With India's EV penetration at just 2.5 per cent, the market presents an opportunity -- provided Tesla gets its pricing right.
The notices from the stock exchanges followed reports about Cyrus Mistry disclosing possible writedown to the tune of $18 billion faced by the conglomerate
For the first time in history, the luxury car market is poised to cross the sales mark of 50,000 units in 2024, with Mercedes leading the way
At a price starting from Rs 849,000 and going up to Rs 12.14 lakh, the XUV300 competes with the Maruti Brezza, Tata Nexon, Ford EcoSport, and Honda WR-V.
Passenger and commercial vehicle prices are expected to rise as automobile companies invest in upgrading vehicles to meet stricter emission norms that kick in from April next year. The Indian automobile industry is currently working to make their products meet the second phase of Bharat Stage VI, equivalent to Euro-VI emission norms, in real time driving conditions. Four-wheeler passenger and commercial vehicles will need more sophisticated equipment to be added to meet the next level of emission standards.
A financial turnaround in Tata Steel and Tata Motors has come as a shot in the arm for Chandra.
While the Nano is priced at Rs 1.12 lakh, Bajaj Auto's RE petrol variant costs about Rs 90,000, while its diesel variant is pegged at Rs 1.2 lakh. Analysts also say Bajaj can drop prices without any problem. "Bajaj Auto has been in the three-wheeler segment for 60 years. Which means their plants are fully depreciated and they can afford to lower the prices, which other manufacturers can't do," says a top executive from a competing three-wheeler brand.
Automobile manufacturers, new and old, as well as ancillary suppliers are set to spend a combined Rs 70,630 crore over the next five years on either entering the electric vehicle segment or stepping up their presence in it. Data culled from announcements made by firms shows India, the world's fifth largest automobile market, is poised to receive one of the biggest capex pushes ever to fuel the transition from internal combustion engines to electric motors and batteries as part of a green drive. The EV push, egged on by the government's emphasis on electric mobility to meet its net zero targets, is expected to yield at least 25 electric vehicles - new ones as well as electrified versions of existing vehicles running on internal combustion engines.
Issues like high insurance cost and the announced price hike effective January could also weigh on sales in 2019. The only bright spot is the softening seen in fuel prices over the past month.
Sales of passenger vehicles in India are likely to grow at 14.9 per cent each year to touch the 2.1 million mark by 2010.
Almost all of these companies either unveiled their new electric vehicle or alternative energy-powered models.
German car-maker Volkswagen on Thursday said it will increase its vehicle prices by up to 2.5 per cent in India from next month in order to offset impact of high input costs.
Tata Motors, however, will not be able to meet this small demand and keep the Nano alive from October next year, when safety regulations for existing car models kick in.
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.
American automaker Ford on Thursday said that it had withdrawn plans to manufacture electric vehicles (EVs) in India and it won't invest in the country under the performance-linked incentive (PLI) scheme. "After careful review, we have decided to no longer pursue EV manufacturing for exports from any of the Indian plants. "We remain grateful to the government for approving our proposal under the PLI and for being supportive while we continued our exploration. "Ford India's previously announced business restructuring continues as planned, including exploring other alternatives for our manufacturing facilities.
While the overall passenger car industry is expected to grow at around seven per cent a year in the next five years, SUV growth is expected to be over 10 per cent.
"Lady candidates need not apply." So read the postscript in a job notice from Telco (now Tata Motors) on a notice board in the corridors of the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore (now Bengaluru), in 1974. Irked, Sudha Murty, who was then pursuing her masters in computer science at the institute, wrote a postcard to JRD Tata, expressing her surprise at this gender discrimination, especially since the Tata Group were pioneers on many fronts. Shortly, Murty became the first woman on the firm's shop floor.
'Nearly all companies are extending festival offers for entry-level, sedan, and hatchback segments.'
'Exit the car and call for your vehicle to be towed.'
Auto majors, including Maruti Suzuki India, Hyundai and Tata Motors, on Sunday reported high double-digit growth in their domestic passenger vehicle sales in July riding on stabilisation of macro-economic factors and better consumer sentiments. Similarly, Honda, Nissan, MG Motor and Skoda also reported healthy growth in their sales last month leveraging on improved market mood amid prevailing lower coronavirus infection rate, despite supply constraints of semi-conductors. The country's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India's (MSI) domestic sales increased by 39 per cent to 1,41,238 units last month as against 1,01,307 units in July 2020, the company said in a statement.
