Third Porsche Centre in the country opens in Hyderabad
18 Nov 2010;deccanherald.com:Hyderabad: Porsche has a new home in South India's growing market for exclusive cars, with the opening of Porsche Centre Hyderabad here today. Along with New Delhi and Mumbai, this becomes the third Porsche Centre in India. The centre is home to the entire Porsche product range, including the latest arrival - the new Porsche Cayenne, Rajiv Sanghvi, Executive Director, Porsche Centre told media persons. With the opening of this centre, Porsche is pursuing its strategy of expanding its presence across India, enabling the car manufacturer to offer its customers a high-end product. Sanghvi further said "We are proud to be selected by Porsche to represent its operations in this key region. We are committed to delivering Sales and After Sales service on par with Porsche global standards." Ashish Chordia, Director of Porsche India said, "We are delighted with the new facility at Hyderabad and look forward to offering our customers outstanding service in this modern facility. Porsche will expand its presence across India with operations to be opened in Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Bangalore, Chennai and Kochi, he said.
Hindustan Motors to double Ambassador sales in next one-year
18 Nov 2010;deccanherald.com:Mumbai: Buoyed by a boom in the domestic auto sector, auto major Hindustan Motors, today said that it aims to double the sales of its iconic Ambassador car to 24,000 units per annum through launch of new variants. "We aim to double the sales of our Ambassador model to 24,000 from the present 12,000 per annum in the next 15-18 months," Hindustan Motors' Managing Director Manoj Jha told reporters here. The company plans to launch six new variants in both passenger and commercial vehicle segments in the next 12-15 months, starting the first quarter of 2011. "We will launch six new variants in the next 12-15 months and this will help increase our sales," Jha said, adding among the six, four variants would be of the Ambassador. The company's Ambassador is one of oldest passenger car in the country and is manufactured at the company's Uttarpara facility in West Bengal. Hindustan Motors has a technical tie-up with Mitsubishi Motors. The company's facility in Chennai manufactures Mitsubishi's Lancer and Pajero vehicles. HM-Mitsubishi Motors today launched the Lancer Evolution X sedan priced at Rs 49.95 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi) and introduced the new Montero sport utility vehicle priced at 38.95 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi). "It is a coveted addition to the HM-Mitsubishi product portfolio and will have a major impact in its segment in the Indian automotive scenario," Jha said. The company's Tamil Nadu plant assembles Mitsubishi's Outlander sport utility vehicle. Hindustan Motors' manufacturing facilities are situated in Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. The company will raise the monthly output of its small truck -- Winner -- to 1,000 at its Indore facility which is manufacturing only commercial vehicles. "The facility has been almost dormant over the last 3 years and only recently become operational and makes 100 vehicles per month. We will ramp-up the monthly output of our small truck to 1,000 at the Indore facility," he said. Jha, however, did not give any time-frame for this. The company's current debt is at Rs 70 crore, including working capital, he said. While admitting the company's slow growth in sales, Jha said, "We are confident of doing much better with the launch of our new variants in the coming days." The car-maker sees an improvement in the auto components business and plans to increase its output. "Our auto components business is doing well. We have enough capacity -- around 1,000 tonnes each for forgings and castings. We plan to ramp it up in the coming days," he said. Hindustan Motors makes auto components at its Uttarpara plant in West Bengal.
