Toyota's first standalone electric SUV, the Urban Cruiser Ebella, delivers strong range and performance with premium quality, but rear space and features could have been better, says Somnath Chatterjee.
Celerio was launched at a time when the Indian automotive market was going through a transition.
In what would be a generational change in its engine technology, India's largest car manufacturer Maruti Suzuki has decided to introduce the new K-series petrol engine in all its cars in India in the next three to five years, according to the company's annual report for 2007-08.
The stock of the country's largest passenger vehicle maker, Maruti Suzuki India (MSIL) was down 1.06 per cent in trade on margin pressures in Q1FY24, mixed market share outlook, and earnings impact due to the buyout of Suzuki Motor Gujarat. While MSIL has decided to terminate the contract manufacturing agreement and acquire Suzuki Motor Gujarat, the quantum of payment and mode (cash/equity swap) has not been decided. If the cash option is opted for, there would be a 3.5-4 per cent hit to MSIL's FY25 earnings per share as the deal is expected to be completed by the end of the current financial year.
MSI chairman R C Bhargava said auto sector would like to see GST benefits linked to greener/cleaner cars. The government gave tax cut on EVs but hybrid should be given duty cut. There should be tax cut on CNG vehicles.
"My understanding is that the rules are weighted in favour of big cars, even though smaller cars emit fewer emissions per passenger, use less material, and consume less fuel," Bhargava said in an interview with Business Standard.
Indian automakers are reviving legacy nameplates to leverage brand recall and stand out in a crowded market, as classic badges like Sierra, Safari, Baleno and Scorpio return to attract buyers.
Maruti Suzuki, India's largest producer of small cars, stands to benefit the most.
Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M) recorded the sharpest acceleration among large players, with EV retail jumping to 33,513 units from 7,139 units, an almost 5-fold jump, aided by strong demand for new launches.
The country's largest carmaker, Maruti Suzuki, on Thursday reported 9.95 per cent decline in sales during December last year at 56,293 units against 62,515 units in the same month of 2007.
In October, small car wholesales of the auto industry -- excluding Tata Motors -- went up by 8.4 per cent Y-o-Y to 116,601 units, the data showed. However, the utility vehicle (UV) segment which includes sports utility vehicles (SUVs) as well as multi-purpose vehicles (MPVs), saw a bigger growth in October.
The Baleno is among the top selling cars with unserviced bookings of 55,000 units.
Mexico on Thursday imposed a tariff of up to 50 per cent on imports from its non-preferential trade partners, including India, a move that might hit New Delhi's annual $5.75 billion shipments to its third-largest car export market.
The appointment will be effective from April 1.
LIC sold a total of 58,29,103 shares of the company aggregating 2.018 per cent stake between August 24, 2009 and November 11, 2012 through the open market, Maruti Suzuki India said in a filing to Bombay Stock Exchange.
The country's largest car maker Maruti Suzuki India on Monday said its cumulative exports have crossed one million units with the milestone car headed for Denmark.
Maruti Suzuki India (MSIL) has ambitious plans to increase capacity. It is also seeking shareholders' approval for a complex swap transaction, which would acquire Suzuki Motor Gujarat (SMG), a subsidiary of Suzuki Motor Corporation (SMC) through a preferential offer. SMC already holds 56.37 per cent of MSIL's equity.
The country's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India on Tuesday reported 17.8 per cent increase in net profit at Rs 802.2 crore (Rs 8.02 billion) for the third quarter ended December 31, 2014
'The market is still very bullish. The demand is so strong that for eight models, we have no units in our factories to dispatch to dealers,' said Partho Banerjee, senior executive officer, marketing & sales, Maruti Suzuki India (MSIL).
A deep split has emerged within India's auto industry over the proposed CAFE exemption for small cars, with only Maruti Suzuki and Renault backing the move in the final SIAM vote.
