VENTURE CAPITAL POST

The Mitsubishi Motors Corporation announced on Thursday that a joint news conference together with Nissan Motor Co. will happen with Mitsubishi Chairman and President Osamu Masuko and Nissan Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn on the side.

The company recalled another 47,000 defective SUV due to problem in its fuel pump. Nissan also introduces its new mobility concept car this week.

A computer security researcher revealed the vulnerabilities of the Nissan Leaf’s companion app that could allow hackers to control the cars’ heating and cooling as well as access battery status. More than a month after the initial disclosure to Nissan, the company disabled the app while working to find a permanent solution.

How Takata Corp. handled their air bag crisis is the very reason why they lost one of their biggest investors, Sawakami Asset Management. In a statement published from Bloomberg News, Sawakami's fund manager, Takahiro Kusakari, said they could not help but feel Takata's management is not trustworthy.

Japanese automobile major Toyota Motor Corp is planning to launch driverless cars in the market by 2020. Toyota will launch three models in semi-automatic range this year in Japan market. The semi-automatic cars equipped with Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) are technology-driven vehicles that change lanes, merge with traffic or even overtake other vehicles. The fourth generation Prius hybrid car is one among the three semi-automatic models is scheduled for launch in Japan market in 2015.

ZeroCater , the on-site catering service, has gained revenue of $100M in four years with $1.5M funds from Y Combinator and other individual investors. Founder Arram Sabeti started the company with only $7000.

Honda Motor Co (7267.T) on Thursday recalled close to 5 million vehicles fitted with potentially faulty Takata Corp (7312.T) air bag inflators, as investigations showed the problem behind one of the biggest auto safety crises may be more widespread than thought.

Nissan Motor Co (7201.T), Japan's second-biggest automaker, said it expects operating profit to climb 15 percent this financial year, forecasting vehicle sales growth in most regions and promising large cost cuts.

U.S. auto industry sales in April came in below expectations as Asia's major carmakers' results disappointed, offsetting strong gains for trucks and SUVs made by General Motors (GM.N) and Ford (F.N).

The Chevrolet Malibu has been a symbol of General Motors Co’s (GM.N) competitive woes for nearly 20 years due to designs that critics often lambasted as boring. Now, the No. 1 U.S. automaker is telling suppliers a redesigned version of the midsize sedan will deliver a long-awaited sales jolt.

Nissan Motor Co (7201.T) will be able to meet its goal of taking 10 percent of the U.S. market in two years without any major new investments and by making use of capacity available at factories in Japan and South Korea, a top executive said on Friday.

Aston Martin is preparing to raise funds to expand its range of models into new areas including crossover SUVs, two sources with knowledge of the matter said, as the loss-making sports car maker steps up its turnaround efforts under a new boss.

In a front overlap crash safety tests of four minivans sold in the United States, only the latest model of the Toyota Motor Corp Sienna scored well, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety said on Thursday.

Chrysler Group will begin replacing potentially defective air bag inflators made by Takata Corp in more than 371,000 U.S. vehicles in early December, according to documents filed by the automaker with U.S. safety regulators.

A top Nissan Motor Co executive said on Tuesday that the yen was currently in a good range against the dollar, adding that on the whole, the recent weakening in the Japanese currency was good for the local industry and economy.