Toyota lays out big green-car push with hybrids, Evs
18 Nov 2010;business-standard.com:Tokyo: Toyota Motor Corp on Thursday laid out big plans for launching greener vehicles, including 11 new conventional hybrids over the next two years and a Prius-based plug-in hybrid that may cost as little as 3 million yen ($36,050). One of the hybrids will be a compact car with fuel efficiency exceeding 40 km per litre -- the highest for a gasoline-electric model measured under Japanese test cycles, it said. The world's top automaker has led the industry in cleaner, next-generation vehicle technology, having dominated the hybrid field for more than a decade with the iconic Prius and 13 other models so far. But with governments tightening environmental and fuel economy standards all over the world, rival automakers are aiming to catch up, particularly with new vehicle technologies such as battery-powered electric cars and part-electric-part-engine "range extenders" such as General Motors's Chevy Volt. Not to be outdone, Toyota said it would begin selling a plug-in hybrid based on the Prius by early 2012 mainly in Japan, the United States and Europe, targeting sales of more than 50,000 units a year. The car, which unlike a conventional hybrid can be plugged in to enable longer-distance driving using only electricity, is expected to cost as little as 3 million yen in Japan, Toyota said. GM has priced its Volt at $41,000, while Nissan Motor Co's all-electric Leaf will start at 3.76 million yen before subsidies. With billions of dollars of cash at hand, Toyota is among the few car manufacturers able to spend on research and development across the range of technologies. In the field of battery electric vehicles, which Nissan and its French partner, Renault SA, are aiming to lead, Toyota confirmed it would launch a model based on the tiny iQ in the United States, Japan and Europe in 2012, initially targeting urban commuters. It was also considering a launch in China, the world's biggest car market, with road trials planned in 2011. Toyota plans to begin selling fuel-cell vehicles, which are also all-electric but run on hydrogen fuel, in the three markets from around 2015. Their high cost are a hurdle, but Toyota said it expected to be able to offer the car for a price under 10 million yen -- about one-tenth of what the zero-emission vehicle cost at the beginning of the decade. Toyota is also working on developing next-generation batteries in-house, an ambition that had been held by the group's founder Sakichi Toyoda. Having established a separate battery division in January with about 100 researchers, Toyota said it had made some progress towards creating a full solid-state battery in a compact package, as well as determining the reaction mechanism of lithium-air batteries.
18 Nov 2010;business-standard.com:Detroit: Italian automaker Fiat is returning to the US market and taking aim at the Mini Cooper, saying its peppy Fiat 500 subcompact will cost $15,500 -- almost $5,000 less than the Mini -- when it arrives here next month. Fiat also named 130 US dealers who will initially sell the car in 39 states. Fiat, which took over management of Chrysler Group last year, gave Chrysler dealers first choice on the franchises but required them to set up separate sales and service areas for a more European boutique feel. The 2012 Fiat 500, a three-door hatchback with rounded styling that evokes the original 500 from 1957, will be Fiat's first vehicle in the US since it pulled out of the market in 1983 because of rust problems and other quality issues. The company unveiled the North American version of the 500 at the Los Angeles Auto Show yesterday. A convertible version of the 500 will come to the US next year, with electric and high-performance versions the following year. A four-door version also is planned. The 500 has been popular in Europe since it went on sale in 2007, and the North American version will have many of its characteristics, including a manual transmission option and a wide variety of colors and accessories for personalization. But it's also tailored for US tastes, with upgraded heating and cooling systems, a quieter interior, cushier seats and a bigger fuel tank. The North American 500 also has Fiat's new, 1.4-litre, four-cylinder Multiair engine, which improves fuel economy and emissions by controlling air intake. Fuel economy hasn't been announced but is expected to be higher than 40 miles per gallon (17 kilometers per litre). The 500 arrives at an uncertain time for small-car sales, which were rising in 2008 as gas prices jumped but have fallen this year as gas stabilised under $3. US buyers have been flocking to crossovers and trucks this year. But Fiat's US chief Laura Soave said last week that the company predicts Americans will eventually downsize, especially as fuel economy rules tighten. She also said one reason small-car sales have been weak in the US is a lack of good choices. Until now, buyers who wanted a sporty Italian car had to pay $100,000 or more for a Ferrari or Maserati. One way Fiat was able to hold down the price of the 500 was the decision to build it at the Toluca, Mexico, factory where the Chrysler PT Cruiser was made until this year. Fiat hopes to sell 50,000 Fiat 500s in the US and Canada in 2011, or about the same as Mini sold in those markets last year. As more models are added, the company is targeting 100,000 sales by 2014.
