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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.

  • Moto boosts retail presence with 2 Moto concept stores

    Moto boosts retail presence with 2 Moto concept stores

    MOTO’S Philippine expansion remains at full throttle, with the opening of two new Moto Concept Stores in Metro Manila.

    Say #HelloMoto to two new stores located at the 4th level of Cyberzone areas in SM North EDSA Annex and SM Megamall both operated by MemoXpress.

    “The Philippines is a very important market for Moto, and we remain committed towards bringing the Moto experience to more Filipinos through our two new Moto Concept Stores. By offering greater product and service visibility, Moto is definitely on its way towards taking the Filipino digital lifestyle by storm,” said Dino Romano, Country Manager, Lenovo Mobile Business Group Philippines.

    As part of its goal to become the definitive #3 player in the global smartphone market, Lenovo is building scale and efficiency by expanding its Moto line across emerging markets, including the Philippines. Currently the fastest growing smartphone market in ASEAN, the Philippines has seen a total of 3.5 million smartphone shipments in the first quarter of this year, based on International Data Corporations (IDC)’s June 2016 report.

    Both Moto Concept Stores carry the newly-launched Moto smartphone lineup: its flagship line composed of Moto Z, Moto Z Play and the Moto Mods; its mid-range family, which consists of Moto G4 Plus, Moto G4 Play and Moto G Turbo; and the entry-level Moto E3 Power.

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  • Toyota adds 400 jobs to boost Princeton SUV capacity

    Toyota adds 400 jobs to boost Princeton SUV capacity

    Toyota said on Tuesday it would add 400 jobs at its Princeton, Indiana, vehicle assembly plant as part of a US$600m spend to meet “strong and growing demand” for the Highlander midsize SUV and modernise the entire factory.

    Funding will be used for retooling, new equipment and technology to make the plant more competitive.  The project is scheduled to begin in autumn 2019 and will add capacity for 40,000 extra vehicles annually.

    “This expansion project is part of Toyota’s localisation strategy to build vehicles where they are sold,” the automaker – recently criticised by President Trump for its new NAFTA Corolla plant under construction in Mexico – said in a statement.

    Toyota reiterated CEO Jim Lentz’s recent Detroit show announcement Toyota Motor North America would “invest an additional $10bn in the US over the next five years. This investment will be used to make the existing plants even more competitive”.

    Toyota responded earlier to Trump’s pre-inauguration criticism by emphasising its contribution to the US economy. “With more than $21.9bn direct investment in the US, 10 manufacturing facilities, 1,500 dealerships and 136,000 employees, Toyota looks forward to collaborating with the Trump administration to serve in the best interests of consumers and the automotive industry,” the company said previously.

    Toyota said its Tuesday announcement showed its commitment to continued US investment. The 20 year old Princeton plant produced a record 400,000-plus vehicles last year.

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  • One person, one car in Hanoi as it considers a new traffic plan

    One person, one car in Hanoi as it considers a new traffic plan

    Hanoi is considering limiting individuals to one car and one license plate to ease pressure on its roads due to the continuing rise of newly-registered vehicles.

    Colonel Dao Vinh Thang, the chief of the Hanoi traffic police force, made the proposal at a meeting on Friday, urging municipal leaders to consider the new regulation.“If people want to get a new vehicle, they must use the old license plate,” he added.

    16,000 new motorbikes and 500 new cars are registered in the city every month, official figures show. Five years ago, Hanoi’s traffic infrastructure could support 5 million vehicles, but now it has to cope with two or three times that amount, which authorities are really struggling to control, Thang said.

    Major General Tran The Quan from the Ministry of Public Security shared the same view, saying this type of restriction on vehicle ownership has been applied in other countries, and that transferring license plates from old cars to new vehicles could help lower registration costs.

    However, Quan said that since Vietnam’s current law doesn’t impose any limit on the number of vehicles citizens are allowed to own, the regulation would require a lot of amendments to existing decrees and government circulars.

    But the proposal has raised some eyebrows.

    Attorney Pham Thanh Binh, director of Bao Ngoc Law Company, warned that restricting vehicle ownership would risk violating the Constitution.

    “Vietnam’s Constitution says that all citizens have the right to buy or sell any assets that are not prohibited by the state,” said Binh.

    The attorney, however, supports the idea that each person should only be allowed one license plate which they can use for life.

