Writing by admin on Wednesday, 3 of June , 2009 at 11:17 am
Magna wants to build electric car in Canada
The Canadian Press
Magna International Inc. chairman Frank Stronach said he wants to start mass-producing electric cars in Canada within three years.
The head of Canada’s largest auto parts maker was in Ottawa on Tuesday seeking government support for his new electric vehicle venture after Magna cemented a deal with General Motors Corp. to acquire the U.S. automaker’s money-losing Opel car brand in Europe.
Unveiling the fully electric compact that Magna developed in partnership with Ford Motor Co., Stronach said he is being courted by the U.S. and Europe but he wants his first electric cars to come off a Canadian assembly line.
“We are very serious, we have a serious commitment,” he told reporters.
“I would like to see that the first electric car facilities are in Canada. If we would get a loan at a reasonable rate, we know we could speed it up, we would make sure it will be in Canada.”
If successful, an electric car assembly operation in Canada would provide badly needed jobs in a troubled industry and help the global parts giant cash in on the growing demand for low-pollution vehicles in the marketplace over the next few years.
New Volt from GM
Toyota, with its Prius, and Honda, with its new Insight, already have hybrid electric-gasoline cars, and General Motors plans to mass produce its new Volt fully electric vehicle at a U.S. plant and get them into dealer showrooms by the end of 2010.
The world’s former No. 1 automaker filed for bankruptcy protection on Monday, the largest ever for an industrial company, and said it hopes to move forward with just four core brands: Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick and GMC.
It also plans a spate of new fuel-efficient and low-polluting models, including the Volt, a critical piece of GM’s vehicle lineup for the future.
GM experimented but failed with electric cars in the past. However, the Volt is seen as a sure-fire winner by the Detroit company, especially in a future market of younger buyers worried about soaring gasoline prices and greenhouse gas emissions.
The Volt is an extended-range all electric vehicle with a powerful battery pack that uses cutting-edge lithium-ion technology. The vehicle also has a small gasoline engine to replenish the battery power when it gets low, not to drive the car.
Stronach said he believes within six years about 15 per cent of cars sold will be electric or the hybrid variety, with the percentage doubling by 2021.
Range of 160 kilometres
An official with the Aurora, Ont., parts maker, which employs 74,000 people in 25 countries, said the model being developed with Ford is aiming for a 160-kilometre range without recharging.
Magna is putting in about $300 million into the project and is seeking low-interest loans from the federal government for about half the total cost.
But Stronach came to Ottawa without any guarantee he would be seeing Prime Minister Stephen Harper, although he said he hoped to arrange a meeting.
The electric vehicle is a major step by Magna to diversify its business away from auto parts, a sector hit hard by the slump in GM, Ford and Chrysler, Magna’s main customers.
Category: News
Writing by admin on Thursday, 28 of May , 2009 at 9:01 pm
102 Japanese parts firms will suffer if GM goes bust
Thursday 28th May, 03:36 PM JST
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
Category: Manufacturers, News
Writing by Steve on Thursday, 28 of May , 2009 at 8:54 pm
PHOTO BY NANCY SCHMATZ
Thursday 28th May, 06:16 AM JST
A man takes his two dogs for a drive in Kamakura.
Category: Odd but Interesting
Writing by admin on Tuesday, 17 of March , 2009 at 11:36 pm
Myjcar tries to keep up with trends, so we’ve added ourselves to Facebook. Yes, you can join…
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Category: Promotional, Uncategorized
Writing by Steve on Sunday, 8 of March , 2009 at 10:15 pm
In a never-ending quest to improve the myjcar site, we’ve added a forum. Check it out!
Category: News
Writing by admin on Tuesday, 8 of July , 2008 at 10:50 pm
In our PR efforts to getting the word about MyJCar.com we actually sponsored a charity event in Nagoya called “Border Crossing”. Unfortunately, the site wasn’t live at the time of the party so we weren’t sure how successful was going out of our way and putting out money.
I guess you have a couple Americans and a couple of Canadians who are planning on first joining the Adventurists Mongol Rally which is a Charity Rally from London to Ulan Bataar, Mongolia, running in a small 660cc Super Charged Subaru Sambar. According to their blog the event that we help fund was a total success and raised about 80% of their goal for fundraising September.
After Mongolia they’ll continue on the Japan Car Exports World Rally, which continues their trip to Vladvostok, Russia, through Japan and then accross the Americas (Canada and US). It looks like our logo might be catching a ride on their rally van around the world, exciting stuff.
