Cars to cost more thanks to the budget

The Indian Finance Minister’s budget involving an increase in the excise duty-from 2% to 5%- has made Maruti and Hyundai to effect the rise in their price for cars. The hike may be around Rs25000 with Maruti slating the increase by 2% Hyundai said the rise will be somewhere in the range of Rs6500-Rs25000. Volvo Auto India has announced its increase but not the exact figure.

Tata Motors may hike prices following excise duty increase

The new budget has made Tata Motors to hike prices- due to increase in excise duties to 10%. This may see the hike in Tata Motors – Rs60000-Rs70000 in heavy vehicles and Rs5000-Rs6000 in smaller vehicles, said its MD for Operations. The company has the practice of passing over the fiscal variations on to the customers, he said. The increase in price of vehicles is furthered by hike in commodity prices too, he added.

Tata Motors smiles at the sale of JLR in Q3

Tata Motors is full of smiles at the sale profit yielded through the Jaguar Land Rover- Rs650.26 crore and the net profit amounting Rs416.96 crore in Q3 FY. This reversal of fortune is compared to the net loss of Rs2598.83 crore in 2008-09. According to the company’s Vice-Chairman, the net profit was feasible due to easy market management and sustained cost reduction measures.

The company foresees the rise in demand in US and Europe as the growth of its wholesale volume in the period of July-September 2009 was 28%.
The growth in every quarter is made possible in the firm response mooted in North America, China and Europe. JLR receives good response nowadays and the new models introduced this year are more attractive to the customers. The company withdrew the production of X-type replacing with XF and since there is a growth of 11.5 % in the net sale volume of JLR.

The future will be bright for Electric vehicles

Following some gladdening relief announced in the latest budget by the government, the electric car makers are sharpening their tools to play more. This will reflect the fall in the prices in the month to come. The Union Finance Minister reduced the customs duty- from 24% to 4%- levied on import of components for such vehicles.(however the countervailing duty of 4%will continue), said the official from Society of Manufacturers of Electric Vehicles. The Director-General of SIAM said that this move is a positive sign in promoting green budget.

The excise duty imposed on it, to 4%, is welcomed by the industry on the basis of availing MODVAT benefits. This will enable the makers to deduct the excise duties paid for indigenous components from the overall excise on the vehicle. It is believed that the hike in the excise duty for vehicles on fossil fuels is certain to have an impact on the net price of both the vehicle and the fuel. This will be a boost to the popularity of Electric vehicles.

The President&MD of General Motors praised this relief and seeks more such measures to promote alternative fuel vehicles. The company develops electric powertrain in a tie-up with Reva electric car company of Bangalore. GM’s first electric car will be Chevrolet Spark.

New WagonR from Maruti by April 2010

Update: Checkout our Maruti New WagorR 2010 special Slideshow

Update – 2:  Maruti 2010 Wagon-R specifications, features, variants and colours

Maruti has chalked out its release of new Wagon R in this April, phasing out the existing one. To cost Rs3.3 lakhs, the newer version will be equipped with more space, a new K series 1lit engine. The current model is offered with a discount of Rs25000 (at the price range of Rs3.15 lakh-Rs4.5 lakh) and is offered in three variants. Maruti pays off Rs8000 on its Alto, while the disappointing news is that it has recalled 1lakh units of A-Star on the discrepancy with fuel tanks.

LeasePlan to procure more cars at Rs300 crore investment

The car rental and lease company in India Leaseplan announced its plan to invest Rs300 for securing 5000 cars this year. This is double to the one in last year. LeasePlan is a car rental and leasing company of the Netherlands in which VW has 50% share.Started in 1999 the company has been making domestic business and schemes are there to lease buses. It also runs a software called Enterprise Resource through which customers can book cars on internet.

The company’s MD said that the growth in the sector is promising and funding will be through HSBC, ABN-Amro, ING and Indus-Ind banks. The
prospective growth of the industry is 20% and the company expects its own growth to 25% in 2010, despite a fall in last year due to slash in
corporate funding. Leaseplan expects its revenue to cross Rs320crore compared to Rs250crore in 2009 since it has 1000 corporate clients by
which a minimum of 2% profit is assured.

The company is promoting the investment in ERP software, to ease booking and filing of complaints. The company which earns 95% of the revenue from lease market is on the verge of entering the fuel management in India. With the initial tie-up from Bharat Petroleum the customers are issued with smart card. This card enables them to avail fuel at no payment and Leaseplan will pay at a defined period phases. This card is one way helps the customers to check the fuel efficiency.

The operation of Leaseplan in India is in 7 major cities covering 120 towns and cities dealing with Residual value. By this, Lease Plan not only rents out cars but also takes care of maintenance, road assistance, insurance management. LeasePlan has got handful of clients like Coca-Cola, ABN Amro Bank, Godrej Industries, LG and DHL.

Mercedes-Benz February sales up by 78 per cent

Mercedes-Benz on the vertical horizon over its sale in February 2010. The sale – 439 units in this month is highly appreciable as the sale in the respective month of 2009 was 246 units. This made the accumulated total sale to 842 units in the bygone months of 2010 which is again a two-fold increase over the one made in 2009 – 328 units. As such, according to the company’s MD and CEO for India, the year 2010 is good for it in particular the sale in February.

Toyota

Toyota Kirloskar Motors of India is facing some critical moments with its Prius, as the global markets for this car is at jolt. But for India, the company prefers to deal with it as the CBU to avail subsidy on greener aspects. Counted on the current duty on CBUs (100%) the car may cost around Rs26.55 lakh- Rs27.86 lakhs. But the outcome of the budget in this regard is much sought by the company. Toyota Kirloskar Motors is keen on availing some sort of relief for the greener aspects of the car. The MD for India claims that the government can consider the relief as Prius is not a luxury car to invite such duty. TKM sought this sort of relief from the apex company but the latter directed it to negotiate with the Indian government.

The target for this year is 200 units of Prius which happens to be the world first mass-produced and the largest selling hybrid- 1.5million units as on date. Much before the launch the company has got orders for 54 units in India. Toyota received a shot in the arm through this Prius, in quick succession(after the recall of 8 million cars including Corolla and Camry) on technical flaws. Prius faced the problem of brake software. In spite of these critical aspects, the MD is hopeful of going ahead with the Indian launch of Prius. For the promotion of Prius, there will be road shows across the nation and display of the vehicle in auto shows.

Setting apart Prius, the company is chalking out its plan for the launchof Etios – to be available in sedan and hatchback version. The car will undergo production by this year end from the Bidadi plant and will roll down in the Q1 in 2011. Toyota Kirloskar Motors had a good stint in India last year – 55497 units- and the target for this year is 70000 units. The company hopes to sell off the same number of units of Etios in 2011 to compile its net sale to more than 1.4 lakhs.

Refined Skoda Fabia comes to the fore

Skoda has brought its refined Fabia to the fore much early to the Geneva Motor show. The car has got the new front end fitted with refined headlamps, bumper and grille. Of these, bumper and grille enhances the car’s dynamic family look. The car is expected to roll down in the near-end of this year and will come with a 1.2 lit 75 bhp petrol and a 1.2 75bhp diesel engine.

The engines are the same that get place in VW Polo but with an increased power output – 5 bhp in petrol and 7 bhp in diesel engine. Skoda has timed the changes in tune with the ongoing tremendous demand for the model. Fabia faces stiff counter from the Hyundai hatchback i20 and Honda Jazz and the latest VW Polo. Skoda has priced the car to match the ones in the category to face the competition.