Honda to Manufacture 113,000 Vehicles at Swindon Plant in UK

Honda is going to start production at its Swindon plant from Monday following a four-month halt in production due to slower demand. Now, it has been reported that the workers have come to terms with a 3% cut in their salary for the next 10 months, while managers have agreed to work with a salary reduced by 5%. Production at the Swindon plant was initially stopped for two months: January and February, but the production halt extended till May.

Honda has also reduced its yearly production target at the plat to under 113,000, a sharp fall from the initial target of 228,000 vehicles. Production of Honda Jazz supermini would start at Swindon plant from September. Honda saw 16% decline in sales in April 2009 compared to the same period of last year. First quarter sales of this year were also reduced by 34% in terms of year-over-year comparison. Honda has seen some good success through its newly launched hybrid car Honda Insight in the US. So, I think, Honda should try to promote Insight hybrid car more extensively in the UK too.

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Press Association

Dell Experienced Better Sales in Asia in First Quarter of 2009

Computer maker Dell saw better sales in Asia-Pacific market in the first quarter of the current fiscal year, even though the growth is still negative. Asian market contributed with US$2 billion to its $12.3 billion global revenue in the first quarter. The world wide market growth fell by 23 percent compared to the first quarter of last year, while the market growth of Asian market was 20 percent down in terms of year-over-year growth.

So, you can see that the overall performance in Asian region was not satisfactory for Dell, but still it was better compared to the performance of the rest of the world. Computer business fared better than other businesses in Asia. In fact, demand in large corporate business in Asia was mostly affected mainly because of economic downturn in Europe and America.

However, Dell hopes to do well in the Chinese market in the coming months mainly because of government’s stimulus package in the country. So, it is expected that it will be easier for Dell to recover from the economic slowdown in China than other Asian market. Though Indian market gives some hopes, the overall performance in South Asian market is not satisfactory at all. In fact, Dell has seen biggest drop in computer demand in South Asia.

I think, Dell should come up with some more Netbook models in the price-sensitive Asian markets like India, China Bangladesh, Pakistan etc. where there are huge population and price is the defining factor in these markets. Dell’s Netbook model Dell Mini has already seen success in various markets, I think, Dell should do the same thing in Asian markets too. Dell just needs some smart moves to recover their market growth in Asia.

Asian Stock Markets Improved

Share markets in Asia have continued to rise on Wednesday as the Asian investors were encouraged by the slowly improving American market. It has been reported that the consumer confidence in the US has been increased to 54.9 in May from April’s 40.8. This indicates that American consumers will start spending more very soon and the export oriented Asian countries will have more demands in American markets. Having realized the condition, Asian investors were inspired to invest in local share markets.

That is the reason behind the rise in Asian stocks. However, the 5.3% surge in Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was mainly because of the government announcement for 16.8 billion Hong Kong dollar ($2.17 billion) stimulus package. Under this stimulus package, the residents of Hong Kong will be provided with subsidies for public services. Businesses will enjoy some other advantages like temporary tax cuts, getting released from some government fees. Japan’s Nikkei share market improved by 1.4% to 9,438.77 with Japanese investors hoping to increase exports in the coming days.

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Forbes

Bharti Airtel renew acquisition talks with MTN Group of South Africa

On May 25, 2009, Bharti Airtel, the largest cell-phone operator in India in terms of subscriber, renewed acquisition talks with the South Africa based multinational mobile phone operator, MTN Group. Bharti Airtel is looking forward to acquire 49% stake in the company that has operations in various countries across Africa and Middle East. On the negative side, this is a “higher country risk,” it could prove fruitful for Bharti Airtel in the long run. On the positive side, this would expand Bharti Airtel’s business and increase its size and subscriber base. Competition has increased in the Indian telecom sector over the last decade. In addition, Bharti Airtel, would be able to benefit from MTN Group’s operating experience in the 3G mobile network field and “number portability,” which allows the mobile phone user to retain his original mobile phone number but change operators.

After the news came out, share prices of MTN Group and Bharti Airtel observed a loss of 5% in the share market. On May 26, 2009, shares of Bharti Airtel observed its second consecutive drop in share prices. At BSE Bharti Airtel share settled at Rs.770.40. Shares of MTN on the other hand were traded at 125.20 rand at the Johannesburg Stock Exchange following a 9% increase on May 25, 2009.

