Mazda Motor Corporation has announced upgrades to its Premacy (known as the Mazda5 in overseas markets) compact minivan in Japan. Popular due to its sporty styling and driving performance, the freshened Premacy goes on sale today at all Mazda, Mazda Anfini and Mazda Autozam dealerships nationwide. Manufacturer’s suggested retail prices (including sales tax) for front-wheel drive (FWD) models range from 1,820,000 to 2,195,000 yen.

Since its debut in 1999, the Mazda Premacy compact minivan has earned plaudits for its efficient seven-seat packaging, outstanding driving performance and sporty styling. Ten years later, the Premacy is currently sold in over 60 countries and has become Mazda’s best-selling minivan*1, with total global sales surpassing 710,000 units*2.

The range topping 20Z model grade now comes with specially designed aluminum alloy wheels and seat and door trim that enhance its sporty appearance. To highlight its sharp lines, exclusive Dark Plum Mica exterior body paint is also newly available for this model grade. In response to high demand, the mainstay 20CS grade has been augmented with a new fuel economy gauge and a freshly designed center panel. With the addition of these features and a full equipment review, the upgraded Mazda Premacy 20CS is even more affordable than before.

Source: http://www.mazda.com/publicity/release/2009/200907/090703a.html

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Japanese Car Exporters

Mazda Motor Corporation has commenced sales of the freshened Mazda Biante range for the Japanese market. Mazda’s updated, mid-sized tall ‘high-roof’ minivan goes on sale today at all Mazda, Mazda Autozam and Mazda Anfini dealerships throughout Japan. Manufacturer’s suggested retail prices (including sales tax) start from 2,131,500 yen for the 2.0-liter versions and 2,699,000 yen for the 2.3-liter versions.

The top-selling front-wheel drive (FWD) 20S model grade now offers fuel economy of 13.6 kilometers per liter*1, a seven percent improvement over the previous model, thanks to the addition of i-stop, Mazda’s proprietary engine stop/start system. With a quick engine restart of just 0.35 seconds, i-stop also suppresses noise and vibration, making the stopping and restarting of the engine barely noticeable and ensuring that drivers experience a natural driving feel.

In addition to i-stop, the FWD 20S model grade also comes with features to support eco-driving: a trip computer with a fuel economy meter and an eco-lamp, which lights up when the vehicle achieves the most efficient driving conditions. With dynamic stability control (DSC) now standard equipment, the freshened FWD Biante 20S provides both advanced environmental and safety performance. Even with these extra features, the manufacturer’s suggested retail price is as attractive as the previous version*2. Additionally, all 2.0-liter FWD Biante models qualify for Japan’s eco-car incentive and tax reduction programs to promote sales of lower emission vehicles. Under the tax reduction program, the automobile acquisition tax and automobile weight tax are reduced by 50 percent for the 20CS model grade and 75 percent for the FWD 20S grade.

Source: http://www.mazda.com/publicity/release/2009/200906/090625a.html

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Japanese Car Exporters

Nissan celebrated its eighth successive victory in the Toyota 1000 Desert Race, round 4 of the South Africa off road championship in Botswana on Sunday when Duncan Vos and Ralph Pitchford took the chequered flag in their Super Production class Donaldson Nissan Navara.

For Vos, the reigning national drivers’ champion, it was his third successive triumph in the most gruelling round of the championship. Vos and Pitchford have now extended their lead in the drivers’ and co-drivers’ championship, over Donaldson Nissan teammates Ivar Tollefson / Quin Evans and Hannes Grobler / Juan Mohr, who occupy second and third places respectively.

Nissan have now won each of the first four rounds of this year’s championship, with Vos victorious on three occasions and Grobler once.

Norwegian Tollefson and Britain Evans finished fifth while Grobler and Mohr, who won Friday’s 70km prologue to earn the right to start Saturday’s race from pole position, retired after 138 km while leading after hitting a rock and damaging the front suspension.

Source: http://www.nissan-global.com/EN/NEWS/2009/_STORY/090625-02-e.html

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Japanese Vehicles Exporters

Honda Motor Europe is attending the 2009 Green Week Conference this week where it will exhibit the FCX Clarity’s Fuel Cell Stack, share its vision for a hydrogen society and promote the company’s commitment to addressing environmental issues. Organised by the Directorate-General Environment of the European Commission, it is the largest annual conference on European environment policy.

The theme of this year’s event is ‘Climate Change: act and adapt’ and through a series of seminars, events, discussions and exhibitions, it will put the spotlight on the multi-faceted challenges of climate change.

During the week Honda will showcase its achievements in the areas of clean energy production (including in-house developed thin-film solar cells, ethanol production from soft biomass and a micro cogeneration system) and the development of low emission products, such as its unique hybrid technology and the future expansion of its range.

Honda’s exhibition complements the Conference’s four key themes: EU climate policies; the international dimension; living with climate change; and 2050 vision, a carbon-free society. It also further illustrates Honda’s ambition to manufacture products with the highest environmental performance, using production systems with the smallest environmental impact. This includes the competitively priced Honda Insight, which demonstrates Honda’s belief that environmentally friendly cars should be accessible to more people.

Source: http://world.honda.com/news/2009/c090623Green-Week-Conference/

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Japanese Cars Exporters

In SUPER GT’s sole event outside Japan, the mid-season Round 4 (54 laps) saw the HASEMI TOMICA EBBRO GT-R (#3 Ronnie Quintarelli / Hironobu Yasuda) take control to lead the early stages after starting 2nd on the grid. The Nissan GT-R then went on to build up a huge gap, leaving all others far behind as it claimed its first victory of the season.

