Archive for July, 2009
Thursday, July 30th, 2009
Hero Honda, India’s largest two-wheeler manufacturer, has reported a net profit of Rs 500.1 crore for the period April-June 2009, an 83% increase over the profit for the corresponding period in 2008. This increase in profit is, according to the company, on account of lower input costs and better sales figures.
Hero Honda‘s sales for April-June 2009 amounted to Rs 3,811 crore, a 34% increase over last year’s figure. Gross profit stood at Rs 604.5 crore, a 97% increase over the figure reported in the year-ago period.
With Bajaj Auto lagging far behind at a distant second spot, Hero Honda is currently the undisputed no.1 two-wheeler manufacturer in India. The company is expected to launch a new ‘premium’ motorcycle – the Karizma ZMR – in the domestic market over the next few weeks, with which it hopes to take on bikes like the Bajaj Pulsar 220 DTS-i and the Yamaha R15.
[Via: indiaautomotive]
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Wednesday, July 29th, 2009
Maruti may not have launched the “One Lakh Car” but it has definitely rolled out the latest technology and fuel efficient “One Lakh Cars” in India. Within 10 months of commencing its production of KB series engine, Maruti has already rolled out more than one lakh units of these engines that currently power its latest brands – A-Star and Ritz.
The new KB series engine has been extremely popular amongst the Indian customers and thus Maruti has decided to incorporate the same technology in its other existing models. According the company spokesperson, “The company’s Gurgaon plant has produced over one lakh KB-series engines, which are installed in the two small cars A-Star and Ritz since its commercial production began in October last year. We have definite plans to gradually introduce this next generation light-weight fuel efficient engine series in other models over a period of next 3-5 years.”
The new engines are fully compliant with BS-III, BS-IV and Euro IV emission norms. Maruti A-Star is powered by 1L petrol engine that delivers a mileage of 19.6 kmpl while the Ritz is fitted with 1.2L engine that delivers 17.7 kmpl of mileage.
[Via: cartradeindia]
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Wednesday, July 29th, 2009
Ford India launched the new Fiesta SXI. The new Fiesta SXI comes with the advanced and efficient 1.6 Duratec (petrol) and 1.4 Duratorq (common-rail, turbo diesel) engines. Both engines are fuel efficient and produce class-leading performance.
The top-end SXI variant has been aggressively priced at Rs. 6.99 lakhs (petrol) and Rs. 7.99 lakhs (diesel) (Ex-showroom, New Delhi) and will be available at Ford dealerships across India starting 3rd August. “The new Fiesta SXI will make a statement with its new style persona,” said Nigel Wark, executive director, Marketing, Sales & Service, Ford India.
[Via: CW]
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Wednesday, July 29th, 2009
Changes are afoot at Mahindra Two Wheelers (MTW), the new company which M&M has formed after acquiring the Pune-based two-wheeler manufacturer, Kinetic Motors, last year. While M&M will retain most of Kinetic’s 250 dealers across the country, changes are being planned to modify the product mix. And the first to go will be the Kinetic Blaze, which is fitted with a 165cc, 11.5bhp engine sourced from Hyosung.
According to MTW, a scooter like the Blaze (which, incidentally, is the most powerful, stylish and sporty scooter made and sold in India) has no market in India. The company will, instead, choose to focus on the Flyte, which is fitted with a 125cc engine from Taiwanese company, SYM. In fact, MTW will continue to work with SYM and may even launch a brand-new scooter later this year.
MTW currently sells around 3,000 units of the Flyte, which compares quite poorly with sales of the market leader – Honda Activa – which sells between 45-50,000 units per month. Still, with M&M’s marketing and engineering muscle now behind the erstwhile Kinetic, the Flyte and other forthcoming two-wheelers from MTW just might be able to challenge Honda’s dominance in the scooters segment in India, in the years to come.
[Via: indiaautomotive]
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Wednesday, July 29th, 2009
Just why Fiat has never introduced the Panda in India quite beats us. The little Italian hatchback look smart (in a utilitarian, unfussy kind of way…), and with its range of 1.1-, 1.2- and 1.4-litre petrol and 1.3-litre diesel engines, should be just right for India. However, Fiat, in all its wisdom, chooses to persist with the Palio rather than launching the Panda here.
Well, anyway, Fiat has just produced its 1.5 millionth Panda and its plant in Tychy, in Poland. The plant, which has been producing Pandas since 2003, will make 600,000 cars in 2009, of which nearly 50% will be Panda units. The Panda is currently one of the bestselling A-segment cars in Europe and Pandas produced at the Fiat Auto Poland plant are exported to more than 70 countries, including Japan, South Africa, Mexico, Italy, Germany and the UK.
Depending on the variant, the Fiat Panda is priced between Rs 5-7 lakh in Europe. We hope at some stage, Fiat will rethink its product portfolio for India and decide to bring this neat little car here as well.
[Via: indiaautomotive]
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Wednesday, July 29th, 2009
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Top Gear – Jaguar XFR vs. BMW M5
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Wednesday, July 29th, 2009
The new upcoming Ferrari 458 Italia is a completely new car from every point of view: engine, design, aerodynamics, handling, instrumentation and ergonomics, just to name a few.
