Mini-truck and passenger carrier from Mahindra

The country’s largest truck maker Mahindra&Mahindra is on the verge of launching anLCV in sub 1-tonne segment called Maxximo. Other variants will follow suit in this platform, said the company’s official, without revealing any further information. In addition, there will be a launch of a passenger carrier on the Maximmo [images] platform of 1-tonne payload. The carrier may roll down in another 6 months, said an unofficial source and will be in the MPV segment with 8-10 seats. The carrier will be tipped against Maruti’s Eeco and Omni which have the major chunk, 80% in the market. Tata’s Magic too is the counter product for this carrier.(Mahindra Maximmo Prices)

There was a rise in the sale of MPV -34%- in the last month, from the same period of last year. The result is the outcome of reaching the longer areas of the country with more people preferring MPVs. Tata too in the contending stage to boost its presence in this segment and there will be the launch of Magic Iris this year to feed the three wheeler market needs. M&M’s has 1-tonne + mini-truck and is aimed at the goods carrier segment for supply chain. The sale growth of less than 1-tonne truck has increased by annual 46% from 2006-2010 by selling around 137000 units.

M&M’s sale in LCVs, comprising three wheelers, rose to 97% in April 2010 (sale of 5876 units) which was 2972 units in the respective fiscal of 2009. this growth is due to the launch of two mini trucks in October 2009 and February 2010. the choice for three wheeler trucks was due to the increased spending on consumption, constraints in the movement of trucks in the city limits and economy allied with status identity.

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High volume of sirens in store this year

The Japanese thunder Kawasaki is rolling down into the roads of India making a thumping launch of its high capacity bikes. Once launched, the bikes will be the real Superbikes which the sporty lovers are eagerly waiting for at a nominal price. However, a final word about the launch of Ninja 650R is to come from either Bajaj or Kawasaki. This bike will be the next in the series after Ninja 250R [images] and may crack during the Deepavali occasion.

The bike, in the 650-700 cc bhp will cost Rs5 lakhs as it will be a CKD from Thailand. India has the privilege of free trade agreement with Thailand and this paves way for the reduced cost of Ninja 650R. the bike will pose the conventional siblings but with relaxed and neutral ride joy. After this 650R, there may come Z750 to feed the hunger for speed and may cost Rs7 lakhs. According to the company sources, the bikes will bear anti-lock braking system as regular feature.
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New Class C model from Mercedes

The German car manufacturer Mercedes-Benz has kicked off the launch of the luxury Class C. the event coincided the announcement of dealerships in the fast growing Andhra Pradesh market. The C-class [images] car will provide fantastic fuel efficiency and lower emissions thanks to the newly injected gasoline technology (CGI), said the director for corporate affairs of the company.

The car will cost Rs29.50 lakh and will be a part of more than 10000 luxury cars sold in India in which Mercedes has got 45% share. The company targets to push the sale figure by 70% more than this in this year, the company official added. Last four months saw Mercedes selling 1600 cars in the domestic market against 800 units in the same duration of 2009.
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GM

General Motors is on the anvil of increasing its output of engines and cars at the Talegaon facility to each 3 lakhs annual units. This will be materialized with the introduction of second phase to 1.6 lakhs(engines) and 1.4 lakhs(cars) at this car plant. The same plant will witness the combined production of petrol and diesel engines with the initial capacity of 1.6 lakh diesel engine units to be steeped to 3 lakh units per year. GM is on the verge of a JV with Shanghai Automotive and there will be a need for this project to feed the LCV production (without official badging).

The increase of engine will see the rush to meet the demand for engines to Chevrolet models in Beat [images]and Cruze [images]. The proposal was firmly confirmed by the company’s VP for corporate affairs. He said that there will be an expansion of the facility by 300 acres at an investment of $200 million. The Halo and Talegaon plants will have the second shift to feed the demand since the plants have the annual capacity of 2.25 lakh units.

The primary facility for small cars at Talegaon is fit to deliver 1.4 lakh units while Halol plant has the capacity of 85000 units. The VP further said that a new passenger car in sedan segment will come off on SAIC platform. GM is quite happy with its launches but disappointed with the less production. Cruze was anticipated to sell about 500 units but by April it saw the sale figure of 692 units. The vehicle has now got the waiting time of 2 months similar to Beat, he asserted.

Capital city on exorbitant road tax spree

The vehicle lovers in New Delhi will have to increase their budget as the tax revision has come into effective. The revised tax will add Rs5000 for cars and Rs2000 for two wheelers. The industry analysts see this increase as a grave threat to the net volume of vehicle sales. The country’s capital city has the stake of 20% of all sales of cars in the country. According to the government sources, the road tax will become effective after an official notification in this regard. But the manufacturers and dealers are in full spirit as they anticipate an unprecedented rush for bookings to avoid this increase. This is echoed by the VP of Honda Siel Cars India.

