American tech billionaire Elon Musk on Saturday said his proposed visit to India has been postponed due to "very heavy Tesla obligations". The electric carmaker Tesla CEO -- who was expected to be in India on April 21 and 22 and scheduled to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi -- wrote on X that he is looking forward to coming to India later this year.
Joint crack team of Maruti, Tata Motors, M&M to develop hybrid cars in India
When it comes to electric cars, the electric dream is turning out to be a six-letter word starting with f, ending with y, and having antas in between, notes Suveen Sinha.
It's not only the Indian markets that command a valuation premium over their global peers; shares of subsidiaries of India-listed multinational companies (MNCs) also trade at rich valuations compared to their parent companies. An analysis of 12-month forward price-to-earnings (P/E) and price-to-book (P/B) multiples of domestically listed MNCs shows that most quotes have a premium ranging from 2.1x to 6x that of their parent. Similarly, P/B, in most cases, is significantly higher in the domestic market.
For automakers, the festive season is about raking it in through ramped up sales and attractive consumer offers. However, despite the robust demand, what may spoil the party this year is a global shortage of semiconductors.
The German carmaker is expanding its lineup of electric cars as it transitions away from the combustion engine.
Mercedes-Benz India is aiming to post double-digit growth in sales volume during 2024 as it plans to launch over 12 car models during the year, says its managing director and CEO Santosh Iyer. The German carmaker, which leads the luxury car market in the country, recorded 10 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) growth to 17,408 units in 2023. "For 2023, we always said that the growth would be in double digits.
What will it take for Tesla to plug and play in India? Sector pundits say it's a mix of strategy, getting the price right, timing, the right talent, and above all, patience.
Hybrids have helped Maruti acquire leadership in SUVs, a segment that was never its forte. Toyota has also risen with the hybrid tide to clock its highest-ever annual sales in 2023.
India will not tailor its policies to suit US EV maker Tesla, and its laws and tariff rules will be formulated to attract all-electric vehicle manufacturers from across the world to set up a base in the world's fastest-growing economy, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said. Tesla has been seeking an initial tariff concession that would allow it to offset 70 per cent customs duty for cars priced less than $40,000, and 100 per cent for cars of higher value.
Maruti, Honda and Tata Motors posted highest sales growth during the month
Automakers Maruti Suzuki, Mahindra & Mahindra and Audi India on Monday announced plans to hike prices of their passenger vehicles in January 2024 citing reasons, including cost pressure driven by overall inflation and increased commodity rates. Besides, Tata Motors and Mercedes-Benz India are mulling increasing the prices of their models from January. The country's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India, which sells a range of vehicles from entry-level small car Alto to multi-utility vehicle Invicto, priced between Rs 3.54 lakh and Rs 28.42 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi), on Monday said the price hike would vary from model to model.
India is sceptical that Tesla might import into the country cars made in China. Tesla executives were in India last month and appear to have proposed a factory in the country. But do not be surprised if that does not happen in a hurry.
India will never provide company or enterprise-specific incentives in the electric vehicle sector, a top government official said on Friday, amid a push from American electric carmaker Tesla for special sops to set up its factory in the country. If the government has to consider providing incentives then it will only be for all EV makers and entrants who want to come to India, the official said. The official added that inter-ministerial discussions have happened on the customs duty concession demand of the US-based electric car maker Tesla, but "we never" came to any conclusion on those.
Sales of Mercedes-Benz in the country have jumped by 36.67 per cent to 16,497 units in 2022-23 amid high demand for its top-end vehicles, according to its India MD & CEO Santosh Iyer. "This is the highest-ever sales recorded by the company in any financial year," he stated. In the luxury car segment of India, Mercedes-Benz is the market leader with about a 42 per cent share.
Of the 15 car manufacturing companies in India, eight have a market share of below 2 per cent, raising questions about their long-term future in a competitive market that has already seen Ford Motors and General Motors slam the door on India.
Even as India's passenger-vehicle sales touched a record high of 3.9 million units in 2022-23, growing 27 per cent over the previous financial year, the country's largest carmaker, Maruti Suzuki India (MSIL), said on Monday uncertainties in the electronic-component supplies might affect production in FY24. MSIL said the shortage of electronic components had some impact on production in FY23. "The company took all possible measures to minimise the impact.
The board of Maruti Suzuki India (MSIL) on Tuesday approved a proposal to issue shares worth Rs 12,841 crore to parent company Suzuki Motor Corporation (SMC) for acquiring Suzuki Motor Gujarat (SMG). The Gujarat manufacturing plant - with an annual capacity of 750,000 units - is owned by SMG, a wholly-owned subsidiary of SMC. The shares issued to SMC will raise its ownership in MSIL from 56.48 per cent to 58.19 per cent--India's largest carmaker stated in a notice to BSE.
Maruti recorded a 13.12% year-on-year surge in average revenue earned per car in 2023 compared to M&M's 7.56%, Hyundai's 6.76% and Tata Motors' 1.88%.
Driven by a rise in sales during the current year, German luxury carmaker Mercedes-Benz said on Thursday that the company is expecting a growth in sales of around 8-10 per cent in the next few years. This comes at a time when the company is ready to surpass the previous highest sales of 15,538 vehicles (2018) in 2022. During the first half, the company sold 7,600 units. It already has an order bank of around 7,000 vehicles. In 2021, the company sold 11,242 vehicles.
Domestic passenger vehicle (PV) sales saw a significant growth in October due to increased availability of semiconductor chips and rising consumer confidence. The sales figures during the month - which coincided with the first post-Covid festival season - released by the top ten carmakers saw a jump of 30.7 per cent to 322,885 units in October. Auto companies count wholesales - units dispatched to dealers - as sales.
Maruti Suzuki India on Monday said it has hiked prices of its vehicles across models by about 1.1 per cent. This is the second price hike that the carmaker is undertaking in the ongoing fiscal year, after increasing it in April 2022. In December last year, the company had said it would hike prices of its vehicles to offset the impact of rising input costs and make provisions to update the model range to conform to stricter emission norms which will kick in from April 2023.
The latest Hyundai i20 is an exciting car, given the overall drive experience, transmission, ride quality and tech. And while it may not be as low cost as a Maruti or come with the "heavy German steel-feel" of the Volkswagen, it does carve out a niche for itself at pole position with a combination of technology, styling, drive and ride comfort, and low cost of ownership, says Pavan Lall.
Buying a car, particularly a diesel-powered one, is set to pinch the customers' pockets even more from the next financial year, as the second phase of Bharat Stage VI (BSVI) emission norms kicks in. The rules require cars to be compliant with real driving emission (RDE) norms, which measure pollutants emitted by cars while they are being driven on the road, unlike in a laboratory test. The norms may increase the cost of producing diesel vehicles by nearly Rs 75,000 to Rs 80,000, and petrol-powered ones by Rs 25,000 to Rs 30,000, analysts said.
Luxury carmaker Mercedes-Benz has submitted its interim report on the fatal accident of industrialist Cyrus Mistry to the Palghar police, which mentions that the brakes of the vehicle were pressed five seconds before it crashed into the road divider, a senior official said on Friday.
French carmaker Citroen will launch its C3 Aircross Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) in India by October, and is betting big on exports from India to markets like South Africa, ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) and Nepal, a top company executive told Business Standard. Citroen, which sold 6,000 units through Citron C3 and C5 Aircross SUV, is likely to double its sales during the current year, as it has already sold 6,000 units of Citron C3 and eC3 electric vehicles during the first six months. "We are going to start bookings for the C3 Aircross SUV in September and launch it in October. Price will be at the heart of the midsize SUV market," said Saurabh Vatsa, Citroen India branch head.
The company, which currently sells a range of vehicles from Alto to S-Cross, said it has taken the decision to hike prices due to an increase in input costs. The weighted average price rise, with effect from April 18, in ex-showroom prices (New Delhi) across models is 1.3 per cent, it added.
