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General Motors CEO Mary Barrabefore an investor meeting in Spring Hill, Tennessee, on Oct. 8. Barra said that the company had fixed battery-manufacturing problems and that its electric vehicles would soon be profitable.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 24, 2024

Electric vehicles may be struggling. GM’s leader is still a believer.

General Motors CEO Mary Barra says the company is still committed to doing away with combustion engine cars in the United States by 2035.
A salesperson livestreams inside a BYD showroom in Shanghai on June 22.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 21, 2025

Life atop China’s car market is starting to look shaky for BYD

BYD’s monthly sales have stagnated of late and with the summer months being a traditionally slower time, that trajectory isn’t expected to reverse any time soon.
Paul Weaver, director and head of cannabis at U.S.-based Boston Beer Company, shows the company's weed-themed product catalogs in his office in Toronto in June.
BUSINESS
Jul 28, 2025

U.S. alcohol sector prepares to fight back against buzzy cannabis drinks

Alcohol makers are still suffering a hangover following America's pandemic drinking binge, when sales spiked as cash-flush consumers splurged on pricey bottles of liquor.
A Mazda MX-30 at a dealership in the city of Hiroshima. The MX-30 is the only electric vehicle model Mazda currently sells in Japan.
BUSINESS / Companies / Regional Voices: Hiroshima
Aug 28, 2023

Mazda accelerates EV shift in China, reshaping ties with suppliers

Mazda’s sales in China in the year from April 2022 halved from the previous year to 84,000 units due to a thin lineup of EVs.
Earl Stewart, a Toyota dealer, says he was shocked when he first heard about Toyota’s strategy.
BUSINESS
Mar 13, 2024

Toyota’s hybrid-first strategy is delivering big profits

Toyota’s sales are booming, and the company is reporting huge profits.
A lone Tesla charges in the basement of a commercial property in Tokyo. One of Japan’s biggest obstacles to electric vehicles is subpar charging infrastructure.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 8, 2024

How three high-tech countries became laggards in electric vehicles

Japan's slow adoption traces back to a decade-old bet on hydrogen fuel-cell technology, while U.S. and South Korea have hit bottlenecks.
A tourist picks up an aloha shirt at the Samurai Aloha store at Narita Airport in June.
BUSINESS / Companies / Regional Voices: Tohoku
Aug 12, 2024

Aloha shirts made from recycled kimono in Tohoku prove to be huge hit

The shirts, called Samurai Aloha, were launched in the hopes of helping the area recover from the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake.
A Tesla showroom in Beijing in January 2024. In today's world, the car isn’t the biggest moneymaker for automakers; instead, it is the services attached to the connected vehicle.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 7, 2025

China’s EVs may change the world in unimaginable ways

China has about 100 EV brands and they claim about 80% of the new electric vehicle market.
Uniqlo owner Fast Retailing reported strong growth in revenue and operating profit for the three months through November on robust demand in Japan, North America and Europe.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 9, 2025

Uniqlo owner reports strong growth in Japan and Western markets

Operating profit rose 7% to ¥157.6 billion for the three months ended November from a year earlier, with sales increasing to ¥895.2 billion.
A 2023 Toyota Prius. Hybrids have accounted for less than 10% of total U.S. sales, with Toyota’s long-running Prius among the most popular models.
BUSINESS
Aug 28, 2023

Gas-electric hybrids get boost in the U.S. from Ford and others

Ford is the latest of several top automakers planning to build and sell hundreds of thousands of hybrid vehicles in the U.S. over the next five years.
Rachel Culin, a disenchanted Toyota owner, standing between her Toyota Prius and new Chevy Bolt at her home in Mesa, Arizona. The world’s largest carmaker dominates the sales of hybrid cars but has been slow to sell all-electric vehicles, alienating some customers and hurting sales.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 8, 2023

Toyota, a hybrid pioneer, struggles to master electric vehicles

The world’s largest carmaker dominates the sales of hybrid cars but has been slow to sell EVs, alienating some customers and hurting sales.
Workers in front of residential buildings under construction at the Phoenix Palace project, developed by Country Garden Holdings, in Guangdong province, China, on Sept. 21
BUSINESS / Markets
Sep 26, 2023

China’s ailing property market faces key test over golden week

The stakes are higher than ever this year, as the housing slowdown weighs on China’s economic recovery.
Tesla is offering discounts and service improvements to appease European leasing companies upset by price cuts and repair issues.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 20, 2024

Tesla giving discounts to European fleet buyers in damage-control drive

After years of sharp growth, Tesla's global sales and profits are declining, with an 8.5% drop in deliveries during the first quarter, marking its first decrease in four years.
The Porsche booth at the Beijing International Automotive Exhibition in Beijing on April 25
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 24, 2024

China’s slowdown is taking a rising toll on European profits

From luxury brands to carmakers, more trouble is coming for European businesses heavily reliant on demand in the Asian economic giant.
Liquor store P&V Wine + Liquor Merchants owner Louise Dowling
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 6, 2024

