Tag: automobile

Japan transport officials visit Toyota HQ over testing scandal

TOKYO, June 4, 2024 (AFP) – Japanese transport officials inspected Toyota’s headquarters Tuesday after the top-selling automaker and four others including Honda and Mazda admitted failure to fully comply with national vehicle inspection standards. Five representatives visited the offices in central Aichi region to probe breaches declared by the company related to domestic shipment certifications. The transport ministry on Monday told five Japanese auto giants — Toyota, Honda, Mazda, Suzuki and Yamaha — to stop […]

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Vietnam confirms recall of nearly 6,000 VinFast electric cars

HANOI, March 22, 2024 (AFP) – Vietnam’s leading electric car manufacturer VinFast has recalled almost 6,000 vehicles after a fault in their indicator system was discovered, the government has confirmed, in a fresh blow to the firm. The communist state’s first homegrown auto maker is hoping to compete with electric vehicle (EV) giants such as Tesla, and is trying to crack the global market. But VinFast has struggled to convince international drivers its EVs are […]

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Brazil revs up for jolt of hybrid car investments

By Louis GENOT RIO DE JANEIRO, March 13, 2024 (AFP) – Brazil is charging up for a hybrid revolution as global car manufacturers race to pump billions of dollars into the development of green vehicles in Latin America’s biggest economy. Globally, hybrid cars sales are booming, offering consumers fuel savings, sustainability, and the assurance that they won’t find themselves stranded far from a public charging station in a fully electric vehicle. Brazil, with its population […]

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Nissan to launch self-driving taxi service in Japan in 2027

Nissan is planning to launch a self-driving taxi service in Japan in the financial year starting April 2027, the auto giant said Wednesday. The company said it will begin trials of the commercial service in the upcoming financial year from April, using minivans in an area of Yokohama, south of Tokyo. “Local communities have been facing several mobility challenges, such as driver shortages, which are a result of an ageing population,” Nissan said in a […]

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Tesla’s German factory expansion plans suffer setback

FRANKFURT, Germany, Feb 21, 2024 (AFP) – Tesla said Wednesday it will have to rethink expansion plans for its German factory, the electric carmaker’s only European plant, after local residents opposed them in a vote. The vote, which was not legally binding, related to a project to expand the Gruenheide site, south of Berlin, by 170 hectares (420 acres), from a current size of 300 hectares. The US company hopes to increase production at the […]

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Toyota shares sink after Daihatsu suspension, US recall

TOKYO, Dec 21, 2023 (AFP) – Shares in Japanese auto titan Toyota dived Thursday as a rigged safety test scandal builds at subsidiary Daihatsu, and after it recalled a million vehicles in the United States over airbag safety concerns. Daihatsu said Wednesday it would suspend domestic and overseas shipments of all its vehicles in light of an independent panel’s report that found it had been manipulating tests as long ago as 1989. Toyota expressed its […]

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Japan begins on-site inspection to Toyota unit Daihatsu

TOKYO, Dec 21, 2023 (AFP) – Japanese officials on Thursday started an on-site inspection at the headquarters of Toyota subsidiary Daihatsu, the transport ministry said, after an investigation found it had rigged safety tests and was forced to suspend all shipments of its vehicles. The independent probe found the malpractice dated back to 1989 and led Toyota to express its “sincere apologies” and pledge to carry out “a fundamental reform”. The panel was set up […]

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Toyota subsidiary Daihatsu to halt shipment of all models over rigged safety tests

 TOKYO, Dec 20, 2023 (AFP)   – Toyota subsidiary Daihatsu said Wednesday it will suspend shipments of all car models currently in production both at home in Japan and abroad, following new revelations about its rigging of safety tests. “Daihatsu decided today to temporarily suspend shipments of all Daihatsu-developed models currently in production, both in Japan and overseas,” the auto titan said in a statement following a report by an independent panel. The panel was […]

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US auto workers union extends strike to big GM plant

NEW YORK, Oct 24, 2023 (AFP) – The US auto workers union announced Tuesday it has extended its strike to a giant General Motors truck plant, saying the company’s strong profits meant workers should get “their fair share.” The latest United Auto Workers union stoppage, which expands the nearly six-week strike to GM’s Arlington, Texas assembly plant, came hours after GM reported a better than expected $3.1 billion in third-quarter profits earlier Tuesday. The move […]

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Ford pauses work on $3.5 bn battery plant

NEW YORK, Sept 25, 2023 (AFP) – Ford is halting work on a major battery plant in the northern US state of Michigan, the automaker said Monday, just seven months after launching the project with a Chinese partner. The stoppage, which a Ford a representative confirmed to AFP, comes as the company faces a major strike along with both of the other “Big Three” US automakers, Stellantis and General Motors. The Ford spokesperson insisted the […]

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Pres. Biden to visit striking US auto workers Tuesday

WASHINGTON, Sept 22, 2023 (AFP) – President Joe Biden announced Friday he will travel to the US state of Michigan next week to show support for striking auto workers, a visit coming on the eve of a similar trip by his right-wing 2024 election challenger Donald Trump. “Tuesday, I’ll go to Michigan to join the picket line and stand in solidarity with the men and women of (United Auto Workers) as they fight for a […]

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US auto workers’ union launches historic strike on Detroit’s ‘Big Three’

WAYNE, United States, Sept 15, 2023 (AFP) – The US auto workers’ union launched a targeted strike at three factories just after midnight on Friday, ordering simultaneous stoppages at Detroit’s “Big Three” for the first time. The dramatic walkout — marked outside a Detroit-area Ford plant with rowdy honking and cheers at the arrival of the United Auto Workers’ leader — came after a last-minute push by General Motors, Ford and Stellantis failed to produce […]

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