    Statistics show that Hanoi has more than 5.5 million personal vehicles (nearly 500,000 cars and more than five million motorcycles). The numbers are expected to increase to more than 7.3 million motorbikes and 1.3 million cars by 2025.

    Hanoi recently launched a competition seeking solutions from the public to solve its serious congestion problems, with a first prize of $200,000.

    The capital has been trying to ease traffic by constructing more highways and overpasses and launching the city’s first bus rapid transit route, in addition to more normal buses. To ease congestion, the city previously suggested banning motorbikes from inner-city streets over the next four years. However, experts said the proposal was unfeasible due to undeveloped and insufficient public transport.

    Last September, the city’s top leader Hoang Trung Hai also put forward another plan to make vehicles park only on one side of the road, depending on whether it’s an odd or even day. To date, no additional details of the plan have been unveiled.

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  • China’s Future Mobility plans $1.7 bln electric car plant in Nanjing

    China’s Future Mobility plans $1.7 bln electric car plant in Nanjing

    Chinese electric car venture Future Mobility plans to build an 11.64 billion yuan ($1.7 billion) factory in Nanjing, aiming to capitalise on rising demand for electric cars in the world’s second-largest economy and elsewhere.

    The investment announced on Thursday comes despite a delay to planned funding from technology giant Tencent Holdings and Taiwan manufacturing heavyweight Foxconn , with Hong Kong-registered Future Mobility citing stricter implementation of China’s capital flow controls.

    China has ratcheted up controls on money leaving the mainland since last year in an effort to bolster a weakening yuan and prevent capital flight as the pace of economic growth slows.

    Future Mobility said it is in “close communication” with relevant parties, while a source with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters that the company has been able to find ample funding from other investors.

    Tencent and Foxconn did not respond to requests for comment outside of business hours.

    The Tencent and Foxconn money currently sits in a China-based fund established before the tightening of capital controls and Future Mobility is working with lawyers to devise mulitiple options to “find a smart way” to complete the investment, the source said.

    The source added that Foxconn and Tencent remain as backers despite the hiccup.

    “We didn’t (initially) find a way to get the funds to come from China to the company outside of China,” the source said. “The money is there.”

    The new factory will eventually have capacity to produce 300,000 cars a year. The company did not give an indication of when it expects to reach that output but said that the first phase of the plant’s construction will be completed by 2019.

    After that initial phase, the factory should be able to produce 150,000 vehicles a year, it said.

    China, struggling with high pollution levels in major cities, is aggressively pushing plug-in vehicles. Its carrot-and-stick approach combines heavy investment and research funding with subsidies, as well as regulations designed to discourage the driving of fossil-fueled cars in big cities.

    Future Mobility said the first product it plans to produce is expected to be a pure-electric medium-sized smart SUV and that vehicles produced at Nanjing will be sold globally.

    A company spokeswoman said that the first car is likely to have a price tag of about 300,000 yuan ($43,700) and is expected to hit the Chinese market in 2019.

  • China’s BYD plans to sell passenger cars in U.S. in 2-3 years

    China’s BYD plans to sell passenger cars in U.S. in 2-3 years

    BYD plans to sell electric passenger cars in the United States in about two to three years, an executive said on Thursday, as it races to be the first Chinese automaker to sell cars to American drivers.

    BYD, backed by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, specializes in electric and plug-in petrol-electric hybrid vehicles. At present, its U.S. presence is limited to producing buses and selling fleet vehicles such as taxis.

    Li Yunfei, BYD’s deputy general manager for branding and public relations, said its passenger car plan was not fixed as entering the U.S. was a complicated process.

    “It could be adjusted,” Li said at an event in Beijing. “Now we can only say roughly 2 to 3 years.”

    China’s government has used a raft of policies, including billions of dollars in subsidies, to spur a boom in electric and plug-in hybrid sales since 2015. The U.S., meanwhile, has lagged.

    BYD has had false starts in the U.S., with Chairman Wang Chuanfu previously saying the automaker would begin selling in the U.S. in 2010. Other Chinese peers have also encountered delays in entering the market.

    GAC Motor, a subsidiary of Guangzhou Automobile Group, displayed three models at the Detroit Auto Show earlier this month, stating it would enter the U.S. by 2019 instead of a previous goal of 2017.

    A GAC Motor spokeswoman declined to elaborate on the delay.

