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.

  • Britain launches fund to boost electric battery technology

    Britain launches fund to boost electric battery technology

    Britain launched a 246 million-pound ($320 million) fund on Monday to boost the development and manufacturing of electric batteries, a major growth area for the car and energy sectors.

    The scheme, which allows those in business and academia to apply for government funds to work on a range of possible electric battery schemes, is part of Britain’s industrial strategy which Prime Minister Theresa May published in January.

    It is designed to take a more hands-on approach to developing key industries to help protect the economy as Britain leaves the European Union.

    Automakers are racing to build greener vehicles and improve charge times in a bid to meet rising customer demand and meet air quality targets but Britain lacks sufficient manufacturing capacity, an area ministers are keen to build up.

    The first tranche comprises a 45 million-pound pot of money which will help to establish a ‘Battery Institute’ for research to help improve the affordability of the technology, which needs to bolster charge and use times, reduce storage sizes and boost capacity.

    Business minister Greg Clark also wants to establish a “National Battery Manufacturing Development facility” which would support the building of electric batteries for the automotive sector.

    “Joining together the research, development, application and manufacture of energy storage technologies – and specifically battery storage – is a huge opportunity for the energy sector and the automotive sector alike,” Clark said in a speech in Birmingham.

    In May, representatives from politics, academia and business in the central English city of Coventry pitched plans to receive part of the funds for a “National Battery Prototyping Centre” which would focus on research and development and testing.

    Japan’s Nissan already builds its electric Leaf at its north of England plant but Britain’s biggest carmaker Jaguar Land Rover is building its first low-emissions model in Austria.

    Its chief executive told Reuters last year that a number of factors needed to be put in place before JLR would build electric models in Britain, including pilot testing and support from science.

    Germany’s BMW favors building its first electric model at its Oxford plant, two sources told Reuters last week, in a decision which is due to be announced in September.

    Clark also said that up to 40 billion pounds could be saved by 2050 with a range of measures designed to better manage energy use, including allowing users to control their appliances from their smartphones.

    But businesses have become more cautious about future investment in Britain ahead of Brexit, worried that the country may lose unfettered and free trade with its biggest export partner at the end of two-year divorce talks in March 2019.

    Many companies have urged the government to push the European Union to agree to a clear and lengthy transitional arrangement to help them make investment decisions.

    Asked on Monday when the government would set out the kind of transitional arrangement it would be seeking, Clark said:

    “During the autumn… and as the negotiations move forward, we hope from their initial discussion, then that’s the time to say more about that.”

  • BMW denies collusion on diesel emissions

    BMW denies collusion on diesel emissions

    BMW said that none of its models had been ‘manipulated’ or violated industry regulations. German luxury carmaker BMW on Sunday denied any collusion with industry rivals on emissions from its diesel engines, saying none of its models had been “manipulated” or violated industry regulations.

    As revelations about polluting exhaust continue to buffet Germany’s all-important auto sector, the Munich-based giant sought to distance itself from what it called the “scandaliation of diesel motors”.

    “The fact is that automobiles from the BMW group are not manipulated and comply with the relevant legal requirements,” the company said in a statement.

    “This of course also applies to diesel automobiles. This is confirmed by the relevant results from tests by national and international authorities.”

    Der Spiegel magazine had reported Friday that German carmakers Volkswagen, Audi, Porsche, BMW and Daimler had secretly worked together from the 1990s onwards on issues including polluting emissions from diesel vehicles.

    Volkswagen, which is facing tens of billions of dollars in compensation and fines after admitting in 2015 to cheating on diesel emissions, had reported the cartel to German competition authorities in a letter seen by the weekly, as did Mercedes-Benz maker Daimler.

    According to the report, carmakers held “innumerable meetings” from 2006 onwards about diesel exhaust processing systems designed to reduce emissions of harmful nitrogen oxides (NOx).

    Carmakers agreed to install only small tanks of a treatment solution, AdBlue, used to convert the gases into harmless water and nitrogen, as larger tanks would have been more expensive.

    The size of the AdBlue tanks agreed on was too small to clean exhaust gases by the necessary amount — “laying the foundations for the diesel scandal,” Spiegel reported.

    However BMW said it “firmly dismissed the accusation” that its AdBlue tanks were insufficient, meaning that any “recall or retrofitting for the Euro 6 diesel cars is unnecessary”.

    Volkswagen admitted in September 2015 to installing software in 11 million cars worldwide that reduced NOx emissions when it detected that cars were undergoing regulatory tests.

