Honda India has cut the price of Civic Hybrid by a whopping 8 lakh rupees!! The company looks forward to boost the sales of its environmentally friendly car in the growing unfriendly automobile environment. The price cut comes with immediate effect and becomes historic as the sharpest price cut in the Indian automobile history.
The launch price of the car was Rs. 21.5 lakh but the new price after the price cut is Rs. 13.36 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi). The hybrid model from Honda had made a lot of customers interested in the car. However, the car was imported as a completely built unit and attracted heavy import duty.
Honda, which only sold 60 units of the Civic Hybrid in India over the last five months, sold 98 units of the car in one single day, immediately after the price cut was announced. Of course, one can only imagine the plight of those poor souls who bought the very same car at its earlier price of Rs 21.5 lakhs!!
With the Singur debacle, it was almost inevitable that the launch date for the Tata Nano would have to be pushed back by a couple of months. And indeed, it now seems certain that the Nano will miss its earlier launch deadline of November-December this year.
While Tata Motors is struggling to start production of the Nano at its Pantnagar plant (the aim being to produce around 48,000 units per annum from this plant in Uttarakhand), the launch is now likely to happen only in the January-March 2009 quarter.
Tata Motors has, reportedly, asked its vendors to be prepared for supplying components for only 3,500 - 4,000 Nanos on a monthly basis for now. The company, which wants to ensure continuous supply once the car is actually launched, is taking no chances on quality control and will prefer to defer the launch by 2 - 3 months rather than launch the car in a big hurry and then face problems later.
A wholly owned subsidiary of Jamna Auto Industries Ltd., Jai Springs Group (JSG) has started production of suspension components for the Tata Nano. JSG, leading suppliers of leaf-springs and parabolic springs for commercial vehicles, are making suspension components for the Nano at their plant in Pantnagar (in Uttarakhand), from where the Nano is slated to roll by the end of this year.
JSG’s plant at Pantnagar will primararily cater to Tata Motors’ requirements for the Ace mini-truck, the Nano, and some of Ashok Leyland’s commercial vehicles. Jamna Auto is reported to have spent about Rs three crore towards setting up this plant and the company plans to increase capacity to 24,000 MTPA by the end of the current fiscal.
The Gujarat Cabinet today decided to charge Rs 900 per square metre from Tata for the 1,100 acre given for Nano Car Project in Sanand, which means the company will have to pay Rs 400.65 crore for the land. A state cabinet meeting, chaired by Chief Minister Narendra Modi, took the decision on the basis of recommendation of state-level land valuation committee of the state government, official sources said.
The cabinet also decided that if the Tatas pay late then they will be charged compound interest of eight per cent from the date of allocation of the land. The state government has given 1,100 acres of land near Charodi village in Sanand taluk on the outskrits of the city to the Tata’s for the relocation of their Nano car project from Singur in West Bengal. An agreement was signed between Gujarat government and the Tatas last week for establishment of the project.
Given the current land-related troubles it’s facing, Tata Motors may only be able to do a limited launch of the base model Nano by the end of this year. However, the company is very much on track with its plans for higher-end versions of the car, with an air-conditioned deluxe model and an automatic gearbox version in the pipeline.
The Nano with the automatic gearbox is likely to be launched by June/July 2009, at an ex-showroom price of around Rs 1.3 lakh. A diesel-engined variant is also expected by 2010, while a lithium-ion battery powered electric Nano may be out in the market by 2011.
Gujarat has yet another ‘cheap car’ to offer to the world. This time, in the Electric-car segment. It comes from ‘Ajanta Group’ - well established in the electric 2-Wheeler market under the brand name ‘OREVA’.
The ‘Oreva e-car’ will be priced between Rs 85,000 - Rs 1 lakh making it the cheapest small car in India. The non-AC version is likely to be priced at Rs 85,000 and the AC variant will be priced over Rs 1 lakh. The Oreva is likely to be launched in Jan - Feb 2009, neck-to-neck with the Tata Nano launch and is likely to have an NiMH or lithium battery, rather than lead-acid with claimed range of 200-250kms-for every charge.
Kinetic which is partly owned by Mahindra & Mahindra, has bagged the order to make transmissions for the Nano and possible even its engines! If you could recall, The Kinetic group showcased a concept car that costed just 1 lakh. This would have happened had the Indian Govt obliged and reduced the taxes from 40% to the 16% that they wanted. Still, they always had some unfinished business and now there are in it again, and will be making thousands of transmissions for the coveted Nano.
Arun Firodia, Chairman, Kinetic said, “We’ll get the engine order, once we make this successful.” Firodia had earlier mentioned that the agreement with Tata Motors to supply gearboxes may help the company.
It is predicted that Kinetic may generate Rs 3,000 crore annually from Nano project. 500,000 units of the Nano are expected from the various plants within three to five years. Kinetic, it seems, wanted to make even the engine of the Nano, but Tata Motors weren’t interested, not at least in the initial stages.
Tata Motors has announced that the mother plant for the Nano will be relocated to Sanand in Gujarat. The company had received overwhelming support from several States for relocating the plant. After examining various sites in these states and carefully evaluating offers from the respective governments, the company has concluded that the site at Sanand and the offer from the Gujarat Government is in the best interest of the project.
The integrated project, comprising the mother plant and the vendor park, will come up on an area of about 1,100 acres. The plant, to begin with, will produce 250,000 cars per annum. The capacity is expandable up to 500,000 cars per annum. The project, including Tata Motors’ plant, vendor facilities and service providers, will together generate over 10,000 direct and indirect jobs.
Tata Motors’ chairman Ratan Tata will meet West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee here tomorrow to discuss the fate of Nano project in the state which is in limbo. Government sources said that the meeting would take place at Writers’ Buildings in the afternoon.
The proposed meeting, sources said, would try to find a solution to the impasse which has led to suspension of work at the Nano project at Singur due to political reasons since August 29.
While the state government has assured Tata that all help would be extended for resumption of work at Singur, Tatas have said that it was not possible for Tata Motors to work under police protection. Tata has also said that they would be forced to shift the Nano project from Singur if normalcy was not restored at the project area.
With the prospects of Nano rolling out from Singur now becoming bleak, Bhattacharjee had written to Tata asking him not to pull out and expressed his desire for a meeting on the issue.
Hyundai plans to make Russia a major production base, churning out 150,000 cars per year in the country from 2012, the top South Korean car maker said on Thursday.
Hyundai, the world’s No. 5 auto maker along with its affiliate Kia Motors will also develop Europe-tailored models to increase sales and profitability, chairman Chung Mong-koo said, according to a transcript.
“High oil prices and the financial crisis have been denting the global automobile market, but we will keep plant operations in the Czech Republic and Slovakia stable and boost sales of strategic models, including Cee’d and i30,” he told reporters upon returning from a visit to Russia, accompanying President Lee Myung-bak.
