Chinese Luxury Shoppers Outspend Japanese 2-To-1 At South Korean Malls: Wealthy Chinese Travelers In Korea Favor Cosmetics, Children’s Supplies, Ginseng And Healthcare Products, Luxury Watches – This week, more news about free-spending mainland Chinese tourists came out of South Korea. As more Chinese tourists have headed outward, most of them staying relatively close to home, the Korean media has consistently framed news about tourist behavior as a sort of rivalry between China and Japan — a phenomenon Jing Daily discussed last fall. (’Tourist Profile: Japanese vs. Chinese‘) According to Tencent (via Yonhap), after a year in which the number (and profligacy) of Chinese tourists increased at Korean luxury malls, shoppers from mainland China now account for twice as many sales per capita as Japanese tourists.
Hummer price soars in Shanghai: Although Tengzhong failed in buying Hummer, the Hummer dealers are overjoyed, taking the opportunity to raise the price. On February 25, the reporter learned from Hummer dealers in Shanghai that after hearing the acquisition of Hummer failed, dealers immediately raised the price of Hummer, among which Hummer H3X produced in 2009 rose by 20,000 yuan, and Hummer H2 is planning to rise by 100,000 yuan. (Via Business – People’s Daily Online.)
Calvin Klein To Focus On Chinese Market In 2010: American fashion brand Calvin Klein has announced plans to open 60 new chain stores in Asia in 2010, mainly targeting its expansion in the Chinese market.
According to reports from Singapore’s Channel News Asia, Calvin Klein’s current revenues from the Asian areas account for 15% of its income worldwide. (Via ChinaRetailNews.com.)
Toyota chief’s testimony closely watched in Japan: Japan appeared largely relieved Thursday that much-anticipated testimony by Toyota’s chief executive before U.S. lawmakers was finally over, though analysts said the company’s recall woes are no closer to being solved. Toyota Motor Corp. President Akio Toyoda’s appearance before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, was closely watched in Japan, where the company his grandfather founded is a national icon. It was the top item on local morning news programs. At least one channel briefly broadcast his testimony live, where it took place Wednesday in Washington. (AP) (Via News On Japan.)
Singapore Witnesses Record Number of Travelers in January: January of 2010 managed to see the highest ever recorded number of travels to Singapore for the month. Figures shared by the Singapore Tourism Board have revealed that as many as 908,000 travelers visited Singapore over the past month, which is a hike of nearly 17.5% compared to January of 2009. The top 5 markets for the month which generated visitors for Singapore were Indonesia with 173,000 visitors, China with 99,000 travelers, Australia with 90,000 travelers, 68,000 came in from Malaysia and 57,000 travelers were from India. (Via TopNews Singapore.)
50% of sneak preview tickets for Singapore’s Resorts World Sentosa casino & theme park snapped up: SINGAPORE: Fifty per cent of the sneak preview tickets to check out Singapore’s first casino and theme park were snapped up when they went on sale on Friday, despite the fact that none of the 20 rides and shows at Universal Studios will be ready. (Via Channel NewsAsia Singapore News.)
McDonald’s To Open Hamburger University In Shanghai: As a celebration of the 20th anniversary of McDonald’s entry into the Chinese market, the international fast food giant has announced plans to launch a new hamburger university in Shanghai, the company’s seventh worldwide, making the city a new human resources training base for McDonald’s in Asia Pacific.(Via ChinaRetailNews.com.)
Shanghai Watch Looks To Join Ranks Of Elite Brands: Although most of the world’s top watchmakers remain cozily ensconced within the borders of Switzerland, as with most luxury industries ‘the Chinese are coming’…in this case, to reinvent a brand better known for gracing the wrists of Mao Zedong and Zhou En’lai than Donald Trump or Warren Buffett. (Though the latter might be more open to it than we might assume.) This brand, Shanghai Watch (上海手表厂), started producing watches in the mid-1950s, amid a flurry of activity in the Shanghai wristwatch industry, and quickly established itself as the country’s top watchmaker. (Via Jing Daily :.)
