18 Jan 2010;economictimes.indiatimes.com:NEW DELHI: Small may be mighty in the Indian car market, but big by no way is bereft of action. If you thought that new launches in the car industry will be confined only to small cars, brace up for big-ticket launches in sedans and SUVs with more than half-a-dozen new vehicles planned over the next 18 months, starting from the Rs 8 lakh price point and running up to a Rs 1 crore. The new launches include vehicles from the stable of Tata Motors, Toyota, Skoda, BMW, Mercedes, Renault, Mahindra and Jaguar, all of who plan to hit the road with a new set of big wheels as demand remains buoyant and outlook only improves with the revival in the economy. Toyota, looking at gaining a bigger foothold in India after watching all the action from the frills, appears to be the most ambitious of the lot as it makes a push at the bottom-end of the market. The company plans to enter the sub-Rs 10 lakh sedan segment with a mid-size version of Etios. Toyota insiders say the company plans to price the Etios sedan very aggressively, and this could well be below the Rs 9.5 lakh pricing of the Honda City. And while Toyota may be gunning for the low-end of the sedan segment, there are companies who are padding up for the extreme upper-end (Rs 20 lakh-plus), that accounts for sale of about 10000 units annually. Mercedes, that has been fighting hard to protect its top position in high-end cars after stiffcompetition from fellow German companies BMW and Audi, has already made a push with the launch of the S500L that at about Rs 1 crore would be the most expensive car the company would assemble in the country. It also has plans to drive in a coupe version of its E-Class sedan and this would be priced around Rs 60 lakh. And if Mercedes is active, can rivals be far behind. Audi also plans to drive in the all-new version of its A8 sedan by the end of this year. The new A8, a rival to the S-Class range, has so far not debuted in any market. Tata Motors also unveiled the Jaguar XJ, the luxury sedan that was premiered worldwide in London in July 2009 and now is set for launch in various markets. In India, the model will be priced close to Rs 1 crore, and deliveries will begin from June. Renault will make a renewed pitch with the Fluence, a car it launches in the mid-end of the sedan market. The Fluence could come in the Rs 10-12 lakh price bracket. And if all other carmakers are gung-ho on sedans, can the big daddy of Indian car market be behind. Maruti Suzuki is looking at a wider play in sedans with the launch of the Kizashi in India later this year. The action will not be confined to sedans alone, and will spread over to SUVs too. Skoda's Yeti will hit the market by the middle of this year. The vehicle is likely to be priced around Rs 15 lakh. Mahindra is also gearing up for launching a new SUV in the market that will be placed over its flagship Scorpio. The new ‘world SUV' of the company will be launched in 2011 and is likely to be priced upwards of Rs 10 lakh. BMW will also lower the threshold for its SUVs and will launch its X1 range in India by the end of this year at a price point below Rs 27 lakh. And Tata Motors does not want to be behind in action. It has lined up the Aria, a 2200cc diesel engine multi-purpose vehicle that it launches later this year. The vehicle is likely to be priced aggressively, around Rs 12-15 lakh.
16 Jan 2010;business-standard.com:New Delhi: The finance ministry today agreed to give just over Rs 12,000 crore in cash to state-run fuel retailers to cover for their losses in the current year, a far cry from the Rs 29,405 crore they were seeking. The finance ministry sent a letter to the petroleum ministry saying Indian Oil Corp, Bharat Petroleum Corp and Hindustan Petroleum Corp would be paid Rs 12,020 crore in cash to cover their losses on sale of domestic LPG and kerosene in 2009-10. Petroleum Minister Murli Deora had on Thursday pleaded with Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee for keeping his July 2009 promise of making up the entire loss on cooking fuel by way of either oil bonds or cash. It was then agreed that losses on petrol and diesel would be made up by upstream firms like ONGC. Oil ministry sources said they would accept the cash offered as “part-payment” for the losses in 2009-10 and continue to press Mukherjee for more.
