Space Shuttle Endeavour was hitched to a silver Toyota Tundra CrewMax half-ton pickup to cross the 405 Freeway on its two day trip from LAX airport to the California Science Center (CSC).

Continuing our coverage of Japanese cars newly introduced to Japan after they had been shown everywhere else, we present you today the new Lexus LS, live from Tokyo.

Pretty much most of the world’s large automakers plan a commercial launch of fuel cell vehicles in 2015, Hyundai even earlier. One of the hot spots could be Scandinavia. At the end of a month-long hydrogen-powered tour through Europe, Toyota, Nissan, Honda and Hyundai signed an agreement to jointly promote fuel cell vehicles in Norway, Sweden, Iceland and Denmark.

In the largest recall since the infamous Ford thread separation, Toyota recalled 7.43 million vehicles worldwide today. The reason: The Power Window Master Switch could melt, go up in smoke, or cause a fire after the wrong lubricant has been applied in an attempt to fix a sticky feeling during operation.

Japanese carmakers and their Chinese joint venture partners lost big-time in the spat over the Diaoyu/Senkaku islands. The winners are German carmakers and their Chinese joint venture partners. Oddly enough, the central government ends up with a shot in the foot.

It is something that will become increasingly common: Japanese carmakers launch cars at home in Japan, long after they have been introduced to emerging and emerged market elsewhere. This seems to hurt Japanese feelings. Today, Nissan presented the Latio at its headquarters in Yokohama, and the usually polite assemblage of media representatives turned into a growling pack.

Toyota’s sales in China took a big hit in September, reports by the Yomiuri Shimbun and Reuters say. Executives of Japanese carmakers are putting on a brave face when it comes to China, but are worried that their significant China business could become a casualty of the East China Sea troubles.

No official data are available yet, but the Yomiuri says that Toyota’s September sales in China “halved,” after many Chinese customers canceled their orders in September. Reuters talks about a 40 percent reduction. A senior Toyota executive told the usually very reliable Reuters that Toyota sold about 50,000 cars in China in September, down from about 86,000 in September 2011.

On Monday, Japan’s prime minister Yoshihiko Noda presented a new and improved cabinet, tailcoats and all. Apparently, that cabinet has few friends in Japan’s auto industry.

Akio Toyoda, who took over the rotating chairmanship of the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association last May, sent a surprisingly strongly worded address to his new leaders. Speaking on behalf of all JAMA members, Toyoda said:

Detroit carmakers continue telling their fairy tale of the closed Japanese market, and their UAW members eagerly hang on their lips. Both don’t want to admit that their products are largely unsalable in Japan, and they blame the mythical bad Nipponese wolf instead. At the same time, sales of imported cars are up for the third straight month in Japan. Sales of imports were 35,841 in September, the highest since September 1996, data released by the Japan Automobile Importers Association shows.

Japanese carmakers are worried about their sales in China after Japanese cars were smashed and dealerships torched during large scale anti-Japanese riots in China last month. As a first indicator that Japanese cars may be falling out of favor in China, Mazda reports via Reuters that September sales in China dropped 35 percent.

When a Japanese chemical factory blew up over the weekend, it looked like baby bottoms would be most affected. Nippon Shokubai is one of the world’s largest producers of acrylic acid, which in turn is a key ingredient for the making of disposable diapers. Apart from causing a diaper dearth, the explosion also “may send shock waves through the auto industry,” as The Nikkei [sub] says.

Mitsubishi, pretty much given up for dead in the U.S. and Europe, thrives in an easily overlooked part of the world: South-East Asia. Mitsubishi has three assembly plants in Thailand, and will spend around $150 million to increase output.

September was the month when the torrid growth of Japanese car sales came to an end. Sales of all cars were down 3.4 percent in Japan. The market is down for two reasons, mathematical and governmental.

TTAC readers who followed our past reporting on the developing relationship between Daimler and the Renault/Nissan Alliance will not be surprised in hearing what Carlos Ghosn and Dieter Zetsche told the press today. If you think you’ve heard it all before, you are right. You did here.

Toyota Chairman Fujio Cho was sitting in his company jet, ready to go to Beijing for talks with the Chinese leadership, but the jet never got off the ground. After Chinese aviation authorities refused landing permission in Beijing, Cho left his plane and went home, NHK reports.

