Death of diesel looms as carmakers accelerate to electric future

PARIS - The world's biggest diesel engine factory in Tremery, eastern France, is undergoing a radical overhaul - it's switching to make electric motors.

From less than 10% of output in 2020, electric motor production at Tremery will double to around 180,000 in 2021, and is planned to reach 900,000 a year - or more than half the plant's peak pre-pandemic output - by 2025.

The shift is testament to a car industry in flux. Demand for diesel cars has slumped since a 2015 pollution scandal, while tough new EU regulations, which fine carmakers for exceeding emissions limits, are pushing them to make more electric models.

So, in the midst of a pandemic and with the level of consumer demand for battery-driven cars still uncertain, automakers from Volkswagen to Nissan are ditching diesel models and ramping up output of electric drives.

"2021 is going to be a pivotal year, the first real transition towards the world of electric models," said Laetitia Uzan, a representative for the CFTC union at Tremery.

But for Tremery's 3,000 workers, and the wider car industry, there's an added complication.

Electric motors only have a fifth of the parts of a traditional diesel engine, putting a question mark over jobs.

Uzan acknowledged a risk that fewer staff may be needed, but was optimistic that could happen "quite naturally" as workers retire without being replaced.

Tremery's owner Stellantis - newly created from the merger of Peugeot maker PSA and Fiat Chrysler to help tackle the industry changes - has said it won't close factories and will seek to protect jobs.

But some industry researchers warn Europe's car manufacturers, already suffering from overcapacity, will have to make big cuts in order to deliver the investments needed to catch up with U.S. electric car pioneer Tesla.

French car lobby group PFA estimates 15,000 jobs linked to diesel are at risk in France, out of 400,000 employed by the industry as a whole.

IAB, a German labour research institute, calculates the arrival of electric vehicles could threaten 100,000 jobs in Germany, or about one in eight German auto industry jobs.

'UNPRECEDENTED YEAR'

The transition from diesel is particularly marked in Europe, where sales of diesel vehicles made up at least 50% of the total as recently as 2015, according to data from research group JATO Dynamics, far higher than in both North America and Asia.

At least 20 car models will no longer offer diesel versions in 2021, from Volkswagen's Polo and Renault's Scenic to Nissan's Micra and Honda's Civic, according to researchers IHS Markit, which says 2021 will be "an unprecedented year" in the shift away from diesel.

Meanwhile, a slew of new electric models will hit showrooms.

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, Britain's car lobby group, expects 29 new fully-electric and seven plug-in hybrid models will be launched in the country this year, compared with 26 internal combustion engine models - only 14 of which will have diesel variants.

There are encouraging signs that consumer interest in electric vehicles is picking up.

In September, EU registrations of electrified vehicles - fully electric, plug-in hybrid or hybrid - overtook diesel registrations for the first time, according to JATO data.

EU sales of fully-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles surged 122% in the first nine months of 2020, at a time when overall vehicle sales fell 29% due to the pandemic.

But they still only accounted for around 8% of total sales, with some drivers put off by the limited availability of charging points and higher cost of many electrified models.

At Renault's Cleon plant near the northern French coast, the switch from diesel is well under way, with only half a building housing the assembly lines for diesel motors while hybrid and electric motors are spread over two whole buildings.

"If an employee came back after several years away, they wouldn’t recognize the place," said Lionel Anglais, a union representative with oversight of manufacturing at Renault.

-reuters

Tesla moves a step closer to building electric cars in China

BEIJING/DETROIT | Tesla Inc took a step closer toward establishing an electric vehicle manufacturing plant in China with its announcement on Thursday that it is in exploratory talks with the Shanghai municipal government.

Tesla has said it wants to build electric cars in China to avoid a 25-percent tariff on imported vehicles.

The company did not provide a timeline for setting up a China plant, but said it expects to “more clearly define” its China production plans by the end of the year.

Tesla shares closed up 1.7 percent at $382.61 in Thursday trading.

China’s central government requires foreign companies such as Tesla to have a Chinese partner in new auto manufacturing ventures, with the foreign company owning no more than 50 percent.

Tesla did not say which companies it might partner with, sparking rampant online speculation. At least three companies – Shanghai Electric Group Co, Shanghai Lingang Holdings Co and Tianjin Motor Dies Co – reported in exchange filings that they were not in touch with Tesla about its plans in response to media reports implicating them.

Much of the speculation has centered on Tencent Holdings Ltd, the internet giant that is China’s largest company. Earlier this year, Tencent acquired a five-percent stake in Tesla for $1.8 billion (1.4 billion pounds).

Tesla has not said which vehicles it plans to build in China. However, a supplier familiar with the company’s thinking said it was considering the Model 3 sedan and a crossover companion called Model Y. The Model 3 is slated to begin production in July at Tesla’s Fremont plant in California, with the Model Y tentatively scheduled to follow in mid-2019.

In a separate but related development, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said on Thursday he was concerned about Ford Motor Co’s announcement earlier this week that it will move some production of its Focus small car to China and import the vehicles to the United States.

“If it happened for reasons that are non-economic reasons, then I think the administration should take action,” Lighthizer told U.S. lawmakers.

Tesla is the most valuable U.S. automaker, with a market capitalization of more than $60 billion, but it has yet to turn an annual profit.

source: interaksyon.com

Toyota recalling fuel-cell Mirai vehicles

TOKYO, Japan — Toyota said Wednesday it is recalling all the Mirai fuel-cell vehicles it has sold globally due to a software glitch that can shut off its hydrogen-powered system.

The auto giant said it would call back about 2,800 Mirai vehicles made between November 2014 and December 2016 to repair the defect.

Toyota launched Mirai — which means “future” in Japanese — in late 2014 as it looked to push further into the fast-growing market for environmentally friendly cars.

Mirai was its first mass-market hydrogen fuel-cell car, after Toyota scored a win with the top-selling Prius hybrid, which combines a regular engine and rechargeable electric battery.

Separately, Toyota on Wednesday launched a new plug-in model of its Prius, after the first version sold poorly following its 2012 release.

The new model can run in electric-only mode — unlike the original Prius — at higher speeds and longer distances than the previous version, Toyota said.

Fuel cells, meanwhile, work by combining hydrogen and oxygen in an electrochemical reaction, which produces electricity. This can then be used to power vehicles or home generators.

But a lack of hydrogen refuelling stations has been a major hurdle to bringing fuel-cell cars into the mainstream.

The Mirai was launched with a relatively expensive 6.7 million yen ($58,000) price tag.

source: interaksyon.com

CES 2017 | The future of car tech: getting to know you

LAS VEGAS — The car of the future doesn’t just want to drive you. It wants to know you.

The automotive technology showcased at the Consumer Electronics Show over the past week was in part about self-driving vehicles, but also about personalizing the driving experience.

Artificial intelligence and facial recognition will allow vehicles to let you in (if it’s your car), and adjust the seating, lighting, music or other elements of the environment for you, automatically.

“The idea is to be more than a machine, to be a partner, make you happy,” said Toyota’s Amanda McCoy, who explained some of the innovations of the Japanese automaker’s Concept-i vehicle at the Las Vegas tech show.

The manufacturers want the car to hold a conversation, help you make a shopping list and determine where and how you want to travel.

In a demonstration, the Toyota vehicle started a conversation and suggested potential destinations for the driver. Its camera detected that the driver was in an upbeat mood and thus suggested “the happier route.”

The concept car will also keep a driver alert to potential perils on the road, with sound and light signals. Moving to autonomous mode, it allows the seats to recline.

Swiss-based group Rinspeed showed a prototype electric car called Oasis with a miniature garden inside.

The vehicle with an “intelligent rolling chassis” can also operate in autonomous mode, converting its windshield into a screen for videoconferencing.

“The interior of the car in the future will be redefined entirely, to meet different needs,” said Rinspeed chief executive Frank Rinderknecht.

Rinderknecht said the company has no plans to produce an entire vehicle but use elements of the company’s technology, which could be available in a few years.

Other technologies shown in Las Vegas could turn the car into a payments platform. Honda, for example, said it was working with Visa to allow motorists to pay directly from the vehicle for parking or refueling, for example.

Several automakers at CES unveiled plans to move forward on autonomous driving technology. But they also showcased ways to incorporate virtual and augmented reality, use voice systems and other technology to personalize the experience.

Digital assistant on board

One part of that experience is the “digital assistant” which is making inroads in connected homes.

Ford announced it would incorporate voice-controlled Amazon’s Alexa onboard while Renault-Nissan and BMW announced plans to use Microsoft Cortana.

Hyundai is installing sensors in its seating which evaluate posture and in seatbelts to monitor respiration. This could allow an intelligent car to know if a driver is having a heart attack or falling asleep at the wheel.

The South Korean giant is experimenting with a number of ways to deal with different scenarios: it may use blue lights or cold air to wake up a groggy driver, or change the enviroment to calm a stressful one.

“If we can see the mood (of the driver), we can probably do something with this information and modify the environment,” said Hyundai’s David Mitropoulos-Rundus.

Even if a car is autonomous, Mitropoulos-Rundus said there will be times when a driver will need to assume control, and the automaker want a system to “re-engage him in emergency situation.”

source: interaksyon.com

Google autonomous car project teams with FiatChrysler

SAN FRANCISCO, California — Google parent Alphabet on Tuesday announced that it has partnered with Fiat Chrysler in a major expansion of its fleet of self-driving vehicles.

The Google autonomous test fleet would be more than doubled with the addition of 100 new 2017 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid minivans, with the companies aiming to have some on the road by the end of this year.

The collaboration with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) marks the first time that the California-based Internet giant has worked directly with an automaker to build self-driving vehicles.

“FCA will design the minivans so it’s easy for us to install our self-driving systems, including the computers that hold our self-driving software, and the sensors that enable our software to see what’s on the road around the vehicle,” the car team said in a post at the Google+ social network.

The minivan design also provides opportunity to explore the potential of large self-driving vehicles that could be used mass-transit style with features such as hands-free sliding doors for getting in or out, according to the post.

Alphabet said it was not licensing its autonomous car technology, nor would it be selling the self-driving minivans.

The move signals that Google has a particular interest in “people mover type vehicles” with the potential to autonomously shuttle passengers about in settings such as college campuses, cities or shopping districts, Kelley Blue Book analyst Karl Brauer told AFP.

“I’m confident that Google feels that is where the greatest mission potential for the autonomous vehicle is.”

Google began testing its autonomous driving technology in 2009, using a Toyota Prius equipped with the tech giant’s equipment. It now has some 70 vehicles, including Lexus cars adapted by Google and its in-house designed cars unveiled in 2014.

FCA will design and engineer minivans uniquely built for self-driving technology that Google will integrate into vehicles, according to the carmaker.

Accelerating efforts

The companies will position engineering teams at a facility in Michigan to accelerate the design, testing and manufacturing of the self-driving Chrysler Pacifica.

“The opportunity to work closely with FCA engineers will accelerate our efforts to develop a fully self-driving car that will make our roads safer and bring everyday destinations within reach for those who cannot drive,” said Google Self-Driving Car Project chief executive John Krafcik.

The US agency in charge of highway safety early this year provided feedback indicating that a bubble-shaped autonomous car built by Alphabet could qualify as being its own driver.

In a written response to a query from the Silicon Valley-based technology firm, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said that since the self-driving cars lacks steering wheels or other controls for humans, it is “more reasonable to identify the driver as whatever (as opposed to whoever) is doing the driving.”

While the administration’s response didn’t change rules of the road, it is seen as a green light of sorts for getting autonomous vehicles to market.

Packed starting line

Google has been testing self-driving cars on California roads for a while, and an array of automobile makers including Audi, Ford, Mercedes, Lexus, Tesla and BMW are working on building self-driving capabilities into vehicles.

FCA chief executive officer Sergio Marchionne said the partnership may help boost innovation in the sector.

“The experience both companies gain will be fundamental to delivering automotive technology solutions that ultimately have far-reaching consumer benefits,” he said.

The US administration pledged in January to help clear the way for autonomous vehicles with an investment of $4 billion to fund research and testing projects.

A Chinese auto firm revealed last month that it was buying two foreign companies and their self-driving technologies for more than $1 billion.

Ningbo Joyson Electronic Corp. said it signed an agreement to buy US-based Key Safety Systems (KSS) Holdings Inc.

Ningbo, which provides driver control systems to auto giants such as General Motors and Mercedes-Benz, also plans to buy the car navigation business of Germany’s TechniSat Digital GmbH.

Chinese tech giant Baidu, which has opened a California research center for autonomous driving, has said it is planning to produce driverless cars by 2020.

The Alphabet-FCA collaboration could “easily encourage an Apple, an Uber or another technology company to follow the same path and work more closely with an auto maker,” according to Kelley Blue Book’s Brauer.

source: interaksyon.com

Peugeot Citroen reveals ‘real-world’ fuel consumption

GENEVA, Switzerland — Leading French automobile manufacturer PSA Peugeot Citroen published Tuesday “real-world” fuel consumption figures for three of its diesel cars, seeking to win over wary customers after the Volkswagen pollution cheating scandal.

Peugeot Citroen said the initiative was a world first, launched in the aftermath of German rival Volkswagen’s admission last year that it had fitted 11 million diesel engines worldwide with devices that fool official pollution tests.

“We were obviously shocked by what happened with Volkswagen-gate and in some way, like the profession, the whole automobile industry, we were affected by the situation and deeply upset,” Carlos Tavares, chairman of the group’s managing board, said on the sidelines of the Geneva International Motor Show.

“It was important to safeguard our customers’ trust in relation to knowing their automobiles’ consumption,” he told a conference.

The French car maker said the results were based on tests designed by two environmental groups, Transport & Environment and France Nature Environment.

The cars were driven on public roads in town, outside town and on motorways near Paris in “real-life” driving conditions with passengers, luggage, roads with hills and the air conditioning switched on, Peugeot Citroen said in a statement.

“Peugeot Citroen is the first car maker to adopt such an approach,” the company said.

Peugeot Citroen promised to reveal the real-world fuel consumption results for 30 models “before summer 2016″.

Learn from past mistakes
As expected, all the “real-world” fuel consumption figures exceeded the results of the existing official laboratory-style New European Driving Cycle (NEDC) tests, which were thrown into question by the Volkswagen scandal.

The “real world” tests showed:

- A medium-sized sedan Peugeot 308 consumed 5.0 litres for 100 kilometres, compared to just 3.2 litres in the NEDC tests;

- A Citroen C4 Picasso people carrier drank 5.6 litres for 100 km, compared to 4.0 litres in the NEDC tests;

- And the premium subcompact DS 3 used 4.9 litres over 100 km, compared to 3.6 litres in the NEDC tests.

All three cars were equipped with 1.6-litre, 120-horsepower engines with manual gearboxes.

New official tests called the Worldwide Harmonized Light Vehicles Test Procedures, aimed at better measuring real-world fuel or energy consumption and pollution emissions are being defined for introduction in 2017.

For now, the official NEDC tests are the only recognised thermometer for car performance in Europe, said Gilles Le Borgne, head of research and development at Peugeot Citroen.

“If others want to join our initiative we would be delighted,” he said, adding however that no other manufacturer had shown interest in doing so.

Peugeot Citroen first announced the real-world testing initiative in November last year, two months after the Volkswagen cheating scandal broke.

Volkswagen admitted the existence of the illegal cheat software on diesel engines which limits the output of toxic nitrogen oxides during emissions tests by regulators.

But when the vehicles are in actual use, the software allows them to spew poisonous gases far above permitted levels.

Volkswagen chief Matthias Mueller called in Geneva on Monday for his company to “learn from past mistakes”.

In 2015, VW’s own-brand sales fell five percent to 5.82 million vehicles worldwide, the first decline in 11 years, the company has revealed. On top of lost earnings, VW is facing a barrage of legal complaints related to the scandal.

source: interaksyon.com

Ford in talks with Google to build self-driving cars — Automotive News

Google is said to be in talks with automaker Ford Motor Co (F.N) to help build the Internet search company’s autonomous cars, Automotive News reported, citing a person with knowledge of the project.

The contract manufacturing deal, if finalised, is expected to come during the annual International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas during the first week of January, Automotive News said.

A Google spokesman told Automotive News that the company would not comment on speculation, although Google officials confirmed that the company is talking to automakers.

Earlier this year, Google began discussions with most of the world’s top automakers and assembled a team of traditional and nontraditional suppliers to speed efforts to bring self-driving cars to the market by 2020.

In June, Google began testing tiny, bubble-shaped self-driving prototype vehicles of its own design on public roads around Mountain View. The company has also started testing self-driving prototypes in Austin.

Google is expected to make its self-driving cars unit, which will offer rides for hire, a stand-alone business under its parent company, Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O), next year, Bloomberg reported earlier.

Ford, although lagging behind most competitors, ramped up its pace to develop self-driving cars earlier this year and said it would expand advanced safety technology, including automatic braking, enabling hands-free operation of cars under certain conditions by automating such basic functions as steering, braking and throttle.

This was to be included across its global lineup over the next five years.

Reuters could not independently reach Ford Motor and Google for comment outside regular U.S. business hours.

soure: interaksyon.com

Several VW engineers admit to installing cheat device: report

BERLIN - Several engineers at scandal-hit German automaker Volkswagen have admitted to installing the device in the company's cars aimed at cheating pollution tests, a newspaper reported Sunday.

Bild am Sonntag said the employees told an internal investigation that they had been involved in the affair, which came to light last month.

"Several engineers stated that they installed the deception software in 2008," the newspaper said.

Bild did not reveal their identities or say how many had made the admission.

But it said their statements had so far failed to unmask those who masterminded the scam.

The engineers said the EA 189 engine, developed by VW in 2005, could not have complied with pollution caps and cost targets without the deception.

Volkswagen has admitted that up to 11 million diesel vehicles worldwide are fitted with the so-called defeat device.

The gadget detects when the car is undergoing testing and switches the engine to a low-emissions mode.

It then switches off this mode when the car is on the road. Under real conditions, the car spews out far higher emissions than is permitted.

The global scam has wiped more than 40 percent off Volkswagen's market capitalization and led chief executive Martin Winterkorn to resign.

VW, a champion of German industry, has vowed to get to the bottom of the scandal with a probe led by a team of US lawyers.

source: interaksyon.com

Porsche boss is named new Volkswagen CEO

Wolfsburg, Germany - Embattled car maker Volkswagen tapped Porsche chief Matthias Mueller Friday (early Saturday in the Philippines) to steer it out of the wreckage of a widening scandal over pollution test rigging, as Washington said it would check all diesel cars for devices that fool emissions tests.

The 62-year-old Mueller replaces Martin Winterkorn, who has resigned over the stunning revelations by US environmental authorities that the German car maker had fitted some of its diesel cars with software capable of tricking environmental tests -- a scam that could lead to fines worth more than $18 billion (16.1 billion euros).

The scale of VW's deception became clear when the company admitted that 11 million of its diesel cars are equipped with so-called defeat devices that covertly turn off pollution controls when the car is being driven and back on when tests are being conducted.

Calling the cheating a "moral and policy disaster", the company's supervisory board chief Berthold Huber said the group is now looking to Mueller, who "knows the company and its brands", to tackle the crisis.

