Ducati Store rides into Mumbai

The Italian fascination in bikes Ducati has stepped into the showblitz of Mumbai with a whole range of its products. For Ducati India is an ideal venue for its relevant market strategy, said its VP, for promoting the motorbikes. Ducati likes to raise its acceleration in the Indian development thus by opening its vista in Mumbai. The new store is a JV with Precision Motor India Pvt Ltd (already a dealer for Porsche in Mumbai).

Ducati’s flagship bikes that may occupy the Indian roads likely are HyperMotards, Superbikes and Sport Classics, in addition to the Monster range (Rs9.66 lakh)which is slated as the ideal for the Indian conditions. The high end range includes the Superbikes 1098R Troy Bayliss (Rs43.37 lakh) and 11985 for Rs23.65 lakh. The Fighters, another fascination, is in the offing from Ducati.

Honda may roll out small car before 2011-12

The small car verge of Honda is slated for 2011-12, earlier than projected and is coded as 2CV and will be an exclusive for the Indian market. This is to dare the Suzuki domination in the small car segment with 7 cars (60%share) and in the lines of Toyota, which is going to launch its small car next year.

Honda is yet to open its account in the small car segment and this 2CV is a 1.1 lit petrol engine and the company foresees that this small car would double its presence in India (the current figures are 52000 cars / year). The new small car will be made from its unit in Rajasthan which will be upgraded to 1 lakh small cars / year. The proposed small car plan is going as per schedule and the diesel variant will follow later, said the company official and Honda believes that it is likely to earn fame with its small cars.

The car will dare the likes of Suzuki, Hyundai (i10), GM’s Aveo UV-A, Tata’s Indica, Fiat’s Punto, Ford Figo and Toyota’s new small car. Small car segment is the fastest sector with 2.5 lakh cars being sold a year. The proposed small car is to be smaller than Honda’s jazz priced at Rs4.5 – 5 lakhs for the petrol variant and may share the platform of Jazz for iV-TEC engine technology yet to be included under the small entry-level A segment. Thailand will also have this model under the Thai government Eco-Car project with tax reliefs.

Hyundai to invest Rs 800 cr on small car for India

The South Korean car manufacturer Hyundai is to invest Rs800 crore for its small car plant in India. The unit will start functioning within next two years and the car will be smaller than Santro. Hyundai is operating in India as the own subsidiary and the new small car will be targeted towards India only to be expanded globally, said the company’s CEO, Han-Woo Park.

Now the project is at the design stage developed at its Chennai plant and it will take a minimum of 24 months to begin the marketing. Hyundai is known for its premier brands of i10, i20 and Santro, and the company had a good stint during the festive season –selling some 51736 units (+11% than previous year). But the export found a fall by 11.9% with a sale of 23,435 units.

Nisssan

Amidst its hectic parleys for the global market, the Japanese car maker Nissan has opened its corporate office in Chennai recently, at T.Nagar. The premises has 10000 sq.ft and the manpower of 56 employees which is to be doubled next year. Nissan likes to print a thumping presence in the Indian market with its unit at Oragadam and its display in Chennai to have a strategic market play. According to the company’s MD&CEO the company is keen on initiating the production by May 2010.

The Chennai plant would be a sourcing hub for the overseas market of 100 countries and out of nine models earmarked by 2012, five will be delivered from this unit. The Chennai corporate office would be the company’s “nodal hub” for its operations in India with Mumbai to serve as the regional office for members of product planning team including sales and marketing team of Hover Automotive India, a partner for NMIPL India.

The Chennai corporate office will look after the company’s planning, finance, HR, after-sales and exports. The office would include the Renault Nissan Technology and Business Centre India, a major contributor for Nissan’s global operations in R&D, product development, digital vehicle development and Indian /global parts sourcing.

By April, Delhi vehicles to run on green diesel

The capital city of India, New Delhi, will wear a new look with all automobiles taking the guard of green diesel- ultra low sulphur diesel- to prevent pollution. In this fuel, the content of sulphur is one-seventh of the content in diesel. The move is the follow up of the Euro IV norms applicable for the vehicles running in the city, from April 2010. The city has 50000 diesel cars at a given point at a given time equaling 5000 buses plying on diesel.

Now the green lobbies wear an upset look with the number of cars and emission of diesel variants turning towards CNG. The current diesel consists of 350 parts/million of sulphur but the ULSD will possess just 50ppm sulphur (still far below the international standard of 15ppm used since 2006). The move will hit the purse of the owners with the price factor, as diesel is the cheapest fuel for vehicles.

The Environment Secretary said the matter has been in the air for quite some time and the issue is to be resolved at the earliest with the number of vehicles increasing rapidly. With the government’s assurance about the supply of the new diesel from April, the implementation begins in parallel.

M&M in the venture to have a financial tie-up with Syndicate Bank

Mahindra and Mahindra’s concern First Choice Wheels is in a bid to have a truck with Syndicate bank for arranging loans against used cars @ 9percent interest rate. The move comes in the wake of the potential for the used cars in the country, which is dominated by the unorganized players. The problems that the prospective customers face are – improper documentation, delay in car transfer, poor quality of cars and other practical problems.

First Choice comes to the rescue of these problems in the pre-owned cars market in which the interest rates are at 16-17% fixed by the unorganized players. Only 10% are properly organized and the company is to concentrate on this base to start with lower interest. The current ratio of the pre-owned and new cars is 1:1 in India, which is 1:2 – 1:2.5 in the US.

No Reverse Gear from Honda 2

The onset for the JV between Honda group and Hero group is still alive, as Honda expressed its commitment to torch the flame. Hero Honda is the world’s largest two wheeler maker in which Honda and Hero group has 26% each in the JV. But there has been an air of speculation that Honda is likely to depart from the JV to run its show with its own subsidiary Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India.

Not withstanding the business potential to slip down Honda has affirmed its ongoing set up, said the CEO for Asian Honda Motor. The agreement between Hero and Honda is in the extension tenure for 10 years from 2004 and is approaching for a prospective renewal in another four years. The agreement enhances Honda to provide technical know-how to Hero group.

Honda is in no mood to let any negative impact on the successful run over its JV with Hero and is in the jubilant mood to celebrate the silver jubilee of their unity.
Hero Honda holds the record of being the number one two-wheeler maker since 2001 and its target for this fiscal is 40 lakh bikes.

Mahindra

Mahindra’s Firstchoice is the sale unit of pre-owned cars and this unit has set a target of selling one lakh cars by 2014. Already the company has sold about 10250 cars through its 60 outlets last year. For this year, the target is 18000 units of which 9000 have already been sold, said its CEO.

The target of 1lakh by 2014 is made from sheer confidence by opening 300 outlets since the market for used cars is 1.5 million every year with an annual increase of 20%. The state of Tamilnadu is highly potential in this regard and the company has recently opened a superstore in Thiruvananthapuram with additional stores in Kochi and in Bhopal are in the offing.

Reva is in search for overseas contract

The India’s most popular electric auto maker Reva Electric car company is seeking an ideal platform to enter the US and European market, under the contract basis. This is in a bid to double its sale by 2011-12. In the US, the prospective deal with Bannon Auto is mooted and is yet to be finalized, said the company’s official. Options are also there to reach the Iceland under a tie-up with Northern Light Energy to do business in North Atlantic island nations. But there is no word about the proposed investments for this projects.

Reva is in the overseas market selling its products in 24 countries and is projecting to double its sale, in 50 countries by 2011-12, said the official. Recently, Reva has been in the news with its presence in the Frankfurt Auto Fair where it displayed its NXR and NXG ranges, scheduled for the global launch in 2010 and 2011 respectively.