Friday, February 10, 2012, AutomotiveWorld.com
Geely Automobile Holdings Limited has announced that group sales in January 2012 totalled 38,100 uni...Any questions? Email us or call our Member Services team on +44 29 2070 9302.Our free E-Newsletter service is an excellent way of staying up to date with news and features from around the global auto industry.
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10 February, 2012 The country’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India on Thursday said it has crossed the one crore units milestone of cumulative sales in the domestic market since it started selling cars 29 years back.
“The 10 millionth vehicle, a Red Swift Vxi, was dispatched to Coimbatore on Thursday morning from the company’s Manesar plant,” the company said in a statement.
Maruti Suzuki India had rolled out its first car -- an M800 -- in December 1983 and attained five million domestic sales in February 2006.
“The next five million domestic sales have been achieved in six years,” the company said.
Commenting on crossing the milestone, MSI Managing Director and CEO Shinzo Nakanishi said: “Maruti Suzuki’s success story is closely linked with the success story of India in the last two decades. Even as India has grown and transformed, Maruti Suzuki has evolved to meet changing demands.”
The company that started off as a joint venture between the government of India and Japan’s Suzuki Motor Corp, had transformed personal transportation in India with its M800 model, which till date continues to find many buyers across the country.
While Maruti 800 and Omni powered sales for almost two decades, the Alto has been India’s best-selling car for the last over seven years, the company said.
In recent years, the success of WagonR and Swift, among others, has accelerated the company’s progress towards the one crore mark, it added.
“We will continue to drive the growth and evolution of India’s car market,” Nakanishi said.
By: David Isaiah, Friday, February 10, 2012, AutomotiveWorld.com
Light vehicle registrations in Slovakia rose to 5,106 units in January 2012, up from 4,772 units rec...Any questions? Email us or call our Member Services team on +44 29 2070 9302.Our free E-Newsletter service is an excellent way of staying up to date with news and features from around the global auto industry.
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Friday, February 10, 2012, AutomotiveWorld.com
Rommel Gutierrez, President of the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc (CAMPI...Any questions? Email us or call our Member Services team on +44 29 2070 9302.Our free E-Newsletter service is an excellent way of staying up to date with news and features from around the global auto industry.
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11 January, 2012 Car sales in India rose an annual 8.5 percent in December; an industry body said on Tuesday, the second consecutive monthly rise as the industry continued to rebound from record falls in sales in late 2011.
Demand for cars in India, the world’s second-fastest growing auto market after China, shrank in July for the first time in nearly three years. Sales continued to fall for three consecutive months due to high interest rates and rising costs.
Indian automakers sold 159,325 cars last month, according to data released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM). Total sales for the calendar year rose an annual 4.2 percent to 1.95 million vehicles, SIAM said.
Sales of trucks and buses, a key pointer to the country’s economic activity, rose 14.5 percent in December from a year previous to 72,192 vehicles, SIAM said.
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25 November, 2011 BMW India today said it may miss the target of selling 10,000 vehicles in the domestic market as the luxury segment has also been affected by the slowdown witnessed in the automobile industry.
“Yes, it is increasingly becoming tough and we could miss our target of selling 10,000 units this year,” BMW India President Andreas Schaaf told reporters at Gurgoan.
He said the month of October, which is usually one of the best months along with March in terms of sales, has not been as good as expected.
“Till October this year, we have sold a total of 8,042 cars in India, accounting for 40 per cent of the luxury car market. Since then it is getting much more difficult and the market has changed,” he said, adding that achieving the target for this year is becoming difficult now.
“Overall, there is a negative sentiment in the market. Earlier in the year the luxury segment was unaffected by it, but it has also started feeling the effect,” he added.
Asked if the company will cut production due to the slowdown, Schaff replied in negative.
“We have our plans for 2012 in place and we will go ahead with it. The growth rate may have come down from 70 per cent to 30 per cent but we have to remember that there is still growth in the market,” he said.
Earlier this year, the company had increased production capacity of its Chennai plant to 11,000 from 10,000 units previously.
Car sales in India have been declining this year and registered the steepest monthly decline in nearly 11 years in October, tanking by 23.77 per cent on account of a huge drop in output by the country’s largest car-maker Maruti Suzuki due to labour trouble, coupled with high interest rates and rising fuel prices.