Maruti Suzuki India on Wednesday reported a 42 per cent rise in consolidated net profit to Rs 2,671 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 2023, driven by higher sales, improved realisation and favourable forex movement. The country's largest carmaker logged a net profit of Rs 1,876 crore in the January-March of 2021-22. Net sales during the fourth quarter rose to Rs 32,060 crore compared to Rs 26,749 crore in the year-ago period, Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) said in a regulatory filing.
Maruti Suzuki India's net profit surged 80.3 per cent to Rs 3,716.5 crore in the September quarter, driven by better sales, softening commodity prices, cost reduction efforts and higher non-operating income. The company had delivered a net profit of Rs 2,061.5 crore in the year-ago period, Maruti Suzuki India said in a statement on Friday. Maruti said it is expecting the affordability of small cars in the domestic market to come back in the next 2-3 years in the face of rising income levels of people and a growing economy, among others.
Maruti Suzuki India is eyeing a leadership position in the SUV segment as it continues to add new products across various sub segments, a top company official said on Wednesday. The country's largest carmaker has bolstered its presence in the high volume entry and mid level SUV segments with new Brezza and all new model -- Grand Vitara. "In every segment except SUV, we are the market leader by a distance. "It is only in the SUV that we are behind, so we need to catch up. Clearly, we have to become number one in the SUV space also," Maruti Suzuki India MD and CEO Hisashi Takeuchi said in an interaction on the sidelines of the global unveiling of Grand Vitara.
Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra and Kia India on the other hand witnessed an increase in their market share based on the retail sales last fiscal. As per the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA), the retail sales of country's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India rose to 14,79,221 units in 2022-23 fiscal, attaining a market share of 40.86 per cent. It had retailed 12,39,688 units in 2021-22 and grabbed a market share of 42.13 per cent.
India's flagship motor show Auto Expo 2023 kicked off on Wednesday with the global unveiling of Suzuki Motor Corporation's concept electric SUV 'eVX' which is slated to hit the market by 2025. The company's Indian arm Maruti Suzuki India is among the major manufacturers participating in the show that has returned after three years. The Concept eVX is a mid-size electric SUV concept designed and developed by Suzuki Motor Corporation (SMC), Japan. It will be powered by a 60 kWh battery pack offering up to 550 km of driving range on single charge.
Volkswagen's premium brands Audi and Porsche will join Formula One after convincing the German automaking group that the move will bring in more money than it will cost, VW Chief Executive Herbert Diess said on Monday.
Right now, the 'Lower D' or LD segment -- which the industry defines as a sedan that costs between Rs 1.5 million and Rs 2 million, is longer than 4.5 metres, and powered by an engine of 1.8 litre or larger -- has barely three cars, all of which have been around for over a decade in India. Nevertheless, at least one foreign auto player is looking to bet big on the segment.
Car recalls have now become the flavour of the season, a byproduct of the booming auto business.
Major carmakers, including Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai, Tata Motors on Friday reported growth in their passenger vehicle sales in June as semiconductor shortage woes showed gradual signs of easing out. Other manufacturers, Kia India, MG Motor India and Skoda Auto India also reported robust sales growth last month. Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) reported 5.7 per cent increase in total wholesales at 1,55,857 units in June as compared to 1,47,368 units to dealers in June 2021.
Automakers finish 2008 on a bleak note. Expect 2009 to be worse.
The trend is expected to gain momentum as global vehicle makers in India, particularly from Japan, ride on hybrids to meet the more stringent fuel efficiency norms that take effect in 2022.
Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai and Tata Motors reported their highest-ever dispatches to dealers last fiscal, enabling the domestic passenger vehicle industry to log in best-ever performance to date. The country's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India reported its highest wholesales to date at 19,66,164 units, up 19 per cent from 16,52,653 units in 2021-22. Its domestic dispatches rose to 17,06,831 units in 2022-23, up 21 per cent from 14,14,277 units in 2021-22 fiscal.Hyundai Motor India said its overall wholesales last fiscal were the highest ever since commencing operations in the country.
'Since we have a long waiting period, customers will be able to see cars for the next one year which are going to be produced and block (book) them.' 'So, if there is a wedding or a birthday in October, they can already check its availability in that month and block it.'
