September 08, 2010

MC Ferromanganese Quotation in Rising Trend

Ferro-molybdenum market bounces back after European holiday

Ferro-manganese in Europe remains slow despite holiday's end

Tata Steel looking to sell S. African FeCr plant

Chinese domestic coke prices down

Australian car-recycling plan unlikely to boost scrap market

European ferro-vanadium still firming

US spot noble alloys prices stable following holiday period

European silico-manganese eases on brittle demand

European ferro-manganese market eases, awaits Q4

Chinese ferro-silicon prices rise sharply amid producer closures

Chinese magnesium prices edge up on higher costs

Magnesium ingot producers raise offers on higher ferrosilicon price

Magnesium powder market moves slowly

Few deals in Indian antimony market

Antimony trioxide price keep increasing

Russian ferrovanadium market up

Russian ferromolybdenum market strong

Russian silicomanganese market holds steady

Chinese vanadium market weak

European moly-metal market fairly active

European ferromolybdenum market consolidating

Global steam coal prices continue to rise- Sept 8

The latest data show Spot prices of thermal coal traded at global market continued to rise at a higher pace this week.

The prices of thermal coal at Australia’s Newcastle Port hit USD 93.9 per tonne on Aug 3 an increase of USD 2.87 per tonne or 3.15% from USD 91.03 per tonne at the end of last week.

Meanwhile, spot prices of thermal coal at South Africa’s Richards Port rose by USD 0.32 per tonne or 0.36% to USD 88.11 per tonne this week.

However, the prices at Europe’s ARA market fell to USD 91.43 per tonne this week, down USD 0.1 per tonne or 1.00% from USD 91.53 of last week.

_{(Sourced from en.sxcoal.com)}

Chinese mills expect profit rises in H2- Sept 6

Vale and Rio Tinto, the two leading iron ore producers have announced to cut the iron ore price by 10~13.3 percent in the fourth quarter of this year.

With the less raw material cost and increasing steel price, Chinese mills expected that the profits can rise in the second half of 2010.

China’s steel mills have hiked their prices for September and may cut their production due to the government’s carbon reduction policy.

However, some worried that miner will hike iron ore price if steel price kept moving upward.

Turkish steel mills restart scrap purchase after a pause- Sept 6

Turkish companies resumed purchases and thus gave the suppliers the opportunity to return the prices to the level of the H1 of August. The US companies offer HMS № 1&2 at USD 395 per tonne to 400 per tonne CFR. The prices for European and Russian scrap keep at USD 395 per tonne CFR.

The main reason of scrap purchases resumption is acute shortage of scrap in global market. In summer the collecting volumes were rather small, and the demand grew significantly recently in Eastern Asia, Japan and the USA. At that the price of the US HMS № 1&2 with the delivery to Far East reached USD 400 per tonne to USD 410 per tonne CFR.

In ASEAN countries it reached USD 420 per tonne CFR. Japanese H2 scrap is offered at USD 375 per tonne to USD 385 per tonne CFR in Korea and China and at the prices up to USD 420 per tonne CFR in Taiwan. In Japan Tokyo Steel Manufacturing increased scrap purchases price and other consumers had to follow this example.

The US traders are waiting for a new prices jump in domestic market in Sep. The majority of local rolling mills are finishing the season with empty warehouses. That is why they will have to refill the stockpiles very soon. Earlier the analysts believed that the prices for the key grades of scrap would grow by USD 20 per tonne to USD 40 per tonne.

_{(Sourced from ugmk.info)}

U.S. economic data damp down fears of new recession- Sept 6

Pending sales of previously owned U.S. homes rebounded unexpectedly in July and new claims for jobless benefits fell last week, helping quell fears the economy could face a double-dip recession.

Over 110,000 firms shut down in Spain- Sept 6

Madrid, Sep 3 (IANS/EFE) The economic recession forced a total of 110,058 Spanish companies to go out of business, the ministry of labour and immigration has said.

American H1 scrap average prices keep stable- Sept 3

On August 30, the average price of H1 scrap in Pittsburgh, Chicago and Philadelphia kept stable at US$330.83/long ton. Similarly, the price of No.2 bundle scrap kept stable at US$272/long ton.

It is reported that the H1 scrap prices in Pittsburgh, Chicago and Philadelphia were US$329.5/long ton, US$324.5/long ton, and US$338.5/long ton respectively.
On the other hand, the average price of H1 scrap in East America was at US$292.5/long.