Cash-strapped consumers are giving Australia's liquor makers a headache

Australia's alcohol industry is in its sharpest downturn in memory as more people cut back on discretionary spending and turn to healthier ways to relax.
Nike has been particularly criticized for failing to prioritize runners, one of its key markets.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 2, 2024

Nike seeks to wipe slate clean for new CEO and withdraws guidance

Investors are looking for the new CEO to rebuild Nike’s frayed relationships with retailers and staff who’ve lost faith in the company’s trajectory.
The Energy Powerwall Home Battery charging station in Brussels in 2023
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 17, 2024

New EU emissions rules drive petrol car price hikes and EV discounts

Analysts say major carmakers have adjusted their pricing strategy to curb demand for heavy emitters and make pricier electric models appealing.
An Apple store in Beijing. The iPhone has increased its percentage of total smartphones sold around the world while expanding its share of sales in four of the world’s largest regions: China, Japan, Europe and India.
BUSINESS / Tech
Sep 12, 2023

As smartphone industry sputters, the iPhone expands its dominance

The iPhone has about one-fifth of the world’s smartphone sales, up from a low of 13% in 2019.
Bottles of whisky sit on display behind the bar at the Door XXV private club in the Golden Equator Group office in Singapore.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 13, 2023

Asia takes over the world’s whisky market

Yearslong efforts by Pernod, Diageo and other major whiskey producers to get Asian drinkers to spend more on their premium spirits are finally paying off.
Shiseido shares tumbled the most in 36 years on Monday after it slashed full-year profit forecasts on sluggish China demand.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 16, 2023

China slowdown adds to boycott woes for Japanese beauty stocks

Cosmetics firms are finding that reliance on the world's second-biggest economy to drive sales is a double-edged sword.
Toyota's hybrid RAV4 Prime at an auto show in Los Angeles in 2019
BUSINESS
Feb 2, 2024

Toyota to outshine rivals as more consumers opt for hybrids amid EV slowdown

Toyota is expected to offer an upbeat outlook when it reports its earnings on Tuesday, helped by its heavy reliance on hybrids.
Toyota raised its annual net profit forecast to a record high ¥4.5 trillion in the year ending in March.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 6, 2024

Toyota raises annual net profit forecast as chip shortage eases

But scandals involving rigged engine and safety tests at subsidiaries led the firm to slightly revise down its sales target for the financial year.
The tail of a BYD electric vehicle sports the company’s motto, “build your dreams,” at a dealership in Shenzhen, China, on Jan. 29.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 12, 2024

How China built BYD, its Tesla killer

BYD’s sales, over 80% of them in China, passed Tesla in worldwide sales of fully electric cars late last year.
A man walks past a store of luxury brand Burberry at a shopping mall in Beijing in 2021.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jul 17, 2024

Luxury brands feel the sting as Chinese growth slows

China accounted for 16% of $393.8 billion of global luxury spending last year, but the economy grew slower than expected in the last quarter.
Wealthy Chinese shoppers are buying luxury goods in Japan to take advantage of favorable exchange rates, which is hurting European luxury brands' profitability.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 8, 2024

Big Luxury frets that China is turning Japanese

Wealthy Chinese shoppers are buying luxury goods in Japan to take advantage of favorable exchange rates, which is hurting European luxury brands' profitability.
People line up outside an Apple store in Beijing on Sept. 20.
BUSINESS / Markets
Nov 4, 2024

Buffett keeps cutting Apple stake, with value down 60% this year

Berkshire cut its Apple holdings by roughly 25% in the period, after cutting it by almost half in the second quarter.
A worker clears away snow as last-minute grocery shoppers leave a Market Basket supermarket during a fast-moving winter storm in Plymouth, Massachusetts, on Feb. 13.
BUSINESS / Tech
Nov 5, 2024

In a changing climate, retailers turn to weather data predictions

Weather data, once used strictly for inventory planning, is now helping retailers localize advertising and decide when to discount seasonal items such as sweaters.
Satoko Shisai
BUSINESS / WOMEN AT WORK
Dec 15, 2024

Forging a career through digital transformation and mindset change

Backed by a strong belief in career ownership, Satoko Shisai built her own success at IBM Japan and Chugai.
The Nio logo on a steering wheel of an electric vehicle at the automaker's dealership in Shanghai
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 23, 2024

China’s Nio unveils $108,000 EV to take on Porsche and Mercedes

Once one of the brightest rising stars in China’s electric vehicle market, Nio has fallen short of sales targets, with U.S.-traded shares slumping about 50% this year.
Economic uncertainty has left some U.S. drinkers looking for ways to rein in their booze spending, according to three of the largest U.S. spirits distributors.
BUSINESS
Dec 24, 2024

Shrinking U.S. bar tabs signal little festive cheer for liquor makers

Some drinkers are switching to cheaper liquor brands and venues or reducing the amount of out-of-home celebrations they attend.

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An illustration features the Japanese signs for "ganbare" (good luck) and the Deaflympics, which will be held between Nov. 15 and 26.
A century of Deaf sport finds its moment in Tokyo