Even as India goes green, lack of uniform standards for setting up charging stations is holding back companies. Alnoor Peermohamed reports.
One of the challenges for those car graves is that Indian owners often find markets for their old cars rather than send them to scrapyards.
Signals received from the government in the past one year reflect a state of utter confusion, says Abhishek Tripathi.
Ahead of the peak festive season, India's passenger vehicle makers are staring at a cumulative order backlog of nearly 500,000 units as chip shortage continues to cripple production. The crisis is forcing companies to change their production plans frequently and take a call on the variants they can manufacture based on the availability of semiconductors. The booking numbers are not a true reflection of demand, said manufacturers.
Ford, which had announced to quit the Indian market last year, said it was exploring the possibility of using one of its plants in India to produce electric cars for exports.
The government is considering the option of inviting fresh applications to bid for the fourth slot which fell vacant after one of the initial candidates who qualified, Hyundai Global Motors, exited from the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for advanced chemistry cell battery storage with a capacity of 20 GwH. Earlier, stakeholders had expected that the vacant slot would be offered to waitlisted players ranked on their technical and financial offer. A final decision will be taken soon.
Market linking of petrol and diesel prices has helped the industry.
Close to half a dozen more three-row premium mid-size models are expected to hit the road over the next two years.
Auto companies are now grappling with a slowdown in sales, triggered by pent up demand due to the COVID-led lockdown easing a bit and supply-side issues for raw material.
Passenger vehicle sales continue to drop in June; Maruti, Hyundai, Tata Motors, Toyota witness decline. Mahindra & Mahindra, however, reported a 4 per cent growth.
New participants included Chinese players such as Great Wall Motors and Haima Automobile along with Olectra.
An EV has to be purchased along with the battery as there are hardly any battery swapping, rental, or leasing business models available across India.
Recently, TPEM's first born electric concept, Avinya broke cover. The model promises a minimum range of 500 kilometres and advanced technology features, aimed at buyers in India and outside. TPEM, the newly formed entity may also consider a separate dedicated sales channel for the EVs with a distinctive corporate identity once the volumes reach a critical mass and throughput is large enough for the dealers to be profitable, said Chandra. Elaborating further on the hiring strategy he said, "We will hire from everywhere-wherever the talent of the required competency is available."
Both are finding it difficult to sell one each of their plants -- Chennai Maraimalai Nagar (Ford) and Talegaon near Pune (GM) -- and are finding the road blocked by employee severance snarl-ups, report Sohini Das and Shine Jacob.
The 2-door vehicle may finds its way back in India with the launch of the all-new Thar by Mahindra and Mahindra, says Rajesh Karkera.
Dealers say there's been a 20-25 per cent drop in demand.
'Some of the launches may get deferred due to the semiconductor shortage, which is unlikely to get resolved before the second half of 2022.'
While the share of diesel vehicles sales in the overall passenger car industry has already fallen sharply, sales of CNG vehicles have shown a compound annual growth rate of 15.5 per cent over the past five years.
The Battista hyper GT delivers a unique dynamic experience that can be tailored to suit every journey and the pure-electric model will accelerate from 0-100 km/h in less than two seconds - faster than a current Formula 1 car.
Reflecting the mood, passenger vehicle sales in November either remained muted or skidded for most manufacturers as high fuel prices and the higher cost of borrowing dampened buying sentiment.
Clock 11% growth in the first 11 months of 2022.
MotoGP is ready for a foray into India convinced it has a better future than Formula One in the world's second largest motorcycle market.
Earlier in May, Ford India announced that it had dropped its plans to make electric vehicles (EVs) in India, which it intended to export, under the production-linked incentive scheme (PLI). Ford was among 20 companies that had signed a Champion OEM Incentive Scheme under the PLI project with the government in February this year. The decision comes as a blow for the 4,000-odd employees at Ford India's Maraimalai Nagar plant near Chennai and in Sanand, Gujarat. In September last year, the company had announced that it would exit the India market, which it had entered in 1995 through an on-again, off-again joint venture with Mahindra & Mahindra (they split in 1998, signed a JV in 2019 and split again in December 2020), retailing petrol and diesel brands such as the EcoSport, Figo, Aspire, and Endeavour.