Russia to release new export duties for nickel, copper- Sept 3

It is reported that Russia will release a new version of export duties for nickel and cooper.
In July, the Russian Finance Ministry proposed to draft zero-export duties if nickel price feel below US$12,000/ton, and will charge up to 30 percent when nickel price exceed US$20,000/ton.

In addition, the export tax for cooper will be introduced at 10 percent of the custom value.

Taiwan's stainless market remains depressed- Sept 3

As nickel price stopped increasing, Taiwan’s Yieh United Steel Corp. (Yusco) announced to remain its domestic stainless price unchanged for September.
Most market players thought that the demand in the fourth quarter will slow down though it is a typical hot season for stainless market.
It’s said that some stainless steel producers successfully raised their prices for export market, but failed to raise their domestic prices since the domestic demands are relatively weak.
Currently, the 304 2B base price in spot market was lower than mills’ new offers.

Ferro-chrome prices gain in Europe- Sept 2

It is reported that Europe ’s ferro-chrome prices continues to soar due to strong demand in past few weeks.
Especially, low carbon ferro-chrome price has increased by 5 percent and high carbon ferro-chrome has also raised by US$1.16~1.23/lb.
Currently, the stainless steel market has remained soft while falling consumption rate continues to decrease.
However, the shortage of ferro-chrome will cause price to remain on top.

Malaysia scrap imports up in May- Sept 2

Malaysia imported 287,000 tons of scrap in May, up by 750 percent compared to the same period last year.

In May, Malaysia imported scrap of 69,000 tons, 49,000 tons and 44,000 tons from the U.S. , Australia and U.K. respectively.

From January to May, Malaysian scrap import volume totaled 86,000 tons, up by 580 percent compared to the same period last year.

It is estimated that Malaysia would probably import 2.08 million tons in 2010.

Japan aluminium shipments in July up by 8% YoY- Sept 1

Reuters reported that Japanese shipments of aluminium products rose 7.8% in July from a year earlier to 179,619 tonnes.

Data provided by the Japan Aluminium Association showed that exports to China and Southeast Asia remained robust also supporting aluminium shipments.

July shipments were down 0.2% from June and about 87% of levels 2 years ago before the global economic slump of late 2008 led automakers and other manufacturers to slash output and cut demand for the metal.

Industry officials have said that demand has largely been boosted by a revival in the automobile sector but the pace of recovery this year is still unclear as the construction sector remains weak and shows no signs of picking up. Aluminium is widely used in products ranging from computers, planes and electronics to the food sector.

_{(Sourced from Reuters)}

Japan and China to ease export controls on rare earth metals- sept 1

Kyodo reported that Japan and China agreed that they will launch a vice minister level meeting to study Tokyo's call for Beijing to ease export controls on rare earth metals used in hybrid electric vehicles, mobile phones and other high tech products.

_{(Sourced from Kyodo)}

Japanese copper alloy product output rises for 9th month- Aug 31

According to the Japan Copper and Brass Association, Japan’s output of copper alloy products climbed for the 9th straight month in July from a year earlier because of demand from the semiconductor and auto industries.

The industry group said that production, including sheets and tubes gained 21.4% to 75,920 tonnes last month compared with 62,549 tonnes YoY. The increase was the smallest this year.

The Finance Ministry said that prices of copper used in pipes and wires have risen 19% in London from the year’s lowest closing price of USD 6,101 per tonne on June 7. Japan’s overseas shipments for goods advanced 23.5% in July from a year earlier.

Mr Keizo Tani the association’s research section manager said hat “Output exceeded the 75,000-ton level for the second straight month thanks to the export led economic recovery. Looking ahead, the industry is concerned about the yen’s strength and the expiry of the government’s subsidy program.”

_{(Sourced from Bloomberg)}

China Vanadium plans takeovers in the region- Aug 31

China Daily reported that China Vanadium Titano Magnetite Mining Company will focus on takeovers in the region as local demand for ore may rise 18 million tonnes by 2012.

Mr Jiang Zhongping chairman of China Vanadium said that Sichuan province, which borders Tibet will add 10 million tonnes of steel production capacity by 2012, translating into an additional iron ore demand of 18 million tonnes.

Mr Jiang said that "18 million tonnes is small to China but to Sichuan miners it's attractive. The Panxi region where we are located have abundant resources for acquisitions. Local expansions are our priority in the next few years."

