HIROSHIMA —

Mazda Motor Corp on Monday launched a revamped four-door, four-seat rotary-powered Mazda RX-8 sports car for the Japanese market. 

Standard equipment across the entire RX-8 range has been updated with popular features that provide added comfort and convenience. The updates include rain-sensing windshield wipers and Mazda’s auto-light system (which switches the headlights on automatically according to ambient light conditions). Two additional exterior body colors, silver and gray, reflect the RX-8’s high quality and accentuate its exceptional sports car styling.

Retail prices range from 2.63 million yen to 3.180 million yen.

TOKYO —

Nissan Motor Co and Europcar Groupe, a European leader in the passenger car and utility vehicle rental business, have agreed to form a partnership to sell and lease electric vehicles beginning next year in a bid to promote zero emission mobility worldwide, officials from the two companies said Tuesday.

Under the partnership, Nissan will sell such vehicles to Europcar, which will then lease the cars to its clients, thus serving a broader reach of customers, a Nissan company official said, adding they have yet to determine whether the electric vehicles to be rolled out will carry the Nissan brand.

© 2009 Kyodo News.

TOKYO —

There are 102 parts suppliers and other Japanese companies who may not be able to recover accounts receivable from General Motors Corp if the automotive giant files for bankruptcy, a leading credit research agency said Thursday.

Although many of the firms filed applications requesting that the U.S. government guarantee the receivables with a $5 billion Treasury Department program, not all of them qualified for the federal assistance, Teikoku Databank said.

“The potential risk of a bankruptcy filing triggering turbulence (among corporate creditors) is in place,” the research agency warned.

A total of 133 Japanese companies, including Mitsubishi Electric Corp, Aisin Seiki Co and Bridgestone Corp, have business ties with GM. Of them, 31 sell GM products or provide maintenance services in Japan.

Kyodo News Service