Chevrolet goes digital at Texas

Chevrolet is making a big move at the south by Southwest Interactive conference now thaing place in Austin,Texas,and it's just the beginning of the GM brand's planned 30% commitment to digital this year.

This program is one of the first major social-media and technology campaingns form a Dtroit Three automaker other than Ford Motor Co. since the industry look a nosedive in 2008

But Barger said Chevy's social-media, augmented reality and mobile programs at the conference are not intended to steal the digital-savvy spotlight from Ford. Instead, they're test pilots for Chevrolet, which Barger said plans to commit about 30 percent of its marketing money to digital this year.

Chevrolet is launching an extensive digital campaign at the music, film and interactive festival, including a tie-in with Austin-based Gowalla, where users check in from their phones around the city to get messages and offers from the GM brand. For example, those flying into Austin can check in at the airport for a free ride downtown in a Chevrolet Ewuinox.

Eco-cars go up, gas stations go down

Japan- The increment of eco-friendly vehicles could close about 2/3 of the nation's 40,000 gas sttations in the next decade.

Around 2,000 gas stations have been closing annually in recent years, but it seems that the rate of closing of gas stations may increased as eco friendly (cars that use less fuel) cars are increasing rapidly.

"If the eco-friendly vehicles accumulate half of new car purchases and 20% of all vehicles in fiscal 2020, annual demand for gasoline will plunge to 40.88 million kiloliter,29% down from fiscal 2008,while the demand for light fuel oil will fall 15%," estimation of The Federation of Petroleum Product Dealers Associations(Zensekiren).

If electric and gas electric hybrid cars catches more than Zensekiren expects, filling stations could face even difficult problem.

The Governments have started searching ways to stop gas stations from falling .

Ford to replace Crown Victoria police car

The legendary Crown Victoria police car will be soon replaced with a new front drive sedan that shares underpinnings with the Ford Taurus.

Ford Motor Co. said today the new car will help to increase Crown Victoria's safety and performance record. Production begins in late 2011 when Crown Victoria production ends.

Police agency asked for a new kind of weapon in the battle for people safety and Ford is responding with purpose built vehicle-engineered and built in America.

Ford also announced the new model will be offered to police agencies.

The Ford Police Interceptor contains two powertrains:3.5 liter V-6 with an estimated 263 hp and the Ecoboost 365-hp twin-turbocharged, direct injection 3.5-liter V-6 .The 365-hp engine model is equipped with all- wheel drive.

General Motors Corp. news

General Motors corp. says, its plunge into social-media marketing is to build up long term relationship with consumers rather than to provide an immediate sales boost.

"Very rarely can i go to my bosses and say i sold 'X' amount of vehicles due to (a campaign)."Christopher Barger,, GM's director-global social media ,tells Ward's.

The real objective is to make good relationship with consumers, he says "Once we do that
, we'll be fine. We can stack up with anybody, this just gives us a chance."

Barger believes GM's latest endeavor,dubbed "See the USA in a Chevrolet: A SXDW Road Trip'"will do just that.

SXSW is held in various venues throughout Austin in conjunction with a social-media conference at the Austin Convention Center.

UK agreed to provide loan to Opel/Vauxhall

London-United Kingdom agreed to provide $140 million loan to Opel/Vauxhall to help secure the company's operation in the UK and the rest of Europe.

" Vauxhall can be the UK's automotive manufacturing base," said Business Secretary in a statement.

Opel CEO Nick Reilly thanked the UK government for its support on it, saying " today marks an important step for the future of Vauxhall."

Vauxhall has one part in north of London situated at Luton ,two in England and the other in Ellesmere Port in the northwest. There are 4,700 employee.

"The company has been in discussion with the government for many months and it successfully completed," Opel/Vauxhall said in statement.

Toyota awarded it's 3 top suppliers

Toyota Motor Corp.nominated three suppliers for award of exceeding expectations.Toyota Motor Engineering and Manufacturing North America Inc, has chosen 3 suppliers ,during the company's annual supplier business meeting, the company said this week.

Mahle Inc, Johnson Controls Inc and Denso International America Inc ,were awarded .
Johnson Controls Inc was awarded for supplier diversity where as Denso Int. and Mahle were awarded in the quality category.

Johnson Controls got no. 3 position ,no.10 and 40 by Denso and Mahle respectively, on the Automotive News list of the top 150 North American Suppliers in 2008.
Johnson Controls sales was $7 billion, Denso $3.3 billion and Mahle $1.18 billion.

New top designer,Campbell retires at the end of this month

Bruce Campbell, the designer of Nissan Motor Crop. will retire as the company's top U.S. designer by the end of this month, the company said.“I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Bruce for his passionate contribution to Nissan Design during his 31-year tenure since the establishment of NDA,” Shiro Nakamura, senior vice president and chief creative officer-design and brand management, Nissan Motor Co. Ltd., and president, NDA, says in a statement. Campbell has been with Nissan for 30 years. He joined Nissan in 1980, creating the design of Gobi concept truck,'Hardbody' pickup, Xterra SUV .He also saw the design of current Maxima Sedan, 370Z sports car and Rogue cross/utility vehicle.

Vice president of Nissan Design Europe, Alfonso Albaisa will replace Campbell as vice president of Nissan Design America.Albaisa previously worked at San Diego studio and was prticipated in many U.S design projects, including Maxima, Altima and Rogue.

Toyota may increased it's sale by 30% on March

New ideas and technology are boosting Toyota's market on U.S. It is expected that Toyota sales will be increased by 30% by the end of this month, as it's sales were decreased by 10% in last month.

After it has massive loss in market Toyota has introduced a new idea of zero % financing and free repair services.

Toyota Vice President said that North American sales surged about 50% in first 8 days of month. And by the end of March, the sales would be increased by 30% all over U.S.

George Magliano, director of North American auto research for IHS Global, said "Toyota quickly attracted loyalists who had defferred buying untill an incentive was offered.But the offers won't help for long"

Mazda join Toyota installing brake override systems

Toyota Motor Corp. made a deal with Mazda Motor Corp. after it recalled around eight million vehicles after the complain of uncertain acceleration. Mazda will install brake override systems.

The technology used will give the brakes priority if brake and accelerator pedals are pressed simultaneously," Mazdda spokesman said today. Spokesman added,"this new technology will me used on future vehicles.

After the complain about the uncertain acceleration in it's vehicles, Toyota said previous month it would install a similar override system in its new cars.

After the complains were arise Toyota recall it's 8 million vehicles and repaired it. previously, it's cars were not equipped with a brake override system.

Nepal Government make difficult for car customers

Nepal Government stopped to lend loan for car customers. Number of people are increasing rapidly in bank, for a loan to buy car. "This is creating some problem in banks and other economic strategy. So, Nepal Government decided to stop the loan for cars for some time," said officer of Nepal Rastra Bank.

At present, number of car customers are growing up rapidly. Nowadays many new brand cars can be seen in city area. Hyundai santro, Mahindra Scrorpio, Mahindra Xylo, Toyota Prado, hyundai matrix, maruti suzuki kizashi, maruti sx4, chevrolet cerato are vehicles that can be seen in Nepal.

Kiasportage, Tata sumo , Kia Sorento, Toyota Land cruiser, are some other vehicles that are seen in city area. Perodua viva. Diahatsu sirion, chevrolet aveo. chevrolet cruz, are the other small size car that are frequently seen in city area.

As Nepal Government impose heavy tax(around 200%) ,the cars prize are very high. Prize ranges from hundred thousand to ten million.

Auto expo in Butwal, Nepal, helped to increase sale

Auto expo held in Butwal, Nepal on February(18-28) helped to increase the sale in automobile market in Butwal as well as in WDR. Auto expo was organized by Rupendehi Trading Association. As around 25 automotive installs were kept in the auto expo, it helped to increase the sale.

Auto expo helped people to be familiar about the auto product. Bikes, cars and tractors were the main attraction of the expo.

"We reached to our objective as our main objective was to make people know about the new product launched and to have some good sale," said the spokesman of organizer.

1. NEPALI RIDERS ,CRAZY ON BIKES:

Now days, Nepali riders are being more crazy on bikes. Rate of bikes consumption has been increased rapidly in Nepal .

According to the suppliers, the number of customers are increasing day by day. This shows positive impact on motorbike dealers.
Yamaha, Hero honda, Bajaj are the top brand whose product has covered about 90% of bikes in the country.

Some two couple of years ago, H erohonda, Splender and Yamaha were the top brand in nepali market. Herohonda was dominating other brands in nepal till couple of years ago. but bajaj soon increased it's market as it launched pulsar-150 .As pulsar touched the heart of every bike riders specially youngsters.

Recently, Pulsar-180, Pulsur-220, F-Z, R15, Apache, Fazer are the bikes that are most popular bikes as sport bike in Nepal.Honda shine and Bajaj Discover are categorized as business bikes- according to customer's view.Despite of all these things, hero honda has its own identity and own market in nepal as the aged people still love it.

YOUNGSTERS RISING AS STUNNERS:

Although, bike stunt is old trend in other countries but it is not quite old in Nepal. Now days, the youngsters are being crazy on bike stunt.Specially on city area like Kathmandu, Dharan, Pokhara, Butwal, Biratnagar, Bhairahawa bike riders are busy on learning bike stunned. There are different spot where they practice bike stunned. Capital city has a organized spot for bike riders. As the day began to end number of riders increased in ktm.

India growing the rate of autoconsumption

According to the current consumption levels, it is assumed that India's automobile industry could increase the import of raw components by nearly about 42% by coming fours years, i.e by 2013-2014, says an industry member.

According to a research done by (FICCI) Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry on imports of raw components on automobile.

According to research it is assumed that the share of imports in domestic auto componentmarket is likely to be 50% within upcoming four years.

According to India- ASEAN FTA , custom duty on auto parts like bumpers, gear boxes , pistons and radiators would be zero within next three years. Similarly, custom duty on two wheelers(bikes) would come down to about five percent level or zero under India-South Korea FTA.

The report said 'this could help us to achieve our plan of $40-45 billion of auto component industry within next six years fall under the Automobile Mission Plan announced in 2006"
India is a good destination for light vehicles but it also managed to continue as a net importer of auto components.

However the annual increased rate of importing auto component raise by 30% but the export is not increased as the rate of import ,i.e export is increased by 15%.
The European Union is still the largest source of import with share of 35-37%, South Korea's share increased by 15.4-17% , China by 9% in 2008-09 whereas the share of U.S and Japan is in decreasing order.

Toyota refused compains after test of vehicles

Toyota Motor corporation has repaired about 1 million vehicles which were recall due to the complain for unintended acceleration and the company claimed that there is no any such fault after it was repaired. About 6 million vehicles were recall for repairing.

NHTSA (National Highway Transportation Safety Administration) had claimed that toyota has received many complaints from its customer that they experienced unintended acceleration.

Previously, automobile professor David W. Gilbert had described that Toyota vehicle have some defect of unintended acceleration that makes the vehicle suddenly out of control of the driver. Toyota has hired automobile engineers to test the vehicles. According to engineers, the test is not valid because it couldn't happen without someone cutting and breaching the insulation on two wires creating a problem(short circuit).

After the study Toyota has refused all the complains and said that there are no such defect.

Toyota's time is running no good at the present situation as the situation is out of control of it. Car buyers are losing interest on it's product. This is the tough time for Toyota to maintain it's reputation.