China's moves to improve infrastructure and employment in its western provinces and rebuild areas damaged in the 2008 earthquake are adding to steel demand in Sichuan. China Vanadium's profit surged 75% to CNY 233.6 million in the H1 on higher production and prices.

Mr Kong Chi Mo CFO of China Vanadium said that the company may spend CNY 1.3 billion this year on acquisitions and capacity expansion. The company would have at least CNY 600 million in operating cash flow every year. It had CNY 300 million in bank loans by the end of June.

Mr Jiang said that China Vanadium plans takeovers Steelmakers restock as iron ore buys rise China Vanadium plans takeovers China iron ore imports up 9% in July The Company may produce up to 1.95 million tonnes of iron ore concentrates with about 55% iron content this year. It is building a 300,000 tonne production line to raise its total capacity to 2.6 million tonnes of concentrate. It's also building 1.5 million tonne line of pellets to raise capacity to as much as 1.86 million tonnes.

He said that China Vanadium may also add another 250,000 tonnes of concentrate capacity next year should it complete the purchase of the Maoling mine in Wenchuan, Sichuan from its majority shareholder.

_{(Sourced from China Daily)}

Sims Metals warns of weak scrap flows in N America and Europe- Aug 31

AAP reported that the world's largest scrap metal recycler Sims Metal Management Limited has warned scrap flows remain weak in North America and Europe.

Sims Metals said that "Ferrous scrap flows remain weak in North America and Europe, due in part to uncertain economic conditions and oppressive heat that has persisted for most of their summer. Demand for ferrous scrap remains lukewarm as steel mills attempt to match raw material inventories closely with sales and production visibility."

Mr Daniel Dienst CEO of Sims Metals said that the results were solid against the backdrop of a very challenging operating environment and considerable volatility. He added that "We nonetheless faced significant challenges in the fiscal year just completed as major Western economies attempted to navigate from crisis to recession to recovery."

_{(Sourced from AAP)}

Japanese H2 scrap average prices rise- Aug 30

During the fourth week of August, Japanese H2 scrap average price in Kanto region, Central part and Kansai region was ￥28,431/ton, up by ￥1,666/ton than the previous week.

It was the first time for scrap price to increase since the first week of July.

Among them, H2 scrap average price in the Kanto region was ￥29,333/ton, up by ￥1,166/ton; that in Central part was ￥28,060/ton, up by ￥2,500/ton; and that in Kansai region was ￥27,900/ton, rising by ￥1,333/ton compared to the last week.

American H1 scrap average prices rise- Aug 30

On 23th, August, American H1 scrap average price in Pittsburgh , Chicago and Philadelphia was US$330.83/long ton, up by US$5/ton than the previous week.

H1 scrap price in Pittsburgh was US$329.5/long ton; that in Chicago was US$324.5/long ton; that in Philadelphia was US$338.5/long ton, up by US$15/long ton. H1 scrap average price in New York , Boston and Houston was at US$292.5/long ton.

Besides, No.2 bundle scrap price kept stable at US$272/long ton.

U.S. scrap exports down in June- Aug 27

U.S. scrap exports in June totaled 1.7 million tons, down by 28.7 percent year on year.
China was the top scrap export destination at 343,000 tons, down by 42.0 percent; South Korea 312,000 tons, down by 3.0 percent; Taiwan 237,000 tons, up by 61.5 percent; Malaysia 181,000 tons, increased by 20.5 percent; and export of scrap to Turkey totaled 167,000 tons, decreased by 63.2 percent.
During January to June, the U.S. scrap exports reached 9.66 million tons total, down by 14.9 percent compared to the same time of last year.

US scrap price keeps soaring on strong buying from Asia- Aug 27

The global scrap price kept soaring this week due to short scrap supply in the global market.

Concerned about price hike, Taiwan’s steelmakers hesitated to purchase at this moment, but other Asian steel producers kept buying in response to serious shortage in local scrap supply.
It’s said that a Vietnamese steel producer has made a deal with an American scrap exporter to import at US$420/ton.
The US scrap price is expected to move upward in September since the supply will keep tight.

Spain’s scrap imports drop by 29% in 2009- Aug 27

Spain imported around 4.65 million tons of scrap in 2009, down by 29.5 percent compared to the same period of previous year.

France was the largest scrap provider at 1.47 million tons, down by 20.8 percent year on year; England 864,000 tons, down by 42.0 percent year on year.

Imports of scrap from Russia totaled 506,000 tons, down by 48.1 percent year on year; Netherlands 328,000 tons, down by 22.5 percent year on year.

Spain’s scrap imports drop by 29% in 2009- Aug 26

Spain imported around 4.65 million tons of scrap in 2009, down by 29.5 percent compared to the same period of previous year.
France was the largest scrap provider at 1.47 million tons, down by 20.8 percent year on year; England 864,000 tons, down by 42.0 percent year on year.
Imports of scrap from Russia totaled 506,000 tons, down by 48.1 percent year on year; Netherlands 328,000 tons, down by 22.5 percent year on year.

Tokyo Steel raises scrap purchasing price- Aug 26

Japan’s Tokyo Steel announced to raise their scrap purchasing price by ￥500~1,000/ton, starting from today.
The new price will be ￥31,250/ton, as the scrap export price to Taiwan will be up to US$405/ton.
However, the offer is still NT$800/ton higher than Taiwan 's market price. So, Taiwan 's scrap price has room to increase further in future.

Indian aluminium futures rise on spot demand- Aug 25

The aluminium prices moved up by INR 0.65 or 0.67% to INR 97.50 per kilogram at the futures trade as speculators enlarged their positions, driven by pick up in spot demand amid a firm trend overseas.
At the Multi Commodity Exchange platform, aluminium for delivery in October contract rose INR 0.65 or 0.67% to INR 97.50 per kilogram with a turnover of 4 lots.
September contract also gained INR 0.25 or 0.26% to INR 96.25 per kilogram with a turnover of 29 lots while August contract gained INR 0.20 or 0.21% to INR 95.35 per kilogram in a turnover of 305 lots.
Marketmen said that increased demand for the metal at the spot market and firm trend in base metals at the global markets mainly supported the hike in aluminium futures.

_{(Sourced from Press Trust of India)}

Tokyo Steel hikes scrap purchase prices at five works- Aug 25

TEX reported that Tokyo Steel Mfg Co had increased what the company pays for locally available ferrous scrap at its five works, effective with August 17th 2010 purchases.

A price increase of JPY 2,000 per tonne applies to all grades of seaborne overland arrivals at the Okayama works. Another price increase of JPY 1,500 per tonne applies to all grades of seaborne overland arrivals at the Kyushu, Takamatsu and Tahara works, and to all grades of overland arrivals at the Utsunomiya works.

As a result, the new delivered prices of No 2 HMS are JPY 31,500 per tonne for seaborne overland arrivals at the Okayama works; JPY 31,000 per tonne for seaborne overland arrivals at the Kyushu works; JPY 29,500 per tonne for seaborne overland arrivals at the Takamatsu works; JPY 30,000 per tonne for seaborne overland arrivals at the Tahara works and JPY 31,000 per tonne for overland arrivals at the Utsunomiya works.

_{(Sourced from TEX Report Limited)}

Posco plans to keep stainless output at full capacity in September- Aug 25

South Korea Posco decided to keep stainless steel production in September at full capacity.

There are still some positive outlook too from Posco's major markets, such as the stronger demand and stable price.

Currently, Posco produces 143,000 tons of stainless steel monthly. The output in its second quarter rose by 36 percent from a year ago because of reviving demand from China and Southeast Asia.

Chinese steel industry shows growth in international market share- Aug 25

China's crude steel output in 2009 reached 568 million tons, ranking first in the world based on The Blue Book of Business from Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Moreover, the total output in China is over two times as many as the sum of production in Japan, Russia, America and India in 2009.

For the global market share, the steel industry in China showed the increasing trend since 2004, reaching the peak at 12.09 percent in 2008.

South Korea’s ship plate production to reach new high- Aug 25

According to South Korea’s Hyundai Hysco, the company’s crude steel production capacity will hit new level.

However, Hyundai Hysco has implemented a new steel plant with 4 million tons production capacity and began to operate in April. The company plans to establish another 4 million tons plant with total investment about US$5 billion this year.

Meanwhile, Korea Steel Association has also reported early Korea steel production output in 2010 will increase by about 16 million tons to 80.2 million tons compared to last year. Hot rolled steel sheet production output will soar by 38.8 million tons and ship plate will rise by 11.4 million tons respectively.

SAIL's new unit at Rourkela on stream- Aug 24

As part of its Rs.70,000-crore expansion programme, Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) on Monday commissioned a unit procured from Italy-based Danieli at its Rourkela Steel Plant.

SAIL Chairman C. S. Verma inaugurated the second ladle furnace of steel melting shop-II of Rourkela Steel Plant, the company said in a statement.

“The ladle furnace is part of a Rs. 197.66-crore scheme for simultaneous blowing in basic oxygen furnace (BOF) convertors of steel melting shop-II.

“Total investment envisaged for different facilities as a part of the modernisation and expansion is Rs.11,812 crore,” it said.

SAIL is undertaking an estimated Rs.70,000-crore capacity augmentation at all of its steel plants. The country's largest steel producer has targeted to install an annual production capacity of about 23 million tonnes against the present 14 million tonnes.

The Rourkela plant produces about two million tonnes of steel and is targeting to double its annual capacity in the next two years.

“The 150-tonne ladle furnace, procured from Danieli India, is meant for secondary refining of steel for finer chemistry control and maintenance of ideal temperature for continuous casting,” it added.

The company said that the new furnace would increase the capacity of the unit from 1.68 million tonnes to 1.85 million tonnes of liquid steel annually. “...thereby increasing production of slabs by 0.17 million tonnes per annum,” it added.

_{(Sourced from: PTI)}

India's Mahindra vows to become global SUV player- Aug 24

Indian carmaker Mahindra and Mahindra said today it would use its purchase of South Korea's Ssangyong Motor to become a global player in the sport utility vehicle market.

Pawan Goenka, president of Mahindra's automotive and farm sector, said the merger would help both companies expand in the global market.

"We believe that Ssangyong and Mahindra make powerful companies to create a global SUV brand," he told reporters after the Indian company signed a preliminary agreement to buy a controlling stake in Ssangyong.

Ssangyong, South Korea's smallest carmaker, is mainly a manufacturer of low-priced but robust SUVs such as "Rexton," "Kyron" and "Actyon" that sell globally. It also makes sedans.

Kinetic Motor June quarter net plunges by 97%- Aug 23

Kinetic Motor Company reported a substantial drop in standalone net profit for the quarter ended June 2010.

During the quarter, the profit of the company declined 97.94% to INR 3.10 million from INR 150.20 million in the same quarter last year.

The company’s net sales for the quarter declined marginally 2.65% to INR 11 million, while total income for the quarter fell 96.18% to INR 11.10 million, when compared with the prior year period.

TATA Motors may issue DVR shares- Aug 23

Renewed investor confidence in TATA Motors, following a robust performance by the company in the last three quarters, may induce it to issue more shares under the differential voting rights banner for raising funds.

The country’s biggest vehicle maker is exploring various means of raising funds to meet capital requirements and cut debt. TATA Motors recently said it would explore the possibility of raising funds through issue of shares, bonds, debenture, warrants and other equity linked instruments in domestic and international markets in one or more tranches. The company recently received shareholders’ approval to raise INR 4,700 crore. The company has to repay debt of INR 8,000 crore this year, besides meeting capital expenditure of INR 2,500 to INR 3,000 crore on a standalone level.

As the company’s shares are carrying better valuations, compared to last year, the street is expecting TATA Motors to launch DVR shares. Six months ago, shares in TATA Motors were trading at around INR 780 levels. Since then, it has rising with continued growth in the company’s performance. Rating agencies and brokerages have also upgraded the company’s outlook and recommended a buy on the stock.

Mr C Ramakrishnan CFO of TATA Motors told analysts that “(Issue of DVR shares) surely is an instrument that we will look at, as it is one of the options the company has today, and the approval we have taken from the shareholders enable us to allow issuance of ‘A’ ordinary shares as well. Depending on the overall dilution and overall pricing levels, we will look at these options.”

The market is expecting issuance of USD 500 to USD 700 million worth of DVR shares, but the company management remained non committal on it. From the issue price of INR 305 in late 2008, which later dropped to INR 280 on the BSE in March last year.

_{(Sourced from BS)}

Tata Steel to set up industrial park in Orissa- Aug 20

After a gap of one-and-a-half decades, Tata Steel is set to build an industrial park on 3,200 acre acquired earlier by it to set up a mega steel mill at Gopalpur in Orissa's Ganjam district.

