Kickstart: Foxconn wants to reinvent the car

We finally know what a car made by an iPhone manufacturing company would look like. But it remains to be seen if the three models unveiled by Hon Hai Technology Group, better known as Foxconn, will make it to market.

Foxconn unveiled two vehicles models at an Oct. 18 event in Taiwan: the Model B crossover and Model V pickup. Founder Terry Gou, 72, introduced the Model B by driving it onto the stage, Bloomberg reported. The pickup will be produced in Taiwan, Thailand and the U.S., Hon Hai Chairman Young Liu said.

Foxconn first announced its interest in developing electric, autonomous vehicles a year ago. While the electronics company lacks experience in making cars — see its reference to a fast startup within three years for an idea of its exposure to the auto industry pace of new products — but Young-way said that it wants to "replicate its success."

"Based on our past records for the PC and cellphone markets ... we're at about 40-45 percent of the overall market share," he said in a report from Reuters. "So, ambitions-wise, hopefully we are able to achieve the same kind of achievement like in the ICT (information and communications technology) industry, but we will start small, which is about 5 percent in 2025."

Teijin Automotive Technologies' operations, safety and health teams are helping some wheelchair users roll a little safer.

During the teams' first in-person gathering since the start of COVID-19 — earlier this month in San Antonio, Texas — more than 50 Teijin employees created wheel spoke guards fitted to wheelchairs to help ensure users' fingers don't get pinched in the wheels. The covers also provide a decorative touch to the devices.

"We wanted to do something that enabled us to be a good corporate citizen, and to give back to those in need," Dina Graham, vice president, environmental legal affairs, health, safety and sustainability for the Auburn Hills, Mich.-based company, said in a news release. "This project was a great cross-section of both."

The guards will be donated to The Walkabout Foundation, a charity in the U.S. and United Kingdom.

There may be something missing from the floor at K 2022: men's ties.

Sumitomo (SHI) Demag CEO Gerd Liebig said he's left his at home, probably for good.

"I did not pack any tie," he told PN's Catherine Kavanaugh. "It is the relic of past business times, with complex dress codes that we took great pain to teach our sons no longer existing; the tie is dead. [COVID] meant for one and half years, formal attire remained tucked away in our closets."

There are, of course, bigger issues facing the global plastics industry than fashion. You can find Liebig's thoughts on those matters here.