    More recently, authorities’ suspicion fell on Mercedes-Benz and Smart maker Daimler, with investigators raiding sites belonging to the group in late May.

    The firm recalled some three million cars last week for a software update designed to reduce emissions.

    Meanwhile, VW subsidiary Audi on Friday recalled up to 850,000 cars fitted with its diesel engines for a similar software update.

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • Toyota set to sell long-range, fast-charging electric cars in 2022

    Toyota set to sell long-range, fast-charging electric cars in 2022

    Toyota Motor is working on an electric car powered by a new type of battery that significantly increases driving range and reduces charging time, aiming to begin sales in 2022, the Chunichi Shimbun daily reported on Tuesday.

    Toyota’s new electric car, to be built on an all-new platform, will use all-solid-state batteries, allowing it to be recharged in just a few minutes, the newspaper said, without citing sources.

    By contrast, current electric vehicles (EVs), which use lithium-ion batteries, need 20-30 minutes to recharge even with fast chargers and typically have a range of just 300-400 kilometers (185-250 miles).

    Toyota has decided to sell the new model in Japan as early as 2022, the paper said.

    Toyota spokeswoman Kayo Doi said the company would not comment on specific product plans but added that it aimed to commercialize all-solid-state batteries by the early 2020s.

    Japan’s biggest automaker is looking to close the gap with EV leaders such as Nissan Motor Co and Tesla Inc as battery-powered cars gain traction around the globe as a viable emission-free alternative to conventional cars.

    Whether Toyota will be able to leapfrog its rivals remains to be seen, however, as mass production requires a far more stringent level of quality control and reliability.

    “There’s a pretty long distance between the lab bench and manufacturing,” said CLSA auto analyst Christopher Richter. “2022 is ages away, and a lot can change in the meantime.” How quickly the new EVs will catch on would also depend largely on battery costs.

    Having long touted hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles and plug-in hybrids as the most sensible technology to make cars greener, Toyota last year said it wanted to add long-range EVs to its line-up, and set up a new in-house unit, headed by President Akio Toyoda, to develop and market EVs.

    Toyota is reportedly planning to begin mass-producing EVs in China, the world’s biggest auto market, as early as in 2019, although that model would be based on the existing C-HR sport utility vehicle and use lithium-ion batteries.

    Other automakers such as BMW are also working on developing all-solid-state batteries, eyeing mass production in the next 10 years.

    Solid-state batteries use solid electrolytes rather than liquid ones, making them safer than lithium-ion batteries currently on the market.

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • Ford to petition to avoid recall of 2.5 million vehicles

    Ford to petition to avoid recall of 2.5 million vehicles

    Ford Motor will petition to avoid a U.S. recall of about 2.5 million vehicles with Takata air-bag inflators that the Japanese auto supplier declared defective last week, U.S. regulators and the automaker said on Friday.

    Separately, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Nissan Motor agreed to recall 515,394 2007-2011 Versa cars after Takata declared 2.7 million vehicles to have potentially defective inflators.

    Ford spokesman John Cangany said the automaker will file a petition requesting “to continue testing and analyzing our inflators.” The NHTSA said the petition will seek an exemption from the recall because Ford believes the issue is inconsequential.

    Ford said the issue covers 2.5 million vehicles, including the 2007-11 Ranger, 2006-12 Fusion and Lincoln MKZ, 2006-11 Mercury Milan, and 2007-10 Ford Edge and Lincoln MKX. Ford previously said it covered about 2.2 million vehicles.

    Last week, the NHTSA said that new testing prompted Takata to declare inflators defective in Ford, Nissan and Mazda Motor vehicles in some driver-side air bags built from 2012 through 2015.

    The NHTSA said in a statement on Friday that “testing data shows that the propellant in this inflator is degrading and on the path towards potential ruptures in the future. There are no reported ruptures in the real-world or in testing.”

    Takata air bag inflators are already linked to 17 deaths and more than 180 injuries worldwide, and the recalls will eventually cover about 125 million inflators.

    Nissan said last week it would recall 627,000 Versa cars from the 2007-12 model years, including 515,000 in the United States “out of an abundance of caution.”

    Nissan said testing of 895 inflators showed no ruptures, while one “exhibited an elevated internal pressure.” Takata said the inflators potentially could rupture “after several years of exposure to high absolute humidity.”

