AUTOMAKERS
Nissan recalls SUVs in US
Nissan says it is recalling more than 1,800 Infiniti SUVs in the US for an air bag problem that could send shrapnel into the passenger compartment. The recall covers some QX56 SUVs from last year and the QX80s from this year. The company says inflators made by troubled parts supplier Takata Corp were built with an incorrect outer baffle part. That can cause pressure to build up and the inflators can rupture if the driver’s side air bags are deployed. The latest air bag problem, according to Takata, affects only GM and Nissan vehicles, and it is separate from previous recalls covering 8 million vehicles in the US.
AUTOMAKERS
Ferrari fined US$3.5m
Ferrari SpA’s US$3.5 million fine by the US government is the largest ever imposed on an automaker for failing to quickly report customer complaints, injuries and alleged defects to regulators. Among the violations were three fatalities that were never logged with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA): A 2009 crash in California of a F430 Spider, a 2006 accident in Germany in a F430F1, and a 2005 Illinois crash involving a 360 Spider, according to information provided yesterday by NHTSA. The agency also said Ferrari has not submitted since 2011 the early warning reports required by the US government to track the frequency and severity of vehicle safety issues.
NUTRITION
Herbalife settles lawsuit
Herbalife Ltd says it has agreed to settle a lawsuit that claimed the company’s business structure and marketing practices violated federal and state laws. The weight loss and nutritional supplements company did not elaborate in its statement on Friday on the terms of the proposed settlement in the class-action case. The lawsuit was filed in April last year in a California federal court by a former salesman. Herbalife said it has not done anything wrong and that the lawsuit is without merit. It said it is seeking to settle the case in the hope of avoiding the potential cost of prolonged litigation.
INSURANCE
AIG pays out NY settlement
Insurance company American International Group Inc (AIG) has agreed to pay New York state US$35 million to settle claims that two former subsidiaries did business without licenses and misled regulators about their operations in the state. The deal was announced on Friday by the state’s Department of Financial Services. It comes after a US$60 million settlement in March with MetLife, which purchased the subsidiaries from AIG. Authorities had alleged that subsidiaries American Life Insurance Co and Delaware American Life Insurance Co sought customers in New York without licenses and without telling regulators.
RETAIL
Dollar General extends bid
Discount retail chain Dollar General extended its nearly US$10 billion hostile bid for rival Family Dollar on Friday in hopes that Family Dollar’s shareholders would vote down its planned merger with another firm. Dollar General said the US$80-a-share offer it made at the beginning of September would remain alive until the end of the year, enough to span Family Dollar’s Dec. 11 special shareholders meeting, called to vote on selling the company to smaller rival Dollar Tree.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the