Shiotsu Autotrade Japan – President’s Blog

Toyota Launches small car – Etios Liva – in India

After a long time, Toyota is coming up with a small car much to the delight of Indians and families in general.  Toyota’s small car promises to be spectacular and is being specially designed for India.  This way, Toyota plans to enter the Indian car market in a big way.  The small car being carved for the Indian roads is to be named Liva.  Toyota has done a remarkable job with its two thousand engineers carrying out research in both India and Japan.   There is a huge demand for small cars in India and Toyota’s small car model Liva would definitely live up to the expectations of Indian families.

The small car which is going to be designed using the Toyota Etios platform is not very expensive and is expected to be a rage among Indian families.  Before entering other markets, Toyota wishes to launch Etios Liva in India due to the huge demand for small cars in this market.  In December 2010, when Etios Sedan made its debut, it was a huge success and has sold over a good twenty thousand units till date.  This has really set Toyota thinking and the giant car maker believes that Liva would take it to the top of the car manufacturers list in India.

The managing director of Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) – a joint venture between Toyota Motors, Japan and Kirloskar, India-  has stated that the car markets of Japan and United States are saturated and they would now like to focus their attention on China, India, Russia and Brazil.  In the year 2011, TKM expects its car sales of Etios and Liva to reach a good 140,000 units.  In the year 2012, TKM expects the sales of small cars to reach 210,000 units.  This definitely is great news for the giant car maker.

It is interesting to note that the market share of Toyota stands at a good 3.3 percent.  By the year 2015, Toyota expects its car sales to reach 350,000 car units.  Industry experts have predicted that with Liva and Etios being developed and designed on the same platform, Toyota would be able to save a good fifteen percent of the production costs on each car.  Read the rest of this entry »

Eco Car World Expo event was recently held in Aka-Renga Red Brick Warehouse Park, Yokohama, Japan, Mitsubishi Fuso Trucks exhibited their two new low pollution and eco friendly vehicles – the new ‘Canter Eco Hybrid’ light duty truck, and the ‘Super Great’ heavy duty truck in this International event.  Mitsubishi Fuso Trucks had just launched their new Super Great heavy duty truck with environment friendly low emission engine in April 2010.  Both these vehicles meet the JP09 – Japan’s New Long-Term Emission Regulation – the world’s most stringent regulation for emission control.

Over 70 companies including major automakers in Japan exhibited/demonstrated their environment friendly technologies  and over 100 low emission vehicles including Electric Vehicles and Vehicles powered by fuel cells, in this event held in Yokohama.  I had a chance to visit this event and I could see many families with children visiting this event.  Visitors were allowed to sit in the driver’s cabin and enjoy the comfort offered by these new vehicles.

The new ‘Super Great’ heavy-duty truck represents a major leap forward for heavy-duty truck industry in Japan.  It’s all new 6R10 heavy-duty engine and advanced BlueTec(R) emissions control system offers excellent fuel efficiency with significant progress in environmental performance.   The new Super Great truck is environmentally-friendly, designed for safety and also highly cost-effective in operation.  The new Super Great uses an electronically-controlled light-weight 12-speed mechanical automatic transmission – INOMAT-II, for improving the fuel economy further.  Due to these combined efforts for increasing the fuel efficiency, 87% of the Super Great series trucks meet Japan’s 2015 fuel efficiency standard, and thus qualify for Eco-car Tax incentives in Japan.

The new ‘Canter Eco Hybrid’ medium duty commercial truck from Mitsubishi Fuso employs an ultra-compact electric motor powered by advanced lithium-ion batteries, and a compact, clean-burning diesel engine in a drive train having highly efficient automated mechanical transmission.  ‘Canter Eco Hybrid’ offers over 30% better fuel economy with significantly reduced pollution compared to its standard diesel model.  Canter Eco Hybrid has been sold domestically in Japan as well as in other countries such as Australia, Hong Kong and England.

If you are looking for the new Super Great and Canter Eco Hybrids, or used Super Great and Diesel version of Canter trucks, please get in touch with us with your requirements.

Technorati Tags: Mitsubishi Fuso, Fuso Trucks, heavy duty truck, Electric Vehicles, Super Great truck, Canter Eco Hybrid

I happened to visit the Tokyo Motor show 2009 last weekend.  Though I could see many concept cars displayed by Japanese car makers like Nissan, Toyota, Mazda, and Honda at the Show, I was particularly impressed by Nissan’s Land Glider electric vehicle.  This zero emission electric car has a unique design that bends on the turns much like a motorcycle.  If you are a bike fan, then, I feel, this may be the right car for you!

Nissan has designed this concept car – Land Glider -- for use in congested urban areas and narrow alleys, which are very typical in Japan.  In this car, the driver seats centrally and the passenger sits behind the driver, just like on a motorbike.  This tiny electric vehicle has computer controlled steering system that leans the car on the turns.  The driver controls the vehicle through a drive-by-wire system that is controlled through a two-handle wheel.  And, instead of the back view mirrors, they have monitors and cameras.

