Tag - carmakers

 
 

CARMAKERS

Daihatsu President Masahiro Inoue
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 24, 2024
Daihatsu’s new president sees potential in Africa and South America
Masahiro Inoue pointed at strong demand for compact cars in those markets due to a prevalence of narrow roads.
With U.S. protectionism hindering Chinese electric vehicle makers' overseas expansions, Japanese giants like Honda are poised to capitalize.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 24, 2024
Japan is poised to fill an EV gap left by China
A new Honda facility in Canada shows that Asia’s auto industry is ready to meet North American needs.
Tesla remains the dominant EV maker in the U.S. market, but its earnings have been under pressure for several quarters.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 24, 2024
Tesla speeding up release of cheaper cars after sales miss
The maker of electric vehicles plans to release more affordable models by the end of this year or in early next year.
Japanese startup Turing plans to unveil a self-driving car with at least 30 minutes’ driving range next year and develop a fully autonomous car by 2030.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 22, 2024
An AI star seeks to bring self-driving cars to Japan by 2030
The mind behind an AI algorithm that beat a shogi master now has his sights set on a fully self-driving vehicle by 2030.
Home electric vehicle chargers during the Montreal Electric Vehicle Show in Quebec, Canada, on Friday. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is offering more tax breaks to automotive firms to put their electric vehicle factories in Canada.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 22, 2024
Honda nears deal with Canada to boost electric vehicle capacity
The auto sector is particularly important to Ontario, Canada’s largest province by population and home to assembly plants.
Tesla Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk gets in a Tesla car as he leaves a hotel in Beijing in May last year.
BUSINESS / Tech / ANALYSIS
Apr 22, 2024
Elon Musk’s robotaxi dreams plunge Tesla into chaos
The idea of creating an autonomous taxi service has been kicking around Tesla for at least eight years.
A gallery of cars at Nissan's headquarters in Yokohama. The carmaker revised downward its profit and sales forecasts for the fiscal year that ended in March.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 19, 2024
Nissan cuts sales and profit forecasts
The firm said the revision was made because of lower sales volumes and higher costs paid to suppliers, among other factors.
Tesla's troubles started in October when it warned that demand for EVs was starting to slow, but the full extent of that weakness only became apparent this month.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 17, 2024
Tesla’s value dips below $500 billion in blow to stock bulls
The electric vehicle maker's troubles started in October when it warned that demand for EVs was starting to slow.
Hideyuki Sakamoto, executive vice president for manufacturing and supply chain management at Nissan, speaks during a media briefing at the company's plant in Yokohama on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 16, 2024
Nissan looks to Tesla’s style of carmaking to build cheaper EVs
The carmaker will use machines with about 6,000 tons of force to make the rear floors of EVs to be sold from fiscal 2027 onward.
Honda has lagged behind European and U.S. competitors such as General Motors and Volkswagen in ramping up EV sales.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 16, 2024
Honda to launch next-generation EVs in China by 2027
The carmaker added that it also planned to roll out a total of 10 Honda-brand EV models in China by 2027.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (left) with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing in November 2022. Scholz is travelling to China again this week with the goal of shoring up economic ties with Germany's biggest trading partner.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 15, 2024
An EV trade war with China would be an own goal for carmakers
As German Chancellor Scholz visits China this week, he should push for stronger ties between Chinese and European automakers, especially in the EV market.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida tours a new Toyota battery factory in Liberty, North Carolina, with state Gov. Roy Cooper (second from right) on Friday.
BUSINESS
Apr 13, 2024
Kishida touts Japan’s investments in U.S. with visit to swing-state Toyota plant
The prime minister visited the North Carolina plant where Toyota last year injected an additional $8 billion to make batteries for electric vehicles.
The assembly line at the Volkswagen factory in Zwickau, Germany, on March 14. The factory stopped producing gasoline-powered Golfs and switched to electric vehicles, illuminating the risks and opportunities for factory towns and cities.
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 11, 2024
What happened when a German car factory went all electric?
The city of Zwickau, where more than 10,000 people work for Volkswagen and tens of thousands more for suppliers, seems to have avoided dire consequences.
Tesla says that Autopilot enables its vehicles to steer, accelerate and brake automatically, but that the system’s features require "active driver supervision and do not make the vehicle autonomous.”
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 9, 2024
Tesla settles over fatal Autopilot crash on eve of trial
The case centered on a 38-year-old Apple engineer whose Model X veered off the highway and slammed into a roadside barrier on his way to work.
Daihatsu Motor President Masahiro Inoue speaks during a news conference in Tokyo on Monday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 8, 2024
Toyota tightens oversight over scandal-hit Daihatsu
Daihatsu will streamline the way it reports on development and certification to its parent Toyota Motor.
A lone Tesla charges in the basement of a commercial property in Tokyo. One of Japan’s biggest obstacles to electric vehicles is subpar charging infrastructure.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 8, 2024
How three high-tech countries became laggards in electric vehicles
Japan's slow adoption traces back to a decade-old bet on hydrogen fuel-cell technology, while U.S. and South Korea have hit bottlenecks.
A Tesla Model 3 vehicle drives using FSD (Full Self-Driving) in Encinitas, California, in October.
BUSINESS / Companies / ANALYSIS
Apr 6, 2024
Tesla's bet on robotaxis is a long way from paying off
A greater emphasis on robotaxis comes with more risk for Tesla due to the complexity of the technology involved, analysts said.
Tesla Model 3 vehicles are seen for sale at a Tesla facility in Fremont, California, last May.
BUSINESS
Apr 6, 2024
Tesla scraps low-cost car plans amid fierce Chinese EV competition
The automaker will continue developing self-driving robotaxis on the same small-vehicle platform, the sources said.
Drivers in California’s Marin County rely on a single hydrogen fueling station.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
Apr 6, 2024
Few stations and $200 to fill up: Life on California’s ‘hydrogen highway’
Fuel shortages and soaring prices have stalled the adoption of hydrogen cars — but proponents aren’t throwing in the towel.
U.S. Steel's Edgar Thomson Works facility is seen in Braddock, Pennsylvania. A group of automakers have warned that a deal by steelmaker Cleveland Cliffs for U.S. Steel could "drive up the cost of both steel and e-steel, and ultimately increase the cost of finished vehicles (including EVs) for American consumers."
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 30, 2024
Automakers urge White House to oppose U.S. Steel sale to Cleveland-Cliffs
Cleveland-Cliffs has said it would consider another bid for U.S. Steel if the deal with Nippon Steel — opposed by President Joe Biden — falls apart.

Longform

Professional cleaner Hirofumi Sakurai takes a moment to appreciate some photographs in a Gotanda apartment whose occupant died alone.
The last cleanup: Life and death in a lonely Japan