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Toyota 2000 ECHO

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United Traders Syndicate (P) Ltd. (UTS) has launched into the Nepali market two models of small cars from Toyota – Toyota 2000 ECHO, which are claimed to be amazingly fuel efficient.

First launched in Europe in March 1999 as Toyota Yaris, and later in other countries as Toyota ECHO, the new vehicles are ECHO 1.0L Hatch Back and ECHO 1.3L Sedan. The claimed per 100 Km fuel efficiency ratio for the former is 5 litres of petrol and for the latter 5.9 litres of petrol. The secret is said to be the VVT-I engine that was originally developed for Toyota’s luxury car-Lexus.

Winner of the coveted Europe’s "Car of the year 2000’ award announced in November 1999, ECHO/YARIS is available only in Nepal in whole of South Asia. "Even Thailand hasn’t got it yet. This shows the commitment of Toyota to give Nepal the latest," says Suraj Vaidya, President of UTS, the sole distributor of Toyota in Nepal for more than three decades.

Nama & Swear in Kathmandu

Jockey, a showroom and distributor of Jockey products for the last one year, has launched ‘Nama & Swear’ range of
casual wears into the Kathmandu market and also in Pokhara and Biratnager.

Available in Jockey showroom at Dharmapath, the new brand of casual wears are the products of Nama & Swear Garments, a recently established garment manufacturer of India that also produces other garments including trousers, underweaks, jackets, shirts etc.

Priced between Rs. 350 to Rs. 1,500, the products of Nama & Swear are especially targetted to the young generation, both male & female, according to the showroom people.

High-tech Fridge

ATC EXIM (P) Ltd. has introduced Samsung brand’s twin cooling system refrigerators in the Nepali market.

Available at present in SR-S 25 FTA model with 24.4 cu.ft. capacity, the fridges are said to be based on a system that Samsung developed in 1995. As compared to a single evaporator in conventional fridges, Samsung’s new fridges have separate evaporators for freezers and refrigerators. Ideal temperature for a freezer is-18°C and for the refrigerator 3°C. Therefore ‘having a single evaporator is very inefficient’, says a Samsung catalogue.

ACT Exim has been dealing in South Korea’s Samsung brand of electronic goods for several years in Nepal.

Drugs for Depression

Asian Pharmaceuticals, a one-year-old Nepali drug manufacturer, has recently launched some eleven psychotropic
drugs to become the first to manufacture such products in Nepal, it is learnt.

Asian Pharmaceuticals manufactures some 40 different drugs in its own factory at Rupandehi, according to Shankar Ghimire, executive director of the company.

The recently introduced drugs include anti-convulsant, anti-Parkinson’s, anti-depressant, anti-psychotic, and antivlytic, says Ghimire. These drugs, especially meant for depression and epilepsy, are retailed at prices between Rs. 0.80-3.00.

According to Ghimire, Asian Pharmaceuticals has been acknowledged by the Department of Drug Administration as a company to meet the standards of Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) set by World Health Organization (WHO). Besides these, the company has also introduced some 14 new brands of drugs in Nepal.

Water Pump with a Difference

Jaya Trading (P) Ltd. has launched into the Kathmandu market electric water pumps
manufactured by Mitsubishi Electric of Japan.

According to chairman of Jaya Trading, Akhil K. Chapagain, the main selling point of the water pump is that it cuts the necessity of having to install a water storage tank at the roof of the house. Because once the water pump is set-up to the storage tank at the ground floor, it will automatically begin to pump water into any tap that is turned on at any floor of the house. The pump will shut off once the tap is turned off, explains Chapagain.

The pump also boasts of thermal protection-which means that the pump will automatically shut off whenever the motor becomes overheated. Durability and rust-resistance are other features of the Mitsubishi water pump, say company sources.

The pump is priced between Rs. 12,000 and Rs. 20,000 depending on its capacity.