Volkswagen is eyeing India as its next favourite destination for manufacturing its passenger cars. According to Minister-president Chief Minister of the German state of Lower Saxony Christian Wulff, Germany is quite fascinated by the recent developments in India for promotion of trade and industry in the country. He stated that Volkswagen will be setting up a big car manufacturing plant in Chakan near Pune. His state will also be opening office in Maharashtra to facilitate more business opportunities.



Wulff also stated that Volkswagen has a larger goal of becoming one of the biggest car manufacturers in India. The growth in the Indian market is quite promising, which makes India a lucrative market. His state, Lower Saxony, is one of the major ports in Germany and wants that Indian companies should also invest in his state. He is leading a 100 member strong delegation in India to promote business opportunities from his state. He added that Germany is keen to develop an international trade fair ground in Mumbai. Speaking to the Governor SC Jamir at Raj Bhawan, he told him that a German university is also opening its branch in Pune to attract Indian students.



Jamir assured Wulff that there is abundance of skilled labour in Maharashtra and that the state will ensure all possible support to create a favourable atmosphere for the investors.

Pune, Despite the on-going downturn in the Indian automobile sector, General Motors India says its expansion plans are on track, and the company will launch its sedan ? the Chevrolet Cruze ? in the country simultaneous to its introduction elsewhere in the world in the middle of 2009. It will be produced at GM?s plant in Halol.

A new mini-car, currently being developed on a brand new platform, will also be rolled out of its Talegaon plant next year, Mr P. Balendran, Vice-President Corporate Affairs, said, adding that GMI?s second plant in India will be a hub for small and mini-cars.

Around 200 cars
a day of the Chevrolet Spark are now being produced here, and the extra capacity generated has been responsible for sales of 4,390 units of the model during October against 1,800 units in the same month last year, he said.

GROWTH ON TRACK

Though GM?s North American and European business has been severely hit, and the company is reportedly seeking a bail-out package from the US government, the Indian operations have not been impacted, Mr Balendran asserted, adding that the business in GM?s Asia Pacific division was on a growth path. ?All our expansion, including 210 million in a new engine
plant at Talegaon, is through internal accruals,? Mr Balendran asserted.

In India, GM?s sales grew six per cent during October, mainly on the back of the Spark and the Captiva. ?Both these have a wait-list till December,? Mr Balendran said, admitting however that the Aveo, Tavera and Optra sales have been hit in line with the trend in the industry. ?We expect to sell 78,000 units this calendar year against 60,032 last year,? he said. The company is also enhancing its dealer network from the existing 145 to 195 and increasing service stations from 148 to 198 by December.

GM?s upcoming engine plant at Talegaon, the company?s first flexi plant producing both petrol and diesel engines worldwide with a capacity to produce 1,60,000 engines, for mini and small cars, is progressing as scheduled, and will go into commercial production in the first quarter of 2010.

Luxury car segment in India was so far isolated from the ongoing slump in the car sales. Most of the luxury car makers had reported growth in their market share in spite of regular decline in sales in small car and other segments. So far the decline in sales had been predominantly in the small car segment or the mass market segment. However, the current figures released by Society of Automobile Manufacturers speak a little story that may pull the luxury markers out of their comfort zone.

Sale of high end cars priced between Rs. 8 lakh to Rs 1 crore and above has witnessed a 30.51 percent decline to 2859 units compared to 4114 units in the same period last year. The most insulated segment which features cars priced between Rs. 73.6 lakh to Rs. 1.24 crore seems to be most badly hit. It witnessed a decline of 61.19 percent to 26 units from 67 units in the same period last year. Sale of executive class segment cars has also witnessed a slump of 34.29 percent to 2313 units from 3520 units during the corresponding month in the previous year.

Only Toyota Kirloskar Motors India registered an impressive two fold growth by offering the new Toyota Corolla Altis. It sold 1110 units in October 2008 as compared to 526 units in October 2007. Mercedes Benz and BMW also managed to push their sales while HSCI and SKoda Auto registered an increase in sales in premium category. However, the last months figures from SIAM have made every auto maker a little wary.

eugeot is planning to launch its small and compact car in India and China by the year 2011. The new 5-seater car is expected to be extremely spacious and cater to the growing small car demands in the country. The car is expected to make its debut in next two years which will mark the entry of the company in the small car segment in India.

Peugeot will manufacture its small car in Turkey or Poland. The car will also make its debut in other countries such as Eastern Europe, Central Europe, Russia, Africa, Turkey and South America.

India is one of the biggest auto markets for small car segment. Small car sales in India amount to nearly two-third of the total car sales in the country. Nearly every auto manufacturer plans to introduce its small car in India which would enable to company to expand its market share. Toyota, Ford, Renault-Nissan, General Motors, etc. have already lined up the launches of their small cars in the country. This segment is currently dominated by Maruti Suzuki which occupies more than 50 percent market share. It is the largest manufacturer and exporter of small cars from India. Hyundai Motors India Limited is the second largest car manufacturer and exporter from India that has its plant near Chennai. It recently launched its most popular model Hyundai i10 and plans to introduce its new model, Hyundai i20, early next year.

