Wednesday, November 09, 2011, AutomotiveWorld.com
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03 November, 2011 Diversified business house InterGlobe Enterprises on Wednesday said it has launched British sportscar maker Ariel Motor’s Atom range of cars in India, priced up to Rs 85 lakh.
InterGlobe Established Pvt Ltd, the luxury lifestyle solution provider and subsidiary of InterGlobe Enterprises, will be responsible for Ariel Motor’s products in India. Branded as The Estd, the InterGlobe Established will “exclusively represent the Ariel Motor Company in India and SAARC”, the company said in a statement.
The Estd will sell various models of Atom with price of car having standard specifications starting from about Rs 55 lakh and for all upgrades such as superchargers going up to Rs 85 lakh. It will also bring the different variants of Ariel Atom 3 in India.
“India is fascinated by fast cars, and the Atom gives us a unique opportunity to provide a distinguished product in this category...The demand for these cars is expected to grow at 20 per cent over the next 5 years, presenting an exciting market opportunity,” The Estd President and CEO Nigel Harwood said.
The company sees “huge potential” for this product in India, especially on the back of a successful F1 season.
“We have seen the emergence of sports car culture amongst the young HNIs (high net worth individuals), who seek thrill and adventure. The addition of Atom will help us strengthen our portfolio and cater to new emerging consumer segments,” he said.
England-based Ariel Motor Company’s V8 Atom series beat the Bugatti Veyron earlier this year by 1.7 seconds on the TopGear test track, making it the fastest road-legal car to go around the track, the company claimed.
Earlier this year, The Estd had introduced Swedish super luxury sports car Koenigsegg, carrying a price tag of about Rs 12.5 crore. It had also launched an entire range of other luxury products in India such as motorcycles, yachts, boats, premium helicopters and private jets.
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03 November, 2011 French carmaker Renault is planning to follow the footsteps of rivals like Hyundai, Toyota, Suzuki and Honda to develop an all new car platform solely for India as the company tries to push sales in one of the world’s high-potential market.
Carlos Tavares, the global chief operating officer of Renault, said the company was working out “all options” to give a push to its India plans. “India is one of the key markets for us along with Brazil and Russia,” Tavares said after unveiling the company’s first small car, Pulse, which shares platform with Japanese partner Nissan’s V-platform.
Nissan already sells its Micra small car based on the same platform. “It could happen that we develop a new platform for this market. All possibilities are open.”
A car built for India and its specific requirements is seen as crucial to break into the market. Models specifically developed for the Indian market include Toyota’s Etios sedan and Liva hatchback, Honda’s Brio and Hyundai’s Eon. Suzuki’s Indian subsidiary Maruti is also developing a new car “from scratch” that is expected to hit the roads next year.
Renault has been trying to give a thrust to its India plans ever since its partnership with Mahindra & Mahindra ended in a divorce after their joint product Logan failed to take off. The company currently sells the Fluence sedan and Koleos sport-utility vehicle in India and plans to introduce another SUV, Duster, by mid-2012.
The Pulse will be the third car from the company and will be launched around January next year. However,its commonality with the Nissan Micra raises doubt over any blockbuster success, considering that Micra has not been able to make any major impact.
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03 November, 2011 Honda’s production has been “severely” impacted because of the floods in Thailand, a major parts sourcing hub, said a top company official. The company, which is planning to source parts from alternative locations like China and Japan, is now working on informing its customers about possible delay in the delivery of booked cars.
The worst affected will be the company’s new launch Brio and the newly price-refurbished Jazz. Honda is currently sitting on fairly significant bookings, 6,000 units for the Brio and another 4,000 for the Jazz. Honda has, however, decided not to halt production but make do with whatever parts available in its inventory till the alternative supplies kick in.
Jnaneswar Sen, senior vicepresident, Honda Siel Cars India said, “All our models have been hit (by the floods in Thailand) and it’s a pretty serious development. We are facing severe shortage of parts which is unfortunate because the demand is very good for all our models right now. But we have decided not to stop production; we’re looking at a strategy to handle the situation.”
Honda’s strategy, he said, would be to “limit production” to match the parts available till “alternative locations” can be found for the sourcing of affected parts. Honda primarily sources underbody parts and electronic components from Thailand. “We are looking at sourcing from China and Japan to make up for the parts shortfall,” said Sen.
“Honda is not looking at sourcing from Indian vendors because it will not be possible in the short-term. Localisation is top priority for HSCI and had it been possible we would have localised those parts and not imported them,” explained Sen. Although company officials admit the situation is fairly fluid right now, October was a normal month for Honda despite the floods in Thailand which started early last month.
While HSCI has been scouting for alternative locations to source parts in short supply since then, it’s pretty clear that its despatches will be hit in the immediate term.