With a month-and-a-half gap since Round 3 in Fuji, the fourth race on the SUPER GT calendar was run under severe conditions with temperatures and humidity levels higher than those seen in the height of the Japanese summer. In addition, typically unstable weather conditions added to the spectacle. On the 21st, the skies overhead has an ominous look as the race was about to get underway. However, the track surface never got wet for the duration of the race.

Source: http://www.nissan-global.com/EN/NEWS/2009/_STORY/090622-03-e.html

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Nissan Vehicles, Sports Cars

Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. today provided an update on its comprehensive environmental action plan, Nissan Green Program 2010 (NGP 2010), along with a preview of future actions. Among the new initiatives is the review of long-term CO2 emission reduction scenarios. Nissan also announced the introduction of an automatic transmission (AT) model with a clean-diesel engine in the Japanese market, planned for spring 2010.

Nissan already has produced tangible results toward its goal of reducing CO2 emissions, one of the priorities of the NGP 2010. These reductions include development of electric vehicles (EV), introduction of clean diesel and fuel-efficient vehicles, and energy savings in manufacturing, logistics and facilities operations. Along with the mid-term NGP 2010 plan, which was originally announced in December 2006, Nissan is reviewing its long-term CO2 emissions-reduction scenarios. These will be reflected in the next mid-term environmental action plan.

Aiming to be a global leader in zero-emissions vehicles, the Renault-Nissan Alliance has positioned electric vehicles as a core business strategy. The Alliance is accelerating its efforts for vehicle development and for establishing sustainable mobility partnerships in cooperation with governments and municipalities worldwide. The Alliance has 27 such partnerships in place at this time.

Source: http://www.nissan-global.com/EN/NEWS/2009/_STORY/090622-02-e.html

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Japanese Electric Vehicles

Mazda Motor Corporation has announced the sales launch of the all-new Mazda Axela (known overseas as the new Mazda3) in the Japanese market. Mazda’s mainstay model has been fully redesigned and updated with a host of new features, including the ‘i-stop’ engine stop/start system. Sales commence today at all Mazda, Mazda Anfini and Autozam dealers nationwide. Manufacturer’s suggested retail prices (including sales tax) for the all-new Mazda Axela range from 1,660,000 to 2,678,000 yen. The target sales volume in the Japanese market is 2,000 units per month.

Since the Mazda Axela first debuted in October 2003 it has become a core model in Mazda’s lineup, selling over two million units worldwide and currently comprising over a third of its annual global sales. For the second generation Axela, the development team was determined to once again exceed customer expectations. As a result, the new model inherits and evolves Mazda’s highly acclaimed sporty performance and exterior styling. Additionally, it arrives with an outstanding interior with greater quality and functionality, and offers advanced environmental and safety features.

Source: http://www.mazda.com/publicity/release/2009/200906/090611a.html

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Japanese Cars Exporters

Mazda Motor Corporation today announced the successful launch of the newly developed Aqua-tech Paint System for vehicle body painting at its Ujina Plant No.1 in Japan. The innovative new technology achieves the world’s highest standards for limiting emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOC) contained in paint as well as carbon dioxide (CO2) gas generated from the energy consumed during the vehicle painting process.

The Aqua-tech Paint System maintains the same world-class low CO2 emissions volume as the Three Layer Wet Paint System — Mazda’s paint system currently installed at all of its production facilities in Japan — and reduces VOC emissions by a further 57 percent. At only 15 grams per square meter of vehicle body surface, the extremely low VOC emissions volume makes Aqua-tech the least polluting water-based paint system in the world. The new system also delivers improved paint quality.

Source: http://www.mazda.com/publicity/release/2009/200906/090615a.html

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Japanese Vehicles

Honda marked its first 50 years in America, commemorating the establishment of American Honda Motor Co., Inc., in a small Los Angeles storefront on June 11, 1959. Honda associates observed the occasion with a brief ceremony at the company’s Torrance, Calif. headquarters.

“On behalf of the tens of thousands of Honda associates in America, past and present, we offer our deepest thanks to our customers for placing their trust in Honda over the past 50 years,” said American Honda President & CEO Tetsuo Iwamura. “Today, in the face of new challenges, including the preservation of our environment, we renew our commitment to exceed the expectations of our customers and society.”

Source: http://world.honda.com/news/2009/c09061150-Years-in-America/

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Electric Hybrid Vehicle

Asian Honda Motor Co., Ltd., Honda’s Asia & Oceania Regional Headquarters announced the start of motorcycle Knock Down (KD) sets of engine assembly, PGM-FI units and other component parts export to Japan.

The KD sets are manufactured by Thai Honda Manufacturing Co., Ltd. in the Ladkrabang Industrial Estate, Ladkrabang. They are destined for the Honda Motor Japan Kumamoto factory for production of the brand new Honda Super Cub 110 model to be sold in Japan starting on June 19, 2009.

The key component supplied from Thailand for the Honda Super Cub 110 is the latest 110cc 4-stroke air cooled engineequipped with the ‘PGM-FI’ Fuel Injection system.  This is the technology currently deployed in the Honda CZ-i and Wave 110i models, both representing Honda’s focus on the environment by providing better fuel efficiency, cleaner exhaust emissions and better overall performance.

Source: http://world.honda.com/news/2009/2090610Export-PGM-FI-units/

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Motorcycles Exporters