SHANGHAI, April 19 (Reuters) – Electric and “new-energy”
vehicles took the spotlight at China’s Shanghai Auto Show on
Tuesday with Honda Motor Co and one of its Chinese
partners joining the ranks of other car makers announcing new
models of energy efficient cars.

While car makers are bullish about the future of the “green”
vehicles in the world’s largest auto market, questions remain
over China’s use of coal to generate the majority of its
electricity, consumer perceptions about the safety and
convenience of electric cars and not least, the Chinese
government’s plans and policies for the electric-hybrid
industry.

SHANGHAI, April 18 (Reuters) – Chongqing Changan Automobile
Co Ltd , which has a three-way partnership with Ford
Motor Co and Mazda Motor Corp in China, said on
Monday that the joint venture is considering rolling out its own
brand.

The comment from Changan Auto’s general manager, Zhang
Baolin, comes as more Chinese automakers develop their own
brands with help from their foreign partners after selling and
making cars under the more well-known foreign badges in joint
ventures that are legally required by Beijing.

TOKYO, April 15 (Reuters) – Toyota Motor Corp said
it will build cars at half the rate of its original plans in
Japan at least until June 3 in a move estimated to cost the
world’s biggest automaker another 120,000 vehicles in lost
production.

Japanese automakers have been hammered by a shortage of
hundreds of components after factories in the northeast of the
country were damaged by a magnitude-9.0 earthquake on March 11.

TOKYO, April 8 (Reuters) – Japan’s top automakers plan to
resume production at all domestic factories in stages starting
on Monday, but output levels will be at half of original plans
and at the mercy of parts availability, while fresh power
outages further clouded the outlook.

A historic 9.0-magnitude earthquake on March 11 off Japan’s
northeastern coast damaged equipment, cut off electricity and
disrupted automakers’ complex supply chain over the past month,
forcing them to suspend work at most factories.

TOKYO, April 8 (Reuters) – Japan’s top automakers plan to
resume production at all domestic factories in stages starting
on Monday, but output levels will be at half of original plans
and at the mercy of parts availability, while fresh power
outages further clouded the outlook.

A historic 9.0-magnitude earthquake on March 11 off Japan’s
northeastern coast damaged equipment, cut off electricity and
disrupted automakers’ complex supply chain over the past month,
forcing them to suspend work at most factories.

TOKYO, April 6 (Reuters) – Toyota Motor Corp will
begin making two more car models on April 11, taking another
small step towards normalising operations after a massive
earthquake in Japan disrupted its supply chain and forced most
of its factories to halt work.

But the world’s largest automaker denied a report that most
of its idled domestic factories would restart next week and has
also warned that supply disruptions were likely to interrupt
vehicle assembly at one or more of its North American factories
at some point. [ID:nN05120553] .

TOKYO (Reuters) – Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said on Wednesday it would not restart production at most of its idled Japanese vehicle assembly factories next week, denying a Nikkei newspaper report.

The world’s biggest automaker has halted vehicle assembly at all but two of the 18 group-wide factories in Japan that build Toyota and Lexus cars since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami disrupted supply of components to automakers inside and outside Japan.

TOYOTA CITY, Japan (Reuters) – For Fumihiro Shimizu and his family-owned auto parts plant in this company town, being a second-tier supplier for Japan’s top car makers has never been easy.

Even in the boom years, margins were squeezed as Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T: Quote, Profile, Research) and others extracted maximum value from suppliers to fight off competition from overseas rivals and keep prices down.

TOYOTA CITY, Japan (Reuters) – For Fumihiro Shimizu and his family-owned auto parts plant in this company town, being a second-tier supplier for Japan’s top car makers has never been easy.

Even in the boom years, margins were squeezed as Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and others extracted maximum value from suppliers to fight off competition from overseas rivals and keep prices down.

TOYOTA CITY, Japan (Reuters) – Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) President Akio Toyoda said on Friday that the devastating earthquake and tsunami in northeast Japan would hurt the company’s earnings, but said that was not on his list of priorities.

“We’re not thinking about numbers right now,” Toyoda said the company’s headquarters in Toyota City, adding he could not estimate the scope of the impact.