India has a history of jugaad, and retrofitting vehicles is one such manifestation of the legendary Indian skill. Not so long ago autorickshaws and small Marutis used to strap on subsidised LPG cylinders and power themselves to a cheap ride. There were the odd explosions, lives were lost, but the jugaad continued. Then compressed natural gas (CNG) was introduced in Delhi following a court order. Initially, customised CNG kits were fitted to conventional (internal combustion engine or ICE) autos cheaply, enabling commuting at less than half of what you would cough up for diesel. The industry is better organised now with Suzuki and Hyundai designing CNG-fired vehicles, and Mahindra and TVS manufacturing liquefied petroleum gas (LPG)-powered three wheelers.
You will come across many a hurdle while purchasing a used car. That, however, cannot keep you away from realising your dream.
The overall volume at India's top four M&HCV makers - Tata Motors, Ashok Leyland, Volvo Eicher, and Mahindra & Mahindra - fell 59.5 per cent to 31,067 units during the month.
Bhavish Aggarwal, the founder of ride-hailing firm Ola who disrupted the electric scooters market in the country, is planning to launch an electric sports car in 2024. The plan will put it in competition with Indian players, such as the Tata group and Mahindra & Mahindra, and global giants like Tesla and Hyundai. Aggarwal, recently, took a group of reporters to the firm's design studio at the Ola campus in Bengaluru where his teams are working on several EVs, including scooters, motorcycles, sedans, and SUVs - and even robotaxis.
Market leader Maruti Suzuki sold 51,274 units, down 49.61 per cent from the same month last year. Hyundai Motor sold 21,320 units, a decline of 49.25 per cent and Mahindra & Mahindra sold 8,075 units, down 54.54 per cent.
Combined sales at top four manufacturers - Tata Motors, Ashok Leyland, Volvo Eicher Commercial Vehicles, and Mahindra and Mahindra - dropped 20 per cent to 20,324 units in November
Passenger vehicle market leaders Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai on Saturday reported a decline in wholesales in December 2021, although homegrown majors Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra reported growth, amid semiconductor shortage continuing to impact production. Other manufacturers Nissan and Skoda also reported an increase in December 2021 sales although Honda Cars India witnessed a decline last month. The country's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) reported a 4 per cent fall in wholesales to 153,149 units in December 2021 as against 160,226 units a year ago.
The Tata group flagship has sold more sport utility vehicles (SUVs) in the domestic PV market in the past four months than any other automotive manufacturer, cementing its no.1 spot. It first grabbed pole position in the SUV segment in October 2021 after the launch of the Punch - a sub-compact SUV offering.
The Carens is a warning for cars such as the Tata Safari, Hyundai Alcazar, Maruti Ertiga, Toyota Innova Crista and Mahindra XUV 700, because Kia punches much harder than others in its weight category.
M&M is keen to increase the number of factories in the Africa region and plans are afoot to have one each in Sudan and Kenya.
New age diagnostic tools come in handy for BharatBenz to predict repair needs and breakdown in advance.
The demand for diesel cars, which account for 58 per cent of passenger vehicle sales in India every month, has seen a steep rise, as manufacturers continue to introduce variants that have diesel engines.
Besides, Toyota and MG Motor also reported nil sales as they suspended operations even before the imposition of lockdown on March 25 to check the spread of coronavirus. In two-wheeler segment, niche bike maker Royal Enfield said it had zero sales in the domestic market but exported a total of 91 units last month.
Over 22 passenger and commercial vehicle makers and 18 two- and three-wheeler makers will take part amid proximate security.
Urban and rural FMCG sales growth data for the last five quarters show the latter outperformed the former consistently.
The first leg of the 35-day festive period, which ended with Dussehra, failed to bring any cheer for auto companies. While makers of passenger vehicles struggled to meet demand due to the persistent shortage of semiconductors, a recovery in demand remained elusive for two-wheeler manufacturers despite offers and schemes. The overall season, which ends two days after Diwali, is unlikely to bring any turnaround in either the supply or the demand scenario, said dealers and officials at auto companies.
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