    Mazda said last week the issue impacts just 6,000 of 2007-09 B-series trucks that were built under a previous Ford partnership. The company said on Friday that it also plans to file a petition to avoid a recall.

    Ford shares fell 1.5 percent on Friday to close at $11.53.

    The automakers have 30 days to submit their petitions, and the NHTSA will then take public comment before making a decision.

    More than 65 percent of 46.2 million previously recalled Takata airbag inflators in the United States have not been repaired. The issue is the largest-ever auto-safety recall, covering 17 automakers.

    Takata filed for bankruptcy protection in June.

    Lees ook:

  • Valeo profit up 20 pct on LED lights, thermal systems

    Valeo profit up 20 pct on LED lights, thermal systems

    French car parts maker Valeo said first-half profit rose 20 percent as demand for LED lighting and fuel-efficient engine systems helped sales to outpace global auto markets.

    Net income rose to 506 million euros ($588 million) from 422 million a year earlier, the company said in a statement on Thursday.

    Revenue increased 16 percent to 9.464 billion euros, shy of the 9.558 billion expected by analysts, based on the median of nine estimates in an Inquiry Financial poll for Reuters.

    Stripping out the effects of acquisitions and currency fluctuations, the like-for-like sales gain was 9 percent, six percentage points ahead of global auto market growth.

    The results “confirm the growth and profitability potential of our innovations portfolio”, Valeo Chief Executive Jacques Aschenbroich said in the statement.

    Under Aschenbroich, Paris-based Valeo is positioned to benefit from a widespread regulatory emissions crackdown thanks to its push into electric-car and other fuel-saving technologies. It has also become a major supplier of autonomous driving systems in partnership with Israel’s Mobileye.

    Lighting and thermal systems both recorded 11 percent sales growth in like-for-like terms. Comfort and driving assistance posted 7 percent sales growth, with powertrain up 6 percent.

    Order intake – which drives future sales – rose 16 percent to 14.9 billion euros, the company said. That excludes 3 billion euros already booked by its new eAutomotive electric-car venture with Germany’s Siemens, created last December.

    Valeo reiterated full-year goals, including sales exceeding global auto demand growth by five percentage points and a slight increase in the group’s operating margin.

    Lees ook:

  • Britain’s Jaguar Land Rover opens first overseas engine plant

    Britain’s Jaguar Land Rover opens first overseas engine plant

    Jaguar Land Rover opened its first overseas engine plant on Friday, picking China for the investment a week after saying it would build a global model entirely outside Britain for the first time.

    Britain’s biggest carmaker, which already operates a plant in China as part of a partnership with Chery, said the new facility was part of a 10.9 billion yuan ($1.6 billion) investment with the Chinese automaker.

    “The new engine plant demonstrates Jaguar Land Rover’s long-term commitment to the Chinese market, providing customers with an exciting range of vehicles and powertrain options, as well as to its joint venture,” JLR said in a statement.

    The site will make the new Ingenium 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol engine. China was JLR’s fastest growing market in 2016, accounting for 20 percent of global sales.

    JLR, owned by India’s Tata Motors, is rapidly expanding its production levels and model line-up and decided in 2015 to build a major new plant in Slovakia, rather than expand its operations in Britain.

    Earlier this month, the automaker said it would build its new E-PACE compact sport utility vehicle in Austria and China, the first car made for global sale to be built outside of Britain.

    Like much of the British car industry, JLR is worried that Brexit could leave its car exports facing lengthy customs delays and tariffs of up to 10 percent, jeopardising the viability of production in Britain.

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • GM joins other carmakers investing in self-driving startup Nauto

    GM joins other carmakers investing in self-driving startup Nauto

    General and Japan’s Softbank Group Corp are among the latest investors in Nauto, a Silicon Valley startup developing software for self-driving vehicles.

    Nauto, based in Palo Alto, said on Tuesday it closed a $159 million Series B funding round, led by Softbank and venture capital firm Greylock Partners. Previous investors included German automaker BMW and Japanese automaker Toyota, as well as German insurance firm Allianz.

    Nauto is unusual in attracting money from big-name automakers, and also in its focus on software and data, which cost less to develop than hardware or entire vehicles.

    “Any (vehicle) manufacturer is better than any startup at building cars,” said Stefan Heck, founder and chief executive officer of two-year-old Nauto. “Our aim is to provide the data, intelligence and a cloud platform” to automakers that plan to begin putting self-driving cars on the road from 2020.

    The amount of GM’s investment in Nauto was not disclosed. The Detroit automaker bought Silicon Valley startup Cruise Automation in early 2016 for more than $500 million.

    Heck declined to specify the company’s post-funding valuation. He did say it was shy of $1 billion, “unicorn” status in Silicon Valley shorthand.

    “But we’re getting there,” he said.

    To develop its technology, Nauto is retrofitting windshields of commercial trucks from North America to Europe and Japan with dual cameras: one aimed at the road and the other at the driver. The goal is to gather data on driver distraction and on the environment around vehicles and speed development of self-driving technology.

    Using such techniques as computer vision and deep learning, a form of artificial intelligence, the company is analyzing video feeds and data from the retrofit devices to improve driver performance and safety. Learning more about how humans drivers behave is critical, Heck said, because self-driving cars must share the roads with those vehicles for at least the next 20 to 30 years.

    “During that transition period, we need autonomous vehicles that are not just smart, but are able to collaborate with humans,” Heck said in an interview.

    Nauto is working with investors and other companies “to learn from human drivers, the best and the worst, to inform” the development of self-driving vehicles.

    Heck declined to say how many vehicles are using Nauto’s cameras and software, but said the company expects to accumulate more than one billion miles of real-world data within the next year.

    Lees ook:

  • With new Takata air bag recalls, automakers may face more liabilities

    With new Takata air bag recalls, automakers may face more liabilities

    Takata’s bankruptcy filing last month was meant to draw a line under the auto industry’s biggest safety recall, but last week’s announcement of more air bag inflator recalls suggests automakers could face fresh liabilities in the future.

    In late-2015, U.S. regulators gave Takata until the end of 2019 to prove that its replacement air bag inflators – which add a drying agent to combat moisture that can set off the ammonium nitrate compound in an inflator, with potentially lethal results – are also safe.

    If Takata fails that test – and some industry consultants, explosives experts and former employees question whether the workaround guarantees safety over the long-term – the 100 million or so replacement inflators currently being installed may themselves need to be replaced.

    “Absent proof that the other desiccated inflators are safe, they will also be subject to recall,” the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said in a statement last week. The agency declined to comment on the risk that additional inflators may be subject to recall.

    NHTSA announced last Tuesday that new testing at Takata prompted the Japanese parts firm to declare 2.7 million of the new air bag inflators defective, raising questions about the risk from replacement air bags as moisture can still seep into the propellant of some inflators.

    Takata’s automaker customers, which have so far borne much of the estimated $10 billion cost of replacing faulty bag inflators, could be on the hook for future liabilities in the event that Takata fails to prove that the desiccant workaround is sufficient.

    Last week’s recall is the first to involve Takata bag inflators that use a drying agent.

    Nearly 20 automakers have been affected by the air bag recalls, and some still use Takata inflators for replacements in the recalls. Automakers including Honda Motor Co, Toyota Motor Corp and Nissan Motor Co have said they will stop using Takata inflators for new contracts for future models.

    “If NHTSA in the future raises issues about the safety (of desiccated inflators) we will of course comply with their orders,” Nissan’s chief sustainability officer Hitoshi Kawaguchi told Reuters. “At the moment, our focus is on getting replacement inflators to our customers.”

    Toyota said it was “working closely with all stakeholders, including Takata, other suppliers and relevant agencies, to assess any potential impact and take action accordingly” on the recall issue. Honda, Takata’s biggest client, declined to comment.

    “The automakers… and Takata – they all know that this is a future issue,” said Scott Upham, chief executive at Valient Market Research, whose clients include auto parts suppliers. “But I think everybody is concerned about the near-term issues, and the financial arrangements of the bankruptcy.”

    Takata says it has produced around 100 million replacement inflators containing drying agents: the 2.7 million recalled last week used calcium sulfate, and the rest contain zeolite.

    “We still have to prove the safety of our desiccated inflators, but we believe those using zeolite are safer than those using calcium sulfate,” said spokesman Toyohiro Hishikawa.

    The company has declined to comment further on the testing process or the NHTSA deadline.

    Takata is the only global air bag maker to use ammonium nitrate as a propellant in its inflators. The compound’s vulnerability to high temperature and moisture can trigger an explosion that can spew shrapnel inside a vehicle. The defect has been linked to at least 17 deaths, mostly in the United States.

    ‘Lengthening the Fuse’

    The new inflators with the added desiccant have not been linked to any deaths or injuries, but the problems with the original inflators typically took five years or more to emerge.

