Mazda Motor Corporation started its Bioplastic Project in cooperation with Hiroshima University

Mazda Motor Corporation (TYO:7261) has started its Bioplastic Project in collaboration with Hiroshima University. The goal of this project is to develop durable plastics from waste wood and other plant materials. The company expects to use such plastics in its cars by 2013. The plastics would be used in dashboards, and bumpers. Autocar.co.uk reports:

In process similar to that used to make second generation biofuel, waste plant material such as wood shavings is turned into ethanol which will then be converted into ethylene and polypropylene.

Mazda claims this process is carbon neutral and, unlike alternative materials made from soy or cornstarch, does not remove food resource.

The car company has already developed a bioplastic which it uses to build the cabin of its hydrogen power Premacy RE Hybrids. The company is planning to mass produce the material and make it commercially viable.

Along with oil, the price of still has also risen globally. Last month,
Toyota Motor Corporation (TYO:7203) and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. (TYO:7011) agreed buy steel from Nippon Steel Corporation (TYO:5401) at higher price. At such conditions, it is natural that automakers will be looking for suitable alternatives of steel. Carbon fiber, a special kind of plastic which is now widely used in fighter planes in Europe. Now, it is automobiles turn. Let’s see what Mazda can do with its bioplastic.

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vehiclesafety

Mazda Motor Corporation starts public road trial of its new safety vehicle Mazda ASV-4

Famous Japanese car maker, Mazda Motor Corporation (TYO:7261) has started road trials of its newly developed safety vehicle, Mazda ASV-4. The new safety system used in this car uses vehicle-to-vehicle communication to alert drivers at blind intersection or on twisting roads where visibility is low.

The company is hopeful that the new safety system will reduce or enable drivers to avoid serious road accidents. The company has already started testing of its two-vehicle blind collision avoidance system. Road trials of the right-turn and rear-end collision avoidance systems is going to start later this year. Courier Mail.com.au reports:

The trials, now into their fourth phase, are based on the Japanese Government's Advanced Safety Vehicle promotion plan, a program which has been designed to promote the development, practical application and wider use of ASV technologies to reduce the number of traffic accidents.

The ASV project was launched by the Japanese Government in 1991 as part of a drive to make the nation's roads safer, an initiative which was then expanded to include all domestic motor vehicles.

Test results from phase one to phase three has been very successful. The major safety technologies developed by Mazda includes a rear vehicle monitoring system that can detect vehicles approaching from behind at high speed. Pre-crash safety system uses milliwave radar to monitor the presence of oncoming obstacles and alerts the driver and automatically applies the brakes.

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Japan automobile sales rise in April: Toyota and Nissan take the lead

An extra selling day and a temporary tax break boosted the car sales in Japan for the month of April. Nissan Motor Company saw a rise in the sale of its mid-size passenger cars. Its redesigned X-Trail was the champion. Toyota Motor Corporation’s Crown Sedan was at the top of the sales chart. Hiroshima based Mazda Motor Corporation experienced a 5.9% rise selling 12,626 vehicles. Bloomberg reports:

Sales of cars, trucks and buses rose 6.9 percent to 232,993 vehicles from a year earlier, the Japan Automobile Dealers Association said in a statement today. The total excludes minicars.

Redesigned models including Nissan's X-Trail sport-utility vehicle and Toyota Motor Corp.'s Crown sedan helped boost sales of mid-sized and large cars by 21 percent. Some consumers also took advantage of lower taxes as the rate on cars fell to 3 percent from 5 percent for the month after the government failed to agree on a tax package.

``Some car buyers waited until the beginning of April or rushed in by the end of the month to take advantage of the lower rate,'' said Takeshi Fushimi, director of the dealers' association, who also cited the extra selling day as a major factor for the bump in passenger car sales.

Unfortunately, the month was not good for the mini car makers. For the last four years, car sales has been declining in Japan. According to Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association, the sales will drop by 1.2% in 2008. Last month, the country observed a massive price rise due to rising prices of oil and food. The worst time was last year when the vehicle sales was the lowest in Japan in the last 35 years due to higher prices and stagnant wages.

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Bloomberg