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☆ Honda to begin selling mini-commercial electric vans in spring 2024
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

TOKYO, Dec 7 (Reuters) - Honda Motor Co (7267.T) said on Wednesday it would begin selling micro-sized commercial electric vans in spring 2024, as part of its effort to electrify its vehicle lineups. Japanese automakers are turning to small commercial trucks as one way to make battery electric vehicles (BEVs) popular in the country, tapping into car size unique to the country amid pressure to slash its carbon footprint. Honda's electric van has a target cruising range of 200km (125 miles) and is seeking to set the price at around 1 million yen ($7,270). Commercial vehicle coalition CJPT, led by Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T), said in July it would develop small electric commercial vans with minivehicle specialists Daihatsu and Suzuki Motor Corp (7269.T). Honda in April laid out goals of producing some 2 million electric vehicles a year and 30 electric vehicle models globally by 2030.

☆ Automakers, South Korea urge U.S. to tap commercial EV tax credit
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Rivian Automotive (RIVN.O), Hyundai Motor (005380.KS) and Kia Corp (000270.KS) among others want the administration to let consumer vehicle leasing qualify for the commercial EV tax credit that could reduce monthly lease payments. South Korea also asked Treasury not to impose any budget restrictions on commercial vehicle tax credits through 2025. The commercial credit does not have the same sourcing or pricing restrictions but has an "incremental cost" eligibility test that might prove complex. Some automakers want Treasury to make it easier to ensure most commercial light-duty vehicles qualify for $7,500 tax credits. Tesla (TSLA.O)said commercial credits "should apply exclusively for commercial end-users" and the consumer tax credit "should apply exclusively for individual end-users."

☆ Tesla launches EVs in Thailand amid competition from cheaper brands
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/5] The Tesla Model Y is covered by black cloth during Thailand Tesla's official launch event in Bangkok, Thailand, December 7, 2022. It produces about 1.5 million to 2 million vehicles annually, of which about half are exported. Customers who showed up to Tesla's launch in a luxury mall in central Bangkok said they were interested in the new cars being offered. The price differences aren't significant (from other EV brands)," said office worker Thitipun Paisirikul, 36, adding he expected the re-sale value of the car would be high. State-owned energy firm PTT Group this year announced a $1 billion joint venture with Taiwan's Foxconn to produce EVs in Thailand.

☆ Toyota offers cheaper Prius if customers take software updates
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( Satoshi Sugiyama | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The lease program will require customers to opt in for a service expected to bring monthly lease payments down by 10%, Toyota's leasing affiliate said. The service marks the first time Toyota will update its safety features, including the collision avoidance system, for a car on the road, said Shinya Kotera, president of KINTO, the Toyota leaser unit in Japan. Tesla has routinely used over-the-air software updates to improve charging speed on its electric vehicles, unlock additional battery range and fix safety issues. Toyota unveiled the new Prius last month amid criticism from ESG investors and environmental groups for its slow rollout of fully electric vehicles. The leasing unit wants to expand the service to other vehicles within a year or two and is considering plans to make it a global offering, Kotera said.

☆ China's BYD to start selling EVs in Japan by early 2023
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( Satoshi Sugiyama | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

China's BYD, in which Berkshire Hathaway (BRKa.N) owns a stake, said it will roll out an electric sports utility vehicle, ATTO 3, in Japan starting Jan. 31. BYD's Japan chapter is planning to introduce two more models by the end of 2023 and more than 100 dealerships in Japan by the end of 2025, the company said. However, the share of the battery-driven vehicles is expected to grow, partly due to non-Japanese automakers like BYD and Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) making their way into the market. BYD's Japan division is planning to set up tentative retailers starting late January in 22 cities but is eager to cover all 47 prefectures, said Atsuki Tofukuji, BYD Auto Japan Inc chief executive. Japanese automakers have recently been criticised by activists and green investors, who slam them for not embracing battery electric vehicles fast enough.

