Besides their country of origin, General Motors, Ford Motor and Harley-Davidson have another trait in common: all three have failed in India, the world's fifth largest automobile market. All three of them took a tough call to de-prioritise India as a market amid disruption from heightened regulations and sharper focus on capital allocation by the parent.
Toyota Motor Corp regained the crown as the world's top selling automaker in 2012, posting record-high sales and beating rivals General Motors and Volkswagen.
Bangalore-based Toyota Kirloskar Motor Pvt Ltd, a joint venture between Kirloskar Group and Toyota Motor Corporation, has decided to introduce the newly-developed sedan on the Etios platform, ahead of its much-awaited small car.
The new year has brought good news for almost all car manufacturers, with market leader Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai Motors, Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, General Motors and even Fiat, posting their highest monthly sales since their inception.
It has been seven months since the iconic motorcycle manufacturers, Harley-Davidson and Triumph, embarked on their journey in India with the backing of partners Hero MotoCorp and Bajaj Auto. According to data shared by the Indian majors, both brands are already creating ripples in the above 350cc category. The increase in sales has prompted a ramp-up in production and even the doubling of retail touchpoints for one of them.
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 An analyst says, "Almost all car makers have either completely withdrawn or drastically reduced their promotional offers."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.
Dynamics of auto business will change if the government ends diesel subsidy to passenger vehicles.
Anjuli Bhargava finds out that an astonishing number of relatives of DGCA officials over the years are and have been employed in the airline industry.
Some of facelifts in India will include cars from highly prominent car makers.
The stock of Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) has been touching successive all-time highs on the bourses and, over the past year, gained 81 per cent. While the S&P BSE Auto Index has not performed poorly, registering gains of 73 per cent, it still trails the company by 800 basis points (bps) during this period. There are multiple reasons why investors are beating a path to M&M's counter.
Makers of cars and bikes posted missed results for August amid high inflation rate hike worries.
The Budget should use the extra RBI surplus to better effect, suggests A K Bhattacharya.
With the domestic auto market going on a downhill slide, Tata Motors and Maruti Suzuki have cut production as the automobile industry braces up for a single digit sales growth this fiscal.
General Motors is looking at introducing an entry-level car to be positioned below the Chevrolet Spark, to drive up volumes in the Indian market.
Expanding investigation into allegedly wrongful claims of input tax credit by insurance companies, the tax authorities are probing a section of automobile dealers who have supposedly generated fake invoices without providing any service, which is a punishable offence under goods and services tax (GST) law. The authorities are learnt to have questioned the car dealers to explain the services they provided general insurance companies. The investigators suspect car dealers pitched for insurance schemes that give them commissions in excess of those insurance regulations permit.
In spite of straddling the market with multiple competitively priced models, GM was pushed to the fringes by the rivals from Japan and Korea.
US car maker General Motors on Monday launched its luxury sedan Chevrolet Cruze in India at an introductory price ranging from Rs 10.99 lakh (Rs 1.09 million) to Rs 12.45 lakh or Rs 1.24 million (ex-showroom, Delhi).
The launch of Manchester United limited editions of Chevrolet Beat and SAIL hatchbacks comes at a time when the Chevrolet brand is making debut on the club's jersey.
Fuel price hike will impact demand going forward.
India, one of the world's fastest growing auto markets, will see the launch of over ten vehicles, including small cars during the 10th Auto Expo.
'What's sad today is that there are so many people who cannot find work, not because the country is devoid of that opportunity, but because we are not doing enough in the country.'
The vehicles affected by the recall are manufactured between September 2011 and July 2014.
As part of the new Central Motor Vehicle Rules, the government is framing a mandatory recall policy entailing penalties.
Hyundai Motor India and General Motors have announced cuts in prices of their small cars, following the finance minister's announcement of excise duty reduction on small cars
The rise of China and India as car consuming countries and fall of major US automakers last year are candid reflections of the restructuring of the global auto industry, a Congressional report has said.
The list comprises three completely new car models and two upgraded versions of its existing cars.
The worker said there was a natural source of water in the tunnel but they had no clothes to change.
Most top car makers are offering discounts, targeted specifically at government employees. About 5 million employees are expected to benefit from the government's move to raise its employees' salary by 70 per cent. The revised pay scales will be effective January 2006, which means they will get their pending salaries in bulk. Auto makers are hoping they will use the lumpsum payment to make a down payment for a car.
The sources said the talks are focused on sorting out certain issues relating to cost component, weapons package and technology sharing.
They are known to have introduced northern India to luxury cars. But now the British Motor Car Company (BMC) is playing an active role in the country's fitness movement.
Discounts range between Rs 20,000 and Rs 80,000.
Spiralling car loan rates continue to dent the passenger car market, as Tata Motors, Hyundai and Honda Motors reported slower sales in July over that in the corresponding month last year.
'If you want it to grow well and serve the true needs of the economy, it needs a lot of freedom and flexibility, which comes in terms of the reform objective set by the regulator.'
Segment has been rather sluggish due to high fuel and input costs coupled with high interest rates and negative market sentiments.
Maruti Suzuki is offering cash discounts ranging from Rs 5,000 on its hatchback Celerio to Rs 35,000 on entry level Alto800.
Toyota, General Motors, Volkswagen, Ford, Honda, Renault, Hyundai, Suzuki and Nissan are among those who boast of production of a million unit or more every year.
Soon after Carl-Peter Foster, former head of General Motors Europe, joined the 65-year-old Tata Motors, he asked for 100 days to come to grips with his job.
The major highlight of this New BS IV model will be the 2.0L 4-cylinder TCDI diesel engine.