“We have delivered 1,000 units of the Brio but we know that we will not be able to fulfill our original commitment to our customers on delivery schedules. So we will do the best we can but we will also communicate to our customers about a delay and request them to bear with us,” said Sen.
This is the second time this year that Honda has had to face production shortages due to a force majeure situation . Earlier this year the earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan create severe production snags for HSCI along with other Japanese companies. Thailand is a major parts sourcing hub for many Japanese auto majors including Honda and Toyota.
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08 November, 2011 Japanese auto major Suzuki Motor on Monday reported 5.26 percent jump in its net income for the six-month period ended September 30, despite heavy production loss due to labour unrests at its best performing operations in India during the same period.
During the April-September period, the company’s net income increased to 32.01 billion yen (about Rs 2,010 crore) from 30.41 billion yen (about Rs 1,910 crore) in the same period last year, Suzuki Motor said in a statement.
The net sales during the period, however, declined by 6.82 percent to 1.23 trillion yen (about Rs 76,907 crore) from 1.32 trillion yen (about Rs 82,715 crore), it added.
“The domestic economy is somewhat recovering from the stagnation following the Great East Japan Earthquake, but it is exposed to a downward pressure from various factors including the flood in Thailand and a further appreciation of the yen,” the company said. It also said the decreased sales in India had an impact on its net sales. “...sales amount (in Asia) decreased by 36.1 billion yen to 427.6 billion yen year-on-year due to decreased sales of Maruti Suzuki India and the exchange rate factor following the Yen appreciation,” it added.
Maruti Suzuki India had posted 59.81 percent fall in its net profit at Rs 240.44 crore for the quarter ended September 30, mainly due to production loss at Manesar because of labour unrest and foreign exchange loss. Also, Suzuki’s motorcycle factory in Thailand has been closed since mid-October as deadly floods there disrupted the flow of parts supply. The company has been spared any impact on its car production in Thailand so far.
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09 November, 2011 South Korean car maker Hyundai has lined up 10-15 launches in India in the next four to five years, in an attempt to protect and boost its market share that is under pressure due to increasing competition.
The firm, whose market share in India has fallen to 18.3 percent from 21 percent in the past 12-18 months, plans to overhaul its portfolio with stylish so-called “fluidic” designs and enter categories where it has no presence.
“The excitement in the market is derived out of only new models and the facelifts, so you have to be continuously working towards it,” said Arvind Saxena, vice-president sales and marketing, Hyundai India. The company plans to launch a cost-saving LPG variant of Eon prompted by rising petrol prices.
Also on cards from Hyundai stable are an executive sedan positioned above Verna to take on likes of Chevrolet Cruze and Honda Civic, in addition to variants and facelifts of i10 and i20 in the next few years. Hyundai recently launched its smallest car Eon, pitted against Maruti’s global top seller Alto.
Hyundai’s planned product onslaught comes at a time India’s largest car maker Maruti Suzuki has lined up 15-20 cars by 2015. Foreign car markers have also planned a parade of new cars, including 6-8 from General Motors, eight from Ford, and 10-15 from Renault-Nissan.
Backed by the strong economic growth and low penetration of cars, the passenger car market in India has witnessed a strong double digit growth over the last few years and it is expected to maintain a growth of 12-14 percent in the next five years.
However in the first six month of this fiscal, passenger vehicle sales have remained sluggish, growing at 1.84 percent as rising interest rates, firmer commodity prices and stubbornly high inflation dented demand in one of the fastest growing car markets.
“Experts said it is not surprising to see a barrage of new launches as product lifecycles get shorter and competition intensifies.” The basic genesis has to be that it has to offer value and it has to be differentiated from other products.
With Eon at the bottom end and Santa Fe at the top, Hyundai will study all segments within this range that could make sense for the Indian market, Saxena said. With widening price differential between diesel and petrol, Hyundai has not ruled out compact diesel cars in future.
07 November, 2011 The iconic British marquee Jaguar Land Rover owned by the Tatas on Friday launched its popular Range Rover Evoque in Mumbai.
The premium SUV will be available in four versions including three in diesel and one in petrol, and is priced upwards of Rs 44.75 lakh (ex-showroom Mumbai).
“The Range Rover Evoque is a very important addition to the Land Rover and Range Rover portfolio. This car has excited audiences across the world and we expect the same from the discerning customers here,” Tata Motors managing director PM Telang told reporters at the launch.
“A lot of enquiry has been coming for this product. We think it will be well accepted and become popular,” he said.
The Evoque will be available in both five-door and coupe body styles. While the coupe is available in a petrol variant, the five door version will be in diesel.
“The response to the Evoque has been phenomenal across the world. We have seen a lot of interest and excitement around this car in the country. Globally, we have received 30,000 bookings for this and we expect to see a significant number of bookings here as well,” Jaguar Land Rover India head of Preier Car Division Rohit Suri said.