16 Jan 2010;hindustantimes.com:Small car Nano, manufactured by the Tata Group, has won Autocar India 2010's 'car of the year' award. "Recognition is for the full team that worked on the car, and the challenge now is to exceed expectations," Tata Sons' Chairman Ratan Tata said here. The awards were given across various categories to the best and the most deserving contributors to the auto industry including Best Value for Money Car, Best Design and Styling, Best Variant of the Year, Car Ad of the Year, Manufacturer of the Year, among others. The other winners in different categories are Bajaj Pulsar 135 LS (Bike of the Year), New Mercedes E-class (Best Luxury Car), Toyota Fortuner (Luxury SUV of The Year), Fiat Grande Punto (Best Design & Styling), Tata Indigo Manza (Best Value For Money Car), Maruti Suzuki India (Manufacturer Of The Year). The jury for this year's Autocar Awards comprised Dilip Chhabria, Manwendra Singh, Hormazd Sorabjee, Shapur Kotwal, Renuka Kirpalani, Rajeev Khanna and Naren Kumar.
16 Jan 2010;timesofindia.indiatimes.com:NEW DELHI: The country's largest car maker Maruti Suzuki India today hiked prices of most of its models by an estimated up to Rs 10,000 to offset the increase in input costs, including that of steel. While the average increase in prices is of around 0.6 per cent, it varies from 0.12 per cent for the Ritz VDi at the lower end to 1.9 per cent for the Dzire LXi models, Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) said in a statement, but did not share the hike in rupee terms. However, the hike would range between a few hundred rupees to as high as Rs 10,000 per car, as per the current on-road prices of various models. However, the company's recently launched multi purpose vehicle Eeco, and the petrol variant of the small car Swift and its Gypsy models will not be affected by the price hike. "The price increase is to partly recover the increase in the input costs arising out of raw material costs over the past one year. For some models the increase in the costs are being absorbed by the company," the company said. It also said that the introductory prices for its refreshed Estilo, which was introduced in August last year, has been withdrawn. Estilo will now be expensive by Rs 1,243- Rs 2,486 depending on the variants. MSI's decision to hike prices comes after similar measures by other auto makers, including Honda Siel Cars India and luxury carmaker BMW, in the past one month.
16 Jan 2010;business-standard.com:Ajay Modi & Jyoti Mukul:New Delhi: Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) is in favour of full market price parity for retail sales of petrol and partial burden sharing by consumers of diesel, LPG and kerosene. The company has also suggested a formula for sharing the burden of an increase in crude oil prices beyond $60 a barrel. Being a producer of crude oil, ONGC would normally gain from the spurt in crude oil prices but it does not get the complete upside since it is forced to bear a portion of the subsidy on sale of cooking and auto fuels. Chairman and Managing Director R S Sharma told Business Standard the company’s presentation to the Kirit Parikh committee on oil prices had suggested the entire subsidy mechanism be set right, based on prevailing crude oil prices. The Parikh report is expected shortly. Stating there was no need to subsidise petrol prices, Sharma said: “We have submitted that a matrix needs to be developed, starting from the $60-price level. At these levels, what should be the pricing of consumer products linking with the international parity? Let the government consciously decide which product needs to be subsidised, to what extent.” As an example, he said, consumers can share half the price increase in diesel, with the remaining amount to be absorbed by the system. Similarly, at least 20 per cent of the price increase for LPG should be borne by the consumer, and the rest by the government. “Since kerosene is sensitive, the government or the system can bear 90 per cent of the increase but at least 10 per cent of increase should be passed on, so that everybody feels the pinch,” he said. Adding that these numbers could vary, based on the decision taken by the government. The company has also suggested that the upstream companies (ONGC, Oil India, GAIL, all producers) could share under-recoveries from an additional cess which may be levied beyond a certain level of crude prices (say at $60 a barrel). “We are willing to bear higher subsidy discounts as the crude prices move up in a calibrated formula. Instead of ad hoc discounts, our share can be taken as windfall tax or as a special cess and that corpus should be used to compensate the under-recovery of the downstream companies,” Sharma said. The ad hoc discounts given by ONGC to downstream companies are questioned by state governments and they insist ONGC should pay royalty on the full price of crude. This issue can be addressed through a notified decision of the government, he said.
14 Jan 2010;hindustantimes.com:New Delhi: With inflation being its prime concern, the government has postponed any immediate decision on freeing the auto fuel prices. So, there won’t be an immediate hike in the prices of petrol and diesel. “The fuel price issue is a sensitive one, so do not expect a decision on it overnight,” a senior functionary in the Prime Minister’s Office told the HT soon after a high-level meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to review the financial health of state-owned oil PSUs on Wednesday. Singh met Petroleum Minister Murli Deora along with Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to take stock of the deteriorating health of the state-owned oil marketing companies.
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