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  • Ford posted record sales in Philippines in 2016

    Ford posted record sales in Philippines in 2016

    Ford Philippines said it posted new record sales in 2016, the fourth in a row, with sales rising 33 percent to 33,688 vehicles, driven by continued strong demand for EcoSport, Everest and Ranger.

    The company said it also had the best-ever December performance in the Philippines with sales increasing 13 percent year-on-year to 3,198 vehicles.

    “Our big three nameplates – Ranger, Everest and EcoSport – continued to lead the charge throughout the year and further solidify the Ford brand as a top choice among Filipinos,” said Ford Philippines managing director Lance Mosley.

    The Everest became Ford’s best-seller in the Philippines in 2016 with full-year sales rising 152 percent year-on-year to a record 12,453 vehicles, finishing the year with a 6-percent rise in December sales to 1,066 vehicles.

    The EcoSport compact SUV also turned in its best-ever full-year performance with retail sales rising 15 percent to 10,010 vehicles, capping the year with December sales rising 40 percent to an all-time monthly record of 1,123 vehicles.  The Ranger, on the other hand, finished 2016 as the second best-selling pickup truck in the Philippines with total retail sales of 8,158 vehicles.

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  • Volkswagen won’t make Audi cars with SAIC in China before 2018

    Volkswagen won’t make Audi cars with SAIC in China before 2018

    German carmaker Volkswagen said on Wednesday it would not produce or sell any Audi cars with SAIC Motor until at least 2018, seeking first to strengthen ties with existing Audi partner China FAW Motor Corp .

    VW announced in November a non-binding agreement with SAIC to discuss a partnership regarding Audi AG, which is the best selling premium brand in China.

    Tying up with SAIC, China’s largest automaker, could boost slowing sales for the premium Audi brand as Daimler’s Mercedes and newer entrants such as General Motor’s Cadillac eat into its market share.

    “No sales, no production, nothing this year (2017),” state-owned China Daily on Wednesday quoted VW China chief Jochem Heizmann as saying.

    A VW spokesman confirmed Heizmann’s remarks, saying talks with SAIC were ongoing but that nothing “operational” would happen before 2018.

    “An agreement (with SAIC) could be reached in 2017 and there will be preparation with all the points for sales and production and so on,” an Audi spokeswoman told Reuters.

    “As soon as there is an agreement, there will be measures to fulfil this agreement, but right now we are just in talks and we have no agreement.”

    She added that while larger talks were ongoing, discussions about sales with SAIC were on hold until an agreement is reached resolving concerns of existing FAW dealers.

    Volkswagen gets a larger proportion of the proceeds from the 50-50 tie-up with SAIC than from its 40 percent stake in the venture with FAW.

    Joint ventures with VW and Audi have given FAW a lifeline as it struggles to create successful brands of its own.

    Existing dealers of Audi cars in a letter to the German firm last year said creating a new sales network would further damage an already tenuous situation as existing dealers suffer from slowing sales and generally operate at a loss.

    The Volkswagen spokesman said the priorities were first to strengthen ties with FAW, including with a recently agreed 10-year joint plan, second to resolve concerns of existing Audi dealers, and last, to move forward with a cooperation with SAIC.

    Audi said on Tuesday that its joint venture with FAW would introduce five more plug-in electric cars in China in the next five years, following on FAW and VW agreeing to a 10-year roadmap for the venture.

  • Samsung Elec to supply Exynos processors for Audi vehicles

    Samsung Elec to supply Exynos processors for Audi vehicles

    Tech giant Samsung Electronics said on Wednesday it will start supplying Volkswagen’s Audi with Exynos processors for the carmaker’s infotainment systems, expanding its chip sales for the auto business.

    Samsung said in a statement its Exynos processors will power up to four in-vehicle displays for Audi’s next-generation infotainment system without elaborating on the contract value or what vehicles Audi will use the chips for.

    Car Infotainment systems for cars are for displaying information such as navigation and playing audio or video. The systems also increasingly allow drivers to connect their phones to their vehicles.

    The world’s top maker of smartphones and memory chips has been trying to boost sales of components for automobiles to boost growth. Samsung already supplies memory chips to Audi.

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  • China, Europe drive shift to electric cars

    China, Europe drive shift to electric cars

    Electric cars will pick up critical momentum in 2017, many in the auto industry believe – just not in North America.

    Tighter emissions rules in China and Europe leave global carmakers and some consumers with little choice but to embrace plug-in vehicles, fuelling an investment surge, said industry executives gathered in Detroit this past week for the city’s annual auto show.