Acura updated it's MDX

For this year, Acura has updated it's MDX. New style and potential of MDX provide the luxury to the rider. Acura has provides new look and increase the the potential of MDX. The exterior is simple and straightforward with chunky lines along the side. The design of the interior parts were carried over from 2009.
It's customer can have luxurious drive. New MDX comes with 19 inches wheels which make it's look more better. It's horse power 300, 3.7- litre V-6 provides better power to it than the older one. The features on MDX is the super handling all wheel drive system that can use the car's power to help its handling. But MDX is not recommended for city streets. The main point that makes new MDX differ than older one is the addition of Honda's new six speed automatic transmission.
Other mechanical upgrade is the new adaptive damping system. Acura has adopted the magnetorheological dampers found in other advanced car.
Company says that new MDX gives better and more comfortable ride. The comfort and sport in MDX may help Acura to remain on ranking this year.

Tata Motor declared to supply 1,000 buses to Hafil Transport in saudi arabia

Tata Motors has set a declaration to supply 1,000 school buses(air-conditional) to Saudi Arabia, worth around $50 million. Was done with Hafil Transport of Saudi Arabia. The delivery of the buses would begin from April 2010 till the year, the company announced. Though the company did not mention the value of the total price but it is estimated that price would be of about $50 million.
The buses will be used to transport girl students studying under the country's Ministry of Education.
Hafil Transport is one of the largest private bus and coach operators in Saudi Arabia has over 6,500 vehicles running through out the country. The company has it's goal to further increase it's services.

Toyota plans a campign in China

Beijing- Toyota Motor Corporation, on Friday plans to begin a major new sales campaign in China. The campaign will contain a combination of sales incentives, including 0% loans, free insurance and roadside service, a Toyota spokesman said. This reflects the serious decrease in its sale in China since late January.
Toyota began announcing recalls of vehicles to fix vehicle problems. The company has recalled more than eight million vehicles through out the world. Toyota's quality issues so far haven't been as severe in China as in the U.S and some other country. In China, Toyota recalled vehicles because of the gas pedal problem.This Monday, company said that, despite of economy crisis , it sales in China, grew 30%.
Toyota President Akio Toyoda visit a campaign to assure customers and officials of the company's commitment to safety and quality. During a visit Masahiro Kato , a top China based Toyota sales and marketing executive, told that Toyota has been getting unusually large number of complaints from customers since late January .
Toyota has offered many more services, all customers coming in to test-drive vehicles will receive a gasoline card worth about $11.70. If a customer purchase a car, he will also receive mandatory vehicle insurance free for a year from Toyota.
An internal Toyota document reviewed by The Wall Street Journal said the "Big Spring Sale" campaign by FAW-Toyota is "the biggest-ever marketing campaign in the history" of the joint venture.

Mahindra to set date for U.S launch

Inida's largest utility vehicle and tractor maker, Mahindra and Mahindra , will probably announce time period to launch its pickups in the US , a top official announce on Thursday.
The U.S market is very productive for Mahindra to achieve its target to become a global player. Originally it was expected that launch could be on early 2010. But it has been delayed due to safety and emission certification.
"The process is taking a bit longer than what we accepted," Pawan Goenka, president of the management board, said in an interview. He said an application would be made to the U.S Environment Protection Agency as soon as the vehicle completes the tests required, result can be known in about 2 or 3 weeks later. President Goenka said the agency usually takes a month to process applications. "Since our main target is to be known as the premier SUV and pickup manufacturer in the world, but to get it we must sell and be successful in the U.S. Without that we cannot call ourselves a premier player in that segment," he said.
" Mahindra hopes to quadruple exports in 2010-2011 from an expected 10,000 units in the current fiscal year that ends on March 31," president said. He said " we will be able to achieve that ultimate objective of having 20% of our volumes coming from exports, if the U.S sales start"
Mahindra has a 65%share of India's utility vehicles market with models such as Scorpio, Bolero and the Xylo and completes with Tata Motors LTD.