World Automobiles, Auto Guide India

Scooter India Attracts Tata And Piaggio

First, it was Mahindra and Atul Auto, which were known to have had interest in Scooters India stake. Now, its Tata and Piaggio, who are likely to join the stake buying race.

According to top officials of the Heavy Industries Ministry, Piaggio and Tata Motors feel like purchasing the 74 percent of stake in the Lucknow-based three wheeler company Scooters India, which once produced the Lamby scooters in India.

The officials further say that the four companies, Mahindra, Atul Auto, Tata and Piaggio, have already given indication that the formal Expression of Interest (EoI) can only be made after the Cabinet approval. Many companies see huge potential in SIL because they expect a strong growth from the north Indian and Uttar Pradesh markets. Click here to read more…

Suzuki planning third auto plant in India as car sales boom on healthy demand

Suzuki Motor Corp. is planning a third vehicle plant in India to keep up with burgeoning sales, the Japanese small-car maker said Monday.

The plant will be up and running, perhaps as early as 2013, at the same site as its plant in the northern town of Manesar with a yearly production capacity of 250,000 vehicles, a company official said.

Suzuki holds a controlling 54 per cent stake in Maruti Suzuki Ltd., India’s largest car maker.

Long India’s dominant car maker, Maruti Suzuki is losing market share as it faces capacity constraints and new competition from companies like Ford and Tata Motors, who have successfully launched models in Maruti Suzuki’s core small car segment. Click here to read more…

Auto sales on track, but profitability a concern

Strong sales in August and expectations of a jump in demand during the festive season saw the prices of most auto stocks move up by over two per cent last week. While Bajaj Auto and TVS Motors touched their 52-week highs on the back of a robust performance, Hero Honda has been an exception. It has posted negative returns as it was bogged down by speculation of Honda’s exit from the company.

The auto majors managed strong sales growth in August despite monsoons, capacity issues and price hikes. Going ahead, analysts estimate the sector should grow 12-15 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) for 2010-11. Given the growing demand and low inventory at distribution points, the key challenges for the companies will be to overcome capacity constraints, absorb or pass on increasing raw material costs and tackle rising interest rates.

Capacity constraints
M&M, Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors and Hero Honda are facing capacity or supply-related issues. Maruti, which is operating at full capacity, was able to achieve its highest ever monthly sales at 104,791 units by tweaking its production capacity to be able to achieve a four per cent increase in volumes over July, according to Edelweiss Securities. Despite increasing competition, the passenger car leader was able to hold its own in the A2 category with a 27 per cent y-o-y jump. Click here to read more…

HERO HONDA LAUNCHES NEW ‘SUPER SPLENDOR’

It’s been a while since two wheeler giant Hero Honda announced a new launch, and with the festive season just around the corner, the timing couldn’t have been better to usher in the new Super Splendor, which is set to further strengthen the company’s leadership in the deluxe commuter segment.

The new Super Splendor features the tried and tested 125cc mill from Hero Honda which incidentally features the Quantum Core technology. The company has also taken the liberty to add aesthetic and technological advancements to bike in order to enhance the ownership and riding experience.

The highlights of the new tech-features added to the bike include the Honda Intelligent Ignition System (HIIS), new carburetor and ACG for improved engine performance, and 5 step adjustable rear shock absorber. Click here to read more…

Dacia Duster review

Dacia’s sports utility offering is a no-frills, retro package that fails to excite, says Andrew English. Dacia is the Romanian car maker set up in 1966 with the help of Renault as Uzina de Autoturisme Piteşti, not the ancient Thracian people living around the Carpathian mountains at the time of Christ’s birth. Dacia’s unpromising early production looked more like 101 Uses For An Unwanted Renault 12, although the cars proved popular in the Eastern bloc – in 2004, after 38 years of production, the factory had turned out about 2.5 million rebadged Renaults.

Dacia was purchased by the French company in 1999 as part of then-Renault boss Louis Schweitzer’s project to build a simple, low-cost world car. The subsequent Logan used Fifties labour-intensive building techniques with modern production management. Click here to read more…

Suzuki Chairman Osamu Suzuki’s visiting India This Week

Increasingly, Indian Maruti is playing a larger and larger role in Suzuki’s global operations. In fact, fifty percent of Suzuki’s volumes and success rely on Maruti India. In the light of this, it is not surprising that India features high on Suzuki HQ’s agenda.

Now, Suzuki’s Chairman Osamu Suzuki plans to visit India this week. This is his second visit to India in 2010.

In this visit, Mr Suzuki plans to discuss and analyze various issues like rising competition, expansion plans and further inventorize the company’s operations. He also planned to attend Maruti’s AGM on Tuesday. Click here to read more…

M&M will not Retain Ssang Yong Staff post Take over

Mahindra & Mahindra has made initial announcment regarding the ailing South Korean Automaker Ssang Yong Motor Company to buy a majority stake in the company. Elaborating on the deal, M&M now confirms that it has not made any commitments post take over, implying no commitments in terms of retaining Ssang Yong Motor’s workforce or its volume growth.

Mahindra & Mahindra’s automotive and farm equipment division president Pawan Goenka says, “M&M’s MoU with SsangYong honors the current wage agreement that the company has with the unions. We will hope to grow employment as the volume grows though we have no specific commitments.”

Due to continuous strikes at the company, the company’s production and profit was poor last year. As a result, the company has cut down one-third of manpower of its 7000 workers. Click here to read more…

Maruti’s 3rd Manufacturing Plant In India in Early 2013

Maruti Suzuki has announced that the company is planning is to build a new manufacturing plant in Maneser near New Delhi with intended production kick off by 2013. The new plant will have the capacity to produce 2,50,000 units per annum.

Maruti Suzuki is already constructing an assembly plant in the same locality from 2007 onwards with targeted capacity to produce 3,00 000 units per annum. However, it is expected that this plant will come out only after 2012 spring. Due to over-demand, the company schedules the third plant’s launch before the launch of its second plant.

Currently, Maruti is manufacturing units 20 percent beyond its current capacity. Still, the demand’s trend remains up and almost all Maruti car models are under waiting list.. Click here to read more…

China regulator, researcher disagree on auto capacity

China’s top economic planner and a leading government-backed research body disagreed at an auto industry forum over whether the world’s largest auto market is facing excessive capacity after breakneck growth in 2009.

China’s top 30 auto groups are expected to have a combined vehicle capacity of 31.24 million units by the end of 2015, up from 13.95 million units as of the end of 2009, a senior official at the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) official the forum, which ended on Sunday.

Research results from other government bodies showed planned auto capacity in China’s northeast, southwest, east and south is even higher than the NDRC’s estimate, Chen Bin said, without elaborating.

Blind expansion will not only hurt the sustainable and healthy development of China’s auto industry, but also affect the country’s economy, said Chen, director of NDRC’s industry coordination department. Click here to read more…

Electric vehicles: What you need to know about home charging

You’ve reserved your electric vehicle and can’t wait to zip around town in an all-electric Nissan Leaf, plug-in Chevrolet Volt or one of the models soon to hit the road.

But choosing the EV that’s right for you is just the first step. You will need a reliable place to charge up your electric car, and for most people that means getting a charging station installed in their garage — a process likely to require a permit and signoff from your local building inspector.

Among the questions to ask yourself: What kind of home charging system does the automaker advise you to get? How many miles do you expect to drive each day? What time do you expect to start charging your car? Most important, have you told your utility company you plan to get one? Click here to read more…