Yomiuri Business Update – 12/12/06

Business Update is a weekly omnibus of business information based on news releases from companies in Japan and abroad, domestic and international organizations, diplomatic missions and other entities.

AIRLINES

United Airlines will begin serving Trader Vic's award-winning Polynesian cuisine on selected flights from Jan. 9.

===

AUTOMOBILES

DaimlerChrysler Japan Co. has launched updated models of the Mercedes-Benz G-Class. The new top-of-the-line cross-country vehicles are available at authorized Mercedes-Benz dealerships throughout the country.

TD Automotive Compressor Georgia, LLC, a joint venture between Toyota Industries Corp. and Denso Corp. to produce car air-conditioning compressors in Georgia, United States, has held an opening ceremony at its new facility.

Toyota Motor Corp. has announced it plans to conduct road tests of a vehicle-infrastructure cooperative system under a Driving Safety Support Systems verification program organized by the Universal Traffic Management Society of Japan.

ELECTRONICS

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. has announced it has developed a new system for mobile phones by applying its second-generation Integrated Platform for Digital Appliancesn under the Panasonic brand. The new LSI MN2CS0035 model can greatly improve the graphic processing performance on mobile handsets.

NEC Corp. has announced the integration of Melbourne-based NEC Business Solutions Ltd. into NEC Australia Pty. Ltd., effective from April 1.

Toshiba Corp. has announced the development of a 1.8-inch hard disc drive that offers a storage capacity of 100 gigabytes, the largest capacity yet achieved in this class of hard disk drive.

(Compiled by The Daily Yomiuri)