Wednesday, November 09, 2011, AutomotiveWorld.com
The passenger car market in India posted its biggest monthly fall since December 2000. Monthly car s...Any questions? Email us or call our Member Services team on +44 29 2070 9302.Our free E-Newsletter service is an excellent way of staying up to date with news and features from around the global auto industry.
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19 October, 2011 Korean auto major Hyundai Motor India (HMIL) is aiming to sell 1.5 lakh units of its latest entry level compact car ‘Eon’ by the end of 2012, a top company official said on Tuesday.
Korean auto major Hyundai Motor India (HMIL) is aiming to sell 1.5 lakh units of its latest entry level compact car ‘Eon’ by the end of 2012, a top company official said on Tuesday.
The car has been built keeping in mind varied Indian conditions and special requirements of the customers, he said, adding that it will help expand HMIL’s market share in the fast growing small car segment.
Hyundai’s design and development centre at Namyang in Korea has worked in sync with its Hyderabad based R&D centre to firm up on the design of Eon, which would be available in six colours, he said.
HMIL sells eight car models across segments. The A2 segment has the Eon, Santro, i10 and i20, the A3 includes Accent and the Verna and the A5 segment includes the Sonata Transofrm and the Santa Fe is in the SUV segment, the company’s Regional Manager (South) Y S Lee said.
Friday, September 30, 2011, AutomotiveWorld.com
Fuji Heavy has reported details of its production, domestic sales and export performance in August, ...*All prices are based on a 12-month membership period.Our free E-Newsletter service is an excellent way of staying up to date with news and features from around the global auto industry.
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30 September, 2011 The country’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) on Thursday said it aims to double its sales network by 2015 across India with a focus on small towns and cities.
MSI on Thursday announced opening of its 1,000th sales showroom for its products in Surat, Gujarat, as a part of the strategy to expand into tier-II and tier-III cities across the country.
“Network expansion is strategic to our business and we would continue to focus on it. We target to double our sales network in next five years, in line with the company’s sales plan,” MSI Managing Director and CEO Shinzo Nakanishi said in a statement.
Besides the plan to increase the number of car outlets, the company has also undertaken an initiative of upgrading its three year old showrooms under project ‘Nav Nirman’.
“The objective of ‘Nav Nirman’ is to provide customers uniform buying experience across the country,” it added.
Meanwhile, the company which is facing labour unrest at its Manesar plant, said it has rolled out 690 Swift cars combined from Gurgaon and Manesar facilities today.
It also produced 60 units of A-star and SX4 models from Manesar plants.
“In the last two days, in addition to Swift, the company has also started making these two models at Manesar where focus until now remained on attaining normal production levels for Swift model,” the company said in a separate statement.
Currently, there are 1,500 people available for production at Manesar plants. This includes 1,120 experienced and trained technicians brought in by the company in the last few days, it added.
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21 September, 2011 Ssangyong Motor Co, part of the Mahindra & Mahindra Group, aims to expand vehicle sales and revenue by a third in 2013 by launching three new platforms and four new products.
Ssangyong Motor said in a statement that it aimed to sell 160,000 vehicles in 2013, compared with a 2011 target of 120,000 units. The SUV maker also said it targeted revenue of 4 trillion won ($3.5 billion) in 2013, from a projected 3 trillion won for this year.
Chairman Pawan Goenka and CEO Lee Yoo-il on Tuesday unveiled Ssangyong’s new vision, core values and five year business strategy in the presence of about 3,300 executives and employees. This would be achieved by developing competitive products, increasing global market share, attaining cost leadership, develop next generation technologies and maximising synergies. “The goal we have set may be challenging, but given the tenacity and determination of the Ssangyong team, I am sure we will achieve it” said Yoo-il.
In 2010, M&M acquired Ssangyong, for $464 million, giving the Indian utility vehicle maker access to advanced technologies and overseas markets. Ssangyong, the maker of Actyon and Rexton SUVs, exported 65 percent of its output last year to markets like Russia and Latin America.
M&M will concentrate on markets like China, Brazil, Western Europe, Korea and India. “We have obviously taken into account the slowdown that’s affecting Europe. If it gets worse then we will have to take a call,” said Goenka. Shares in Ssangyong Motors, which have fallen about 30 percent this year, closed up by 0.2 percent on Tuesday.
