Shiotsu Autotrade Japan – President’s Blog

The Japanese economy has suffered from recession for most parts of this decade.  The Japanese auto industry was severely affected by the global recession.  Sudden appreciation of the yen against the U.S. dollar also had a negative impact on the auto export business.  Top automobile manufacturers like Toyota Motor Corp posted operating losses of billions of yen in the last few years.  Major auto makers in Japan slashed their production to minimize the losses.  However, gradually the Japanese auto industry is rebounding from the effects of the recession, by boosting export sales.

Japanese truck makers realized well that expanding sales to cover global markets is the only way to achieve sustainable growth.  The exports not only increase the revenues for truck makers in Japan and the supportive industries, but it also offers some level of protection from the weak local markets in Japan.  As per a report published by Frost and Sullivan, roughly 49% of all trucks sold in 2008 by Japanese truck makers were actually sold in export markets which included emerging economies such as China, Russia and India apart from established markets like Europe and North America.  Major portion of these exports – 64% – go to Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America and Europe.  At present, just about 2% of Japan’s commercial truck exports are made to North America.

The urbanization of many developing countries is giving rise to many compact cities, characterized by narrow roads.  These cities require smaller light trucks which could be easily maneuvered.  Heavy trucks would still be needed to move freight between these cities.  Japanese truck makers are also taking steps to promote sales of mini-trucks, light trucks and other light commercial vehicles to capture this market in the world’s emerging economies.  Japanese truck makers are also targeting the North American market for mini trucks.

Japanese automakers are also focusing to capture larger shares of the Indian and Chinese car and truck market, which is growing by leaps and bounds.  Japanese truck maker Hino Motors recently had a technology tie-up with Ashok Leyland in India and would soon launch its premium range of trucks in the fast growing Indian market, competing with Tata Motors, Volvo, and MAN.

To summarize, exports to developed nations as well as emerging economies have helped Japanese truck makers to sustain their business and grow in spite of the recession.

Technorati Tags: Japan, Japanese truck, Heavy trucks

As per the latest survey released by Parker’s – the leading used car magazine from UK – Honda Jazz was declared Britain’s best car for retaining its for 2009.  Honda Jazz was selected from about 300 different car models Parker’s tested in their annual survey.  According to Parker’s, the Japanese automaker Honda’s popular hatchback “Honda Jazz” has been voted number one for resale value as it  suffers theleast from depreciation.

Honda Jazz loses just about US$2,200 in value during the first 12 months, having done minimum 10,000 miles, as per the research conducted by Used Car Expert magazine.  Depreciation for luxury cars like Maybach 62 can be as high as US$205,500.  These figures suggest that not all luxury cars and supercars are good from the point of view of long-term investment, small cars have much better resale value than larger ones.

This survey was carried out by Parker on the basis of average values of one year old cars driven 10,000 miles.  Out of the top 40 positions 35 were occupied by small cars.  Suzuki Swift and Kia Picanto appeared in list of top 10 while Hyundai’s i10 occupied fourth position following Fiat 500 and SEAT Ibiza respectively.  The survey points out the fact that during the first year of ownership, most of the cars depreciated more slowly compared to following years.

Honda Jazz is known as Honda Fit in South and North America as well as in Japan and China.  The car is called the Honda Jazz in Oceania, Europe, South East Asia, the Middle East, Africa and India.

People interested in buying used cars should definitely consider buying used Honda Jazz (Honda Fit) as it has a high resale value.  Investing money on Honda Jazz is one of the safest investments on 4 wheels, as Honda Jazz has the reputation of being the most desirable used car.

Features of Honda Jazz

Honda Jazz comprises whole lots of features such as incredible flexibility, larger interior space and low running costs making it quiet appealing to new car buyers as well as used car buyers.

For the safety of the car occupants, Japanese car maker Honda have utilized Advanced Compatibility Engineering’ (ACE), G-Force Control (G-CON) construction and anti-lock braking to build up their cars.  This engineering provides improved protection  in case of collisions.  The Honda Jazz is powered by a 1.2 litre engine and equipped with the pretensioner seat belt.  The new Jazz has with ample space,  spacious head and leg room,  good looks is great with turns and easy to park.  The Honda Jazz is a small but powerful and efficient car.

