12 March 2010;deccanherald.com:Bangalore:Ford India, on Thursday, launched petrol and diesel versions of its first compact car Figo in Bangalore. While the petrol version is priced in the range of Rs 3.49 lakh and Rs 4.42 lakh (exshowroom Bangalore), the diesel version is priced between Rs 4.47 lakh and Rs 5.30 lakh. Briefing reporers, company Executive Director, Marketing, Sales & Service Nigel E Wark said “We have competitively priced all four variants of the car. Figo offer more features, interior space, technology and durability than other vehicles at this price range in the segment.” The petrol version of the car will have a four-cylinder 1.2 litre, 16 valve Duratec engine that will give a maximum power of 71 PS at 6,250 rpm and maximum torque of 102 nm at 4,000 rpm. This, Ford claims, will have fuel economy of 15.6 km a litre under optimum driving conditions. Figo will also have a more powerful 1.4 litre Duratorq diesel engine that works on Ford’s own CRDi (common rail direct injection) technology. This engine produces maximum power of 69 ps at 4,000 rpm and maximum torque of 160 nm at 2,000 rpm. Ford claims the diesel Figo will give a fuel economy of 20 km per litre on ideal driving conditions. The car also comes with unique features like speed sensing volume control of the audio system, distance-to-empty indicator, lane changing indicator with one flick and a warning system when car goes for rapid deceleration at high speed. The top-end variant –– Figo Titanium –– will have dual front air bag and antilock braking system (ABS). Despite being compact in size, Figo has a fairly large boot space (284 litre) and can seat five persons. Its exterior styling follows Ford’s global kinetic design elements that harmonise Figo with other models in the Ford global line-up including Focus and Mondeo. Though Figo has been specially developed for the Indian market and is being manufactured in Ford India’s Chennai plant, the company will start exporting it to the European market by the end of current year.
12 March 2010;dailypioneer.com:New Delhi:Country’s largest two wheeler maker Hero Honda on Thursday said it is conducting a feasibility study in 10 states to find the best suitable location for its fourth manufacturing facility and the decision will be taken in the next six months. “There would be at least 10 states we would be looking at, at this moment. We are looking at the whole country as a clean slate,” Hero Honda Managing Director Pawan Munjal told reporters on the sidelines of Hero Groups Mindmine Summit here. When asked about his meeting with the Karnataka Chief Minister for setting up the plant in the state, he said, “Yes we met the Karnataka Chief Minister...I thought they were very open for us to go to the state. It was just a request from the Chief Minister to have breakfast with him, so we did.” The company is also considering Rajasthan for the proposed plant, for which the state government had earlier promised to allot land but is now facing protest from the locals. Talking about the plant, Munjal said, “the feasibility study would come up with capacity, investment, models and the location. It is going to take us six months to take the final call.”
12 March 2010;hindustantimes.com:Frankfurt:German luxury car maker BMW on Thursday reported a 36.4 percent drop in 2009 net profit to 210 million euros (287 million dollars). A company statement added however that sales by the world's leading luxury auto manufacturer were expected to increase this year by 50,000 vehicles to 1.3 million.
No plans to sell stake in ONGC, IOC: Petroleum Secretary
Wednesday, 10 March 2010
11 March 2010;deccanherald.com:New Delhi:The government is not considering selling equity in Indian Oil Corp (IOC) and Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), Petroleum Secretary S Sundareshan said on Wednesday. Both IOC and ONGC are not in favour of raising money through equity route as valuations are being impacted due to uncertain fuel pricing policy. Also, market conditions were not right for FPOs. "(These are) not the correct market time for FPOs," he said.