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The Economic Times

Yahoo! India and Tata Teleservices Ltd. signs agreement

In order to attract more people from India too its website, Yahoo! India signed a deal with Tata Teleservices Ltd. On May 25, 2009, Tata Teleservices Ltd., the telecom subsidiary of Tata Group announced to have signed an agreement with Yahoo! India to provide an online user interface to all its Tata Indicom customers. A co-branded Yahoo! India website would be used as the default homepage in all the internet access devices of Tata Indicom.

Now, Tata Indicom internet subscribers will directly be able to access Yahoo! India and they would get information on bill payment, “tariff plans and promotions” on the portal.

Recession may have slowed down the growth of the mobile industry in India but it did not stop the growth. Mobile density in India is growing and the industry is becoming more competitive. This month, Bharti Airtel, the largest telecom company in terms of users announced to have reached one hundred million subscriber and plans to reach another one hundred million in the next three years. Moreover, more and more Indian people are now using Internet from various purpose including collecting information or paying their bills, accessing bank account etc. Yahoo! has taken a good decision by linking up with Tata Telecom.

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Business Standard

Manchester United vs Barcelona Champions League Final 2009: Who is the Favorite?

The big day is tomorrow and all the supporters of these two clubs are now feeling very nervous and excited. The players perhaps have the same kind of Condition and I do not need to remind you that the two coaches are also very excited and there are dreaming that tomorrow their own club will be the champion of UEFA Champions League 2009. Undoubtedly, it is a big honor for any club and especially when champions league is the most attractive tournament in the world.

The supporters of these two clubs are now engaged into endless debate and discussion about who the favorite team is in tomorrow’s match?

Telegraph wrote:

The bookies are finding this one as difficult to call as the rest of us and the two teams are pretty evenly matched in the 90-minute market, with Barcelona 15/8 and United 7/4 with Betfair. There is every chance we will be given an extra 30 minutes and the draw is priced at 12/5.

Should you fancy a flutter on United taking it to the wire again and winning on penalties there is a widespread 11/1 for that outcome, with 12/1 for Barcelona to win in a shoot-out.

Who do you think will be the favorite? Even the bookies are finding it very difficult to predict.

European Stock Markets Fall, while Asian Shares Rise

On Monday, European shares struggled at stock markets, while Asian stock markets rose. Though there was news regarding North Korea’s nuclear test, Asian shares did not suffer. However, the share markets in Europe did not do well on Monday. DAX index of Germany for blue chips fell by 1.1 percent to 4862.81. Share market in France also saw slight fall on the day. Germany is the largest economy in Europe, but they suffered significantly over the last few months. Though it was reported that confidence among the investors would increase significantly in May in Germany, it did not increase expectedly.

Analysts think investors are now making any giant leap considering the lack of stability in the market. Many of whom are looking at US economy and are waiting to see if US economy improves in the comings months. Asian markets were unfazed by North Korea’s nuclear test, as investors focused more on domestic issues and US economy.

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Wall Street Journal

LG Electronics India Increases Sales and Recruitment Target

It may be the time of global economic recession, but LG India seems to be unaffected by the economic slowdown. LG Electronics India has decided to increase its revue and recruitment target this year. The reason behind this decision is the company’s extensive growth in its sales since the turn of the New Year.

According to reports out in the media, LG Electronics India has increased their revenue growth target to 20-25% which was initially 15%. The company also decided to recruit 3,500 employees, though the initial target was 2,200. In April and May, LG Electronics India experienced about 50% sales growth.

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The Economic Times

Japan stock exchange is down because of exporters’ poor performance

I really feel sympathy for Japanese government because they are at the wrong time in the wrong job. It is very difficult for them at this moment to look after the economy because of economic recession, the demand of Japanese goods has decreased a lot in other countries. Japanese are export based economy and that is why if the export suffer then the whole economy may suffer a lot. All the major exporting companies like Canon, Sony, Panasonic and even Toyota are suffering huge losses and we can see report of their loss on a regular basis for the last one month. The overall condition of the economy is not good either. So, there is no surprised that the index of stock exchange of Tokyo suffered some loss today. No one knows then this condition will improve. It seems to me that it will take at least one or two years for Japanese economy to become better again. 

What You can Get from Toyota Prius 2010?

You already know that the third generation (2010) Toyota Prius hybrid car has caught the attention of car enthusiasts. While many were thinking that Prius will face stiff competition from Honda Insight which came to the market recently, Toyota came up with the third generation Prius car. Now, the question is if Prius 2010 would be able to stave of the challenge of Honda Insight.

