Freelander 2

Tata Motors President - passenger cars - Rajiv Dube (L) and Head - Premium car division - Rohit Suri unveil a ' Freelander 2' during a launch function in Mumbai on September 22, 2009. The Freelander 2 which will be available in three trim levels in India is priced at upwards of Indian Rupees 3,379,000 (USD 70,147). India's leading vehicle maker Tata Motors, which owns the British luxury carmaker Jaguar LandRover after completing its 2.3-billion-dollar acquisition of JLR from the Ford Motor Co. in June last year earlier posted a first-quarter net loss for the three months to June, hit by weak sales of its British premium brands Jaguar and Land Rover. Indian car sales jumped by nearly a third in July -- the country's sixth monthly rise in car sales -- as new model launches and cheaper loans prompted customers to flock to automobile showrooms.

Mercedes Benz E Class

Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Mercedes Benz India Wilfried G. Aulbur poses for a picture during the launch of a Mercedes Benz E Class automobile in New Delhi on September 23, 2009. Mercedes Benz E Class is priced at 97,833 USD - 4,690,000 Indian Rupees.

Jaguar

A Jaguar car logo is seen on a vehicle hubcap in central London. India's Tata Motors said on Thursday it will merge two of its three Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) auto plants in England by 2014. A spokesman for Tata said there would be no compulsory redundancies and it would develop a new low-carbon Range Rover model, creating new jobs.

GM to sell cheap electric cars in India

US firm announces joint venture with Reva, the firm behind the G-Wiz, but experts say demand will be low because Indian electricity supplies remain unreliable

General Motors, one of the world's biggest carmakers, and the Bangalore-based company behind the G-Wiz electric car have announced a joint venture to produce "affordable" electric cars in India.
The new vehicle, which has been road-tested, will be based on GM's popular Spark hatchback, which in India costs a quarter of a million rupees (£3,000). Neither GM nor its partner, Reva, would be drawn on the electric version's price tag, though both said it would be "competitive and affordable".

A Reva electric car is seen on display at the Reva Electric Car Co. headquarters in Bangalore, India, 

Ford reveals Brand new FORD FIGO in india

Ford has unveiled its much anticipated small car for India, the Ford Figo in New Delhi.

Volkswagen vans

Volkswagen vans are lined up for display at the 2009 Vanfest at the Three Counties Showground   in Malvern Wells, England. The annual event which started in 1994, attracted over 8,000 VW vehicles to what has become the world's largest gathering of Volkswagen campervan enthusiasts.

Bugatti

Bugatti Automobiles Marketing Director Alasdair Stewart (R) shakes hands with Peter Mak, Director of Bugatti China, in front of a new concept car during the official opening of the world's first Bugatti showroom in central Beijing September 23, 2009. The luxury automobile car company is hoping to cash in on the Chinese auto market, now the world's biggest, with passenger car sales in August soaring 90 percent from a year earlier.



 

 

Two models stand next to a new Bugatti concept car during the official opening of the world's first Bugatti showroom in central Beijing

Ferrari 458 Italia

Ferrari 458 Italia cars are presented during the first media day at the international car show "IAA" in Frankfurt

With Low Prices, Hyundai Builds Market Share

After years of struggling to prove to consumers than it was more than a second-tier brand, Hyundai Motor America and its affiliate, Kia Motor America, accounted for 8 percent of the new-vehicle market in the United States in August, more than Chrysler’s 7.4 percent. The company sold more than 60,000 vehicles last month as buyers rushed to take advantage of the government’s cash-for-clunkers program before its end.

The carmaker’s sales topped August 2008 by 47 percent — total industry sales were up only 1 percent.

Globally, the Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group, which owns the Hyundai Motor Company and about 39 percent of Kia Motors, passed Honda last year and the Ford Motor Company this year. It became the fourth-largest automaker, behind Toyota, General Motors and Volkswagen (it is seventh in the United States). It was in 11th place worldwide less than a decade ago.

Hyundai and Kia both expect to sell more vehicles in the United States this year than they did in 2008, a claim that only one other automaker, Subaru, can make. Sales by all of Hyundai’s bigger competitors have fallen by more than 20 percent so far this year.


Hyundai’s Exhibit A is the Genesis, a luxury sedan that was named North American car of the year at the Detroit auto show in January. Part of the appeal of the Genesis, in addition to a price tag that is thousands less than that of its chief rivals, may be that hardly anyone associates Hyundai with the word “luxury.”

Its lowest-priced model, the Accent, sells for just under $10,000 for the base package. The Genesis, its most expensive model, starts at $32,250 — by comparison, the Lexus ES 350 costs $34,470, and the Cadillac CTS costs $36,560.

Yamaha Vmax Launched in India

Yamaha India launched in the country a new two wheeler on Wednesday priced at Rs. 20 Lakh.

This was followed by another launch, namely a launch of the limited edition of Fazer and SZ Series models. The launches were made in light of the coming festival season.

Nissan launches 2 new cars in India

Nissan Motor Co. launched two new car models in Mumbai Wednesday, part of an aggressive India expansion plan by Japan's third-largest automaker.

"India is the single biggest country in Nissan's investment plan in 2009," said Kiminobu Tokuyama, chief executive and managing director of Nissan Motor India Pvt. Ltd.

He declined to specify exactly how much of Nissan's fiscal year 2009 capital expenditure budget of 350 billion Japanese yen ($3.6 billion) will be directed to India as the company works to diversify its product line, raise its market share and transform India into a global production hub.

The new versions of Nissan's X-Trail sport utility vehicle and luxury Teana sedan unveiled Wednesday during a smoke and light show with live African drumming will not immediately solve the problems -- chiefly high prices, big cars that lack mass appeal and desperately low sales volumes -- that analysts say have thwarted Nissan's India efforts.
But Tokuyama said that is about to change.

Like other global auto majors, Nissan has been pushing into emerging markets like India and China to cut production costs and sustain sales growth as demand in mature markets stagnates.

Currently, Nissan ships cars to India ready-made from Japan, incurring a 109 percent import duty. That high cost -- the retail price of the new X-Trail starts at 2 million rupees ($42,670) and the new Teana at 2.1 million rupees ($43,121) -- has thwarted sales, executives said.

Since Nissan began selling cars in India in 2004, it has only sold about 1,000 X-Trail vehicles, and just 300 Teana sedans, executives said.

Tokuyama said that by 2012, Nissan plans to expand its India product line from two to nine models, five of which would be manufactured in India, and ramp up its dealer network from five to 55 outlets.

Tokuyama said Nissan's first India-made car -- a new version of the hatchback that now sells under the Micra brand in Europe and the March brand in Japan -- would roll out of its Chennai factory, in southern India, in May 2010.

That factory is the centerpiece of a seven-year, 45 billion rupee ($920 million) investment plan undertaken with France's Renault, which owns 44 percent of Nissan.

Nissan also plans to use the Chennai factory as a global export hub and shift production of Micra cars for Europe from the U.K. to Chennai. Tokuyama said Nissan would start exporting 110,000 cars a year from Chennai to Europe, the Middle East and Africa starting in the second half of 2010.

"Production cost is an important factor in the production of the Micra," he said. "Other global manufacturers have found that India is very good quality and cost competitive."

Tokuyama said the U.K. factory would be used to produce another vehicle and said he did not anticipate any layoffs. He said Nissan also plans to shift production of the March hatchback from Japan to a factory in Thailand.
Nissan, along with Renault and India's Bajaj Auto, is also developing an ultra-low cost car to compete with the Tata Motors Nano. Tokuyama declined to say when the model might be ready.
Mohit Arora, who covers the Indian auto market for J.D. Power from Singapore, said Nissan was late to come to India and its current offerings are too expensive for most Indians.

"Unlike, let's say, Toyota and Honda, which have been there for some time, Nissan was a late arrival on the Indian scene," he said. "They were focused on markets which had given them faster growth, like China."
But, he added, "That's not to say they've missed the boat."

source:businessweek

VW to Start Selling the Beetle in India

Because of high import duties, the Bug will have a hefty price tag when Volkswagen begins importing them from Mexico 

On sale—A slice of history for Rs 20 lakh apiece. The Volkswagen Beetle, the world's longest running and most-produced car of a single design, will be available in India in three months, offering a Nano-sized ride with the frills of a top-notch SUV.
The car that has meant various things to various people—once the quasiofficial vehicle of Germany's hated Third Reich in the 1940s, the Beetle went on to become the darling of California beatniks in the Swinging 60s—is being imported as a completely built unit from its Mexico plant, and is currently
undergoing technical testing ahead of its India launch.
Its hefty price tag, which pitches it in the luxury car segment alongside Honda Accord, Toyota Camry, Skoda Superb and the MercedesBenz C Class, is due to the 110% import duty and high safety specifications.
The Indian unit of Volkswagen said pricing the Beetle competitively was a big challenge for the company and blamed taxes and logistics for the high price. "But we are working very aggressively on Beetle's debut in India," said Neeraj Garg, Volkswagen India's director for passenger cars.
The German carmaker, now owned by Porsche Automobile, which already sells the Passat and Jetta models in India, expects the Beetle to have a product segmentation of its own and instead of competing with other imported smaller hatchbacks, most notably the Fiat 500, which costs Rs 15 lakh exshowroom price in Delhi.
Also known as Bug, the Beetle will sport a 1.9-litre TDI diesel engine and a 5-speed manual transmission. Its other features will include rain sensors and cruise control, along with acoustic rear parking sensors to fit into small parking spaces. Its safety features will include ABS, traction control, anti-skid system and standard front and side airbags.
Mr. Garg said Volkswagen was not looking at high volumes but hoped to leverage its brand value before launching its mass-market Polo hatchback, expected to debut sometime later this year. Fiat's model 500, (also called the Cinquecento) launched last year, has managed to sell just 58 units to date.
"We are expecting a much better response for the Beetle, which carries a very high iconic value," Mr. Garg said.
Volkswagen's decision to launch the Beetle comes at a time when rival BMW has put on hold its plan to launch the equally iconic small car Mini in India. BMW, which does not see it as a viable proposition yet, has pushed back the India rollout of Mini beyond 2010 and will continue to focus on bigger sedans and sports utility vehicles for now.

ROAD RUNNER

• Hefty price tag due to 110% import duty & high safety specifications.
• To have 1.9-litre TDI diesel engine and 5-speed manual transmission.
• Features include rain sensors, cruise control, acoustic rear parking sensors.

 

Geely Vision

A customer talks to a salesmen near a Geely Vision car at a Geely Automotive showroom in Suining, Sichuan province September 16, 2009. Geely Automotive, the Chinese carmaker whose parent is eyeing Ford's Volvo unit, is set to raise capital through a bond issue in a move that may provide funding for a Volvo bid

MG Rover

An MG Rover sports car is pictured outside the MG Rover factory in Longbridge, Birmingham, on September 11, 2009. Britain said on Friday it would seek to ban the directors of MG Rover from running companies, after a highly critical report into the carmaker's 2005 collapse with the loss of 6,000 jobs. Business Secretary Peter Mandelson said he wanted the four men declared 'unfit to hold office', following publication of the results of a four-year probe into the demise of the firm, which produced the iconic Mini.

The MG Rover factory is pictured in Longbridge, Birmingham









Source:Getty Images

Magna says to cut 10,500 jobs at Opel

The co-head of Canadian auto parts maker Magna said on Monday that it planned to cut 10,500 posts at loss-making German car maker Opel once it completes its takeover of the General Motors' unit.

Co-chief executive Siegfried Wolf said his group, which agreed last week to buy a majority stake in Opel from General Motors, was sticking with plans to cut jobs at Opel and its sister brand Vauxhall in Britain.
He confirmed figures reported over the weekend in the German media but said Magna had not modified its terms since late May, when it first signed a memorandum of understanding with GM on the deal.
"Our plans haven't changed since May 31," Wolf told reporters at a press briefing in Frankfurt ahead of the international auto show.
Previously, the figure reported was 10,000 job cuts. The Opel business, including Vauxhall, employs some 50,000 workers across Europe.

Wolf did not say where the job cuts would be made, a sensitive topic as Germany gears up for national polls on September 27.

M&M to invest Rs 800cr to build a new SUV

 After dominating the Indian market with its indigenously-built SUV Scorpio, Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) is working on one of its most ambitious projects—building an all-new SUV from scratch with an eye on foreign markets. M&M will invest Rs 700-800 crore in the new product that is expected to be out before the next fiscal-end.

    After losing Ford’s JLR to Tatas, M&M seems to have taken up the challenge to build its own new global brand for foreign markets. While naming the product under development as “Global SUV”, M&M feels the new SUV has a market abroad where people are looking for a value-for-money vehicle. M&M V-C and MD Anand Mahindra had earlier said that the Indian major was not worried over the JLR loss but rather set to compete with the SUV maker.

    Pawan Goenka, president, automotive division, of M&M, said the new SUV will be manufactured at the company’s Chakan plant in Maharashtra and positioned a notch higher than the flagship Scorpio.

    “Yes, we are building an all-new SUV and are investing Rs 700-800 crore for this product that will come at a premium to the Scorpio in terms of pricing and positioning,” Goenka said.

    However, while Goenka referred to it as an SUV, sources engaged in development said it will be a crossover — a vehicle derived from a car platform while borrowing features from a SUV. Crossovers — that offer riding comfort of a car while carrying the macho looks of an SUV — typically are designed for light off-road capability. Some of the popular crossovers are BMW X3, Honda CR-V, Nissan Rouge and Toyota Highlander.

    “It is being built in such a way that it will give us complete flexibility on what we require from it as per various markets. The basic body structure would remain the same even though the vehicle can be a right-hand drive or left-hand, meet varying safety requirements, or run on different fuels,” Goenka said.
On The International Highway...

M&M will invest Rs 700-800 crore in the new product, which is aimed at foreign markets, and is expected to be out before the next fiscal-end
Product under development being called ‘Global SUV’ will be manufactured at the company’s Chakan plant in Maharashtra and is positioned a notch higher than the flagship Scorpio, says Pawan Goenka

source:timesofindia

Frankfurt Auto Show

German car manufacturer Daimler's characteristic Mercedes-Benz star is seen on the bonnet of an S-class limousine outside a Mercedes dealership in Frankfurt, July 30, 2009. Daimler expects a gradual improvement in the group's operating profitability in the course of this year, it said on Wednesday, after it beat expectations for an even worse second-quarter operating loss.















Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche sits in a SLS AMG on the first press day of the Frankfurt Auto Show in Frankfurt, Germany, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2009. The car fair run through Sept. 27.









CEO of German car maker Daimler, Dieter Zetsche, presents the new Mercedes SLS AMG on the first press day of the Frankfurt Auto Show in Frankfurt, Germany, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2009. The car fair run through Sept. 27.











Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche, right, talks to British Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton at a Mercedes SLS AMG on the first press day of the Frankfurt Auto Show in Frankfurt, Germany, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2009. The car fair runs through Sept. 27.

















Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche, right, talks to British Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton at a Mercedes SLS AMG on the first press day of the Frankfurt Auto Show in Frankfurt, Germany, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2009. The car fair runs through Sept. 27.

Toyota launches new Land Cruiser Prado

Toyota Motor Corp launched a fully remodeled Land Cruiser Prado sport utility vehicle in the Japanese market today, with improved on-and-off road performance.

Toyota set its monthly sales target for the fourth- generation new Land Cruiser Prado, a midsize four-wheel drive vehicle, at 1,000 units.


Toyota said specific improvements include a roomier cabin with increased space between the front and second-row seats, enhancements to the time-tested full-frame structure and higher body rigidity, making the ride even more comfortable.

 The adoption of a kinetic dynamic suspension system also allows for more stable driving at city and highway speeds, and a "crawl control" feature enhances rough-road compatibility, Toyota said.