Just-in-time auto industry news and analysis
March is the most important car buying moths in many parts of Europe, and car sales finally are in full bloom in the EU. New car registrations were up 10.6 percent in March, when compared to the same month in the prior year by the European auto manufacturer association ACEA. Finally, the rise is broad-based, and no longer the simple statistical effect it was until recently. [ There is more … ]
No cameras allowed inside – the ladies in the lobby were much prettier anyway
In April 2013, world’s number one carmaker Toyota announced a moratorium on building new plants. That moratorium is drawing to an end, in a Toyota-typical slow and watchful way. Toyota is building fewer new plants than its competitors, and it is building those fewer plants with far less money.
This afternoon, calls went out to the Tokyo automotive press corps to come to Toyota at 5 for a highly secretive “briefing,” topic unknown, keep your cameras at home, and your mouths shut until 10pm. “We’ll probably hear what the Nikkei has been writing for weeks now,” muttered a grumpy Automotive News correspondent Hans Greimel, and he was right as usual. As expected and reported everywhere. Toyota lifts its self-imposed stop on factory expansion with a brand-new plant in Mexico, and an expansion of its Chinese joint venture plant with Guangzhou Auto. Toyota doesn’t seem to be in a particular hurry to do so.
Making Nissan drivers all-seeing since 2007
Crawling along the bottom of the ocean, an underwater robot uses technology that is one of the core technologies for Nissan’s drive towards self-driving cars. The deeply submerged robot’s vision is provided by an upgraded version of Nissan’s Around View Monitor (AVM). First commercialized way back in 2007, AVM provides a 360-degree view of the outside of the car, as if the driver hovers in a helicopter over the car. Saving the lives of countless pets in parking lots, Nissan added moving object detection technology to AVM in 2011. In the submerged robot, AVM has received three-dimensional picture processing capability, an important step to sense distances at the blink of an eye, and without the need of slower radars, or much slower ultrasound sensors, all of which rely on an echo. If it wouldn’t be so hackneyed, the 3D version opens a new dimension in autonomous driving. [ There is more … ]
Those were the days
This year’s Shanghai Auto Show, to be held from April 20 through 29 somewhere in the boonies behind the Hongqiao airport, will be a very exclusive affair. First, scantily clad models were excluded. Now that the show is a family-friendly affair, children aren’t allowed either, writes Carnewschina. After the prohibition of babes, there is a ban on babies. There were babes and babies galore at previous shows in China. Now, no more. [ There is more … ]
