The entry of SoftBank-backed Ola into the electric scooter (e-scooter) segment is set to power up the overall market and perhaps fast-track the adoption of battery-operated vehicles. But for manufacturers of internal combustion engine (ICE)-powered two-wheelers, such as Bajaj Auto, Hero MotoCorp, and TVS Motor, it will be a double whammy. Not only will they have to contend with the aggressive pricing of Ola's scooter and incur a loss at each unit of the e-scooter sold, the volumes of their regular (ICE) models, too, could feel the squeeze, observed analysts. Ola is expected to price its e-scooter in the range of Rs 85,000-1.1 lakh.
Two-wheeler exports from India fell by 17.8 per cent to 3.65 million units in 2022-23 (FY23), according to data released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (Siam) on Thursday. This decline is due to a rise in global inflation and the weakening of economies and currencies in key export markets of Africa, Latin America (LatAm), and South Asia. In contrast to FY23, two-wheeler exports from India jumped 35.4 per cent to 4.44 million units in 2021-22 (FY22).
The automobile sector is considered a good indicator of economic health. It has a very long value chain, from primary materials, like metals, glass and plastic, to value-added high-end electronic components, specialised alloys, and software.
Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI), India's second-largest two-wheeler maker, on Wednesday revealed its electric vehicle (EV) roadmap, which includes setting up a dedicated EV factory, launching the first two EVs in 2023-24, and establishing 6,000 battery exchange points in the country. HMSI plans to establish a specialised unit for the manufacturing of electric vehicles (EVs), named 'Factory E', at its Narsapura plant located in Karnataka. Factory E will be created by converting an existing production line that currently manufactures internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, said Atsushi Ogata, HMSI managing director and chief executive officer.
Indian consumers are likely to get respite from rising prices just before the festival season. Some consumer companies, including automakers, have indicated that they are planning to pause price hikes just before demand picks up in August, while keeping a close eye on volatile raw material prices.
Even as India overtakes Japan in automotive sales in 2022, moving to third place for the first time, oddly enough the country's biggest motor show is going to see some big hitters give it a clear miss. Some prominent automotive brands have cited high event costs, negligible returns on investment, poor event management, and unfavourable location as reasons for their reluctance to participate. Major pure-play electric two-wheelers, too, are riding past this year's edition of the Auto Expo.
Domestic passenger vehicle (PV) sales saw a significant growth in October due to increased availability of semiconductor chips and rising consumer confidence. The sales figures during the month - which coincided with the first post-Covid festival season - released by the top ten carmakers saw a jump of 30.7 per cent to 322,885 units in October. Auto companies count wholesales - units dispatched to dealers - as sales.
A clutch of automakers including Maruti Suzuki, Hero MotoCorp, Mercedes Benz India, Eicher Motors, TVS Motor, and Isuzu Motors India announced they had got the clearance from the governments of the states they operate in to resume operations.
As macroeconomic numbers continue to disappoint, reaching pre-Covid level is unlikely in FY21.
TVS Motor Company on Monday re-launched Flame, a 125cc motorbike, with a single-spark plug ignition system. The move comes in the wake of the Madras High Court restraining the country's third largest two-wheeler maker from making and selling Flame for using the controversial twin-spark plug system.
TVS Motor Company, the only company in India to manufacture mopeds, said domestic sales dropped by 25.58% in April-Oct and exports fell by nearly 40%.
Electric two-wheelers have zipped past the half-a-million registration mark and achieved a market penetration of 4 per cent at the fag end of Calendar 2022, according to data released by VAHAN. According to VAHAN data for the year (until December 27), 560,000 two-wheelers were registered in the country, up a staggering fourfold over 2021, when only 136,000 were registered, and when electric vehicle penetration was a mere 1.05 per cent. The total number of two-wheelers (internal combustion engine, or ICE, and electric) registered so far in 2022 stands at 14.5 million, up only 12.7 per cent over the previous calendar year.
With much sadness, so many of us woke up to the news that Vikram Kirloskar, vice-chairperson of Toyota Kirloskar Motor, had passed away late Tuesday. As I reminisce on the nearly 40 years I have known him, I can unequivocally say that he had such a rare and deep understanding and passion for automotive manufacturing that it would make Toyota, which pioneered the Toyota Way, proud. Many of us know Vikram as the man who brought the iconic Japanese carmaker Toyota to India. But few know the back story and hard work that went into creating a system of manufacturing that was everything Toyota could have hoped for and then some more because it was perfectly calibrated for manufacturing in India.
Electric vehicle retail sales in the country witnessed over three-fold jump last fiscal with two-wheeler offtake leading the segment, according to data compiled by automobile dealers' body FADA. Total electric vehicle (EV) retails reached 4,29,217 units in 2021-22, a rise of three-fold from 1,34,821 units in the financial year 2020-21, the industry body said. Total EV sales had stood at 1,68,300 units in the 2019-20 fiscal, it noted.
At Prestige Polygon Towers in Chennai's Teynampet, hectic preparations are on for a mega global investors' meet under the aegis of Guidance Tamil Nadu (the state investment promotion agency) scheduled for January 2024. Asked about the key focus areas of the meet, the agency's managing director and chief executive officer, V Vishnu, said the state was betting big on electric mobility. This is no surprise, given that the state has signed electric vehicle (EV)-related memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with several companies in the recent past that may bring in investments worth around Rs 33,000 crore with the potential to create over 43,000 job opportunities.
Various corporate houses and banks including TVS Motors, India Cements, Hyundai Motor India Limited and State Bank of India on Tuesday contributed a total of Rs 22 crore.
Ola Electric's technology team is working hard to iron out the technical kinks that marred the electric vehicle company's hyped online sale of its electric scooters (e-scooters) - the S1 and the S1 Pro - on Wednesday, said company sources. The SoftBank-backed firm is facing technical difficulties in making the website live for the purchase of its e-scooters. According to company sources, the website couldn't go live as there were integration issues.
Industry leaders, including Mahindra Group chairman Anand Mahindra, RPG Enterprises chairman Harsh Goenka and Biocon Ltd chairperson Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw on Monday came out in support of the Agnipath scheme, saying it has large potential for employment of youth in the corporate sector. Mahindra also expressed dismay over the violence against the scheme while asserting that the farm equipment to aerospace conglomerate welcomes the opportunity to recruit trained, capable and young people under the programme. The Agnipath scheme, announced on June 14, provides for the recruitment of youths between the age bracket of 17-and-half years to 21 for only four years with a provision to retain 25 per cent of them for 15 more years.
With this new product, TVS Motors intends to bridge the price gap between the company's range of mopeds and motorcycles.
The company is currently carrying out test runs of about 50 electric scooters across various towns in the country.
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.
TVS Motor Company plans to ramp up its manufacturing facility at Hosur in Tamil Nadu as part of meeting "huge" demand for its scooterette Wego. The company had showcased the scooterette in November 2009.
low-cost plans dovetail perfectly with the company's decision to make affordable new models.
Automakers Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra and Kia reported robust growth in their vehicle dispatches in the domestic market for August buoyed by festive demand and easing of semiconductor shortage woes. Other manufacturers like Hyundai, Toyota and Skoda also reported growth in wholesales in August as compared with the same month last year. The country's largest automaker Maruti Suzuki India said its domestic passenger vehicle dispatches increased by 30 per cent to 134,166 units in August as compared with 103,187 units in the year-ago month.
Upon completion, the factory will create almost 10,000 jobs and will initially have an annual capacity of 2 million units.
The bench consisting of acting Chief Justice of Madras High Court S J Mukhopadhyaya and Justice Ibrahim Kalifula on Monday set aside the earlier order according to which TVS Motors was restrained from using the twin spark technology, which was patented by Pune-based, India's second largest two wheeler manufacturer Bajaj Auto.
The company, which started export of its three-wheelers a couple of months back, is also exploring to venture into new markets like Bangladesh, Mexico, Peru and Guatemala.
Mopeds are sought by people with smaller businesses, with their weight-carrying and haulage ability beside being lighter and easy to manoeuvre in traffic.
The new bike -- Flame SR 125 -- would be an advanced version of its existing model Flame, which has single spark CCVTi engine. Meanwhile, sources said Flame SR 125 would be available in showrooms from next week.
The prices will be decided during the time of launch, as TVS hopes that given the cost increase, the government may consider bringing down GST for two-wheelers.
The most important positive of India's stealth bull market is earnings growth across different sectors, explains Debashis Basu.
TVS should be prepared for a rough ride as Bajaj Dominar, Mahindra Mojo, Royal Enfield Classic 350 and many others are stepping on the gas for a slice of this category.
Supply chain constraints will keep plaguing automobile companies even though demand significantly improved resulting in a 13 per cent year-on-year (YoY) increase in sales in financial year 2021-22 (FY22). Executives at auto firms fear that the Russia-Ukraine war will further dent the sector's prospects of recovery as supply chains face more disruptions. "The visibility in the supply side is so hazy that it is difficult to give even one quarter projection. But all the parameters of demand like pending bookings and enquiries are increasing.
TVS Motors is exploring LPG and CNG enabled two wheelers. It is also ready to launch electric scooters.
The alternative fuel fever has caught up with Chennai-based TVS Motor Company, synonymous with 'TVS Scooty'. Having entered the electric scooter segment, the company is exploring LPG and CNG two wheelers.
The fight between TVS and Bajaj might remain out of court, but TVS Motor's stand spoke of the company's resolve infused by its chairman Venu Srinivasan.
A division bench of the Madras high court on Thursday suspended the interim order restraining TVS Motor from booking or selling its recently launched 125cc bike, Flame.
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.
TVS Motor Company on Thursday said it would hit the Indonesian market by October 2006 with its step-thru vehicle.
The damage to aircraft estimated to be around Rs 200 crore.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances