India's three-wheeler exports, which have been on a downhill trajectory over the past few years, are showing no signs of recovery in FY25, with key markets like Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nigeria, and Egypt witnessing subdued demand. In May, the country's exports plummeted 11.3 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y).
Automobile (auto) retail sales in India grew by an impressive 14 per cent in July compared to the same period last year, driven by a surge in the rural economy, good product availability, and product launches. While passenger vehicles (PVs) saw a 10 per cent increase during this period, inventory levels have surged to a historic high of 67-72 days in PVs, equating to Rs 73,000 crore worth of stock, according to the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (Fada). This poses a risk to dealer sustainability. Inventory levels in July 2023 were only 50-55 days, equating to a stock worth Rs 49,833 crore. In June 2024, inventory was between 62 and 67 days, with a stock value of Rs 60,000 crore.
Vader is the first electric bike in India to offer 7-inch Android display.
Hyundai Motor India Ltd has become the country's fifth most valuable auto firm by market valuation in its debut trade on Tuesday. Shares of Hyundai Motor India Ltd, the Indian arm of South Korean automaker Hyundai, listed at Rs 1,931, reflecting a decline of 1.47 per cent against the issue price of Rs 1,960 on the BSE earlier in the day. The stock slumped 7.80 per cent to Rs 1,807.05 during the day and finally ended at Rs 1,820.40 apiece, down 7.12 per cent.
The much awaited Mahindra e20 launched on Tuesday.
Senior Tesla executives including those from its supply chain are planning to come to India on Wednesday and Thursday for meetings with government officials, including those in the Prime Minister's Office, according to sources. Prashant R Menon, director of Tesla India, did not respond to a specific query on the meetings. Sources say that the executives are coming to see how they can expand and develop local sourcing of components from India for the Tesla car.
Ola Electric will roll out its complete offering of electric scooters and motorcycles in each segment of the market - premium, mass premium, and economical - in the next 12 months in a bid to push for a near-full conversion of the two-wheeler market to electric in three years. According to Bhavish Aggarwal, founder and CEO of Ola Electric, "ICE (internal combustion engine) products will fall off a cliff." He also says the company is aiming to become profitable next year.
Adani group opened a $1.2 billion copper plant, bought a port in Odisha, raised stakes in a cement company and stitched an alliance with rival Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries, all in a matter of one week in signs that the apples-to-airport conglomerate has shrugged off the Hindenburg effect and is back to rapid expansion spree. In the last one week, Adani group has through regulatory filings and press statements announced expansions and investments in its mainstay ports business, diversification into metal refining, fund infusion into a two-year-old cement foray and continuing progress in the commissioning of its mega solar project.
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.
Domestic automobile retail sales rose 10 per cent in June driven by sales growth across various segments, including passenger vehicles and two-wheelers, automobile dealers body FADA said on Thursday. Total retail sales last month rose to 18,63,868 units from 17,01,105 units in the year-ago period. Passenger vehicle retail sales increased 5 per cent to 2,95,299 units as against 2,81,811 units in June 2022.
EV players suggest a reduction in the goods and services tax on batteries from 18 to 5 per cent as it would help push demand.
'The aim is also to probe how the ministry and testing agencies made negligence in examining these OEMs, so that such negligence is avoided in the future.'
Ola's factory will create 10,000 jobs and serve as the company's global manufacturing hub for India and international markets.
Maruti will launch its first electric vehicle (EV) in the next financial year (FY24), and will roll out six EVs in the country by FY30, the automaker's parent firm Suzuki said on Thursday.
US-based chipmaker Micron Technology is expecting demand for semiconductors to rise significantly in the next few years, globally and in India, as memory consumption is going up, largely driven by the widespread adoption of technologies like artificial intelligence (AI). "Memory consumption is expected to double by the end of the decade and the biggest driver in this is AI. "While it's natural to talk about compute and GPUs (graphics processing units) in the context of AI, it is not to be forgotten that the true enabler for AI is memory ... in all the AI engines that we talk about, there is a lot of need to access memory quickly," Anand Ramamoorthy, managing director, Micron Technology India, told Business Standard.
Automobile manufacturers are likely to report strong numbers for the September quarter of Financial Year 2023-24 (Q2 FY24), riding on growth across segments and offset by a marginal drop in overall two-wheeler (2W) volumes. Higher average selling price (ASP) year-on-year (YoY), which was necessitated by price hikes taken by original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), and an improved product mix will also aid revenues and margins. Moreover, commodity prices are down on a YoY basis, leading to higher margins in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda).
India's climate change goals are turning combustible. On the one hand, a protracted dispute between the government and manufacturers over subsidies threatens to slow the pace of electric vehicle (EV) sales. On the other hand, repeated assertions by different arms of the government over banning sales of new fossil fuel-fired vehicles have queered the pitch for energy investments. Before we address the issue of the recommended diesel vehicle ban in the recent report on energy transition, issued months before the next round of global climate talks begin in Dubai in November, let's look at what's at stake.
Passenger vehicle sales in India touched a record high of 41.08 lakh units in 2023, growing by 8.3 per cent over the previous year driven by SUVs, which accounted for almost half of the total dispatches from manufacturers to dealers. The record sales have been achieved despite an increase in the average price of vehicles to Rs 11.5 lakh last year as compared to Rs 10.58 lakh in 2022. Market leader Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai Motor India, Tata Motors and Toyota Kirloskar Motor reported their best-ever annual sales in 2023.
Domestic passenger vehicles sales rose by 23 per cent to a record of 37.93 lakh units in 2022 led by the likes of Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai and Tata Motors as the companies rode on easing of pandemic related challenges and semiconductor shortages to cash in on pent up demand, specially for SUVs. Other manufacturers like Toyota Kirloskar Motor and Skoda India also reported record sales in 2022. "The industry wholesales in January to December 2022 were just short of 38 lakh units.
From the rollback of customs duty on key electronic components to fast tracking delivery of goods imported from China, players are looking for incentives on several counts.
New participants included Chinese players such as Great Wall Motors and Haima Automobile along with Olectra.
To ramp up domestic battery manufacturing capacity and reduce the dependence on imports, the government has initiated talks with a few lithium-rich countries to supply the mineral to Indian companies, industry sources informed Business Standard. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) held a meeting with the ambassadors of countries, including Argentina, Chile, and Bolivia, among others, to put forth its request.
Harrowing scenes unfolded at the SEZ where the fire ripped through the pharma company. Injured workers with torn clothes and bleeding injuries were seen being shifted to hospitals in ambulances.
'We crossed Rs 1.7 trillion in three months this financial year.'
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.
While hybrids, CNG and biofuels found favour in 2018 among many carmakers including Maruti Suzuki, Mercedes-Benz, Toyota and Honda, others such as M&M and Tata Motors have shown full faith in electric vehicles.
The company said that while the first quarter numbers were at the pre-pandemic levels, it saw a growth of 34 per cent in sales compared to the April to June period of 2020.
The electric scooter juggernaut which has been picking up momentum with heady growth month-on-month is now slowing down. The combined number of registrations in April of eight electric two wheeler companies has seen a dip of over 1 per cent to 43,061 vehicles, according to data from the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways' site VAHAN. The reasons are the continuing shortage of chips, especially after the Ukraine-Russia war, and the spate of fires which have led to scooters being recalled by manufacturers.
Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and two other public sector oil firms will install 22,000 electric vehicle (EV) charging stations over the next 3-5 years to support the nation's target to reduce its carbon intensity and reach net zero emissions by 2070. IOC, the country's largest state-controlled refiner by capacity, will set up EV charging facilities at 10,000 fuel outlets over the next three years, chairman Shrikant Madhav Vaidya said. Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) said it will set up 7,000 stations over the next five years while Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) has plans for 5,000 stations.
Japanese auto major Honda Cars on Thursday unveiled its new offering for the Indian market -- City e:HEV sedan, marking its foray into the mainstream strong hybrid electric vehicle segment in the country. The company, which is present in India through a wholly-owned subsidiary, has commenced the bookings of the model and plans to introduce it in the market next month. As per the company, the model, an extension of its City model range, would feature self-charging two-motor strong hybrid system connected to a 1.5 litre petrol engine, entailing a peak power of 126 PS and fuel efficiency of 26.5 km per litre.
Industry executives say the government could help in lowering prices of green vehicles by encouraging domestic research and development.
A host of passenger and commercial vehicle manufacturers displayed 'green' vehicles at the Auto Expo. Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai and Tata Motors displayed 100 per cent plug-in electric car concepts, while commercial vehicle manufacturers like Ashok Leyland displayed concept hybrid buses, fuelled both by electricity and diesel.
The e-SURVIVOR symbolises Maruti Suzuki's commitment to help develop the entire life cycle of EVs in India
'SUV is a very intensely fought category, unlike hatchbacks and cars.'
Sales of total electric vehicles in India are expected to be around 10 lakh units this year, equal to what was sold collectively in the last 15 years, mainly riding on the good traction witnessed by electric two-wheelers, Society of Manufacturers of Electric Vehicles (SMEV) said on Thursday. In 2021, the sales of electric two-wheelers (E2Ws) in the country jumped over two-fold at 233,971 units driven by a good traction of high-speed scooters as compared to 100,736 units in 2020, SMEV said in a statement. "We haven't seen better days than the last few months in the entire EV journey.
Customers won't shift to electric cars until there is countrywide infrastructure for charging stations, which should be as spread out as petrol pumps now. Two, the price of the lithium ion battery, which constitutes 30 to 40 per cent of the cost of an electric car, has to fall substantially, so that the vehicle is as affordable as a gasoline one.
A bill to allow the private sector to mine six atomic minerals, including lithium, and deep-seated minerals like gold and silver was approved by the Lok Sabha on Friday.
'Chinese are going bang, bang, bang building 30-35 reactors.' 'We should announce a programme of 50 new reactors and show that we mean business on the ground and not just announcements.'
The domestic luxury car segment is a key beneficiary of GST within the automobile space as prices are set to come down by up to ten per cent in most cases. Roland Folger, MD & CEO, Mercedes Benz India, speaks to Shubham Parashar on the significance of these changes on the industry and other issues.
With Tata Motors subsidiary taking over Ford's passenger vehicle (PV) manufacturing unit at Sanand in Gujarat, uncertainty over the future of Ford's Maraimalai Nagar unit in Tamil Nadu continues, with workers protesting on Thursday demanding a better severance package. There are over 2,000 employees working at the unit. On Thursday, there was a meeting between agitating employees and the state labour department. The workers started protests at the Chennai unit after Tata Passenger Electric Mobility signed a tripartite memorandum of understanding with Ford India and the Government of Gujarat for acquisition of Ford's PV manufacturing plant at Sanand.