Jaguar Land Rover needs cost reduction

Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), owned by Tata Motors needs “cost reduction and reduction of development and productionising time” as there is a sharp fall in luxury vehicle sales due to the global recession.

Tata Motors is planning to have all its future cars including Jaguar and Land Rover constructed with light-weight aluminium bodies to reduce weight, cut CO2 emissions and to cut costs. The company is also developing a hybrid powertrain for the future models of Jaguar and Land Rover. JLR is also identifying sources of components from India for its two premium models.

Tata Motors on the other hand has recognised the high level of technology and skills embedded in JLR which could be of great value to both companies. The sales of the Jaguar have fallen by 20 percent and the Land Rover’s sales have fallen by 51 percent from October 2008-March 2009.

The history of Tata’s passenger cars

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Tata Motors Limited is India’s largest automobile company. Tata Motors was once considered to be just a commercial vehicles producer. The company received overwhelming success with the launch of its first ever attempt at passenger vehicles with the Sierra. Tata Motors is among the top three in passenger vehicles, the world’s fourth largest truck manufacturer, and the world’s second largest bus manufacturer. Vicky tells you the history of the Tata’s passenger car series. Visit http://www.vicky.in/slideshow

New Fiesta SXI from Ford

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Ford India launched its new Fiesta SXI.

The  new car will be equipped with an advanced and efficient 1.6 Duratec in petrol version and 1.4 Duratorq (common-rail, turbo diesel) in diesel version. The company said that both the engines are more fuel efficient and produce class-leading performance.

The new Fiesta SXI will make a statement with its new style persona. This top-end comes with a price tag of Rs. 6.99 lakhs (petrol) and Rs. 7.99 lakhs (diesel) (Ex-showroom, New Delhi). The car will hit the Ford dealerships across India from 3rd August.

Maruti tastes the success of KB series engines

Maruti Suzuki India has rolled out over one lakh KB series engine. The company’s Gurgaon plant has produced over one lakh KB-series engines, which are installed in the two small cars A-Star and Ritz since its commercial production began in October last year.

The KB series engine is a success for the Maruti Suzuki India as it has a new fuel-efficient technology. The company is also planning to equip its other existing models with the KB series engines over a period of next 3-5 years.

Maruti Suzuki  produces Bharat Stage-III, Bharat Stage-IV and Euro-V emission norms compliant KB-series engines. Two different petrol engines, 1 litre (A-Star) and 1.2 litre (Ritz) are manufactured in the fully integrated engine manufacturing facility at the Gurgaon plant.

The KB series engine equipped A-Star gives a mileage of 19.6 km per litre, while Ritz runs 17.7 km per litre of petrol.

Malaysia’s Proton eyes Indian Market

Malaysian car maker Proton is looking to enter the the Indian auto market.

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The company is likeky to make a foray in the Indian market with its super mini car Savvy with subsequent launches of its other models Saga and Persona. The car maker is currently looking for a joint venture partner in India to manufacture and market its cars in India.

Proton was trying to enter the Indian market for a couple of years. The company had talks with Mahindra & Mahindra in addition to contract manufacturer Argentum Motors.

Proton is presently selling its cars in China, Iran, Pakistan, UK and Australia.

Porsche Panamera to come to India

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Porsche, the German sportscar maker is looking at new markets in coutries like India and China. The company plans to increase its sales in India through Precision Cars India, the official Porsche importer.

The company plans to sell 50 units of its premium luxury sedan Panamera which will debut in the country in the first week of October ’09. The Panamera is the first four door sports car from Porsche which is front-engined with rear wheel drive. A four-wheel drive is also available. The car was unveiled at the Shanghai Motor Show 2009.

Porsche has only a limited presence in India with two dealerships, in Mumbai and Delhi respectively. The company plans to increase these to 11 over the next 2-3 years. Three more dealerships in Chennai, Hyderabad and Cochin will be opened in the near future. However, considering its low sales volumes, the company is not likely to set up assembly units in the near future, limiting its operations to CBU imports.

In India the Panamera’s top versions will come with a V8 power unit and will be luxurious. The car will have a price tag of Rs 1.4 crore to Rs 2 crore.

India is RR’s important market

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Rolls Royce Motor Cars, the manufacturer of luxury automobiles from the UK sees India as an emerging market for its products in the next five to 10 years.

Rolls Royce cars are custom-made at its Goodwood factory in the UK and the company is looking at using its parent BMW’s supplier network in India to source components.

The super-exclusive cars of Rolls-Royce are sold in low-volume markets in India. The company seems to have realised the potential of India, the second-fastest growing economy in the world. The company believes India will be the single most important market for it in the next 5-10 years.

Tata Motors response to production of LandRover in India

Last week vicky.in reported about the Tata Motors plans to move the production of LandRover to India. http://www.vicky.in/blog/production-of-land-lrx-to-be-shifted-to-india

In response to Vicky.in story on shifting of LandRover production to India, Tata Motors says that it has no such plans. Here is the official response from Tata Motors

Tata Motors does not have any plan to shift production of any Jaguar Land Rover vehicle to India.

Talks between Tata Motors and British Government remains in deadlock over the loan guarantee issue. Also it is widely believed that Tata Motors is unhappy with the conditions proposed by the British Government.  While it wanted £500m for commercial financing, and a £340m European Investment Bank loan for research into green cars, the government wants to grant £175 million which is much less than the Nano maker have asked for. Adding to that, Observer report claimed that Tata would scrap the Indica Vista Electric launch in UK following a similar loan issue. All these things indicate that Tata would look for a new location to build its fuel efficient Land Rover LRX away from UK possibly in India. But Tata Motors denies moving the LandRover LRX production to India.