Tatas tune up plan to revive Jaguar, Land Rover

Tatas has churned out its plan to make a reverse turn with Jaguar and Land Rover. As a result, one of the two West Midland plants will see the shut down in 2014, with the company going for expanding the product range and reducing the costs. Right from its purchase of these two brands from the British firm, Tatas has not been able to safe them in a profitable manner with the annual combine sales dipping to 32% to 1.67 lakh units. Of the two, Jaguar yielded a loss to the tune of Rs1777 crore to Tatas aggregating the net loss of Rs2505 crore last fiscal. Hence the company had a tough time squeezing the mind by burning the midnight candle in consultation with KPMG and Roland Berger.

According to the company sources, the new initiative will go in terms with the business environment seen in the industry. In such a move, the company would roll out as many models needed for the company’s growth in the coming years. For this all the worksource and manpower will be mobilized to the single unit. The proposal would be chalked out in the first half of 2010 to be implemented in the next decade. In the meantime the company will effect replacements of the existing sedans, SUVs, and additional models along with powertrain variants. For producing Range Rover model, there will be 800 new jobs to be pressed into service and the ensuing delivery of LRX Concept, one among the Rover ranges, will pose to be the smallest and most fuel efficient. Most significant aspect of Tatas’ motif is the cost coasting including sourcing of parts from low priced segments like India; this move includes pension restructuring, lower employment cost for the new recruits and simplified business strategy.

The CEO of JLR expressed the hope that these two great brands would yield desired result to the company subsequent to the efficiency, competitive nature and future investment. The move is a further effect of the ones initiated last year, whereby the production was reduced by more than one lakh units, lay off for 2500 staff and reduced budget in spending.

Volkswagen’s Polo to hit Indian market

Volkswagen Polo ready for launch in the next year. The car is a hatchback range to vie with B+2 segment, which consists of Maruti Suzuki Swift, Honda Jazz, Chevrolet UVA and the Punto from Fiat. There is nothing new that VW is entering this segment which is a potential one as other car makers Toyota, Nissan-Renault and Ford India are already in the foray.

VW has benchmarked the Pune plant as an exclusive one for Polo, with a heavy investment and the production process in full swing, the vehicle will be launched next year. The company is tight lipped about the sourcing of parts and the price of the car. The Pune plant is equipped to deliver 1.10 lakh units and would be in top gear in four years to yield full capacity, the company said.

Hero launches E-spirit

The India based Munjals group Hero has launched the country’s first ever high-speed electric bikes. Priced at Rs37,400/ the initial launch is in UP followed by other cities in the country. E-Spirit, christened as the bikes rides out, the vehicle will meet the norms of environment protection and the budget of the buyers. With the single charge, the vehicle will run upto 65km at a maximum speed of 45km/hour.

The company seeks VAT exemption from the UP government on the grounds of environment pollution safety. 11 governments have offered  VAT exemption for this vehicle in the country.

Reva to launch NXG and NXR in India

Reva to electrify the two wheeler markets with its two models. The Bangalore based Indian electric four two wheeler company Reva has scintillated the Frankfurt Motor Show with its two new ranges NXR and NXG. The two bikes will be launched in India next year, said the company. The NXR is scheduled for launch in January coinciding the Auto Expo  while NXG will be for exactly a year after in January 2011. With this move, the company has planned to introduce at least one model per year in addition to green cars.

The overseas market will sell the NXR between 9995 Euros and 14995 Euros with the NXG to cost 23000 Euros. The price for the Indian market is yet to be fixed. Apart from the existing plant in Bangalore with the capacity of 6000 cars a year, the company has devised a plan to build one more plant for manufacturing electric vehicles. The proposed plant is to have solar energy and will be able to make 30000 units a year in the next three years. For this the company has invested Rs30 crore of which 20% will be for green measures which includes energy efficient structural materials and rainwater harvesting.

The plant is to be made ready before the first quarter of the next year so that the half of makes would be allocated for the export market. So far the company has sold 3000 cars worldwide among them 650 units during this fiscal. The company sees a splendid prospect with an estimate that 15% of the cars worldwide would be electrified by 2020.

Suzuki to launch a scooter, a 150cc motorcycle and a superbike

Suzuki Motorcycle India has drawn the sketch for the economy brands in India, by introducing entry-level motorbikes and second premium bike. In addition there will be a gearless scooter in 2011, said the company’s VP(sales &Marketing). Currently Suzuki is in the market with its five models- the gearless scooter Access 125, Zeus 125cc, GS150R and two superbikes 1300cc Hayabusa and 1700cc Intruder.

