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Automakers paying Chinese dealers for lower-than-expected sales

The Chinese dealers vs. foreign manufacturers story won't quit. It began with a story on the struggles faced by FAW-Toyota joint venture dealers, with supposedly 95 percent of the showrooms losing money, and 10 percent of them doing so poorly that they'd have to exit the business. The problem is mandated sales targets, most set when the country's economy was racing. Now that things have slowed, China's dealers are swimming in unsold cars and the costs to keep them. In the case of FAW-Toyota, dealers asked Toyota to hand over 2.2 billion yuan ($355 million) to help address the situation. That was followed by a report noting the issues that Honda, BMW, and Nissan dealers are having with the same issue, revealing that the Chinese Automobile Dealers Association (CADA) had taken the highly unusual step of writing to the Chinese government to complain. Now Reuters reports that CADA is not only pressing its case even harder, it's being open about it: it announced that BMW agreed to pay dealers 5.1 billion yuan ($820 million) to alleviate poor profits last year. Unnamed sources said Audi has thrown 2 billion yuan into the kitty for subsidies, and Daimler has contributed "about 1 billion yuan" to its dealers. The battle isn't just about 2014, but how business will be run in 2015 as well: Chinese Porsche dealers have requested the automaker lower its 2015 target of 64,000 cars, which would be a 40-percent increase on its 2014 sales of 46,931 vehicles. One analyst called it "shocking" that the CADA has taken its fight public, while CADA comments continue to imply that dealers have been railroaded to the cliff's edge without recourse. "Due to the difference in status," it's deputy secretary said, "individual dealers are not willing to, or don't dare to, talk frankly with the carmakers...." Both parties need one another, so they'll figure out a way to make it work – but that could mean acknowledging the Chinese market is behaving more like a mature one, not an emerging one. News Source: ReutersImage Credit: Lintao Zhang/Getty Images Earnings/Financials Audi BMW Porsche Toyota Car Dealers Luxury

Recharge Wrap-up: Toyota battery breakthrough, PSA's millionth BlueHDi diesel

Scientists at Toyota have developed battery technology that allows for higher energy density. Using material from hydrogen storage, researchers at the Toyota Research Institute of North America (TRINA) in beautiful Ann Arbor, Michigan have created an electrolyte that works well with a magnesium metal anode. Besides improving energy density for smaller, more powerful batteries, magnesium is also more stable than lithium, making it a safer alternative. Rather than guarding their secret, Toyota is sharing details of this breakthrough in order to advance the technology in hopes of an earlier mass deployment of magnesium batteries. See the video above, and read more in the press release below. Farmdrop – a sort of online farmer's market in the UK – is looking for help naming its electric delivery "vanimals." The Nissan e-NV200 vans are painted and decorated to look like cows, pigs, and chickens. While three of the vans have already been named, fans can suggest their own clever ideas for the rest of the fleet on social media. Those whose names are selected will win a month's worth of shopping on Farmdrop. Cary McCarface, anyone? Read more at the company's website. PSA has built its millionth Euro 6 BlueHDi diesel engine. The automaker builds two diesel engines – a 1.6-liter and a 2.0-liter – at its plant in Tremery, France at a rate of 7,000 engines a day. BlueHDi technology uses three different emissions control mechanisms to filter pollutants out of diesel exhaust, including an oxygen catalyst, an additive filter to remove particulate matter, and a Selective Catalytic Reduction system to reduce NOx. BlueHDi is used in all new Peugeot, Citroen, and DS Euro 6 diesel vehicles. Read more at Green Car Congress. Charging Ahead Toyota Scientists Make Breakthrough on Safer, Smarter Batteries May 04, 2016 ANN ARBOR, Mich. (May 4, 2016) -- For anyone (i.e. everyone) who's ever panicked when their mobile device chirped, "low battery," the future could be far less stressful, thanks to the advanced battery research of scientists at the Toyota Research Institute of North America (TRINA). A new breakthrough involving magnesium batteries may soon open the doors for smaller, longer-lasting batteries for everything from cars to cell phones. What's the Big Deal with Magnesium? Magnesium metal has long been theorized as a much safer and more energy-dense alternative to current lithium battery technology.

Toyota expands airbag recall to 2.27M vehicles worldwide

Was your Toyota inspected under the company's recall campaign for faulty airbag inflators last year? You might have another trip ahead to have it repaired again. The automotive giant says that it found "the involved serial numbers provided by the supplier were incomplete, and did not include all of the potentially involved inflators," according to its official announcement. That means more replacements are needed.
Toyota's April 2013 inflator recall covered the Corolla, Matrix and Tundra from the 2003 and 2004 model years, the Sequoia from 2002 to 2004 and the Lexus SC 430 from 2002 to 2004. At the time, the company said it would need to inspect about 510,000 vehicles in the US but only expected to replace around 170,000 inflators.
However, the latest announcement increases that figure to about 766,300 vehicles in the US. Toyota spokesperson Cindy Knight told Autoblog that the new amount is the combination of owners who need to have their vehicle looked at again and those who didn't come in for the initial recall. The company learned about the problem when Takata, the supplier, provided it with an improved list of the faulty part's serial numbers. According to The Detroit News, the latest recall affects about 2.27 million vehicles from them worldwide. Knight said owners would receive notification of the problem around the end of the month but repairs would come in phases because the automaker doesn't have all of the necessary parts at the moment.