The dashboard of this car is definitely looks like as it is a future car.  Nissan’s Land Glider is very light weight and ultra thin, it is just a 3.5 feet wide.  In fact, it just covers up only half the space of a normal traffic lane. One quality which really makes the Land Glider remarkable is that it leans around 17 degree when it turns.  Nissan Land Glider also has many safety features -- like the crash avoidance car-robotics technology with sensors mounted in the body to detect other vehicles in the same way.  This concept is the same as in Nissan Eporo robot cars which mimics fish swimming in shoals without colliding.

I like to tell you one more impressive feature of this car- which is its non-contact charging system. You can charge Nissan Land Glider at any motorway service station, where this car can be charged wireless.

Nissan has cleverly used the way motorcycle leans on curves, in their new car design for Land Glider. This vehicle is totally electrical, and a completely smart eco friendly car.

Technorati Tags: concept cars, Japanese car, electric car, Nissan, Land Glider

If you ever visit Japan, you would be stunned to see heavily decorated monster trucks which are called Decotora or Dekotora in Japanese or simply Art trucks.  The truckers of Japan color their trucks with shiny stainless or golden exterior parts, beautifully painted landscapes, kabuki or manga characters,or pictures of celebrities.  At night, their fluorescent handiwork shines through with colorful and bold neon and ultraviolet light displays. One can find these decorations on both the cab as well as the trailer, on the exterior as well as in the interior.

Decotora truck owners are very passionate about the looks of their decorated trucks. They have an emotional attachment with their trucks and do not care about the money they spend in decorating these trucks.  What gives them the satisfaction and pride is the personalization and symbolic meaning of these art designs on their trucks. The trucks look like artsy monsters after decoration.  Seeing at this large scale decoration, anybody could easily confuse these Dekotora trucks to be something art related but automotive. Despite of so much decoration Dekotora trucks still retain their performance ability and are used as reliable workhorses.

You can see great variations in Dekotora truck design and art which often reflect the owner individual taste and choice.

Different types of Dekotora trucks

Dekotora trucks are styled in three different ways namely Kansai, Retro and Kanto.  Since 1990 onwards, these Dekotora have been greatly influenced by the art of Manga and Gundam.  Apart from these magazine influenced designs, it is very common to see decorations related to modern art or some of the retro design which bear resemblance to those found in the movie Trucker.

To show off the decoration of Decotora in the night time,  parts of trucks such as bumpers, the frame of the luggage rack and foils are illuminated using relay computer illumination patterns. Few people who don’t like all these decoration of Decotora do complain about that trucks look like a Pachinko parlors.

Owners of these decorated Japanese trucks ofte form groups or Dekotora communities. They organize shows to showcase Decotora trucks and arrange competitions for best decorated trucks. Prized Dekotora trucks are also showcased in some other events, as these giant trucks are also used as art promotion trucks .  Decotora shows are real crowd pullers, so the show surely becomes a hit.  If you ever visit Japan, keep your eyes open to spot these loudly decorated monster trucks.

Technorati Tags: Art trucks, Japan, Decotora, Dekotora, Dekotora trucks, Manga, Japanese trucks, trucks

The Tokyo Motor Show is one of the renowned International Auto shows for cars, motorcycles, and commercial vehicles. It is held once in every two years in October-November at the, Makuhari Messe in Chiba City, Japan.  This Auto show is hosted by JAMA (Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association). The Tokyo Auto Show event has a predominant presence of Japanese car manufactures who display their unusual concept cars, and huge range of new designs.  JAMA will organize the 41st Tokyo Motor Show 2009 at Makuhari Messe for 13 days from 23rd October to 4th November. This Motor show will be open to the public for a nominal entry fee of 1,300 yen.

The theme of  Tokyo Motor Show 2009 is “Eco Driving for Earth, Fun Driving for Us”. This theme expresses the idea of balancing environment with enjoyment. This show provides information on advanced technology to the world, and attracts many automobile and motorcycle fans from all corners of the world.

In this 2009 Tokyo Motor show,  Japanese car makers like Toyota, Nissan, Honda, Mazda, are expected to give test drives of their new car models at this Show. Motorcyle makers Yamaha, Suzuki, Harley-Davidson, Kymco and Adiva will also participate in this motor show.

Car makers from Japan are expected to display their latest models as follows

• Toyota will show the EV II model which is ultra compact electric car designed specially for short distances.
• Nissan will show 3 of its electric cars  Land Glider, Leaf and Nissan Roox.
• Honda will show its electric car and also reveal new car named EV-N powered by Li-ion battery pack.
• Subaru will reveal its hybrid tourer concept car.
• Suzuki will displayed their two hybrid models of the next generation Alto and Swift.

This year, due to continuous recession, many auto makers like Hino Motors, Nissan Diesel, Mitsubishi Fuso buses and trucks, Isuzu, Volkswagen Mercedes-Benz, Lamborghini, and Renault have decided not to participate in this event.  All these companies announced that current unparalleled economic conditions are forcing them to cancel their participation.

If you are planning to visit Japan during this period you should not miss visiting Tokyo Motor Show 2009.  If you can tell me well in advance, I can arrange your visit to this big Auto show in Japan.

Technorati Tags: Japan, Tokyo Auto Show, Japanese car, JAMA, Tokyo Motor Show, Toyota, Nissan, Honda