08 July 2010;business-standard.com:Pallavi Aiyar:Brussels: Seeking to dampen the recent reports of trouble between the Nissan-Renault Alliance and Bajaj Auto on their project to develop a low-cost car for the Indian market, Simon Sproule, Director, Communications, for the former told Business Standard that since last November, there had in fact been “no new announcements”. “We watch the headlines in India and every month we see something being announced as ‘new’. In fact, there is really no new news since the partnership was announced last November,” he said. Sproule said the two parties were now in the “working phase of the project”, but were yet to decide what the vehicle “would look like, where it will be built, what would power it or where it will be sold”. Confirming that it was always intended as a partnership based around an OEM (original equipment manufacturer) exchange rather than a joint venture, the Renault-Nissan Alliance spokesperson said the vehicle was on track to be in the market by 2012 and at a price point of around $2,500 (Rs 1.17 lakh), which was standard for the entry level market in India. While Bajaj will be responsible for developing and manufacturing the car, Renault-Nissan will brand, market and sell it for both the Indian and overseas markets. “We have expertise in certain sectors of the market and other manufacturers have better expertise in others. Which is why we are working with Bajaj at the entry level, low cost market, given their experience in making motorbikes, scooters and three-wheelers at a very competitive price.” Sproule insisted that from the outset the project was based on the idea that Bajaj’s technology, manufacturing capabilities and supply base would fuse with the Renault-Nissan Alliance’s expertise in selling four-wheel vehicles, making it a very “logical partnership”. He said the Alliance believed the entry-level market in India would fragment, opening opportunities for manufacturers to bring in new types of vehicles at the price point currently dominated by the Nano. Denying that the car-in-progress was intended as a direct competitor to the Nano he said, “It is more focused on a price point than a specific vehicle configuration at the moment”. On rumours that Renault-Nissan may enter into a further partnership with Ashok Leyland for the manufacture of another small car, Sproule maintained that while the future remained unknown, for the moment the Alliance was working with Ashok Leyland on commercial vehicles only.
08 July 2010;economictimes.indiatimes.com:MUMBAI: Luxury carmaker Audi, which posted a 14% jump in its India June sales on Wednesday, has now set a target of selling 2,700 vehicles in 2010. The German auto giant sold 233 cars in June compared to 204 units in the same month last year. The company clocked a 71% growth at 1,400 units during January-June 2010, the highest half-yearly sale for Audi in India. “An uptrend in demand has forced us to revise our 2010 targets by more than 25%,"said the newly- appointed head of Audi India, Michael Perschke. The carmaker, riding high on India’s ever-increasing demand for luxury cars and sport-utility vehicles, sold 1,658 vehicles last year. The company eventually plans to increase production capacity in India to 6,000 vehicles a year by 2015, added Mr Perschke. Audi, the premium brand of Germany's Volkswagen group, has earmarked 30 million euros to invest in India till 2015 for technology and product upgradation. As a part of Audi’s long-term growth strategy in India, the company has started assembling Q5 model in Aurangabad. With over 1,500 units of Q5 to be produced each year for the Indian market, the sporty SUV is the third Audi model after A4 and A6 to be produced in India. The Audi model range in India includes Q5, A4, A6, A8, Q7 and TT. The German carmaker is contemplating importing the A8 to the Indian market.
07 July 2010;deccanherald.com:New Delhi: CPM General Secretary Prakash Karat has accused the Congress of raising the bogey of Left-BJP unity to divert the attention of the people from the hike in petroleum prices. While claiming consistency in opposing the BJP’s communal politics, Karat defended the saffron party’s participation in the Bharat Bundh. “Faced with such a big attack on the people’s livelihood, no Opposition party could keep away from an all-India protest,” he says in an editorial in the coming issue of the party mouthpiece, “People’s Democracy.” Attacking the Congress and its supporters in the corporate media, the editorial said: “Faced with this massive opposition and protest, the Congress party and its supporters in the corporate media are now raising in chorus the spectre of a Left-BJP unity. They conveniently ignore the fact that almost all the secular Opposition parties have conducted the hartal.” “Even the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Lok Janshakti Party has given call for a bundh in Bihar on July 10,” it said.
07 July 2010;timesofindia.indiatimes.com:NEW DELHI: State-run refiners hope to work out rules for setting market-driven prices of fuel across the country by mid-July, two sources directly involved in the process said on Wednesday. Last month India granted autonomy to oil firms to fix retail prices of gasoline and raised prices of diesel, kerosene, and cooking gas. It also said that diesel prices would eventually be market-determined but gave no time frame. Officials of state-run refiners will meet on Thursday, followed by a meeting with private-sector firms the following day, one source said. "There are many issues that we will discuss. We will certainly be discussing the periodicity to revise the retail prices and arrangements to buy fuel from other refiners under the new system," he said. The second source said the norms were expected to be ready by July 17. "Then we will submit our views to the oil ministry," he said. On Monday, opposition parties had shut down parts of the country in a nationwide protest against higher fuel prices, but analysts said the government was unlikely to back down on efforts to cut subsidies and trim a budget deficit.
