Mumbai: General Motors India has launched the CNG version of Chevrolet Aveo mid-size sedan. It is a bi-fuel vehicle with a full-size petrol tank that is one of the most environmentally-friendly cars available in India. Aveo CNG has a range of 180-200 km on a full tank of CNG and is BS-IV compliant.”
chevrolet-aveo
The Hindu (Web & Print Edition)
New Delhi: Michigan-headquartered global auto major Ford Motor Company will soon enter India’s fast-growing commercial vehicle market through its wholly owned subsidiary Ford India. The company is in the last phase of firming up its plans and an announcement is expected in the next few months.
According to sources, the company would bring its light and medium-duty trucks in the sub 5-tonne category to India in the first phase.“Ford has mega plans for Indian commercial vehicle market and the company is already in the last leg of strategising its approach for the Indian market. A formal announcement is expected in the next few months,” a source privy to the company’s plans told FE.
The source said as a part of the company’s strategy to penetrate every segment of the Indian automobile market, Ford India has identified the country’s commercial vehicle space as the next growth driver. “Ford is attempting to be in every segment…after its small car Figo has received a good response they now want to enter newer segments in which they already have an expertise globally,” he added.
When contacted, Ford India’s spokesperson said, “This is pure speculation and there are no such plans. We continue to explore opportunities within passenger vehicle segment to bring products that our consumers desire and want”.
Ford’s plans to enter the commercial vehicle segment got crystallised months after its US-rival GM announced tie-up with China’s top automaker SAIC to produce cars and light commercial vehicles for India.
In fact, GM India has already lined up an investment of $100 million for manufacturing LCVs from its Halol plant in Gujarat. The GM-SAIC LCVs are slated to hit the Indian roads next year.
Yezdi Nagporewalla, head of automotive at KPMG, said, “Any new entrant should initially identify a less crowded segment to make a dent. It’s also a question of the new entrant’s ability to bring global models into India at the right price.” Another analyst who did not wish to be quoted said, “Ford is a key player as far as CV segment is concerned. Now that the Indian market is growing so rapidly it makes commercial sense for Ford to tap this space”.
At present, the country’s light commercial vehicle space is dominated by the likes of Tata Motors and Ashok Leyland. In fact earlier this year the most successful mini-truck of Tata Motors, the Ace crossed total sales of 1 lakh plus units. In June the total LCV sales (including passenger carriers) were 30,116 units.
Auto industry body, the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers, has forecast a growth of 26-27% at over 3.17 lakh units for the light commercial vehicle space in India for the current fiscal year. The medium and heavy commercial vehicle space is pegged to grow 10-11% at 2.2 lakh units.
Following the big response of its small car Figo the company has started a second shift of production at Maraimalainagar, near Chennai. The total capacity is in excess of 2 lakh units.
Ronojoy Banerjee
The Financial Express (Web & Print Edition)
New Delhi: With many carmakers planning new products for the crowded, yet ever-popular A2 small car segment, Fiat India said on Friday that it plans a new compact car in the Rs 3-4 lakh range, which will probably have a one-litre engine.
Expected to compete with cars such as Hyundai Santro, Maruti Suzuki A-Star and Chevrolet Spark, the new car will be launched by 2012 and may later have an option of both petrol and diesel engines.
Mr Rajeev Kapoor, President and CEO, Fiat India Automobiles Ltd (FIAL), told Business Line, “We’re looking to launch a new small car developed by the Indian R&D team by 2012, which will be positioned below the Punto. It’s still being finalised, but will probably have a one-litre engine and will compete with cars like the Santro in the Rs 3-4 lakh range. We’re considering both diesel and petrol options.”
Italian automaker Fiat’s plans to actively enter the lower end of the A2 segment, follows similar announcements by several other carmakers. Hyundai is said to be considering a small car positioned even below the Santro, while both Honda and Toyota plan to launch new small cars by next year.
Company officials also said that the company is considering bringing the Bravo premium hatchback as a CBU, since the exchange rates of the euro versus the rupee are more in favour now.
Grande Punto
Fiat India has also launched the “sporty” 90 hp Grande Punto, thereby expanding its range in the premium hatchback segment to 10 variants.
Priced at Rs 6.79 lakh (in Delhi), the top-end Punto variant features airbags, ABS, automatic climate control, besides an accessory pack with options which includes rear spoiler, chrome exhaust tip, body decals, leather seat covers and aluminium pedals. It will be available in five colours.
Roudra Bhattacharya
The Hindu Business Line (Web & Print Edition)
Mumbai: Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) is looking to do a Nano by rolling out the country’s first sub Rs 5-lakh sports-utility vehicle a compact version of the Xylo — this year, two people familiar with the development said.
The country’s largest utility vehicle maker is quietly working on introducing a mini version of the Xylo in the Rs 4.5-5 lakh range, or 35-40% cheaper than the existing base model, by 2011, they said on condition of anonymity.
The company hopes to achieve this by shortening the length of the vehicle to within four metres so it attracts a lower excise duty of 10% compared to 22% for bigger cars and utility vehicles, they said. Mahindra & Mahindra officials declined to comment.
If it manages to bring down the Xylo’s price to less than Rs 5 lakh, the SUV will enter a price band that accounts for 60% of the country’s car sales and directly compete with compact cars such as the Maruti Suzuki WagonR, A-Star, Hyundai Santro, i10, GM Beat, Ford Figo, Fiat Punto and Tata Indica.
When it launched the Xylo in January 2009, M&M wanted the vehicle to challenge mid-level sedans, or three-box cars. Now it wants the mini Xylo to take on mid-level hatchbacks, or compact cars.
The compact Xylo will sport a much smaller engine than the 2.5-litre diesel engine that powers the vehicle now and Mahindra is yet to decide on the number of seats in the new vehicle, said one person close to the development.
Compact SUV market is an untapped segment in India where the only available vehicle is the recently launched Rio, a 5-seater SUV marketed by Premier. It uses body parts from a Chinese auto company Zotye and is priced in a range of Rs 5.6-6 lakh. Premier has sold around 200 Rios since January 2010. Compact Xylo will mark the entry of a big player into this segment.
Meanwhile, M&M is also planning to launch a micro-hybrid version of the Xylo before the year-end. The Mumbai-based automaker will also be introducing the Xylo in several overseas markets in the next few months.
The Xylo, which is the most ambitious project of M&M after the Scorpio, is currently priced in the range of Rs 7.57 lakh to Rs 9.69 lakh (ex-showroom Mumbai). It is produced on the same assembly line as the Scorpio.
While the company does not release product-wise sales, M&M’s sales of utility vehicles, including Scorpio, Xylo, Bolero and pick-ups, slipped 3.6% year-on-year in June 2010 at 17,010. The company blamed constraints in supply of critical components for this. Cumulative utility vehicle sales during January-June stood at 53,948 units, up 11% year-on-year.
“Copyright © 2010, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved”
Lijee Philip
The Economic Times (Web & Print Edition)
New Delhi: Nissan Motors India has launched the Micra in New Delhi, thereby marking its entrance into the small car segment. Bookings had been opened on 25 May and the response was pretty encouraging for the company.
The Micra will be sold in three variants XE (3.98 lakh), XL (4.69 lakh)& XV (5.29 lakh) and will be priced between Rs 3.98 lakh and Rs 5.29 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi). The car has a 1.2 litre petrol engine and develops 75bhp. It is the first car in the small segment to offer driver airbag as standard on the basic variant also. The basic variant also sports a drive computer and tilt adjustable steering.
The car will be manufactured at Nissan’s plant in Chennai. The company has worked hard towards localizing the content in order to keep the prices competitive. The result seems to be very good for Nissan as they have managed to achieve about 85% localization for the Micra, one of the highest among the competition.
At the first glimpse the design exudes freshness and should find good favour among the young generation. The centre console too has a unique design and will appeal to the young buyers. Deliveries are expected to begin soon after the launch.
New Delhi: The premium sedan market is set to see more competition with Toyota gearing up to launch a diesel version of its Altis car this month. The Altis currently comes with a petrol engine and Toyota hopes to corner a higher share of this fast-growing segment with the diesel version.
“We are currently averaging between 750 and 800 cars monthly with the petrol Altis and the diesel variant is expected to give a further boost to our market share,” Sandeep Singh, deputy MD (marketing) at Toyota Kirloskar Motors, said.
The premium sedan market, that ranges between Rs 10 lakh and Rs 15 lakh, has models like Honda Civic, Chevrolet Cruze, Skoda Laura and Volkswagen Jetta. While the segment was badly hit last year due to economic slowdown, it is seeing healthy times again and now growing by around 30%. Monthly sales in the category average around 3000 units and it is expected to gather pace with growing economy and rising disposable income.