“Tata Steel as tenant anchor of the proposed industrial park will invest Rs.1,000 crore in the project,” Tata Steel Managing Director H. M. Nerukar told reporters after a meeting with Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.

Stating that the park would start with a ferrochrome plant and a bar mill, Mr. Nerukar said the project was likely to provide employment to about 1,000 people. Stating that though some investors had come up with proposals to set up units at the industrial park, but none had so far confirmed it, Mr. Nerukar said that Tata Steel's investment in the State would touch Rs.30,000 crore with the new project. Though the company had earlier abandoned its steel plant project at Gopalpur due to water scarcity, this time Tata Steel was planning to undertake desiltation and water harvesting to meet water requirement of the industrial park, he said. The Chief Minister is scheduled to lay the foundation of the industrial park.

_{(Sourced from: The Hindu)}

Mahindra plans to roll out new models in Lanka- Aug 20

Mahindra Group has revealed its plans to launch new models to augment its presence in the Sri Lanka automobile market.

Mr Anand Mahindra Mahindra group vice CMD said that “In keeping with our long-term plans for this region, we are soon going to enhance our current product portfolio in the market with the launch of several new products, including the Maxximo, a technologically modern sub-1 tonne pick-up, and HCVs (heavy commercial vehicles).”

He said the company is also studying the possibility of introducing an electric car, the Mahindra Reva, in Sri Lanka in future.

The company has already established a base in the country where it has been selling its range of tractors and utility vehicles for over a decade. Its automotive sector has sold over 4,000 vehicles in Sri Lanka since its entry.

Mr Anand Mahindra said the launch of the company’s compact truck the Mahindra Gio in Sri Lankan market has evoked a good response.

_{(Sourced from PTI)}

No plans to double Konkan Railway track- Aug 19

There is no proposal for doubling the existing Konkan Railway track, the union minister of state for railways informed Mr Shantaram Naik (Congress) in a written reply.

Mr Naik had sought to know from the Minster whether the Railway has such a proposal, cost involved and whether the Konkan Railway Corporation has approached the Centre for loan or financial assistance in this regard.

_{(Sourced from BL)}

SAIL to develop Kulti wagon unit with RITES- Aug 19

Steel Authority of India Limited said that it will enter into a pact next month with RITES a subsidiary of Indian Railways, for jointly setting up a railway wagon making unit in Kulti in West Bengal.

Mr CS Verma chairman of SAIL said that "We will sign the agreement next month for the joint venture unit with RITES.”

Mr Verma said the proposed JV unit will have an annual production capacity of 1,200 railway wagons. The project is estimated to cost INR 100 crore to INR 200 crore.

Mr Verma added that SAIL will supply its specialized steel products to the proposed wagon making unit.

For the project, SAIL may give its surplus land in Kulti near Burnpur, West Bengal. The location of the plant could be near Chittaranjan Locomotive Works.

_{(Sourced from PTI)}

Maruti Suzuki launches five CNG models- Aug 17

Maruti Suzuki on Friday unveiled its flagship CNG engine technology — ‘intelligent-Gas Port Injection' or i-GPI — on five popular models. The models include SX4, Eeco, WagonR, Estilo and Alto and will be available in the entire National Capital Region, including Delhi, Mumbai and Gujarat.

While sedan SX4 Vxi is priced at Rs. 7.47 lakh, WagonR Lxi comes with a price tag of Rs. 4.11 lakh. Prices of other models are: Estilo Lxi Rs. 4.05 lakh, Eeco 5-seater AC Rs. 3.64 lakh and Alto Lxi Rs. 3.23 lakh.
“With this initiative, the CNG footprint of the company spreads across entry-level cars, compact cars, sedans and MPV segments. We are confident that customers would value our i-GPI technology that is safe, reliable, clean and environment-friendly. Adapting the CNG technology in our vehicles is another step to keep low cost of ownership for our customers,” said Maruti Suzuki India Chairman R. C. Bhargava.

According to Shinzo Nakanishi, Managing Director & CEO, Maruti Suzuki India, “This is the first instance when a car manufacturer has developed and launched factory-fitted technologically superior CNG engines in India. CNG is environment-friendly and also reduce country's dependence on imported fuels. The company's big ticket entry into the CNG fuel segment augurs well for the environment.” The i-GPI bi-fuel technology engine offers an intelligent ride as it ensures more power vis-à-vis retro-fitted CNG vehicles and offers a peppier ride experience on a par with that of a petrol-fuelled engine, while achieving high fuel efficiency at the same time. The factory fitted CNG vehicles score high on safety and reliability vis-à-vis the aftermarket retro-fitted options, he said.

