TOKYO, Feb. 8 (Kyodo) — Nissan Motor Co. said Friday its group net profit dropped 12.7 percent from a year earlier to 232.39 billion yen in the April to December period, due to sluggish sales in China in the wake of anti-Japanese protests in the country as well a drop in sales in Europe amid […]
Automotive/Transportation
China’s January Auto Sales Surge
China’s auto sales rose 46 percent in January to a monthly record on strong demand for SUVs in pre-Lunar New Year shopping, an industry group reported Friday. Customers bought just over 2 million vehicles last month in China, the biggest auto market by number of vehicles sold, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers. […]
Mitsubishi Electric Develops Car Display System with Free-form Screen
TOKYO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Feb 6, 2013–Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (TOKYO:6503) announced today that it has developed a prototype car display system with an optical engine that can project images on curved, oval or triangular screens to suit a wide range of car interiors. The system’s free-form screen responds flexibly to the increasing use of curves and other design […]
Smart Satnav Drives Around the Blue Highway Blues
Endlessly frustrated by congested roads, computer researchers at California State University, in Fullerton have developed a satellite navigation system, GeoTNavi, which hooks into historical traffic data and current vehicle movements to find the shortest commute and avoid the traffic jams. Writing in the latest issue of the International Journal of Data Mining, Modelling and Management, […]
X-Rays Shine Light on Mystery of Picasso’s Paints
The Art Institute of Chicago teamed up with Argonne National Laboratory to help unravel a decades-long debate among art scholars about what kind of paint Picasso used to create his masterpieces. The results published last month in the journal Applied Physics A: Materials Science & Processing add significant weight to the widely held theory that […]
‘Invisible’ Particles Could Enhance Thermoelectric Devices
Thermoelectric devices — which can either generate an electric current from a difference in temperature or use electricity to produce heating or cooling without moving parts — have been explored in the laboratory since the 19th century. In recent years, their efficiency has improved enough to enable limited commercial use, such as in cooling systems […]
WirelessCar Awarded Best China Telematics Company
STOCKHOLM–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Feb 6, 2013–WirelessCar, one of the leading providers of telematics solutions, has been awarded as the “Best China Telematics company” for 2012 by China Telematics, one of the most important telematics magazines in China, at the IOVA Annual Conference on 24th of January 2013. IOVA is the Strategic Alliance of China Internet of Vehicles […]
Toyota Aqua remains best-selling car in Japan
TOKYO, Feb. 6 (Kyodo) — Toyota Motor Corp.’s Aqua hybrid sedan sold 22,466 units in Japan in January, up 66.6 percent from a year earlier, remaining the nation’s best-selling car for the fourth straight month, industry bodies said Wednesday. Ranking second was Honda Motor Co.’s N Box minicar, whose sales jumped 2.1-fold to 20,552 units, […]
Honda to Build New Assembly Plant in Thailand
BANGKOK, Feb. 6 (Kyodo) — Honda Motor Co. will build a new assembly plant in Thailand and expand the current plant to deal with high demand, the president of Asian Honda Co. said Wednesday. Hiroshi Kobayashi said Honda will invest 17.15 billion Baht ($570 million) to build its second assembly plant in Prachin Buri Province […]
Photos of the Day: The G-Class Huntress
On Thursday, February 14 at the Miami International Boat Show, the world will be introduced to the third collaboration between the Cigarette Racing Team and Mercedes-AMG in the form of the 42′ Huntress Inspired by the G 63 AMG. The Cigarette 42′ Huntress is designed with the same stringent construction that defines their renowned […]