During April, Maruti Suzuki India's domestic car sales were up 2.72 per cent at 86,481 units, as against 84,188 units in the same month last year.
Tata Motors Limited, on Wednesday said it will launch its 1400cc 'Indica' family car in China 'very soon' and was closely evaluating the best options to penetrate into the world's fastest growing auto market.
Liquidity continues to be a worry for both, customers and dealers, with the latter facing working capital issues.
The question is: Will the company have a strong balance sheet to support this massive investment plan?
India will have 30 per cent of its two-wheeler industry turning electric by 2030 as new manufacturers lead the shift, said a report on Monday. Passenger vehicles will be 15 per cent electric and the three-wheeler segment 75 per cent electric by 2030, said the report by BNP Paribas called 'India Autos-Electric vehicles: Minutes to midnight'. "We see FY22 as the year of inflection for the two-wheeler EV industry, with an accelerated EV adoption helped by incentives, wider availability, model launches, rise in crude prices and improved general awareness. We see 30 per cent of the 2W industry turning electric by 2030; the pace of incentive withdrawal presents an upside/downside risk," the report (India Autos - Electric vehicles: Minutes to midnight) said.
Domestic sales for two big Indian automakers tumbled in August on rising fuel costs and interest rates.
Recently, Suzuki Motor Corp (SMC) in an investor presentation expressed strong intent to enter the electric vehicle (EV) space. This is part of a larger strategy the Hamamatsu-based firm has drawn up in developing electrification of technologies as it seeks to achieve carbon neutrality. The significance of this presentation is that it marked the first time that the Japanese carmaker spelt out its EV strategy with well-defined timelines. SMC plans to develop electrification technologies by 2025, fully implement them in products from the same year, and make a full-scale quantitative increase from 2030.
India is sceptical that Tesla might import into the country cars made in China. Tesla executives were in India last month and appear to have proposed a factory in the country. But do not be surprised if that does not happen in a hurry.
The new crossover and fully imported models of the Jeep brand will increase Fiat's product line-up that has shrunk to just two at present
RBI's interest rate decision, macroeconomic data and global trends would dictate terms in the equity market in a holiday-shortened week, analysts said. Besides, the focus will also be on foreign portfolio investors' trading activity, they added. Equity markets will remain closed on Tuesday for 'Mahavir Jayanti' and on Friday on account of 'Good Friday'.
Maruti, Honda and Tata Motors posted highest sales growth during the month
The country's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) on Monday reported a 11.8 per cent increase in wholesales to 164,469 units in February. The company had sold 147,110 units in February last year, Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) said in a statement. Domestic sales increased 11.8 per cent to 1,52,983 units last month, as against 1,36,849 units in February 2020, it added.
Compact sedans (Maruti Dzire, Hyundai Aura, Tata Tigor)' share in the overall sedan category grew from 68% in 2021 to 74.6% in 2024. Mid-sedans' (Honda City, Maruti Ciaz, Volkswagen Virtus) share declined from 26.2% in 2021 to 20.2%.
Which were the five businesses Ratan Tata had great hopes for, but his successor failed to deliver?
Cyrus Mistry had put in place a strategy that would have pulled most of the Tata group's 'legacy hotspots' out of the financial mess from legacy issues and helped turn around the group's finances.
Tata group bets on design and price. It looks to mark its spot in a highly cluttered category with its newest offering. Tata Tigor might drives between the lanes!
'While we have done a few thousand kilometres in India, most of the testing and data collection and analysis has been done in the US, Japan and Europe.'
Proliferation of home chargers of around 7 KWh and above, which take six to seven hours to fully charge a car depending on the model, bring running costs down by a third or so. That, coupled with the increasing range of modern electric cars, can lead to a massive increase in sales.
Close to half a dozen more three-row premium mid-size models are expected to hit the road over the next two years.
If you are planning to buy an electric car in the near future, it would be highly advisable to wait for these upcoming electric SUVs.
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