Despite recession Honda Jazz has managed to retain good depreciation value, so Honda Jazz is the ideal car with great looks, good performance which is comfortable to drive.  This versatile car can not only provide you good performance, but also fetch you good resale value when you try to sell it to second hand market.  Honda Jazz, therefore,  is an ideal investment to make!  If you are looking for a used Honda Fit from Japan, please inquire with your requirements.

Technorati Tags: Honda Fit, used cars, Honda Jazz, used Honda Fit, Japan

In spite of the tight economy, use of information technology for In-vehicle entertainment is becoming increasingly popular.  At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas held this month, technology companies such as Google and Intel and in collaboration with car manufacturers displayed their latest Internet enabled gadgets for the modern cars.

These new in-vehicle gadgets will revolutionize the motoring world, by bringing Internet access to the driver’s seat.  Demand for such dashboard innovation is growing steadily; sales of in-vehicle gadgets reached $9.3-billion in 2009.

The new generation of Wi-Fi enabled gadgets, will allow drivers to access the Internet in a very friendly way.  While behind the wheels, you can listen to your emails as well as compose voice-activated e-mails, use 3D maps to navigate while other passengers are watching movies, or check up restaurant reviews for your destination.

Ford, for example, unveiled new features for its Sync in-car technology at the Las Vegas Consumer Electronics show.  Ford showed off how their cars decked out with Internet displays can allow people to use Twitter and Facebook, check movie times, get free maps with street directions and listen to Internet radio from behind the wheel.  Ford Sync system can recognize over 1,000 voice commands.

However, there are warnings issued by motoring organizations about using such “infotainment” systems as these systems can distract drivers as they are driving and increase the risk of accidents.  Motoring organizations are demanding that such innovative interactive technology works only when the cars are stationary.

Many companies are voluntarily coming up with gadgets which have built-in safety features that would prevent distraction of drivers.  For example, software developed by ZoomSafer locks down phone calls and texting when a car hits the speed of 25 km/hr to make the communication safer on the road.

Technorati Tags: cars, in-vehicle gadgets, Ford Sync, infotainment

According to Japan Automobile Dealers Association (JADA), Toyota Motor’s Prius was topmost selling car in Japan in 2009. For the first time in the history of top selling cars any hybrid car has secured that top position. Toyota Prius sold about 208,876 cars in 2009, which is thrice the number of Prius cars sold in the earlier year. Toyota dominated Japanese car market by producing 8 of the top 10 best selling models last year. Toyota Prius is also the best-selling gas-electric hybrid in the world and has sold about 1.6 million vehicles so far.

The world’s biggest automaker – Toyota rolled out a revamped, fuel-efficient and cheaper model with the capacity of about 38 kilometers per litre in May 2009. Since then, Toyota Prius has been Japan’s top selling vehicle. Success of Toyota Prius in Japan emphasizes the growing consumer acceptance of green cars. As the numbers speak for it, the Prius exemplifies the ideal package people in Japan are looking for whether that is in terms of driving, environmental or performance.

The sale of hybrid vehicles in Japan has increased due to the incentives and tax breaks offered by Japanese government to the buyers of green vehicles. This has also helped Japanese automakers like Toyota to improve their hybrid sales figures.

To avoid competition, the Japanese automaker – Toyota have kept the price of Toyota Prius very low like the starting price of basic U.S. model is $21,000 and starting price of Prius is $22,000 which is same as last year’s base price of same model . In Japan, the price of Toyota Prius starts at 2.05 million yen, or about $22,000.

After Toyota Prius, the second position was occupied by Honda’s fit which is non-hybrid car and sold around 157,324 cars. The other competitor of Toyota – Nissan is busy with preparation of its own all electric which will be launched by the end of 2010.

Toyota’s success has proved that hybrid cars are not just fancy concept cars people used to watch at the auto shows, but they are now affordable and practical cars for today’s world. The success of Prius has given a new dimension to Japanese automakers. Though the Japan’s auto market has been sluggish for many decades but the benefit from hybrid sales is a bright spot in the middle of overall gloomy demand.

Battered by the global economic downturn last year, Japanese automakers hope that the popularity of fuel-efficient hybrid vehicles will re-energize the deteriorating auto market. Even then hybrids have to face competition from pure electric vehicles like mini-electric car i-MiEV manufactured by Mitsubishi Motors, Subaru Plug-in STELLA manufactured by Fuji Heavy Industries etc

Technorati Tags: Japan, hybrid car, Toyota Prius, Japanese car, Toyota, Nissan, hybrid vehicles