To look for fresh capacity for Nano, says Tata Motors
Saturday, 09 April 2011
09 April 2011;hindustantimes.com:New Delhi: Auto major Tata Motors today said it will look for fresh capacity for its small car Nano as it expects the Sanand plant in Gujarat to run at full capacity "within a few months". "The Nano sales have been very good. Last month, we sold over 8,700 units and within a few months time we will be running the full capacity of 20,000 units per month at the Sanand plant," Tata Motors Vice-President (Commercial), Passenger Car Business Unit, R Ramakrishnan told reporters here. Currently the company is producing about 12,000 units a month in a double shift at the plant. The Sanand facility has a capacity to manufacture 2.5 lakh units annually, which can subsequently be increased to 5 lakh units per annum. Once it hits peak capacity, the company would have to consider adding fresh capacity for the Nano to meet demand, he said. Asked if the fresh capacity could be added at the Sanand plant itself, or whether the company would consider producing at its Pantnagar plant, where it used to produce the Nano in limited quantities, he said options are open for the company. "Where we would add the fresh capacity will be decided in due course of time, but the advantage that we have is the flexible production capability for Nano that we have," Ramakrishnan said. In March, Tata Motors sold 8,707 units of the Nano, 85 per cent more than in the same month last year. He said the company is receiving over 1,10,000 enquiries about the Nano a month from across India and the company expects an increase in the number of first-time car buyers actually purchasing the Nano. "When we started, around 80 per cent of Nano customers were buying it as a second car and 20 per cent were first-time buyers. Now the ratio is about 50:50," he said. "Ultimately, we are looking at 80 per cent first time buyers purchasing the car, which is what we had aimed when we started off," Ramakrishnan added. Asked if the company planned to hike the price of Nano considering rising input costs, he replied in the negative, but said margins were under pressure. Except for the Nano, Tata Motors had hiked prices of its passenger vehicles by up to Rs 36,000 from April 1. Ramakrishnan also said the company expects the sales of its Indica hatchback to pick up after suffering a slump last year due to the non-availability of Bharat Stage-IV compliant version. "Now that we have the Indica eV2, which is BS-IV compliant, we expect to make up for the loss we had last year, as most of the sales are in the cities where the BS-IV norm is followed," he said.
Global oil market oversupplied: Iran OPEC governor
Saturday, 09 April 2011
09 April 2011;timesofindia.indiatimes.com:TEHRAN: Iran sees the global oil market as oversupplied, despite prices that have been pushed up by upheaval in the Middle East, its OPEC governor was quoted as saying in a newspaper published on Saturday. "Not only is there not a shortage of supply in the oil market but there is 1 million barrels (per day) of excess supply," Mohammad Ali Khatibi told Sharq daily in an interview. He also warned that prices would continue to increase if the Libyan crisis persists and would "explode" if there were any security problems in Saudi Arabia. "By the beginning of the high travel season gasoline consumption will increase, and considering the shortage of Libyan crude it is natural to expect an oil price hike," Khatibi told the daily. "In the event of any security problems occurring in OPEC's biggest oil producer (Saudi Arabia), there would be no price hike, but rather a price explosion," he added. Khatibi reiterated Iran's stance that there is no need for any emergency OPEC meeting or output increase. Price hawk Iran, holds the rotating OPEC presidency and has responsibility for coordinating any emergency meeting with OPEC's Vienna-based secretariat. The next scheduled meeting is not until June 2.
07 April 2011;deccanherald.com:Toyota has announced that it has sold the one millionth Prius hybrid in the US, as rising fuel prices further stimulated demand for the car. "Since the Prius went on sale 11 years ago, not a year has gone by when it hasn't been the No.1 selling hybrid vehicle in the US," Bob Carter, Toyota vice president and general manager, was quoted as saying by Xinhua. Toyota sold nearly 43,000 units in the first quarter this year, up 52 percent than a year ago. Last year, the company sold over 140,000 units in the US. However, supply shortage has been reported by some Toyota dealers, as last month's earthquake and tsunami in Japan caused problems in production, supply and transportation. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the Toyota Prius powered by a gasoline engine and an electric motor is ranked as the most fuel-efficient car in the US.