The share of diesel version in the premium sedan segment has been rising steadily, especially after the launch of Cruze by GM last year. The Cruze has been selling around 800 units monthly and GM hopes to maintain its hold on the segment despite the launch of the diesel Altis. “The overall package on the Cruze is compelling and we are confident of maintaining our numbers. The diesel Altis will help expand the segment further,” said Ankush Arora, the sales and marketing Head for General Motors in India.
Singh said the diesel version — with a 1.4-liter turbocharged engine — would see monthly numbers for the Altis going up to around 1100 units. “While we expect the diesel to sell more than petrol in the first few months, the ratio is expected to stabilise and stay equal later.” he said.
The petrol Altis is currently available between Rs 10 lakh and Rs 14 lakh in Delhi (ex-showroom price) and the diesel will come at a premium. The new variant is expected to be high on fuel efficiency and Toyota hopes to get a mileage with this.
“Copyright © 2010, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved”
New Delhi: Harley-Davidson has launched its first Indian dealership as it pitches the “freedom of the open road” in a nation with some of the world’s most congested traffic, the US company said Saturday.
Harley-Davidson, the iconic heavyweight motorcycle maker, launched its first outlet in the southern city of Hyderabad on Friday and plans to open more across the country, the company said in an emailed statement.
“We look forward to initiating a new era of motorcycling,” said Anoop Prakash, managing director of Harley-Davidson India.
The Milwaukee-based company, whose brand was made famous in the movie “Easy Rider”, is using the slogan “Hear the Roar!”.
Prakash said bike is well suited for Indian roads due to its weight and hulking design, adding that the company plans to launch in other cities before the end of the year, including capital New Delhi and financial hub Mumbai.
But while India is the world’s second-largest motorcycle market, most sales are of small, inexpensive bikes that can weave through traffic in India’s clogged cities easier than a 1500cc Harley “Fat Boy”.
India does have open roads outside the large cities but many are potholed and make for less than easy riding.
The bikes, which loyal riders affectionately nickname Hogs, are made in the United States and shipped to India where they face hefty custom duties.
The cost of the bikes in India start at 695,000 rupees (14,917 dollars) and range up to 3,495,000 rupees, said a spokeswoman.
Moving into India is part of Harley Davidson’s strategy to break into emerging markets as its customers in developed markets are ageing.
The company, which cites the lure of India’s rapidly growing economy and rising middle class, is launching 12 variants of the bikes in the country.
New Delhi: The country’s largest carmaker, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd, has for the first time in more than 25 years registered a slip in its marketshare to below 50 per cent in sales for the first six months of this year. Maruti’s share in the passenger car market stands at 47 per cent, a drop of over 6 percentage points in the last one year.
While the reasons for this decline are many, it may mean the beginning of a challenging period for the carmaker that is famed for selling every second car in the country.
In the last six months, new entrants like Tata Nano, Ford Figo and Chevrolet Beat have expanded the car market, reducing Maruti’s size in the pie even as it continued to post robust growth. Though companies often lose marketshare on a monthly basis due to their maintenance schedules, this is the lowest-ever marketshare for the company in a six-month period.
“The small car segment is expanding very fast and it is not surprising if one player loses some marketshare for the other,” said Abdul Majeed, auto practice leader, Pricewater-houseCoopers. “Going forward, with so many new entrants coming in, it will be very difficult for any player to retain such a high marketshare.”
Though the Tata Nano has not taken the market by storm, its impact is already visible. Largely on the back of the world’s cheapest car, Tata Motors saw its marketshare go up to 14.8 per cent. American car majors Ford and GM have also benefited from the success of their small cars and are now emerging as serious competitors in the domestic car market.
“The market continues to show robust demand and MSIL has shown consistently improved sales performance month after month,” a Maruti spokesperson said. “Almost all our models have a waiting period at the dealerships and our sales are constrained by capacity issues. We are rationalising and de-bottlenecking at our plants to manufacture more cars.
“We have recently announced capacity expansion by 2.5 lakh units which will be in place by 2012,” the spokesperson added.
Though Maruti has always maintained that it will not enter the Nano segment, retaining a marketshare of 50 per cent has been a prime target. Suzuki Chairman Osamu Suzuki has said in the past that he would like Maruti to command half of the car market in India forever.
