:00:00. > :00:00.version of the Mini in the UK as a vote
:00:00. > :00:17.Now on BBC News, all the latest business news live from Singapore.
:00:18. > :00:25.US President Donald Trump says Apple has pledged to build three big
:00:26. > :00:29.manufacturing plants in America. And hybrid car manufacturers are worried
:00:30. > :00:38.that a new government 's tax will drive away customers. -- government
:00:39. > :00:45.tax. Welcome to Asia Business Report. President Trump says Apple's
:00:46. > :00:49.chief executive is committed to building three plants in the United
:00:50. > :00:54.States. The investment would help the administration follow through on
:00:55. > :00:58.a big campaign promise, revising the country's manufacturing industry.
:00:59. > :01:02.Earlier, I spoke to our North American business correspondence
:01:03. > :01:08.about how significant this move would be for US manufacturing. This
:01:09. > :01:12.was in an interview with the Wall Street Journal. Donald Trump came
:01:13. > :01:19.out and said that Tim Cook had committed that the tech giant would
:01:20. > :01:24.yield three big, beautiful plants in America. We reached out to Apple,
:01:25. > :01:30.they would not comment at this point. We are left wondering how
:01:31. > :01:36.much of this is true. Did the conversation take place? One must
:01:37. > :01:40.assume that it did. We am not sure of the nature of the conversation.
:01:41. > :01:46.One thing is clear. Ever since the President came to power, he has
:01:47. > :01:52.talked about America first, a policy of bringing manufacturing and jobs
:01:53. > :02:00.back to America, making that point. We have seen companies court favour
:02:01. > :02:03.by trying to do more in terms of manufacturing in America, whether
:02:04. > :02:07.that was part of the conversation we don't know. We have an Apple but
:02:08. > :02:12.fall, they have signalled that they want to start a billion dollar fund
:02:13. > :02:20.to promote manufacturing jobs in the US. How might this be carried out?
:02:21. > :02:25.Obviously, costs will spike. Where will they be passed on to?
:02:26. > :02:31.Consumers? That is the fear, that if you start making in America, is it
:02:32. > :02:35.more expensive to manufacture here? There are reasons when companies are
:02:36. > :02:40.making decisions about where their customers are, where the biggest
:02:41. > :02:43.profits while. Those are the considerations that go into planning
:02:44. > :02:50.the location of a factory. The horizons for business leaders are
:02:51. > :02:53.not usually just the next year, but five or ten years, given the scale
:02:54. > :03:01.of investment required. We have already heard that one of the parts
:03:02. > :03:06.suppliers for the iPhone has talked about opening a plant in the US. How
:03:07. > :03:11.much of that is driven by business, how much is driven by considerations
:03:12. > :03:17.elsewhere, political concerns and so on, we are not quite sure. It is
:03:18. > :03:24.worth noting that, if we look at the iPhone, and the US is certainly one
:03:25. > :03:28.of the biggest markets, China being an Ottawan, but there are concerns
:03:29. > :03:33.in China that it is perhaps starting to fall behind. Gambling in Macau
:03:34. > :03:46.has helped to lift revenue at resorts, however the US's company 's
:03:47. > :03:56.revenues were down slightly. One company rose at 7% to -- compared to
:03:57. > :04:01.last year. They are the largest casino hub in the world. We also
:04:02. > :04:05.have quarterly earnings being released later from Nintendo. The
:04:06. > :04:14.question is what the moneyspinner will be for Nintendo. They launched
:04:15. > :04:27.a new day in in March, and they have sold 2.7 million units worldwide. In
:04:28. > :04:31.comparison, Xbox sold over 3 million, that was in the first month
:04:32. > :04:39.of their launch. Nintendo says they hope to sell 10 million more
:04:40. > :04:43.switchers in March. They are having some issues with production. Earlier
:04:44. > :04:48.I spoke to an analyst in Taipei and I asked whether that will impact
:04:49. > :04:59.earnings. They are in a great place, revenue and earnings will be up.
