MOTOR

Japan promotes hydrogen vehicles

Japan's top three automakers Toyota, Honda and Nissan have united with Japanese energy firms in a push to commercialise greener hydrogen fuel cell cars and build a network of fuelling stations.

Along with 10 Japanese energy groups including natural gas refiners and distributors, the companies are aiming to build 100 filling stations by 2015 in Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka and Fukuoka, the companies said in a statement Thursday. The automakers are making a renewed push behind Fuel Cell Vehicles (FCVs), which covert hydrogen into electricity and emit nothing more harmful than water vapour.

The companies say that the creation of a hydrogen supply infrastructure network is crucial as manufacturers work to reduce the production cost of hydrogen-powered vehicles in order to make them commercially viable. "Japanese automakers are continuing to drastically reduce the cost of manufacturing such systems and are aiming to launch FCVs in the Japanese market - mainly in the country's four major metropolitan areas - in 2015," they said. "With an aim to significantly reduce the amount of CO2 emitted by the transportation sector, automakers and hydrogen fuel suppliers will work together to expand the introduction of FCVs and develop the hydrogen supply network throughout Japan." The companies did not say how much they planned to invest in the project.

While all-electric vehicles such as Nissan's Leaf or hybrids like Toyota's Prius have hogged the limelight recently, fuel cells are seen as a more powerful alternative, but expensive production and a lack of a comprehensive fuelling network has been seen as prohibitive. Toyota, pioneer of hybrids powered by a petrol engine and an electric motor, has said it plans to launch a fuel-cell car by 2015. It is applying its hybrid technology to the vehicles, swapping the petrol engine for a fuel-cell stack. Honda in 2008 began delivering about 200 FCX Clarity hydrogen-powered cars on lease to customers in the United States, Japan and later in Europe.

AFP

Fiat Mirafiori staff OK deal on conditions

Staff at Fiat's historic Mirafiori plant in Turin approved a tough deal on working conditions that would save their factory and prove key to the future of the new Fiat-Chrysler auto giant, ANSA news agency reported Saturday.

With more than 90 percent of the votes counted, those supporting the deal had secured 54.3 percent and could not be overtaken by their opponents, Italy's ANSA said. Turnout was put at 96 percent.

The vote by the plant's 5,431 workers, which got underway Thursday at 2100 GMT, wound up at 1830 GMT on Friday and counting went on all night as the plant's future hung in the balance.

The Mirafiori plant has been at the heart of Fiat for more than 70 years but Fiat-Chrysler boss Sergio Marchionne threatened to close the factory and take production to the United States if workers voted against the deal.

"The voting slips that have been slipped into the factory's ballot boxes are destined to change the country's industrial history," Il Sole 24 Ore business paper said in an editorial on Friday.

The proposal announced by Marchionne would bring one billion euros ($1.3 billion) in investments to Mirafiori, which would start producing Chrysler Jeeps and impose tougher working conditions on staff.

Workers lobbied fellow voters outside the factory during the day, with some shouting "For employment, wages and rights, we vote yes", while others chanted "No to Marchionne's blackmail".

The deal has ignited a fierce political debate in Italy, particularly after Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi earlier this week said that Italian companies "would have good reason" to leave Italy if the proposal was voted down.

Susanna Camusso, head of the CGIL trade union, which campaigned for a no vote, shot back saying Berlusconi had "given up doing his job".

Pier Luigi Bersani, the leader of the main opposition Democratic Party, also slammed the prime minister's comments as "shameful".

The deal would see Fiat and Chrysler produce up to 280,000 Jeeps and Alfa Romeos per year at the Mirafiori plant, which was inaugurated in 1939.

Workers would be employed under special Fiat-Chrysler contracts instead of the collective contract that they now have, and they would have to do more overtime, have fewer breaks and work in shifts for up to 24 hours a day.

Several Italian trade unions signed up to the deal on December 23 but CGIL has opposed it and has slammed the proposal as "blackmail".

The deal is seen as an important step in the gradual merger of Fiat and Chrysler operations.

Fiat owns a 25 percent stake in Chrysler and has operational control of the Detroit-based auto giant, which emerged from bankruptcy in 2009.

The dispute over Mirafiori is also part of a wider struggle by the outspoken Marchionne to bring about radical reforms in Italian industry.

In October, he ignited controversy when he said that "Fiat would be better off if it eliminated Italy. Italy ranks 118th out of 139 countries in work efficiency and is 48th in industrial competitiveness.

