Maruti to anchor from Mundra for exports

The sale spree in Maruti Suzuki camp has made the company to think of landing to Mundra for exporting. Maruti is writing a very good success story with a growth of 16% till September and is striving to carry on this strait till the end of the year with an export market to reach over 1 lakh cars from Gujarat Mundra shore. The production in Maruti is also increasing in some models like D’Zire (from 2000 to 8000 cars to cross even 10000).

The company is facing a margin crisis due to the increase in the cost of materials but there is no immediate plan to alter the prices, said its executive officer. The export will be doubled from the Mundra shore as the last year figure was 70000 units and as of now 86000 units which is to be increased to 140000 net. In another move, the engineering strength will also be increased to 1000 from the existing 700. The company MD and the Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi jointly inauguration of All Gujarat Institute of Driving, Technical Training and Research Centre at Gujarat . this is fourth such centre to be initiated by Maruti and it is the first-of its kind for tribals in the country.

By this tribals will get training in driving, road safety, automobile technique at free of cost. This apex institute will have 112 candidates in a single course and is built at Rs19 crore. The institute will cover 1000 candidates per year. The MD of Maruti revealed that the market stability is beyond speculation and the ensuing Auto Expo may yield new gains.

He suggested Maruti to have a manufacturing plant in Gujarat, where General Motors and Tata Motors are already in business. Such a move will be a viable business strategy, he observed. Narendra Modi sought the investment from Maruti in his state and the MD was in no hurry to commit anything.

Bajaj to launch Pulsar 135cc, Discover 150cc and Discover 100cc KS

You read it first at vicky.in

Bajaj which has already launched refreshed Pulsar 150cc, Pulsar 180cc, Pulsar 220cc and Ninja 250cc plans another blitzkrieg.  Bajaj will roll out three new models soon  – Pulsar 135cc, Discover 150cc and kick start version of Discover 100cc.  With these launches, Bajaj will leverage the pulsar and discover brand to its peak. The disover 150cc will come with alloy wheels and without any body graphics. Bajaj Discover 100cc which is already making headlines with its immense success will get further boost with the launch affordable discover 100cc. Stay tuned for more updates.

Pact between Volkswagen and Porsche inked

The merger of Volkswagen and Porsche took off formally with the contract agreement getting signed. This will make VW to acquire the 911 sports model to its portfolio along with formal elements such as structural and legal aspects to be bound by the two companies. The pact enables VW to go along with owning Porsche’s automaking division. According to a rough estimate,the German car maker would shell out 3.9 billion euros ($5.8 billion) to stake 49.9% claim in the Porsche unit.

This will materialize by the end of 2011 as a first step of merger. The supervisory board of Porsche, consisting members of Porsche and Piech families (which is in control of Stuttgart, Germany-based company) will sit in Wolfsberg to approve the contracts. By this approval, VW will get the CEO Martin Winterkorn to manage Porsche’s company and Chief Financial Officer Hans Dieter Poetsch to get a berth in the management board.

VW is aiming to reach the top slot of number 1 in the auto building, said Head, Center of Automotive Research Institute in Germany. The proposed merger will boost such efforts. VW has been thrust with the target of surpassing Toyota Motor Corp in terms of deliveries and net profit before 2018. With Porsche becoming the 10th brand for VW, (quite popular with Audi in Germany and Lamborghini in Italy and Crewe in England) VW is all set to
regain its supremacy.

It can be remembered that the agreement between these car makers took off in this August, putting an end to 4-year feud over control. Another impact of this agreement is an investment from Qatar with 10% voting rights in Porsche to gain 17% of the merged car maker. Porsche was in dare need for this agreement to get relieved from a debt of 10 billion euros in a stretch of six months, as a result of its neglect to combine with VW. However, Porsche has a bigger hand in VW with 53% in common stock.

The formal merger of Volkswagen AG and Porsche AE is to induce the multi-stage process and the next gear will take Porsche to a stake of 49.9 % in VW. VW in its part has called for an approval from its shareholders for a meet on December 3 on the proposed purchase of Porsche.

The best accomodate for your journey

Spilling a drink, sweat, dust, heat are all factors that contribute to the stinky seats inside our cars. Once, the seats get ugly, the entire interior starts to look lousy. Fabric seats are just about fine but they acquire a lot of dirt and dust, awkward shapes drawn by spilled liquid, browny hues due to accumulation of sweat and intense heat emanating from the body contacting portions.[more information…..]
leather_seat_9

Bajaj to launch new Pulsar

Not even God can understand Bajaj’s strategy! After axing Pulsar 200cc and XCD 125, Bajaj is now planning to relaunch the new pulsar and XCD sprint soon. A new Pulsar will be launched in next 15 days. Very recently Bajaj has downgraded its flagship product pulsar 220cc DTS-Fi to DTSi and priced it very competitively. Now it seems like Bajaj would rejigs its portfolio again. Bajaj has started teasing a new pulsar at goodbyetraffic.in. The teaser website says with the new pulsar says goodbye to traffic

1

Also check out the pulsar teaser video

Harley accessories at Malls

Sports bike lover can hereinafter make a complete show as Harley will feed them with its accessories at select malls with jacket, sunglasses of real McCoy. The company is going on a bid to make them available in the country through production and marketing with the dealer network indigenously. Harley is in the global market selling all its products – leather jackets, light outer clothes, boots, eyewear, caps and collectibles of key chains and rings.