Board member Bernd Osterloh added that "a small group had caused great damage to Volkswagen".

Mueller himself vowed that his "most pressing task will be to restore confidence in the Volkswagen Group -- through an unsparing investigation and maximum transparency, but also by drawing the right lessons from the current situation".

"We will overcome this crisis," he said, adding that the car maker could "emerge stronger from the crisis in the long term" if it learned from its mistakes.

Mueller has a daunting task ahead given the global amplitude of the scandal.

Swiss authorities said late Friday that they have temporarily banned the sale of Volkswagen vehicles potentially fitted with the rigging software.

The ban came as authorities from India to Norway announced new probes, while the US environmental regulator said it would test all diesel car models.

"Today we are putting vehicle manufacturers on notice that our testing is going to include additional evaluation and tests designed to look for potential defeat devices," said Christopher Grundler, director of the US Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Transportation & Air Quality.

An hour before the group announced its new chief, VW shares closed 4.32 percent down Friday at 107.30 euros, after a rout this week in which a third of the company's market capitalization -- or over 20 billion euros -- was wiped off.

Mueller, born in Chemnitz in the former Communist East Germany, has been dubbed "the imperturbable" by newspaper Die Welt.

He has also been described as someone who knows how to use his elbows, "but I don't see it as playing foul, rather as a sign of perseverance and mettle", the daily quoted him as saying.

Winterkorn, who once famously said he knows "every screw in our cars", said he was "stunned that misconduct on such a scale was possible in the Volkswagen group".

The 68-year-old said he accepted responsibility as chief executive but was "not aware of any wrongdoing".

With the German car industry reeling, top-of-the-range automaker BMW suffered collateral damage on Thursday when its shares skidded after the weekly Auto Bild reported that emissions from one of its diesel models were 11 times higher than European Union norms.

While there was no indication that BMW had cheated in pollution tests -- something the company strongly denied having done -- the report nevertheless shook investors.

Daimler too issued a firm denial Friday that its vehicles were rigged, after an environmental group claimed that they too, were affected.

VW faces a growing list of legal tangles.

Norway and India have opened fraud probes, Australia said it was checking to see if it was affected, and Mexico was investigating whether 40,000 VW cars there comply with emissions rules.

France and Britain announced new checks and the European Union urged its 28 member states to investigate whether vehicles in their countries complied with pollution rules.

Private law firms are also lining up to take on the German company, with a class action suit already filed by a Seattle law firm.

VW has set aside 6.5 billion euros in provisions for the third quarter to cover the potential costs of the disclosures, while ratings agencies have warned they may cut Volkswagen's credit rating, which could increase the company's financing costs.

The company's two main joint ventures in China have said, however, that their products were not involved in the rigging scandal.

China -- the world's biggest auto market -- is crucial for VW, which delivered 3.67 million cars in the country last year, beating US rival General Motors' 3.54 million sold, figures from the companies showed.

source: interaksyon.com

Fiat Chrysler US to recall 7,810 SUVs to prevent hacking

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV’s U.S. arm said on Friday it would recall 7,810 sport utility vehicles in the United States to update software for radios to prevent hacking.

The announcement by FCA US LLC, formerly Chrysler Group LLC, comes more than a month after the company recalled about 1.4 million vehicles in the United States for the software update.

Cybersecurity researchers used the Internet to turn off a car’s engine as it drove, escalating concerns about the safety of Internet-connected vehicles.


FCA said on Friday that it was unaware of any injuries related to software exploitation.

The recalled vehicles include 2015 Jeep Renegade SUVs equipped with 6.5-inch touchscreens.

FCA said that more than half of the recalled vehicles remain with dealers and will be serviced before they are sold.

source: interaksyon.com

Daimler CEO mulls joint ventures with Apple, Google — magazine

BERLIN — Daimler’s chief executive said “different types” of cooperation with Apple and Google are possible as carmakers realize next-generation autos cannot be built without greater input from telecoms and software experts.

“Many things are conceivable,” Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche said in an interview with quarterly magazine Deutsche Unternehmerboerse published on Friday.

The emergence of self-driving and connected cars has made software a key component in future cars, opening the market to new entrants like the U.S.-based technology giants.

“Google and Apple want to provide system software for cars and bring this entire ecosystem around Apple and Google into the vehicle,” Zetsche said. “That can be interesting for both sides.”

His comments echoed those of German rival Volkswagen, whose chief executive Martin Winterkorn has urged collaboration with technology firms to make future cars safer and more intelligent.

One option could be for Daimler to build cars as part of a joint venture by using the digital expertise of its U.S. partners, Zetsche said, but added that his comments were “purely theoretical”.

Zetsche said Daimler would not allow itself to be demoted to the role of dumb supplier, simply producing cars for the Silicon Valley giants.

“We don’t want to become contractors who have no direct content with customers any more and supply hardware to third parties,” he said.

source: interaksyon.com

BMW, Apple in courtship with an eye on car collaboration

FRANKFURT/SAN FRANCISCO — BMW and Apple may rekindle a courtship put on hold after an exploratory visit by executives of the world’s top maker of electronic gadgets to the headquarters of the word’s biggest seller of premium cars.

Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook went to BMW’s headquarters last year and senior Apple executives toured the carmaker’s Leipzig factory to learn how it manufactures the i3 electric car, two sources familiar with the talks told Reuters.

The dialogue ended without conclusion because Apple appears to want to explore developing a passenger car on its own, one of the sources said.

Also, BMW is being cautious about sharing its manufacturing know-how because it wants to avoid becoming a mere supplier to a software or internet giant.

During the visit, Apple executives asked BMW board members detailed questions about tooling and production and BMW executives signaled readiness to license parts, one of the sources said. News of the Leipzig visit first emerged in Germany’s Manager-Magazin last week.

“Apple executives were impressed with the fact that we abandoned traditional approaches to car making and started afresh. It chimed with the way they do things too,” a senior BMW source said.

The carmaker says there are currently no talks with Apple about jointly developing a passenger car and Apple declined to comment. However, one of the sources said exploratory talks between senior managers may be revived at a later stage.

It is too early to say whether this will be a replay of Silicon Valley’s Prometheus moment: The day in 1979 when Apple co-founder Steve Jobs visited Xerox’s Palo Alto Research Center where the first mouse-driven graphical user interface and bit-mapped graphics were created, and walked out with crucial ideas to launch the Macintosh computer five years later.

BMW has realized next-generation vehicles cannot be built without more input from telecoms and software experts, and Apple has been studying how to make a self-driving electric car as it seeks new market opportunities beyond phones.