    “Car electrification is an irreversible trend,” said Jacques Aschenbroich, chief executive of auto supplier Valeo, which has expanded sales by 50 percent in five years with a focus on electric, hybrid, connected and self-driving cars.

    In Europe, green cars benefit increasingly from subsidies, tax breaks and other perks, while combustion engines face mounting penalties including driving and parking restrictions.

    China, struggling with catastrophic pollution levels in major cities, is aggressively pushing plug-in vehicles. Its carrot-and-stick approach combines tens of billions in investment and research funding with subsidies, and regulations designed to discourage driving fossil-fueled cars in big cities.

    The road ahead for electric vehicles (EVs) in the United States, however, could have more hairpin curves.

    Regulators in California and a group of other U.S. states are pushing ahead with state-level rules mandating rising quotas for electric, or “zero emission” vehicles.

    But plug-in registrations in the United States fell in 2015, and the market share of electric-only vehicles declined further to 0.37 percent in 2016, as cheap fuel drove demand for gas-guzzling sport utility vehicles and pickup trucks.

    President-elect Donald Trump has pledged to roll back environmental and climate rules. Groups representing established automakers asked Trump to review Obama administration fuel economy targets out to 2025, even before the outgoing administration formally signed them into effect on Friday.

    Automakers have also asked Trump to work toward a single, national set of rules to govern automotive greenhouse gas emissions, a move that could spark legal challenges to electric car quotas in California and other states on grounds they present a separate standard.

    “THE WORLD IS GOING ELECTRIC”

    Still, industry executives in Detroit said hitting the brakes on electric vehicles in the United States would not relieve the pressure to bring them to market, because China and Europe are forging ahead with policies to expand sales of plug-in cars.

    That is why Ford (F.N) is moving forward with previously announced plans to invest $4.5 billion for plug-in vehicles by 2020, Chief Executive Mark Fields said earlier this month.

    “The industry is changing, the infrastructure’s starting to build, and that’s why our view is (that) within the next 15 years we’ll see more electrified offerings … than we’ll see gasoline-powered,” Fields said as he unveiled a $700 million plan to build a battery SUV and other plug-in vehicles in Flat Rock, Michigan.

    To drive the shift to electric, industry executives said they needed more help from governments. In China, Europe and the United States, automakers are advocating new infrastructure money go to public electric car charging networks.

    In the United States, EV manufacturers are pushing for the continuation of a $7,500 federal tax subsidy for consumers who buy a fully electric car. Even if Trump were to try to eliminate it, it would take time as Congress would have to act.

    “There is not a disagreement that the world is going electric,” California Air Resources Board Chair Mary Nichols said on the sidelines of the auto show, noting that all vehicle makers were now investing in electric models across their entire product lines. The debate, she said, was “over timing, not the goal.”

    The Chinese electric car market cast its shadow over the Detroit auto show, where manufacturers showed off plug-in hybrid and electric models that will likely do scant business in the United States.

    IHS Automotive predicts Chinese plug-in deliveries will hit 1 million in 2019, four years before the United States. China pulled ahead in 2015 with a fourfold sales surge before adding 55 percent last year to 348,000 vehicles, with the United States at 138,000.

    “Look to China rather than the U.S. for the future of electric cars,” Gerard Detourbet, a Renault-Nissan executive leading low-cost plug-in development, said recently. “China is compelled to act – that’s the main difference.”

  • Ford recalls Kugas after cars burst into flames

    Ford recalls Kugas after cars burst into flames

    U.S. auto-maker Ford will recall 4,500 Kuga SUVs sold in South Africa after dozens of reports of the vehicles catching fire spontaneously, the head of the company’s South Africa unit said on Monday.

    In a joint statement with the National Consumer Commission (NCC), Ford’s Southern Africa President and chief executive Jeff Nemeth said the company could confirm 39 incidents of the cars catching fire.

    “We are not aware of any injuries that have resulted from our engine compartment fires,” Nemeth told a media briefing.

    He said early investigations revealed that fires in the Kuga 1.6 liter model, imported from Spain, were likely due to overheating caused by a lack of coolant circulation which could lead to a crack in the cylinder head and oil leaks.

    If oil reached a hot engine component it could catch fire, Nemeth said. Ford officials said at the briefing that hot weather in South Africa could be a contributing factor.