    Keiichi Hori, who oversees automotive safety components at the Japan Explosives Society, said adding a drying agent can reduce, but not eliminate, the risk of uncontrolled explosions.

    If the desiccant can prevent all moisture from reaching the inflator propellant, “then it would be possible that the inflators could be used safely,” he said. “Otherwise, alternatives should be considered.”

    But Upham, the industry consultant, predicts the recalled parts will themselves eventually be recalled – because ammonium nitrate is fundamentally too volatile – and Takata’s carmaker customers may again have to foot the bill given that Takata is unlikely to be able to cover the costs.

    “Automakers are hoping and praying that the desiccant solves the problem… (but) this might come back to bite them,” Upham said.

    Former Takata employees involved in manufacturing inflators have said the desiccant may buy Takata time. One told Reuters last year that by adding the desiccant, “you’re just lengthening the fuse, not correcting the problems.”

    Key Safety Systems, a U.S.-based components supplier owned by China’s Ningbo Joyson Electronic Corp, has agreed to buy Takata’s good assets such as seat belts and steering wheels, for $1.6 billion. The plan is for Takata’s air bag business to be wound down by March 2020 after making replacement inflators for the ongoing recalls.

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • Volkswagen group deliveries rise 4.2 percent in June

    Volkswagen group deliveries rise 4.2 percent in June

    Volkswagen Says group deliveries rise 4.2 percent to 920,700 in June. Volkswagen says June group deliveries rise 3.1 percent in Europe, 9.8 percent in the U.S., 5.2 percent in China.

    Volkswagen says January-June group deliveries rise 0.8 percent to 5.16 million.

    Lees ook:

  • Mercedes cars to face more emissions tests in Germany

    Mercedes cars to face more emissions tests in Germany

    Germany has found no signs so far that Mercedes-Benz used illegal software to manipulate diesel emissions but a new round of tests is being conducted, the transport ministry said on Friday.

    The Transport Ministry summoned officials from Daimler, which owns the Mercedes-Benz brand, to a meeting on Thursday to explain why some vehicles showed high levels of emissions under certain driving conditions.

    Engine management systems and software have come under scrutiny ever since Volkswagen admitted in Sept. 2015 that it had installed programs which cheat diesel emissions tests.

    “It was agreed that Mercedes vehicles will be tested by the KBA,” a ministry spokesman said on Friday, adding that Daimler had been cooperative and had reiterated its vehicles conform with emissions regulations.

    German magazine Der Spiegel on Friday said, without citing sources, that officials from the KBA, Germany’s vehicle certification authority, believe Mercedes-Benz may have diesel cars equipped with illegal cheating software.

    Upon being asked about the report in Der Spiegel, Daimler said that based on the information it had at its disposal, it would fight allegations about using an illegal software defeat device with all legal means.

    Upon being asked about whether KBA had found a defeat device in Mercedes cars, a KBA spokesman on Friday said, “We need to wait for the results of investigation to be published.”

    KBA reports to Germany’s transport ministry.

    Der Spiegel said that Germany’s Transport Ministry had threatened Mercedes with recalling vehicles equipped with OM642 and OM651 engines. Daimler said it could not comment on the contents of the meeting but denied there had been a threat of a forced recall.

    Germany’s Transport Ministry also said KBA had not threatened Daimler with a recall.

    In April last year, German Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt said carmakers including Mercedes would voluntarily recall 630,000 diesel vehicles to change engine and emissions management software.

    At the time, Dobrindt said regulators on the lookout for illegal emissions cheating software had found carmakers exploited a legal loophole to reduce emissions filtering systems.

    Under certain circumstances carmakers are allowed to throttle back emissions management systems to protect the engine. Cars which start up when it is very cold outside run the risk of having condensation build up in their catalytic converters and engines causing rust.

  • BMW greenlighted to find new dealer in Vietnam

    BMW greenlighted to find new dealer in Vietnam

    Vietnamese government has given the greenlight to the German automobile manufacturer BMW to access and run maintenance services on a batch of 700 BMW cars being held at Vietnamese ports after Euro Auto—BMW’s official distributor in Vietnam—was charged with scandalous violations of counterfeit paperwork.

    The leader of the government also affirmed that the BMW Group in Germany had no part in these violations, only its dealership in Vietnam. Hence, BMW must change its dealer in Vietnam to help maintain a transparent and attractive business environment.

    In order to be able to continue its business in Vietnam, the German automaker will have to terminate the rights of its current partner to import and distribute BMW cars in the country, while looking for another distributor.