A two-seater berlinetta, the Ferrari 458 Italia, as is now traditional for all Ferrari’s road-going cars, benefits hugely from the company’s Formula 1 experience. Once again input from Michael Schumacher – who was involved from the very start of the 458 Italia project – played an invaluable part.
The new 4499 cc V8 is the first Ferrari direct injection engine to be mid-rear mounted. It has a very low piston compression height typical of racing engines which contributed to achieving its compression ratio of 12.5:1. Maximum torque is 540 Nm at 6000 rpm, over 80 per cent of which is available from 3250 rpm. Specific torque is a record 120 Nm/litre. However, what is truly extraordinary is the amount of torque available while still maintaining high levels of power at low revs. The company claims the car has an efficiency of around 7km/l.
The 458 Italia is equipped with the seven-speed dual-clutch transmission which increases performance whilst providing very smooth shifts even at full throttle. The engineers have developed specific, sportier gear ratios to match the power and torque curves of the new V8, guaranteeing high torque even at lower engine speeds and allowing the car to reach its maximum speed in top gear.
The Ferrari 458 Italia’s performance: 0-100 km/h acceleration in under 3.4 seconds and a maximum speed in excess of 325 km/h. For the new chassis, once more in aluminium, Maranello’s engineers incorporated various types of advanced alloys along with aerospace industry-derived manufacturing and bonding techniques.
[Via: CW]
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Wednesday, July 29th, 2009
In order to celebrate their Silver Jubilee, Hero Honda has flagged off an expedition by riders from the 21 Signal Group of the Army at the India Gate yesterday. The 15-day motorcycle expedition will be done on a range of Hero Honda motorcycles covering a distance of 4,047 kilometres through eight states. The expedition will continue till 11 August, 2009. The 12 Hero Honda motorcycles include Passion Plus, Hunk and Karizma.
The route comprises of desert terrain of 940 kilometres and mountainous terrain of 1310 kilometres. The motorcycle expedition involves crossing of nearly ten high altitude passes – Rohtang (13,360 feet), Baralacha-La (16,040 feet), Nakee-La ( 15,547 feet), Lachung- La (16,616 feet), Tanglang-La (17,582 feet), Chang- La (17800 feet), Marsimik- La (18632 feet), Polokhang- La, Jalori Pass and Khardung-La (18,380 ft.), which is the highest motorable road in the world and will be negotiated via the Kullu, Manali and Leh axis.
[Via: Motorbeam]
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Wednesday, July 29th, 2009
Hyundai India has tied-up with Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. (IOCL) to jointly launch an innovative promotional campaign targeting the existing and potential customers. In this first of its kind initiative, Hyundai Motor will showcase its products highlighting their fuel-efficiency over their competition.
The initiative will also communicate the ongoing promotional schemes on Hyundai cars. The campaign will continue for a period of two months across 120 IOCL retail outlets located in 12 cities in India. These cities include New Delhi, Mumbai, Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Lucknow, Jaipur, Aurangabad, Agra, etc.
As a part of this campaign, Hyundai will set up a kiosk in every IOCL retail outlet that will have the Santro & i10 on display and a trained sales consultant to address the queries from the customers.
Through this campaign, Hyundai will facilitate its discerning customers to avail the exchange and upgrade benefits on its products. The outlets will also serve as check-points, as Hyundai will provide ‘Always Around’ and ‘Free Car Care Clinic’ services as well as Monsoon check up facilities for its customers.
[Via: motorbeam]
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Tuesday, July 28th, 2009
Tata Motors posted a 58 per cent rise in its fiscal first-quarter unconsolidated net profit at 5.14 billion rupees ($106.8 million), compared with 3.26 billion rupees a year earlier. The Indian carmaker reported revenues (net of excise) of Rs. 6404.63 crores on a stand-alone basis for the quarter ended June 30, 2009, of the financial year 2009-10, a decline of 7.6% compared to Rs. 6928.44 crores in the corresponding quarter previous year.
Tata Motors‘s continued focus on cost efficiencies, coupled with reduction of raw material prices, inventory reduction and improvement in sales realisation, yielded considerable benefits resulting in the operating margin to 11.4% (from 7.1% in the previous year), with operating profits at Rs. 728.00 crores, an increase of 47.9% as compared to the corresponding period of the previous year.
Improvement in liquidity, increased reach across the country and introduction of new products and variants improved the company’s sales, except in the case of the heavy truck segment.
The company’s domestic sales volume at 122,120 vehicles recorded a marginal decrease of 1.4% over the corresponding quarter of the previous year, whilst the exports at 5220 vehicles continued to be severely impacted (negative 43%) in the wake of continuing tumultuous global environment resulting in total sales volume at 127,340 vehicles, a decline of 4.3% as compared to the corresponding quarter of the previous year.
Tata passenger vehicles declined by 10% in the domestic market to 45,846 units but have been growing sequentially every month of the quarter breaking into positive growth in June. The market share for Tata passenger vehicles has sequentially improved from April to June 2009 with the June exit market share at 12.5%, and for the period being at 11.3%. Along with Fiat, the company has a joint market share of 12.3% in the industry.
[Via: carazoo]
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