The largest car manufacturing company of India the Hyundai motors India ltd. has announced on the very day 14th of November that it is going to launch its new car variant with a model smaller than Santro. According to the Hyundai Motors India Limited HMIL the work for the new car is in the process but the actual stepping of the car in the market will take some time. It is expected that the car would come in the market by year 2011. Even though there is going a serious economic crises through-out the world but still the company does not feel a slowdown in its market working capabilities. Company officials believe that instead of the slow going market it is making good money with its huge export base all through-out the world. Carmakers are having a enough of work for the next three to four months as they have to develop nearly 2,50,000 cars in the coming session. Hyundai Motors have eached a landmark of landmark of nearly 20 lakh cars and to make the event more memorable the company has offered its 20th lakh car to the NGO _ _ CRY Child Rights and You. The offering of the 20th lakh car to the director of West and Volunteer Action, CRY has been made by the brand ambassador of Hyundai brand that is Shah Rukh Khan. Hyundai is also offering very astonishing schemes for its possible customers.

The 2010 model of Ford Fusion Hybrid car is now ready to give a green flag signal to the racing event to be held at NASCARs. And it would be the first time that the NASCARs sprint event would be paced up by a hybrid car like the Fords Fusion hybrid, a model of 2010. NASCAR is organising the event at the Homestead-Miami speedway that also on this sunday only. This model of Ford Fusion Hybrid is capable of travelling at a speed of 47 miles per hour on electricity. This speed limit is not enough for as to move the vehicle in a race. So as to provide speed to the vehicle a suppliment of gas cylinders is also provided to the car.

amp;65279;The most interesting thing expected of the car is it can travel up to 700 miles per tank of fuel, a target which could hardly be achieved by other cars. It is expected that the car Ford Fusion Hybrid 2010 will be a part of racing events here after it becomes a running winner of this this event. Moreover according to the company officials the Fusion hybrid 2010 and the Fusion Sport are about to make their debut at the LA Auto Show which to be held on 19th of the month. According to the company officials both the models are new for the 2010 events to go on. The car is expected to give a best result in the category of the hybrid cars with a fuel mileage of at least 38 mpg when in the city while for the case of sport siblings of the Fords cars it has a new 3.5-litre V6 engine which is highly capable of generating a power output of 263 hp and also it is capable of generating a torque of 249 lb-ft. It is expected that the Fusion car is about to come in a engine vaiant having six-speed automatic transmission, so as to provide the best comfort possible to the owner.

amp;65279;The new model of Ford Fusion Hybrid has been re-invented with the colaboration of Mercury Milan and Lincoln MKZ. The process is continued since the late 2008 with the new designs of fasica at the front and the rear side along with the interiors and powertrain updates all for the 2010 model year. The powertrain options of the car are very soimilar to that of the models of 2009 like thwe Ford Escape, all which includes the new 2.5 L I4 and 3.0 L PIP Duratec series engines having the V6 type lines. The 3.0 L Duratec is capable of providing a power of 240 hp or 179 kw, while the I4 is capable of providing a power of 175 hp or 130 kw. While on the other hand the 3.5 L Duratec 35 is well capable of producing 263 hp or 196 kw of power in its standard Fusion sports variant.

More auto makers cut prices today in response to the governments move to cut Cenvat by four per cent. Honda Siel Cars India slashed the prices of its products by up to Rs 31,000. The companys largest selling sedan City will be cheaper by Rs 19,000-Rs 21,000, while the Civic will cost Rs 29,000-Rs 31,000 less, a company statement said. Top-end sedan Accord would be cheaper by Rs 27,000-Rs 28,000, it added. The company, however, has not reduced the price of its sports-utility vehicle Honda CR-V as it is a fully imported unit.

Hindustan Motors said today it had cut the price of its flagship car Ambassador by up to Rs 14,500.

Bajaj Auto cut prices of its vehicles by up to Rs 4,400. The prices of two-wheelers have been reduced by up to Rs 2,100, while that of three-wheelers have been cut by up to Rs 4,400, Bajaj Auto Ltd BAL said in a statement.

Toyota Kirloskar Motors is offering Express Maintenance Service in India. It launched its periodic one hour maintenance service for all its vehicles. The scheme comes at no additional cost and is available to existing Toyota customers as well as the new ones. The new Express maintenance service will reduce the servicing time from a period of one day to one hour.

Toyota has taken steps to apply its Toyota Production System skills and Kaizen methods in order to reduce the idle period between the service processes. It aims to improve the full regular service within 90 minutes than its usual one day long process.

Toyota Altis

MGF is the first Toyota dealership in North India that has started offering Toyotas Express Maintenance Service at the same cost as the regular service. The Nippon Toyota in Kochi is first in Kerala and second in India to offer this service. TKM is planning to offer the service at all its 14 dealerships across India by the end of 2008 and at 6 more centres in 2009.

Toyota marks its presence in India as Toyota Kirloskar Motors. It is a joint venture between Toyota Motor Corp. and Kirloskar Group in India.