European Region | Japanese Used Cars

Toyama, Vladivostok hit by raised import tariff

Thursday, February 12th, 2009

Exports to Russia have stopped. Many Pakistani exporters are forced to close their businesses.

Some have already gone back to their home country. This was a big change, according to Toyama port based dealer and exporter of used vehicles.

According to Japan Automotive News, last December, immediately before the introduction of the new import tariff system in Russia, Pakistani dealers sold lots of inventory at half the price of the purchase. That made the market conditions worse.

In Vladivostok, the selling prices of used cars from Japan increased by 20 to 30 percent due to the strong yen. There are vehicles at this Russian port.

Technorati tags:

Vehicles Exporters

Posted in Asian Region, European Region, Vehicles, Worldwide | Comments Off

Toyota Begins Testing Plug-in Hybrid Vehicles in UK

Thursday, September 11th, 2008

TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION (TMC) announces that together with EDF Energy, the British subsidiary of the French energy company EDF, it began testing TMC-produced plug-in hybrid vehicles on public roads in the United Kingdom on September 10.

To officially kick off the tests, TMC and EDF held a joint press conference in Hyde Park, London, on the same day, which was attended by, among others, UK Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform John Hutton, other members of the UK Parliament, London municipal government officials and the Japanese Ambassador to the United Kingdom Shin Ebihara. EDF Energy Chief Executive Vincent de Rivas, TMC Managing Officer Koei Saga, Toyota Motor Europe Senior Vice President Graham Smith and others were also present.

At the press conference, TMC’s Saga, who is in charge of hybrid system development, said, “We are very excited to expand our PHV road testing program to the UK in collaboration with EDF Energy. Today’s announcement represents a step-change towards acceptance of electricity in combination with hybrid technology as a viable and sustainable transport solution.”

The UK road tests, like those conducted with EDF in France starting in autumn 2007, involve setting up necessary infrastructure, evaluating vehicle performance and ease-of-use, and surveying participating vehicle users. Plans call for the test period to continue for more than one year.

The UK is the fifth country in which TMC has conducted tests of plug-in hybrid vehicles on public roads, following tests that began in 2007 in Japan, the United States, France and Belgium.

While the current tests involve use of vehicles equipped with nickel-metal hydride batteries, TMC is also accelerating development of plug-in hybrid vehicles equipped with lithium-ion batteries. Sales of the latter to fleet customers in Japan, the United States and Europe are planned to begin—ahead of the original schedule—by the end of 2009.

TMC intends to continue meeting the challenge of achieving sustainable mobility that aims to create harmony among cars, people and the environment, and, to this end, positions its hybrid technology, including its plug-in hybrid vehicles, at the core of its environmental technologies.

Source: TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION

If you are looking for Japanese used vehicles exporters, please visit : http://www.japanautopages.com/business_type/exporter.php

Technorati tags:

Hybrid Vehicles, Japanese Ambassador

Posted in European Region, Japan, Japanese Makers, Worldwide | Comments Off

Mitsubishi Motors announces production, sales and export figures for July 2008

Thursday, August 28th, 2008

Mitsubishi Motors Corporation today announced global production, as well as domestic sales and export figures for July 2008.

Production: total and in Japan

Total global production came in at 113,538 units, a decline of 0.9 percent over July 2007 and the fifth consecutive monthly decrease since March. Production volume in Japan at 74,909 units was up 11.1 percent as a 12.1 percent increase in passenger car and 4.0 percent rise in commercial vehicle output saw the 22nd consecutive month of year-on-year growth and a new record for July since Mitsubishi Motors spun off its truck and bus operations in 2003. This growth was driven principally by a 53.5 percent increase in output (16,232 units) of the New Outlander, which continues to sell briskly in European and Chinese markets, and by a 18.0% increase (27,585 units) in output of the Lancer on the back of strong sales in Russia, North America and Middle East & African markets.

Sales in Japan

Vehicle sales in Japan in July totaled 15,393 units, a 9.2 percent decrease year-on-year and the 11th consecutive monthly decline since September 2007. Passenger car (registrations and mini-car) sales of 11,335 units and commercial vehicle sales of 4,058 units were 9.2 percent and 9.3 percent down respectively on the same month last year. Highlights for the month included an 11 percent and a 9.4 percent increase in sales of the Colt series and of the Pajero Mini respectively.