☆ Uber, Aurora to expand self-driving truck ops in Texas to meet holiday rush
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Dec 2 (Reuters) - Uber Technologies Inc (UBER.N) and self-driving technology company Aurora Innovation Inc (AUR.O) will expand their driverless pilot program in Texas to meet increased delivery demand during the holidays. Uber Freight is a platform which connects shippers who need goods moved with available truck drivers. The companies launched their pilot program about a year ago to autonomously transport goods between Dallas and Houston. "We're crafting Aurora Horizon to help carriers of all sizes alleviate some of the supply-chain pressures that typically accompany (holiday season)," Aurora co-founder Sterling Anderson said. Aurora Innovation, which also counts FedEx Corp (FDX.N) and Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) as partners, looks to launch the Aurora Driver self-driving platform at the end of 2024.

☆ BYD set to be China's top-selling car brand for Nov, Tesla gains -data
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Toya Sarno Jordan/File PhotoSHANGHAI, Nov 30 (Reuters) - BYD was the top-selling car brand in China in the first four weeks of November, brokerage data showed, outperforming the Volkswagen brand in a reversal that highlights the pressure on legacy brands in the world's largest auto market. Tesla's (TSLA.O) retail sales in China also nearly doubled in November, from a year earlier, after the U.S. automaker cut prices and offered incentives on its Model 3 and Model Y, the data from China Merchants Bank International (CMBI) showed. Retail sales for BYD totaled 152,863 vehicles from Nov. 1 to Nov. 27, logging a nearly 83% increase in average daily sales compared to the same period a year earlier, according to the data. BYD's tally was higher than Volkswagen's retail sales of 143,602 retail sales and Toyota Motor Corp's (7203.T) 115,272, which were 0.3% and 0.5% lower, respectively, on the year. However, the Volkswagen AG group still outsold BYD, when the 36,847 units sold under the Audi brand are included.

☆ Toyota's Oct global vehicle production up 23%, above its target
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

TOKYO, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) reported on Tuesday a 23% rise in October global vehicle output, beating its own target for a third month in a row, as the industry strives to get past persistent chip shortages that have hobbled production. The Japanese automaker produced 771,382 vehicles globally in October, above a downgraded target of 750,000 units and up 23% from the same month a year earlier. Earlier this month Toyota cut its annual output target, as it battles surging material costs and a persistent chip shortage. Toyota expects to produce 9.2 million vehicles this fiscal year ending March 2023, down from the previous forecast of 9.7 million but still ahead of last finacial year's production of about 8.6 million units. Reporting by Satoshi Sugiyama; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Edmund KlamannOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Mazda to invest $11 billion to electrify its vehicles
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Nov 22 (Reuters) - Japan's Mazda Motor Corp (7261.T) will invest about 1.5 trillion yen ($10.58 billion)to electrify its vehicles, including boosting production of battery EVs, and aims to increase their share in the company's overall global car sales by 2030. The ratio of electric vehicles (EVs) in global sales is expected to rise to between 25 percent and 40 percent as of 2030, from 25% previously, the company said in a statement. Automakers worldwide are spending billions of dollars to ramp up battery and EV production in the face of tougher environmental regulations. In August, Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) said it would invest up to 730 billion yen in Japan and the United States to make batteries for fully electric vehicles as opposed to hybrid gasoline-electric cars like the Prius. Shoichi Matsumoto, Envision AESC chief executive, told Reuters last month it was in talks with automakers in Japan, Europe, the United States and China for new supply deals.

☆ Mazda to invest $11 bln by 2030 to procure EV batteries - Nikkei
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Nov 22 (Reuters) - Japan's Mazda Motor Corp (7261.T) plans to invest 1.5 trillion yen ($10.6 billion) by 2030 to procure electric vehicle (EV) batteries and cooperate with battery supplier Envision AESC, the Nikkei business daily reported on Tuesday. The Hiroshima-based automaker will secure batteries and seek to increase production of fully electric vehicles at factories in Japan through the partnership with Envision AESC, the newspaper reported. Both Mazda and Envision AESC declined to comment. Mazda is set to hold a news conference at 0530 GMT on Tuesday to talk about it medium-term business plan. Shoichi Matsumoto, Envision AESC chief executive, told Reuters last month it was in talks with automakers in Japan, Europe, the United States and China for new supply deals.

☆ Toyota Unveils New Prius as EV With an Engine
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( Sean Mclain | River Davis | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Toyota’s new Prius hybrid goes on sale starting this winter. The Prius hybrid helped cement Toyota Motor Corp. ’s environmental bona fides in the late 1990s by marrying an electric motor to a gasoline engine to boost fuel economy. Now, this pioneering model is getting a reboot, as the Japanese car company looks to arrest a multiyear sales slide for the car and prove hybrids have staying power in the electric-vehicle age.