More losses for oil companies as price rise option closes
Wednesday, 10 March 2010
11 March 2010;business-standard.com:Ajay Modi:New Delhi: Even before the start of the new financial year, the spectre of rising losses during 2010-11 has begun to haunt the three state-controlled oil marketing companies that account for over 90 per cent of the country’s retail petroleum products market. Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) are apprehensive that their under-recoveries (the gap between the retail prices and their refining and marketing costs) will rise on account of rising crude oil prices and the political constraints on the government to raise retail rates. “We expect under-recoveries to increase in the next year if prices are not increased since the average crude oil price next year is likely to remain higher from this year’s level of $70 a barrel,” said S V Narasimhan, director (Finance), IOC, the biggest of the oil marketing companies. The Indian basket of crude oil, which tracks benchmark Brent crude, has averaged $69.17 a barrel in the current financial year. However, the global economic recovery, crude oil prices have been rising in the past few months. The average in February 2010 was $73.65 and, by the end of the first week of March, the average price of the Indian crude oil basket had already crossed $77 a barrel. The oil marketing companies (OMC), however, are not hopeful of an early decision by the government to raise auto and cooking fuel prices. Confirming such fears, a government official said that the petroleum and natural gas ministry was yet to move on the recommendations of the Kirit Parikh committee on petroleum products. The Kirit Parikh committee report, which was submitted over a month ago, had suggested market-linked prices for petrol and diesel. However, only a partial increase of Rs 6 a litre for kerosene and Rs 100 per LPG cylinder were proposed. It also proposed a reduction in kerosene sold through ration cards by 20 per cent. An OMC official, who declined to be identified, also said the opposition outcry over the last increase in the prices of diesel and petrol (by Rs 2.55 and Rs 2.71 a litre, respectively) in last month’s Budget had put an end to their hopes of a further price rise in the next few months. The OMCs are already sitting on an unmet under-recovery of about Rs 19,000 crore in the current fiscal as the finance ministry struggles to meet its fiscal deficit target for 2009-10. The Budget for 2010-11 proposes to bring down the fiscal deficit to 5.5 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) from 6.7 in the current year. With no adequate financial provision in the Budget for the next year to compensate the OMCs for their under-recoveries and the government’s political inability to raise prices in the next few months at least, the prospects of rising under-recoveries appear more than real. The three marketing companies are estimated to be together losing Rs 196 crore a day on the sale of petrol, diesel, kerosene and LPG, with IOC alone losing Rs 107 crore. For the full year, they are estimated to have under-recoveries of Rs 46,600 crore. A senior finance ministry official, however, pointed out that the government had provided Rs 3,108 crore for oil subsidies for the next year, pending a decision on petroleum prices. "There was no basis of providing a subsidy for the next year. Necessary provision can be made later in the supplementary to the Budget," he added. He further said there would be no impact on the fiscal deficit since by October-November, the trend in savings of other ministries would be known and the government would be able to effect savings in expenditure under other heads. A similar trend was seen this year when the amount provided was Rs 2,954 crore at the start of the year, rising to Rs 14,954 crore in the revised estimates. For the current year, the underrecovery on petrol and diesel is being compensated by upstream companies but the underrecovery on kerosene and LPG is supposed to be compensated by the government. After the discounts provided by upstream companies — Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, Oil India Ltd and Gas Authority of India Ltd — the OMCs are still left with losses of over Rs 31,000 crore. However, the Budget made a provision of Rs 12,000 crore for under recoveries in the current financial year. The OMCs incur an under-recovery of Rs 4.97 a litre on petrol, Rs 3.27 a litre on diesel, Rs 16.91 a litre on kerosene and Rs 267.39 on a domestic LPG cylinder. The recent increase of Rs 2.71 and Rs 2.55 a litre in prices of petrol and diesel, respectively, has impaired the ability of the government to act on the committee’s recommendations. This increase was taken following the restoration of the five per cent customs duty on crude and Rs 1 a litre increase in excise duty announced in the recent Budget.
10 March 2010;dailypioneer.com:Rakesh Bihari Jha:New Delhi: Ford is betting big on Indian car market as the US car maker is developing some more products keeping in mind the specific needs of this market even as it entered small car market on Tuesday with its aggressively priced ‘Figo’. “Ford Figo’s launch is the first step in the series of vehicles being developed keeping in mind the specific needs of Indian market,” said Ford Asia Pacific and Africa president Joe Hinrichs, adding, “we are looking at expanding this segment and work has already begun to develop next generation platform named ‘B’.” The entry level Ford Figo of 1.2 litre petrol engine is priced at Rs 3,49, 900, while 1.4 litre diesel engine car priced at Rs 4,47, 900. With the launch of Figo compact car market in India has become crowed and more competitive, as a result, Ford’s product will be in close competition with Maruti’s Swift and Ritz, Hyundai’s i10, GM’s Beat and Polo of Volkswagen. Ford, which managed to sell just about 30,000 units in 2009, entered the small car market with Figo to be a volume player. Explaining the reason behind developing some more products for Indian car market Ford India Managing Director Michael Boneham said: “You need more entries into the small car segment. We will continue to focus on that segment and the company will launch new vehicles in every 12-18 months.” He, however, declined to give details on planned car launches. Talking about its small car Boneham said : “Come heat, come dust, come Monsoon rains or Delhi traffic, the Figo was born and bred for India.” "Given where the sub B segment has traditionally been in terms of content, space and price, we feel Figo will open new opportunities for consumers looking for a better choice," he added. Like other global auto majors, the company also hopes to turn India into a small car export hub. “Figo would first ship to South Africa and we’ll be adding more markets as people across the region see how cool the Figo really is,” added Boneham. The plant, which manufactures other Ford models for India, too, has a total car-making capacity of 200,000 units a year and an annual engine manufacturing capacity 250,000 units.
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