    Dealer replacement is needed

    Since 2006, Euro Auto, as the officially authorised distributor of BMW in Vietnam, has helped the company to become one of the most successful luxury car brands in the market after previous failures in manufacturing cars locally, which eventually led to its withdrawal from the Hoa Binh Automobile joint venture.

    In fact, Euro Auto is backed by Sime Darby Group (Malaysia). By the end of 2013, Sime Darby Motors—a major affiliate of the Malaysian multidisciplinary group—has acquired a more than 90 per cent stake in Euro Auto Corp. (EAC) by purchasing Europe Automobiles and other shareholders’ stakes.

    Via Euro Auto, Sime Darby has brought several luxury and premium car models to Vietnam, for example the MINI and BMW brands, through a chain of showrooms and stores in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi.

    Currently, Sime Darby is the world’s third largest distributor of BMW. The giant also holds the rights to sell Land Rover, Mini, Rolls-Royce, Jaguar, Lamborghini or Porsche in many neighbouring countries, such as Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and China.

    In early 2016, Sime Darby established another subsidiary named Performance Motors Vietnam with similar functions to Euro Auto, selling BMW cars, spare parts, and accessories. When this company came into operation, Euro Auto shifted focus onto imports, while Performance Motors was responsible for distribution. Still, there was no clear separation between the firms regarding their functional businesses as they were both reported doing retail activities in Sime Darby’s 2016 annual report.

    However, after being accused of conducting fraudulent paperwork and declaring low import prices to evade tax, Euro Auto has apparently lost its credibility with other firms.

    In December 2016, the BWM dealer was found to have sold a shipment of imported cars while it was still waiting for clearance from the Ho Chi Minh City customs agency, in addition to violating multiple regulations, according to the Ministry of Finance (MoF).

    The company was accused of forging documents, including purchase contracts and receipts, while failing to provide certificates of origin for its cars—a sign of fraud and scamming. It also bought BMW vehicles without completing customs clearance or receiving the necessary customs authority permits. In December Vietnamese customs officials were ordered to halt all clearance procedures for BMW cars after MoF reported import violations, a ban that is said to be still in effect.

    Afterwards, the Ministry of Public Security announced on April 27 that Nguyen Dang Thao, general director of Euro Auto, and two other individuals involved had been arrested in the course of an investigation of a batch of German luxury cars smuggled into Vietnam. The names of the other two persons have been kept undisclosed.

    At the meeting with Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, the top executives of BMW also said that the company was seeking to invest in a factory in Vietnam as it would increase the localisation rate of many car components.

    According to experts, in order to achieve such a goal, the world’s big players usually choose to participate in a joint venture and technology transfer agreement with a local car manufacturer.

    There are many firms wanting to become BMW’s new distributor, including well-known names of the automobile industry and other multidisciplinary corporations that want to expand their portfolios. Yet for BMW, a joint venture with a local firm appears to be the best fit, to assemble cars in Vietnam.

    “Financial capability is not the key factor. Experience and the network infrastructure for distribution are supposed to be the core,” said the director of a luxury car company.

    This is also the path BMW and Sime Darby are pursuing in Malaysia. The joint venture between these two corporations was established in 2003, with a 51 per cent stake held by BMW and a 49 per cent by Sime Darby.

    Shortly after its establishment, the company started manufacturing some of the very first BMW models in Malaysia. To date, the plant has manufactured approximately 20 different commercial vehicle models under the brand names BMW and MINI, including Series 1, Series 3, X1 to X5 or Countryman, among others.

    Most recently, in April 2016, BMW Malaysia unveiled a plan to boost the assembly of BMW 3, 5, and 7 series sedans in Malaysia for export to Vietnam and the Philippines via Sime Darby’s distribution channels.

    Were it not for the Euro Auto incident, according to the company’s plan for 2018, Vietnamese customers would have purchased more BMW cars imported from Malaysia, not Germany. Then, BMW would have been granted tax incentives, particularly a zero per cent import tax, for import activities within the region as long as it could meet the requirement of a 40 per cent localisation rate.

    If BMW also adopts this model in Vietnam, the best possible way is to find a partner with good financial capabilities, a well-established distribution network across the country, and more importantly, a string of readily available factories and warehouses or bases for expansion. Other things involve agreements signed to regulate capital contributions and technology transfer or to attract investment from car accessory manufacturers and gradually increase the localisation rate.

