French auto makers PSA Peugeot Citroen and Renault will present their solutions for tomorrow’s cars — electric or hybrid — at the Frankfurt Motor Show which opens on Thursday as both are being hit hard by the economic crisis.
Renault which has firmly set its eyes on the electric car is to introduce four electric prototypes in Frankfurt that will cover the range from small urban to commercial vehicles.
Renault chief Carlos Ghosn has made Zero Emissions the group’s top strategy in the ongoing battle against carbon dioxide emissions, along with partner Nissan.
PHOTO: REUTERS
The maker with the lozenge shaped logo believes that by 2020 electric cars will make up more than 10 percent of the market and hopes to present its electric cars by 2011 and be ready for the market the following year.
Rival PSA Peugeot Citroen equally aims to impress the general public with its environment-friendly cars after new company head Philippe Varin, who took over in June, made them one of his priorities.
Peugeot will present two diesel hybrid prototypes based on its 3008 crossover and RCZ coupe. But in Frankfurt it will also display the iOn, its future electric car which was developed in cooperation with Mitsubishi Motors to be launched at the end of next year.
PSA thus aims to offer a wide range of environment-friendly solutions that include diesel hybrids in 2011 and Peugeot and Citroen electric cars next year.
“Electric cars have a positive image,” said Bertrand Rakoto, RL Polk car analyst.
But he cautioned that their distribution would be rather limited in the next five years.
Last year, practically no electric cars were registered in France and hybrids had a share of just 0.4 percent of new cars sold.
In Frankfurt, Renault hopes that its ambition to offer a full line-up of electric cars will translate into a new love affair with the public after its sales plunged 24 percent and net losses totalled 2.7 billion euros (US$3.9 billion) in the first half-year.
PSA on the other hand was in the red last year and again reported a net loss of 962 million euros in the first half of this year.
But the group continues to renew and develop its product line-up, with Peugeot about to market its new compact 5008 people carrier and RCZ sports coupe.
The Frankfurt Motor Show, known as the IAA and which runs from Thursday to Sept. 27, aims to make consumers forget the auto sector crisis with a wave of new models, in particular electric ones.
“The IAA 2009 is being held in the right place at the right time,” said Matthias Wissmann, president of the VDA auto federation that organizes the show.
He added that the worst of the crisis had passed and the fair would celebrate with a “fireworks show of innovations.”
The 63rd edition of the IAA, which takes place every two years in alternation with a show in Paris, is a slimmed-down version of the precedent one however, with the number of exhibitors down by 30 percent to 750 and several Asian brands deciding not to come.
Nissan, Honda, Mitsubishi and Daihatsu are staying home, while recovering US group GM will not display its Chevrolet brand but be present with the German unit Opel.
GM has just agreed again to sell a majority stake in Opel to the Canadian auto parts group Magna and its Russian partner Sberbank, having apparently come to terms after an initial deal announced in May hit bumps.
The total surface of this year’s show has been reduced by 15 percent and the number of visitors expected by 20 percent to 750,000.
“This IAA is taking place under a sign of crisis,” said Frank Schwope, auto analyst at NordLB bank.
LBBW counterpart Stefan Sigrist added: “I expect more modesty and fewer pompous events.”
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique