Next stop... Cadillac masuk Indonesia ?

GM Exporting Caddy to South Africa

General Motors Corp. will begin exporting Cadillacs to South Africa in the fourth quarter, along with a small number of Cadillac models to Australia in late 2007. The vehicles exported to South Africa will hail from the GM assembly plant in Lansing, Mich., and will be outfitted with right-hand drive to comply with South African regulations.

Jim Taylor, Cadillac general manager, said the push comes as part of Cadillac's continuing effort to build up its sales in markets in Europe, Asia, and elsewhere in the world. The effort will require patience, he said. Nevertheless, Cadillac sales in China, where GM started selling its luxury brand in 2005, have more than doubled this year. Taylor added Cadillac sales in Russia also have picked up significantly this year.

Taylor said GM is making a concerted effort to re-establish Cadillac as a global brand. European luxury brands are now all over the world and Japanese luxury brands, such as Lexus and Infiniti, also have been expanding into new markets. Cadillac's expansion into South Africa is being helped by GM's decision to build a South African assembly plant for right-hand versions of the HUMMER H3, he said. New Cadillac dealerships in South Africa have showrooms for selling HUMMERs as part of GM's strategy to sell both Cadillacs and HUMMERs in the same dealerships outside of North America, Taylor said.

Joe Szczesny (the carconnection.com)

Chevy launches 2007 Aveo sedan in the US (Kalos in Indonesia)

During a webcast that will begin shortly, Chevy GM Ed Peper will officially launch the new 2007 Chevy Aveo sedan for the US market. (The car's page is already up at the Chevy website, if you're interested in checking out the specs in detail.)

The new Aveo gets a dose of panache with a restyle that bestows some chunky good looks on Chevy's low-priced econocruiser. The beefy nose, with it's raised, V-shaped center section is very evocative of the VW/Audi look out there today -- this is not a bad thing at all. The lower fascia gives the car a mildly aggressive appearance, with nicely integrated foglights available as an option.

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Getting Juicy with Fallon and Senn

The Fallon Worldwide ad agency founders talk about their new book, Juicing the Orange, and how to jump-start creativity
Juicing the Orange is all about advertising strategies. But they seem like strategies that execs could apply to any number of business problems.
Fallon: When Fred and I started this project, we didn't want it to just be relevant for the ad community. The goal was to present ways to attack ideas and think about creativity.

We were in Seattle recently and gave readings at both Microsoft (MSFT) and Starbucks (SBUX). We were surprised pleasantly when people came up to us from their HR and production departments and said: "we can apply your principles to our disciplines right now."

The full article...

Suzuki Plots Expansion

Suzuki Motor Corp. is planning to build a new $500 million factory in Japan and expand production in places such as Hungary and India to cash in on the rising demand for fuel-efficient, small cars created by soaring global gasoline prices.

"Strong sales of Swift, SX4 and Grand Vitara in Europe, North America, Latin America, Oceania, etc. has caused significant backorders, and thus constant request for increasing production from all over the world,'' Suzuki said in statement announcing the plans.

The company also said it expects sales to top 3 trillion yen or about $26.1 billion in the coming fiscal year.

The new plant, the first the company has built in Japan in 25 years, is expected to start operations in late 2008 with a capacity of about 240,000 vehicles a year. The project will boost Suzuki's production capacity to about 3 million units annually. Demand for small cars is being fueled not only by high gasoline prices but also by Suzuki's broadened alliance with Nissan Motor Co. Suzuki supplies Nissan with minicars with engines of less than one liter, which are popular in Japan because they get tax breaks.

Suzuki also said it is planning to increase production in Hungary, India and Pakistan. Output at the Hungary plant will rise to 300,000 units a year by 2008, from 160,000 now, while production in India is seen climbing to 960,000 vehicles by 2009, from 630,000. In Pakistan, Suzuki plans to raise output to 170,000 units by 2009, from 110,000 now.

Joe Szczesny (www.thecarconnection.com)

GM : Latest Models

Most Satisfying Cars 2006

Vehicles Feature Forbes, Dan Lienert, 08.08.06, 12:01 AM ET

Mini Cooper drivers like to name their cars. If a buyer enters his or her car's name in the "Owners' Lounge" section of Mini's Web site, both owner and car will be addressed by name when they come into the dealership--but that's not the cause of the naming craze. "Customers treat their Minis like their pets,"

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Robert Manurung : Jatropha Curcas oil as biodiesel

Robert Manurung: Inventor of renewable green fuel

T. Sima Gunawan, Contributor, Jakarta

There is good news and bad news about research development in Indonesia. First, the bad news is that Indonesia often lags behind other countries. And now, the good news: An Indonesian researcher has applied pure jatropha oil as an alternative bio-diesel fuel.

The oil, which is produced from castor oil plants or Jatropha curcas, locally known as jarak pagar, is environmentally friendly and cheaper than fossil fuel, thanks to the hard work of Robert Manurung and his team at the Biotechnology Research Center, Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB).

Read the Story at the Jakarta Post