Staff changes

Since the visit, there has been a reshuffle at the top of BMW, with Harald Krueger, appointed BMW Chief Executive in May, in favor of establishing his own team and his plans for BMW by year end, before engaging in new projects, a person familiar with his thinking told Reuters.

A further complication was the departure of BMW’s board member for development Herbert Diess, who played a leading role in initial discussions with Apple. He defected to Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) in December.

Diess, who declined to comment for this piece, oversaw the development of BMW’s “i” vehicles which are built using light weight carbon fiber, using a radical approach to design and manufacturing.

Car technology has become a prime area of interest for Silicon Valley companies ranging from Google Inc (GOOGL.O), which has built a prototype self-driving car, to electric car-maker Tesla Motors Inc (TSLA.O).

Diess has said the German auto industry needs to undergo radical change because consumers are demanding more intelligent cars and anti-pollution rules mean the next generation vehicles will increasingly be low emission electric and hybrid variants.

In 2030, only two generations of new cars away in auto manufacturing time scales, only a third of vehicles will be powered by a conventional combustion engine alone, experts predict.

“It means that in two cycles we will shut down two thirds of our engine manufacturing,” Diess told a panel discussion in July last year, adding that the value chain for new electric cars is already shifting, with vehicle batteries made mainly in Asia.

“The second part is that the car will become intelligent, part of the Internet,” Diess continued. “And the strong players in this area are in the United States, in the software development area. We will surely need to find alliances in this field.”

Germany has two years to prove that it can hold its own against new entrants when it comes to shaping the future of luxury vehicles, Diess said.

Them and us

Carmakers including BMW have already developed next generation self-driving cars, vehicles which need permanent software updates in the form of high-definition maps allowing a car to recalculate a route if it learns about an accident ahead. The technology is moving ahead faster than the legal and regulatory rules which would allow large-scale commercial availability.

Earlier this year, BMW’s new R&D chief Klaus Froehlich said his company and Apple had much in common, including a focus on premium branding, an emphasis on evolving products and a sense of aesthetically pleasing design.

Asked, in general terms, whether a deeper collaboration beyond integration of products like the iPhone would make sense, Froehlich initially said BMW would not consider any deal that forces it to open up its core know-how to outsiders.

“We do not collaborate to open our eco systems but we find ways, because we respect each other,” Froehlich told Reuters.

BMW will keep in mind the needs of the customer, and what the company’s core strengths are, when it considers the merits of entering any strategic collaboration, Froehlich added.

Peter Schwarzenbauer, BMW’s management board member in charge of the Mini brand as well as digital services declined to comment on possible talks with Apple in an interview earlier this year.

But he said: “Two worlds are colliding here. Our world, focused on hardware and our experience in making complex products, and the world of information technology which is intruding more and more into our life.”

The winners will be those companies that understand how to build intelligent hardware, he said, adding it made sense for carmakers and tech firms to cooperate more closely.

“We need to get away from the idea that it will be either us or them … We cannot offer clients the perfect experience without help from one of these technology companies,” Schwarzenbauer said. That dialogue is well underway, he stressed.

With $202.8 billion in cash, Apple has the resources to enter the automotive market on its own, said Eric Noble, president of the Car Lab, a consulting firm in Orange, Calif.

The tech giant would have an edge on the dashboard, its CarPlay infotainment system connecting iPhones to cars, but would be at square one with the rest of the car, Noble said.

If Apple decided to sell a car it could make sense to find a partner to help with industrial scale production, retail and repair, since demand for such a vehicle could be high.

There are no estimates for potential Apple car sales but the brand and its products command a loyal following. So if only 1 percent of Apple’s annual iPhone customers decided to order a car, it would need to make 1.69 million vehicles.

That’s more than the 434,311 vehicles Jaguar and Land Rover produced last year. Even BMW Group, which made just over 2 million cars last year, would struggle to free up capacity.

source: interaksyon.com

Carmudi raises $25-M for Asia and Latin America expansion

MANILA, Philippines — The online car classified ad platform Carmudi of the Rocket Internet group has raised $25 million in funding to strengthen its operations in Asia and Latin America.


“The funding will be crucial in boosting our operations in Asia and Latin America,” company co-founder and global managing director Stefan Haubold said in a statement. “Our goal is to be the number one car classified platform in all our markets. There are over 300 million active Internet users that we are aiming to tap into in these markets.”

Carmudi was launched in October 2013 and now has presence in 20 countries. In the Philippines, the platform officially started in January 2014.

At present, Carmudi said they have recorded listing of over 300,000 vehicles globally.

Recently, Carmudi expressed optimism on their growth prospects in the Philippines due to sustained expansion in automotive sales.

“We are excited for the local automotive industry as sales remain resilient and steady,” Subir Lohani, Carmudi Philippines managing director, said.

Last year, local automotive sales grew 30 percent last year to 234,747 from 2013.

“Thirty percent is a bigger number in terms of inclusive growth. One thing I can tell for sure is that the Philippines is a major key market for Carmudi’s growth,” Lohani said.

PLDT presently has a 6.1 stake in the Rocket Internet group.

InterAksyon.com is the online news arm of TV5, which is also part of the PLDT group.

source: interaksyon.com

Display makers look to next-generation cars to drive growth

SEOUL — First there were TVs, then smartphones, but as those two markets mature the world’s top screen makers are looking to the auto sector to drive future growth, with car display volumes expected to almost triple by 2018.

Manufacturers like South Korea’s LG Display Co Ltd and Samsung Display are eager to boost their exposure to the sector, which promises bigger and more stable margins than their mainstay mobile and TV businesses.

“Previously, display makers saw little merit in auto displays because of their small volumes and slim margins … but they are now revising their strategy as the market is growing,” said Lee Byeong-hoon, a principal engineer at the South Korean unit of German auto parts giant Continental, the biggest buyer of automotive displays.

Luxury cars already carry two or three displays and could have as many as nine in the near future, as safety and convenience features proliferate. Kia Motors’ K9 sedan, for example, has five displays – an instrument panel, a centre information screen, two backseat displays and a “head-up” display projecting information onto the windshield.

Future cars could add transparent side-window displays and replace rear view mirrors and side mirrors with screens, according to LG Display, the biggest liquid crystal display (LCD) maker.

Looking further ahead, self-driving vehicles in development by Google Inc and others will free up passengers to watch movies, play video games or check emails, meaning even more in-car screens, analysts said.

Samsung Display, a subsidiary of smartphone giant Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, is testing its organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays with BMW and Continental in hopes of gaining a foothold in the sector, two sources familiar with the experiments said.