☆ Toyota Pitches New Prius Hybrid as ‘EV With an Engine’
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( Sean Mclain | River Davis | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Toyota’s sales of its Prius hybrid have declined in recent years as rival brands put out their own hybrids. The Prius hybrid helped cement Toyota Motor Corp. ’s environmental bona fides in the late 1990s by marrying an electric motor to a gasoline engine to boost fuel economy. Now, this pioneering model is getting a reboot, as the Japanese car company looks to arrest a multiyear sales slide for the car and prove hybrids have staying power in the electric-vehicle age.

The chip is called the Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoC and was developed by Xilinx, which was acquired by AMD this year. This will allow automakers to update not only software, but also the chip, after the car is sold, Rehan Tahir, AMD’s senior product marketing manager for automotive told Reuters. Tahir said the Aisin auto parking system will start production on 2024 models, but declined to say which car brands would use it. Tahir said the Aisin system works with four cameras and 12 ultrasonic sensors on the car to parallel park and also back into parking spaces. But the human in the car will have to decide if that spot is in a no-parking zone, he said.

☆ Toyota revamps Prius in bid to give hybrids back their halo
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( Satoshi Sugiyama | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Toyota billed the new Prius, with its shark-like front and ability to operate as an electric-only vehicle for most daily driving, as a way bring hybrids to a wider audience. Launched in 1997, the petrol-electric Prius hybrid was a hit with eco-conscious drivers and even now it is among the most fuel-efficient mid-priced. The hybrid models will launch this winter and the plug-in hybrids will launch in the spring, it said. The new Prius will be the first to feature Toyota's 2-litre plug-in hybrid system, which includes an EV driving range that is about 50% higher than that of the previous model, Toyota said. Toyota has also pushed back against critics, saying hybrids make sense in markets where infrastructure isn't ready to support a faster move to battery vehicles.

☆ Redwood Materials to supply cathode material to Panasonic U.S. battery plant
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( Paul Lienert | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Nov 15 (Reuters) - Panasonic Corp (6752.T) will buy remanufactured battery cathode material from Redwood Materials, beginning in 2025, for the Japanese battery maker’s new Kansas plant, the companies said on Tuesday. Those targets are a focus of U.S. President Joe Biden's Inflation Reduction Act, which aims to build up a battery materials supply base in North America. “The IRA just accelerated this entire transition” of the battery supply chain, Redwood Materials Chief Executive J.B. Straubel said in an interview. He expects the company to be the first to produce cathode material at volume in North America. Redwood recycles Panasonic scrap materials from that factory, and has an agreement to supply Panasonic at the Nevada plant with remanufactured anode copper foil.

☆ Japan unicorn Opn buys MerchantE to enter U.S. online payment sector
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

TOKYO, Nov 15 (Reuters) - Digital payments processor Opn, a rare Japanese unicorn, or startup worth more than $1 billion, said on Tuesday it had acquired MerchantE from U.S. investment firm Integrum Holdings, making inroads into the U.S. online payment sector. The deal comes as Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's government strives to accelerate investments in startups and digital transformation to spur economic growth. "Startups have been getting a tailwind since the start of Prime Minister Kishida's administration," Opn Chief Executive Jun Hasegawa told Reuters. "Besides financial institutions that participated in the financing (for the deal), Japan Bank for International Cooperation and governmental funds such as Japan Investment Corp gave us strong support this time around," he said. Opn, pronounced "open", has been offering services mainly in Southeast Asian countries such as Singapore and Thailand.

☆ Toyota, Sony Set Up Advanced Chip Business in Japan
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-11 | by ( Yang Jie | River Davis | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Japan, once a global leader in semiconductor manufacturing, has fallen far behind the U.S. and Taiwan, which Tokyo sees as a national security concern. TOKYO— Toyota Motor Corp. and Sony Group Corp., together with six other Japanese companies, are creating a new business to design and make next-generation semiconductors by the late 2020s. The venture, called Rapidus, Latin for “rapid,” comes amid rising competition among major economies for advanced chips to support applications such as artificial intelligence and quantum computing.

