Škoda India returns to make an emphatic fashion statement as the sponsor of Lakme Fashion Week Spring Summer 2010 where the latest trends in style and design make their debut. The much awaited event celebrating its 10 th year, which attracts not only the fashion conscious but also the glitterati from bollywood and the social circuit, will feature the New Škoda Laura 10/10 as the ‘Official Car’ of this season.
Speaking at the occasion, Mr. Thomas Kuehl, Board Member, Sales & Marketing, ŠkodaAuto India said, “We are glad to announce our partnership with the Lakme Fashion Week for the third consecutive season as it presents us with an ideal platform to showcase our avant-garde automotive designs flanking the best from the fashion world. The style, sophistication and exemplary design of the New Laura Perfect 10 is without doubt a fitting model to adorn the fashion world.”
The Škoda Laura is recognized for its new engine technology, excellent safety and comfort features and good performance. Perfect handling, directional stability and enhanced braking ability have always been the hallmark of every Škoda automobile and are mirrored in the new Laura as well. Soaring high on the design, safety, security, comfort, and convenience aspects, The New Laura accelerates on the same track assuring the customers a perfect 10/10 driving experience.
Fiat India is considering raising prices of its cars as the margins are under pressure. Fiat expects to sell in excess of 27,000 units this year on the back of newly launched cars, the Grande Punto and Linea. Fiat will start exporting the Linea to South Africa from September. The company had announced Rs 4,000 crore investment in India operations.
Hyundai India is all set to step-up its export of the i20 in the non-European markets. In light of Hyundai Motor India’s growing role to make India as a manufacturing hub, it plans to increase its export base to 42 new non-European countries.
The Hyundai i20 which was revealed at the Paris Motor Show in October 2008 was earlier being shipped to approximately 47 countries predominantly the European market and a few countries in Middle East, Africa & Latin America.
In order to meet the growing demand, Hyundai has stepped up the production of the i20 at its Sreeperumbedur plant, outside Chennai so that it can increase its penetration in the countries of Africa, Middle East, Latin America, Asia & Pacific, South Africa and even Australia. Hyundai aims to increase its export volumes manifold and enhance its presence in Europe as well as non-European markets.
While Hyundai cars ply in all five continents, amongst the non-European markets, Libya has emerged as an important export destination. Hyundai has already received initial orders from new countries like South Africa, Isreal and Indonesia.
SkodaAuto India announced the opening of Fahrenheit Automobiles Pvt. Ltd., a new 3-S (sales , service & spares) dealership in New Delhi. Fahrenheit Automobiles was inaugurated by Mr. Thomas Kuehl, Board Member, Sales & Marketing, ŠkodaAuto India, Mr. Ashutosh Dixit, GM, Sales & Network Development, ŠkodaAuto India and Mr. Kunal Ramchandani & Mr. Sumit Nanda, Directors of Fahrenheit Automobiles.
Located at 68/3, Najafgarh Road, Moti Nagar New Delhi -110015, Fahrenheit Automobiles facility is built on an area of 50,000 sq ft and it will be the largest dealership in the country. Speaking at the inauguration, Mr. Thomas Kuehl said, “We are confident that Fahrenheit Automobiles will play a vital role in strengthening our dealer base and continue to enhance the Škoda Customer Care experience.”
Including Fahrenheit Automobiles, ŠkodaAuto India has 7 showrooms in the NCR region including 5 in New Delhi. The ŠkodaAuto’s dealership footprint is now spread across 62 outlets and covers 46 cities & towns in India.
Mahindra & Mahindra, which will start selling its Scorpio-based pick-up trucks in the US by March 2010, hopes that North America will ultimately become its largest export market. M&M exported 9,000 units of its utility vehicles during FY 2009 (which was actually a 44% decline over the 13,000 units it exported during FY 2008), but is aiming to improve on that figure during the current fiscal.
M&M plans to invest about $80 million in the US market and will kick off its US operations with two-door (TR20) and four-door (TR40) pick-up trucks, which will be fitted with 2.2-litre common-rail turbodiesel engines and six-speed automatic transmissions.