LG Display, which supplies smartphone screens to Apple Inc, intends to become the top auto display maker next year, leapfrogging Japan Display Inc, Sharp Corp, LG Display Vice President James Shin said.

“Auto displays have a very bright future,” Shin told Reuters.

Competition is heating up with LCD automotive display shipments forecast to almost triple to 174 million from 2013 to 2018, according to data from research firm IHS.

Auto display revenue will grow from $4.6 billion (3 billion pounds) to $8.3 billion over the same period, it says. Even so, the sector is small by mobile standards, with global handset screen revenue estimated at $28.9 billion in 2013, according to DisplaySearch.

But auto displays promise better returns than smartphones. They need to be more durable and carry longer warranties, so they are more expensive. Margins can reach 30 percent compared with as little as 5 percent for consumer electronics displays, IHS analyst Stacy Wu said.

Average smartphone display prices slumped almost 14 percent last year and another double-digit fall is likely in 2015, according to IHS Technology.

OLED edge

Late last year, BMW executives visited South Korea for demonstrations of display products by Samsung and LG, one source said, requesting anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter. All three companies declined to comment.

“It may take a couple of years or three to four years, but Samsung thinks it needs to enter the market, whether it is OLED or LCDs,” a person with direct knowledge of Samsung’s thinking said, asking not to be named because he was not authorised to speak publicly.

OLED screens, offering more vivid colours and greater flexibility than LCDs, could be a key differentiator for LG Display and Samsung Display, the only firms currently capable of mass producing them.

LG’s Shin said he expected OLED screens to be available in mass-produced cars by the end of the decade.

“The year 2020 is not in the distant future from the automakers’ perspective,” he said.

source: interaksyon.com

Toyota, Honda and Chrysler involved in new air bag recall

DETROIT/WASHINGTON - The auto industry's air bag troubles deepened on Saturday as U.S. federal safety regulators said three big automakers will recall about 2.1 million older vehicles to fix defects that could cause air bags to deploy when they are not supposed to.

The vehicles involved in the recall announced by the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration are made by Toyota Motor Corp, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV and Honda Motor Co.

There have been about 400 reported cases of inadvertent air bag deployments in the recalled vehicles, NHTSA Administrator Mark Rosekind said. The incidents have caused some minor injuries, but no known deaths, he told reporters.

The recall concerned a defective chip in air bag systems and the fix involved replacing the entire air bag module, including circuits manufactured by parts maker TRW Automotive Holdings, Rosekind said.

The automakers involved had issued three earlier recalls to fix the chip problems. But the NHTSA said it had reports that 39 vehicles fixed under those actions had experienced inadvertent air bag deployments, hence the new recall.

It was not related to millions of vehicles recalled over Takata Corp air bags. U.S. safety regulators have said defective Takata air bag inflators in certain vehicles can rupture and spray metal fragments inside the vehicle.

Air bag failures were also central to the controversy last year over General Motors Co's delay in recalling millions of vehicles with defective ignition switches that could unexpectedly cut off power to the safety systems.

Honda said that approximately 374,000 Honda and Acura vehicles are affected in the United States.

"Honda has received a small number of complaints of inadvertent airbag deployment in these vehicles after the original recall repair was completed," Honda said in a statement. "No crashes have been reported to Honda related to this issue."

Noting potential consumer concerns about air bags, the NHTSA said the chances of being involved in a crash in which an air bag could prevent serious injury or death were far greater than the risk of serious injury from an inadvertent bag deployment.

NHTSA blamed the problems it reported on Saturday on "electrical noise" in the air bag system. It said a fully effective solution might not be available until late this year.

The agency said the models affected were: 2002-2003 Jeep Liberty and 2002-2004 Jeep Grand Cherokees (about 750,000 vehicles); 2003-2004 Honda Odyssey; and 2003 Acura MDX (about 370,000 vehicles) and 2003-2004 Pontiac Vibe; Dodge Viper; and Toyota Corolla, Toyota Matrix, and Toyota Avalon (about 1 million vehicles, not all of which were sold in the United States.)

The agency said the affected models had a part called an electronic control unit that controls deployment of its air bags. TRW supplied control units containing the same control circuit to all three automakers.

Although the recalls were not related to the Takata cases, the NHTSA said there was an overlap, in that about 1 million of the vehicles affected were also covered in separate recalls of Takata air bag inflator systems.

The recall highlights the difficulty automakers and regulators have with increasingly complex electronic systems. The agency said in a statement it could take several months for the companies to obtain enough parts to fix all the vehicles involved.

In the Takata cases, Honda on Friday said it has confirmed that a Takata air bag inflator ruptured in a Jan. 18 crash in Texas that killed the driver. Prior to that incident, air bags made by the Japanese company had been linked to at least five deaths.

source: interaksyon.com

Daimler’s self-driving concept car turns into mobile living room

LAS VEGAS — Germany’s Daimler AG wants to reset consumers’ expectations about self-driving cars with its futuristic Mercedes-Benz F 015 concept, unveiled Monday evening at the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

“Anyone who focuses solely on the technology has not yet grasped how autonomous driving will change our society,” said Daimler Chief Executive Officer Dieter Zetsche, one of this year’s keynote speakers at CES. “The car is growing beyond its role as a mere means of transport and will ultimately become a mobile living space.”

Until now, automakers such as Daimler and Volkswagen AG’s Audi have largely focused on developing automated systems, including braking and steering, that make cars safer and easier to operate.

The F 015 luxury sedan concept, with its spacious cabin and lounge-like seating for four, explores new possibilities for self-driving cars that can double as virtual living rooms on wheels. And in keeping with Mercedes tradition and the concept’s “luxury in motion” theme, the post-modern passenger space is trimmed in walnut veneer, nappa leather, polished aluminium and glass, with soft blue LED lighting.

The F 015 can be operated autonomously or manually. When the vehicle is in fully driverless mode, the four motorized lounge chairs can be rotated to allow face-to-face conversations. When required for manual operation, the driver’s chair swivels back to face forward.

To facilitate connectivity with the outside world, the F 015 is equipped with six digital display screens throughout the cabin. The screens can be activated via gestures, eye-tracking or touch.

Mercedes wrapped all that fancy hardware and software in a lightweight, impact-resistant structure of carbon-fibre, aluminium and high-strength steel. The concept was also designed to accommodate an electric motor and hydrogen fuel cell.

The F 015 represents a huge leap forward conceptually and stylistically from the Mercedes-Benz S 500 Intelligent Drive research vehicle that piloted itself on a 100-kilometer journey from Mannheim to Pforzheim in August 2013.