Mr. Nakanishi further said that as the CNG technology was factory-fitted, customers would enjoy the full warranty benefits, including extended warranty. To top it all, the CNG vehicles from Maruti Suzuki would enjoy the nationwide back up of over 2,700 Maruti service stations, he added.

Auto industry sustains growth- Aug 16

The overall production data for April to July 2010 shows production growth of 32.61% over same period last year with industry producing 5.570 million vehicles.

As per report sales of passenger vehicles segment in April to July 2010 grew at 33.78 % over same period last year. Passenger cars grew by 34.62 %, utility vehicles grew by 23.87 % and multi purpose vehicles grew by 43.96 % in April to July 2010 over same period last year.

The overall domestic sale of commercial vehicles segment registered growth of 49.77% in April to July 2010 as compared to the same period last year. Medium & heavy commercial vehicles registered growth at 74.19% and light commercial vehicles grew at 32.87 %.

Three wheelers sales during April to July 2010 recorded a growth rate of 18.08 %. While passenger carriers grew by 20.87 % and goods carriers grew at 7.24 % in this period.

The report added that the two wheelers registered a growth rate of 28.31 % in April to July 2010. Scooters, Mopeds and Motorcycles grew by 44.67%, 23.86% and 25.59 % respectively.

In April to July 2010 overall automobile exports registered a growth rate of 54.46 %. The report added that passenger vehicles, two wheelers, commercial vehicles and three wheelers segments grew by 9.01%, 61.52%, 95.31% and 141.97% respectively in April to July 2010 over April to July 2009.

_{(Sourced from Business Standard)}

TATA Steel eying 21 million tonnes capacity in India- Aug 16

Leading steel maker TATA Steel’s domestic manufacturing capacity will jump three folds to 21 million tonne per annum following the expansion of its Jamshedpur project and Orissa and Chattisgarh Greenfield units becoming operational.

The present manufacturing capacity of TATA Steel stands at 7 million tonnes per annum.

Mr Ratan Tata chairman of TATA Steel at the annual general meeting said that “After completion of the three million tonne expansion project at Jamshedpur, the company’s steel manufacturing capacity in Indian operations will enhance to 10 million tonnes per annum by 2012.”

The company is also setting up a 6 million tonnes per annum Greenfield steel plant at Kalinganagar in Orissa and 5 million tonnes per annum. Greenfield integrated steel plant at Bastar in Chhattisgarh.

Mr Tata said that “We are in the process of placing orders for equipment for our 6 million tonnes Greenfield steel plant in Orissa, which is expected to be on ground in 3 to 4 years.”

The company is constructing the said plant in two phases.

_{(Sourced from PTI)}

Tata Motors may set up India plant for small trucks- Aug 13

Tata Motors is looking at setting up a new plant in India to manufacture small trucks, the company's India head P M Telang said on Thursday.

Tata Motors, bolstered by a turnaround at its luxury Jaguar and Land Rover (JLR) brands and a surge in demand at home, is looking to expand its commercial vehicles business, its chief executive said on Thursday.

The company sees strong potential for the trucks business globally, for which it is exploring synergies with partner Fiat, Group Chief Executive and Managing Director Carl-Peter Forster told reporters. Tata currently has a joint venture to sell Fiat-branded cars such as Linea, Grande Punto and the Palio in India.
The firm is also looking to build a plant in India to manufacture small trucks.

"In commercial vehicles, we are a dominant player in India. Tata has all the ingredients to be and it is our ambition to be a big player globally," Foster said.

Fifty-five year old Forster, who joined Tata from General Motors Europe earlier this year to bolster its international ambitions, said new products from the company's luxury brand stable of Jaguar and Land Rover were being well received.

The company now plans to come up with a modern-day Defender Land Rover model.

Earlier this week, Tata, India's leading vehicle maker with about two-thirds of the Indian market, swept past forecasts with a fourth straight quarterly profit, driven by demand for JLR. The results boosted its shares to their highest in at least two decades.

Tata's results come amid a surge in demand for cars, trucks and buses in India. Car sales in India hit a record high in July, jumping 38 per cent from a year earlier, boosted by the launch of new models and the strong economy.

