Tuesday, May 13, 2008

New launches flavour of the month

Yamaha Motor India launched Yamaha Alba loaded with the 106 cc engine.The bike comes with a electric start and graphics.The company is positioning the biks as a youthful stylish product.The company claims that its broad seat would be a comfort for daily commuting.

In a statement released by the company,it said that keeping in the mind the Indian driving conditions, Alba 106 has nicely nspaced gear ratio for driving in congested conditions without changing gears repeatedly.”The launch of new Alba with electric start is in line with Yamaha’s true commitment to provide world class products to its customers. A lot of emphasis has been laid on shaping Alba for maximum comfort of the rider and its premium features will give consumers a new thrill in biking pleasure, “ the company statement added.

Korean auto maker Hyundai Motor India organized a Mileage Challenge Rally 2008 for the Indian journalists. In a statement released the company said , “The Mileage Challenge Rally that witnessed a total participation of 30 journalists from Delhi, Mumbai and Pune was organized to promote fuel efficient driving techniques and also an opportunity to finding out the capability of Hyundai cars.” The statement added, “ Culminating in a competitive drive, using Hyundai Verna (diesel and petrol) models, participants were ranked not for speed, but for getting the most mileage per litre of fuel from their vehicles. The average overall mileage that the Verna diesel variant yielded was 33.57 km. per litre (kpl), while the petrol model came up with an impressive average of 25.88 kpl. The overall mileage was the average of all the cars in each category.”

Kirloskar Oil Engines announced that it will sell its valves division of its auto components business to Eaton Industrial Systems for Rs 90 crore. The company has entered into a sale agreement with Eaton Industrial Systems and US-based Eaton Corporation to hive off the valves division of its auto components business at Nashik and Ahmednagar for a consideration of up to Rs 90 crore. The agreement is subject to approval of the shareholders, the company said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

A consortium of banks mandated to raise $3 billion to fund Tata Motors’ acquisition of Jaguar and Land Rover (JLR) is likely to complete the fund raising by May end. The consortium, which initially comprised eight mandated lead-arrangers, has received a $1-billion commitment from some banks, while the process is still on for more banks to participate,according to buzz on the street.

Japanese major Nissan Motor Company will soon launch its premium sports utility vehicle (SUV) Murano in India to tap thenicheoff-roadermarket. Nissan is importing and selling its compact SUV X-Trail and the Teana sedan through Nissan Motor India Private Limited (NMIPL), and Murano will hit the market in next few months. It will compete with Toyota Prado, BMW X3, Mitsubishi Montero, Mercedes-Benz MClass in the Rs 30-40-lakh luxury SUV segment.
Goldman Sachs will invest Rs 700 crore in Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) by picking up convertible debentures which will give it a 3.68% stake in the auto major. The board of M&M, India’s largest utility vehicle major, recently approved raising of additional resources through a private placement to outside investors for the first time in its 62-year history. “This innovative structure is great for Mahindra as not only has it got a good price but also flexibility on the use of funds as it is a rupee-based equity structure,” ED Arun Nanda said. Each FCD is convertible into one equity share of Rs 10 each in the company at a price of Rs 745 per share, including a premium of Rs 735 per share.

Audi, the luxury unit of Volkswagen, sees will offer automobiles with no exhaust emissions within ten years, its top executive as reported by a German weekly. A senior company offical was quoted as stating the company’s sees a great opportunities in electric cars and expected diesel and battery technology to dominate in the coming five to ten years. He added that by then the company would be in a position to offer cars without exhaust emissions.


In a joint venture with the Tata Motors, the Punjab Government will set up a modern automotive and driving skill institute in Mukatdar district. The State Institute of Automotive and Driving Skills (SIADS) will be set up in a JV between the Tata and the state Transport Department in Mahuana village at a cost of Rs 13 crore, a company spokesman said. The government would provide 14 acres to set up the SIADS, which would be run by a registered society with equal number of representatives from Tata and the government.

Soaring gas prices have turned the steady migration by Americans to smaller cars into a stampede. In what industry analysts are calling a first, about one in five vehicles sold in the United States was a compact or subcompact car during April, based on monthly sales data released some time back..

Almost a decade ago, when sport utility vehicles were at their peak of popularity, only one in every eight vehicles sold was a small car.The switch to smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles has been building in recent years, but has accelerated recently with the advent of $3.50-a-gallon gas. Simultaneously, sales of pickup trucks and large SUVs have dropped sharply.

Ford India, the wholly-owned subsidiary of Ford Motor, plans to make India its strategic manufacturing hub for engines in the Asia Pacific & Africa (APA) region. It will export both petrol and diesel engines to South Africa and other countries in the APA regions in the next two years.

The company will take its engine production capacity in Chennai to 2.5 lakh from 60,000 per annum. This is part of Ford’s strategy to invest Rs 2,000 crore to increase the production of engines and vehicles by 2010. Ford India designate president & MD Michael Boneham told ET Automania: “We plan to source engines from India for the adjoining markets. The locally-produced engines are meeting our domestic needs.

In the second phase of expansion, we shall export them to the various markets in Asia and Africa, which will be finalised in due course. To take advantages of India’s low-cost operations and make the engines globally price competitive, we have already tuned up our local supply channel at Chennai.

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