The Sales director of Hyundai expressed the fears about the adverse impact of this hike in the road tax. For the Delhi buyers of cars and motorcycles, this is the fourth increase in the last five months. The additional burden is the increase in the vehicle cost itself due to the higher input costs and conversion to BS IV norms. The revised excise duty too has given way for the overall increase of the vehicles. The government has mooted this revision on twin purpose- to accrue more revenue and to promote public to use government transports. By the revision, there will be 4% tax(200% hike) for cars costing upto Rs6 lakhs which means even a car costing Rs3.5 lakh will have the tax amount of Rs14000. The revision will see 7% tax on the cars in the cost range of Rs6- Rs10 lakhs and it will be 10% for cars costing more than Rs10 lakhs(the current tax is 4%). The worst affected will be luxury cars whose tax would amount to Rs1 lakh.

In case of two wheelers there will be 4% tax on vehicles costing in the range of Rs25000- Rs40000(current rate is 2%). For vehicles costing more than Rs40000 it will be 6% and there is no wonder that the majority of vehicles sold in Delhi are in this second category(Rs40000+). This would mean that the customers have to pay Rs2000 additionally for the vehicle by way of tax. SIAM Director General opined that the revised taxation would not make much effect on the customers thereby maintaining the sale volume stable. The sale of domestic passenger car has shifted to the top gear in both the financial year and the fiscal year. In April 2010, the sale volume was up by 40% (1.43lakh cars) amidst the price rise in most of the vehicles.

Deal between M&M and REVA may materialize today

M&M’s so called acquisition drama with the Bangalore based REVA may see the climax on Wednesday. Its earlier acquisition episodes with Punjab Tractors and Kinetic Motors had not got this much significance. With this, M&M will electrify its market share with a substantial share from REVA is almost certain. M&M may plug in its deal of acquiring PE Investors Global Environ Find and Draper Juvertson which may accumulate to $100 million.

However there is no official communication in this regard from M&M as a matter of policy. In the event of finalizing the deal, it is assumed, M&M may procure share of electric version for its cars, buses and LCVs. By acquiring this established deal, M&M will certain to penetrate the global markets such as US, Europe and Asia Pacific. M&M is eyeing on the deal with Korean SUV maker SSangyong Motors.

The deal will envisage M&M to have the major say with REVA looking after the management. In the meantime, REVA for its part, is building a new plant with 30000 units capacity at an investment of Rs120crore for R&D. REVA will see the break even of its business in 2010. in all M&M has the nuance of strengthening the R&D to expand the product range and getting into the mass.

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Honda

The thumping response to its premium bike ranges, Honda has planned to launch another superbike- 2010 VFR 1200F- this year. The bike has already seen its global launch last year and will be the so far costliest in the Honda range(Rs16.5 lakhs). It will be CBU from Japan thereby inviting high import duty of 110%. The cost of this bike in the US which is the largest world market for the superbikes, is $15999 (Rs7.51 lakhs). The bike will be twin-seater sports mode, with a bigger engine and more powerful than Maruti’s largest selling car Alto. The bike is fitted with 1237cc, liquid cooled V-4 engine to deliver 172bhp. The company wants to keep other information in reserve till its formal launch in December.

Honda Motorcyles and Scooters India is ranked as the fourth largest two wheeler company in India and is the most popular in scooter segment. The company’s brands include CBR 1000RR Fireblade(Rs13.36 lakhs) and CB 1000R (Rs10.21lakhs) and already 100 units of these two models have been sold in the country. Honda does not concern too much about the cost factor but the brand image to be pushed forward. The concept is to prevail in the highly competitive market in which Hero Honda, Bajaj, TVS are the key domesti players apart from the Japanese Yamaha and Suzuki. The Japanese companies are marking their presence by the superbikes, Yamaha sells three models and Suzuki deals two models. They too are interested in promoting more superbikes and gearless scooters.

The launches of superbikes are likely to increase the company’s brand image as well the sale volume to double digit in every month. The domestic market has found the entry of other global players like Ducati, Harley, Austria-based KTM Power Sports AG and Kawasaki with their mighty superbikes. However, the market share of this is small compared to the global markets such as USA, UK, China, Germany and Japan. India seems to provide a better platform for these companies to increase the net sale volume. With the launch of superbike from Yamaha in 2008, the volume was 180 units per year, but it increased to 500 in 2009. the demand, as revealed in the bookings, indicate that the figure may cross 1000 units this year.