To expand its global market share, Ssangyong will strengthen its overseas sales network and advance into fast growing emerging markets. Ssangyong will commence using M&M’s existing network in South Africa by March 2012 and move to local manufacture of its vehicles in India and Egypt. Ssangyong and M&M are integrating across the value chain, especially in R&D, product development, purchasing and sales to generate economies of scale.
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11 August, 2011 Domestic passenger car sales have fallen for the first time after 30 months of continuous growth, registering a 15.76 per cent decline in July this year mainly due to hikes in lending rates and lower production by market leader Maruti Suzuki during the month.
Car sales in the country stood at 1,33,747 units in July, 2011, as against 1,58,767 units in the same month last year, according to figures released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) on Wednesday.
“This is the first time since January, 2009, that car sales have fallen. Interest rates and fuel prices were going up in recent months and that led to an overall negative sentiment in the market,” SIAM Director General Vishnu Mathur told reporters at New Delhi.
The car market last witnessed a fall in January, 2009, when sales shrunk by 3.16 per cent year-on-year. Last month’s decline is the steepest since November, 2008, when car segment sales fell by 19.34 per cent, he added.
The production loss at Maruti’s Manesar facility due to preparations for the launch of its new Swift model and realignment of its DZiRE model’s output also severely impacted sales, he said. Earlier this month, Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) said that due to these two planned activities, sales in July were negatively impacted by nearly 17,000 units. “There is no lack of demand, but just lack of conversion of demand into purchases by customers,” Mathur said.
SIAM Senior Director Sugato Sen said non-availability of certain components like castings also impacted the output of many car-makers. During the month, MSI India posted a 31.04 per cent dip in domestic car sales to 52,483 units.
Rival Hyundai Motor India’s sales were down by 11.49 per cent to 25,501 units. Tata Motors saw a decline of 43.13 per cent in sales to 13,997 units during the month. When asked about the outlook, Mathur said: “Interest rates and fuel prices are challenges for the market. Hopefully, interest rates have reached their peak... If crude continues to soften, then there may be some positive impact as it will lead to inflation coming down.”
The forthcoming festive season is also likely to help car-makers push sales, but to what extent it can boost growth has to be looked at, he added. The auto industry has started slowing down this fiscal, with the passenger car segment growing by only 7 per cent in May. In June, it saw its slowest growth rate in 27 months of 1.62 per cent.
SIAM had last month revised the growth projection downward to 10-12 per cent for 2011-12, as against its earlier forecast of 16-18 per cent.
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01 August, 2011 US carmakerFord Motor Company on Friday said it expects one third of its global sales to come from Asia Pacific region and Africa by 2020.
“We expect one third of our sales to come from Asia Pacific and Africa by 2020,” Ford Motor Company Group Vice PresidentJoseph R Hinrichs told reporters. At present, one out of every six cars sold globally is in Asia Pacific and Africa region.
The US car giant is introducing over 50 new vehicles and powertrains to the Asia Pacific and African region by the middle of this decade as 60-70 per cent of Ford’s growth is expected to come from this region over the next ten years.
Speaking about the company’s growth prospects in India, Hinrichs said it will grow much faster in the middle of the decade due to the economic growth of people in tier II and tier III cities.
“We are going to see immense growth once tier II and tier III cities in the country take off by the middle of the decade,” Hinrichs added.
The company announced investments of Rs 4,000 crore for setting up its second manufacturing facility inIndia with an initial installed capacity of 2.4 lakh units annually. The company, which is present in the country through wholly-owned subsidiary Ford India, will set up the facility in a 460-acre location at Sanand, in Gujarat.
The facility will also house an engine plant having an installed capacity of 2.7 lakh units annually. The proposed investment is likely to create 5,000 jobs in the state. Currently Ford India has its manussfacturing and engine facility in Chennai. It employs over 10,000 people in India across its manufacturing, global business services and IT operations.
Last year the company had announced that it would introduce eight new products in India by 2015 in a bid to tap the burgeoning domestic car market. This month, it has already launched the new version of sedan Fiesta at a price range of Rs 8.31 lakh to Rs 10.51 lakh (ex-showroom Mumbai) as part of the plans.