    The voluntary recall of the 4,500 cars is down from a previous estimate of 6,300, and will only affect Kuga models built between December 2012 and February 2014.

    Nemeth refused to reveal the cost of the recall to Ford, which will replace affected components on the cooling system, update software and conduct tests on cylinder heads.

    In October, the company’s North American arm recalled 400,000 units of the Ford Escape – the U.S. version of the Kuga – also due to engine problems.

    “A product that poses any risk to our consumers does not have a place in our market place,” NCC commissioner Ebrahim Mohamed said at the briefing.

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  • Takata to pay $1 billion to settle U.S. air bag probe

    Takata to pay $1 billion to settle U.S. air bag probe

    Japan’s Takata is expected to plead guilty to criminal wrongdoing as early as Friday as part of a $1 billion settlement with the U.S. Justice Department over its handling of air bag ruptures linked to 16 deaths worldwide, sources said.

    The settlement includes a $25 million criminal fine, $125 million in victim compensation and $850 million to compensate automakers who have suffered losses from massive recalls, the sources said.

    The settlement also calls for an independent monitor of the Japanese auto parts manufacturer. It could help Takata win financial backing from an investor to potentially restructure and pay for massive liabilities from the world’s biggest auto safety recall.

    The company is poised to plead guilty to wire fraud, or providing false test data to U.S. regulators, according to the sources, who were not authorized to discuss the settlement publicly.

    In 2015, Takata admitted in a separate $70 million settlement with U.S. auto safety regulators that it was aware of a defect in its air bag inflators but did not issue a timely recall.

    It admitted it provided the regulator, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), with “selective, incomplete or inaccurate data” dating back at least six years and also provided automakers with selective, incomplete or inaccurate data.

    The wire fraud charge is expected to be filed in U.S. District Court in Detroit. The Justice Department is considering naming Ken Feinberg, a longtime compensation adviser, to oversee the Takata settlement funds. He declined to comment on Thursday.

    The settlement is expected to include restitution to some victims and automakers, who have been forced to recall vehicles with the defective inflators. Honda Motor Co (7267.T) and Takata have settled nearly all lawsuits filed in connection with fatal crashes. The recall impacts 19 automakers including Ford Motor Co (F.N), General Motors Co (GM.N), Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T), Volkswagen AG (VOWG_p.DE) Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV (FCHA.MI).

    Takata spokesman Jared Levy declined to comment.

    Deaths linked to the company’s air bag inflators include 11 in the United States – nearly all in Honda vehicles. Regulators have said recalls would eventually affect about 42 million U.S. vehicles with nearly 70 million Takata air bag inflators, making this the largest safety recall in U.S. history.

    Takata is expected to agree to come up with the $1 billion within a year or when it secures a financial backer.

    Senators Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Edward Markey of Massachusetts backed a Takata deal but said in a joint statement they were “deeply concerned that the DOJ settlement appears to only target Takata Corporation and no executives.” The senators also said that if the company “files for bankruptcy, its new creditors, and not Takata, would be responsible for paying criminal fines on the company’s behalf.”

    Reuters reported in November Takata was considering a bankruptcy filing for its U.S. unit as the air bag maker looks for a sponsor to help pay for liabilities related to its faulty air bag inflators.

    The inflators can explode with excessive force, launching metal shrapnel at passengers in cars and trucks. Many of those killed were involved in low-speed crashes that they otherwise may have survived, including a 17-year-old high school senior in Texas killed last year. At least 184 people have been injured in the United States as well.

    In November 2015, Takata agreed to pay a $70 million fine for safety violations with U.S. auto safety regulators and could face deferred penalties of up to $130 million under a NHTSA settlement.

    The agency named a former U.S. Justice Department official to oversee the Takata recalls and the company’s compliance with the safety settlement.

    Last month, NHTSA said it would press the auto industry to accelerate the pace of replacements for defective Takata inflators and signaled a likely widening of the safety recall. Only about one third of the inflators recalled have been replaced, leaving more than 30 million to be fixed.

    In June, NHTSA warned that Takata air bag inflators on more than 300,000 unrepaired recalled Honda vehicles showed a substantial risk of rupturing, and urged owners to stop driving the “unsafe” cars pending a fix.

