Shiotsu Autotrade - President’s Blog

Carlos Ghosn, chief executive of Nissan, recently said in a statement that Nissan is aiming to launch an electric car in the Japanese and US market by 2010. Nissan aims to offer their electric cars globally by 2012, in their long term plan.

In this world of rising gas prices and pollution, Nissan Electric Cars would also be able to meet the stricter fuel-economy standards in developed nations through this initiative.

Nissan has plans to develop subcompact electric cars powered by self-developed lithium-ion batteries. With this Nissan has now become the first Japanese automaker to announce their plans to develop and sell mass market, all-electric vehicles globally.  This would put them in direct competition with domestic rivals Honda and Toyota both of which are already selling hybrid cars in Japan and USA.

Technorati Tags: Nissan, electric car, Japanese, cars, pollution, Honda, Toyota, hybrid, Japan

Japanese Mini-Trucks also known as Kei-trucks are normally used as work trucks in Japan. But these days some Drift enthusiasts are modifying these truks for Drifting. So do not be surprised if you see a Japanese Minitruck competing with Nissan Skyline sports car in a Drift Event.

Well, there is always some excitement for those who want to try something different. And if you watch this video, you will definitely agree that it is indeed fun to watch these trucks doing challenging course at top speed in drifting events.

Though we do not deal with modified mini-trucks for Drifting, we can definitely supply new or used mini-trucks for other purposes.

Technorati Tags: Japanese, Mini-Trucks, Kei-trucks, Japan, Drift, Drifting, Nissan, Skyline

Based on news from Trading Markets, Hino Motors - Japan’s major manufacturer of heavy duty trucks, is planning to export trucks to Russia and India in 2009. Hino aims to sell 10,000 units a year in each country.

Due to a construction boom and rapid economic growth, Russia has a growing need for trucks. According to Avtorevyu, Russia imported 39,469 trucks (new and used) in the first eight months of 2007.

The truck demand in India is growing at a rate of over 30% every year. Tata and Ashok Leyland are major truck makers in India.  But there is clear demand for environment friendly trucks because of stricter pollution control rules. Hino is planning to tap that market.

For the time being, Hino will ship the trucks from Japan, but it will consider local assembly when unit sales reach 10,000 in each market.

This is a good news for our customers in Russia and India who import used Hino trucks, that they will soon have authorized Hino service centers in their countries.

Technorati Tags: Hino, Japan, trucks, Russia, India, used

In my earlier post about Nissan’s Diversity Drive for its female workforce, I had mentioned about the limited role women in Japanese Car Industry and how Nissan is planning to change its corporate culture to include more women.

I recently came across the book Why Women Mean Business which gave a similar message looking at the global corporate culture. This book suggests that gender equality in the labour force could increase GDP by as much as 9 per cent in the US, 13 per cent in Europe and 16 per cent in Japan.

I agree with this view. Women have become probably the greatest neglected resource in business, both in their productive potential as employees and their market potential as buyers.

Carlos Ghosn, chief executive of  Nissan,  recently mentioned that women directly made or influenced two-thirds of car purchases in Japan. So women definitely play a big role as buyer in Japan. As per Nissan’s surveys, 80 per cent of women buyers and half of men would prefer to see women sales executives in car showrooms. Yet only one out of ten salespeople in the Japanese car industry are women.

Companies are learning that they need to change how they market to women. And to start with, I have included my wife and one more female staff member to give more attention to our women buyers.

Technorati Tags: women, Japanese, Car, Nissan, Japan

Talk of a compact,elegant and simple car,then the suzuki A-Concept car is very great.January of next year(2008),suzuki is unleashing their concept car,The Suzuki A-concept This will take place at the Delhi motor show.Concept cars often do not become production models,being more an expression of futuristic technologies and designs.But the suzuki A-Star concept will culiminate in a production model.
The A-star concept,foretell`s the automakers next global compact car.The technical details are sparse,but reports state that the production version will be powered by a 1.0L Euro 5 emissions compliant engine. The vehicle indicates of what suzuki`s next global car will look like.when the prodution version hits the global market-although the U.S market isn`t likely to get the car-The vehicle should have a very low price of entry.
The vehicle has been developed jointly by Maruti Suzuki and Suzuki motor corporation. The suzuki A-star concept is for a compact car.Compact cars are normally simple and elegant in design,while retaining elegance and simplicity,will demonstrate sportiness and emotion in a compact car.
The A-star:so-called because it`s positioned in the heart of the A-segment or mini car class-will feature a new 1.0liter aluminum engine that meets the tough Euro 5 emission standards,including drastically lower levels of Carbondioxide.

Technorati Tags: elegant, Suzuki, A-concept, concept

The Honda Puyo concept car was presented at this years Tokyo motor show. Puyo is a japanese Onomatopoeia that is a meant to convey a warm,friendly impression,the sensation of touching the vehicle`s softbody.Sounds kinky but puyo`s ‘gel’ body is actually soft .Honda claims the soft body increases safety.During the dark puyo`s body can glow,emitting light.Therefore in the night it is very easy to notice when in the streets.
Puyo is a green vehicle,powered by a fuel cell.Its design is that of a cornerless box.The small tyres are at the extreme corners of the vehicle.It has been designed in away that it can turn in 360 degrees.The puyo has got what is called the scissor doors!
The interesting part of the puyo is that instead of the steering wheel its got a joystick.Describing the puyo,most probably the suitable words are Quirky and impractical,this is what is expected of concept cars.The inside is designed to have a silky feel,providing a refreshing and people friendly space.

