Urban Mobility
There are few automotive components as widely vilified these days as the nine-speed automatic transmissions being offered in several Fiat Chrysler models. Car critics and consumers alike have slammed what once seemed like a breakthrough gearbox for a litany of troubles since it debuted in the Jeep Cherokee in May 2014. Manufactured by Germany’s ZF, FCA is recalling the nine-speed
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Second-quarter profits at the publicly traded dealership groups — mixed amid weak new-vehicle sales — took a hit from the thousands of vehicles languishing on lots under stop-sale orders, waiting for recall repairs. Now those groups are taking on the problem. “We are going to get more aggressive in our pricing to blow some of this out,” said Jeff Dyke,
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Toyota Motor Thailand sees green shoots for the domestic market, although improvements aren’t likely to be seen before 2017. After a flat first half of the year, the automaker, which dominates the Thai landscape with an almost one-third market share, projects full-year industry sales to come in at around 740,000 vehicles, 7.5% down from last year. Toyota Motor Thailand President
Read moreHyundai Indonesia is in talks with its South Korean principal to obtain more completely knocked down (CKD) projects, an executive has said. The company has an assembly plant in Pondok Ungu, Bekasi, West Java, to assemble big, H-1 multipurpose vehicles (MPVs) with 43 percent local content. Hyundai Indonesia exports 250 units per month to Thailand. “We are in discussions with
Read moreNew vehicle sales in South-east Asia’s six largest markets rose by 10.6% to 781,162 units in the second quarter of 2016, from 706,532 units in the same period of last year, according to data collected exclusively for just-auto by AsiaMotorBusiness.com. This follows a 3.6% decline in the first-quarter of the year, resulting in a 3.2% rise in cumulative first-half sales to
Read moreThe potential foreign partner is expected to be an automaker with a global brand. The sale is being undertaken, says an exclusive report in the Nikkei Asian Review, as part of its restructuring. Proton is losing money. Successful talks would mean the re-entry of foreign capital along with technology know-how for the first time since January 2005, when Mitsubishi Corp
Read moreOn the heels of its $32 billion takeover of chip designer ARM Holdings, SoftBank Corp founder Masayoshi Son is embarking on another “crazy idea”: talking cars that can read a driver’s emotions. The Japanese telecommunications and internet corporation said on Thursday it was teaming up with Honda Motor Co to look at ways of applying SoftBank’s humanoid robotic technology to
Read moreHonda Motor Co. has developed a new electric motor for hybrid vehicles that tackles two top challenges in manufacturing the crucial drivetrain component: The high cost and uncertain supply of the rare-earth metals used in their powerful magnets. The key is a new motor not using any heavy rare-earth metals, such as dysprosium or terbium. The breakthrough frees Honda from
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