Source www.apru.org

Talking to The Sydney Morning Herald, Innovation Minister Kim Carr has hinted at a new wave opportunites for the Australian automotive industry, as China looks to foster overseas car makers to help with its developing automotive industry.

In what Senator Carr describes as “an extraordinary expansion of capacity”, Australian car makers, research institutes and Universities could benefit in helping China’s developing car industry.

Senator Carr’s comments came during his trip to China and a meeting with Holden’s parent company General Motors in Shanghai.  In his meeting with General Motors, Senator Carr announced that engine production in Port Melbourne will increase from 6,000 units to 20,000 2.8 litre and 3.6 litre units to meet China’s expanding automotive market.

Although Senator Carr gave no time frame for Holden’s commitment to China, a spokesperson speaking to The Sydney Morning Herald said that General Motors, who has emerged as a lean ’small car focused’ manufacturer, anticipated an increase in V6 engine exports to China in the coming years.

Source: The Sydney Morning Herald

According to Reuters the plant, which is also a joint venture with Mazda, the plant will produce over 100,000 Ford’s Fiesta and Mazda2 models a year and export 85% of them overseas.

Speaking to Reuters, David Alden, Ford’s president for southeast Asia and Japan said that its Fiestas will not only be exported throughout Asia, but also exported to New Zealand, Australia and South Africa.

“It is a pretty important strategic statement that we are making of the importance of ASEAN countries, with Thailand as its productino base”.

The production of the Fiesta will commence as early as 2010 and will preplace 1.4 to 1.6 litre engine variants which are imported from Colonge and Valencia.

One argument is that the Government should get involved in regulating the price of fuel.

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According to News ltd and The Motor Report, Coles first launched the 10c and 40c  discounts for customers spending between $100 and $300 in its stores.

Woolworths’ stores in Victoria then began offering 10c, 25c and 40c per litre discounts for customers spending over $100, $200 and $300 respectively on their shopping.

Although it is expected that these heavy discounts are unsustainable for both retailers, Independent Senator Nick Xenophon slammed the price cuts as an example of the “obscene” power petrol retailers and oil companies use when determining regular fuel prices.

This latest price war between two of Australia’s biggest retailers will only affect a small percentage of their customers who already spend over $300 on their weekly shops.

Speaking to News ltd, Gary Fites from RACQ Queensland said:

If your normal grovery bill is less than $300, buying unecessary items to reach that limit means you would almost certainly come off worse in the deal.

Source: News ltd, The Motor Report

The FCAI reported that 55,500 powered-two-wheelers (PTW) and all terrain vehicles (ATVs) were sold in the six months to the end of June 2009.

The sale in Scooters recorded the greatest decline, falling by 29.3% to 5,592 new registrations in 2009.  The market’s greatest segment – road bikes, also reported a decline, falling by 13.4% to 20,763 registrations.  Off-road PTWs also recorded a substantial drop in sales with a 15.3% decline to 19,423 new registrations in the first six months of 2009.

Honda recorded the greatest fall in marque registrations, down 22.7% on last year’s new PTW sales. to 11,837 units.  Second place marque Yamaha also saw its new registrations fall by 16.4% to 11,393 units in 2009.

Despite falls by the top two marques, Suzuki saw their sales dip by only 0.8% on the same six months of 2008, with strong performances from its DR-Z400 model, recording 974 new sales in 2009.

Source: FCAI, themotorreport.com.au

According to The Age, the Vietnam market presents Nissan with “tremendous opportunities”, despite the effects of the global financial crisis.

Manufacturing of Nissan vehicles will be carried out by Vietnam Motors Corp, but will be distributed by Nissan Vietnam – a new venture between Japan’s Nissan Motor Co Ltd and Denmarks Kjaer Group A/S.

Nissan Vietnam has already been trading in Vietnam since December 2008, importing and distributing Nissan vehicles and parts through its dealer network in Vietnam.

Nissan vehicles have been sold in Vietnam since 2004 through the Kjaer Group and Motorcare Co Ltd, but their penetration of the market only reached one percent because of high import duties on automobiles into the contry.  Speaking AFP, a spokesperson for the company said: ”This is the reason why Nissan has decided to start local assembly.”

“Vietnam’s market “is actually not shrinking as much as in most other countries” and is expected to be growing again next year when Nissan launches.” He added.