07 July 2010;business-standard.com:Mumbai: Bajaj Auto, the country’s second-largest motorcycle maker, has said its low-cost car project with Renault and Nissan is on track, but may not form a joint venture (JV) to manufacture and market the car. In 2008, the companies had planned a tripartite joint venture entity that would build and sell a $3,000 (about Rs 1.4 lakh) competitor to Tata Motors’ Nano, the world’s cheapest car. Bajaj was to have a 50 per cent stake, with Renault and Nissan having 25 per cent each. “There is no need for a manufacturing or a marketing JV, because our responsibilities are distinct,” Rajiv Bajaj, managing director of Bajaj Auto, said in an interview yesterday in Pune. “We will just be an original equipment maker.” However, he said a final decision had not been taken and the three partners would decide the future course of action. “A final decision will eventually be made jointly,” Bajaj said. Bajaj has the sole responsibility of developing and manufacturing the car. Renault, France’s second-largest automaker, and Nissan, Japan’s fourth-largest automaker, have the responsibility of branding, marketing and sales in India and overseas. Ravi Kumar, vice-president, business development, Bajaj Auto, said, “As such, we can fulfil our mutual objective through a simple original equipment manufacturer (OEM) arrangement, and without the need to necessarily create a new corporate entity in the form of a JV.” The new structure may enable Bajaj to widen its product range beyond motorcycles and three-wheelers without incurring marketing costs as rising incomes encourage Indians to switch to four-wheeled vehicles. The company plans to spend about Rs 500 crore ($107 million) on developing the car and on setting up a factory in Pune, according to Rajiv Bajaj. The vehicle would go on sale in 2012 as scheduled, he said. “In the four-wheel space, we are very new,” Bajaj said. “When we are associated with Renault-Nissan, we can take advantage of their distribution at least in some markets.” The project “is proceeding on track” based on the original agreement between Renault Chairman Carlos Ghosn and Rajiv Bajaj, that was announced in early November 2009, Ashish Sinharoy, a Mumbai-based spokesman for Renault’s India unit, said in an e-mail. “The new agreement clearly stated that Bajaj will build a vehicle and supply it to the Renault-Nissan alliance to market and distribute.” Mitsuru Yonekawa, a spokesman at Nissan, said cooperation was moving ahead. Bajaj might use the low-cost car’s platform to develop more products in future, Rajiv Bajaj said. The company is aiming to develop a car that will cost owners about Rs 5,000 a month in financing, fuel and other expenses, compared with about 3,000 rupees for a motorcycle.
07 July 2010;economictimes.indiatimes.com:Chanchal Pal Chauhan:NEW DELHI: German carmaker Volkswagen plans to triple production of its small car Polo to 400 units per day by year-end. The move will help the world’s fourth-largest carmaker to meet the order backlog for the car that was launched in March this year. Volkswagen has a supply backlog of 10,000 Polo cars. It plans to add 400 employees to its existing manpower of 1,800 to meet the enhanced production at its Chakan factory in Pune. The firm has already introduced second shift for producing the vehicle at Chakan plant. “The response to Polo hatchback is better than our expectations, so we are increasing production numbers,” said Christian Klingler, member of the board of management for sales and marketing, Volkswagen. Meanwhile, the carmaker on Tuesday unveiled Vento, its entry-level sedan, as part of a plan to ramp up its market share in India. The company also said it may produce engines in the country to increase localisation of components. Volkswagen hinted at bringing in more products, including a small car below its latest hatchback Polo, as part of its efforts to expand its presence across the country. TKM to invest Rs 500 crore to make Etios engines New Delhi: Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) will invest Rs 500 crore to make engines and gearboxes for Toyota’s new small car, Etios, that is expected to be launched by year-end. TKM subsidiary, Toyota Kirloskar Auto Parts (TKAP), would set up the plant with an annual capacity to produce 52,000 engines and 1.7 lakh gearboxes, which would also be exported to Thailand and Argentina. The auto component arm will also invest an additional Rs 500 crore, to increase the capacity to make transmission boxes by 2013 and also set up a third plant with a capacity of 1 lakh engines per year. The company will hire 500 employees for the new unit. TKM, a joint venture between Japanese automaker Toyota and local business group of Kirloskar, operates two manufacturing plants at Bengaluru in Karnataka. The first plant, set up with an investment of Rs 1,700 crore, makes Innova, Corolla and the Fortuner SUV, while the second plant that absorbed an investment of Rs 3,200 crore, will churn out its small car, Etios, later this year.
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