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06 February, 2012 The country’s largest car-maker Maruti Suzuki will launch more diesel models to maintain its market share, which has been under pressure for months now, a top company executive has said.
“Our market share has slipped to 40 per cent in 2011. This was due to slowdown in the industry and lower sales of petrol models compared to diesel car production,” Maruti Suzuki Managing Director and Chief Executive Shinzo Nakanishi said here.
The company will now focus on producing more diesel models. The company will be able to produce 300,000 diesel engines a year through Suzuki Powertrain, a joint venture between Maruti and Suzuki Motor’s Gurgaon unit.
Maruti will also buy up to 100,000 diesel engines annually for three years from Fiat India under a pact between the Italian car-maker and Maruti’s parent Suzuki Motor Corp. This is expected to help the company produce more diesel cars, Nakanishi said.
Customer preference here is fast shifting to diesel cars as the fuel is cheaper than petrol. The shift has prompted auto-makers to introduce new diesel variants and increase production of existing variants. Players like Ford have also announced plans to invest on diesel engines.
Maruti’s Swift, Ritz, Swift DZire and SX4 models are sold with 1.3-litre diesel engines.
Meanwhile, Maruti has witnessed a turnaround in monthly sales after seven consecutive months of decline with a 5.18 per cent spike in sales to 1,15,433 units in January. It sold 1,09,743 units in the same month last year. Last December, its sales had declined by 7.1 per cent to 92,161 units.
"Following the turnaround in the auto industry, our first target will be to quickly cover growth of 10-11 per cent as we have had a negative growth of 17 per cent during the April-December, 2011, period," Nakanishi said.
Commenting on the Gujarat plant, Nakanishi said, "We have entered into an agreement for land at Mehsana, in Gujarat. The Gujarat plant will commence production only after we reach full capacity at our Manesar plant (1.8 million).

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09 November, 2011 Workers at Maruti Suzuki’s plant supplying engines for its best-selling models have deliberately slowed production to protest unsatisfactory resolution to the recent labour unrest, spelling further trouble for the country’s biggest carmaker.
Output has dropped to 60 percent at the company’s vendor Suzuki Powertrain India Ltd (SPIL), which is its sole supplier of diesel engines, since the 13-day strike ended on October 19. This means a further delay in delivery of models such as the diesel-driven Suzuki hatchback and the midsized Suzuki Dzire, the backlog for which already stretches over nine months.
The SPIL workers are peeved at the management’s failure to reinstate their three union functionaries and arrive at a final settlement to their due wage revision. SPIL is owned 70 percent by Japan’s Suzuki Motor Corp and the rest by Maruti Suzuki India.
“There have been no proactive steps from the SPIL management to speedily address workers’ issues and sort out the matter at the earliest,” Subey Singh Yadav, president of the workers’ union said.
Yadav said the pending inquiry against him and two of his colleagues is unlikely to foster trust between the management and the workers. “It’s a management-led process. Much cannot be expected in terms of transparency or impartial inquiry,” he said. The SPIL management refused to comment.
The workers say they had initially planned to continue their strike on demands of immediate reinstatement of Yadav and the others, but were swayed by management’s assurances of a lenient action. “All workers stand by the basic demand of getting back all their leaders.
The SPIL management has been apprised of the situation to settle all pending issues at the earliest,” Netra Pal Singh, who assembles engines on SPIL’s shop floor said, refusing to rule out strikes in future.
The workers at SPIL do not foresee a situation similar to Maruti Suzuki’s car plant in Manesar, where the entire team of 30 workers resigned and took severance package of at least Rs 16 lakh each last week.
The workers at the Manesar car plant had adopted a similar go-slow policy which led to a sharp decline in production to almost half, which prompted the company to enforce the Good Conduct Bond that led to the 33-day strike.
SPIL, with an annual capacity of three lakh engines and transmission, is critical to Maruti Suzuki because frequent petrol price hikes have led to a steep increase in demand for diesel-driven cars.