07 April 2011;business-standard.com:Jyoti Mukul & Ajay Modi:New Delhi: With RIL’s KG-D6 output playing truant, steps need to be taken to stabilise the country’s natural gas production. When Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) started pumping natural gas from its D-6 block in the Krishna-Godavari (K-G) basin, in April 2009, there was little euphoria in the industry, beaten down by the global economic slowdown. But D-6, being the first deepwater block in India to start production, made history. The block’s output touched 62 million standard cubic metres a day (mscmd) in March 2009, pushing the country’s GDP an estimated 0.3 per cent during 2009-10. At the end of its two-year dream run, however, things look bleak. RIL’s D-6 production has come down to 50 mscmd and there are doubts over its touching the level of 60 mscmd in the near future. None of the other major discoveries made by the government-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC) are expected to start production anytime soon. Domestic gas demand, estimated at over 300 mscmd, is already unmet, and the deficit will further rise if the production falls. The question being asked is whether the dream of a thriving gas economy has soured even before fully fructifying. February saw the share of natural gas in the country’s total hydrocarbon production coming down to 46 per cent, from 54 per cent in the same month last year. In contrast, crude oil production outpaced gas production, rising to 298,6000 tonnes in February, compared to 294,8386 tonnes oil equivalent of gas. In the period between April 2010 and February 2011, gas and crude oil production stayed neck and neck. “We believe, in the medium term, the percentage contribution of domestic gas would increase after the production from RIL’s KG-D6 stabilises, and GSPC and ONGC gas fields in the K-G basin commence production,” says Rakesh Jain, general manager (energy division), Feedback Ventures. RIL has already invested about $6 billion in the block since 2002, but it is still encountering technical problems. Though the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) has made some statements on drilling of more wells, the company maintains that is not an issue. “We are carrying out technical review so that we have an idea about the exact requirements. The aim is to optimise production over a long period,” said an RIL executive who did not want to be identified. Though oil and gas coexist in sedimentary basins, major finds in India have been of gas, not oil. “Oil discoveries are becoming smaller and fewer in numbers. Majority of our huge discoveries, in K-G and Mahanadi basins on the East Coast, are of gas. Plans are afoot to start production from those soon. In our future profiles, we see that gas will play a dominant role,” says ONGC Director (Offshore) Sudhir Vasudeva. In the case of ONGC, the company has made 16 discoveries in the East Coast itself. Gas production is estimated to rise from about 63 mscmd this year to 68 mscmd in 2011-12, and 73 mscmd in 2012-13. ONGC started production of small quantity of gas from its C-Series field last year and expects its first gas from GS-15 by May 2011. Though gas production from these fields adds to the supply, that is like a drop in the ocean. “From a long-term viewpoint, the country requires more gas and, for this, domestic production should increase. There is a need for more discoveries like D6,” says A K Balyan, managing director and chief executive officer, Petronet LNG Ltd. Balyan, who was earlier a director with ONGC, says RIL has a much larger block area and good reserves, so more drilling will help it, though he agrees that cap on natural gas prices can disincentivise companies operating in deepwater drilling. According to him, gas can get customers even with high prices, as it would still be cheaper than liquid fuel. For instance, the price of petrol in British thermal unit works out to around $42 and furnace oil to $22 in some cities, compared to an average of $7-8 for domestic natural gas and regassified liquefied natural gas (RLNG). The importance of price can also be seen in the fact that an increase in price of gas from nominated fields last year helped ONGC develop its marginal fields, which were smaller in size and viable to produce only if there was a good price. “These fields were not techno-economically viable earlier. These are now being made viable through induction of state-of-the-art technology optimisation of facilities and regrouping of fields through cluster developments,” says Vasudeva. Some of the marginal fields like D-1, SB-11 (Vasai West), Vasai East, C-Series and B134A have already started production. Others like B-193+, B-46+, B-22+, Cluster 7 and North Tapti are under various stages of development. Besides these, feasibility reports of a few other marginal fields are under various stages of preparation. These are likely to come on stream in a progressive manner, starting with North Tapti and B-22 cluster from this year. Though future holds promise for gas production, what is worrying is that the shortfall in domestic gas production has come at a time when the global LNG prices are expected to go up. The March-11 earthquake in Japan caused nuclear and coal-fired power stations in the country to shut down, turning heads towards LNG to make up for the lost supply. “This sent contracts soaring towards two-year highs.
07 April 2011;business-standard.com:Sharmistha Mukherjee:New Delhi: The company, the world’s second oldest car manufacturer, has commenced operations in Brazil, China and Russia. It records less than 10 per cent of its sales from BRIC countries (the above three and India) on Wednesday. By 2015, it says, it is looking at tripling this share. Francesco Fabbiani, business development director, Maserati Asia Pacific, said, “The Indian automobile industry is the second fastest growing in the world. In our segment, sales have shot up by over 100 per cent for the last two years. With the introduction of the Maserati line in the country, we are aiming to achieve three-digit sales over the next three years. Overall, from BRIC nations, sales should go up to 30 per cent over the next five years.” According to industry estimates, 800-1,000 premium cars of various makes, each tagged at a little over Rs 1 crore on average, were sold in India last year. Over the past six months, Swedish super car maker Koenigsegg and Volkswagen AG respectively launched the Agera (Rs 12.5 crore) and Bugatti Veyron (Rs 16 crore) in India, to cash in on a market known to have among the world’s largest number of millionaires. Maserati on Wednesday introduced luxury sports sedan Quattroporte, and sports cars GranTurismo and Gran Cabrio, priced between Rs 1.2 crore and Rs 1.43 crore, in the country. These would be exclusively available through the Shreyans Group, to be delivered to customers within four months from the placement of orders. Film stars Amitabh Bachchan and Ajay Devgn, and businessmen Vijay Mallya and Anil Ambani are among Maserati car owners. In partnership with the Shreyans Group, the first Indian showroom of Maserati would open in Mumbai this year. A second dealership would come up in Delhi in early 2012. Ashish Chordia, director, Maserati India, said “We are exploring other locations across cities like Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Pune and Chennai, to put in place another five dealerships by 2015.” Maserati sold a little over 5,600 custom-made cars globally in 2010. “I am confident the Indian function will play a significant role in building the Maserati brand. We will offer the full range of our products to customers in India,” added Simone Niccolai, managing Based in Modena, Italy, Maserati sells cars in 63 countries.
06 April 2011;business-standard.com:Mahesh Kulkarni:Bangalore: Chetan Maini, the man who gave India its first electric car a decade ago, is a lot happier these days. Within a year of the Mahindra group acquiring Reva Electric Car Company, his long-cherished dream seems to be coming true, with the government announcing a slew of measures to give impetus to electric cars. Chetan Maini, the man who gave India its first electric car a decade ago, is a lot happier these days. Within a year of the Mahindra group acquiring Reva Electric Car Company, his long-cherished dream seems to be coming true, with the government announcing a slew of measures to give impetus to electric cars. First, in December 2010, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) announced 20 per cent subsidy on electric cars. Second, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee announced setting up of a national mission on hybrid and electric vehicles in his Budget for 2011-12. Maini, chief of technology & strategy, Mahindra Reva Electric Vehicles Pvt Ltd, who loves to research and develop eco-friendly transport solutions, struggled through last decade, but could not convince the government that it extend concessions for his electric car — an environment-friendly transport solution. The government initiatives came only after Mahindra took over the company in May 2010. This also proves that only a strong corporate lobby can move things in the ‘right’ direction within the government machinery. However, Maini has a different take on this. He believes it was sheer coincidence. “Earlier, there was no ecosystem for the government to wake up to the hard reality that electric cars were good for the environment. We, at Reva, had pioneered the concept in the country. The time is now ripe for the government to offer incentives, as a large number of automakers is entering the electric car market.”
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