After launching the Nano early this week, the country's leading truck and bus maker, Tata Motors, is now looking to set up a truck manufacturing plant in Myanmar with support from the Indian government in the form of financial participation.
The Mumbai-based company will take on Hero Honda, Bajaj Auto and HMSI and will have models in the 100cc, 125cc and 150cc mobike segments, and also in the ungeared low and high-powered scooter segments. Hero Honda has a 60 per cent share of the motorcycle segment, while HMSI commands a 58 per cent of the scooter market. Anand Mahindra said: "Our two-wheeler project is complete; we have already begun marketing the fleet in Bangalore."
"The scene will be a bit like the Maruti 800 days. Those who are lucky enough to be allotted cars this year can resell it immediately at a premium of Rs 30,000 due to the anticipated shortage," an executive at a Motors dealer said. Supply, Tata Motors dealers say, would be between 40,000 and 50,000 cars, with 100,000 being the most optimistic estimate. This would mean customers may have to wait for up to two years to get delivery if all the bookings are accepted.
Prices of second-hand cars, mainly compact ones, have fallen 15-20% in the last few days. Dealers in the unorganised market fear a further price dip of 10 per cent when delivery starts and the Nano is seen prominently on roads. The Nano, expected to sport an on-road price of Rs 1.25-1.3 lakh for the no-frills, base version, will compete with the compact cars of Hyundai Motors, Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors and General Motors.
Tata Motors subsidiary Telco Construction Equipment Company Ltd (Telcon) has opposed a proposal to the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) from John Deere for a joint venture with Ashok Leyland to distribute and market its construction equipment in India.
SBI may charge 14 to 14.75% for 5-year loans.
Part of government strategy to push demand.
Automobile component manufacturers are rejoicing over a sudden 30-40 per cent spurt in demand in February. Analysts are, however, not entirely sure of the reason for this high growth; many are doubtful if it can be sustained, given the other gloomy signals. An analyst says, "Almost all car makers have either completely withdrawn or drastically reduced their promotional offers." Also, payment issues as far as vendors are concerned remains a problem.
After the rechristening of Telco to Tata Motors in 2003, one of the auto-maker's earliest decision was to settle its high-cost debts of around Rs 500 crore with the proceeds from foreign currency convertible bonds, or FCCBs. The company had raised $100 million and repaid the debt.
Reliance Retail has added 485 stores in the last one year, taking the total count to 950 and the footprint is now spread across 77 cities (58 in the last one year) across India. While his critics say Ambani may have lost the plot as the progress of his retail plans are nowhere near what he had sought to achieve, others feel the Reliance chief is just being pragmatic given the not-so-conducive environment for expansion in retail.
At a time when the economic slowdown is eating into corporate earnings, the country's economy hotels, including Krizm Hotels and Berggruen Hotels, are going ahead with their expansion plans.
Sales of Maruti Suzuki India during January-December 2008 stood at 697,850 units while those of Suzuki Motor Corporation for the same period stood at 679,215 units. The comparable growth for MSIL in India comes on the back of an almost 2 per cent decline for the company in a year-on-year basis during the calendar year. Its sales were higher in calender year 2007 at 710,532 units, according to the data provided by the company.
A company executive said that the Anil Ambani group is still keen on foraying into television broadcasting business. The top-line of broadcasters was shrinking in the December-ended quarter on the back of economic slowdown and the consequent slowdown in advertising revenues, said the latest Ficci & KPMG report.
Chevron CEO David O'Reilly told analysts the company has pulled out of some unprofitable refining markets, and will continue to do so. However, he had said that Chevron is continuing talks with its refining joint venture partner RIL that would determine whether it keeps a foothold in Indian refining. Chevron has not yet signed a crude supply and product off-take agreement with RIL to take forward its plans to increase its stake in RPL beyond the existing 5 per cent.
Tata Motors, which owns Jaguar and Land Rover, is in talks with the UK government on assistance for the luxury units as sales have plummeted.
Ford India, the Chennai-based automobile company of the US giant, said today that it has raised prices of all its models, except the Ikon, by as much as Rs 25,000 due to a strong surge in import costs recently.
The launches will be be both in the passenger vehicle segment as well as the commercial vehicle segment of truck and low tonnage vehicles. M&M, like its competitors in the overseas market, has decided to make increased use of a single platform for several models. A vehicle platform is the basic structure on which a vehicle is built, which defines its general size, strength and body construction.
With the addition of new capacities, the company aims to double its turnover to Rs 1,000 crore (Rs 10 billion) by end of FY10 from Rs 514 crore posted during the last financial year ended March 31, 2008. New hotel properties will come up in Chennai, New Delhi and Udaipur. This will increase its room inventory to almost 2,000 rooms from 1,125 rooms.
India's largest sport utility vehicle maker Mahindra & Mahindra's plan of launching its vehicles in the US has suffered a delay of almost 12 months following clearance awaited from the US homologation department.
The Air Car, made by French company MDI, could be launched by Tata Motors in India by 2010-11.
© 2025 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances