Automobile

The worst may be over for the struggling auto sector that is expected to see some improvement from the second half of the next year, with a likely fall in interest rates and deferred purchases materialising into better sales, says a report.

“While an immediate upturn in the auto industry is not expected, the worst may be behind us. Expectations of improvement in economic environment from the second half of 2014 along with potential interest rate cuts are likely to provide support to auto sales in the year ahead,” global research firm Dun & Bradstreet said in a note.

Leaving two bad years for two-wheeler sector behind, things should at least change for better by turn of this year.

“The inflation and fluctuating petrol prices have taken the toll of growth of two-wheeler sector in India for the last two years, even as growth remained stagnant this year,” Shyam Sundar Narayan, Marketing Manager, 2-wheelers, Bajaj Auto, Pune, said.

With slight improvement in market sentiments, the next year should be comparatively good, Narayan, here to showcase Pulsar, through Pulsar Stuntmania, said.

Auto-maker General Motors has introduced a 24×7 roadside assistance programme for the benefit of its customers.

According to the roadside assistance programme, support would be provided for mechanical or electrical breakdown, battery drain, tyre problems among others.

The service would be available for existing Chevrolet owners at Rs 1,000 for one year,and Rs 2,700 for three years under warranty, the release added.

German carmaker Audi announced Friday that it would invest an additional 22 billion euros (about $30 billion) in next five years for new models and technologies and increase employment worldwide.

The Ingolstadt-based manufacturer said in a statement that the new investment would be made between 2014 and 2018. About 70 percent of the money would be put into model range expansion and new technologies, Xinhua reported.

“With this investment programme we are launching our next stage of growth,” said Axel Strotbek, member of the Board of Management of Audi AG for Finance and Organisation.

A combination of factors – the general economic slowdown, high interest rates and increasing fuel prices – affected the Indian automobile industry to a large extent, resulting in a slide in sales volumes this calendar year.

There were however exceptions like the scooter and tractor sectors that bucked the general downward trend, industry officials and research analysts said.

German carmaker Volkswagen said it has no plans to discontinue the sale of its current generation super luxury sedan Passat in the Indian market.

The company is working on the next generation model of Passat, which will be rolled out in the Indian market at a suitable time, it said.

“We, at Volkswagen, continue to sell the current generation of the Passat through our dealer network,” Volkswagen India said in a statement here.

C K Birla group company Hindustan Motors (HM) has drawn up plans for restructuring of the company which was suffering from poor cash flow due to lack of vehicle sales.

“HM remains fully committed to its revival plan. Slowdown in the economy, especially in the auto sector has affected the company too. In addition, we have had operational challenges in terms of cash flow problems for the company. Under these circumstances, it is becoming extremely challenging to manage daily operations,” company’s MD & CEO Uttam Bose said.

A combination of factors – the general economic slowdown, high interest rates and increasing fuel prices – affected the Indian automobile industry to a large extent, resulting in a slide in sales volumes this calendar year.

There were however exceptions like the scooter and tractor sectors that bucked the general downward trend, industry officials and research analysts said.

Tatra trucks, over which there was a controversy, are likely to make a comeback into the Indian armed forces as the government is now planning to procure the vehicles directly from the company manufacturing them instead of buying through agent firms.

One of the agent companies selling the Tatra trucks to the Indian Army had come under cloud after former Army chief Gen V K Singh alleged that he was offered a Rs 14-crore bribe to clear a file related to the procurement of these vehicles, prompting the government to order a CBI probe into the issue.

As the going gets tougher in the Indian auto industry, Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) is driving into the rural markets to boost sales. The company, which devised aplan to tap rural markets five years ago, is planning to have presence in a total of one lakh villages across the country by March next year.

Toyota Motor Corp. has announced that its subsidiary Toyota Auto Body Co. will race in the 2014 Dakar Rally with biodiesel-powered SUV.

According to the Japan Times, the team will compete in the world’s toughest motorsport event in Toyota Land Cruiser 200 that will be fueled by used cooking oil, which will emit 60 percent less carbon dioxide than regular diesel .

All the competing teams in the 5,500-km off-road rally will start in Argentina, go through Bolivia and finish in Chile. (ANI)

Toyota Motor Corp. has announced that its subsidiary Toyota Auto Body Co. will race in the 2014 Dakar Rally with biodiesel-powered SUV.

According to the Japan Times, the team will compete in the world’s toughest motorsport event in Toyota Land Cruiser 200 that will be fueled by used cooking oil, which will emit 60 percent less carbon dioxide than regular diesel.

All the competing teams in the 5,500-km off-road rally will start in Argentina, go through Bolivia and finish in Chile. (ANI)

Hyundai and its sister company Kia will pay up to 395 million dollars to U.S. consumers as part of a proposed settlement over overstated petrol mileage.

The two companies faced lawsuits after they acknowledged in November that they had overstated the fuel economy of some of its vehicles.

According to news.com.au, the companies have offered to make annual payments to owners to cover added costs for petrol and to acknowledge the inconvenience.

Hyundai would pay up to 210 million dollars and Kia up to 185 million dollars.

(ANI)

Elaborate security arrangements have been made for the 12th edition of Auto Expo-Motor Show to be held in Greater Noida from February 7, industry body Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) said today.

The week-long event will be jointly organised by SIAM, CII and Automotive Component Manufacturers Association (ACMA).

SIAM deputy director general Sugato Sen said a three-layer security system has been put in place at the venue.

The venue would be CCTV camera controlled and other necessary security equipment like scanners, metal detectors, etc would also be installed.

The four-door Rapide S, the new varient of Rapide from the stable of Aston Martin was unveiled here for the benefit of citizen of the region today.

The Rs.4.4 crore, ex-show room Mumbai, Rapide S replaces the Rapide in market worldwide, Sandeep Gupta, Assistant Sales Manager, Performance Cars, exclusive Mumbai dealers for Aston Martin, told reporters here.

The company, during its road show in various cities in the country, is targeting 10 to 15 customers each for this sports car, he said.

A drive through a long endless dark tunnel best describes the journey of India’s auto sector in 2013, during which the industry witnessed record spell of decline in sales, vehicle recalls and strikes.

In what was one of the most challenging years, adverse exchange rates, after the rupee went on a downward spiral against dollar; higher input costs and fuel prices; and government hiking excise duty on sports utility vehicles (SUVs) compounded problems for automobile companies.

Toyota Kirloskar Motor Vice Chairman Vikram Kirloskar today said it is sentiment that is preventing people from investing.

“The last 12 months for automobile sector has been a steady decline…it has been an extremely tough year, in our various sectors – especially the commercial vehicles have been hard hit.

“I think also generally in the manufacturing sector it has been a pretty hard 12 months,” Kirloskar said at an event organised to announce the 3rd edition of India Manufacturing Show in Bangalore.

Auto major Mahindra & Mahindra is stepping up expansion of its multi-brand service outlets under its wholly-owned arm Mahindra First Choice Services, with plans to have 450 centres and a turnover of Rs 1,000 crore by 2018.

MFCS, which has earmarked a total investment of Rs 250 crore, plans to add 100 centres every year through franchise route from next year.

Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg had reportedly suffered a tyre failure while driving at 200 mph during a private test for Italian tyre giants Pirelli at Bahrain.

The German’s team is among four teams, including Red Bull, Ferrari and Toro Rosso, helping Formula One supplier Pirelli with development work in the Gulf state this week. According to the BBC, Rosberg had posted on Twitter that he had ‘spun straight’ at a full speed of 320 km/h in Bahrain as his tyre blew up without warning, although the tweet was deleted within a few minutes of being posted.

An amateur Polish mechanic, who has a penchant for building replicas of supercars, has reportedly built a replica McLaren Formula One car and has put it in on the market for 45,000 NZ dollars.

General Motors India today said it will hike prices of its entire range of vehicles by up to Rs 10,000 from next month in order to partially offset impact of rising input costs.

“We plan to hike prices across our entire product portfolio by up to Rs 10,000 from January. This is due to cost pressure,” General Motors India Vice President P Balendran told PTI.

The company currently sells various vehicle brands in the country ranging from hatchback Spark to sports utility vehicle Captiva, priced between Rs 3.33 lakh and Rs 25.71 lakh, respectivley, (ex-showroom Delhi).

Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL) will increase prices of its products across all models by up to Rs 20,000 from January to offset pressure of input costs on account of rupee depreciation and inflationary trends.

The quantum of price increase will vary from Rs 5,000 to Rs 20,000 across all models, the company said in a statement.

HMIL sells a range of car models, including popular Santro, i10, sedans Verna and Sonata, in India priced between Rs 2.89 lakh and Rs 26.69 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi).

The joint venture between Ashok Leyland and Nissan in light commercial vehicles is not in a hurry for its own greenfield production plant, a senior official of Ashok Leyland said today.

Ashok Leyland executive director LCV Nitin Seth said that earlier there was delay in land acquisition, but in the high interest rate scenario and present commercial vehicle market situation, the company did not have a firm commercial production time line for the greenfield plant.

Japanese car maker Nissan plans to increase its network in India three-fold to 350 dealerships in the next three years, targeting Tier-II and Tier-III cities, to increase its presence in the market.

The company, which plans to launch the first model under the recently unveiled Datsun brand by March-April, is going ahead with a roadshow for the new product in 90 cities.

“Currently, we have 117 Nissan dealerships across the country. We are aiming to have around 350 dealerships in the next three years,” Nissan Motor India Vice President Business Management Ajay Raghuvanshi told PTI.

Auto firm Tata Motors on Friday said its global vehicle sales fell 19.91 per cent to 81,957 units in November, compared to the year-ago period.

The company had sold 1,02,337 units in the corresponding period of 2012.

Global sales of all passenger vehicles in November stood at 50,703 units, down 4.49 per cent, from 53,089 in November 2012, Tata Motors said in a statement.

Sales of luxury brand Jaguar Land Rover rose by 15.31 per cent to 39,956 units during November, as compared to 34,649 in the same month last year.