In Part 1 of our talk with Infiniti CEO Johan de Nysschen at his new office at the Infiniti world headquarters in Hong Kong, we talked about his new job, about new directions for Infiniti, and for the brand. In the second part, we talk about the new cars Infiniti will bring, where they will be made, what engines will be in them, and what deNysschen thinks about the plan to sell half a million by 2016.

In April at the Beijing auto show, Nissan’s Andy Palmer said he wants to see 500,000 Infiniti sold by 2016, while conceding that this is “an aggressive target.” In the last fiscal year, Infiniti sold 141,000 units worldwide, 105,000 of those in the Americas. In carefully crafted words, de Nysschen explains what he thinks of the 500,000 unit target:

The row between China and Japan over a few rocks in the East China Sea, alternately called Senkaku and Diaoyu islands, is threatening to derail production and sales plans of Japanese automakers. Many in the industry say that “Chinese consumers are unlikely to return to Japanese cars anytime soon,” as The Nikkei [sub] says. Already, Japanese automakers have curtailed production in and exports to China. The problem may not be a temporary one.

A few months ago, Nissan’s Infiniti premium division moved out of the office building in Yokohama and out from the shadow of its parent company. Infiniti set up its new world headquarters in Hong Kong. Nissan also snagged Audi’s America-chief Johan de Nysschen as Infiniti’s new boss. Last Friday, after work, we sat down with de Nysschen in his new office on the 35th floor of the Citibank Tower in Hong Kong’s downtown, to talk about his and Infiniti’s plans for the future. This is a two-part interview. The second part will appear tomorrow.

De Nysschen’s office is spacious, but subdued in comparison to the workplaces of other leaders of industry. No armed guards, no sometimes more dangerous personal assistants bar the entry. He sits at a working man’s desk: Three computers of various sizes, a printer. A glass door provides limited privacy from otherwise open floor offices with space for maybe 100 people when Infiniti’s World Headquarters are fully staffed. So how does the new CEO like the new office in the new city?

Today, the Subaru XV crossover was finally and officially debuted in Tokyo, where the much-discussed trucklet will go on sale on October 5. After the car was shown at the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show in orange, appeared in Consumer Reports, in orange, and even appeared at lesser venues, in orange, it finally arrived in Tokyo. In orange, of course.

You need to take pictures of the car!

Today, Toyota officially announced the launch of its second electric vehicle (after the electrified RAV4). Hundreds of reporters filled the big hall of the Universal Design Showcase of Tokyo’s MegaWeb, to witness the strangest product launch I have ever seen (and trust me, I have seen a few.)

Little known to many, Toyota’s first venture out of their home country was in Brazil. Over 50 years ago, they built factory here in which they manufactured a version of their Land Cruiser, called it Bandeirante and kept on building it, unchanged, for almost four decades. When the Brazilian market opened up (ever so slightly) in the 90s, Toyota was relatively quick and soon had a second factory in which they built their Corolla. That was it. Until the Etios arrived.

Convinced by recent policy changes in Brazil that make the life of a car importer miserable unless factories are built on Brazilian soil, Toyota built a new plant near Sao Paulo, and started to crank out its BRIC-car, the Etios. The Etios was originally launched in the eye of BRIC, in India. Now, the car comes to the B. In Brazil, the Etios is aimed at the very heart of the market, the compact car. It already causes heart palpitations.

A consortium of major Japanese companies, along with a government-backed turnaround fund snapped chipmaker Renesas away from what they deemed as certain doom on the hands of the American private equity fund Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR). The Nikkei [sub] reports in a flash message that the consortium that includes all three major Japanese automakers has put together a $13 billion package to block a purchase by KKR.

Honda will bring back an extinct car. In April, Daihatsu killed the last surviving topless kei car. And now, Honda wants to bring it back. This is what Honda CEO Takanobu Ito intimated to me – and a large room full of other reporters – this morning at the Honda HQ in Tokyo. His company will also launch the second generation NSX, will give you a new Civic Type-R for you to Euro-trash while it tries to achieve its goal of becoming the fastest front-wheel-drive vehicle on the Nurburgring. Wait, there is more.

