Vandalized Toyotas stall car-sharing program in France

TOYOTA

PARIS (Bloomberg) -- When the Socialists lost a French mayor's office to the Greens last March, the ripple effect spread as far as the Tokyo offices of the world's biggest carmaker, Toyota Motor Corp.

Toyota was preparing to start its first electric car-sharing experiment outside Japan in Grenoble, a 160,000-person city at the foot of the French Alps. The incumbent had promised to install security cameras at all 27 planned charging stations for Toyota's i-Road, a quirky three-wheeled electric scooter that the company says can slalom through curves like one of Grenoble's skiers.

New Mayor Eric Piolle, who had run on an anti-surveillance platform, refused to fulfill the previous administration's promises. After several instances of vandalism in the program's first three months slowed its introduction, there is now hardly a sign of the vehicles in the city center.

The difficult start in Grenoble illustrates some of the challenges global automakers face as they enter the electric-car market, where local support for infrastructure is key.

"When young people go out clubbing and get drunk, they can get rough," said Valentin Masso, a 25-year-old cook who moved to the city a few months ago. "These cars arouse their interest, and they want to play with them."

Several i-Roads have been vandalized since their September debut, leading Toyota to install alarms.

Police in Grenoble declined to comment.

The i-Road is Toyota's effort to pioneer a new model for electric vehicles. With few places to recharge and limited driving ranges, the traditional auto-industry approach of making cars and letting customers sort out how to use them hasn't worked well for battery-powered models. Toyota instead is asking customers to pay to use its scooters, with the system designed to mesh with public transport.

Comments

2018 Lamborghini Urus India review, test drive

On first introduction, it’s a recipe for intimidation. It’s claimed to be the fastest SUV in the world (0-100kph in 3.6sec and a top speed of 305kph puts it nearly in supercar territory), and it’s made by Lamborghini – creator of some of the most savage vehicles on the market. Things – as with any Lamborghini, for that matter – would be a lot less daunting if we were driving on a smooth European country road, a wide motorway, or even a race track. But today we’re driving the Urus on a narrow ghat road, as well as through some heavy Pune traffic. Perhaps the intention was to demonstrate that this is the first Lamborghini ever to go on sale in India that truly works in our conditions – but still, I doubt they accounted for rush hour. It’s requisitely mad to look at, employing as many ‘sporty’ design tropes to an SUV body style as possible – the only thing missing is a massive wing on the back; and somehow, it works. It’s ...

What to avoid during a car service

When it comes to getting their cars serviced at authorised outlets, owners usually go the whole hog. They want their cars coming out of service centres looking brand new, and are willing to pay for it. But do service centres take undue advantage of this? Yes, they do. Servicing may involve changing certain parts and oils after a set interval, but service centres will almost always try to plug in a few extras using technical jargon that a layman may not really understand. Certain processes are completely unnecessary, and customers end up paying extra as they are not aware of what's important and what's not. Also, most of the times, the service associate will throw you a hard sales pitch, and it's not always done with your best interests in mind. So what exactly are the things you don’t really need and should avoid? Engine flushing Flushing an engine simply means cleaning the impure oil and gunk that ...

Rolls Royce Cullinan SUV in the works

Rolls Royce has released the first pictures of its Cullinan SUV prototype. The company has said that only the length of the prototype gives clues about the production. The entire car is an engineering mock-up to test the new all-wheel drive transmission and suspension. The prototype, based on a shortened Phantom II, is set for road testing from the second week of April. The company has said that it would “assist Rolls Royce engineers in developing a final suspension system that will deliver the brand's hallmark 'magic carpet' ride not only on the road, but off-road too”. Rolls Royce CEO Torsten Muller-Ötvös had, some time back, confirmed to our sister publication Autocar UK, that the company was developing an all-new four-wheel drive high-bodied Rolls Royce. He had, however, avoided using the word ‘SUV’. The new Rolls Royce is expected to shatter existing price and size ceilings for a SUV, but as per the brand's design boss Giles Taylor, the SUV will be po...

Automobilestillnow

Search This Blog