Production overseas

Overseas production volume totaled 38,629 units, 18.1 percent down over July last year and the fifth consecutive monthly decline. By region, in Asia output at MMPC^*1 in the Philippines and at KRM^*2 in Indonesia rose by 17.8 percent and 59.6 percent respectively. In North America output at 4,244 units was 26.0 percent down as production levels were adjusted for slow sales in the U.S.
^*1 MMPC: Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corporation
^*2 KRM: P.T. Krama Yudha Ratu Motors

Export shipments from Japan

Total exports from Japan of 47,119 units were 5.0 percent up on July 2007, marking the 21st consecutive month of year-on-year increases and setting a new record for July since Mitsubishi Motors spun off its truck and bus operations in 2003. Exports to Europe at 19,751 units were 6.5 percent up on July2007 buoyed by continuing strong sales in the Ukraine and Russia.

Source: Mitsubishi Motors Corporation

If you are looking for Japanese used vehicles exporters, please visit : http://www.japanautopages.com/business_type/exporter.php

Technorati tags:

Mitsubishi Motors, Japanese Vehicles

Posted in Asian Region, European Region, Japan, Japanese Makers, Worldwide | Comments Off

BMW to recall 200,000 vehicles to fix airbag

Saturday, August 23rd, 2008

German automaker BMW has announced that they are going to recall around 200,000 vehicles to fix issues with airbags. The company said that these vehicles might need a fix without which the airbags might not deploy in case of a crash.

BMW said that they have not received any reports of accidents or injuries because of these problems in their cars.

If you are looking for exporters of used cars, please click here: Used Cars Exporters

Technorati tags:

BMW Vehicles

Posted in European Region, Vehicles, Worldwide | Comments Off

Emerging economies to boost world car sales to record highs

Friday, August 15th, 2008

Auto sales in places like Russia, China, Brazil and India are expected to drive world demand to new records despite a sales slump in America, Europe and Japan, a Canadian bank said recently in Ottawa.

Global car sales advanced a mere 1.5 percent in the first half of 2008, undercut by slowing developed economies and record oil Global Auto Report.
But BRIC countries – Brazil, Russia, India and China continue to post double-digit gains in automotive sales, it said. “Despite the year-over-year sales decline in recent months, we expect full-year 2008 volumes to climb to a seventh consecutive annual record, buoyed by ongoing strength in Brazil, Russia, China and India,” said Carlos Gomes, a Scotia Bank senior economist and the report’s author.

According to the report, total car and truck sales volumes fell in both May and June, crippled by record oil prices averaging 130 US dollars per barrel and weakness in the mature markets of Western Europe, Japan and the United States.
In the United States, sales of sport utility vehicles and pickup trucks plunged by nearly 30 percent compared to the same period last year.

A further weakening of the US economy is also expected to slash full-year passenger vehicle sales to 14.1 million units in 2008, and to 14.3 million units in 2009 – “the worst back-to-back performance since 1993,” the report said.
Surging oil prices, however, had little impact in Brazil, which accounts for 60 percent of all
South American sales.

Eighty-eight per cent of new vehicles sold in Brazil are flex-fuel models that can run on less expensive ethanol, manufactured domestically from sugar cane.
Its vehicles sales were up more than 24 percent in the first half of 2008. Vehicles sales in China moderated from an average annual increase of 30 percent this decade to a hike of 17 percent in the report.

China insulates domestic consumers from high oil prices by subsidizing fuel costs, but lifted fuel prices by nearly 10 percent in November and raised prices an additional 18 percent in June.
In Russia, which is considered separately, car sales were up 40 percent in the first half of 2008 to 1.45 million units.

The report said Russia is set to become the world’s fourth largest car market in 2009 after America, China and Japan, with annual volumes of 3.7 million units.
If you are looking for exporters of used cars, please click here: Used Cars Exporters

Technorati tags:

Used Cars, Japanese Used Vehicles

Posted in Asian Region, Car, European Region, Japan, North American Region, Sales, South American Region, Truck, Vehicles, Worldwide | Comments Off