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By: Colin Whitbread, Friday, August 05, 2011, AutomotiveWorld.com
Audi has reported global unit deliveries of around 106,000 in July, 16% up on the total of 91,401 se...*All prices are based on a 12-month membership period.Our free E-Newsletter service is an excellent way of staying up to date with news and features from around the global auto industry.
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03 August, 2011 Tata Motors on Tuesday said it is rejigging its dealerships with plans to open product category-specific outlets as it looks to increase sales volumes of passenger vehicles. The company, which currently has 250 full-range dealerships, will open 300 Nano-specific and 100 utility vehicle-specific showrooms by the end of this fiscal.
“There are few corrections needed to be done in few areas... There is a need for rethinking and rejigging of the product portfolio. We are also looking at some alternative dealership route,” Tata Motors Managing Director India Operations P M Telang told reporters in New Delhi. He was responding to query on why the company’s passenger vehicles sales have been dropping, although the commercial vehicles segment is doing well.
Explaining the “alternative dealership” route, company Vice-President (Commercial) Passenger Car Business Unit R Ramakrishnan said: “We are moving away from full range of dealerships to product specific dealerships.”
There will be three kinds of dealerships, Nano-specific, utility vehicle (UV), specific and passenger car-specific, although some could remain full-range dealerships. “At the starting of this fiscal, we had 250 full-range dealerships. By the end of this fiscal, we will have 300 Nano-specific, 100 UV-specific (dealerships),” he said.
Passenger car-specific dealerships will also be started this year, Ramakrishnan said, but did not provide the exact numbers. “In the course of this fiscal, we will transform some UV-specific dealerships to passenger car dealerships and also some full-scale dealerships will also become passenger car dealerships. No numbers have been finalised,” he added.
The homegrown firm’s total passenger vehicles sales in the domestic market fell by 38.30 per cent in July to 17,192 units from 27,865 units in the same month last year. Nano sales also crashed by 64 per cent to 3,260 units in July.
Tata Motors, however, posted a 14.30 per cent increase in commercial vehicle sales to 40,798 units in the domestic market during the month.
Commenting on the poor Nano sales, Ramakrishnan said: “We are still at the early stages of understanding the market. We are going through a learning curve and are trying a lot of different things in marketing activities, like selling the car through Big Bazaar outlets.”
Tuesday, July 05, 2011, AutomotiveWorld.com
Passenger car registrations in Spain continued to decline in June, dropping by 31.4% to 83,385 units...*All prices are based on a 12-month membership period.Our free E-Newsletter service is an excellent way of staying up to date with news and features from around the global auto industry.
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Friday, June 24, 2011, AutomotiveWorld.com
According to a Bloomberg report, citing comments by Mike Manley, head of Chrysler Group LLC's intern...*All prices are based on a 12-month membership period.Our free E-Newsletter service is an excellent way of staying up to date with news and features from around the global auto industry.
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22 June, 2011 Fiat India will overhaul its product and distribution strategy in an attempt to prop up falling sales. Top officials from its Italian parent have recently visited India to help the Indian management rebuild Fiats brand equity in the country.
The Italian auto major intends to launch a face-lifted Punto (hatchback) and Linea (sedan), which will be followed by a small car, people familiar with the development said. The Punto and Linea cars, part of the current portfolio of products, have been falling short of targeted sales numbers. Fiat spokesperson did not reply to questions on the subject.
The Italian auto major is currently in discussion with dealers to set up separate showrooms so that the Fiat brand gets an identity of its own. “Although Fiat India will look at separate showrooms, Tatas will continue to support the marketing efforts,” said a senior official. Currently Fiat cars are sold through the Tata Motor dealerships.
In 2007, Fiat entered into a 50:50 JV with Tata Motors, for joint distribution and back-end support. Fiat India officials declined to comment. In 2010-11, Fiat India sales were down 15 percent to 21,066 units against a capacity of 80,000 units.
By: Colin Whitbread, Wednesday, June 15, 2011, AutomotiveWorld.com
The Tata Motors Group has reported global wholesales, including Jaguar Land Rover, of 88,251 in May ...*All prices are based on a 12-month membership period.Our free E-Newsletter service is an excellent way of staying up to date with news and features from around the global auto industry.
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