told.
Monthly SUV sales hit a record in June, surpassing 40,000 cars, Bureau of Statistics data showed.
GM Holden, whose SUV range proved unpopular with Australians, will shift production to Germany where advanced automation will help keep costs low as it revamps its lineup.
GM Holden began auto production in 1948 with then-Prime Minister Ben Chifley driving the first car off the production line, declaring it “a beauty”.
“I have bought four of them,” said Shane Oliver, an AMP Capital economist who described the closure as a “sad day”.
“But it’s clear that not enough Australians’ agreed, opting for foreign-made SUVs instead.”
China Unicom has announced it expects to report a strong 155% increase in net profit for the first nine months of the year, driven by robust service revenue growth and lower expenses.
The operator’s preliminary results estimate that net profit reached 4.1 billion yuan ($618.6 million) for the period, with service revenue up 4.1% to 187.9 billion.
China Unicom also reduced its selling and marketing expenses and handset subsidy spending as part of its new Focus Strategy.
But the company still added over 13 million new mobile customers during the nine month period, taking its total to 277 million.
Total 4G net additions were 55.7 million, with the operator’s total 4G customer base growing to 160 million. In September alone, Unicom gained 3.82 million new mobile customers and 7.56 million new 4G customers – a company record for both metrics.
Despite the strong results, Unicom warned that the recent regulator-mandated abolishment of domestic long-distance and roaming fees – coupled with a cyclical increase in market competition – is expected to place increasing pressure on the company’s financial performance in the fourth quarter.
“Going forward, the Group will actively address challenges, continue to deepen Focus Strategy and earnestly capitalise on the implementation of mixed-ownership reform to raise efficiency and returns,” China Unicom said in a statement.
Shares in Fiat Chrysler fell more than 5 percent on Thursday amid worries that problems in China were undercutting sales of flagship models such as the Maserati and Alfa Romeo sport utility vehicles.
The shares fell after a trade publication, “Automotive News”, reported on Wednesday that FCA would temporarily cut production of the Maserati Levante SUV and the Alfa Romeo Stelvio SUV and Giulia sedan at plants in Italy, because new import rules in China were hurting sales.
Fiat shares closed down 6 percent in Milan at 13.99 euros. The stock was also hit by weakness in the auto industry overall, after Nissan announced that it was suspending all car production in Japan.
“The whole auto sector is under pressure today, but the market also seems to be digesting the impact the production shutdowns could have on FCA,” a trader said.
Manufacturing of the Levante, which is essential to reviving sales at Maserati, was suspended for two weeks during October and November, unions said. The Mirafiori plant produces around 130 Levantes per day, they said.
“This is the first time we have a shutdown at the Levante line since it came into production, so this is quite worrying,” said Federico Bellono, general secretary for the FIOM union in Fiat’s home town of Turin.
FCA also reduced production of the Stelvio and the Giulia models, which were designed to revamp the Alfa Romeo brand, by making fewer vehicles per shift this month and halting lines on four Fridays. FCA declined to comment on the cuts.
Deliveries of the Levante to Chinese dealerships dropped to 310 in July and just under 400 in August, compared with 1,064 in June, data from market researcher JATO Dynamics show.
Stelvio deliveries were around 1,006 in June and 2,666 in July but fell to 227 in August. Sister model Giulia saw a similar crash in deliveries over the summer.
The sales drop will make it difficult for FCA to reach its global goal of selling 60,000 Maseratis and 170,000 Alfas this year, said Felipe Munoz, an automotive analyst at JATO.
Adding to the pressure were a slow sales start for Alfa Romeo in the United States, from which it had been absent for years, and growing competition for both brands in the popular premium segment.
“The Stelvio SUV has done good so far, but it arrives ten years after the segment took off,” Munoz said.
Levante, which helped Maserati increase sales by 90 percent in the first six months, “is perhaps the most beautiful of its segment, but it soon lagged behind its rivals in terms of technology when they were updated … The new Porsche Cayenne could be its biggest headache”, Munoz said.
The analyst forecasts global sales this year of 130,000 to 140,000 for Alfa and 40,000 for Maserati.
Royal Enfield motorcycles have landed in Vietnam with a flagship store in Ho Chi Minh City.
