Shiotsu Autotrade Japan – President’s Blog

Toyota to set up social networking service

Toyota is about to launch a social networking service in collaboration with Microsoft and U.S internet company.  This service will make an interaction possible between the drivers and their cars on the similar lines of Twitter and Facebook.   Toyota Motor Corp, the Japanese automaker and San Francisco based Salesforce.com recently announced their coalition to launch Toyota Friend.  This new feature is exclusively for the owners of Toyota and will act as a mode of communication connecting the customers with the other users, manufacturers, vehicles and dealers.

Private chatter software by salesforce.com will be the base of the social networking system of ‘Toyota Friend’ and will enable users not only to connect with other users but also with several discussion groups.  Toyota’s built-in telematics system will be connected with Microsoft by the software with devices like smartphones and tablet PCs.  Incidentally there are already quite a lot of cars in the market which have network –linking competencies and navigation systems and acts perfectly as any other hi-tech device such as a Blackberry or perhaps an iPhone.

Now, since the software will be able to connect to other networks like Twitter and Facebook, a user can also follow the vehicle on these sites as well apart from the ‘Toyota Friend’ network.  Several hi-tech features will be included in the system like for suppose when the car is running out of power, the user may be informed by the vehicle, or a recommendation is also possible by the car when the user might have the privilege of enjoying off-peak consumption of power.  Also, if the car is due for an inspection, an interaction can surely happen between the vehicles and the dealer and also shall be notified to the user.  These kind of next-gen cars require to be recharged often and hence their users should be continually updated about their status such their level of battery and nearby charging locations.

All the chats between the user-vehicle-dealer can be discreet from exposure or can also be exchanged between other users, or even be updated on other social sites.  The car’s in-built sensors will regulate the dialogues of the car.  The service built on open-source cloud platforms, a specialty of both Microsoft and salesforce.com, will hit Japan in 2012, but will be offered at later stage worldwide.  An amount of $5.5 million, $4 million and $2.8 million will be expended by Toyota, Microsoft and Sales force respectively.

This new updated network feature could assist Toyota to check quality issues and track changes in the market in a faster manner.  A declining number of sales in automobiles might be addressed due to the initiation of social networks and communication between machines.  This change can act as catalyst for vehicles to progress faster and change the mind of young who are less persuaded to buy cars.  In addition to all these, the service will also be useful in keeping the user updated with the new utilities and features in their cars by keeping them linked with the manufacturer and dealer.

Technorati Tags: Toyota, Toyota Friend

SIM-LEI Electric Car gets 300 km – double the range of Nissan Leaf

Nowadays several projects are underway for developing new designs for electric cars.  Japanese car designers too have been busy creating new designs mainly focusing on increasing the range of electric cars.

Japanese car enthusiasts were recently treated to an exciting glimpse of the car of the future when the one such well-known electric car designer SIM-Drive unveiled their latest electric car – the SIM-LEI – which they claim can do over 300 km on a single charge before the battery runs out.  According to AFP reports, this electric car has more than double the range of Nissan’s recently released electric car – Nissan Leaf.

Officials of SIM-Drive said they plan to make the car available in the market by 2013, though they did not provide any information about the projected price.  They said that they expect to sell the prototype to leading car makers for mass production of the vehicle and that they are hopeful that Mitsubishi Motors will show an interest since they had partly funded the project.

Currently, despite being eco-friendly, the electric cars are not catching on very fast as they have to face several hurdles.  The main disadvantages of electric cars include the high cost of the batteries, and their shorter range as compared to petrol cars. Also, the low availability of charging points is adding to their low popularity.  The lack of conveniently available recharging stations for charging up these vehicles further limits their operating radius.

But according to SIM-Drive, the SIM-LEI could provide a solution to many of such problems currently faced by electric cars.  The SIM-LEI is a four-passenger vehicle, has motors inside each of the wheels, and an ultra-light frame, besides the capacity for providing around 330km of motoring before the battery will have to be recharged.  This last feature has caught the interest of motoring enthusiasts and will surely prove to be a huge advantage in favor of the SIM-LEI.

Nissan and other electric car manufacturers are confident that electric automobiles with zero tailpipe emissions will prove to be the future of the auto industry, and that their popularity will ultimately lead to the end of gas-run vehicles.  The move to electric cars will definitely reduce the harmful effects on the environment caused by auto-emissions at present.

Recently, BBC reported that now a new type of noise is being developed for electric cars for alerting pedestrians about their presence on the road thus reducing the risk of accidents.

Technorati Tags: Japanese car, electric cars, SIM-LEI, Nissan Leaf

Shortage of Japanese Used Cars expected in the near future

As an aftereffect of the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami, prices for used cars from Japan are expected to increase later this year.  Right after the earthquake and tsunami in March, used car importers took benefit from a decline in demand for second-hand vehicles in Japan.  In April, 50% more used cars were exported from Japan, compared to previous month.

Nevertheless, brought on by the earthquake to car production throughout Japan suggests that Japanese owners are going to keep their cars for longer.  This will affect the availability of used cars in the used car market in Japan and thus leading to a short supply of used cars available for export too.  Thus, as a result of the disruption caused by the March ’11 earthquake, it is expected that there would be about 10% decrease in export of used cars for from Japan.

As per auto industry analysts, prices of used car are rising worldwide at an alarming rate.  Due to the recent tsunami in Japan, thousands of cars were washed away. Many Japanese people lost their homes and jobs.  Therefore, many Japanese are also bidding along with foreigners for buying used cars in auctions, as they cannot afford new cars now.

There are various reasons for this biggest shortage of used cars in last twenty years.  Everything from recession to earthquake and tsunami has contributed to this shortage of cars.  The decrease in used car supply and increasing demand for used cars has caused the tremendous rise in prices of Japanese used cars.  The effect of the the natural calamities and nuclear disasters in Japan will be felt till the end of September.  It may lead to still higher prices of new and used cars.

Typically, 70% of car purchases in Japan would be for new cars, thus a large percentage of used car are normally available in the market.  However, the current condition is such that the Japanese in quake-stricken areas are rushing to buy vehicles as means of temporary transportation for 500,000 yen or less.  Because of this sudden surge in demand, currently used cars in Japan are selling at very high prices.  On the other hand many other people in Japan have postponed the new car purchase and as a result few used cars are available in used car auctions.  This shortage of used cars is thus causing further rise of used cars prices in Japanese market.

Japanese used car prices going up

Used cars prices, particularly of fuel-efficient and small car models, have dramatically risen.  The reason behind this is not only shortage of used cars for sale but it also attributes to the shortage of new cars in the Japanese domestic market.  The Japanese automakers are struggling to restart the production of new cars.  The automobile plants that are currently working in Japan have reduced the production capacity to a large extent.  The reduction in new car production is also affecting the used-car prices and the prices of used car are probably will be higher in the next few months.  The rise in fuel cost since January is also responsible for the increase in prices of fuel-efficient cars like compacts, subcompacts and hybrids.

Although there is tremendous increase in used car prices, it will be still profitable to buy used cars than buying a new car.  It is expected that the market for new car in Japan will rebound from the disasters very soon.  This may ultimately soften the market of used cars.  However, you will have to wait till October to get a nice deal.

In the meantime, we at Shiotsu Autotrade are trying our best to satisfy the needs of our customers world-wide.