Porsche is planning to launch its four-door, four seat super sedan, Panamera, in 2009. The model is currently under design and developmental stage and will be the first four-seat sedan to go into production from Porsche.
According to Rod Wallace, Managing Director of Porsche India, the new four-seat sedan from Porsche will find potential buyers in India as it will come with a sedan that delivers performance of a sports car. Although there is an ongoing credit crisis in the country and the auto sales have slumped over the past few months, nevertheless, the luxury car sales have been unhampered. Porsche expects good market in India.
After Toyota, Mahindra and Tata Motors, now Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. has decided to cut down its production in India. India’s largest car manufacturer launched its most awaited model, MarutiA-Star in India on Wednesday. However, it expects a decrease in the demand of its cars in the next few months.
“We made some re-adjustments in production. There is a demand slowdown,” said Mayank Pareek, the company’s executive officer in charge of marketing. However, he declined to elaborate on the ‘adjustments’. The company produced 757,092 cars, vans and utility vehicles in the year ended March 31.
The auto industry has been facing difficult times in India since past few months. Rising job insecurities, high interest rates and escalating raw material prices have led to a historic slump in the demand. In India, nearly 85 percent cars are bought on credit where auto loans play a major role.
Toyota has put the India launch of Prius, the world’s first mass-produced hybrid vehicle, on the back burner. Infrastructure issues, a steep duty structure and inability to launch at a competitive price are some of the reasons cited by company officials.
The recent move by Honda, Toyota’s arch rival, to slash the price of its Civic Hybrid by Rs 8.14 lakh could also have interfered with Toyota’s plans to launch Prius in India, sources said. Toyota was looking to launch the car in 2009 at Rs 20-22 lakh. Honda’s Civic hybrid currently costs Rs 13.36 lakh.
The hybrid cars, which use both petrol engine and electric motor, are fuel-efficient and have lower emission levels, making them environment-friendly. Toyota’s domestic arm, which does not have the required manufacturing infrastructure to roll out hybrid cars, is unsure of the initial volumes and feels that the Indian market is not yet ready for such cars.
Maruti Suzuki is inching close to the one-million mark in Alto sales in India. Launched eight years ago, the Alto has displaced the 800 as Maruti’s no.1 bestseller in the domestic market.
Alto sales have actually picked up very fast over the last 24-30 months. While Maruti only sold around 500,000 units of the Alto within the first six years of the car’s launch, it has sold around the same number over the last two years.
Apart from sales in the domestic market, Maruti has also exported about 180,000 units of the Alto, to various European countries. In 2009, most parts of the world will get a brand-new Alto, which will be sold as the A-Star in the Indian market. The current Alto will continue its innings in the Indian market.
General Motors plans to hire 500 new workers at its Talegaon plant in Maharashtra, India. The company is facing tough times back home but it has big expansion plans lined up for India. It is also planning to launch its small car in India to capture a larger market segment.
“Recruitment is on at full swing in India and we plan to hire as many as 500 new workers for our Talegaon plant in the coming months,” GM India president and MD Karl Slym. Company has started its production at the Talegaon manufacturing unit in September only. This manufacturing unit will also be a power train facility for the company. It has already hired 700 workers at the factory and plans to hire more. General Motors already has a plant in Halol in Gujarat.
General Motors will also increase production of its mini car “Spark” in India. All these steps from General Motors are quite contrary to the company’s grim situation in the US where it badly needs Federal support and its bailout plan to sustain itself. “We are self sufficient here and all our plans are intact and on course,” he said. P Balendran, director and VP at GM India, said the company was making operating profits since 2004. “We are a debt free company and most of our expansion plans are being met through internal accruals,” he said.
The European ‘people’s car’, VolkswagenBeetle will hit the Indian roads next year. “Volkswagen is known as Beetle in India. We have studied the market and feel that there is space for Beetle. We are planning to make it available in the middle of this year through imports,” said VW spokesperson. Hence the car will be launched in the year 2009.
“We are now finalising the details and we think there is a small yet definite market for the Beetle in India. But do not expect it to be cheap,” said a VW spokesperson. VW plans to launch the 1.9 litre diesel variant in India.
Beetle is the iconic car for the company and will be imported in India as Completely Built Unit or CBU. This means it will attract 100% import duty and will be quite expensive. While the pricing still remains to be decided, Kurt Rippholz, VW spokesperson, said VW will position the car as a lifestyle car in the niche segment in India.
Fiat’s Ranjangaon (Pune) plant with the capacity to produce 3.33 lakh engines a year, can produce a much larger volume of engines than the company and its joint venture partner Tata Motors would need in the near future. The company has decided to utilise the excess capacity to produce engines for export.
For Fiat, engine production in India for its global operations is cost-efficient by 15-20 per cent. Mr Kapoor said the company would use Tata Motors’ facilities to export its products. Fiat India is a 50:50 joint venture between Tata Motors and the Fiat Group.
Fiat is currently producing 1.3 litre Multijet diesel, 1.2 litre FIRE petrol and 1.4 litre FIRE petrol engines at Ranjangaon plant. The 1.3 litre Multijet diesel, a successful engine known for its performance and efficiency, will constitute larger portion of Fiat’s export from India. Fiat group has produced more than 2.5 million units of 1.3 litre, Multijet diesel engines worldwide. Tata Motors is also sourcing this engine from Ranjangaon plant for its Indica Vista.
