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Toyota his high hopes for compact Ractis

By JIM LACH
Published October 4, 2005

Toyota Motor Corp., the world's biggest automaker by market value, said it plans to sell 7,000 units of its Ractis compact wagon a month in Japan, heightening competition in the most popular segment in the world's second-largest market.

The Ractis will cost between 1.39-million yen ($12,200) and 1.87-million yen ($16,500) each, said the carmaker, based in central Japan's Toyota City. The model, which is a successor of the Funcargo compact, is powered by 1.3-liter or 1.5-liter engines, and competes with models such as Nissan Motor Co.'s Note and Honda Motor Co.'s Fit compact cars.

On Monday, Toyota launched the Ractis sedan with a wide range of wheelchair-adapted models capable of loading and unloading people in wheelchairs, or elderly passengers who have difficulties in walking.

"The segment in which Ractis is in has been increasing more than the market as a whole," said Toyota president Katsuaki Watanabe at a Tokyo press conference. The segment accounted for 20.2 percent of Japan's vehicle market, excluding minicars in 2000 and is expected to rise to 30 percent in 2005, he said.

One in four vehicles sold in Japan is a compact car typically with engine capacity smaller than 2 liters. Consumers in Japan have been shifting to more fuel-efficient and cleaner vehicles during the past five years from the peak in demand during the 1990s when sedans were most popular.

Travel industry gets dedicated online domain

A new online domain for the travel industry is open for business.

Airlines, theme parks, restaurants, tourism offices and others in travel and tourism are eligible for Web sites and e-mail addresses ending in ".travel."

The new domain could give consumers confidence that they are dealing with a legitimate travel business or group, though the mantra of "buyer beware" applies: Operators of the domain won't be performing any credit or criminal background checks or offering any guarantees.

Tralliance Corp. of New York, a unit of Internet communications company Theglobe.com, won approval to run ".travel" this year from the Internet's key oversight agency, the Internet Corp. for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN.

Since July 1, industry groups such as the Adventure Travel Trade Association and the International Hotel and Restaurant Association have been verifying that companies and organizations belong to one of 18 eligible industry sectors.

Those approved were allowed to register ".travel" names starting Monday.

Domains registered on the first day include "Amtrak.travel," "Bluebird-Inn.travel," "Disneyland.travel" and "RoyalCaribbeanCruise.travel." Companies can use their names right away, although it may take time to update all the necessary Internet directories.

--Information from Bloomberg News and the Associated Press was used in this report.

[Last modified October 4, 2005, 02:15:30]