Technorati Tags: Honda, Puyo, concept, Onomatopoeia, green vehicle, joystick

Seven vehicles from the Japanese car manufacturer,Honda motor company,received the top safety pick designation for 2008,as published by the Insurance institute for highway safety www.iihs.org thus bagging the top award for most vehicles on the safest list for 2008.

The intitute requires new cars to have electronic stability control(ESC),to qualify for the award.Honda has had stability control on all SUVs,pickups and minivans since 2007 and the technology is now standard on the Accord.The seven vehicles on the list from Honda and its Acura unit are:The Honda Accord,CR-V,Element,Odyssey and pilot,and the Accura MDX and the RDX SUVS.

Electronic Stability Control senses when a driver may lose control of the vehicle and automatically applies brakes to the individual wheels to avoid a rollover and keep the vehicle stable.This new technology helps drivers avoid skidding on slick or icy roads and keeping control of their car when swerving to avoid unexpected objects on the road.Thus with ESC,crashes could be prevented altogether.

Technorati Tags: vehicles, Japanese car, Honda, safety, cars, Accord, Accura, Electronic Stability Control, ESC

ASV is Advanced Safety Vehicle.These vehicles use advanced technologies to bring out markedly improved safety.This system is not recent, it goes all the way back to 1939 but as technology advances, the system has been improved significantly.Up to now only prototypes have been manufactured,talk of the nissan ASV-4.
The functioning of the ASV is alittle bit complicated but very interesting.This is how the system works:
Drowsiness warning system.
  A camera in the instrument panel monitors the driver`s driving condition and issues a warning to prevent dozing while driving.
Stopping the car in emergency.
 This is the automatic braking system for driver impairment,when the dozing driver is still in a dangerous situation despite warning and awake system activation ,this system calls attention to nearby vehicles and stops the car,minimising accidents.
Protecting pedestrians.
 Nighttime pedestrian monitoring,this system dectects the presence of pedestrians from infrared rays emitted from them and notifies the driver. it displays the direction of the pedestrian who is detected by an infrared ray sensor on the instrument panel,and enables the driver to easily recognise the area to pay attention.
Tire check.
  Tire pressure monitoring system,this system detects a change of tire air pressure by means of wheel speed sensors,and operates a warning lamp to warn a driver when the air pressure has dropped.
Improved visibility.
 This the water repellant windshield system,this system ensures good visibility by turning raindrops into spheres with a high beading coat technology that was newly developed to target improvement of visibility in rainy weather.
Easing Impact from side Collision.
 Side airbag system,this system is activated through sensors which detect having received a side collision,cushion the collision impact on driver and passenger by means of expanding airbags in the sphere between driver or passenger and the body side.
Wake-up.
 The drowsiness relieving system,this system sets off a warning and releases fragrance with a wake-up effect through the air conditioner by the drowiness warning system operation to dispel drowsiness.This system can be operated by the driver when overcome with drowsiness.
Automatic control distance between two cars.
 Adaptive cruise control system,When functioning an automatic speed control device ensures a proper headway breaking distance from the car infront, so as it draws closer velocity is automatically reduced. This system controls a proper headway automatically without driver breaking operation.
Signaling danger to nearby surroundings.
 Emergency braking advanced advisory system,this is the system which gives fast briefing of emergency braking to a following car.This system analyses information such as cirmustances in front,velocity of the braking car,driver pedal operation and the like.The brake lamps come on before the driver presses the brake pedal to give a warning to the following trafic.
Detecting Obstacles.
  Obstacle warning system.This system operates an alarm to warn a driver according to the degree of proximity to an obstacle such as another car in the front or rare side,or fallen objects on the road.
Efforts to minimise impact.
  Automatic braking system for reduction of collision speed.This system operates brakes automatically when driver braking operation is late, to reduce as thoroughly as possible collision speed against an obstacle such as another car in the front or rear side,or fallen objects on the road.
Quickly notifying an ambulance.
  Automatic emergency reporting system, this system automatically reports essential information such as location of a vehicle to an operation center when an accident has occured,and enable rapid communication with an ambulance.
Results of autonomous automatic driving system research.
According to research done,it reveals that, Achieved automatic driving on expressways with absolutely no operation by the driver;
Automatic driving is possible for 90% of all normal driving.But
 -cannot respond to sudden and urgent conditions.
 -there is the possibilty of road recognition errors under certain weather and road
  conditions.
 -driving stress is reduced and so there is the high possiblity of drivers falling asleep.
 -all driving conditions cannot be handled automatically when the driver falls asleep.
The nissan prototype ASV-4.

Technorati Tags: ASV, Advanced Safety Vehicle, technologies, prototypes, nissan, vehicles, infrared rays, airbag, automatic, Emergency