:05:00. > :05:04.They had big losses in 2013. Why? They had a product that was a big
:05:05. > :05:10.failure. In contrast, the Switch is doing quite well. We heard earlier
:05:11. > :05:19.that demand and supply for the switch could not quite meet up with
:05:20. > :05:27.production. What could that effect in terms of revenue? They have a
:05:28. > :05:34.contract manufacturer for their products, last year, they based
:05:35. > :05:39.their demands on numbers that were quite low. Right now they have a
:05:40. > :05:45.good problem, to manage demands, not enough supply. Next quarter, they
:05:46. > :05:52.will try to build up inventories, and they will also build sales in
:05:53. > :06:05.the lead up to Black Friday and Christmas. Now, the shoe company
:06:06. > :06:11.Jimmy Choo has been purchased by Michael Kors. Jimmy Choo has been
:06:12. > :06:16.purchased by many celebrities, however is struggling after Ray
:06:17. > :06:22.series of heavy discounts. We got more information on the deal. It may
:06:23. > :06:28.have an impact on the company, Michael Kors. The main point is that
:06:29. > :06:33.Michael Kors wants to sell more in Asia. European brands have a lot of
:06:34. > :06:37.cachet in Asia. If you have a European brand that is associated
:06:38. > :06:44.with luxury, that is one way of expanding your sales. In Europe,
:06:45. > :06:50.they are perhaps not quite as ship as they were. European brands in
:06:51. > :06:53.China, the big growth market with a rising middle class, that is where
:06:54. > :07:02.it is that. They want to double sales in Asia. Britain is hitting
:07:03. > :07:14.the brakes on petrol and diesel vehicles. The government plans to
:07:15. > :07:22.introduce new cars powered by fossil -- wants to ban cars powered by
:07:23. > :07:26.fossil fuels by 2040 in an attempt to reduce pollution. It follows an
:07:27. > :07:31.announcement earlier this month by the French government. Staying with
:07:32. > :07:35.that topic, we have got carmakers who are rethinking their strategy on
:07:36. > :07:42.hybrid cars after the introduction of the GST. Hybrid vehicles are
:07:43. > :07:46.being charged as high as 43%, compared to an earlier rate of 29%.
:07:47. > :07:57.Many companies are worried that the tax will drive hybrid cars out of
:07:58. > :08:00.the market altogether. We spoke to one of the biggest carmakers,
:08:01. > :08:14.Siddiqi, to get an opinion on the matter. I think it is something
:08:15. > :08:27.which requires less tax -- Suzuki. We need a new policies for hybrid
:08:28. > :08:35.cars. At this point in time, electric cars don't have customers
:08:36. > :08:42.to purchase them. The movement towards electric cars and the
:08:43. > :08:47.electric -- electrification of transport makes a lot of sense. But
:08:48. > :08:54.we need customers who are willing to buy them. Global alliances between
:08:55. > :08:59.Suzuki and Toyota, how is this going to play out, particularly in India?
:09:00. > :09:05.They want to access the Indian market, which gives them the
:09:06. > :09:11.potential for using these new technologies. On a much larger scale
:09:12. > :09:16.than it would be possible anywhere else. The Toyota partnership with
:09:17. > :09:24.Suzuki is going to be of great interest and value to us here,
:09:25. > :09:32.because I think that helps both Suzuki and Toyota. Looking ahead,
:09:33. > :09:40.how do you see the Indian car market panning out? I think not the major
:09:41. > :09:46.towns, but the slightly smaller towns, they are very underserviced
:09:47. > :09:54.in terms of cars. You would not get to the level of China, 24 million
:09:55. > :09:58.cars in China, I don't think we have the infrastructure to support that.
:09:59. > :10:02.And I think we should get to 10 million cars and. Do you think that
:10:03. > :10:14.is good enough to sustain the market? You have more than ten
:10:15. > :10:20.manufacturers in the country, and no foreign manufacturers. People make
:10:21. > :10:25.investments in India. Creating a market, which allows long-term
:10:26. > :10:31.investments to grow. I think people can still succeed here. It can be
:10:32. > :10:41.treated as a short term quarterly result market. A quick look at the
:10:42. > :10:46.markets. And that is it for this edition of World -- Asia Business
:10:47. > :10:51.Report.