Japan’s Toyota Motor Corp yesterday denied a report that it is considering offering its hybrid vehicle technology to struggling US giant GM.
The Yomiuri Shimbun reported, without naming its sources, that Toyota would be ready to provide the technology if GM asks for it, even if the Detroit carmaker seeks bankruptcy protection.
But a Toyota official said the company was “not considering it.”
GM is working against a June 1 deadline to convince the US Treasury that it can achieve long-term viability or it could be forced to follow Chrysler into bankruptcy protection.
The Yomiuri said Toyota may provide GM with patented technology that is used in the Prius and some of its other vehicles to increase fuel economy by controlling the movement of the engine and the motor.
Toyota’s indirect support for GM’s reconstruction would benefit the Japanese firm as its hybrid technology would in effect become the de facto world standard, the report said.
Meanwhile, Toyota, which has expanded its US market share by more than half since 2002, was knocked from the top spot in a ranking of supplier relations in North America for the first time by Honda Motor Co.
Toyota came in second in the annual survey started in 2002 by consulting firm Planning Perspectives Inc. Among US automakers, Ford Motor Co climbed from the bottom two years ago to gain its largest lead over GM, while Chrysler ranked last for the second straight year.
The relationships matter because suppliers can help trim costs, improve performance and speed work on new models, often providing 70 percent of the content. Toyota, which has made cars in the US for more than 20 years, dropped from first place after a decade of broadening its lineup to more closely match US rivals’ and posting its first quarterly losses.
“Research we began in the early 1990s always showed Toyota as having the best relationship with its suppliers, but something seems to be changing,” said John Henke Jr, president of Planning Perspectives. “They’re looking a little more like US automakers.”
Super Typhoon Kong-rey is the largest cyclone to impact Taiwan in 27 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. Kong-rey’s radius of maximum wind (RMW) — the distance between the center of a cyclone and its band of strongest winds — has expanded to 320km, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. The last time a typhoon of comparable strength with an RMW larger than 300km made landfall in Taiwan was Typhoon Herb in 1996, he said. Herb made landfall between Keelung and Suao (蘇澳) in Yilan County with an RMW of 350km, Chang said. The weather station in Alishan (阿里山) recorded 1.09m of
STORM’S PATH: Kong-Rey could be the first typhoon to make landfall in Taiwan in November since Gilda in 1967. Taitung-Green Island ferry services have been halted Tropical Storm Kong-rey is forecast to strengthen into a typhoon early today and could make landfall in Taitung County between late Thursday and early Friday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, Kong-Rey was 1,030km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), the nation’s southernmost point, and was moving west at 7kph. The tropical storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 101kph, with gusts of up to 126 kph, CWA data showed. After landing in Taitung, the eye of the storm is forecast to move into the Taiwan Strait through central Taiwan on Friday morning, the agency said. With the storm moving
NO WORK, CLASS: President William Lai urged people in the eastern, southern and northern parts of the country to be on alert, with Typhoon Kong-rey approaching Typhoon Kong-rey is expected to make landfall on Taiwan’s east coast today, with work and classes canceled nationwide. Packing gusts of nearly 300kph, the storm yesterday intensified into a typhoon and was expected to gain even more strength before hitting Taitung County, the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. The storm is forecast to cross Taiwan’s south, enter the Taiwan Strait and head toward China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The CWA labeled the storm a “strong typhoon,” the most powerful on its scale. Up to 1.2m of rainfall was expected in mountainous areas of eastern Taiwan and destructive winds are likely
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday at 5:30pm issued a sea warning for Typhoon Kong-rey as the storm drew closer to the east coast. As of 8pm yesterday, the storm was 670km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and traveling northwest at 12kph to 16kph. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 162kph and gusts of up to 198kph, the CWA said. A land warning might be issued this morning for the storm, which is expected to have the strongest impact on Taiwan from tonight to early Friday morning, the agency said. Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and Green Island (綠島) canceled classes and work
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