Nov. 25 - Tata Motors is pushing to launch the electric version of its highly popular Indica in 2011, aiming at exploiting the growing market for eco-friendly cars.
Tata Motors Managing Director (India operation) Prakash Telang said Tata would launch the electric Indica simultaneously in India and worldwide. “We will begin a feasibility study by next year for introducing the product,” The Hindu quoted him as saying. Read the rest of this entry »
Nov. 16 - India’s big spenders are seducing the world’s premium auto brands to make their products more easily available in India.
Audi, Bentley, Lamborghini, Mercedes and Porsche are all sending their premium vehicles to the Indian market, even as U.S. automakers are scaling down operations and reworking their strategy towards fuel-efficient smaller vehicles.
“Today, Indians will no longer settle for anything but the best. With disposable incomes on the rise, it’s a matter of time before more and more such super premium car makers target the Indian market place,” said Abdul Majeed, the automobile practice leader of PricewaterhouseCoopers. Read the rest of this entry »
Nov. 12 - Not satisfied with selling the Passat, Jetta and the Touareg in India, Volkswagen is now expected to bring the new Beetle to launch in India before the year’s end, if we’re to believe a report that has revealed to the Indian media during the India economic summit.
Although the Volkswagen Beetle was originally built as the “people’s car,” it’s not the case anymore as prices usually range around US$20,000 – which is a bit steep for the Indian market once you consider that the Tata Nano is selling for as low as US$3,500. Read the rest of this entry »
Oct. 22 - Tata Motors has taken full control of Spanish bus and coach manufacturer, Hispano Carrocera S.A., by acquiring a 79 percent stake in the firm.
The Indian vehicle company already holds a 21 percent stake in Hispano, which it bought in 2005 for around US$700 million. “Tata Motors has acquired the remaining 79 percent shares in Hispano by way of exercise of the existing call option, through mutual agreement with other shareholder, Investelia SA Spain,’’ the company said in a statement. Read the rest of this entry »
Oct. 12 - Top Indian auto manufacturer, Tata Motors, decision to offer global depository issues and convertible bonds to help pay for debt incurred from purchasing Jaguar and Land Rover was met with enthusiasm when its initial fund-raising target of US$600 million was reached in less than an hour.
Due to the positive response, the company had to raise its initial offering by 25 percent. Tata Motors was able to raise a total of US$750 million. Ravi Kant, vice-chairman of Tata Motors, was quoted by The Economic Times as saying that the successful fund raising was a reaffirmation of investor confidence in the global auto sector, and bore testimony to the trust reposed in the long-term outlook for Tata Motors. Read the rest of this entry »
Oct. 9 - German luxury car maker Audi’s Managing Director for India, Benoit Tiers, predicts that India will be the fifth-largest market by 2015 and that company sales will grow by 80 percent.
In an interview with The Economic Times, Tiers downplayed his growth projections by saying the company wants to be profitable rather than grabbing the market share from rivals BMW and Mercedes.
He said: “Audi in India is a long term commitment and my target is not to be number one in terms of sales figures. My aim is to establish the brand and build service and quality, so that the result will impact sales. We may be late entrants in to the Indian market, but our rate of growth is higher. We’re looking at being profitable first. We sold around 1,050 cars in India last year, logging a 120 percent growth.” Read the rest of this entry »
Oct. 6 - U.S. automaker Ford has announced a tie up with Delhi-based licensing management firm License India to license its brand in the country to sell merchandise as part of an image building exercise.
Through its global licensing agent Beanstalk Group, the company has joined hands with License India for selecting licensees in the country for manufacturing and retailing of products, including clothing and related accessories. Read the rest of this entry »
Sept. 11 - Mercedes-Benz’s Indian arm, Daimler India Commercial Vehicles, is tapping into the high potential of the Indian market by launching a localized range of small trucks by 2012 from its Chennai plant.
Wilfried Aulbur, Mercedes-Benz India managing director and CEO, announced this after the launch of the Actros 4841K range of new trucks being manufactured at the company’s facility in Chakan, Pune. There is already an order placed for 100 of the trucks with future orders said to reach up to 250 trucks in the next three years. Read the rest of this entry »
Sept. 9 - India’s automaker Tata Motors will set up an assembly facility for electric vehicles in the United Kingdom, Spain or Norway, the Chief Executive of Tata Motors European Technical Center told the DowJones Newswires.
“We don’t need to build a full plant, because the vehicle will come with the body, the wheels, all of the interior trim (from India),” said Clive Hickman during the sidelines of an electric car pilot project announcement ceremony supported by the Spanish government. “All we have to do, is to install the electric motor, and the battery pack.”
The assembly plant is expected to be online by the end of the year with an initial production capacity of 5,000 electric cars although no financial details of the investment is clear. Read the rest of this entry »
Sept. 7 - Japanese automaker, Suzuki Motors, has announced plans to invest US$215 million for a new car factory in India by 2011 with a yearly capacity of 250,000 cars.
Suzuki wants to maintain its 50 percent market share in the face of rising competition from other automakers reports Reuters. The new Suzuki plant will be based on the current Manesar facility in the Haryana state located 50 kilometers from New Delhi.
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