    A long way ahead

    In Vietnam, the availability of these conditions is actually very limited. A prediction from industry insiders reckons that Sime Darby will still be in charge of the distribution of BMW cars, but through a different firm, not Euro Auto.

    It could be Performance Motors or a different agency. However, whoever will be BMW’s new representative, the giant still needs to invest in a joint venture with a large Vietnamese corporation so as to develop the plan to manufacture and assemble cars in Vietnam.

    If BMW cars are assembled and imported in Vietnam by a big company, the model used 20 years ago will come back. Around 1994, BMW cars were assembled at the factory of Hoa Binh Automobile Company (VMC), along with Mazda and Kia cars. However, all companies decided to “get out” because of undesirable failures. Mazda and Kia later came back to Truong Hai and started thriving.

    If BMW ties the knot with a big company, it will be the starting point of a new era for it to become the second luxury car brand manufactured in Vietnam, after Mercedes. The price may decrease if the proportion of domestic factors increases. The battle in the luxury car segment is also getting tougher with more noticeable opportunities for sales booming.

    After all, the luxury car brand of Bavaria is looking for a safe haven in Vietnam. It does not only want an extensive distribution system, services, factories, and warehouses ready for assembly and manufacturing, but also requires a stable policy framework in the long run.

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • Fiat Chrysler recalls 1.33 million vehicles over fire, air bag risks

    Fiat Chrysler recalls 1.33 million vehicles over fire, air bag risks

    Fiat Chrysler said on Friday it is recalling 1.33 million vehicles worldwide in two separate campaigns for potential fire risks and inadvertent airbag deployments.

    The Italian-American automaker said it is recalling about 770,000 sport utility vehicles because of a wiring issue that may lead to inadvertent deployment of the driver-side air bag and is linked to reports of five related minor injuries, but no crashes.

    The company said wiring could chafe against pieces of steering-wheel trim, potentially causing a short-circuit and ultimately leading to an inadvertent air bag deployment. The issue could also cause unintended windshield wiper operation or inoperable switches.

    The recall covers 538,000 2011-2015 Dodge Journey vehicles in North America and 233,000 2011-2015 Fiat Freemont crossovers sold elsewhere. Dealers will inspect and replace the wiring, as needed and equip it with additional protective covering.

    The automaker is also recalling 565,000 vehicles to replace their alternators because of fire risks. The company said hot ambient temperatures could lead to premature diode wear, may result in a burning odor or smoke, could impact the anti-lock braking system or lead to engine stalls.

    The company said it is aware of two potentially related accidents but no injuries.

    The recall covers 2011-2014 model year Chrysler 300, Dodge Charger and Dodge Challenger cars and Dodge Durango SUVs and 2012-2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee SUVs.

    In October, Fiat Chrysler recalled about 86,000 Ram 2500 and 3500 pickup trucks, 3500, 4500 and 5500 chassis cabs from the 2007-2013 model years and 2011-2014 Dodge Charger Pursuit sedans for the same alternator issue. Fiat Chrysler said at the time one minor injury was related to the recall.

    Dealers will replace the alternators.

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • Vietnam urged to focus on making 2-wheel vehicles

    Vietnam urged to focus on making 2-wheel vehicles

    While the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) and experts have decided that Vietnam needs to develop an automobile industry of its own, other experts believe that the ‘automobile dream’ is ‘far away’ and that Vietnam should focus on making 2-wheel vehicles.

    After five years of joining the market, Pega has announced it has succeeded in making electric vehicles, becoming the first Vietnamese brand in 2-wheel vehicle manufacturing.

    Pega’s products now have 85 percent of component value made domestically. Its main factory, covering an area of 15,000 square meters, located in Song Khe – Noi Hoang IZ in Bac Giang province, is designed to make 40,000 products a month.

    Pega’s major partners, the suppliers of components, have factories in Ha Dong district in Hanoi, Vinh Phuc and Bac Ninh. They are all prestigious companies which ensure high quality products. Vietnam’s bamboo-made bicycles worth thousands of dollars have also been launched into the domestic market and exported.

    Luong Thi Phi Loan, director of the Thien Chi Community Support & Development Center, a business in Binh Thuan province that manufactures and exports bicycles, said 80 percent of materials used on the bike are bamboo. The company has received numerous orders from the US and Germany.

    Vietbamboo is also a successful bamboo bicycle manufacturer with products sold between VND15 million and VND40 million.