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29 September, 2011 Buying a diesel-run car will pinch you more from today with Delhi Government increasing the registration fee for such vehicles by 25 per cent on the existing amount.
Officials said the registration fee for low priced diesel vehicle will increase by at least Rs 6,000 while the hike could be in the range of Rs 20,000 to Rs 30,000 for high-end luxury cars as well as goods carriers.
On an average 1,200 to 1,400 vehicles are registered in the city daily, out of which around 30 per cent are diesel cars.
Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit while presenting the annual budget in March had proposed to levy additional tax on all diesel-propelled vehicles specified in the schedule-I of the Motor Vehicle Taxation Act 2004.
Officials said Lt Governor Tejendra Khanna has signed the file effecting the hike. They said diesel vehicles attracting four per cent of the total cost as registration fee will now have to pay five per cent while vehicles having to pay seven per cent tax will have to pay 8.75 per cent as registration fee.
The high end luxury cars will attract registration fee of 12.5 per cent instead of existing 10 per cent.
The Chief Minister had proposed the hike in registration fee of diesel vehicles with an aim to discourage people to buy such vehicles due to environmental concerns.

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30 June, 2011 With petrol prices spiralling upward, Ford India will largely focus on diesel-run cars for future launches.
“Petrol prices are becoming high and this has swung the proportion of cars sold in favour of diesel models,” Ford India Executive Director Nigel Wark told reporters in reply to a question in Kolkatha on Wednesday.
Wark said Ford India had lined up eight product launches by the middle of the decade. “The upcoming products will be mainly on the diesel platform. This has created a lot of stress to manufacture diesel cars,” he said.
Clocking a sales figure of 83,000 units in 2010, the company has already crossed sales of 58,000 units so far. “This year we will be touching the one lakh-mark,” he said.
Wark said Ford India was aiming to expand at a faster pace than the industry, which was growing at 17 per cent. Ford’s new small car was contributing to the company’s sales in a major way. The company is exporting the Figo to 50 countries, he said.

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Renault, which had earlier entered India through a Joint Venture with Mahindra and Mahindra to produce Logan in 2005 later, came to an abrupt halt after both Renault and Mahindra decided to part ways. This is Renault's second stint in India and the French automotive giant has already lined up huge plans for India. The all-new Renault Fluence has finally been launched in India after it was first unveiled in the 2010 Delhi Auto Show. Renault Fluence is the newest addition in the D-segment that has not seen much growth in the last few years as more cars were introduced in the C and premium D/entry E-segments due to lack of new players.

Renault Fluence is available both in diesel and petrol variants. For the first time around in India, the pricing of the Diesel variant of the Fluence is cheaper than the petrol variant. With the recent hike in petrol price, more and more car buyers are now considering the diesel variants as their preferred car models. From overseeing Renault's pricing strategy, it seems Renault is trying to boost the sale of its diesel variant by keeping a lower price tag of the diesel version.

Renault Fluence is available both in petrol and diesel engine option. The diesel variant is equipped with a 1.5 Litre dCi CRDI Diesel engine, Direct Ignition, which produces a maximum output of 104.6 bhp @ 4000 rpm and a torque of 240 Nm @ 2000 rpm. Fluence Diesel can accelerate from 0 to 100 Kmh in 14.6 sec and it features manual transmission with 6 forward and 1 reverse configuration. The diesel engine has the capacity to produce 1461 cc displacement.

The all new Renault Fluence is very French and chic in styling. In fact, the car has got a refreshing look and would certainly take your breath away! The stylish and fluid contour of the body definitely makes it look better than its rivals. The cabin and the interiors are designed with great attention to details to soothe your eyes and senses. The soft touch dashboard is really dashy that will appeal any car buyer. Renault has not overlooked riding comfort and it shows. The driver lumbar support, premium fabric upholstery, front arm rest with storage box and cup holder and the rear arm rest with cup holder are some of the fantastic features that Renault have included in its diesel variant.

The Renault Fluence diesel's suspension system features Mac Pherson type suspension with coil spring complete with stabilizer bar and double acting shock absorber for the front, while a trailing arm type with coil spring and double acting shock absorber for the rear. The car is also shod with 16" alloys which gives a majestic stance for the car.