China’s Hawtai was quick to cash in on the nationalistic sentiments in China with its Hawtai Baolige Patriotic Edition. According to Carnewschina, the Patriotic Edition “is painted in China-red, with five yellow stars as in the Chinese flag and some waves around the rear wheels that likely refer to the disputed islands.” The trucklet is 100% Nippon-free, as far as we can tell.

“’Even if China becomes nothing but tombstones, we must exterminate the Japanese; even if we have to destroy our own country, we must take back the Diaoyu Islands.”

With the appropriate attention received, China is ready to ratchet down anti-Japanese sentiment. Beijing public security authorities on Wednesday urged the public not to stage protests against Japan, writes The Nikkei [sub]. Chinese dealers of the Volkswagen Group did not get the memo. They cause major trouble for Volkswagen. Especially in Japan.

Earlier this year, Nissan Leaf owners in Arizona started to observe bars missing from the charge state display of their cars. Instead of the 12 bars that signal a full battery, some saw only 10 or less. This spread like the Arizona wildfires through the EV community. As of today, the discussion at the Mynissanleaf forum has swelled to 373 pages. Nissan looked at the affected cars, and so far has not rendered a verdict. Or maybe it did. 12 Leaf owners did assemble one night to prove Nissan wrong.

Electioneering is redlining. One indicator: The Michigan Republican Party is protesting loudly against an improbable stunt: A Toyota Tundra will pull the retired space shuttle Endeavor to its final resting place at the California Science Center (CSC). This has the Reps up in arms: “”Barack Obama acts as if he single handedly built the U.S. domestic auto industry, meanwhile, a symbol of American greatness will be towed to its final resting place by a foreign competitor, forever cementing the image of a Toyota truck towing a retired space shuttle,” Matt Frendewey, director of communications for the Michigan Republican Party, told the Detroit News.

Some bloggers see the BRZ/FR-S (hereinafter hachi-roku) pocket racers as the second coming of Christ, others declared them as declassed by the Hyundai Genesis, the Mazda Miata PRHT (pfft), and of course by the Ford Mustang GT. The hachi-roku may not be the fastest around the race track with Jack Baruth on the wheel and an AWOL timing device. There is one race which they consistently win: The race off dealers’ lots.

BMW visits CH-Auto

History tends to repeat itself – in different ways. One of the secrets of Japanese quality was a shortage of money. Bad quality was seen as waste – known as the detested “muda” to scholars of Kaizen. Lines had to be made more flexible; re-tooling had to be made easier, all because there was no money to waste. Likewise, China is getting better at making cars. One reason: It’s getting better at cutting corners, says a report by Reuters.

Most Japanese carmakers temporarily closed their Chinese factories on the anniversary date of Japan’s pre-war invasion of China.

This follows violent riots across China.

Around 1,000 Chinese fishing boats are bearing down on the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands, while Japanese carmakers in China are buttoning-up their Chinese car factories.

Daimler, or rather one of its Chinese customers, is paying late penance for the ill-fated merger with Chrysler. A Chinese patriot proudly presented this trophy on Weibo, the Chinese version of the (blocked in China) Twitter. He said he took it off a “Japanese Mitsubishi” which he savaged in rage against Japan’s occupation of the Diaoyu islands.

Mitsubishi Motors fell into the hands of Daimler through the merger with Chrysler. After that fell apart. Mitsubishi soon was back on its own.

Anti-Japanese demonstrations grew ugly in China over the weekend, and it were cars that took the brunt. Chinese took to the streets after Tokyo said it would nationalize the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands. The uninhabited rocks are administered by Japan but claimed by China. Tens of thousands protested this weekend – and vented their rage on cars.

One of the first victims was a Honda CR-V, oddly owned by the police in the southern city of Shenzhen. Shenzhen’s finest were unable to protect their property.

As it becomes increasingly dangerous to own a Japanese car in China, people devise unorthodox ways to protect their cherished car.

Honda has developed a new, simple, gasoline-electric hybrid system which “will set a new standard for fuel efficiency and recapture the success of the CVCC engine 40 years ago,” writes Reuters.

You can tell immediately that it is a concept: It has suicide doors. Nissan will show the fuel-cell propelled TeRRA SUV concept at the 2012 Paris Motor Show that opens on September 27.

This flag raising on uninhabitable rocks …

A long simmering dispute of islands which both Japan and China claim as theirs has risen in temperature in China. There have been anti-Japanese demonstrations in Chinese cities, and on-line calls for boycotts of Japanese goods. Now the row is officially affecting sales of Japanese cars in China, Dong Yang, secretary general of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM), told Reuters today in Beijing.

