Honda Motor said yesterday it would spend US$1.5 billion on two new plants in Japan as it steps up production of fuel-efficient cars, including a new low-cost hybrid scheduled to be launched early next year.
Japan's second-largest automaker will build a plant making fuel efficient engines next year and a new manufacturing plant in 2010, Honda Motor president Takeo Fukui told a press conference.
Honda confirmed it was on track to introduce a low-cost gasoline-electric hybrid next year. It is aiming for initial annual sales of 200,000 of the compact five-door passenger size car.
PHOTO: AFP
Honda also plans to introduce a hybrid version of its Fit compact car along with a new sports hybrid and a new gasoline-electric version of its Civic.
It is aiming for total sales of the four models of 500,000 vehicles a year by the middle of 2010, Fukui said.
“What’s important is to shift the status of hybrid cars from the current image-oriented stage to the new stage [of] full-scale penetration” of the overall market, he said.
Along with its main rival Toyota Motor Corp, Honda is a pioneer of hybrid-engine cars, which save fuel costs and are attracting growing interest at a time of soaring oil prices.
However, the cars are still more expensive than conventional cars and represent just a small share of the total vehicle market.
Honda aims to reduce the premium customers have to pay for a hybrid to about ¥200,000 (US$1,800), from as much as ¥500,000, Fukui said.
“If we could shrink the price gap to less than ¥200,000, then hybrids can compete with conventional cars” based on their lower fuel consumption, Fukui said.
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to
RSS