OTHER VEHICLE

The progress of Toyota’s hybrid power technology has reached another landmark with cumulative global sales of Toyota hybrid vehicles reaching 6.072 million units at the end of December. Notably the latest million-milestone has been reached in the fastest time yet, just nine months since the figure moved past five million.

Toyota recognises that its cleaner, efficient technologies can only truly make a positive impact if they are widely used, hence its on-going efforts to encourage the mass-market take-up of its hybrid vehicles.


As of this month, Toyota Motor Corporation sells 24 hybrid passenger car models and one plug-in hybrid in approximately 80 countries and regions around the world. In the UK, home to production of the hybrid versions of Auris and Auris Touring Sports, the range extends to 10 Toyota and Lexus hybrids, plus Prius Plug-in.

Within the next two years, Toyota will launch 15 new hybrids. It will continue to develop its product range and the number of markets where its hybrid models are available.

Toyota calculates that, as of 31 December 2013, Toyota hybrid vehicles have reduced the amount of CO2 entering the atmosphere – believed to be a cause of global warming – by approximately 41 million tonnes, compared to the impact the same number of equivalent petrol-powered vehicles would have. On the same basis, it also estimates its hybrids have saved around 15,000 million litres of petrol.

Toyota entered hybrid vehicle production in August 1997 with the launch in Japan of the Coast Hybrid EV bus, followed in December by the first generation Prius, the world’s first mass-produced hybrid car. Since then Toyota’s hybrids have enjoyed increasing support from customers around the world.

Toyota’s hybrid system is designed as a core technology that can be used in different forms to create environmentally efficient vehicles for different customer requirements. The company will continue to work to raise performance, reduce costs and expand its product line-up – including the introduction of environmentally efficient non-hybrid vehicles.

Toyota hybrid vehicle sales – all brands


(1 = 1,000 units)

Cumulative sales of Toyota hybrid passenger vehicles



(1 = 1,000 units) * Including Prius Plug-in; ** including Auris Hybrid Touring Sports.

Honda Motorcycles and scooters India is one of the most aggressive company in the two wheeler segment. Honda is focused and determined to take the 2nd position in the Market. Over the past 6 months Honda has launched a number of products in the entry level segment and also in the Scooter segment to beat Bajaj. Finally in June Honda snatched the 2nd position from Bajaj.

Honda sold 2,87,177 motorcycles and scooters in the Indian market. But when we look at overall numbers which include the domestic sales and the exports, Bajaj got the upper hand. June sales figures are so special for Honda. Because, for the first time in its history in the Indian market, Honda has sold more motorcycles than scooters. Honda sold 1,47,635 units of motorcycles while the scooter range managed to put up a respectable 1,39,542 units.

The big push for Honda has come from its new entry level range called the Dream series, which consist of Dream Yuga and Dream Neo. Also the premium entry level bike twister is also helping the Dream twins. Last month Bajaj production at the Chakan plant was affected by the worker strike. Which resulted in less number of bikes produced and hence the sales figures dropped.

The strike at Bajaj plant also helped Honda to secure the second position. Bajaj has solved the issues and the plant is now working in its full capacity. Bajaj entry level offering Discover is also a big success and the company is also planning to launch different iterations of the Discover in the coming months. The battle for the second position will be even hotter now. Lets wait for the August sales to see which company has emerged at the top.

 

Justin Moon

The Telematics Detroit conference always provides a great opportunity to take the pulse of the automotive connectivity market and understand what key players in the industry are doing — and are planning to do in the next couple of years.

Prior to the show, I had the opportunity to participate in an executive roundtable session hosted by Ernst and Young. The focus was the future of mobile integration and how it will change the market as we know it. The roundtable brought together views from the entire ecosystem, including OEMs, tier one suppliers, software and service providers, dealerships, and, ultimately, the end consumer. It was a great session with a lot of interaction.

Telematics Detroit, Day 1

The Bentley attracted lots of traffic

Okay, let’s go through the event checklist:

• QNX technology concept car based on a Bentley Continental and outfitted with our latest instrument cluster and infotainment concepts. Check.
   
• QNX reference vehicle based on a Jeep Wrangler, rocking a new Qt-based HMI on the QNX CAR Platform for Infotainment. Check.
   
• How about a functional over-the-air software update demo from our colleagues at Blackberry to blow people away? OK, got that, too.
   
• And let’s not forget a demo showcasing the latest in fast boot technology and Android app integration for the QNX CAR Platform. Check, and ready to go.

Inside the Jeep: a new Qt-based HMI

Now we’re set for the show. Day 1 opened with a keynote address on “Winning the Telematics Race”, presented by Thilo Koslowski of Gartner; it set the stage what for turned out to be a great show. Our booth was busy pretty much the entire day — but look at the list above… of course, it was busy! :-)

In addition to great booth traffic, I had the opportunity to participate on a panel on autonomous vehicles and the challenges they present — the discussion was very engaging and it did in fact “drive” traffic to our booth for further discussion. Meanwhile, my colleague Andrew Poliak presented a keynote on HMI trends. To my mind, his talk clearly demonstrated that we are thought leaders in this industry.

The evening brought the annual Telematics and Tonics mixer, co-hosted by QNX and several of its partners: AT&T, NVIDIA, Pandora, Tweddle, and Elektrobit. It was a huge success with well over 300 attendees — standing room only, all night. There were great discussions with great people until the wee hours of the night… really wee hours.

Telematics Detroit, Day 2
Day 2 was busy, busy, busy. Did I mention it was busy? We provided demos galore to OEMs, tier ones, partners — the works. Andy Gryc sat on a panel discussing the ultimate intuitive user interface and knocked it out of the park, as he always does.

The booth was busy until the show closed. We then we put the cars to bed in their shipping truck and headed off to the airport, tired but extremely happy nonetheless.

Without a doubt, our Dads and Grandfathers are one of the most powerful influences on our life.

And sometimes you are lucky enough to catch it on video.  Check out young Dylan with Granddaddy Jack earlier this year.


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There are rumors that the next version of the popular MINI will be an SUV. This fall MINI is going to release a third version of the MINI called the Clubman, which is essentially a stretched MINI. BMW is considering other models of the small car, such as the MINI SUV that could be named the Colorado.