The 2013 journey, made in a specially modified S-Class sedan equipped with various automated systems, traced the path driven 125 years earlier by Bertha Benz, wife of company co-founder Karl Benz, in one of the world’s first gasoline-powered automobiles.

Mercedes currently equips several of its production vehicles with a variety of semi-automated systems, including parking assist, traffic jam assist and steering assist.

The company’s forward vision, embodied in a project titled “City of the Future 2030+”, sees self-driving cars as a springboard for redesigning traffic-dense urban spaces with unique “safety” zones accessible only by autonomous vehicles.

source: interaksyon.com

Toyota recalls more cars for dangerous Takata air bags

TOKYO - Toyota Motor Corp said on Thursday it would recall 57,000 vehicles globally to replace potentially deadly air bags made by Takata Corp, as a safety crisis around the Japanese auto parts maker looks far from being contained.

Toyota's action follows a recall by rival Honda Motor Co for the same problem two weeks ago after revelations of a fifth death, in Malaysia, linked to Takata's air bag inflator. More than 16 million vehicles have been recalled worldwide since 2008 over Takata's air bag inflators, which can explode with too much force and spray metal fragments into the car.

Toyota is recalling some Vitz subcompacts, called Yaris in some markets, and RAV4 crossover models made between December 2002 and March 2004. About 40,000 are in Japan, 6,000 in Europe and the rest in other markets outside North America. Toyota said it was not aware of any injury or death related to the recall.

Separately, Toyota's small-car subsidiary Daihatsu Motor Co also issued a recall, in Japan, of 27,571 Mira minivehicles produced between December 2002 and May 2003 for the same reason - its first recall involving Takata inflators.

About 2.6 million vehicles have been recalled in Japan so far for Takata's air bag inflators, a transport ministry official said.

Takata-related recalls are almost certain to balloon after U.S. safety regulators on Wednesday ordered the company to expand a regional recall of driver-side air bags to cover the entire United States, not just hot and humid areas where the air bag inflators are thought to become more volatile.

Takata has so far resisted expanding the recall, saying that could divert replacement parts away from the high-humidity regions that need them most.

Tuesday deadline

The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has given Takata until Tuesday to issue a nationwide recall, and could fine it up to $7,000 per vehicle if it doesn't comply. It remains unclear how many more vehicles that would add, but it could be in the millions, affecting five automakers: Ford Motor Co, Honda, Chrysler Group LLC, Mazda Motor Corp and BMW AG.

A U.S.-wide recall of driver-side air bags could cost an estimated 70 billion yen ($600 million), Nomura Credit Research analyst Shintaro Niimura wrote in a Nov. 26 report.

"Takata could need nearly 200 billion yen ($1.7 billion) of reserves in the event of a U.S. nationwide recall (including passenger-side air bags), and the company's cash-on-hand would be tightly squeezed," he wrote, noting Takata had just 8.33 billion yen of cash and deposits.

"If the company makes any missteps, we cannot say that there is 'zero' chance of the company dying a sudden death - that is, being hit with excessive debt or facing a cash-insolvency bankruptcy," Niimura added.

Shares hit

NHTSA's action and the latest recalls come on the heels of an announcement by Japan's transport ministry on Wednesday that it received a report of an "unusual deployment" of a Takata air bag as it was being removed from a scrapped car on Nov. 6. The inflator was manufactured in January 2003 at Takata's Monclova, Mexico factory, and had not been subject to recalls, at least in Japan, raising the prospect of an expanded recall, the ministry said.

A Toyota spokesman said the scrapped car was a 2003 Will Cypha, a Japan-only compact model that is no longer in production. Toyota said it was investigating the issue as part of its wider probe into Takata's air bag inflators. "We will take prompt and appropriate action if we find there is a need for a recall as a result of the investigation," it said.

Takata shares dropped as much as 7.9 percent in Tokyo on Thursday, closing down 4.8 percent. Toyota shares eased 0.5 percent and Daihatsu shares slipped 1.2 percent, roughly in line with the broader market. Shares of Honda, Takata's top customer, underperformed other auto stocks, falling 3.3 percent.

Honda had said the Takata air bag inflator that failed in the Malaysia crash had likely been exposed to excessive moisture at the supplier's now-shuttered plant in LaGrange, Georgia. A transport ministry official said no further recalls are expected in Japan related to the problem identified at the LaGrange line between November 2001 and November 2003.

A second U.S. congressional hearing is scheduled for Wednesday, where representatives from Takata, NHTSA and several automakers will testify.

source: interaksyon.com

Takata air bag recalls

Following are some key events leading to the recall of several million cars fitted with potentially defective air bags made by Japanese firm Takata Corp.

2008:

* Nov 4 – Honda Motor recalls 4,000 Accords and Civics (2001 models) globally as Takata air bag inflators may produce excessive internal pressure causing them to rupture and spray metal fragments in the car.

2009:

* May 27 – Oklahoma teen Ashley Parham dies when her 2001 Honda Accord air bag explodes, shooting metal fragments into her neck. Honda and Takata deny fault, settle for undisclosed sum.

* July 29 - Honda recalls 510,000 Civics, Accords and Acura 3.2 TL cars (2001-02 models) globally.

* Dec 24 – Gurjit Rathore is killed in Virginia when the air bag in a 2001 Honda Accord explodes, severing arteries in her neck, court documents show. Her family sues Honda and Takata for more than $75 million in April 2011, claiming they knew of the air bag problems as early as 2004. Honda and Takata settle in January 2013 for $3 million, according to court documents.

2010:

* Feb 9 – Honda recalls 437,000 Acura cars and other vehicles (2001-03 models) globally, expanding earlier recalls.

2011:

* April 27 – Honda recalls 896,000 Honda and Acura 2001-03 cars in order to find defective Takata air bag inflators installed as replacement parts.

* Dec 1 - Honda again expands recalls. Globally, it says 304,000 are recalled as a bad inflator may have been installed at the factory, and 613,000 are recalled to find defective inflators installed as replacement parts.

2013:

* April 11 - Toyota Motor, Honda, Nissan Motor and Mazda Motor recall 3.4 million vehicles globally due to possibly defective Takata air bags.

* May 7 – BMW recalls 220,000 vehicles globally, raising the overall recall for the latest Takata-related issue to over 3.6 million.

* May 10 – Takata posts record $212.5 million annual net loss; books $307 million charge for recall costs; names Swiss national Stefan Stocker as president.

* Sept 3 – Devin Xu dies in a 2002 Acura TL sedan near Los Angeles from "apparent facial trauma due to foreign object inside air bag," according to coroner's report.

2014:

* June 11 – Toyota expands recall to 2.27 million vehicles globally; adding 650,000 previously not recalled in Japan, and 1.62 million overseas for a second time.

* U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) opens probe that goes beyond previously identified glitches. NHTSA is examining whether driving in high humidity regions contributes to the risk of Takata air bag explosions. Takata says inflators in the recall were supplied to Honda, Toyota, BMW, Chrysler, Ford, Mazda and Nissan.

* June 23 — Honda, Nissan and Mazda recall 2.95 million vehicles, expanding April 2013 recall, bringing the total recall to about 10.5 million vehicles over five years. Later, Honda, Toyota, Nissan, Mazda, BMW, Chrysler and Ford say they are recalling more vehicles in some U.S. high humidity regions.

* June 26 – Takata CEO apologizes to shareholders at AGM.

* June 30 – Takata says some potentially defective inflators also shipped to Subaru and Mitsubishi Motors.

* July 16 – BMW recalls about 1.6 million cars worldwide to replace Takata air bags, going beyond the regional U.S. recall.

* July 18 - Takata says to book special loss of about 45 billion yen ($440 million) in April-June for recalls.

* Oct 2 – Orlando woman Hien Thi Tran dies four days after her 2001 Honda Accord air bag explodes, shooting out shrapnel, according to police report.

* Oct 17 - Reuters, based on a review of internal Takata documents, reports Takata struggled to meet its own standards for safety in manufacturing air bag inflators at its plant in Monclova, Mexico.

* Oct 20 – Toyota recalls 247,000 vehicles in the U.S. for Takata air bag problems.

* Oct 21 - Takata shares drop 23 percent in Tokyo.

* Oct 22 - NHTSA expands the total number of U.S. vehicles recalled involving Takata air bags to 7.8 million over the past 18 months.

* Oct 27 – A first case seeking class-action status is filed in Florida, claiming Takata and automakers, including Honda and Toyota, concealed crucial information on defective air bags.

* Oct 30 - NHTSA orders Takata to provide documents and answer questions under oath in air bag probe. On Nov 5, NHTSA orders Honda to do the same.

* Nov 6 - Takata warns of a bigger full-year loss, and pays no interim dividend for first time since 2006.

* Nov 7 - New York Times reports Takata ordered technicians to destroy results of tests on some air bags after finding cracks in inflators. Takata later refutes this.

* Democratic lawmakers call for criminal probe into Takata.

* Nov 10 - Takata shares drop 17 percent to 5-1/2 year low.

* Nov 12 - Takata tells Reuters it has modified the composition of an air bag propellant, giving no details.

* Nov 13 - Honda discloses fifth fatality, and first outside the U.S. Law Suk Leh, nine months pregnant, died in Malaysia on July 27 after being hit by a piece of metal from a Takata air bag in her Honda City compact car.

* Honda recalls another 170,000 cars in Asia and Europe, taking its total Takata-related recalls to nearly 10 million.

* Takata says its U.S. unit subpoenaed by a federal grand jury in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York to produce air bag-related documents.

* Nov 18 - NHTSA tells Takata, Honda, Ford, Mazda, BMW and Chrysler to expand nationwide a U.S. regional recall.

source: interaksyon.com

US urges air bag repairs as Toyota expands recall

WASHINGTON — US authorities on Monday urged owners of vehicles with potentially deadly defective Takata air bags to seek repairs as Toyota recalled about 247,000 vehicles over the parts flaw.

The Transportation Department’s safety agency issued a bulletin to owners of 4.7 million vehicles made by Toyota and five other automakers, highlighting an apparently higher level of danger from the faulty air bags for car owners in areas with high humidity.

“The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration urges owners of certain Toyota, Honda, Mazda, BMW, Nissan, and General Motors vehicles to act immediately on recall notices to replace defective Takata air bags,” the NHTSA said.

“The message comes with urgency, especially for owners of vehicles affected by the regional recalls in the following areas: Florida, Puerto Rico, Guam, Saipan, American Samoa, Virgin Islands and Hawaii.”

The air bag could improperly inflate and rupture, potentially sending shrapnel into the car’s occupants.

Honda has the highest number of vehicles covered by the recall at roughly 2.8 million. Toyota is second at 778,000, followed by BMW at 574,000.

The high-profile alert came as Toyota Motor Sales USA said it was recalling Toyota Corolla, Matrix, Sequoia, Tundra and Lexus cars, sport utility vehicles and pick-up trucks produced from 2001 to 2004 to replace the air bag inflator for the front passenger seat.

Toyota expanded on an earlier airbag-related recall especially to include vehicles in high humidity areas, including southern Florida, Gulf Coast states, Hawaii and Puerto Rico, where the vehicles “appear to warrant immediate action” based on testing by Takata.

According to Toyota, Takata is still testing whether high humidity is an important factor in the airbag problem.

Toyota said it had received no reports yet of injuries or fatalities related to the airbag problem.

Still, the seriousness of the risk to occupants of the front seat was underscored in the company’s details on the recall process .

If a replacement inflator part is not available when the vehicle is brought in for servicing, the dealer will temporarily disable the front passenger air bag.

In that case, the dealer will install a warning that the front passenger seat should not be occupied until the repair has been completed.

Toyota’s US-traded shares were up 3.1 percent at $113.24 in afternoon trade on the New York Stock Exchange.

source: interaksyon.com

Alonso looks for love in cold climate

HOCKENHEIM — Fernando Alonso is hoping that the sizzling heatwave in central Europe is replaced by cooler conditions on Sunday to give his Ferrari team renewed hope at the German Grand Prix.

A break in the weather with storms followed by a cooler spell is needed if the Italians are to shine in Sunday’s 67-lap race, he suggested after qualifying only seventh on Saturday.

Alonso has won three times at Hockenheim, including his last victory with Ferrari two years ago.

“Cooler temperatures this year seem to have an effect on us being a little bit more competitive. We have a lot of tyre degradation, especially at the rear, because we spin the tyres with the lack of down force.

“When it’s hot this effect is a little bit bigger. I think in qualifying with the new tyres you mask some of the problems with the grip of the tyres.

“So I expect tomorrow to be a little bit tougher than the performance we showed today.”

On Saturday, when the air temperature rose to 34 degrees Celsius and track to 55 degrees, Nico Rosberg claimed a dominant pole position for Mercedes.

source: interaksyon.com