Well, first of all you should look at the features Toyota Prius 2010 is offering and only then you can decide whether this is the car you are looking for. Prius 2010 is considered to be first true hybrid car which can run only on electric battery or fuel (natural gas) or the combination of both electric battery and fuel. Moreover, this is the first car which can run 50 miles per gallon of gasoline. So, you can see that the maintenance cost of the new Prius would be muss less than other hybrid cars. Moreover, the car is eco-friendly which is another attraction of Toyota Prius 2010. There are a number of instruction panels in the dashboard, and you will be advised by the panels how to drive your car so that you can save fuel.

Overall, the third generation Toyota Prius seems to offers some attractive features which are not currently available in other hybrid cars. No doubt, Honda Insight also has some of these features, but still, Prius 2010 seems to be superior car to Honda Insight. What do you think about it?

Honda Insight Impressive in Test Drive

You already know that Honda Insight, the latest car in the hybrid car market, has already been a threat for Toyota’s Prius, the leading car model in hybrid market. So far, this has been reported in a number of times in the media, but now, it seems that Honda Insight has also lived up to the expectation of the car enthusiasts.

Recently, I came across an article on Honda Insight where the writer, Andy Hodges, claimed to have been impressed by the performance of the hybrid car in a test drive. The writer says that the performance of the car went beyond his expectation. In the test drive, Honda Insight was found to be very smooth and comfortable in handling both in the city area as well as in the highway. There was no sound while starting and it gave a smooth driving experience to the writer. Moreover, as the writer says, there are gauges coming from the dashboard indicating how much electricity left in the battery. More than that, different panels set in the dashboard would instruct you how to save your fuel while you are driving. Conversion from gas energy to electricity power is also hazardless.

Honda Insight now seems to be the next popular car model in hybrid car market and I would not be surprised if it takes away some market share from Toyota Prius in the years to come.

Honda to Start Production in Swindon Plant

Workers started retuning to work at Honda’s Swindon plant in Britain as the company is planning to restart its production for Honda Jazz model. The plant was forced to close down for four months following significant drop in its sales. Honda Jazz is reported to be cheaper, more environment friendly and fuel efficient car.

Initially, work of metal-pressing plant is going to open as the company is planning to start production next month. This seems to be a positive sign for Honda as the company has seen slight increase in its demand thanks to its Honda Insight hybrid car. Now, it is yet to see if Honda can grab more market share with his upcoming model Jazz.

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BBC

Toyota to Sell 10,000 Revamped Prius Cars in Japan Per Month

Toyota has started selling the third version of its highly popular hybrid car Prius in Japanese car market. The revamped Prius model goes on sale with a price tag of 2.05 million yen ($21,600). Toyota Prius is the leading car model in hybrid car market and since its launch in 2007, more than 1.25 million Toyota Prius have been sold so far.

However, another Japanese auto maker Honda came up with its own hybrid model Insight last February, and since then, Honda Insight has been a threat for Toyota Prius in the hybrid car market. That is why, Toyota has also revamped its Prius model recently in order to stave off the challenge posed by Honda Insight.

Toyota has now decided to sell 10,000 Prius per month in the domestic market (Japan) which is double the domestic target of Honda for Insight. Honda Insight has also become the first gasoline-electric car to have highest monthly sales in Japanese car market. Now, it seems that Honda Insight will also face a strong challenge from the third version of Toyota Prius in the domestic market in Japan.

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bloomberg

Maruti and Tata in Search of American Engineers

People in Asia always dream to have a job in the US or in Europe, but now it seems US people are keen to have a job in India! Well, it might seem to be strange, but this is the reality amidst the global economic slowdown. While the leading automakers like Toyota, General Motors are cutting jobs in their various plants, Indian automakers are now in search of engineers from USA.

Recently, two of the leading Indian automakers: TATA and Maruti- took part in the Society of Auto Engineers' 2009 World Congress Career Fair at Detroit, looking for new engineers from US for different functions. The two automakers even short listed a number of candidates at the fair. Maruti Suzuki India wants to improve its Omni and M-800 models to Bharat Stage 4. TATA is planning to launch its much-publicized 1 lakh car Nano to US market, but to do so the company needs to improve TATA Nano on its current stages of Bharat Stage II and Bharat Stage III, it is needed to upgrade in order to match up the US emission and safety standards. For example, TATA Nano currently does not feature air bag.