Toyota president to testify before U.S. congressional panels: Toyota Motor Corp. President Akio Toyoda would testify before U.S. congressional committees on massive recalls of Toyota vehicles if he is formally asked to do so, Toyota officials said Friday. The automaker is hoping that if Toyoda appears in person at congressional hearings, it would help to revive trust in Toyota’s vehicles amid growing criticism of the automaker in the United States, they said. (Via Kyodo News (Business).)
Chinese snapping up real estate in Japan: Japan’s real estate market may be in a slump, but that is not deterring the Chinese from scooping up properties. Chinese money – that is, from ethnic Chinese living in Japan – is making its presence felt in a big way. A growing number of Chinese residents are turning to real estate investments in major cities as well as rural areas. (AsiaOne) (Via News On Japan.)
Hyundai, Kia stocks accelerate on fallout from Toyota debacle: Shares of Hyundai Motor and its affiliate Kia Motors continue to thrive despite the recent erosion of global stock markets, fueled by strong financial performance and turmoil at rival Toyota. (Via South Korea News.)
Expert: China’s space technology close to moon landing capability: After years of development, China’s space technology is close to moon landing capability, said Fu Yiqing, space expert and consultant to the Shanghai Institute of Space Propulsion (SISP). Fu, also a senior member of American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), said this during an interview with reporters from China News Service. New generations of Chinese taikonauts are studying moon landing technology. (Via China – People’s Daily Online.)
China seizes leading hacker training website: Police in central China’s Hubei Province have seized the country’s biggest hacker training website and arrested three suspects, the local public security department said. The three, who ran the Black Hawk Safety Net, were suspected of offering online hacker tools, a crime that was newly listed in China’s Criminal Law last year. Police have also frozen more than 1.7 million yuan (250,000 U.S. dollars) in assets and confiscated nine web servers, five computers and a Honda Accord. (Via China – People’s Daily Online.)
China Unicom Opens First 3G Mobile Phone Flagship Store In Beijing: Chinese telecom operator China Unicom has announced that its first flagship store under the company’s 3G brand ‘Wo’ has been opened in Beijing. Located in the southern hall of China Unicom’s headquarters building in Financial Street, the three-floor Wo flagship store covers a total area of about 800 square meters. (Via ChinaRetailNews.com.)
JAL to keep American Airlines link: Japanese media say Japan Airlines, which filed for bankruptcy last month, has decided to keep its current tie-up with American Airlines – the Oneworld Alliance. There had been widespread reports that it might defect to SkyTeam under Delta Air Lines. The carrier feared that the switch would confuse its passengers and that it could loose its antitrust immunity from US authorities because it would dominate the trans-Pacific market. (Via RTHK On Internet – Finance News.)
Coach To Open First Mainland Flagship Store In Shanghai: The American luxury accessories designer and maker Coach has announced plans to open its first Chinese mainland flagship store in Shanghai in April 2010. Located at the junction of Shanghai’s Huaihaizhong road and Songshan road, this new flagship store covers an area of 650 square meters and was designed by Coach’s construction and design team. (Via ChinaRetailNews.com.)
7 For All Mankind To Open Four New Locations In China: 7FAM will open four new stores in China this year, in Beijing, Shanghai and two other as yet undetermined cities. Denim is big business in China, and has been since the early 1980s when the first waves of post-Mao fashions swept through Chinese cities. In more recent times, premium denim makers from around the world have seen demand soar in top- (and now second-) tier cities, and brands like Miss Sixty (Italy), ONLY (Denmark), Diesel (Italy) and G-Star (Holland) have opened retail outlets and in-store boutiques throughout the country. In 2007, American premium denim maker 7 For All Mankind entered the mainland market, and since then has established locations in Beijing, Shanghai, Wuhan, Dalian, Hangzhou and Chengdu. This week, in an interview with China Daily, Vice President of VF Asia (the Asian office of American apparel monolith VF Corp, which owns 7 For All Mankind) Raffaele Germano said the company plans to open four new retail locations in China over the course of 2010, with one store each slated for Beijing and Shanghai, with the other two locations to be determined. (Via Jing Daily.)
