:00:00. > :00:00.that uncertainty over Brexit has hit high-street spending and business
:00:00. > :00:16.Now, all the latest business in Singapore.
:00:17. > :00:25.Tour to reverse its earnings. Will profits be next to roll off the
:00:26. > :00:31.assembly line? And we size up the petition as Amazon dies into the
:00:32. > :00:39.already crowded Southeast Asian e-commerce market. Good morning,
:00:40. > :00:45.welcome to Asian business report live from Singapore with me, Marika
:00:46. > :00:52.Oi. Our top story, Toyota is due to release its earnings this afternoon.
:00:53. > :00:57.The focus is also on media reports that Toyota and Mazda will announce
:00:58. > :01:03.a $1.6 billion assembly plant in the US later today according to The Wall
:01:04. > :01:07.Street Journal. Toyota was the only Japanese carmaker which saw its
:01:08. > :01:11.sales rise in the most important market, the United States, in the
:01:12. > :01:17.month of July. Its smaller rivals struggled in the US but Honda posted
:01:18. > :01:26.strong results next with cheap Japanese yen and solid demand in
:01:27. > :01:34.Asia. Not as good for Nissan which reported a sharp drop in profit. One
:01:35. > :01:39.analyst told me why Honda is doing much better than the others. There
:01:40. > :01:44.are some earnings in the United States which have been very weak
:01:45. > :01:48.across-the-board soap Honda as well is Nissan did seek a very weak
:01:49. > :01:55.market sales in the United States. The things which Honda did well is
:01:56. > :01:58.the motorcycle business and earnings and profitability from motorcycles
:01:59. > :02:03.did improve quite a bit in this first quarter, partly because they
:02:04. > :02:09.had serious damage in the first quarter last year as a result of the
:02:10. > :02:13.earthquake. In the case of Nissan, they do not have any motorcycle
:02:14. > :02:18.business and their US sales have been so, so. In terms of
:02:19. > :02:23.profitability, we did see a big dip in the United States in this first
:02:24. > :02:29.quarter so as far as automobiles are concerned, not so much of a
:02:30. > :02:35.difference between Honda and Nissan. I want to ask you about Takata which
:02:36. > :02:40.provides seatbelts and airbags. Takata recently filed for bankruptcy
:02:41. > :02:43.and it's been making headlines for all the wrong reasons and Japanese
:02:44. > :02:53.carmakers have been affected by it. Will that continue affecting those
:02:54. > :03:00.automakers? The worst is over. As far as the losses associated with
:03:01. > :03:04.this recall, it's was almost reported last you buy this Japanese
:03:05. > :03:09.car makers so we're not really expecting so much of a continuous
:03:10. > :03:15.damage from this deal, even though having said that, there still seems
:03:16. > :03:20.to be class-action cases in the United States going on and there
:03:21. > :03:34.might be some legal impact out of this class action case. Especially
:03:35. > :03:37.Honda, Toyota, Nissan. Ridesharing service Uber has apologised to be
:03:38. > :03:41.using recall Honda vessels in Singapore that had not been
:03:42. > :03:46.repaired. The Wall Street Journal says Uber was aware of the fact --
:03:47. > :03:52.the defects and rented them to drivers. Our report has been
:03:53. > :03:57.monitoring the story. Uber has acknowledged in a statement to the
:03:58. > :04:00.BBC that it could have done more to avoid this problem and they have
:04:01. > :04:11.since introduced much more robust protocols. Essentially they bought
:04:12. > :04:21.more than 1000 defective cars. Some of these had been recalled last year
:04:22. > :04:25.over a faulty electrical component. And catch fire, the Vezel did. One
:04:26. > :04:30.driver had his dashboard and interior burst into flame and crack
:04:31. > :04:34.a big hole in his windshield. This was first reported by The Wall
:04:35. > :04:40.Street Journal and thankfully the driver is unhurt. This is just the
:04:41. > :04:47.latest in a long line of scandals that Uber has been facing this year
:04:48. > :04:51.so it may be a case of Uber expanding too fast, too quickly
:04:52. > :04:58.without putting proper systems in place. Amazon's entry into
:04:59. > :05:06.Singapore's tiny market last week has shone a spotlight on the island
:05:07. > :05:14.nation's driving e-commerce sector. We have been finding out more about
:05:15. > :05:17.this market. We just found out the location of the first Australian
:05:18. > :05:21.warehouse. Amazon seems to be investing a lot of money in the
:05:22. > :05:26.region, putting a lot of pressure on local competitors. This is a
:05:27. > :05:35.potential market in Southeast Asia of 600 million customers across the
:05:36. > :05:39.ASEAN area and even though these countries are a different economic
:05:40. > :05:43.stages, the prize is getting into these big markets, Indonesia,
:05:44. > :05:47.Thailand, millions of people who are getting on to their mobile phones
:05:48. > :05:51.and shopping away not nobody's business. I went on a bit of a
:05:52. > :06:01.shopping trip to find out for myself.
