■ Automibles
Toyota may now be No. 2
Toyota Motor Corp said yesterday it is too early to say it is now the the world's second largest automaker after the Japanese press reported that it may have overtaken Ford Motor Co in global sales last year. Toyota spokesman Paul Nolasco said the company will realease its own numbers on Feb. 5 when it announces results for the three months to December. Ford said Thursday that it sold 6.72 million vehicles globally in 2003 while Toyota said last month that it expected sales of 6.78 million vehicles by the company and its subsidiaries Daihatsu and Hino, up 10 percent from 2002. While Ford has struggled to benefit from its acquisition of Sweden's Volvo, Toyota has posted higher profits and plowed them into North America, China and Southeast Asia, boosting output and sales, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun said. General Motors Corp is the world's top automaker with sales of 8.59 million vehicles last year.
■ Technology
Data storage to grow: IDC
The Asia-Pacific data storage market is expected to grow this year as large enterprises gear up to meet an anticipated economic upturn, a research house study said yesterday. A large number of manufacturing, banking and telecom companies in the region outside Japan have become dependent on storage, especially as they increase their reliance on enterprise resource management (ERM) and security solutions to keep their companies on the cutting edge, according to International Data Corp (IDC). "The largest investment was on data storage," said Robin Giang, IDC's manager of IT investment and strategy research for the Asia-Pacific. "Companies spent US$4 billion on it last year." Any pickup in the data storage segment should benefit Singapore, with a data storage market worth about US$100 million a year, IDC said.
■ Trade
Chile approves S Korea FTA
Chile's Senate has ratified a free trade accord between South Korea and the South American nation. The Senate voted 41-0 on Thursday in favor of the accord, which the two countries signed last year, but asked President Ricardo Lagos to wait for South Korea's Parliament to approve it before signing it into law. Chile's lower congressional house had approved the accord earlier. However, South Korean legislators repeatedly postponed a vote on the treaty because of protests by farmers who fear the lifting of customs duties called for in the treaty would lead to a flood of Chilean farm products. open the door to massive entry of cheaper Chilean farm products into their country. Under the accord, Chile would lift tariffs on South Korean motor vehicles, cellular phones, computers, TV sets and air conditioners.
■ Surveys
CapitaLand most transparent
Singapore's CapitaLand emerged at the top of a list of the Asia-Pacific's most transparent property companies followed by Hong Kong tycoon Robert Kuok's Kerry Properties, a study said yesterday. The list from the National University of Singapore (NUS) focused on management strategies such as the annual report, corporate Web site clarity and analyst coverage. Of the 20 firms ranked most transparent in the region by NUS Professor Liow Kim Hiang, seven are Singapore developers with Keppel Land in third place. Li Ka-Shing's Cheung Kong Holdings in Hong Kong came fourth. Liow said the size of a company can impact its level of transparency.
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