Help cheer on and Support Team Smaller is Better on their Wordpress Blog.
Category: Promotional
Writing by admin on Friday, 4 of July , 2008 at 8:23 pm
Let’s face it. Oil’s running out, and with oil at topping 145 USD per barrel, gas isn’t getting any cheaper.
Here in Japan this month alone gas has raised ¥10 which is an equivalent to around 0.10USD per Liter (NOT GALLON) which more or less translates to more or less $6.40/gal. While stuff is closer here in Japan, there’s been an increase in bicycle sales (around the world) to beat the pump in response to gas prices.
I personally was considering buying a nice sedan, but now I’m actually considering options and maybe getting a Mini-Car or Micro-Van through an exporter that specializes in low gas mileage vehicles.
How are you guys beating the pump this summer (outside of not using your car).
[HDRJapan.com] [Japan Times][Financial Post]
Image PhotoChopped by Elmer, Source [MotoFoto on Flickr]
Category: Facts and Figures, News
Writing by admin on Friday, 4 of July , 2008 at 6:55 pm
Henry Winkler, also known as the “Fonz” of Happy Days is in support to the British Government’s National Year of Reading, and is currently touring schools through the UK in a Lexus RX400h (”h” for Hybrid).
While people know the Fonz for his jukebox hit-fixing ways, being the almost bizzaro world version of the James Dean leather jacket motorcycle rebel, and the “eey”s found now popular in Hip-Hop Music, Henry Winkler’s claim to fame now is being a a best-selling children’s novelist.
Winkler’s Series -Hank Zipster: The World’s Greatest Underachiever is partly autobiographical in the sense that Hank Zipster’s character is based off Winkler’s experiences with growing up with dyslexia.
[CarScoop.com] via [Jalopnik.com]
[Hank Zipster on Amazon.com]
Category: News, Odd but Interesting
Writing by Elmer on Monday, 30 of June , 2008 at 6:37 pm
Nissan GT-R (R35) built a monster of a vehicle, but have a killjoy of an ECU (Engine Control Unit) which limited the power of the beast to a mere 180km/H (112MPH).
Even though it states in the R35 Manual that after market tune isn’t allowed on the vehicle, most of it was due to the supposedly uncrackable ECU, well uncrackable until now.
According to COBB Tuning in Salt Lake City, Utah, they’ve cracked the JDM R35 ECU more or less tapping into the full potential of the beast.
[COBB Tuning Blog]
Photochop by Elmer from [Godzilla vs Destoryer (1995)] [Japanese Movie Poster] from [MonsterZero.us]
Category: News, Racer
Writing by admin on Monday, 30 of June , 2008 at 5:20 pm
J@pan Inc and JapanEconomyNews.com occassionally put together some facts and figures to highlight certain facts. Most of this is compiled by Ken Worsley of JapanEconomyNews.com (although we can’t seem to find the same information on their blog this was in the May|June 2008 Edition of J@pan-Inc Print Magazine.
Automotive:
- Number of new cars, trucks and buses sold in Japan in February 2008: 322,613
- Change from a year eariler: +0.1%
- Maker showing the strongest growth: Subaru, +13.0%
- Number of new min-cars sold in February 2008: 180.004
- Toyota’s projected production for 2008: 9.95 million units
- Change from a year eariler: -1.5%
- Honda motorcycle sales in India in 2007: 4,091,000 units
- Honda motorcycle sales in China in 2007: 1,162,000 units
- Projected cost of new Toyta plant in Miyagi Prefecture: ¥20-30 billion
- Estimated annual production capacity at the new plant: 200,000 units
- Projected cost of new Honda plant for mini-cars in Mie Prefecture: ¥50 billion
Sources: Bank of Japan, Cabinet Office, Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Japanese National Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Associations, Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, Ministry of Trade, Economy and Industry, Japan Wind Development, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, Honda, Toyota, Nissan, Japan Automobile Dealers’ Association, Japan Mini Vehicles Assocation.
While a lot of these are just highlights and numbers across the board, Honda seems to be definately cashing in the Chinese and Indian motorcycle market. I just wonder how the other competitors stand.
Although its not made clear, if the figure for February Sales on Mini-cars is for Japan alone, that would mean that over half of all non motorcycle vehicles sold in Japan were of Kei/Mini Class.
Check Out J@pan-Inc-Business, People, Technology:Measure for Measure
Category: Facts and Figures