Sony to shadow Apple store strategy in Japan: Sony this week outlined a plan to fight back against Apple by opening its own flagship retail stores. Starting with Sony Store Nagoya, the stores will imitate the multi-floor design of Apple flagships like Ginza and use large, spacious display areas divided by category. The first floor of the Nagoya store will focus on portable devices like Cyber-shot and Handycam cameras, the PSP, Sony-Ericsson phones, Walkman players and VAIO PCs; a second floor will focus on home theater equipment such as Blu-ray players and TVs. (electronista.com) (Via News On Japan.)
Toyota to suspends sales, production of 8 models with accelerator issues: In what was described as the largest such move ever by an automaker in the United States, Toyota said Tuesday that it had halted sales of eight models of its cars and trucks that account for more than half its U.S. sales until it could find a fix for sticking accelerator pedals under a safety recall. The move, which will cut production starting Monday for at least a week at seven Toyota plants in North America, comes six days after the Japanese automaker announced the recall of 2.3 million vehicles due to the accelerator problem that it first encountered in 2007. (mercurynews.com) (Via News On Japan.)
Proposal to ban dog, cat eating sparks debate over China’s culture: Researchers of a Chinese government think-tank have defended their proposals to ban the eating of dogs and cats in the face of criticism that it would destroy local traditions. A proposed anti-animal abuse regulation suggests a prohibition on cooking dogs and cats with the risk of a 5,000-yuan (732 U.S. dollars) fine or even imprisonment. (Via China – People’s Daily Online.)
Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp yesterday launched the hatchback in China to compete with Honda's Civic, Toyota's Corolla and Volkswagen's Sagitar in the competitive mid-class car segment in the country.
The MG 6 mid-class hatchback, equipped with a 1.8-liter turbo engine, will be produced by SAIC Motor Passenger Vehicle Co in a plant in the city’s Lingang.
“There will be market potential for the MG 6 if SAIC prices the car competitively,” said Ye Sheng, an auto analyst at automotive consulting firm, B. Thinking Management, in Shanghai.
The nation’s biggest car maker will also start production of the MG 6 in a plant in the United Kingdom next year as it tries to revive the 85-year history of the British icon globally. It said the MG 6, which debuted at the Shanghai auto show in April, is specifically designed for Asian and European markets.
SAIC has operated the sporty MG brand as its own since the car maker acquired smaller domestic rival Nanjing Auto at the end of 2007. SAIC now produces the MG 7, MG 3SW and MG TF sports car in China as well as the Roewe series that came from the Rover Group of the UK. – read more at ShanghaiDaily.com…
Stuck: An accelerator in a Toyota car is seen stuck to a floor mat. NHTSA/KYODO PHOTO
As a temporary step, Toyota will have dealers shorten the length of the gas pedals beginning in January while the company develops replacement pedals for their vehicles, the Transportation Department said in a statement. New pedals will be available beginning in April, and some vehicles will have brake override systems installed as a precaution.
They said owners of the ES350, Camry and Avalon would be the first to receive notification because the vehicles are believed to have the highest risk for pedal entrapment.
Toyota plans to install a brake override system on the Camry, Avalon and Lexus ES350, IS350 and IS250 models as an “extra measure of confidence,” the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said. The brake override system, commonly called a “smart brake,” will ensure the vehicle will stop even if both the brake and the accelerator pedals are applied simultaneously.
Dealers will be instructed on how to modify the pedals before the end of the year and will begin shortening the accelerators in 2010. New replacement pedals are expected to be available for some models beginning in April and will be provided even if the vehicles have already received a modified pedal under the recall. – read more at The Japan Times…
Toyota plant in Tahara, Japan (KAZUHIRO NOGI/AFP/Getty Images)
Toyota is believed to have already agreed to the planned voluntary repair of gas pedals possibly involving 4 million cars, the sources said.
The carmaker is now in the final stage of arranging the move with the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, they said.
Repair costs are estimated at tens of billions of yen, but Toyota expects it will not affect its overall business performance because the company has set aside nearly ¥500 billion in case of such an event, a senior Toyota official said. – read more at The Japan Times…
