Shiotsu Autotrade Japan – President’s Blog

Back in 2007,  Honda had revealed its Sporty Hybrid Honda CR-Z Concept at the Tokyo Motor Show.  Honda has kept its promise to launch the production version of Honda CR-Z Hybrid in early 2010.  Honda has now unveiled the ‘CR-Z hybrid sports coupe’!

The hybrid cars which came out first were boring, bland and what not! Honda has decided to change all that with its next generation hybrids.  It has decided to mix environment friendliness and driving fun.

For the sports car enthusiast, Honda CRZ is the world’s first hybrid sports car with a 6 speed manual transmission although you can still choose to order a hybrid with paddle shifts and CVT auto transmission.

‘CRZ’ is an abbreviation for Compact Renaissance Zero. This green fuel efficient car has a 1.5 liter i-VTEC engine with ‘Integrated Motor Assist’ which is actually a hybrid system.  Although 25 km/liter from the vehicle is quite good, what blows your mind is the way the vehicle is styled. It looks futuristic, cool and sharp!

It is also the first hybrid with ‘NORMAL/ECON/SPORT’ driving modes. The ‘SPORT’ mode increases the gear ratios, steering and throttle response whereas ‘ECON’ mode brings the car into economy mode offering you maximum kilometers to the liter.

In Japan, the Honda CR-Z basic model is priced at 2,250,000 Yen and the top model at 2,500,000 Yen.  It will be released in Japan first and then in other parts of the world.  The price for other countries has not been decided yet.

The Honda CRZ debut comes at an apt time barely two weeks after arch rival Toyota recalled almost 44 thousand Priuses and other hybrid cars for complaints of faulty breaks and delay in response of breaks on bumpy roads and cold conditions.

Honda claims that the braking system of its Hybrids is different from Toyota and that Honda has not received any complaints in its hybrid models about braking.  Honda plans to sell over 250,000 hybrids a year by 2010.  Honda CR-Z is a global hybrid car that will make the gasoline-electric technology more available and affordable to sports car lovers.

Technorati Tags: Honda CR-Z Hybrid, hybrid cars, Honda CRZ, Japan, Toyota, Honda

Fuso Canter Eco Hybrid Truck is a medium duty commercial vehicle that stands out in the chase for improved fuel economy, rugged reliability and lower emissions.  This unique hybrid electrical truck has been created by the Mitsubishi Fuso Truck & Bus Corporation, Japan.

This new highly efficient commercial truck – Fuso Canter Eco Hybrid  – has an ultra slim generator, a small yet clean burn diesel engine and advanced lithium batteries coupled with automated mechanical transmission. This medium duty truck manages to achieve thirty percent better fuel economy for delivery application. It also has much less emission compared to its standard diesel only mode.  The parallel hybrid system of this light truck reduces emission and fuel consumption significantly.

In a recent announcement, Mitsubishi Fuso mentioned that they would export twenty five Hybrid Canter Eco light trucks to Australia in March 2010.  This is by far Japan’s largest export shipment of Hybrid trucks to date.  The light duty Canter Eco Hybrid trucks are destined for Start Track Express which is a leading transport company in Australia.

Since the launch of Fuso Canter in July 2006, Mitsubishi has been actively marketing Fuso Canter Eco Hybrid Trucks.  Mitsubishi  has managed to sell 800 units to date in its home market Japan.

This huge order of Hybrid Eco trucks shows that Japans hybrid trucks are finding appreciation amongst customers in International markets who are looking for cost efficient, high quality trucks from Japan which are environment friendly as well.

Last year, Mitsubishi Fuso delivered 10  hybrid trucks to Ireland for its Electricity Supply Board. The ‘Fuso Canter Eco Hybrid Truck’ is getting world wide recognition after already being the top hybrid truck in Japan for the past few years.

If you are looking for a green truck which is powerful too, we highly recommend Fuso Canter Eco Hybrid series of trucks.  We can also procure used Fuso Canter Eco hybrid trucks matching your requirements.

Technorati Tags: Mitsubishi Fuso Truck, Japan, Fuso Canter Eco Hybrid, Fuso Canter, hybrid truck

Nissan Diesel, well known Japanese truck manufacturer of The Volvo Group has changed its name effectively on February 1st and is now called “Nissan UD Trucks Corporation”. Also a new logo type has been developed. The change in vehicle branding as well is reflecting Nissan Diesel’s new identity.

This move has been made by Satoru Takeuchi, President of ‘Nissan Diesel Motor Company’ to unify the company under a single global brand. Previously the company was scattered with different identities which has now been taken care of. This is also aimed at improving the company’s visibility within the Volvo group. This is its parent company. Renault, Mack and Volvo trucks are also sold by The Volvo Group.

Nissan Diesel was started in 1935 and at that time it worked under the banner of  Nihon Diesel Industries.  Nissan Diesel had now been using UD as its brand. UD Trucks is what Nissan Diesel was known as in Australia and The US for very long. But in South Africa it is still known as Nissan Diesel.

1/3 of the sales for Nissan Diesels are from South Africa. It is also Nissan biggest export Market excluding Asia.Last year it sold 2,372 units in South Africa alone.  80 percent of the shareholding of ‘Nissan Diesel South Africa’ (NDSA) is with Japan’s Nissan Diesel.  ‘Nissan Diesels South Africa’ will change its brand name to ‘UD Trucks South Africa’ in September. CEO and NDSA President, Johan Richards added that the change in name also implies the breaking of ties with  Nissan. The Nissan  Group does not have any shareholding in NDMC .

UD originally implied ‘Uniflow Diesel Engine Innovation’ by Nissan Diesel but is now morphed as a symbol for “Ultimate Dependability”.

Technorati Tags: Nissan Diesel, Japanese truck, Nissan UD Trucks, UD Trucks