Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL) announced plans to assist the non-profit organization South Africa Primary Education Support Initiative with the ocean transport of mobile library vehicles to the republic of South Africa. Such assistance was provided in 2009 and 2010, so the current project is the third for MOL.

The shipping company previously transported 24 vehicles, and in this phase, it will transport eight vehicles. Four of them are being transported by MOL’s cutting-edge hybridcar carrier, the Emerrald Ace.

The mobile libraries that played an important role in local communities in Japan will soon gain new lives in visting elementary and junior high schools in South Africa and contributing to the education of both students and teachers

The ‘Big Three’ U.S. automakers will not participate in the Tokyo Motor Show in november, Japanese auto industry officials said on April 9, amid growing complaints that the “closed?” Japanese market is holding back of U.S. cars.

General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler Group LLC do not plan to take part in the biennial event at which they used to be regular exhibitors. They will be skipping the 43rd Toyo Motor Show for the third consecutive time since 2009, when GM and Chrysler went bankrupt.

The Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association, which hosts the show, had not received applications from the three automakers by the deadline at the end of February.

Meanwhile, major European automakers including Volkswagen AG and Audi AG plan to exhibit at the event.

In Japan, imported cars accounted for 7.6 percent of new car sales excluding minivehicles and those made abroad by Japanese automakers in fiscal year ended March, hitting a record high.

Among imported cars in japan, European automakers dominated the top 20 best-selling list, while the three major U.S. automakers lagged far behind.

On March 27, Mitsubishi Motors Corp. said a battery in a plug-in hybrid outlander SUV heated up and melted. No one was injured.

Separately, the company said a battery for i-MiEV electric cars caught fire at a car assembly line, but that no one was injured.

Mitsubishi Motors said the problems with the lithium-ion battery occurred during production, and may be related to a change in production methods in last December.

The company spokesperson said that it was investingating the cause and has not issued any recalls related to the problem

Mitsubishi has received orders for 7,500 Outlander vehicles and delivered 4,000, all in Japan.

Both batteries were made by GS Yuasa, the supplier for Boeing Co. 787 jets, which has also had battery overheating problems.

Japan and the European Union agreed to start negotiation for a free-trade pact encompassing that account for nearly a third of the world economy.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, European Council President Herman Van Rompuy and European Commion president Jose Manuel Barroso soke by telephone for 30 minutes late March 25.

The leaders agreed to launch the negotiations toward a “deep and comprehensive” free-trade deal.

Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association Chairman Akio Toyoda said in a statement that the group welcomes the agreement by Japan and EU. “JAMA endorses and fully supports all the efforts necessary by the Japanese government to reach an early conclusion of the negotiations.”

Mitsubishi Motors Corp. said it has signed a Memorandum of Undrstanding (MOU) concerning the after-sales servcie business in the Republic of the Union of Myanmar. The announcement was released jointly with Mitsubishi Corp., Yoma Strategic Holdings Ltd. and First Investment Co.

Since the recent deregulation of automobile importation in Myanmar, a number of Mitsubishi Motors vehicles have been distributed through the used car market there. As the carmaker does not have any official after sales service network in that country, It has been a priority to establish this as soon as opssible, it said.

Use vehicle exports using container ships totaled 387,865 units in 2012, up 15.6 percent from the previous year. The exported volume by container ships accounted for 38.6 percent of total exports, 0.5 percentage points smaller than previous year.

The rate of exports by container ship declined in 2012 due to increased exports to such destinations as Russia and Myanmar, to which most vehicles are shipeed by RoRo vessels, or car carriers.

The number of vehicles shipped by container vessels in 2012 increased from previous year’s 355,550 units to 387,865 units.

United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.) was the biggest importer of used vehicles by container ships. From Japanese ports, 73,250 units were maritime transported to that nation by container ship exports stood at 83.4 percent.

Pakistan (62,230 units of total 64,644 units) and South Africa (5,710 units of total 59,789 units) came second and third, respectively, in terms of container ship exports.

Exported vehicles by container ships to these three countries took 30,5 percent of total exports by container from Japan.

New automobile sales (over-1,000cc vehicles and minivehicles) in January fell 7.8 percent from a year earlier to 383,499 units.

Of the Janaury total, sales of over-1,000cc engine vehicles, or Torokusha, dropped 12.9 percent from a year earlier to 229,333 units, marking the fifth straight month of year-on-year decline. On the other hand, sales of under-660cc engine minivehicles, or Kei-Jidosha, increased 1.0 percent to 154,166 units, showing the 1st rise in 2months.

Only three carmakers posted year-on-year increases.  They were Nissan, up 6.5 percent, Suzuki, up 2.3 percent, and Mazda, up 1.7 percent.

Sales of Toyota vehicles, including Lexus brand cars, declined 15.1 on the year, while those of Honda cars fell 13.1 percnet.

By brand, Toyota Aqua hybrid car was the best-selling car in January for the fourth straight month. Sales totaled 22,466 units, up 66.6 percent from the previous year.

Honda’s N Box 660cc engine minivehicle came second with sales of 20,552 units, followed by Toyota’s Prius hybrid with sales of 17,733 units.

Sales of Nissan Note, which was renewed in September 2012, totaled 14,529 units, ranked fifth.

Sales of Honda Fit sharply declined 58.8 percent to 8,834 units.

Toyota Motor Corp. will start this April selling an electricity management system that uses recycled nickel-metal hybride batteries from hybrid vehicles to Toyota vehicle dealers in Japan. Through such means, the carmakers is aiming for the more effective use of resources used in batteries. The systems will be sold via Toyota’s energy business company, Toyota Turbine and Systems Inc.

The energy management system will be sold in combination with Building Energy Management Systems, solar carports, solar power generation, LED lighting, energy-saving air conditioning and other such items.

The electricity storage capacity of the energy management system (weight:980kg, Size: 1,900mm high, 1,140mm wide and 1,280mm deep) is 10kWh. Recycled batteries used in a single system unit will be made from 10 end-of life Prius cars.

The fixed electricity storage system has been undergoing verification tests conducted at the Nagoya Toyopet dealership and other locations since February 2012.

It was confirmed that the amount and cost of electricity and gas used for a single dealership can be decreased by half compared to dealerships without the system.

Unit price of the storage system alone is expected to be around 3 million yen.

The company also plans to sell the system to businesses other than Toyota.