The hordes of Chinese and Japanese reporters roaming the halls of the Chengdu Global Automotive Forum in Chengdu were not really interested in exports. They were sniffing blood. There are tensions between China, Japan, and a few other countries over some rocks in the sea. The rocks are called Diaoyu by the Chinese, Senkaku by the Japanese, and choice words by many others. Nissan’s COO Toshiyuki Shiga sat on the podium, next to the always photogenic Atsushi Niimi. The Japanese were flanked by a BAIC president and a Dongfeng CEO. The reporters wanted to know: How bad is it?

Japan’s new car sales are coming back to normal as the government subsidies are running out. Sales of all vehicles climbed 12.4 percent in August, combined data of two industry associations show.

Prius ownership in the Ukraine will jump by more than 400 percent. Not because Ukrainians are suddenly connecting with their greener self. The Ukraine police forces have ordered 1,220 of the Prius, says The Nikkei [sub].

Japan’s carmakers are preparing for the next big one, and move to higher ground, says The Nikkei [sub]. Many Japanese car plants are near or next to the water, some on reclaimed land. Large level tracts are rare in Japan, and by building cars at the waterfront, the ship can come to your loading dock. After the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, perspectives changed.

Japan’s automakers released global production and sales data for July today. It is an ancient Japanese tradition, which is also shared by large European carmakers, but shunned by most American globals. GM for instance reports only quarterly on a global basis, and keeps observers guessing in between. July data released by Japanese large automakers shows a strong rebound after last year’s multiple disasters. Honda looks especially strong, while Toyota’s march towards regaining the title “World’s largest automaker 2012” appears unstoppable.

Divorces can be messy and expensive (ask me how I know) and take longer than thought (ask Frau Schmitto-san how she knows). Or ask Ford and Mazda. When Ford’s love affair with Mazda unraveled because Ford needed the cash, there was the case of their Chinese three-way joint venture with Changan. Two years ago, a deal was struck. It supposedly received the all-important Chinese government approval. Supposedly. Today, the threesome still isn’t dissolved. But it won’t be much longer.

Next week, Russian and Japanese dignitaries will assemble in the frigid Siberian port city of Vladivostok to celebrate the opening of the first Japanese car plant in the Russian Far East. On September 6, Mazda will start Russian production of its best-selling CX-5 SUV and the new Mazda6 sedan, says The Nikkei [sub] – most likely after having received an invitation.

Honda says it is the world’s first car maker to disclose the totals of all greenhouse gas emissions caused globally during production and use of its products. In the fiscal year that ended March 31, 225.06 million tons of greenhouse gases were produced while making, using, an even disposing of Honda products, including motorcycles, power products, and cars.

Today, the last Mazda6 will “roll off the assembly line in Flat Rock today as the Japanese automaker hands the keys to the plant back to its one-time parent, Ford Motor Co.,” says the Detroit News. It is part of a sad and messy affair that makes Ford look stupid and vindictive.

The German edition of the Financial Times has a story about “broken taboos.” It says that “smaller Mercedes models and cars of Nissan’s premium division Infiniti could together roll off the assembly lines in 2016.” The FTD heard that the joint car could be “a small SUV, possibly based on the Mercedes A or B class.” Reuters has a good English abstract of the German story. Apparently, the FTD was asleep when a major busting of taboos was perpetrated in the beginning of the year.

The American Automotive Policy Council does not want Japan to be part of a free trade pact with America and other countries. The lobbying arm of Chrysler, Ford and GM published a study that claims that “including Japan in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade agreement combined with allowing Japan to continue to manipulate its currency could put 90,000 American auto jobs at risk.”

Some say reviewing cars is an unglamorous dead-end job, and the only benefits are free gas and canapés. That impression is up for review on hearing that Nissan hired the senior auto reviewer for Consumer Reports magazine.

Mazda’s new CX-5 SUV is enjoying brisk sales in Japan, and Mazda can’t keep up with the demand. Waiting times of five months or longer were common, says The Nikkei [sub], especially for the top trim lines with fuel-saving diesel engines and leather seats. Mazda would love to deliver them a little faster – but it does not have enough tires.

