Karsan V Could Be The Taxi of Tomorrow

Turkey could be one of the provider of New York's icon, the yellow cab.

It's a long way from the streets of New York to the factories of Turkey, but this 5,000-mile journey could soon be made by all of the city's iconic yellow taxis.

A glass-roofed, eco-friendly vehicle designed by Turkish automaker Karsan is among the three finalists in New York City's search for a taxicab for the future.

New York launched the "Taxi of Tomorrow" competition to find a safe, energy efficient and accessible model. The winning design will be the exclusive New York City taxi for at least 10 years, according to city officials.

Karsan's V1 is the only model that was designed from scratch for the contest.
A reflection of the country's growing automotive ambitions, it would be Turkey's first high-profile branded vehicle if it wins.

So far all the cars Turkey makes are built under license for major manufacturers. Karsan, while not exactly a household name outside its homeland, makes vehicles for Hyundai, Peugeot, Citroen and Renault.

"Having a vehicle designed and built in Turkey being used as a New York taxi would be a very strong branding opportunity for the Turkish automotive industry," said Jan Nahum, executive director of Karsan.

"It's an incredible source of pride and passion for us," he said of being named a finalist. "New York is probably the most popular and visible city in the world, and its iconic yellow taxis are seen in almost every picture."

The Karsan V1 would be wheelchair accessible, spacious enough to hold five passengers and a stroller, and have a glass roof to give passengers a view of New York's skyscrapers.

It could hold a gasoline, compressed natural gas or electric engine, depending on which technology is the greenest at any time.

Nahum said his ambition is to build taxis for other major world cities.

"We believe in the next 10 to 15 years, other cities will follow New York's lead in looking for a dedicated taxi responding to the needs of the city," he said.

The winner of the "Taxi of Tomorrow" contest will be the first ever custom-built New York taxi. There are 16 different vehicles from nine manufacturers in the current fleet of 13,000 licensed taxicabs.

There have been many efforts to design futuristic taxicabs over the years, but "this project marks the first time ever -- anywhere -- that such an exercise will be backed up by an automotive manufacturer that can turn these concepts into tangible reality," New York Taxi and Limousine Commissioner David Yassky said in a statement when the finalists were announced last month.

The winning proposal will be announced early next year and the first new vehicles are expected to be on the road in 2014.

The V1 isn't the only contender in the race to have a Turkey connection. Another finalist, Ford's Transit Connect, will be built in Turkey and adapted in the United States if it wins. Also in the running is a taxi design based on a Nissan van.

Turkey's prime role in the race to produce a new taxi might come as a surprise to New Yorkers, but the country is quietly becoming an automotive powerhouse. It's the 15th largest vehicle producer in the world, according to Invest in Turkey, producing around 900,000 vehicles a year.

According to Nahum, the industry is planning to increase its output to 2.5 million vehicles annually within the next three or four years.

As well as home-grown companies like Karsan, many international companies, such as Fiat, Ford and Renault, have established a presence in the country, often with local partners.

Renault announced last year that it would begin production on the electric version of its Fluence car in Bursa, the so-called "Detroit of Turkey," in 2011.

"The Turkish automotive industry has grown a lot in the last 10 years because manufacturers in Western Europe have seen it as a low-cost place to make cars and ship them to the European Union," said David Leggett, an automotive industry analyst at just-auto.

Fiat, Ford, Renault and many others have got together with local partners and made a lot of vehicles, mainly for export.

"There's also a lot of demand coming from Turkey's domestic market, because the economy has boomed," he told CNN.

via CNN

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Nissan recalls Frontier and Xterra vehicles

Nissan Motor Co Ltd is recalling nearly 600,000 Frontier pickup trucks and Xterra sport-utility vehicles because of risks the steering shaft could crack due to corrosion.

No accidents have been associated with these risks, Nissan said in a press release on Thursday. About 85 percent of all the Frontier and Xterra vehicles recalled are in the United States.

Nissan said it found that the lower steering column joint can corrode, putting limits on its movement. In extreme cases, this can lead to the cracking of the steering shaft.

The automaker received three reports of this problem in Canada and six in Brazil.

The joint and shaft will be replaced on about 303,000 Nissan Frontier trucks and 283,000 Xterra SUVs, Nissan said.

The affected cars were manufactured at Nissan's plant in Smyrna, Tennessee, between July 2001 and January 2005 and at its Curitiba, Brazil, plant from November 2001 to June 2008.

Additionally, the automaker is recalling about 18,500 Sentra sedans due to a faulty battery connection that could make starting the cars difficult and cause stalling at low speeds.

The Sentra cars were manufactured at the Aguascalientes, Mexico, plant between May 22 and July 8.

Avalon recalled by Toyota

Does Toyota has a Recall Division? Maybe. Seems like Toyota is busy producing the latest model of hybrid cars and recalling the previous models.

Reuters reported that Toyota Motor Corp will repair about 1.53 million Avalon and other vehicles globally for problems with the brake master cylinder seal and fuel pump wiring, with most of those to be recalled in the United States and Japan.

The announcement comes less than two months after a recall of 1.3 million Corolla and Matrix cars in the United States and Canada carrying defective engine control modules that could cause the vehicles to stall.

Toyota, the world's biggest automaker, has already recalled more than 10 million vehicles in the past year, mostly for unintended acceleration, denting its reputation for quality and attracting intense scrutiny from U.S. safety regulators.

Toyota said in a filing with Japan's transport ministry on Thursday that about 600,000 vehicles spanning 11 models including the high-end Crown sedan and Lexus IS and GS models were subject to the recalls, either for the faulty cylinder seal, the fuel pump wiring or both.

Toyota's U.S. sales unit said separately it would recall 740,000 Avalon, Highlander, Lexus GS300, IS250 and IS350 cars to replace a brake master cylinder seal because there was a possibility that some brake fluid could leak from the cylinder, causing the brake warning lamp to light up.

Toyota will decide whether to file an official recall in other markets in line with safety regulations in each market, said Tokyo-based spokesman Paul Nolasco. The cars subject to the repairs are sold worldwide, including in Europe, China, South America, Africa and Oceania.

No accidents were reported from the two defects, Nolasco said. He said Toyota does not disclose estimates for recall costs, and had no comment on whether the repairs would have any impact on its earnings.

Toyota's shares ended up 0.4 percent at 2,900 yen in Tokyo after the news, outperforming other Japanese automakers' shares and the broader market.

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Chrysler recall 600,000 vehicles

Doors that could catch fire, brakes that could fail and accelerators that could stick have caused Chrysler Group LLC to recall nearly 600,000 vehicles involving five models in the United States, U.S. safety regulators said on Monday.

Chrysler informed the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration of the potential safety issues last week, the NHTSA reports show.

As many as 284,831 Chrysler Town and Country minivans and Dodge Grand Caravan minivans for model years 2008 and 2009 could develop a problem in the electrical system that could cause a short circuit in the latch for the sliding door, which could cause a fire, Chrysler told regulators.

As many as 288,968 Chrysler Jeep Wranglers from model year 2007 to 2010 could experience leaking brake fluid which could cause brake failure.

These two recalls are in addition to one first reported last Friday for as many as 25,336 Dodge Caliber and Jeep Compass vehicles for the 2007 model year involving possible sticky accelerator pedals.

Owners of the models involved in each of the recalls are to be notified by Chrysler this month and Chrysler said it will fix the vehicles without charge.

Chrysler, based in Auburn Hills, Michigan, is managed by Fiat SpA.

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Mazda 3 (Axela) recalled

Mazda recalled nearly 90,000 vehicles in Japan and China because of a problem with the transmission, a company spokesman said Thursday.

The recall was for about 35,000 of a passenger car called the Axela in Japan, the spokesman said. The company also recalled about 55,000 of the same model in China that is called the Mazda 3 there.

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