:06:02. > :06:06.Traditionally this is how most Singaporeans have shopped, adding to
:06:07. > :06:10.the supermarket to pick up their weekly supplies of fruit, vegetables
:06:11. > :06:14.and other groceries but the statistics show that this is
:06:15. > :06:17.changing and it's not just in Singapore. It is a pattern being
:06:18. > :06:22.observed across the Asia-Pacific region. Increasingly, people are
:06:23. > :06:27.stepping out of the shops and doing their shopping on line. By some
:06:28. > :06:33.estimates, e-commerce in Southeast Asia is currently thought to be
:06:34. > :06:39.worth some $55 billion. By 2025, that will shoot up to more than $80
:06:40. > :06:44.billion. And these are just conservative figures. Which is why
:06:45. > :06:49.US on line retail giant Amazon decided to make its Singapore debut
:06:50. > :06:53.last month with this 100,000 square feet facility. We know that
:06:54. > :06:58.Singapore consumers are busy, they love convenience and really,
:06:59. > :07:02.consumers would love the idea of having a range of products available
:07:03. > :07:07.and make don't want to or can't make a trip, this is where they come. But
:07:08. > :07:15.Singapore is just an entry point and it's a crowded market. Meet
:07:16. > :07:20.Rosalita, who was a housewife and get paid to do it for others. She
:07:21. > :07:26.works for a Singapore e-commerce firm. The reason why South East Asia
:07:27. > :07:31.is attractive today is because everywhere else is slowing down. The
:07:32. > :07:35.collection of different Southeast Asian states are accelerating the
:07:36. > :07:40.growth, be it Indonesia or Thailand or the Philippines. There is a lot
:07:41. > :07:52.of competition. The biggest player is China's Alibaba, which owns
:07:53. > :07:55.Lazada. There are dozens of other players vying for space across the
:07:56. > :08:01.region but they will not all survived. We will expect
:08:02. > :08:08.consolidation of next year, to compete with a lot of the bigger
:08:09. > :08:12.players. But for those employed in the Southeast Asian e-commerce
:08:13. > :08:15.space, time are good, for now at least and for customers, well, a
:08:16. > :08:21.little competition can be a good thing.
:08:22. > :08:36.Do you like to go fast because Elon Musk's last transportation system
:08:37. > :08:41.could be sent a reality. Hyperloop One what in the Nevada desert reach
:08:42. > :09:26.speeds of up to 650 kilometres an hour. This is the beginning and the
:09:27. > :09:30.dawn of a new era of transportation, the first new major former trust the
:09:31. > :09:34.patient in 100 years and it sounds incredible, it's the future, it is
:09:35. > :09:39.the sound of the future and it's going to basically change the way we
:09:40. > :09:42.live, where we work and make the world a much smaller place and turn
:09:43. > :10:02.cities into Metro stops. Let's show you the markets before we
:10:03. > :10:08.go because all markets you are trading lower. Japan is down under
:10:09. > :10:12.0.5%, mainly the case of the Japanese yen which has been quite
:10:13. > :10:16.strong against the US dollar. Overnight in the US, will be -- Wall
:10:17. > :10:22.Street fell slightly after the blue-chip index hit a new all-time
:10:23. > :10:26.high on Thursday. That's if this of Asia Business Report. We will be
:10:27. > :10:30.back next hour. Thank you for watching.