To achieve these things, both Maruti and TATA now want help from US engineers, given that the American engineers would have much more experience regarding US markets. Now, let us see if the two automakers from India can successfully achieve what they are looking for by using the talent and experience of US engineers.

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Honda CEO Hopeful about Automobile Industry in 2009-10 Fiscal Year

Automobile industry is suffering a lot due to the global economic recession. Leading car makers like Toyota and General Motors are facing operating loses due to huge fall in demand. General Motors even received government stimulus to survive in the market. Still, Takeo Fukui, the CEO of Honda, has expressed his hope to see a rise in demand in the second half of the current fiscal years ending to 2010.

Despite the economic recession, Honda Motor Inc. could successfully remain profitable in the last fiscal because of decreasing warranty costs. Fukui thinks that the current fiscal year would be better than the last year with demand increasing slightly.

Well, American government is trying heart and soul to come out of ongoing economic slowdown as soon as possible by investing in business companies in the form of stimulus and thus it seems that the condition might be improved very soon, but it is also true that there could be some dangers as well in future because the government is trying to solve the economic problem in an artificial way.

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Sony suffer loss after many years

Sony is a very popular brand name in the whole world and although it is a Japanese company, it is perhaps more famous than outside of Japan. In many countries, a Sony television is considered to be some kind of symbol of prestige and many people rely on the brand name more than many brands as we know. So, it is very shocking to see that after fourteen years the company suffered annual loss of nearly one billion dollar. It has happened mainly because the amount of sells has decreased in many countries because of economic recession.

As you know, Sony is a major leader in the field of consumer goods. Naturally when the economy is down, many people are not interested about consumer products but they go for necessity products like food and medicine. Many of them have lost jobs and naturally they are worried and they do not want to buy expensive television or a video game. Sony also makes some very good laptops and now it is the time of netbooks but what I can find is that until now, the company has not taken the market of netbook seriously in fact Sony does not have any netbook until now. So, I believe that it is something that the company can look forward to if they want to become more profitable. It should be mentioned here that last year, Sony announced that it made three billion dollar of profit in the previous twelve months. So, it shows the amount of damage that economic recession has done to Sony. 

April 2009: Bad auto sells in Europe

Last week, in this blog, I wrote abut bad auto sells in Japan and Europe. As a result many companies suffered and now it seems that the same thing has happened in Europe. There has been some significant decrease of care sells in April 2009 in Europe. The companies that suffered a lot are BMW, Daimler and Toyota. The economic recession is the main villain behind this. Think of countries like Germany and Japan who are considered to be rich country but their economics are suffering and many people are getting unemployed every month. As a result most people are worried about their future and they are not thinking of buying new cars at this moment.

A bad time ahead for Toyota as low production goal?

When economic recession has started, it appeared that American auto giants will fall into a lot of problem and for the first few months, it seemed that Japanese car maker Toyota will remain safe. Yes, it is still safe and it has not suffered any big problem until now but things are not going well at all because of the falling car demand. In fact, we have seen in the last few days that huge decrease has taken place in car sells in Japan, USA and Europe. As a result, companies like Toyota suffering because they can not sell their products as fast as they want to. So, Toyota has fixed a low annual production goal in 2009. In fact, in 2009 its plan is to make 6.68 million cars. Last year, the production goal was 9.24 million. So in 2009, the company is expected to suffer even more loss.

Toshiba to Raise Fun through Equity Financing and Bond

Japan-based multinational company, Toshiba Corp., has posted a net loss of Y184 billion in the fourth quarter of the last year ending to March. Though the loss was a bit lower than what was expected initially, Toshiba is still struggling to come back in profit. With this fourth quarter loss, Toshiba’s overall net loss in the last fiscal year stands at Y343.6 billion, compared to Y127.4 billion year-earlier profit. Revenue in the fourth quarter also decreased significantly as it made Y1.67 trillion profit, a 20% decrease from year-earlier Y2.10 trillion. In the same way, Toshiba’s revenue in the last fiscal year was the clear reflection of its doom business. The company experienced 13% decrease in its yearly revenue to Y6.65 trillion, compared to year-earlier revenue of Y7.67 trillion.

