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Kayaba, Sumitomo to pay millions for price-fixing in US

Kayaba Industry Co, which does business in the US as suspension parts maker KYB, and Sumitomo Electric Industries are facing payments in the millions to settle price-fixing cases about the components that they make. As part of the Department of Justice's ongoing crackdown of price fixing in the auto industry, KYB agreed to pay $62 million and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to set the cost of shock absorbers from the mid '90s through 2012. The company allegedly worked with co-conspirators to keep the cost of the parts high, and those components then made it into vehicles from Honda, Kawasaki, Nissan, Subaru, Suzuki, and Toyota. "Any collusive agreement among competitors to restrict price competition undercuts our free enterprise system and violates the law," said Carter M. Stewart, US Attorney of the Southern District of Ohio, in the DoJ's announcement. Over the past few years, the DoJ has brought cases against 37 parts suppliers and 55 executives, leading to over $2.6 billion in fines. The investigations haven't always been so successful – some of the Japanese execs fled from the US to avoid prosecution. Critics allege that price fixing is simply how business is done. According to Automotive News, Sumitomo Electric Industries is also facing a $50 million settlement in a civil lawsuit that's related to price fixing of parts like wiring harnesses and heater control panels. The plaintiffs include owners and dealers that purchased vehicles with these parts. The company asserts that the violations are from before 2010, and it now has different process in place to avoid further violations. KYB Agrees to Plead Guilty and Pay $62 Million Criminal Fine for Fixing Price of Shock Absorbers Kayaba Industry Co. Ltd., dba KYB Corporation (KYB) has agreed to plead guilty and to pay a $62 million criminal fine for its role in a conspiracy to fix the price of shock absorbers installed in cars and motorcycles sold to U.S. consumers. According to charges filed today, KYB conspired from the mid-1990s until 2012 to fix the prices of shock absorbers sold to Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. (manufacturer of Subaru vehicles), Honda Motor Co. Ltd., Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd., Nissan Motor Company Ltd., Suzuki Motor Corporation and Toyota Motor Company, including their subsidiaries in the United States.

'Qashqai' so hard to pronounce even Nissan is poking fun at it

In the US, there aren't a lot of vehicle names that are very difficult to pronounce. Maybe the Volkswagen Touareg might trip up a few people, but by and large, we've got it pretty easy. Our friends in Europe, though, have a bigger challenge, thanks to vehicles like the Nissan Qashqai. Yes, Qashqai.
Like the Touareg, the Qashqai draws its name from a nomadic people. While Nissan isn't making up words, then, it's still not an easy name to pronounce. Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson routinely calls it a kumquat, for example. According to Nissan, though, it's pronounced "Cash'kai".
To get its point across as the second-gen Qashqai, the close cousin of the US market Rogue, prepares to launch in Australia, Nissan set up a little event at a coffee shop. Customers would place their orders, only to have the spelling of their names butchered rather badly. On the other side of the cup, there's a message from Nissan and the Qashqai.

Meet the man who took a year sabbatical to drive his 1967 Datsun Fairlady Roadster

A quiet drive in the country can be the most relaxing thing in the world. What if it didn't have to end, and you could keep driving for a week, a month or even a whole year? That's what Scott Fisher is doing by taking a one-year sabbatical from work and driving his 1967 Datsun Fairlady Roadster around North America.
"I had owned a manufacturing business in Las Vegas for 16 years. I knew I needed to kinda' get out, and unwind, and get my mojo back," said Fisher.
Fisher's trip has covered over 30,000 miles through 44 states and 7 Canadian Provinces, and it is not over yet. He left from his home in Las Vegas, NV, last spring and drove to the Pacific. From there, he drove up the coast to the Canadian border and aimed the car for the Atlantic. He just posted on his blog about visiting the Nissan headquarters and museum in Franklin, TN, and his next stops are Mississippi and New Orleans, LA.