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By May Wong, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 13 August 2009 1918 hrs SINGAPORE : SBS Transit is investing S$159 million to buy 350 new buses. This brings the company's total investment in new buses over the last three years to S$586 million. The new buses are expected to roll out next year. They are from two Swedish bus manufacturers - Scania and Volvo. The Scania order involving 200 single-deck Euro V buses is worth an estimated S$72 million, while the Volvo order of 150 double-deck Euro V buses is worth about S$87 million. The latest order for the new single and double-deck buses will significantly lower the average age of SBS Transit's bus fleet to slightly over 8 years from about 11 years now. With the new buses, that means one in two SBS Transit buses on the road will be new. In total, SBS Transit will have 1,450 new buses in its fleet. SBS Transit is Singapore's largest public scheduled bus operator, with close to 3,000 buses, 97 per cent of which are air-conditioned. Of these, 1,970 are single-deck buses, while the remaining are double-deckers. SBS Transit currently operates over 250 bus services and carries some 2.2 million passenger trips a day. - CNA /ls http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/sin.../448656/1/.html

A Parallel importer has invested $2 million to specialise in higher-end Japanese models - especially petrol-electric hybrid vehicles - and opened for business at the former Opel showroom in the Ubi motor belt. Hybrid Motors at 5 Ubi Close has taken up half of the Auto Eurokars showroom, as well as workshop space at the back for its after-sales and PDI (pre-delivery inspection) services. Also significant is the fact that this is the first time a parallel importer has moved into a stretch of road which has been the sole domain of authorised distributors. 'We will be concentrating on hybrid cars, and luxury MPV and SUV models,' says Eddie Lo, CEO of Hybrid Motors. He adds that the reason for his focus on hybrid technology is that he expects this to be the future trend. 'I believe hybrid cars will be a trend soon because of high oil prices,' says Mr Lo. He explains that many people are still not familiar with hybrids but that can be changed by educating them about the technology and giving them some experience with the cars. 'After that, I am sure we can turn them into potential customers. So this is a market we want to tap,' he says. Another reason for targeting hybrid vehicles is the anticipated arrival of more such models next year. 'In 2009, a lot of the big manufacturers will be entering the hybrid segment, like Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Porsche,' he says. 'There will also be additional models from Lexus and Toyota, such as the new Prius.' For now, Hybrid Motors is offering two hybrid models from Toyota - the Estima MPV and the Harrier SUV. Other conventional models include the Alphard Vellfire, Estima and Voxy MPVs from Toyota, as well as the Land Cruiser 200 and the RAV4 SUVs. The Honda Stream compact MPV is also available at Hybrid Motors. Authorised Toyota and Lexus distributor Borneo Motors Singapore already offers several hybrid models, such as the Toyota Prius, Lexus RX400h and Lexus LS600h. Another hybrid Lexus, the GS450h saloon, will also be launched by Borneo Motors by the end of this year. Mr Lo says those who are concerned with fuel economy and green motoring should consider a hybrid over cars that have been retrofitted to run on CNG or compressed natural gas. 'CNG may not be so practical because of the gas tank at the back,' he says. 'What happens if a big truck hits the car from behind? Think of the physical impact of this heavy metal object on the occupants.' Mr Lo first entered the parallel import business when he began working for Richburg Motors in Hong Kong in 1999. In 2004, the Hong Kong citizen was posted to Richburg's Singapore office as sales manager. He says that by the time he left in early 2008, he had doubled Richburg's sales of Toyota and Honda parallel imports to an average of 50 units a month. After leaving Richburg, Mr Lo returned to Hong Kong. But he was lured back by the 'many opportunities' in Singapore and decided to start Hybrid Motors earlier this month. He says he aims to sell about 15 hybrids a month, plus another 30 conventional petrol-engined models. 'With the government pushing for green cars and the integrated resorts opening next year, it will be a very good opportunity to sell more hybrid vehicles,' Mr Lo says. Any Road Tax Rebate ?

Source: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/sin.../322733/1/.html Posted: 15 January 2008 1951 hrs SINGAPORE: The Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC) may soon have a bigger stake in US-based Citigroup. GIC will pump in US$6.88 billion (S$9.8 billion) into Citigroup, which is one of the world's largest banks. This is part of Citigroup's bid to raise US$12.5 billion of capital. GIC's investment is being done through a financial instrument called convertible preferred securities. This will effectively give GIC some degree of protection if Citigroup's stock price should fall. But such a prudent investment with lower risk will also mean that GIC will see relatively lower returns.

Source: vvspy.com Facts: Volvo announced that they're waiting for a clear from Ford to start a new $5 billion development project over the next 5 years. The project includes a new model program and the Torslanda plant production is supposed to increase from 150.000 units the coming years to 230.000 units per year (the maximum theoretical output of the Torslanda plant). The cars built will be the larger models S80, V70, XC90 and XC70. 800 new jobs are planned as part of the investment (night shift at the plant is where most jobs will come). Also, the production speed is to increase from todays 50 cars/hour to 60 cars/hour. Volvo have an official policy of an 8 year life span for a platform. The current P2X platform began 1998, a replacement platform should come sometime 2006 or 2007. According to our sources MY 2007 might be the last MY for both S80 and V70. After that, a new platform will be introduced. In other words: the new project waiting for a go from Ford is the next large platform. We know that there already is a project lead for that platform (interview in last issue of Agenda) so a safe guess is that basic project plans are done already. (Possible model program and basic technology choices (RWD, FWD and stuff like that).) The investment is seperated into several parts, where on large part is plant investment. Another large part is product development.