The Indian company is focussing on expanding in South Asia, and Vietnam is the world’s fourth-largest two-wheeler market. Royal Enfield’s official dealer for Vietnam, Al Naboodah International (VN), has opened the store in Saigon Paragon in the city’s District 7.
Initially three models will be available, the Bullet 500, Classic 500 and Continental GT 535. The company is focussed on expanding its mid-sized motorcycle segment (250cc to 750cc) internationally.
“Vietnam has a large population that is young and commutes on two-wheelers,” says Royal Enfield president Rudratej Singh.
Royal Enfield also has presence in Indonesia with two exclusive stores in Jakarta and an outlet in Bali. It has also set up the first Royal Enfield gear store outside India in Jakarta.
There is also a store in Bangkok.
Daimler is recalling more than 1 million Mercedes-Benz cars and sport utility vehicles worldwide to address potential unintended air bag deployments, the German automaker said on Monday.
The safety recall covers 495,000 vehicles in the United States, 400,000 in Britain, 76,000 in Canada and a few hundred thousand in Germany, company officials said. The German automaker did not immediately have a complete worldwide total.
An electrostatic discharge, coupled with a broken clock spring and insufficient grounding of steering components, can lead to inadvertent deployment of the driver side front air bag in vehicles subject to the recall, the company said.
As part of the fix, it said dealers would add new grounding to the steering components.
A Mercedes-Benz spokeswoman in the United States said there had been “a handful of instances where drivers suffered minor abrasions or bruises” due to the air bag problem.
No deaths have been reported and the issue is not related to the massive recall of Takata air bag inflators worldwide.
The recalls covers some 2012-2018 model year A, B, C, and E-Class models and CLA, GLA and GLC vehicles.
Japanese automaker Mitsubishi is planning to inject more than 600 billion yen ($5.35 billion) in capital spending and research and development (R&D) over the next three years through fiscal 2019 in a bid to turn around its business after recent scandals, the Nikkei said.
The new plan calls for spending 5 percent of annual sales on equipment and the same proportion on R&D.
Funds will be used by the company for the development of electrified vehicles and for production in China and Indonesia.
Mitsubishi Motors will release the specifics of the capital injection in a new medium-term plan due Wednesday, the business daily said.
With a chance to boost retail innovation in Hong Kong, Infiniti Motor Company has partnered with venture capital firm Nest to launch Infiniti Lab Global Accelerator 3.0 under the theme “The Future Consumer”.
Infiniti has invited seven high-potential startups, two from Hong Kong and the others from Canada, Germany, Mexico, Sweden and the US, to its global headquarters to develop technologies to enhance the customer journey. The program will involve testing, evolving and refining their technologies to win over investors and industry leaders.
The Hong Kong startup ventures are ActiMirror and Cove.
“These exciting startups will have access to the Infiniti network of executives and ecosystem partners, and benefit from intensive business coaching and mentoring as well as exposure to established investors across Asia,” says Nest CEO Lawrence Morgan. “We have created a bespoke 10-week program for our startups and look forward to working with these high-potential businesses.”
Chance to pitch
Following the program will be Demo Day on December 13 at which the entrepreneurs will pitch their ideas to a panel of investors. They also have a chance to pitch their business cases to key decision makers from Infiniti and the Renault-Nissan Alliance.
“We are dedicated to supporting top entrepreneurial talent around the world and helping bring their ideas to life through comprehensive startup programs and world-class partnerships,” says Infiniti Motor Company GM for global business transformation Dane Fisher.
To launch the venture, Infiniti hosted a panel discussion about the future consumer and using emerging technologies to improve the customer experience. As well as Fisher, Visionaries 777 head of business development David Castaneda, Bluebell Group digital director Benoit Lavaud, and Red Ant Asia regional director Elisa Harca, Regional Director, Red Ant Asia discussed how disruptive technologies such as AI, Big Data and VR will transform consumer experience.
Headquartered in Hong Kong, Infiniti is represented in 50 international markets. Launched in 1989, it offers a range of premium automobiles built in China, Japan, the UK and the US. The brand is known for its design and innovative driver-assistance technologies. Last year it became a technical partner of the Renault Sport Formula One team.