Toyota’s best-selling Corolla was deemed as not appropriate for the hatch-enamored Europeans. To correct this shortcoming, Toyota’s Nice-based design center came up with the Auris. It is, well, a hatched Corolla. The car is not available in trunk-fascinated America. The Auris is a Toyota mainstay in Europe. It is also available in Japan, where it adds to the army of Toyota models, sometimes also under the name Blade. Today, a new Auris was announced in Japan.

The Japanese car industry found a way to soften the impact of the crushingly high yen on its books. It does what U.S. and European automakers have practiced for a long time: Import low-cost parts from abroad. It is a stop-gap measure while large parts of the Japanese car industry is packing.

Nissan hired forty of the world’s most notorious slimeballs to flog its new Serena minivan. Nissan “will promote its Serena minivan through a tie-in with the “Dragon Quest” video game series, part of a bid to boost sales to families,” says The Nikkei [sub].

The Nikkei [sub] detected a brand-new trend: Cars with an internal combustion engine. In Japan, 20 percent of new cars sold are hybrids. Elsewhere, especially in China and Europe, hybrid cars have a bit of a hard time. “Although being environmentally friendly is important, saving money is tops,” an unnamed Nissan exec told the Tokyo wire, and added that consumers in these markets look more closely at how much they can save on fuel costs in relation to vehicle prices. Now this trend is reaching Japan.

Last month, Toyota invited the Japanese press to join them for “the opening ceremony for its new plant in Brazil on August 9,” a three day event in and around Sao Paulo. The excitement lowered considerably as the Fourth Estate ventured to the bottom of the invitation. There it said that “flight costs to and from Brazil and all accommodation costs will need to be covered by participants themselves.” That’s Toyota as we know and love it. If you have dreams of lavish press jaunts, don’t dream them in Japan. The event happened yesterday, without yours truly. The Nikkei [sub] hopefully sent its local stringer, and it reports what we know anyway: “Toyota Motor Corp. will kick off production of a strategic small car aimed at the emerging-market middle class next month at a new plant in Brazil.” And the new car is the Etios.

Mark Stevenson steadfastly remains on his Suzuki Death Watch. “Pfft,” says the company run by the world’s youngest octogenarian Osamu Suzuki, and brings out yet another car Americans can’t have. .

Suzuki will bring out a new version of its best selling kei car, the Wagon R. According to The Nikkei [sub], Suzuki’s new midgetmobile will upset the other midgetmobiles with a “best-in-class 28.8km per liter, up around 22% from the current version of the wagon-type minivehicle.”

The excitement about battery electric vehicles seems to die down amidst disappointing uptake. Range, weight and cost are in the way. At the same time, dormant interest in fuel cell vehicles is being rekindled . A month ago, we had a new look at the technology from the perspective of the Toyota/BMW linkup. Today, The Nikkei [sub] takes a broader view and says that carmakers are in the final lap of the fuel cell race. Let’s have a look at the contestants and where they stand.

Toyota is serious thinking of breaking a taboo. It is considering moving some production of its Lexus luxury brand from Japan to the United States, says Reuters. The oddest part: The Japanese government might help Toyota to move the jobs out of the country.

In 2010, when everybody was going ecstatic about EVs, PSA Peugeot Citroen said to Mitsubishi: “send us some of your i-Mievs, with our badges. Say, 100,000 for starters.”

PSA sold them (as much as they could) as the Peugeot iOn and Citroen C-Zero, the first car that sounds like sugar-free soda-pop. Now, PSA picked up the phone, called Japan, and said: “Hold the i-Mievs! We have enough!”

While everybody has their eyes on China and possibly India, the car market in smaller South East Asian countries is exploding right below the RADAR screen. By themselves, car sales in a country like Vietnam don’t seem to amount to much. Now, go to the trouble and add a few South East Asian countries together. The Nikkei [sub] did and notes to its amazement that the car market in Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Singapore jumped 21 percent in the first half year to 1.6 million units.

Now why would The Nikkei be so excited about this?

Hybrids and minivehicles are still on top of Japan’s list of best-selling cars in July, only more. The Prius is ichi ban with 33,398 units sold. Last time we looked in May, it was 20,789. It is followed by its compact sister, the Aqua (better known in the U.S. as Prius C) with 26,274.

Honda’s Fit is back in #3.