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GM to close truck plants, launch new green vehicles
NEW YORK: General Motors said on June 3 it was
launching a new series of environmentally friendly vehicles
including an electric vehicle for the US market and closing four
truck plants.
GM, the world’s largest carmaker, said it was
undertaking a range of strategic initiatives “to aggressively
respond to growing demand for fuel-efficient vehicles and to
economic and market challenges in North America,” according to
Rick Wagoner, chairman and chief executive of the struggling auto
giant.
Wagoner made the announcements at the GM annual
meeting of stockholders in Wilmington, Delaware.
-- AFP
Toyota to build hybrids in Australia,
Thailand
TOKYO: Toyota Motor Corp. will start producing
hybrid cars in Australia and Thailand amid growing demand for the
fuel-efficient vehicles in the wake of record high oil prices, a
newspaper reported on June 7. The Japanese auto giant plans to make
the Camry Hybrid later this year in Thailand and in 2010 in
Australia by using existing production lines for its standard Camry
model there, the Nikkei business daily said.
Toyota aims to lift its production of hybrid
vehicles to 10,000 units within three to four years at each plant,
the newspaper said.
The carmaker is the pioneer of hybrids,
introducing the technology into mass production in 1997. Production
is largely in Japan, although it has also made them in the US and
China.
Toyota’s hybrid output jumped 25 percent to
430,000 units in 2007 and is expected to soar to one million units
in early 2010. Sales of eco-friendly cars have been rising not only
in Japan and the US but also in developing countries in Southeast
Asia.
-- AFP
Green cars to enjoy tax perks in Thailand
BANGKOK: Thailand will reduce taxes on
ethanol-based fuel and cars that run on it, in a bid to cut the
nation’s costly oil imports, officials said June 3. The Thai
Cabinet agreed to slash the tax on E85, an 85-percent
ethanol-blended gasoline, by 30 percent, energy minister Poonpirom
Liptapanlop told reporters.
Small cars that run on E85 will be taxed at 25
percent, down from a minimum of 30 percent, he said. Larger cars
will be taxed at a higher rate, he added.
Carmakers will receive a three-year import tax
holiday on foreign auto parts needed to produce the E85 cars here,
if the parts cannot be produced locally, said Pannee Sathavarodom,
head of fiscal policy for the Finance ministry.
“This is to respond to the government’s
policy on alternative energy, to depend less on crude oil imports
and to promote the country’s auto industry,” Pannee said.
Thailand imports most of its energy needs,
causing the kingdom’s current account deficit to soar as global
oil prices reached record highs. The government is also trying to
encourage automakers to build more green cars to diversify the local
auto industry beyond its strength in building one-ton pickups.
Thailand is the second-largest pickup market in
the world, following the US.
Last year, the kingdom announced tax breaks for
companies that produce eco-cars here. Although Thailand has no
national carmaker, foreign companies are using the kingdom as part
of their regional production base.
-- AFP
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