The Paris Motor Show will roar into life next Saturday when international car makers converge on the French capital hoping to wow crowds with prototype models and woo critics with green technologies.
This year, the mix of exhibits is expected to underscore two key developments for the industry and the global economy, namely concern about global warming and the emergence of China as a world manufacturing force.
After being thrown on the defensive last week by a ground-breaking court case in California, the industry is ready to prove its environmental credentials by showcasing hybrid cars, biofuel technology and emission innovations.
California said last Wednesday it was suing six US and Japanese automakers for their alleged contribution to global warming, the first such legal fight in the US.
This year's Paris event show will be the first time Chinese manufacturers display their wares at the show in the French capital, underlining their ambition to compete with the leading sellers in Europe: Volkswagen of Germany, PSA Peugeot Citroen of France and Ford of the US.
The Chinese presence, which was established at the Frankfurt auto show last year, will be led by manufacturers Landwind and Great Wall Motor.
Over the course of the two-week show, which runs from next Saturday to Oct. 15, more than 65 new models are to be given their world premiere in front of the more than 1 million people who attend each year.
Alongside new green technology, manufacturers will also look to satisfy appetites for big, gas-guzzling sports utility vehicles (SUVs) and four-wheel-drives.
This has been one of the fastest growing segments of the car market in recent years, but a surge in gasoline prices has switched many consumers' attention to the importance of fuel efficiency.
This year's show also coincides with a period of talks between some of the biggest names in the industry, many of which are struggling with acute global competition and rising production costs.
Renault and Nissan are in talks with General Motors with a view to including the struggling US giant in their two-way alliance.
And Malaysia's loss-making national carmaker Proton said on Friday that the first round of talks on a possible pact with PSA Peugeot Citroen will begin this week.
The US trio of General Motors, Ford and Chrysler are all struggling to adapt to demand for more fuel efficient vehicles instead of trucks and SUVs.
Volkswagen is in the midst of a giant cost-cutting program, French manufacturers Renault and PSA are facing falling market share in Europe while Italian group Fiat is still recovering after years of losses.
BUILDUP: US General Dan Caine said Chinese military maneuvers are not routine exercises, but instead are ‘rehearsals for a forced unification’ with Taiwan China poses an increasingly aggressive threat to the US and deterring Beijing is the Pentagon’s top regional priority amid its rapid military buildup and invasion drills near Taiwan, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday. “Our pacing threat is communist China,” Hegseth told the US House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense during an oversight hearing with US General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “Beijing is preparing for war in the Indo-Pacific as part of its broader strategy to dominate that region and then the world,” Hegseth said, adding that if it succeeds, it could derail
CHIP WAR: The new restrictions are expected to cut off China’s access to Taiwan’s technologies, materials and equipment essential to building AI semiconductors Taiwan has blacklisted Huawei Technologies Co (華為) and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯), dealing another major blow to the two companies spearheading China’s efforts to develop cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) chip technologies. The Ministry of Economic Affairs’ International Trade Administration has included Huawei, SMIC and several of their subsidiaries in an update of its so-called strategic high-tech commodities entity list, the latest version on its Web site showed on Saturday. It did not publicly announce the change. Other entities on the list include organizations such as the Taliban and al-Qaeda, as well as companies in China, Iran and elsewhere. Local companies need
CRITICISM: It is generally accepted that the Straits Forum is a CCP ‘united front’ platform, and anyone attending should maintain Taiwan’s dignity, the council said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it deeply regrets that former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) echoed the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) “one China” principle and “united front” tactics by telling the Straits Forum that Taiwanese yearn for both sides of the Taiwan Strait to move toward “peace” and “integration.” The 17th annual Straits Forum yesterday opened in Xiamen, China, and while the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) local government heads were absent for the first time in 17 years, Ma attended the forum as “former KMT chairperson” and met with Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Chairman Wang Huning (王滬寧). Wang
CROSS-STRAIT: The MAC said it barred the Chinese officials from attending an event, because they failed to provide guarantees that Taiwan would be treated with respect The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Friday night defended its decision to bar Chinese officials and tourism representatives from attending a tourism event in Taipei next month, citing the unsafe conditions for Taiwanese in China. The Taipei International Summer Travel Expo, organized by the Taiwan Tourism Exchange Association, is to run from July 18 to 21. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokeswoman Zhu Fenglian (朱鳳蓮) on Friday said that representatives from China’s travel industry were excluded from the expo. The Democratic Progressive Party government is obstructing cross-strait tourism exchange in a vain attempt to ignore the mainstream support for peaceful development
RSS