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  • Thai electric car rolls out

    Thai electric car rolls out

    Thailand’s first electric car brand has made its debut amid scepticism from an industry expert about its commercial viability. Vera Automotive, founded on Oct 7, 2015 by five Thai engineers from King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang (KMITL), yesterday introduced the Vera V1 battery electric vehicle (BEV), powered with a battery capacity of 22 kilowatts per hour, which can be registered with the Land Transport Department as a passenger car.

    The maximum speed of the Vera V1 is up to 105 kilometres an hour. It can run up to 180km per charge, which takes six hours to complete.

    Co-founder Wanchai Meesiri said all Vera cars are designed by Thai engineers under the Thai brand, but the company has hired the Chinese carmaker Geely Automotive to produce the BEVs. The company imports the cars as completely built-up (CBU) vehicles to Thailand.

    Vera V1 is subject to all related taxes similar to other imported vehicles, including an 80% import duty, a 10% excise tax for all types of electric vehicles, a 10% interior tax and a 7% value-added tax.

    Yossapong Laoonual, chairman of the Electric Vehicle Association of Thailand (Evat), said it’s a good sign for the country to create its own electric vehicles, even if the vehicles are made by foreign firms.

    A retail price below 1 million baht is affordable for Thai customers, he said.

    But Asst Prof Yossapong warned that any startup that is selling electric vehicles has to plan its marketing strategy carefully, as the Thai car market has many dimensions for consumers to consider, including brand, service and trust.

    “Electric vehicles for Thailand remain very new, and they’re unlikely to become popular or proliferate in the short term,” he said. “If you are a new company or brand, the best solution is to sell electric vehicles as a fleet to other agencies, which are easier to provide after-sales services for.”

    Mr Wanchai said the primary purpose for establishing Vera Automotive is to make Thai BEVs for the local market.

    Managing director and co-founder Werachet Khan-ngern said Vera vehicles aim to capture only a niche market.

    He expects to sell about 100 units of Vera this year.

    “We hope in the foreseeable future the government will come up with clearer policies and supporting measures once the number of electric vehicles increases,” Mr Werachet said.

    He said the firm will provide after-sales services at its head office on Ladprakao Road.

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  • Bosch’s new electric power steering system offers new level of safety

    Bosch’s new electric power steering system offers new level of safety

    German automotive components technology supplier Bosch has announced the global debut of its Electric Power Steering (EPS) system with fail-operational function at the North American International Auto Show.

    The system, which enables either a driver or auto pilot system to make a safe stop in the rare case of a single failure, is a key requirement on the path to fully automated driving.

    The fail-operational technology will enable OEMs to comply with the fall back strategies as proposed in the Federal Automated Vehicles Policy documents from the US Department of Transportation (DOT) and National Traffic Highway Safety Association (NHTSA).

    “Highly automated driving can make a significant contribution to improving road safety and we’ve seen great interest from our OEM customers as well as the public in this technology,” said Mike Mansuetti, president of Robert Bosch LLC.

    “The addition of automotive steering after the acquisition of our former joint venture ZF Lenksysteme GmbH allows us to better serve our customers with integrated system solutions on the path to highly automated driving. The new EPS with fail-operational function represents a milestone of the integration of automotive steering into our mobility solutions portfolio and is an essential technology to safely realize automated driving.”

    EPS with fail-operational function from Bosch enables an independent return to a minimal risk condition with about 50 percent electric steering support via an electrical fallback solution, claims the company.

    The system is able to detect a failure in the steering system and move to the electrical fallback solution. If the driver is still in the loop, they can safely steer the vehicle without the sudden increase in steering force.

    For highly automated driving, the EPS with fail-operational function will enable the system to recognize the situation and automatically steer the vehicle to a safe stop without bringing the driver back into the loop.

    Bosch has designed the system in a highly integrated way that leads to a costeffective solution for OEMs. Start of production for the EPS with fail-operational function in a scalable modular kit is planned for 2020.

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  • Ford bets on Mustang to power up China profits

    Ford bets on Mustang to power up China profits

    Ford Motor is betting on one of its most distinctively American models, the Mustang muscle car, to boost the company’s sales and profits in China.

    Ford began selling the Mustang in China in early 2015, and it is a niche vehicle, selling at a rate of about 3,000 cars a year. Still, that makes the Mustang, which starts at 399,800 yuan ($57,670) the top-seller in a sporty car segment against more expensive vehicles like the Audi TT and the Nissan Skyline GT-R. Mustang last year outsold the Chevrolet Camaro from General Motors Co by nearly 15 to one.

