Toyota said Tuesday it will produce hybrid cars in Australia, whose Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is trying to battle spiralling fuel prices and revive the country’s ailing auto industry.

Rudd met with Toyota Motor Corp. chief Katsuaki Watanabe at the auto giant’s headquarters in central Japan, as the two announced the company would build the Toyota Camry Hybrid by 2010 at an existing factory in Melbourne.

Toyota, which plans annual production of 10,000 vehicles, will benefit from a 35 million Australian dollar (37 million US) subsidy from Canberra to be used in research and development.

Rudd said increased popularity of the hybrid would help Australia cut back on emissions blamed for global warming.

“This hybrid will use one-third less petrol than a standard car, one-third less emissions and therefore for an average family … savings of up to 1,000 dollars a year,” Rudd told a joint news conference with Watanabe.

“Australia must do whatever we can to assist Australian motorists who are faced with the challenge of rising fuel prices and also… in our overall efforts to bring down greenhouse gas emissions,” he said.

Toyota, poised to overtake General Motors this year as the world’s top automaker, was the pioneer of hybrids, which deliver power by switching between a regular engine and an electric motor.

It primarily produces the hybrid in Japan but also in the United States and China. Toyota is expected to announce it will also build the vehicles in Thailand.

Rudd has called for a transformation of Australia’s auto industry, which has shed more than 11,000 jobs since 1996, by launching a 500 million (Australian) dollar fund to assist the development of green cars.

Australians buy one million cars a year and only 5,000 are hybrids, Rudd said.

“Australia needs to do better and more on the question of fuel-efficient vehicles,” he said.

U.S. auto sales in May brought the starkest signs yet that gas prices have dramatically shifted the market to smaller cars, as the top-selling Ford F-series truck was dethroned by cars from Toyota and Honda and as General Motors announced it was closing four truck and SUV plants after dismal results.

GM said Tuesday its sales fell 28 percent in May compared to a year earlier, with a 37 percent decline in truck and SUV sales and a 14 percent drop in car sales. At the automaker’s annual meeting in Wilmington, Del., Tuesday, CEO Rick Wagoner said GM will close four truck and SUV plants in the U.S., Canada and Mexico by 2010, affecting 10,000 jobs.

“We at GM don’t think this is a spike or a temporary shift,” Wagoner said of the drop in truck sales.

Ford’s sales fell 16 percent for the month, while Chrysler LLC’s sales were down 25 percent and Toyota Motor Corp.’s sales slipped 4 percent. Overall sales were down 11 percent compared to last May, according to Autodata Corp.

Honda Motor Co., riding the wave of customers seeking better fuel efficiency, said its sales rose 18 percent; a 36 percent increase in car sales made up for an 8 percent decline in truck and SUV sales.

Nissan Motor Co. said its sales rose 8 percent, with a 19 percent increase in car sales offsetting a 10 percent decline in trucks.

High gas prices, the weak economy and low consumer confidence are taking their toll on larger vehicles. Ford Motor Co. sales chief Jim Farley said small and mid-size cars made up 47 percent of sales in May, up from 34 percent in February.

The shift represents 1.5 million vehicles at Ford.

“May was a watershed month. We are, as an industry, catching up with the breathtaking choices customers are now making,” Farley said in a conference call with media and analysts.

The Toyota Corolla and Camry and Honda Civic and Accord sedans each outsold the F-series truck, which saw monthly sales plummet 31 percent in May to 42,973. F-series trucks have been the best-selling trucks in the U.S. for 31 years and the best-selling vehicles overall for nearly as long.

F-series trucks have also been the best-selling vehicles each month since June 2005, when the Chevrolet Silverado pickup took a brief lead, said Tom Libby, senior director of industry analysis for the Power Information Network, a division of J.D. Power. The last time a car topped the monthly sales charts was the Ford Taurus sedan in December 1992, according to Ford’s top U.S. sales analyst George Pipas.

Sean McAlinden, chief economist with the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, said the U.S. market will likely look like the European one, where small cars make up nearly 40 percent of sales, in five to ten years. That shift could make it harder for the Detroit Three to win customers, he said.

“Only a few companies ever made really good trucks, but a lot of companies make good little cars,” he said. “The competition level is going to go up, way up.”