Honda Motorcycle to invest Rs 1,000 cr for new facility in AP
17 Nov 2010;deccanherald.com:Hyderabad: Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI), a subsidiary of Honda Motor Company, will soon set up its third two-wheeler manufacturing facility near here with an investment of Rs 1,000 crore, a government official said today. He also said that two more global companies -- Italian industrial manufacturing firm Camozzi and Korean power equipment major Hyosung Corporation -- are planning to invest Rs 300 crore and Rs 450 crore, respectively in Andra Pradesh. "Honda wanted 100 acres of land for setting up the facility and we have shown them available land in Medak and Nalgonda districts close to Hyderabad," Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation Managing Director B R Meena told PTI here today. "Honda officials said they would invest Rs 1,000 crore on the production facility in a phased manner of which Rs 500 crore will come in the first phase," he added. HMSI currently has a two-wheeler manufacturing plant at Manesar in Haryana with an annual production capacity of 1.55 million units per annum while the second plant, with a production capacity of 6 lakh units, is coming up at Tapukara in Rajasthan. The proposed manufacturing facility in Andhra Pradesh will be HMSI's first in South India. Meena said Honda officials have submitted their proposal for setting up the two-wheeler manufacturing facility two days ago. Initially, the unit would manufacture 2,000 two-wheelers per month and gradually increase the capacity. "They are yet to submit a detailed project report to us," he added.Meanwhile, the Camozzi Group has also come forward to set up its textile and other industrial equipment manufacturing units near Hyderabad. "Camozzi has plans to invest Rs 300 crore on the facility and wants 20 acres of land," Meena said.Besides, he said, power and industrial systems major Hyosung Corporation is also headed for AP to set up a Rs 450 crore high-voltage transformers manufacturing plant. The company sought allocation of 25 acres of land at Mannavaram near Tirupati where the NTPC-BHEL joint venture power plant equipment manufacturing facility is coming up. "We had preliminary discussions with representatives of these major companies and are awaiting submission of detailed project reports. The proposals are under active consideration of the government," Meena said.
IOC hires six banks to manage follow-on public offers
17 Nov 2010;timesofindia.indiatimes.com:NEW DELHI: State-owned Indian Oil Corp has hired six banks, including Merrill Lynch, Citigroup and ICICI Securities, to handle its follow-on public offers (FPO) planned for early next year. The six book running lead managers were hired from a set of 18 banks which made presentations over the past three days, sources close in know of the development said. Other banks hired were Morgan Stanley, SBI Capital and UBS. The government has approved fresh equity issue of 10 per cent of existing paid-up capital by IOC. Along with this, the government also intends to disinvest 10 per cent of the pre- issue equity capital through follow-on or further public offers (FPO) in the domestic market. The 18 banks called for persentations between November 14 to 16 included Credit Suisse Securities, Deutsche Bank AG, Edelweiss Capital, Enam Securities Ltd, Goldman Sachs, HSBC Securities and Capital Markets, IDBI Capital Market Services, IDFC Capital, JP Morgan, JM Financial, Kotak Mahindra Capital and RBS Equities. The FPO is planned for first quarter of 2011 calendar year, the sources said, adding the government intends to raise about Rs 24,000 crore through 10 per cent stake sale in IOC and 5 per cent in Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC). The process for ONGC FPO is yet to start. The oil ministry is in the process appointing independent directors on IOC and ONGC boards to meet market regulator SEBI's listing requirement. The two firms don't meet the SEBI norm of having half of their board strength made up of non-official or independent directors. Post stake sale, the government's shareholding in ONGC will come down to 69.14 per cent from 74.14 per cent. In IOC, the twin divestment and stake sale would reduce the government holding from 78.92 per cent to 64.57 per cent. According to the road map being prepared, IOC would be the first to be disinvested. It will first sell 10 per cent, or 24.27 crore equity shares. This would be accompanied by sale of 10 per cent government holding, amounting to 19 crore shares. The sale of 5 per cent or 10.6 crore equity shares in ONGC will follow this.
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