Toshiba is world’s fifth largest chip maker, but the company faced lots of problems in their chip business over the last one year. Moreover, their consumer product business did not churn out any good result. However, the company is now planning to raise 313.1 billion yen (US$3.1 billion) through equity and it will also sell bonds pricing from Y170 billion to Y180 billion. Toshiba is not expecting to come back in profit this year, but it expects less loss then the previous year.

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Toyota Shares Dropped by 4% at Nikkei Share Market

Toyota Motor Corporation has not seen any positive sign yet in their bleak looking business. The company experienced $8.6 billion annual loss in the last fiscal year. The amount of loss was even bigger than what had been expected. Toyota’s sales fell in US as well as domestic car markets significantly last year because of global economic recession. Toyota’s share fell by 4% at Nikkei share market just after the news of Toyota’s annual loss came out in the media. However, the condition was aggravated due to surging Japanese yen against foreign currencies.

Toyota is world’s largest car marker and it is now expecting a fall of 1 million vehicles in his annual sales this year. This is not a good sing for the company which is currently trying to survive by launching hybrid cars to the big car markets like America. Now, let us see if Toyota can retain some of its lost business by selling fuel-efficient hybrid cars.

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Daily Times

Obama Health care Plan: Should Japan have one too?

Today, President Barack Obama could gather the leaders of all the stake holders of the health care industry. The industry leaders informed him that they would do everything to make life better for the American citizens and would save a lot of money in the next one decade. I have written about it in my new blog: Hobby Economist. I feel that it is time that Japanese government take a serious look into their health care system. Of course, at this moment, there is no major problem for Japan in this regard but the country has an aging population and very soon, it will be major headache for the Japanese health care system. So, Japanese government should sit with the major players too.

Formula One 2010 Car Racing Without Toyota?

Toyota is an active participant in Formula One Car Racing. F1 is considered to be the top auto racing in the world and it is a good place for companies like Toyota to show off their products. Association with this brings a lot of exposure for the brand name of the company too. Now, the company has stated that it is not sure whether they will participate in F1 event in 2010 or not.

Guardian reported:

Toyota will not enter next year's Formula One championship unless new rules published by the governing body are changed, motorsport president John Howett said on Saturday.

"If nothing changes, we won't be submitting an entry," he told Reuters at the Spanish Grand Prix when asked about a May 29 deadline.

"But I don't think that is a unique opinion among other competitors."

Howett is vice-chairman of the Formula One Teams' Association (FOTA) presided over by Ferrari's president Luca di Montezemolo, a firm critic of the governing body' plans to introduce an optional 40 million pound ($60.19 million) budget cap in 2010.

I am not expert on this type of auto racing. All I understand is that it will not be good for either Toyota or F1 Racing if this problem continues. I hope that a solution will come very quickly.

Toyota: Annual Net Loss for the First Time

To be honest with you, I was surprised to hear the news not because Toyota suffered loss but because of the fact that it suffered annual net loss for the first time in its history. It shows two things very clearly. On the one hand, it reminds us of the fact that Toyota is a very successful company and it is managed very well. On the other hand, It shows that the economic recession has affected everyone and every company. Strong Japanese yen did not help the company at all and most probably, even in this fiscal year, Toyota will suffer more loss.

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Japan: Not a Child Country?

This is a tragedy of modernization. As a result of modern lifestyle, most Japanese people think that they must enjoy life and earn money. They also think that a child is like a burden and they cannot give birth to child. Well, some people like to point finger to the women of that country and like to say that the women are becoming too much materialistic and they do not want to get married early or they do not want to have child. However, I think that it is not the fault of the women only. The men are mainly to blame for this matter. The men are too much engrossed with money and business and they have forgotten to be romantic.

Men and women of the country have to change their attitude. Otherwise they will have very bad future as a nation.

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Auto Sales in April 2009: Toyota Suffered in USA and Japan

Few people can think of buying a car in the time of economic recession. Of course, in USA and Japan, car is not considered to be a luxury item like many poor countries in Asia and Africa. Still, when you are in the economic recession spending money for this commodity is perhaps does not come to your mind easily. Yes, this is the thing that is happening now and Toyota is suffering a lot because it is now the largest auto maker in the world.