The company has evolved a strategy on economy aspect and @Rs40000 range one motorcycle at 150cc and another superbike within the next fiscal. The norm for the entry-level segment is motorcycles with the engine capacity of 75cc-125cc, which is dominated by Hero Honda(80% share) and the vehicles costing between Rs40000-Rs50000 comprise 70% of the total market of 58lakhs with a growth of 14%. Further, Suzuki is intending to import its superbike 1000cc GSX-R model (Gixxer) while its Hayabusa (Rs12,5lakh) has already crossed the sale figure of 100 units in 8 months.

Renault-Nissan looking at engine unit for car JV

Move appears inevitable to boost localisation content, for cost control.

Renault and Nissan , two giants of the car industry are greasing their hands in their bid to increase the engine and transmission facility in India. With an investment of Rs4500 crore, the companies are earmarking the production stint of 400000 units a year from the Chennai plant. The initial share agreement was among the three giants- Renault, Nissan and the Indian Mahindra&Mahindra, but the last one withdrew on some grounds, making the shuffle of shares among the remaining two.

The new proposal will be in addition to the manufacture of cars and sedans and to be operated at full swing in the next three years. Presently Renault has the practice of importing  engines for the Logan sedan (from Romania and Spain) adding burden on import duty resulting with costly affair. According to Nissan’s MD&CEO, the imminent purpose is to increase the capacity from 2lakh to 4 lakh before finalizing any product design.

The industry policy is that an engine plant with a capacity of 4 lakh units will require an investment of Rs1500 crore. The advantage for the two companies is the low cost in production in India and the heavy returns by way of exports from here. The earlier entrant to such a move, by way of an MoU with the Government of Tamilnadu was Ford Motors in its bid to push its car Figo, for setting a plant for engine with the capacity of 250000 units. Nissan, while tightlipped about the price of the proposed car, is justifying its localization of 80% to be on par with Suzuki A-Star and Hyundai i10. The similar steps would be evolved by Renault too in the case of vehicles crafted in this unit. Though the engine frames will bear equal specifications, the power, efficiency and functioning of them will be on the lines of individual vehicle type.

Fortune favoured the Brave- Toyota

It’s time to boom over for Toyota’s Fortuner, the new SUV as the rival brands- HondaCR-V, Ford Endeavor, Mitsubishi Pajero and GM Captiva- all running after the zodiac forecast. Within a month of its launch, this Fortuner could really be a fortune for Toyota with the bookings crossing 7000 vehicles already, a figure surpassing the collective units sold by other companies. In spite of this, the general output of SUVs has been on the decline- Ford witnessed a drop of 85% sales for its Endeavor compared to the one in the same period last year.

Hindustan Motors mustered a sales of 118 Pajeros(it was 202 last year), Honda Siel, once the leader in the segment, went in for the policy of delivery against order(three months wait time. Honda CR-V’s sale in August 2008 was 129 as against 77 in this August.

Coming back to the success story of Fortuner, Toyota Kirloskar Motors is envisaging the production increase from this November, from 500-600 units/month. The success of Fortuner is attributed to the steps taken on right direction with Innovative International Multi-purpose Vehicle (IMV) platform by Toyota. The vehicle delivery was made after a prolonged survey among the “image conscious” customers. And especially SUV is a synonym for ‘rugged and macho” term and is allied with urban drive. This SUV fits in the space requisite, long drive and above all diesel option, an essential for fuel efficiency. All the home work paid off well for Toyota as in the case of its Innova.

Ultra launches Fun and Shakthi

An electrifying information about Ultra Motors is that the company has unleashed two of its new range of electric bikes @ Rs28,300 and Rs31,900 respectively (ex-showroom Delhi). The models, Ultra Fun and Ultra Shakthi are designed as low speed ranges, and quite in tune with the electric motorbikes, they do not require driving license.

The running power is 250W with the Ultra Shakthi is slated for hill drive while the Ultra Fun for feminine drive, due to its height, size and weight. The company, according to its CEO, is aiming for providing new platform for transportation movement. The company has a very best retail network with 175 exclusive dealers functioning in almost 17 states covering 130 cities in India.

Volkswagen’s Polo to hit Indian market 2

Volkswagen, the European car maker, has framed the official launch of its Polo in India in next year. The small car move by VW is already in the air and is waiting for the right time and the time has ripen, said the company. As a hatch back model, it will dare B+2 segment consisting Maruti Suzuki Swift, Hyundai i20, Honda Jazz, Chevrolet UVA, and Fiat’s Punto.

The small car segment has roped in well as many other companies –Toyota, Nissan-Renault, and Ford India- already ignited this segment. VW has allocated the entire Pune plant, with the capacity of 1.10 lakh units a year, for exclusive production of this Polo with necessary investment and the pre-production moves have already kicked off well. Going against all these odds, VW is planning to deliver this car by next year. And more prudently, there is no word yet about the sourcing of parts.