"Not a cent from the two billion euros of profits forecast for 2010 will be generated in Italy," he said, pointing out that Fiat's 6,100 workers in Poland produce the same number of cars as the company's 22,000 auto workers in Italy.

Fiat was set up in 1899 and has 188 factories around the world and a global workforce of 190,000.

AFP

Mitsubishi Motors to

target Brazil, India

Mitsubishi Motors will streamline production in Japan, the United States and Europe while increasing output in emerging markets including Brazil and India, a report said Saturday.

By redistributing resources, the automaker aims to lift global production to 1.5 million units, up 50 percent from the year to March 2010, the Nikkei business daily said.

In the United States, Japan's fourth-largest automaker will stop production of three models designed only for the North American market, such as the Eclipse, now manufactured at a plant in Illinois.

But the company will increase output of such models as the Outlander sports utility vehicle that can be sold in other foreign markets, the Nikkei said.

In Europe, it will stop production of the Colt subcompact model next year, while the firm also plans to reduce or freeze production of certain models at Japanese plants.

Meanwhile, the Japanese automaker will invest in Brazil to boost local production, while preparing to start output from India by investing in a local partner, the Nikkei said.

It is also exploring a joint venture in India with France's PSA Peugeot Citroen. Mitsubishi Motors aims to manufacture low-priced vehicles based on minicars jointly developed with Nissan Motor Co.

AFP

Toyota may shift to foreign production

Toyota Motor will consider shifting factories overseas if the yen stays high and puts pressure on its profits, the company president said.

"We do not wish to relocate production sites because of currencies and foreign exchange alone," Akio Toyoda said in a Japanese-language online message dated Friday.

However, he added, "if profits cannot be generated" despite efforts towards efficient, good-quality manufacturing and training, "we have no choice but to consider relocation of production sites as a real possibility."

The company plans to release a fresh medium-term business plan in April, he added.

Japanese exporters, led by automakers and electronics producers, have come under pressure from the rising yen in recent months. A strong yen makes Japanese exports relatively more expensive in foreign markets, while shrinking the value of Japanese firms' overseas earnings when repatriated.

Meanwhile, Japanese automakers have been shifting more of their production and sales overseas - particularly to growing Asian markets - as younger Japanese motorists avoid car purchases due to the high costs of fuel, maintenance and tax. Toyota Motor had already announced in late 2010 a plan to reduce domestic production while boosting output in foreign countries in 2011.

"Unfortunately, we have to brace ourselves for more difficulty and uncertainty to come, like last year," Toyoda said in his message, adding that the business plan would outline a corporate vision for the decade to 2020. "In April we hope to be able to show you the vision, including the directions and targets for a medium-term business structure reform plan to achieve the vision's goals," Toyoda said.

AFP

Hyundai Motor signs deal to buy builder

Hyundai Motor signed an initial agreement Friday to buy a controlling stake in South Korea's largest builder, a key creditor said, following a bitter family feud over the former Hyundai empire.

The automaker had been selected as preferred bidder recently after a court ruled in favour of creditors, who scrapped an earlier deal to sell their 34.88 percent stake in Hyundai Engineering and Construction to the Hyundai Group. The giant Hyundai empire was split into separate units after the death of its billionaire founder Chung Ju-Yung in 2001. The automaker headed by his second son and other units went their own way. The construction firm came under creditor control in a debt-for-equity swap in 2001. The residual Hyundai Group is headed by Hyun Jeong-Eun, a daughter-in-law of the late founder.

In mid-November it was named preferred bidder for the construction firm, topping a rival bid from Hyundai Motor. But creditors eventually scrapped the deal, saying Hyundai Group failed to give enough information about how it would fund the multi-billion dollar purchase. Key creditor Korea Exchange Bank said Hyundai Motor would start a due diligence survey of the builder this week. The bank hopes to complete the deal by April but gave no price details.

Yonhap news agency said the final price could be adjusted by plus or minus three percent from the 5.1 trillion won ($4.57 billion) originally offered by the automaker. Hyundai Group - which includes a shipping firm, a brokerage, a tour company that operates projects in North Korea and an elevator maker - angrily rejected suggestions it could not afford the purchase. It disclosed a new two trillion won fundraising plan. But the Seoul Central District Court last week rejected the group's legal attempt to stop the creditors opening talks with other buyers.

AFP