Nissan, Japan's fourth-largest car manufacturer, sells MSIL's A-Star as Pixo, an entry-level car, in Europe.
Starting January, the market is expected to welcome models like the Tata Punch 2025 which is expected to be around 6 lakh, Mahindra BE 07 EV around 29 lakh, Maruti WagonR Electric around 8.5 lakh, Toyota 3-Row SUV around 14 lakh, and Volkswagen Tera to be around 8 lakh.
"Currently work is going on for developing a diesel engine for mid-sized sedans. Our engineers are developing it internally and we are hopeful of getting it ready by mid (of) next year," said MSI Managing Director and CEO Shinzo Nakanishi.
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.
A day before US President Donald Trump's additional 25 per cent tariff kicks in, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday made a vehement pitch for swadeshi and Make in India that should help create jobs in the country.
The three companies would jointly invest in setting up a manufacturing unit at Manesar in Haryana, expected to be operational by end of calendar year 2008. The facility, when fully operational, would have a capacity to produce five lakh units per annum, MSIL said in a statement.
The next many decades belong to India as the global economic powerhouse, and it will be essential to continue demonstrating policy stability, as the country aspires to be the world's manufacturing hub, Maruti Suzuki India MD and CEO Hisashi Takeuchi said on Friday.
India's biggest car maker Maruti Suzuki said on Tuesday that its vehicle production in September will tumble by 60 per cent due to chip shortage. The company, which had earlier cut down production at its Gujarat plant, said the chip shortage will hit production in Gurugram and Manesar plants, effectively forcing the automaker to cut production by 60 per cent. Owing to a supply constraint of electronic components due to semiconductor shortage, the company is expecting an adverse impact on vehicle production in September in both Haryana and its contract manufacturing company, Suzuki Motor Gujarat Pvt Ltd. (SMG) in Gujarat.
The company had set an annual production target of 250,000 for its Hansalpur plant in Gujarat.
Maruti Suzuki, the market leader in the passenger car market in India is betting big on the A2 segment which is the biggest contributor to the overall passenger car sales in the country.
'We are seeing a lot of people with helmets visiting our showrooms.'
As part of this cost-cutting exercise, the company has initiated measures to step up localisation levels and to pare the number of tier-I suppliers over the next two-three years.
Car maker Maruti is hoping to improve margins.
Top carmakers led by Maruti Suzuki, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles and Kia India on Saturday reported record sales in the domestic market riding on festive demand boosted by GST rate cut. Other manufacturers such as Skoda Auto India and Toyota Kirloskar Motor also posted impressive growth in sales in October.
The automobile sector has started seeing volume growth, the crucial economy segment included. Maruti Suzuki India (MSIL) could be a big beneficiary as the country's largest passenger vehicle (PV) maker has seen several favourable developments including volume recovery. Demand for its new sports utility vehicles (SUVs) appears to be good, and the company has 4 lakh outstanding orders by April 2023, (up from 3.6 lakhs in January 2023). Siam (Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers) estimates that passenger vehicle demand would grow by 5-7 per cent in the 2023-24 financial year (FY24) and MSIL is likely to beat the market growth.
Passenger vehicle dispatches from companies to dealers increased 19 per cent year-on-year in November as demand remained robust post festive period, industry body SIAM said on Friday.
Since the Indian government reduced GST on small cars on September 22, the small car segment's share in Maruti's overall sales has risen to more than 25 per cent, up from 16.6 per cent earlier in FY26.
The automobile and auto-ancillary sector is expected to show strong Q3FY26 results, aided by festival-led demand, rationalisation in goods and services tax (GST) rates for select categories of vehicles, easing interest rates, and improving rural sentiment.
Amid challenging market environment, Maruti Suzuki India and Mahindra & Mahindra reported an increase in vehicle dispatches to dealers last month while Tata Motors and Hyundai saw a year-on-year drop in sales.
In terms of volumes, sales were down by 9.98 per cent to 266,343 units.
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