Rise in prices of essential inputs increases cost of producing cars, making them less affordable.
Leading carmakers are considering raising prices of their vehicles across the board, if the government withdraws the excise duty benefit in the coming Budget.
Chinese auto component manufacturers are quietly making inroads into India.
Toyota Motor Corporation unveiled the much-awaited small car that it developed for the Indian market at the Delhi Auto Expo.
Contrary to expectations that car sales dip in December, auto majors Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai Motor India are poised to grow 30 per cent in sales (the two companies control 72 per cent of the domestic market). General Motors is looking at 70-80 per cent increase in sales.
Bajaj Auto, the country's second-largest manufacturer of motorcycles, has phased out two more models. This makes four bike models phased out in four months, due to weak demand.
The Delhi-based group has already announced Rs 2,300-crore (Rs 23-billion) investment in setting up a number of luxury and mid-market hotels across business and leisure destinations in India and abroad.
The opportunity is huge. With Rs 8,000 crore worth of defence contracts signed in the last two years under the offset policy mandated by the government, Indian component suppliers are gearing up to cash in on balance contracts worth Rs 1,30,000 crore, which would be up for grabs in the next few years.
The last Auto Expo in January 2008 in New Delhi drew 1.8 million visitors. The 2010 edition scheduled at Pragati Maidan here, from January 5-11, is expected to draw close to 2 million visitors, which would make it the largest auto show in the world.
Tata Motors' luxury automotive brand, Jaguar, bagged a three-year order to supply 13,000 units of its range to a Chinese company earlier this year. Its Land Rover, jointly with Jaguar, is charting new territories for expansion.
India is now the new battleground for two of UK's ultra luxury car makers.
Indian automobile majors Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) have shown interest in taking over the Termini Imerese plant owned by Italy's largest car maker Fiat. Fiat has already decided to relocate the Termini Imerese plant, preferably to cost-effective areas of Poland or Germany, in 2011.
The exercise part of drive to combine operations under single firm.
The Honda Civic's automatic version comes equipped with cruise control which, when activated, drives the car by itself. The company's spokesperson says this facility is ideal on highways and for speeds above 40 km per hour.
If a committee set up under the heavy industries ministry approves a recommendation of the auto industry, the country may soon get a scheme, which would incentivise a vehicle buyer for scrapping his old vehicle in exchange.
Most manufacturers, including Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, Ashok Leyland, Bajaj Auto, TVS Motors and Hero Honda are already working on advanced indigenous technologies to build greener vehicles.
The exit of the big movers has meant more opportunities for local players such as Nambiar Finance, which is just one of the 1,465 non-deposit-taking NBFCs registered with the Mumbai office of the Reserve Bank of India.
Pulsar's new variant, to be unveiled next week, will retain the looks of a big bike, but the engine will be 135 cc. Bajaj Auto is launching yet another variant of Pulsar, its highest selling bike, next Wednesday.
The country's largest manufacturer of buses, Tata Motors, will roll out hybrid buses for the domestic market in the next few years, said Ravi Pisharody, its president (commercial vehicles).
A year later, armed with chipping hammers and electric drills, labourers are still working round-the-clock so that what was once the city's most elegant destination for a drink reopens this Monday.
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