It’s about 400 people ranging from associates to team leaders to supervisors. Luxury electric vehicle maker Tesla Inc fired about 400 employees this week, including associates, team leaders and supervisors, a former employee told Friday.
The dismissals were a result of a company-wide annual review, Tesla said in an emailed statement, without confirming the number of employees leaving the company.
“It’s about 400 people ranging from associates to team leaders to supervisors. We don’t know how high up it went,” said the former employee, who worked on the assembly line and did not want to be identified.
Though Tesla cited performance as the reason for the firings, the source told Reuters he was fired in spite of never having been given a bad review.
The Palo Alto, California-based company said earlier in the month that “production bottlenecks” had left Tesla behind its planned ramp-up for the new Model 3 mass-market sedan.
The company delivered 220 Model 3 sedans and produced 260 during the third quarter. In July, it began production of the Model 3, which starts at $35,000 – half the starting price of the Model S.
Mercury News had earlier reported about the firing of hundreds of employees by Tesla in the past week.
Ford Motor saw its China vehicle sales make the barest of increases in September, extending a tough run in the world’s largest auto market even as global rivals have logged robust gains.
The U.S. automaker has lacked a high-volume brand of affordable entry cars for China and has been criticized for slow decision-making that has cost it share in a market where consumer tastes change quickly.
In response, it has brought in a new China head, Jason Luo, a Chinese-born American formerly at U.S.-based air bag maker Key Safety Systems, tasked with building closer ties with Ford’s local partners and working more effectively with regulators.
The U.S. carmaker sold 112,902 vehicles in China last month, an increase of some 430 from the same period a year earlier.
By contrast, rivals Toyota, Honda and Nissan Motor saw gains of 14 percent or more while General Motors posted an increase of 7 percent.
Overall vehicles sales in China rose 5.7 percent in September – a fourth straight month of growth.
Like many other global automakers, Ford is also looking to revamp its strategy towards electric vans and cars to keep up with Beijing’s push for cleaner new-energy vehicles (NEV).
The country has set strict quotas for NEVs which carmakers must meet by 2019, a move that is prompting a flurry of electric car deals and new launches of electric and hybrid models. Ford said it was looking to set up an electric car venture with Chinese firm Anhui Zotye Automobile Co in August.
Toyota is planning to halve the number of car models it sells in Japan to about 30 by 2025 to focus on more popular models in a shrinking market, a person briefed on the matter told Reuters on Thursday.
The automaker currently offers about 62 car models in Japan, including the Prius gasoline hybrid and the Aqua compact hatchback, along with less popular ones including the Premio sedan.
Auto sales in Japan have been falling as the population rapidly ages, while young people are losing interest in car ownership.
The plans will allow Toyota to make better use of its resources, the person said, who was not authorized to comment on the matter and declined to be identified.
Toyota spokeswoman Akiko Kita said the company was pursuing a number of strategies to maintain sales at least 1.5 million vehicles annually in a shrinking market. It currently sells around 1.6 million a year.
Toyota and other global carmakers are concentrating their efforts on developing lower emissions vehicles, including electric cars while also focusing on expanding market share in emerging markets.
The most liveable city in the world is soon to become home of Australia’s first Mercedes me Stores. This will be the seventh Mercedes me location worldwide, joining cities including Hamburg, Munich and Hong Kong.
Set-up as an inner-city concept, Mercedes me Melbourne will allow you to soak up the atmosphere of Mercedes-Benz in a space synonymous with the foundations of Melbourne lifestyle – Food, Sport, Art, Design, Fashion, Innovation and Coffee.
Reside in cutting-edge architecture whilst enjoying world-class food and coffee from Melbourne’s famous ST. ALi. Learn more about Mercedes in an open, casual environment with our interactive facilities and welcoming specialists.
During the evenings, Mercedes me Melbourne’s unique venue will transform, offering an eclectic mix of events and entertainment. Whether it be an exclusive preview of the latest products, bespoke fashion show, movie screening or live music, Mercedes meMelbourne will be the place to be.
Prepare yourself for a space of versatility. Whether you’re a vehicle enthusiast or an avid coffee drinker, you will fit right in. As this journey progresses, we are becoming increasingly excited to share this new experience with you.
Stay tuned and ensure you keep up to date by registering your details.