    Analysts said that Vietnam has great opportunities to manufacture 2-wheel vehicles. It has a highly rated ecosystem with experienced component manufacturers which can satisfy requirements in materials, manufacturing standards, quality control and testing.

    Vietnam is one of the biggest personal 2-wheel vehicle consumer markets in the world.

    Analysts believe that it will continue to be a lucrative market in the upcoming years as demand has been increasing.

    To implement the localization plan, at first enterprises need to master the design and research, then seek component suppliers.

    They can also consider either making products in Vietnam or outsourcing to the ‘world’s production base’ – China.

    The localization will allow enterprises to stabilize production, satisfy market demand in the long term, and provide reasonable post-sale services.

    This will settle a problem now that manufacturers change design regularly and users have to throw away used vehicles because they cannot find high-quality spare parts.

    Le Hoang Long, CEO of Pega, said Vietnam now has excellent capability of making 2-wheel vehicles. He can also see great opportunities to cooperate with technology partners like Bosch and Panasonic to make electric scooters with smart features.

    Lees ook:

  • Honda recalls 2.1 million vehicles worldwide over fire risk

    Honda recalls 2.1 million vehicles worldwide over fire risk

    Honda Motor said on Friday it would recall about 2.1 million vehicles worldwide to replace battery sensors due to the risk of fire.

    Chris Martin, a spokesman for the Japanese automaker said the recall would include 1.15 million Honda Accord vehicles from the 2013-2016 model years in the United States, and nearly 1 million elsewhere, to replace a 12-volt battery sensor.

    The company said it had received four reports of engine compartment fires in the United States and at least one in Canada, in areas that use significant amounts of road salt during the winter. There have been no reported injuries.

    The automaker has received 3,972 U.S. warranty claims relating to the issue.

    The battery sensors may not be sufficiently sealed against moisture intrusion, Honda said. Over time, moisture may introduce road salt or other material into the battery sensor, leading to rust and eventual electrical shorting of the sensor.

    Due to the large size of the recall, Honda said dealers would initially adopt a temporary fix by applying an adhesive to prevent moisture intrusion, and then later replace the sensor.

    The company first received a claim of an engine compartment fire from Canada in 2015 and began investigating the issue. In early 2016, it received a claim of a similar fire in China.

    Honda introduced a redesigned battery sensor in June 2016. After an investigation of the China incident, the automaker said it initially believed the “future occurrence rate was estimated to be low,” but continued to probe the matter after receiving additional reports of fires.

  • Faraday Future moves electric SUV production site, mothballs Las Vegas plant

    Faraday Future moves electric SUV production site, mothballs Las Vegas plant

    Startup Faraday Future said it would move production of its planned luxury electric SUV to a new site, virtually scrapping a stalled $1 billion Las Vegas factory amid deepening financial woes of key investor Chinese entrepreneur Jia Yueting.

    Faraday is part of a network of young electric vehicle (EV) firms in China and the United States backed by Jia, who has said his company LeEco – that grew from a Netflix-like video website to a business empire spanning consumer electronics to cars within 13 years – is facing a severe shortage of cash after expanding too fast and in too many directions.

    Struggling to support goals that included beating Elon Musk’s Tesla in premium EV making, Jia is now trying to ride out the cash crunch by taking measures such as halting work on the Las Vegas factory and selling a Silicon Valley property less than a year after buying it from Yahoo.

    On the latest decision to shift production of Faraday’s luxury electric SUV FF 91 to a new site, the startup said: “This will allow product production to be realized faster, as well as allow our future strategy to be implemented more effectively.”

    For LeEco, this marks a second major setback to its ambition to become a major EV manufacturer after it recently pulled out of a joint project with British sports carmaker Aston Martin to develop RapidE electric car.

    Faraday had initially planned to open the Las Vegas factory late in 2017, with a product portfolio of seven models – an estimate that was later slashed to two, including the FF 91.

    Jia, who posted the Faraday statement on his social media account, did not name the new FF 91 production location. Faraday will continue to own the Nevada factory site.

    The FF 91 has been described by its designer as “weird-pretty” and Faraday executives say it will be the most technologically advanced vehicle of its kind on the market when it goes into production in early 2018. But cash shortages have raised questions about the company’s prospects.

    According to estimates from mutual fund investors, LeEco could see the market value of its listed unit, Leshi Internet Information & Technology Corp Beijing (300104.SZ), fall around $2.5 billion should its shares resume trading.

    The company is set to hold an extraordinary shareholders’ meeting on July 17 in the Chinese city of Shenzhen.