Semi Trucks

Guangzhou Toyota Motor Co, a joint venture between China’s Guangzhou Automobile and Toyota, said yesterday that it plans to sell 210,000 vehicles in China next year, a target that may turn the joint venture one of the top ten automakers in the country.

Ge Yuanzhe, general manager of Guangzhou Toyota, unveiled the 210,000 sales target to reporters yesterday.

“Considering the current sales records, we are confident to reach a sales target of 170,000 units this year,” said Feng Xingya, deputy general manager of the joint venture. With average monthly sales of 14,000 units, Camry has held its No.1 position in the upper and middle sedan segment for 12 consecutive months.

Specifically, Guangzhou Toyota expects to sell 175,000 Camry vehicles and 35,000 Yaris vehicles, a compact sedan which is to be produced in Guangzhou Toyota’s second plant by mid-2008.

In November, Chinese authorities have approved Guanghou Toyota’s plan to build a second plant in Guangzhou. The total capacity of Guangzhou Toyota, after the completion of the second plant, will reach half a million units annually.

Worldwide, Toyota said on Tuesday that it plans to unseat General Motors from No.1 automaker by selling 9.85 million vehicles worldwide next year, up 5 percent from this year.

The storm that hit the Puget Sound area Monday is having a devastating effect on commerce after swamping Interstate 5, the main artery that connects Seattle to Portland, and burying in mud several rail connections north and south of Seattle.

The effect and closures could last for days and into the weekend, according to Washington’s Department of Transportation.

Hundreds of trucks waited Tuesday on either side of a 20-mile stretch of I-5, between mileposts 68 and 89, while parts of the highway sat under 10 feet of water. The highway could be closed until at least Thursday — longer if the roads and bridges are found damaged after the flooding recedes.

If there could be a convenient place for a vehicle to catch on fire, Erik Goetz’s Dodge Ram might have found.

The truck was half a block from the Antietam Fire Co. when Goetz noticed smoke coming from under the hood, while he was stopped at a red light on West Antietam Street at the Summit Avenue intersection.

Goetz, 34, of Hagerstown, got out of the truck and took his 3 1/2-year-old son, Heath, into the Washington County Community Action Council building to call 911. That’s when he saw flames start to shoot out of the hood, he said.

Antietam Fire Co. trucks had the fire out within minutes. Firefighter Glenn Fuscsick said an engine malfunction was the most likely cause.

The truck had been acting up all day, “bucking” as he drove and emitting a gas smell.

A garbage truck leaked oil for two miles  while driving up Alabama Hill to the Silver Beach area near Lake Whatcom, but a city official said environmental damage will be minimal.

About half the affected area is within the lake’s watershed, said Scott Brown-Davis, storm water maintenance supervisor for the city Public Works department.

He said, however, that the possibility of the engine oil leaking into the drainage system is small, since crews were quick to cover drains with absorbent pads and most of the oil would run off to the shoulder of the roads anyway.

A 100-gallon gasoline spill in Queens afternoon caused some traffic troubles in the borough.

A fuel truck overturned at the Northern Boulevard off ramp of the southbound Whitestone Expressway, closing the off ramp.

Only a fraction of the contents of the 5,000-gallon truck spilled on to the street. The Department of Environmental Conservation says some of the fuel seeped into the top soil but there is no evidence the spill contaminated Flushing Creek.

The driver of the truck was hospitalized with minor injuries.

Local law enforcement officials are hoping a state regionalization grant will allow them to take care of their own truck safety issues without waiting for a long-term state fix.

NEWINGTON - Local law enforcement officials are hoping a state regionalization grant will allow them to take care of their own truck safety issues without waiting for a long-term state fix.
The grant would increase traffic safety in more than two dozen towns with regionalized accident investigations and enforcement.
“The state has a limited resource in truck inspectors. There are only 24 to 30, and the state police should be on the highways,” Newington Police Chief Richard Mulhall said. “They are never going to be able to service each town on a regular basis, but if we are a team working together, we can do it for ourselves.”
The question of who is enforcing truck safety on local roads regained urgency Sept. 7, when an out-of-control 18-wheeler flatbed flew through the intersection of routes 44 and 10 at Nod Road and literally sailed into a nearby furniture store.
It was the second serious truck crash at the intersection, at the base of Avon Mountain, in two years. The first killed four people, including the driver of the dump truck that caused the fiery 20-vehicle crash.

Ashok Leyland Ltd, India’s No. 2 bus and truck maker, said its  sales figures were affected by logistical difficulties, a top company official said.

“November numbers could be a bit disappointing,” Managing Director R. Seshasayee told reporters at the World Economic Forum India Summit. The company is scheduled to report its November sales later this week.

Leyland, which has about 30 per cent of a market that Tata Motors Ltd dominates, has seen sales slip in the last three months on the back of higher interest rates.

Seshasayee had told Reuters recently he expected to see truck sales revive from January.

Authorities said a Crandon man accused of stealing sausages and fleeing officers in a doughnut delivery truck is facing charges.

Police released video footage of the pursuit, which they said reached speeds of more than 80 mph and resulted in minor injuries for an officer and a damaged squad car.

Authorities said Whitelightning fled drunk in a Krispy Kreme delivery truck early Saturday after stealing sausages from the Open Pantry at University Avenue and Walnut Street.

If convicted, Whitelightning faces more than 10 years in prison.

Greensboro-Chapel Hill Road in southern Alamance County was closed for about five hours Thursday after a truck overturned and scattered logs all over the road.

A log truck and a van were involved in a wreck on Bethel-South Fork Road and Greensboro-Chapel Hill Road The log truck overturned and went down an embankment, said Allen Crawford, deputy chief of Snow Camp Volunteer Fire Department.

Information about the drivers of both vehicles wasn’t immediately available. Crawford said the driver of the log truck was taken to the hospital and the driver of the van refused transportation to the hospital.

Traffic was diverted from Greensboro-Chapel Hill Road until Firefighters assisted with directing traffic, clean-up and first aid, Crawford said.

Two illegal Myanmar immigrants face the prospect of canings after their arrest on a truck leaving Singapore, customs officers said Saturday.

The men, aged 24 and 30, were found hiding behind the seats in the driver’s cabin, covered by a red carpet.

A 49-year-old Malaysian man was driving the Malaysia-registered truck Thursday out of Singapore when officers decided to undertake a routine check.