With Nissan and Toyota also looking to increase their foothold by introducing their small cars — Micra and Etios — in the near future, the task is even more challenging.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/News-Feed/auto/Rivals-outpace-Maruti/Article1-569421.aspx
New Delhi: Maruti Suzuki is gearing up to launch an expensive variant of its largest-selling car, Alto, next month.
Maruti Suzuki Alto
The new avatar will sport a 1000cc, K-series engine, which is expected to be more powerful and fuel efficient. The existing Alto comes with a 800cc engine.
The 1 litre version is expected to be come at a “significant” price premium to the existing car. At present, the Alto’s certified mileage is 19.7 kmpl, but the new car is expected to give over 20 kmpl.
The Tata Nano is the most fuel-efficient car in India at present, with a mileage of 23.6 kmpl. But the Nano is also much lighter than the Alto. How much better fuel efficiency is offered in the new Alto remains to be seen.
In Mumbai, the Alto Standard comes for about Rs 2.43 lakh whereas the top end variant costs about Rs 2.75 lakh (ex-showroom Mumbai). In all probability, the new Alto’s top variant would cross the Rs 3-lakh mark.
When contacted, a Maruti Suzuki spokesperson declined to comment for this story.
Industry watchers are keen to see how the sales of the new Alto and the existing Alto – which is not being phased out as of now — will together impact sales of the A-Star. The Maruti A-Star comes between Rs 3.7-3.96 (ex-showroom Mumbai) and was initially seen as eating into Alto’s market share.
Some industry veterans expect brand Alto sales to jump by about 50% after the new variant is introduced. In May this year, Maruti sold 25,000 Alto cars and sales have averaged 20,000 units for several years now.
Industry sources say that Maruti is also simultaneously developing a stripped down Alto, trying to bring it closer to the price levels of the M800. The company is seeking to retain its A1 market share, which has suffered after the M800 was withdrawn from 13 top cities.
The company has already been working with vendors on the ‘one gram, one component’ principle -the weight of each component used in making a car is being reduced by a gram. This, coupled with other cost saving techniques, could well bring down the price of this ‘cost down’ Alto rather close to the base version of the M800 or even within striking distance of the Nano.
http://www.dnaindia.com/money/report_maruti-cranks-up-best-seller-alto_1406786
New Delhi: German carmaker Volkswagen on Tuesday said that it is open to jointly developing products with Maruti Suzuki India, as part of its efforts to achieve synergy with Suzuki Motor Corp at the global level.
The company, which picked up 19.9 per cent stake in the Suzuki Motor Corp (SMC) for USD 2.5 billion last year, said that independent projects currently being pursued by the two firms in Germany and Japan are being evaluated for market suitability.
“There will (be) some projects which will hit the Indian market. Let’s wait and see,” Volkswagen (VW) management board member Christian Klingler told PTI.
Asked if there is a possibility of VW jointly developing products with Maruti Suzuki India (MSI), he said: “Of course, there is a possibility of developing products together, (but) I cannot confirm it.”
“We are in the face of really exciting opportunities and we really want to come out when the projects have a certain degree of realisation. So let us give it some time,” he added
Klingler said that the Indian market may play an important role in VW’s global partnership with Suzuki. “The partnership with Suzuki is not an Indian partnership. It is a global partnership and, of course, an important part could be played (by) the Indian market,” he stated.
He said that the partnership between VW and Suzuki is all about leveraging on each other’s strengths. “Suzuki is very strong in the Asian market, including India and Japan. They have knowledge in the small car segment, which is pretty unique. They make small cars and make money. Lot of manufacturers make small cars, but they don’t make money,” Klingler said.
“Suzuki (also) has lot of interest on the technologies that we have,” the VW board member added.
He said there would be a lot of synergy between the firms in many areas, such as utilising MSI’s supplier base. “There are lot of discussions going on about synergies and one synergy could be at the suppliers’ level as well,” Klingler added.
Officials of MSI and VW India were understood to have met in May to explore synergies in production and vehicle design.
Klingler said that VW is also looking at increasing sourcing of components from India for its global operations.
A new entrant in India, VW is yet to gain firm ground. It had started production from its Chakan plant this year, at an investment of Rs 3,500 crore. The plant has an annual capacity of 1,10,000 cars.
In contrast, MSI is the largest brand in the country, accounting for over 55 per cent of its 15-lakh unit car market.
The Japanese company is also ramping up its R&D division by investing around Rs 1,500 crore in an upcoming centre at Rohtak, to be used for developing cars for India as well as the ASEAN region. This would be SMC’s largest R&D centre outside Japan.