Short torque

RV camping grounds plan to boost tourism

The National Tourism Administration and several ministries announced plans to invest 35 billion yuan ($5.3 billion) to build about 500 new recreational vehicle camping grounds this year.

The government is betting big on caravans and campers as the future of tourism. With China's per capita income rising, great potential has been identified in recreational vehicle tourism.

Road trippers made 2.3 billion trips last year and the number is expected to double by 2020. China, however, currently has fewer than 500 regular camping grounds, while the US has more than 16,000.

The globe's largest passenger car market has fewer than 30,000 recreational vehicles, contributing only 1 percent of the world's total.

Wave of new recalls over Takata airbags

Changan Mazda and Toyota announced a series of recalls over faulty Takata airbags involving 74,310 Mazda 2, 7,482 Lexus CT200h and 1,042 Toyota Prius models.

There are fears that the Mazda 2's front passenger airbag inflator may blow out metal shards and injure passengers.

The Lexus and Toyota models could potentially have the same problem if the car is exposed to the sun over a long period of time.

Toyota China and FAW Toyota started the recall after Toyota Motor Corp announced the worldwide recall of 1.43 million vehicles over faulty airbags on June 29, affecting Prius and Lexus models from 2008 to 2012.

A total of 4,458 units of Prius were also recalled due to fuel leakage concerns.

Passenger vehicle sales up in first half of year

Sales of China's passenger vehicles expanded rapidly in the first half of this year, as rising demand for sport utility vehicles and new-energy vehicles increased the nation's lead as the world's biggest auto market.

Retail sales of cars, SUVs and multipurpose vehicles climbed 9.5 percent to 10.8 million units in the first six months, according to the China Passenger Car Association.

Demand for SUVs has been rising as increasingly affluent Chinese buyers opt for more spacious vehicles, a trend that may continue with the scrapping of the country's decades-old one-child policy. The reduction in the purchase tax on vehicles with engines smaller than 1.6 liters in October also provided a tailwind for sales of compact and mid-sized SUVs.

Honda Motor Co, Toyota Motor Corp and Daimler AG's Mercedes-Benz increased their market share as growth in industry-wide deliveries outpaced last year's 8.4 percent gain.

Deliveries increased 18 percent to 542,527 for Honda, while Toyota's rose 16 percent to 592,100 units in the first half. Mercedes-Benz sales surged 32 percent to 229,137.

German carmakers raided in probe

Volkswagen AG, BMW AG, Daimler AG and Robert Bosch GmbH were among six companies raided by Germany's antitrust regulator in June in a probe of steel purchasing by the auto industry.

There are indications that antitrust rules may have been violated, and the raids were conducted to investigate the facts, Kay Weidner, spokesman for the Federal Cartel Office, said in an emailed statement on Tuesday. He declined to identify any companies.

BMW, VW, Daimler, Bosch and ZF Friedrichshafen AG confirmed that they were raided and said they are supporting the investigations.

Carmakers are one of the major pillars of the German economy, and steel is a key component for auto companies. On average, about 900 kilograms (1,984 pounds) of steel is used in every car, according to the World Steel Association.

Germany's antitrust office, like the European Commission, has the power to levy fines of up to 10 percent of annual sales, though penalties seldom approach that level.

Motoring - Bloomberg

(China Daily 07/11/2016 page19)