Ford’s U.S. car sales were up 3 percent compared with last May, and it sold more than 30,000 Ford Focus small cars for only the second time in the car’s nine-year history. But pickup and SUV sales dropped 26 percent. Farley said the company plans to offer an employee-pricing discount on F-series trucks this summer to clear out inventory before the new F-series arrives this fall.

Ford said last month it plans to slash North American production of trucks and SUVs for the rest of the year. Ford also is planning to lay off salaried workers as part of a restructuring plan that will be detailed next month.

Toyota’s U.S. sales dropped 4 percent for the month, as flat results for cars were dragged down by a 12 percent decline in trucks and SUVs.

Chrysler said car sales fell 33 percent and truck sales were down 22 percent despite an incentive program that lets buyers lock in gas prices at $2.99 per gallon. Chrysler said the decline was mainly due to a 40 percent cutback in sales to rental car companies and other fleets.

Steven Landry, executive vice president for North American sales, said the $2.99 gas incentive has lured people into dealerships and will be continued through July 7. He said between 5 and 10 percent of buyers are choosing the fuel guarantee over other incentives.

Landry said May’s sales figures were sobering for the industry.

“This month is one that particularly lets us look deep into the numbers and determine our game plan for the rest of this year,” he said.

Mark LaNeve, GM’s vice president of North American sales, said earlier forecasts for an improvement in the second half of the year now look overly optimistic. But GM does think sales are hitting their low point now.

“We still think we’re somewhere near the bottom and we look for a firming up and a gradual recovery beginning in the back half of the year,” he said.

GM shares rose 14 cents to close at $17.58. Ford shares rose 4 cents to $6.68, while Toyota’s U.S. shares fell 22 cents to $102.29.

The Associated Press reports unadjusted figures, calculating the percentage change in the total number of vehicles sold in one month compared with the same month a year earlier. Some automakers report percentages adjusted for sales days. There were 27 sales days last month and 26 in May 2007.

Accidents bring disasters in your life. Hundreds of road accident victims suffer from severe health problems including broken limbs, spinal cord injury, neurotic disorder and many more. Accidents make people unable to work for a certain time span if not for ever. Incapability to work often leads to job loss and unavoidable financial crisis. This puts the accident victims and their family into an unfavorable condition.

In the majority of cases it’s someone else’s fault that puts victims to enormous mental pressure, financial trouble and health problems. It is indeed frustrating to pay the toll for the mistake you are not responsible for. Top of that you need financial help to recover from the aftermaths too.

Compensation for personal injuries is what accident victims need. It’s true that victims do not get favor in all the cases and the opponent party always tries to prove their innocence. However, a local senior lawyer may help victims win the case and get justified compensation by preparing appropriate plan of action and gathering right evidences.

Accident victims can also smoothen up the process by taking few calculative steps as soon as possible after the accident. These steps help Florida personal injury lawyer bring the judgment in your favor. Let’s see what the steps are:

File police report: File a police report as soon as possible. Once a police officer visits the place of accident, he takes important notes like VIN of both the vehicles, the conditions of the cars, if the offender was drunk or using handheld mobile phone during driving etc. These documents are essential.

Copy of police report may be submitted to the civil court as evidence and it strengthens victim’s compensation claim. Senior lawyers always make use of such documents; even they call upon the police officers who inspected the place of accident first as witness.

See a doctor: Do not delay to see a doctor. Consulting physician ensures proper remediation for the injured people; it also helps the solicitor gather evidence about the severity of the car accident.

Generally victims go for medical check up before consulting a lawyer, so they may not be aware of the things to ask to the doctor. Medical documents important for car accident victims include detailed report of diagnosis, the types and levels of injuries, date and time of the visit, time of the accident, urgency of treatment etc. Also inform the doctor that you may need to come in future for more medical documents if needed.

Take snaps: Shot photographs of the damaged car, place of accident, places around the accident spot, your injuries and anything else that you feel important. People who have a hot conversation with the offender can also record it if possible. In this digital age, it is no more difficult to take some snaps and do a video record for a short span!

These documents double your chances to win. Experienced lawyers produce these documents as evidence in the court so that the case turns in your favor and the bench judges for you.

Seek legal advice: Car accident victims and there family members become busy with treatment only. So it becomes tough for them to file personal injury compensation claim and pursue it. Hiring Florida attorneys can be of great assistance. Local lawyers have thorough knowledge about the state laws. Taking help from experienced lawyers increases your chances to win.

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