    With styling that harks back to 1960s Detroit muscle cars, the Mustang stands out in a Ford lineup dominated by practical sedans and sport utility vehicles. Ford’s sales in China grew by 50 percent in 2013 and 20 percent in 2014, but in 2015 the pace slowed to 3 percent. In 2016, Ford added the Lincoln luxury brand to its China lineup and expanded sales by 14 percent.

    Industry analysts said Ford’s China market profits and profitability were relatively healthy, with operating margins for Ford’s joint ventures with Chongqing Changan Automobile Co Ltd (000625.SZ) and Jiangling Motors Corp (JMC) (000550.SZ) in the 14-16 percent range over the past three years.

    But competition in the world’s largest car market continues to heat up as global automakers, from GM to Volkswagen AG to Toyota Motor Corp, add more models to product ranges. Indigenous Chinese automakers, too, are launching models that can compete more head-on with global carmakers’ products.

    Ford officials said the company’s China operations did not have specific profit objectives but were trying to keep margins in their current “healthy” range.

    “In terms of having a pricing power on your brand, you want people to be choosing your brand for rational reasons, but if you could also (combine) that with emotional reasons, that’s when you get some pricing power,” Peter Fleet, Ford’s executive in charge of sales and marketing for the Asia-Pacific region told Reuters.

    The Mustang and the F-150 Raptor, a high performance version of Ford’s F-150 large pickup truck, provide the emotion, he said.

    The formula works for Dong Zirui, a 27-year-old small rental car business owner in the northeastern China city of Tangshan who bought a Mustang late last year.

    “The Mustang is a rear-wheel-drive car,” said Dong who decided to buy the Mustang when he spotted photos of it online. “It’s a savage when you try some drifting stunts with the car.” But Dong said he can fit his wife and young son in the car when he needs to.

    Dealers say the Mustang brings in two types of buyers to Ford stores: younger drivers, mostly younger than 30 years of age, from upper-middle class families, who have recently finished their studies and have financial support from their parents, as well as drivers in their 30s and 40s who have work or life experience outside China.

    “Ford has a cleaner sheet in China, so there might be an opening for those halo cars to help the company improve its brand image,” said James Chao, Asia-Pacific chief for consulting and research firm IHS Markit Automotive, referring to China being a relatively young market.

    As Chinese consumers typically make car purchasing decisions based on word-of-mouth advice from their family and friends, Mustang buyers can be influential opinion leaders for Ford.

    Guo Xin, a 30-year-old rally car racer and stunt driver for films and commercials in Beijing, said he liked the Mustang so much that in 2011 he helped form a Mustang Club of China which now has some 2,000 members.

    “Growing up I used to see the Mustang in movies,” said Guo who drives a 2006 Mustang and also owns a 1966 Mustang.

    Guo’s classic Mustang would turn heads even in Detroit. But he cannot take it out on public roads. Used cars brought in from outside China cannot be registered in the country.

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  • South Korea approves VW recall of Tiguan vehicles

    South Korea approves VW recall of Tiguan vehicles

    South Korea said on Thursday it has approved Volkswagen’s (VOWG_p.DE) plan to fix 27,000 Tiguan sports utility vehicles to ensure they comply with emissions standards, after previously rejecting the German automaker’s proposals three times.

    Government tests showed the proposed fix to remove software that cheats emissions tests did not affect fuel economy or performance, the environment ministry said in a statement.

    The vehicles comprising two Tiguan variants were among the 125,522 vehicles South Korea ordered Volkswagen to recall in November 2015 after it admitted to cheating emissions tests around the world.

    Plans to fix the remaining 99,000 vehicles will be reviewed, the ministry said.

    South Korea has taken a tough line on Volkswagen, slapping it with a record fine, suspending sales and on Wednesday indicting seven current and former executives and employees in the wake of the emissions-test cheating.

    Volkswagen’s sales in Asia’s fourth-biggest economy slumped to their first annual decline in 12 years in 2016 as a result of the sales suspension.

    The carmaker has also recently received approvals from U.S. and German authorities for vehicle fixes.

    In the United States, Volkswagen on Wednesday agreed to pay the largest ever U.S. criminal fine levied on an automaker to settle charges that it conspired for nearly 10 years to cheat on diesel emission tests.

    U.S. prosecutors also charged six current and former senior Volkswagen executives for their roles in the scheme.

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