Auto sales stats of April 2009 has now come to the media in both USA and Japan. In USA, Toyota suffered a major setback. The reason is still not clear but it is clear that Ford is catching up with the Japanese company. In America, at this moment, the main problem is that most people are worried about their future. Nearly 6 million people have lost job in the last few months due to recession. Not only that because of the credit crunch fallout and banking sector problem, now it is becoming more difficult to get car loans easily like the past. The banks and financial institutions are struggling themselves. So, they have to act cautiously about giving new auto loan. The only thing that is perhaps good for the time being is that the price of oil is much cheaper compared to a year ago.

In Japan, almost a similar picture exists. Many people have lost jobs and consumer confidence is low. So, fewer people are interested to buy a car here. Toyota sales plummeted in April 2009 and many workers in the company are perhaps worried for their future.

Some people thought that the stimulus packages offered by US government, Japan government and G20 countries would boost the global economy. However, the stimulus packages surely have not increased consumer confidence.

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Maruti Suzuki Eyeying on 5% Sales Growth in 2010 Fiscal Year

Maruti Suzuki India has recently announced that it expects a sales growth up to 5 percent in the 2009-2010 fiscal year. The company has revealed the target on the back of a strong demand in the rural areas as well as foreign market. Having seen huge demand in the rural areas, the company decided to hire more rural dealer sales executives in the current fiscal year. Currently, Maruti Suzuki India has 2,500 rural dealer sales executives, and the company plans to add 1000 more to the current number of dealer sales executives across its 680 outlets in India.

Maruti Suzuki India is the largest automaker in Indian car market and I am really very surprised to know that the automaker is looking for sales growth in this time of global economic recession. Many automakers like Toyota, GM and Honda are struggling to remain profitable due to economic slowdown. Maruti Suzuki already has a very strong presence in India’s fastest growing auto market and it seems that the company continues gaining more and more shares in the Indian auto market.

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Business Standard

Honda Sales Fell 25.3% in April 2009

Japanese automaker Honda has seen 25.3% drop in its US sales in April from the year-earlier period. Honda sold 101,029 vehicles in the US in April in which 2096 were second generation Insight hybrid cars which are considered to be a threat for Toyota Prius, a popular hybrid car from Toyota.

Well, you may not be impressed by Honda’s Insight sales in April, but do not forget that the car came into the market late in March and it has been only 1 month. On the other hand, Toyota Prius were sold 8385 volumes in the US market in April which is a sharp 61.5% fall from the amount sold in the same period of last year.

Honda has set their target to sell 100,000 Insight hybrid cars per year in the US market, and wants to sell 200,000 Insight cars per year globally. Well, this is the period of economic recession and car companies are facing huge challenge to survive in the market due to slow demand. However, hybrid car seems to be a good option for the consumers as hybrid cars ensure high mileage, cutting down the fuel cost.

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allcarselectric

Toyota to Increase Production of Camry Sedan and Rav4

You already know that global economic slowdown has made severe effect on the global auto market and the condition is more severe in the world’s largest auto market US. A number of auto makers including General Motors, Chrysler, Ford, and Toyota are cutting their production to match inventory with the slow demands in the market.

Toyota has recently decided that it would increase production for some of its models including Camry sedan and Rav4 for the next four months in order to grasp more market share, taking the advantage of struggling auto makers. Toyota saw its first operating loss in the last fiscal year in more than 70 years and now predicts to experience another operational loss this year too. In fact, the Japanese auto maker has seen 42 percent drop in its April sales compared to year-earlier figure. That is why, it is very important to increase production only for those vehicles which could help the company to gain more market share in the struggling economy.

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The Wall Street Journal

Honda Recorded Slim Profit in 2008-09 Fiscal Year

It is now the time of global economic recession and the situation is getting aggravated gradually. Global auto market has also suffered a lot because of economic slowdown as many car makers including General Motors and Chrysler are struggling for survival, while the companies like Toyota is facing operating losses. So, you can see how intense the condition is at this moment.

However, Honda Motors have somehow managed to avoid an operating annual loss for the financial year to March 2009, even though the company experienced $1.9 billion loss in its recently quarterly result. In fact, Honda saw 186.1 billion yen loss during the January-March quarter, compared to a year-earlier profit of 25.43 billion yet. However, overall, Honda recorded 137 billion yen yearly profit, a decline by 77 percent from the profit of the previous year.

Honda also suffered a lot due to economic slowdown. Falling sales and increasing inventories forced the automaker to cut its production. However, the Japanese automaker could see some success through its motorcycle and low-cost car lines. Moreover, the company’s aggressive pricing also helped it remain profitable.

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New York Times