04 Feb 2010;economictimes.indiatimes.com:TOKYO: Toyota Motor has been ordered by Japan’s government to investigate brake-related problems with its latest Prius hybrid, adding to company Toyota Prado Diesel woes following the recall of millions of vehicles in overseas markets. The transport ministry has received 14 complaints about the model’s brakes since it was introduced in May, said Masaya Ota, an official in the recall division. The ministry contacted the company about the issue in August, said Shunsuke Miyaoka, who works in the same division. An investigation of the Prius, the world’s best-selling hybrid vehicle, may further damage Toyota’s reputation after recalls of at least 7.6 million vehicles globally, including one that caused a halt of US sales and North American production of eight models. The Prius, Japan’s top-selling model last year, is not among vehicles for which sales were halted in the US. “The Prius is Toyota’s flagship model, its key to the future,” said Ashvin Chotai, MD of London-based Intelligence Automotive Asia, a consulting company. “If that model gets tainted, that would suggest Toyota’s crisis has moved on to the next level.” Toyota spokeswoman Ririko Takeuchi said the government had ordered the investigation. She declined to say when officials contacted the company. The latest Prius model isn’t included in overseas recalls for repairs related to unintended acceleration. In the US, 2004 through 2009 Priuses were part of a 5.35-million vehicle recall for floor mats that may trap gas pedals and cause unintended acceleration. The Prius wasn’t part of a separate US recall of 2.3 million vehicles because accelerator pedals may stick. The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has received more than 40 brake-related complaints about the 2010 Prius. There is no announced investigation. Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple, said in an interview that his 2010 Prius had accelerated unintentionally and that Toyota and the US agency hadn’t responded to his complaints. Japan’s transport ministry has asked other carmakers to investigate problems and complaints it received about acceleration and brake problems, Ota said. “This is something we do on a regular basis.” The 14 complaints in Japan may not be statistically significant, Intelligence Automotive’s Chotai said. The Transport Ministry in December reported a total of 13 accidents in 2008 and 2009 related to gas-pedal and brake issues in vehicles from carmakers such as Mitsubishi Motors, Mazda Motor, Daihatsu Motor and Nissan Motor. “Maybe we need more evidence,” Chotai said. Toyota shares fell 5.7% to 3,400 yen in Tokyo. The carmaker’s US sales in January dropped 16% from a year earlier to a 10-year low. The latest Prius has drawn more than 100 complaints related to brakes in the US, Kyodo News reported. The report, which cited the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, didn’t provide details about the complaints. Takanori Yokoi, a spokesman for Toyota in Tokyo, said he couldn’t immediately confirm or deny the report when reached by phone. Karen Aldana, a spokeswoman for the US safety agency, didn’t return a call to her mobile phone or respond to an e-mail message sent after normal business hours. Toyota is not aware of any complaints stemming from the issue in Europe, said Etienne Plas, a Brussels-based spokesman. More than 29,000 of the latest Prius model, of the same make as the Japanese and US versions, were sold in Europe between June and December last year, according to Plas. Denso, a Japanese auto-parts maker, doesn’t make the electronic control systems related to the complaints about the Prius being reported in Japan, said spokesman Goro Kanemasu. He declined to name which models Denso’s electronic throttle control system is used in.
Parikh panel for steep hike in fuel prices, deregulation
03 Feb 2010;timesofindia.indiatimes.com:NEW DELHI: In a path-breaking report, an expert group headed by Kirit Parikh on Wednesday suggested freeing of petrol and diesel prices and raising LPG rates by Rs 100 per cylinder and kerosene by Rs 6 per lite. "Current petroleum product pricing policy of the government is not sustainable," Parikh said after submitting the report to Petroleum Minister Murli Deora. Freeing petrol and diesel prices would result in an increase of Rs 3 per litre in petrol prices and Rs 3-4 in diesel prices. At present, the government does not allow state-running fuel retailers to fix petrol, diesel, kerosene and LPG prices in line with international cost, resulting in huge revenue losses for the companies and subsidy burden on government. Parikh said petrol and diesel pricing should be left to the competitive market process, while government should continue to subsidise PDS kerosene and domestic LPG to some extent. Deora said that the report will be processed and will be put in before the government or the Cabinet in a week. The committee also pegged the losses of state-run oil marketing companies at Rs.40,000 crore on account of having to sell transport fuels at below cost. "There is no way we can continue with the current pricing policy," said Parikh while discussing the recommendations here.
BMW to lease cars for specific periods to customers
03 Feb 2010;economictimes.indiatimes.com:Chanchal Pal Chauhan:NEW DELHI: Luxury cars will become affordable with BMW India planning to lease out cars to individual customers not preferring outright purchase. The German car company will lease such cars for specific periods and also take them back for re-sale. BMW, which edged out its global arch-rival Mercedes-Benz to attain leadership in the domestic luxe car market in 2009, is looking to consolidate its market share in the 9000 units-a-year luxury car market. The lease business will also help the company build inventory for its used car business - the BMW Premium Selection - to be launched by the year end. Under this, BMW will sell cars returned by customers after some years of use as well as the company-owned fleet used by its own executives. The company with re-furbish these old cars and sell them under its own warranty and also provide complete service backup through its dealers just as it does for its new cars. BMW India president Peter Kronschabl told ET, “In the three years of operations we have realised that a large number of customers want to own a BMW product, but not exactly buy it at the regular ex-showroom price. We are leasing to companies but this is the first time we are tapping individual customers.” BMW sold 3,619 units against Mercedes Benz’s 3,247 in 2009. It will also invest $50 million in its auto loan business — BMW Financial Services — to provide retail finance to BMW buyers and dedicated finance to dealers. The business will also provide automotive insurance cover to customers with a local partner. “ Used cars customers would be treated at par with new car owners.’’ BMW has also announced plans to manufacture its entry-level sports utility vehicle (SUV), the X-1 at its Chennai factory by the year end. The new SUV will be the cheapest car from the BMW stable and will be positioned below the 3Series which comes at Rs 27 (ex-showroom) Delhi.
03 Feb 2010;business-standard.com:Mumbai: Pune-based Bajaj Auto has moved up on reporting over-two fold jump in motorcycle sales last month. The stock is trading at Rs 1965, stronger by Rs 30 or 1.5%, on the BSE. The shares had opened at the day's low of Rs 1959 and have touched a high of Rs 1975 thus far. The company sold 2,32,939 units in January this year as against 1,09,666 units in the same month last year, Bajaj Auto (BAL) said in a statement. BAL attributed the monthly jump to an all-time sales record of its Pulsar model, of which 71,970 units were sold during January. The company also sold 92,035 units of its newly launched 100cc Discover DTS-Si during the month.
02 Feb 2010;deccanherald.com:Mumbai: The Indian automobile industry has come out with robust sales in January, with Tata Motors reporting a 77 percent rise in sales followed by Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) at 67.4 percent, while Hyundai and Maruti Suzuki reported a 41.6 per cent and 33.3 per cent jump in sales respectviely. In terms of physical numbers, Tata Motors sold 65,478 vehicles in January as against 36,931 vehicles sold in the same month last year, while M&M sold 28,988 units against 17,320 units in the same month last year. Hyundai sold 52,635 units in January 2010 including exports, while Maruti Suzuki sold 95,649 units. Exports of Hyundai, according to company Director (marketing & sales) Arvind Saxena, grew 42.58 per cent to 23,034 units from 16,155 units in the year-ago period. In its A2 segment, the company sold 47,104 units, while in the A3 segment (Accent and Verna) sales were at 5,502 units. Its domestic sales were the highest recorded since its inception in India in the year 1998. Two-wheeler sales Similarly, exports of Maruti Suzuki rose over three-fold to 14,562 units in January, 2010 as against 4,774 units in the same month in 2009. The robust sales are not specific cars & utility segment alone, even two-wheeler segment also posted healthy sales in the month of January. For instance, Chennai-based auto maker TVS Motor reported a 34 per cent jump in January at 1,25,578 units against 93,729 units in the same month last year, while Suzuki Motorcycle India reported a jump of 93 per cent at 20,441 units over the same month in 2009. At the same time, exports of TVS Motor during the month grew 15 per cent to 16,074 units versus 14,000 units in January 2009. Its three-wheelers sales were up at 1,710 units in January 2010 as against 466 units in the same month last year. DH News Service
02 Feb 2010;economictimes.indiatimes.com:NEW DELHI: The government may take a decision on freeing petrol and diesel prices after the Kirit Parikh committee on rationalising fuel subsidies submits its report this week, oil minister Murli Deora said. Price of petrol may go up by Rs 4.70 a litre and diesel by Rs 2.30 a litre if the government gives the pricing freedom to state-owned oil marketing companies — IndianOil Corporation (IOC) Bharat Petroleum (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum (HPCL). A decision to increase fuel prices may also depend on the outcome of Mr Deora’s meeting with finance minister Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday regarding subsidy-sharing issue. “We will be meeting finance minister tomorrow to see how this under-recovery (revenue loss) is to be met,” Mr Deora said. A price hike of petrol and diesel is imminent unless finance ministry pays full cash compensation to state-owned oil companies for kerosene and cooking gas, an oil ministry official said requesting anonymity. The finance ministry has decided to pay a compensation of only Rs 12,000 crore in 2009-10 to public sector oilcos for selling kerosene and cooking gas below cost as against total estimated revenue loss of Rs 31,000 crore in the fiscal year. In July last year, the cabinet had taken a decision to meet the entire revenue loss of public sector OMCs on cooking gas and kerosene either through oil bonds or cash. Losses on petrol and diesel were to be compensated by state-owned upstream companies — ONGC, Oil India and Gail India, he said. The upstream companies have already paid about Rs 8,364 crore to the three public sector oil companies for their losses on auto fuels in the first three quarters of 2009-10 . The finance minister, however, wants to reduce fuel subsidy burden. He is in favour of deregulation , as mounting subsidy burden is a major concern for the public exchequer. The government had to pay over Rs 71,000 crore in 2008-09 as fuel subsidy though oil bonds. Mr Deora agreed with the finance ministry’s view that issuing oil bonds is nothing but postponing the crisis. “Mr Mukherjee is rightly against oil bonds. ... We are trying to find some solution,” he said.