The accessories will be available in malls and arcades other than bike show rooms. Harley’s merchandise yields it 5% of income globally and it has hundreds of such products. The company is already on the component sourcing for its speedometer in India and soon follow for the merchandise, said the company official. Harley has made a declining show in the Q3 of 2009 with $26.5 million against $166.5 million in the same period 2008.

Hyundai in search of diesel engine for local variants

The Indian unit of the Korean car concern Hyundai Motors is exploring the possibilities to secure a viable source for localized diesel version to compete the cost competition. The engines are currently imported at the cost of heavy excise duties. The need for the market share of Hyundai is at least 1 lakh units per year and the study is on for alternative designing of the engines. The anticipated unit is expected to be at a unit near Chennai, where the petrol engines are made like Kappa range.

Hyundai could not capitalize its lead despite being the first to deliver the common-rail diesel technology to the country. The vehicles from its portfolio- i20, Verna, Sonata Transform and Tucson are all diesel variants of which i20 alone fetches good show for the company. However, Maruti Suzuki has increased its portfolio to a substantial numbers – Ritz, Swift and Swift D’zire which have a long waiting periods. The i10 will be relaunched next year strapped by diesel version and will be driven by CRDi technology (fame for its Accent). This will be 1.1 lit 3 cylinder diesel engine and the company is planning to produce some 50000 units this month from its Chennai unit of which 23000 are for export markets. The unit is on three shifts with full capacity – 600000 units a year.

Also, the company is increasing its show in the R&D facility at Hyderabad from 200 to 800, in an effort to the back-end work for the Korean plant- for design the components and parts like suspension. For a better show, the dealer network will be increased from 274 to 320 by the end of 2010.

Honda on a cannibalization spree

The Japanese two wheeler giant, Honda, is riding a top gear ever since its entry and in India, the company has a good niche with Hero group, to lead not only the roads but also the market. Now, the company is on the verge of entering the roads with its own flag through Honda Motorcycle and Scooters India Ltd. The makes will be in 100cc -150cc bikes and some scooters as Hero Honda, a joint venture with Honda’s 26% right now in the motorcycle sector. Of late there has been news in the air about the departing of Honda from the Hero group to make the individual run. But the rumors became nullified with the clear indication from the CEO of Honda about the continued JV between the companies.

The JV will launch new bikes in the 100cc next year followed by new models. Honda Motorcycle and Scooter Ltd has 18% of the market share while Hero Honda has 47%, the proposed cannibalization is directed towards the overall gain for Honda, said the CEO. The yearly revision of strategies include this cannibalization. HMSIL seeks to increase its share of 18% to 36% by nearing 12.5 lakh units from the current 10.7 lakh units. By March 2010, the production capacity is to increase to 15 lakh / year with an investment of Rs360crore at Manesar plant. In 2010-11 there will be further investment of Rs404.4 crore, after which there will be an entirely new plant for further expansions @Rs300 crore for every 1 lakh units.

Glittering Small Car: Nissan Micra

You would have read about the Nissan’s Micra on vicky.in. But you couldn’t have been able to see the scintillating and titillating pictures of the Nissan Micra unless and until you have seen the Nissan March in some other country. Now, vicky.in will bring you pictures and detailed specifications and features of the glittering small car.

[more information….]

nissan_micra_8

TVS to launch Wego and Jive

You read it first at vicky.in

Few weeks back, you read and saw pictures of TVS clutchless bike at vicky.in. We hear from our sources that the launch of this model might happen soon. We also informed you about TVS developing a powerful scooter to compete against the likes of Honda Aviator, Honda Activa and Suzuki Access. Now our spy team has got interesting details on both these models. The scooter is christened as Wego and the clutchless bike is named as Jive. 

Both the Wego and Jive is powered by a 110cc engine.  TVS which still rides on scooty brand limited itself to fair sex. On the contrary, Honda with wide range of scooters – aviator,activa,dio and eterno caters to different target group and has been leader in the segment for years.  The Wego 110cc will produce more power and comes with full metal body to lure the urban male. Wego is expected to be priced around Rs. 45,000

TVS Jive – clutchless bike built on the star platform is aimed at customers who wants hassle free riding but a bike. TVS Jive comes with 110cc engine and innovative automatic clutch.  Jive also gets FZ-16 ish tank for muscular look. TVS says that the mileage of Jive will be on par with motorcycles and pricing will be attractive.