☆ NTT, Kioxia to invest in new Japan-backed logic semiconductor firm - TV Tokyo
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/2] The logo of NTT (Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation) is displayed at the company office in Tokyo, Japan September 29, 2020. REUTERS/Issei KatoTOKYO, Nov 10 (Reuters) - Japanese companies, including Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp (9432.T) and Kioxia Holdings Corp, have decided to invest in a new government-backed company that aims to mass-produce next-generation logic semiconductors, TV Tokyo reported on Thursday. Other companies, including Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T), Sony Group (6758.T), SoftBank (9434.T) and Denso Corp (6902.T), also plan to invest about 1 billion yen ($6.84 million) each into the new company, the Nikkei newspaper reported separately. Japan's government will set up a new research centre by the end of 2022 to develop sub 2-nanometer semiconductors, which will be led by a former Tokyo Electron Ltd (8035.T) president, TV Tokyo also said. ($1 = 146.2800 yen)Reporting by Kantaro Komiya; Editing by Jan Harvey and Jane MerrimanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Japan's Honda launches new EV model in China
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

TOKYO, Nov 5 (Reuters) - Japan's Honda Motor Co (7267.T) unveiled the second model of its new China-only electric vehicle (EV) lineup on Saturday, targeting the fast-growing, battery-driven car segment in the world's largest auto market. It began selling the first model in China in April. "Honda is transforming itself into an electric brand in China with a series of unique and diverse electric mobility products that only Honda can offer," said Honda CEO Toshihiro Mibe in a statement. Honda laid out a target to roll out 30 EV models globally and produce some 2 million EVs a year by 2030 earlier this year. Last year, it said it would introduce only electrified vehicle models in China after 2030, including battery electric, hydrogen fuel-cell or petrol-electric automobiles.

☆ Honda launches new EV model in China
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) said on Tuesday that its manufacturing PMI fell to 50.2 in October from 50.9 in September. China's Caixin/S&P Global manufacturing PMI stood at 49.2 in October, up from 48.1 in September. The private sector survey was in line with an official PMI released on Monday that showed China's factory activity unexpectedly fell in October. Japan's au Jibun Bank Japan Manufacturing PMI fell to 50.7 in October from September's 50.8 final, marking the weakest growth since January last year. India was an outlier with factory activity expanding at a stronger pace in October as demand remained solid.

☆ Chip Shortages Still Plague Toyota, Other Auto Makers
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-01 | by ( River Davis | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

TOKYO— Toyota Motor Corp. said it still can’t get its hands on enough semiconductors to meet its production goals, despite signs of excess supply elsewhere in the chip business. Toyota on Tuesday lowered its production target for the current fiscal year through March to 9.2 million units from a previous goal of 9.7 million units, citing a shortage of automotive chips.

☆ Chip Shortages Still Plague Toyota, Some Other Auto Makers
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-01 | by ( River Davis | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

TOKYO—Overall demand for semiconductors may be softening, but the world’s biggest auto maker says it still can’t get its hands on enough chips. Toyota Motor Corp. on Tuesday lowered its Toyota and Lexus production target for the current fiscal year through March to 9.2 million units from a previous goal of 9.7 million, citing the risk of chip-supply issues.

☆ Toyota cuts output target amid chip crunch as profit tumbles 25%
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Operating profit for the three months ended September fell to 562.7 billion yen ($3.79 billion), well short of an average estimate of 772.2 billion yen in a poll of 12 analysts by Refinitiv. A year earlier, Toyota sales reported a 749.9 billion yen profit. Toyota said it now expects to produce 9.2 million vehicles this fiscal year, down from the previously forecast 9.7 million but still ahead of last financial year's production of 8.6 million units. Amid the gloom, shares in Toyota fell more than 2%, versus a 0.1% rise in the Nikkei (.N225) average. Toyota estimated in August that materials costs for the full year will be 1.7 trillion yen, a 17% increase from previous estimate.

☆ America is facing a dramatic diesel shortage that could get even worse
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-01 | by ( Phil Rosen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

But trucks continued to deliver goods around the country, so diesel demand stayed elevated. With European nations weaning off Russian energy, competition has increased in the diesel market due to the influx of buyers. Markets are panicking, so diesel prices will climb higher and higher, which will spark behavioral changes in consumers and producers. "Higher prices make the profitability of refining diesel go much higher," he said. The mechanism to do that is simply through diesel prices rising."

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