Thailand approves Toyota, Mitsubishi, Tata eco cars

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand has approved plans by Toyota Motor, Mitsubishi Motors and Tata Motors to build fuel efficient cars in the country, the state Board of Investment (BOI) said on Wednesday.

The projects meant a combined investment of 16.67 billion baht ($528.7 million), the board said in a statement.

The Thai unit of Japanese carmaker Toyota would invest 4.64 billion baht in a plant with the capacity to assemble 100,000 so-called eco cars a year expected to start production in 2012, it said.

Half that production would be for export, mainly to Southeast Asia and the Asia-Oceania region, it said.

Mitsubishi Motors (Thailand) would spend 4.7 billion baht on a plant with an annual capacity of 107,000 eco cars, 88 percent of them for export, with production scheduled for 2010, it said.



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Maruti cuts prices of small cars by Rs 6,500 to Rs 18,030

New Delhi, Feb 29 (UNI) Country's largest car maker Maruti Suzuki India Ltd today said it has reduced prices of its small car from Rs 6,500 for Maruti 800 to Rs 18,030 for Swift Diesel (ex-showroom Delhi) after government today cut excise duty on small cars from 16 per cent to 12 per cent.

The company has announced price reduction in all the six models that qualify for the lower excise benefit: Maruti 800, Omni, Zen, Wagon R, Swift Diesel and Alto - India 's largest selling car.

Company Managing Director and CEO S Nakanishi said in a statement that in the short term, the reduction in excise duty will make small cars more attractive for customers and offset the negative impact of higher interest rates.

''This is an encouragement for companies like us, which are making major investments in capacity, research and exports,'' Mr Nakanishi said.


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Ford setting its sights on 'Millennials'

Ford is showing four-door and three-door Verve concept models in U.S. auto shows this year, sampling potential buyers' opinions. The company is counting on its European small-car expertise to stake a bigger claim in this important segment. Ford designers in Dunton, England, and Cologne, Germany, developed the common small-car platform to be used by the Verve. The company claims small-car leadership in Europe.

Driving the growth in the U.S. market is a group of young people ages 13-28, dubbed "Millennials." Today, this group stands 1.7 billion worldwide and will represent 28 percent of the total U.S. population by 2010, when today's 13-year-olds can drive.

Every day, 11,000 Millennials in this country come of driving age. When it's time to buy their first car, or Daddy buys that first car, nearly half of this group shops the small-car segment.


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'BLACK' CARS TO GO GREEN

The Lincoln Town Car that has ruled the "black car" industry may soon be a memory since Mayor Bloomberg yesterday announced new fleet fuel-efficiency standards that only hybrids can meet.

Black cars, car services for corporate clients, average 12 to 15 mpg, but starting Jan. 1, new vehicles put into service will have to reach 25 mpg. The target jumps to 30 mpg in 2010.

Bloomberg again lambasted Congress for not addressing global warming, mocking the fuel-efficiency standards it's proposing as laughably low, as he stood before four shiny hybrids in the Winter Garden of the World Financial Center.

"New York City is not waiting," the mayor declared.

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Environment Ministry has new hybrid Toyota cars

Prague, Feb 28 (CTK) - Czech Environment Minister Martin Bursik (Green Party) received on Wednesday five new hybrid electric Toyota cars, two that will be used by him and his deputies.

Two Lexus GS 450h and three Prius vehicles replaced five BMW diesel service cars, which Bursik offered to other ministries.

The new Toyotas combine a conventional gasoline engine and an electric motor. The ministry has leased the cars.

Last year, the ministry worked out an analysis of the best possible vehicle.

Ministry's spokesman Jakub Kaspar told CTK that Prius was chosen because it had the lowest carbon dioxide emissions per kilometre, while no other car-maker than Toyota offered a hybrid car of a quality similar to the luxury Lexus GS 450h.

The ministry also bought an older model of the hybrid Prius two years ago that has been used by Deputy Environment Minister Ales Kutak.


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Hyundai to slash prices of its small cars

New Delhi, Feb 29 (UNI) Hyundai Motor India Limited (HMIL) today said it will cut prices of its small cars by Rs 12,000-Rs 16,000 as an immediate fallout of the excise rate cut on small cars by the government from 16 per cent to 12 per cent.

Santro prices will be slashed by Rs 12,000-Rs 14,000, said Hyundai's Rajiv Mitra.

Getz prices will come down by Rs 14,000-Rs 16,000 while i10 is expected to be cheaper by Rs 12,000-Rs 16,000.


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Tooling Up For Tomorrow's Clever Cars

Cars are becoming more complex, with a range of advanced features we could hardly have imagined a few years ago made possible by sophisticated software-driven electronics. The downside is, with more to go wrong, more is going wrong, but European researchers have developed an antidote: a new computer language.

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