Honda Siel Cars India (HSCI) expects a double-digit rate of growth in its sales during FY 2010 and is looking at boosting production of the recently launched Jazz hatchback by 50% from September this year. However, the company believes that demand would still be relatively weak in the immediate future, and does not warrant the completion of its second manufacturing facility in the country (near Alwar, in Rajasthan) to be completed before 2011.
HSCI’s plant in Rajasthan, which is being set up at an investment of Rs 1,000 crore, was supposed to have been completed by the end of this year. However, while the plant is partly complete and the company is already producing certain parts for the Honda City and Jazz there, production of complete cars at the Alwar plant will only start by 2011.
In the meanwhile, Honda Siel will start running two shifts at its plant in Greater Noida from next month, instead of the single shift it’s currently running. Production of the Jazz is slated to be increased from 5,000 to 7,500 units per month, from September this year.
The 49th Annual SIAM Convention got underway in the presence of several industry luminaries as well as senior ministry officials and bureaucrats. 2009 also marks the beginning of SIAM’s golden anniversary celebrations. The all-day convention has Revival, Restructuring and Sustainable Growth as the Theme was inaugurated by the Chief Guest, the Hon. Minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises Mr. Vilas Rao Deshmukh in the presence of top executives of both Indian and International automobile and auto ancillary companies.
In his inaugural address, the Hon. Minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises acknowledged and appreciated the role SIAM has been playing over the last 50 years and applauded the fact that 2009 marks the beginning of SIAM’s 50th year celebrations.
Noting that the Indian auto industry has been going through a very challenging period in recent times due to the global recession he agreed that the industry had not been insulated from the negative effects of global recession. However, he pointed out that thanks to the Indian government’s prompt action the impact on Indian industry had been cushioned somewhat.
Mr. Deshmukh went on to mention that though the Indian automotive scenario was showing positive signs of improvement compared to the recent past, the commercial vehicle sector still needs attention in terms of renewed investment and much more R&D. Together with this there was a need for skilled manpower too if a positive rate of growth was to be sustained.
At the same time, Mr. Deshmukh stressed that environmental and climate change issues were also very important issues of the day and while there has been a start in certain quarters, alternative fuel/technologies have to be embraced wholeheartedly.
The minister also touched upon the fact that setting up a National Auto Design centre was a priority as was the Automotive Testing and R&D Infrastructure Project (NATRiP) project which would provide unique and better testing opportunities to manufacturers and would help manufacturers bring down costs as such facilities are currently available abroad only.
Prior to the Minister’s address Dr Satyanarayana Dash, Secretary, Ministry of Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises released a SIAM film on the occasion. In his accompanying address, Mr. Dash mentioned how important an automobile purchase was for the average Indian, rating it as the second most important discretionary purchase after purchasing a home.
Touching on the industrial downturn after October 2008 he said that while as early as Feb 2009 industry in general had been posting impressive growth figures - the cement and coal industries have shown growth - a lot of work still remains to be done especially in terms of improving all round infrastructures.
The two-wheeler sector for example has shown over 19 per cent growth. Continuing on the subject of growth, Mr. Dash said that the July trend of growth was expected to continue over the coming festival season, helped by the fact that there are several encouraging signs like India to become a global hub of small compact car as well as the establishment of Project NATRIP and 9 testing centres.
Nissan has announced its decision to shift production of its small car - the new Micra hatchback - from the UK to India. ‘We have decided to manufacture the Micra at our upcoming factory at Oragadam, near Chennai,’ said Nissan India MD and CEO, Kiminobu Tokuyama, speaking to a national Indian newspaper.
The new Nissan Micra will be sold in India and will also be exported to Europe and some Western Asian countries. Moving production of the Micra to India has been prompted by better cost efficiencies and the presence of a high-quality vendor base here, which would ultimately allow Nissan to rationalise the Micra’s prices in the hyper competitive small cars segment.
Over the next 3-4 years, in addition to the new Micra, Nissan is also expected to produce another 7-8 models at its facility near Chennai, where production will start from May 2010. Nissan’s plant at Oragadam will have a production capacity of 400,000 units per annum and Nissan expects to invest as much as Rs 4,500 crore in this facility, by 2015.