Japanese automakers are accelerating moves to equip their new models with technologies emerging from their efforts to develop fully self-driving vehicles.
Driving automation has six levels from zero to 5. The government seeks to put Level 4 mobility services into practical use by around 2025. Level 4 vehicles automatically perform all driving tasks under specific circumstances.
Japanese automakers are stepping up efforts to develop software for self-driving vehicles. Many are establishing offices in Tokyo, away from production plants, to attract the IT specialists needed for autonomous vehicles.
Subaru opened an office in Shibuya in central Tokyo this month. It will specialize in the development of artificial intelligence for their cars.
After spending the summer convincing consumers to take socially distanced breaks from grim reality, advertisers are now returning to the pandemic as the central focus in holiday shopping campaigns launching this month.
U.S. companies from carmakers to retailers are under pressure to make the shopping season a success after retail sales crashed 21% earlier this year as millions of Americans lost jobs and cut their budgets. They face the challenge of convincing consumers to open their wallets for the holidays even as the coronavirus pandemic rages anew across the United States and Europe.
Japanese automakers are moving beyond the plant shutdowns stemming from the coronavirus. They've brought most of their overseas facilities back online as they gear up for recovering demand.
The companies have been gradually reopening their plants mainly in Europe and the US since May.
TOKYO — Mitsubishi will focus on cutting fixed costs by 20% or more in the next two years after reporting an 89% drop in annual profit, its weakest performance in three years, and skipping its year-end dividend.
The coronavirus crisis has exacerbated Mitsubishi's struggles in a year where Japan's sixth biggest carmaker was already battling falling sales in China and also southeast Asia, its largest market which accounts for one-quarter of sales.
TOKYO — Toyota Motor Corp said on Tuesday it expects profit to drop by 80% to its lowest in nine years, as Japan's biggest automaker grapples with the impact of the novel coronavirus which has sapped global demand for vehicles.
Honda Motor Co on Tuesday posted its lowest operating profit in four years and refrained from releasing an earnings outlook for the current year because of uncertainty about the longer-term impact of the coronavirus on global car demand.
Global output by eight Japanese auto makers was down more than 20 percent in March as they shut down plants amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The Japanese manufacturers produced more than 1,863,000 vehicles last month, down 26 percent from a year earlier.
DETROIT — The threat from the coronavirus crisis closed in on the global auto industry on Thursday, as Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV warned that a European plant could shut down within two to four weeks if Chinese parts suppliers cannot get back to work.