Renault's new Fluence not only soothes your eyes but also give you a comfortable driving experience. The best thing is the smart card access feature that gives a smooth experience to start the car. The Fluence has steering mounted fingertip remote controls so that you can stay in full control of your auxiliary players.

The rich interior design and premium fabric upholstery of this car will definitely woo any car lover. The car has got five-seat arrangement with all the supporting comfort features. The car ensures you get every comfort while riding/driving the car. Hence, they have provided a lumbar support for the driver along with rear armrest with cup holders for the passengers.

Renault cares for you and it shows, as the Fluence features all the latest safety equipments. Right from ABS to seatbelts, all the safety features are been exclusively tested in an exacting endurance program in demanding conditions. The car is equipped with 4 SRS airbags for driver and passenger, anti-lock braking system with EBD, front fog lamps, ISOFIX, and ESP Electronic Stability program.

Right now, Renault Fluence is available in four body colors including Glacier White, Pearl Black, Ash Beige, and Blue Ecume. Interior is available in Black Harmony for the diesel variant of Fluence.

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By the look of things, February 2011 is shaping out to be quite of month for car lovers.

On one side you have Volvo bringing in the S60 and then you have Maruti Suzuki getting Kizashi in to the Indian market. And now, news just in that Maruti Suzuki is also planning the launch of the much awaited SX4 diesel in February.

The SX4 sales figures have taken quite a beating in last half of the 2010. The car that used to sell 1000+ units each month with a lot of difficulty managed 761 last December. And its rivals (with diesel option) like the Vento and the Fiesta managed easily managed to break the 1000 unit barrier.

Even the unusual looking Hyundai Verna astonishingly shipped 1,213 units. Clearly, Maruti has realized that measures need to taken and they need to be taken fast!

The SX4 diesel is expected to have 1.3-litre DDiS engine with a variable geometry turbocharger (VGT) powered to produce 90 bhp. As you may have known by now that this is the same engine that powers the Fiat Linea and does its job well.

The facelifted SX4 was shown in China last month but we’re not sure if that model will reach India.

Most diesels cost around 1 lakh more than their petrol counterparts. So we presume the new SX4 will be sold at a tag of around 8.5 lakh. Will this help the C segment kingpin gain back its territory? Only time will tell.

In the meantime, here is a humble request from IAB:

At least give the option of having those old alloys. The new ones make the car look very characterless

Tagged as: Maruti Suzuki SX4, maruti sx4, Maruti SX4 diesel, SX4 diesel

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As we already reported several instance that Maruti Suzuki will launch the Diesel SX4 in India by next month, i.e., Feb-2011.

Maruti Suzuki is currently facing the heat after many rivals came out with diesel options as Maruti Suzuki doesn’t have an option other than petrol version on SX4.

Maruti Suzuki is also launching the Kizashi model in India on 2nd Feb 2011 and this will also make the diesel heads turn from rivals to enter the Maruti Suzuki showroom.

SX4 Diesel will carry a 1.3-litre DDiS VGT (variable geometry turbocharger) engine that will generate 90 bhp that is already doing the same job under Linea’s hood.

Maruti’s SX4 Diesel is believed to be priced around Rs 8.75 lakhs.

Maruti Suzuki SX4 Pictures:

Maruti SX4 Diesel To Be Launched By Feb-2011?Maruti Suzuki SX4 Diesel Might Be Launched In JulyMaruti Suzuki Kizashi To Launch In January 2011Maruti Suzuki Planning To Bring SX4 Diesel In IndiaMaruti Suzuki Kizashi To Be Launched On 2nd February 2011Tags: maruti suzuki, maruti suzuki sx4, maruti suzuki sx4 diesel, sx4 diesel

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Greaves Cotton, an Engineering company has announced that it has won a 10 year contract from Tata Motors to supply small diesel engine for its new 1/2-tonne truck Ace Zip which is expected to be launched in the Q1 of 2011.

Mr. Prabhakar Dev MD and CEO of Greaves Cotton said that “Greaves has developed a 600cc engine for TATA Motors’ new truck. It will also supply CNG engines for the truck.”

Greaves Cotton is supplying engines to Piaggio for its four-wheeler truck Ape as part of an eight-year contract. The company also meets the diesel engine needs of three wheeler makers including Piaggio, Mahindra & Mahindra, Atul Auto and Scooters India.

Greaves Cotton plans to build a new engine manufacturing plant at Aurangabad in Maharashtra at an investment of INR 100 crore to meet the growing demand for engines.

The statement said that this will take the company’s total automotive engine manufacturing capacity to 400,000 units per annum.

Tata Motors Wants Ford to Supply JLR EnginesTata Motors Trucks To Get New-Fuel Efficient EnginesTata Motors To Reveal Nano Diesel In India By Mid-2010Hyundai Considering Production of Diesel Engines Locally!New Chevrolet Spark 800cc & Diesel Engines For India From General MotorsTags: greaves cotton, greaves cotton diesel engines, TATA Ace, Tata Ace half tonne, tata motors

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Greaves Cotton, an Engineering company has announced that it has won a 10 year contract from Tata Motors to supply small diesel engine for its new 1/2-tonne truck Ace Zip which is expected to be launched in the Q1 of 2011.

Mr. Prabhakar Dev MD and CEO of Greaves Cotton said that “Greaves has developed a 600cc engine for TATA Motors’ new truck. It will also supply CNG engines for the truck.”

Greaves Cotton is supplying engines to Piaggio for its four-wheeler truck Ape as part of an eight-year contract. The company also meets the diesel engine needs of three wheeler makers including Piaggio, Mahindra & Mahindra, Atul Auto and Scooters India.

Greaves Cotton plans to build a new engine manufacturing plant at Aurangabad in Maharashtra at an investment of INR 100 crore to meet the growing demand for engines.

The statement said that this will take the company’s total automotive engine manufacturing capacity to 400,000 units per annum.

Tata Motors Wants Ford to Supply JLR EnginesTata Motors Trucks To Get New-Fuel Efficient EnginesTata Motors To Reveal Nano Diesel In India By Mid-2010Hyundai Considering Production of Diesel Engines Locally!New Chevrolet Spark 800cc & Diesel Engines For India From General MotorsTags: greaves cotton, greaves cotton diesel engines, TATA Ace, Tata Ace half tonne, tata motors

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Tata Nano Diesel will be out in the month of August or September claimed by one the vendor. If all to be believed the Nano brand will take a twist after it has witnessed poor sales, price increase and some safety concerns.

“The diesel engine will be in the 600-700 cc range like the petrol version and could be priced at a slight premium over the current variants,” said the vendor source.

One can expect the Tata Nano Diesel will carry a price tag between Rs 1.8 – 2.2 lakh.

The diesel Nano will be the smallest and cheapest diesel car in the market and sport a sub-1000 cc engine, but with output and performance 20-30% better than is usual for that engine size, sources said.

Honeywell has developed the smallest turbo systems for Nano, while Bosch will fit the smallest CRDi system. The other partners part of the project including the AVL, FEV and Ricardo.

Tata Nano Pictures:

Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Tata Motors To Reveal Nano Diesel In India By Mid-2010Tata Nano Diesel On Its Way?Tata Nano To Get World’s Smallest Diesel EngineTata Nano Diesel & Nano Plus On The WayTata Nano Bookings Re-OpenTags: nano diesel, tata nano diesel

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Hyundai Motors India is mulling a new plant in India and planned to spend Rs 400 crore to build the 1.5-lakh diesel engine plant. The company’s new plant location is not yet finalised.
“While we are channelising more production to India and cutting down exports, the new diesel engines would be fitted into our existing and future cars as local customers are gradually preferring diesel over petrol ,” said HW Park, MD, Hyundai Motor India.
Hyundai Motor is planning for the new plant to meet the growing demand and wait for the final acceptance from the parent company.
“We have witnessed 24% growth in the Indian market even as exports at 2.47 lakh cars were down by 8.5% in 2010 calendar year,” Hyundai’s director (marketing & sales) Arvind Saxena said.
The company will also roll out a new small car below the Santro model from the Chennai plant. “The small car will be the smallest model from Hyundai’s global line-up and India would be one of its lead markets,” Mr. Park said.


Hyundai Motors India To Setup A Diesel Plant In IndiaHyundai Motors India Aims To Sell 6-Lakh Units In 2010Hyundai i10 1.2-Liter Diesel Engine Ready? For Which Market Hyundai?Hyundai Motors To Launch Diesel Santro In 2009New Model Every Year From Hyundai Motors IndiaTags: hyundai motors, hyundai new diesel plant
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28 December, 2010 Hyundai Motor India is planning to set up a Greenfield plant. The South Korean company will spend Rs 400 crore to build the 1.5 lakh diesel engine plant, hoping to cater to the rising requirements from domestic market. The company is yet to decide on the location of the plant. Hyundai’s two car manufacturing plants are located in Chennai.
“While we are channelizing more production to India and cutting down exports, the new diesel engines would be fitted into our existing and future cars as local customers are gradually preferring diesel over petrol ,” said HW Park, MD, Hyundai Motor India.
Hyundai sells diesel models of its i20 hatchback and other bigger cars and imports the engines from South Korea. It is also looking for a third car plant in India to meet the growing demand and is awaiting final nod from the parent company.
Hyundai has already increased the allocation to the domestic market to 65% for calendar year 2011, up from the 3.56 lakh cars it sold in India, aggregating 60% of its total year production. And the company also plans to bring a car smaller than the Santro.
“We have witnessed 24% growth in the Indian market even as exports at 2.47 lakh cars were down by 8.5% in 2010 calendar year,” Hyundai’s director (marketing & sales) Arvind Saxena said.
“The small car will be the smallest model from Hyundai's global line-up and India would be one of its lead markets,” Mr Park said.

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GM India was planning to launch the Beat Diesel in early 2011, but that does seem not to happen any time soon. The company is aiming to launch the Beat LPG version in next couple of weeks in India where the internal training has already been initiated.

Chevrolet Beat was supposed to get the 3-Cylilnder 1.0-L Multijet Diesel engine from Fiat and the 3-cylinder engine is currently been created at its GM’s powertrain facility in Bangalore.

GM India has missed the Beat Diesel and it will create some good numbers in sales that has a attractive exterior and interior design which meets the style.

Let’s see what happens to Beat Diesel whether it will be launched By Mid-2011 or before End of 2011, time should answer this.

Chevrolet Beat Pictures:

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We’ve already seen how good a car the Micra diesel is, it’s practical and has useful features that makes it a value for about 7 lakh rupees.

But there are a few things that cannot be overlooked. Some of these are minor irritants, while a couple of them compromises safety.

Floor mat issue

While driving back from work last evening, I came across a very grave issue. The translucent rubber floor mat placed on the driver side fouls with the clutch pedal. Since it isn’t fastened at both ends to the floor, while applying the clutch, it collects the mat and at one point, part of the mat covered a decent area under the brake. Since the mat is elastic, it generates a certain amount of play and the brake peformance suffers from this. Nissan has to address this issue immediately by either pinning the mat or replacing it with one that covers the entire surface.

I was able to defeat this trouble maker by rolling the mat and pushing it under the driver’s seat. Notice the short dead pedal that will serve during highway runs.

Accelerator-brake pedal distance

Since the distance between the accelerator and brake pedal is short and as the brake pedal is placed slightly higher, people wearing large footwear will need to be careful. I found my foot stuck between the two many times while driving yesterday and I addressed it by wearing a more leg-hugging pair of shoes this morning. If you take your Nissan out for your morning jog wearing generous sports shoes or large sandals, you have to place your right foot at an angle so that your legs don’t get stuck between the pedals. Nissan must try and replicate the condition I’m talking about to understand this problem better.

