Nissan LEAF to lead the charge with noisemaker tech in Australia; Toyota says no for now

Toyota has released a video detailing its latest Vehicle Proximity Notification System (VPNS) – a system designed to improve the safety of pedestrians and other road users around near-silent hybrid and electric vehicles by emitting audible warnings – but don’t expect our Prius to get the technology any time soon.

VPNS broadcasts a range of low- and high-pitched noises when travelling below 15mph (24km/h). The pitch of the tone increases and decreases depending on the vehicle’s speed (a function called ‘pitch-shifting’).

Toyota engineers in the US say the system will improve road safety for cyclists, or pedestrians who may be distracted by mobile phones, and insists it will be especially important to the independence of blind pedestrians who rely on audible warnings from vehicles.

Toyota describes the sound as “automotive in nature, but still futuristic to match the advanced powertrain of our hybrid vehicle”, and says it has been developed to remain effective around other ambient noises and parked cars.

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Nissan plans to increase local content use

PT Nissan Motor Indonesia (NMI) look ahead to the local contents of its cars assembled in Indonesia to reach 80% next year in line with the company`s plan to produce low-cost green cars (LCGC) in the country.

"This is part of efforts to achieve our short-term target in 2013," NMI President Director Takayuki Kimura said here on Saturday.

He said the increase in the local contents was also aimed at expanding the scope of Nissan products to up to 80 percent in 2014.

For its part, NMI held a meeting with supplies in Jakarta recently. The meeting was the starting point to support the company`s plan and commitment to realize the LCGC project, he said.

He said around 500 suppliers from Indonesia and other Asian countries who took part in the meeting appeared to be enthusiastic.

"The two-day meeting was aimed at exploring the possibility of cooperation between suppliers and Nissan," he said.

Now that Nissan was growing rapidly in Indonesia, it was important for NMI and suppliers to have similar understanding about the country`s business prospects. Likewise the suppliers were also expected to understand what Nissan had achieved so far, he said..

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Nissan to unveil their new sedan on 3rd August

Nissan India will unveil its new sedan, which is based on the same V-platform as the Micra on the 3rd of August.

Nissan had launched the Micra petrol in mid-2010 and launched the diesel version of the Micra by the end of 2010.

The new sedan is known as Sunny in the Chinese market. This new sedan will come with 1.6-litre petrol and 1.5-litre diesel engine options.

Watch this space for more updates on the new Nissan sedan.

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