The government cleared 15 foreign direct investment proposals worth Rs 70.1 crore (Rs 701 million) including that of Honda Motor, Teva Pharmaceuticals, Fijitsu, Atlanta Electricals and Marubeni Corporation.
Honda Siel Cars India President and CEO Masahiro Takedagawa, in an interview with Business Standard, shares the company's India strategy, including the launch of hybrid technology (a first on Indian roads), small cars and outlook on diesel technology, an area where the company is losing ground to other auto majors. The company launched its 8th generation Accord today in Mumbai.
Honda, Toyota, Volkswagen stitch plans for country-specific mall car models. With India increasingly becoming the production and sales hub for all major car manufacturers, international giants like Honda, Toyota and Volkswagen are pulling out their drawing boards for an all-new India-specific car model.
Maruti Suzuki, riding on the success of models like Swift, Estillo and Dzire, posted a growth of 3.4 per cent over the same period in the previous fiscal.
Toyota and Honda of Japan, and the US auto major Ford are ramping up their sales and distribution networks as they gear up to launch small cars.
Dynamics of auto business will change if the government ends diesel subsidy to passenger vehicles.
Honda Siel's mid-size car City, Ford's Endeavour sports-utility-vehicle and Bajaj Auto's Wind motorcycle bagged the top honours at the 3rd CNBC Autocar awards in New Delhi.
Masahiro Takedagawa, president and CEO of HSCI, feels his company can record double-digit growth this year, owing to an improving economy and continuous government effort to boost spending.
Car-makers in India, who have been witnessing one of the slowest sales growth rates in over two years, said on Tuesday the Reserve Bank of India's decision to hike key rates will deal a further blow, as financing costs will rise.
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.
Maruti Udyog, India's biggest carmaker, has been ranked first in customer satisfaction by international market research firm JD Power.
After a worrying 7 per cent fall in sales in January, Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai Motors, Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra and Honda Siel have notched up an impressive 18.78 per cent growth in sales in February. Strong demand for the SX4 and DZire models helped Maruti Suzuki, the country's largest passenger car maker, record an impressive 19 per cent jump in sales in the domestic market, hitting a new record of 70,625 units in February.
Fiat India Automobiles Ltd, a 50:50 joint venture between Italy-based Fiat SpA and domestic auto major Tata Motors, plans to position the car in the premium hatchback segment along with Maruti Suzuki's Ritz, Hyundai's i20, Skoda's Fabia and to be launched Honda Siel's Jazz, the company said.
Besieged by rising steel prices, the domestic passenger car manufacturers are gearing up to raise prices again. Barely a month ago, Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai Motors India, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Motors and Honda Siel had effected price increases of Rs 6,000 to Rs 30,000 across models.
With prices of oil forecast to touch $200 per barrel this year, auto makers in the country have launched a slew of options that are not just fuel efficient but also easy to maintain. Battling the rising fuel bill is premium car maker Honda Siel, who will launch the country's first hybrid car - the Civic hybrid shortly.
Amongst cars sold in the mid-size category (domestic sales) between April 2007 and March 2008, diesel variants outsold petrol car models roughly in the ratio of 7:3. That means over 70 per cent of the over 1,79,493 mid-size cars sold in the domestic markets were diesel models. Diesel mid-size cars on an average are priced 15.5 per cent more than the petrol variant. Overall, the mid-size category, petrol and diesel models included, grew by 14.6 per cent.
Carmaker Skoda India has decided to price Fabia, the hatchback it plans to launch at the Auto Expo in January, in the range of Rs 5-6 lakh.
Honda Siel Car will launch a new variant of the hugely successful sedan
The discount offer comes on the back of Japanese giant Honda Siel Cars offering a substantial discount of Rs 800,000 on the Civic Hybrid. HSCI sold 235 Civic Hybrids, which carried a priced tag of Rs 14 lakhs (Rs 1.4 million) after the discount, in 10 days. The offer by Ford will run on the full range of variants of the car for a limited period of 10 days starting Wednesday.
At these high levels, remaining invested in the market is the best bet for small investors, says Ramesh Shrichand Damani.
Models pose for the Honda Jazz launched in Mumbai on June 11.
Honda manufactures cars at a facility in Greater Noida in Uttar Pradesh.
The Competition Commission of India (CCI) on Monday slapped a penalty of Rs 2,545 crore on 14 top carmakers of the country for violating trade norms in the spare-part andafter-sale service market.
Turns down firm's plea for stay on CCI order; final order pending
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