Gear lever inconsistency

The gear lever operation at times has some ambiguity. While shifting through gears, some kind of a disturbance is felt. Something prevents the lever from moving about. This is very intermittent. When it’s good, it’s really good, but when it’s bad, it causes irritation. The bottom-left motion for reversing is simple and appreciated but it needed more than one attempt, on several occasions, to slot it in correctly.

Inadequate Glove box

The second glove box is sorely missed. If Nissan had an airbag in place, I could have overlooked this shortage. Since the glove box provided sits low and offers very little space, Nissan should have put in the second glove box.

Wiper operation

The wipers stalks took time getting used to. As it started raining immediately after I went out for a drive, I couldn’t fully understand how the wipers worked and getting distracted in traffic can sometimes mean trouble. Since this model has both front and rear wipers, I advise people get used to the operation and speed control before setting off.

Simple features went missing

Nissan has left out features like vanity mirror and height-adjustable rear head rests. While the vanity mirror will be missed by the ladies.

The height-adjustable rear head rest will be missed by taller people. Nissan stated at the launch that the diesel model is for the long distance customer. If customers are traveling long distances, many do so with more than one person in the car. At some point, there is a possibility of a tall person in the back. Take note of the high-utility parcel tray. It is suitable for tall items.

USB port for playing songs from a pen drive is another very useful feature that’s missing.

How can they make this an even sweeter deal?

If Nissan needs to do more justice to their marketing campaign, features like Bluetooth connectivity, automatic transmission, electrically operated seats and even satellite navigation are relevant additions for driving simpler. These can be provided on the top-end model, some even as options.

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Tata Motors will not keep quiet until they see a huge demand on its Nano will be out with different variants including the Diesel and the upgraded Nano.

Tata Nano Plus and Nano Diesel will be launched soon in India to increase the sales and also includes with extended warranty, more touch points and easy access to loan.

Tata Nano Plus will be offered with power steering, 5-speed gear box and many other features and the Nano diesel should pick up sales as there are diesel hatches available outside its stable as customers prefer to buy one. Let’s wait and see what Magic Spell Tata Motors has, till-then stay tuned.

Tata Nano Diesel On Its Way?Tata Nano Diesel And Hybrid Might Be Unwrapped At The 2010 Delhi Auto ExpoTata Nano With Diesel Engine???Tata Nano Gets 4 Year WarrantyTata Nano To Get World’s Smallest Diesel EngineTags: nano diesel, nano plus, tata nano, tata nano diesel, Tata Nano Plus

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10 December, 2010 Nissan Motor India has launched the diesel variant of its small car Micra. The new variant is priced between Rs 5.59 lakh and Rs 6.05 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi). The diesel Micra is equipped with a 1.5 litre diesel engine and will be available in two variants with five speed manual transmission. Diesel Micra would return a fuel economy of 23.08 km per litre.
“The success of the petrol powered Micra in the Indian market has given us confidence to introduce the diesel variant within six months of its launch in response to popular demand,” Tokuyama said at a pre-launch briefing.
Nissan, in a 50:50 joint venture with French automaker Renault, has set up a manufacturing plant at Oragadam near Chennai with an upfront investment of Rs 2,300 crore (about $500 million).
“We signed an agreement with the Tamil Nadu government in February 2008 to invest a total of Rs 4,500 crore (about $980 million) over the next seven years for ramping up the annual production capacity to 400,000 units from the present 100,000 units and introduce a range of models for domestic and export markets,” Tokuyama said.
Nissan has maintained 85 per cent of localization for the Micra and engine and the five-speed gearbox are imported from its plants across Asia, including Japan and China.
“The wide gear coverage enables the engine to achieve quick acceleration in city driving conditions. The eight-valve four-cylinder engine generates 47kw power at 4,000 revolutions per minute (rpm),” said Nissan R&D centre assistant chief vehicle engineer Gary Kirby.
Nissan offers range of products in the Indian market, including the sports utility vehicle (SUV) X-Trail, luxury sedan Teana and sports car 370Z, which are imported from Japan as completely built units.

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