It makes utility vehicles such as the Safari, Tata Magic and Winger and cars such as the ultra-cheap Nano, Tata Indica and the premium sedan Indigo Manza.
On Tuesday, Tata Motors posted a forecast-beating Rs 1,989 crore quarterly profit.

SAIL slashes proposed investment in Sindri- Aug 13

Steel Authority of India Limited announced that it had slashed investment for the proposed Sindri steel plant and a urea unit in Jharkhand by almost half to around INR 35,000 crore.

Talking to newsmen on the sidelines of a function Mr C S Verma chairman of SAIL said the company had now proposed an investment of around INR 35,000 crore at Sindri plant of Fertilizer Corporation of India.

Mr Verma said that the trimmed proposal is in contrast to its earlier plans of setting up a 12 million tonnes per annum mega steel plant along with a urea unit, which would have cost the company about INR 70,000 crore.

He added that “The feasibility report on the new proposed plants would be completed in the next 2 to 3 months. After that we will take a view on filing the proposal to Fertilizer Ministry.”

It is learnt that SAIL did not find this proposal commercially viable and decided to trim the scale of the project.

The company proposed to set up a 5 million tonnes per annum steel plant along with 1.15 million tonne urea plant on about 6,500 acres in Sindri, which remained closed since March 2002. The Fertilizer Ministry had earlier rejected SAIL's proposal for setting up the plant saying it should first commit on setting up the urea units. Also, it asked SAIL to submit a revised proposal.

_{(Sourced from Hindu)}

Regulatory body for auto industry soon- Aug 12

A specialised body for regulating the auto industry will soon be set up for sustainable growth of the sector, union Minister for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises Vilasrao Deshmukh has said."It will act as a catalyst for sustainable growth of the Indian automobile industry," Deshmukh said at the golden jubilee celebrations of the Automotive Component Manufacturers Association of India (ACMA) Tuesday.
Talking to mediapersons on the sidelines of the event, Deshmukh said the new body would be set up within the next few months. "I can't tell you the exact timing. But it will be soon. Hopefully within a few months."
The regulatory body will be called the National Automotive Authority.
Deshmukh pointed out that the Indian automobile industry is the second fastest growing auto industry in the world. "Government will take all necessary steps to ensure sustainable growth of the industry," he added.
Addressing the 50th anniversary celebration of ACMA, former Indian president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam lauded the resilience of the Indian automobile industry.
"Auto industry is one of the most important drivers of India 's economic growth. It has shown great resilience during the recent global economic crisis," Kalam said.
He said the size of India 's auto industry would soon cross USD 100 billion. Currently, the size of Indian auto industry is around USD 90 billion.

_--IANS

Hyundai mulls price hike due to increased input costs- Aug 12

The country's second largest car maker Hyundai Motor India today said it is mulling to increase prices of its products due to rising input costs.

"There will be something, but I can not say when and how much... We are still evaluating it," Hyundai Motor India Director (Marketing and Sales) Arvind Saxena told PTI when asked if the company will increase the prices of its cars.

Last week, rival and market leader Maruti Suzuki India had raised the prices of its various models, except Alto, by up to Rs 7,500 citing a sharp increase in input costs with immediate effect.
Prices of raw materials such as tyres are increasing gradually due to hardening of natural rubber rates. Steel prices have also put additional pressure on the original equipment manufacturers.
"The (rising) input costs are putting pressure on us... We are discussing internally how to handle the situation," Saxena added.
Due to increased natural rubber prices, tyre producers of the country have raised their product rates by about 10 per cent in this year so far. It was hinted that if the situation is not controlled, then a hike of 25 per cent could happen during this fiscal in different phases.
Apollo Tyres have raised the rates by over 10 per cent and considering another price hike in the near future.

Hindustan Motors planning 2011 Ambassador comeback- Aug 11

KOLKATA: The Amby simply refuses to die. The iconic car that draws its lineage from Morris Oxford series II (Landmaster) and series III (Ambassador) is set to undergo the most ambitious makeover ever with heart as well as cosmetic surgery lined up to revive its sagging popularity.

Though Hindustan Motors will continue to manufacture the current Ambassador for the taxi segment, it expects the new avatar to become the bread-earner for the company in 3-5 years.

"The new Amby will have a retro design and sport cutting-edge engineering to compete on comfort and value for money. Overseas experts have been roped in for the metamorphosis. The new version will be ready by January-February 2011 for test trials and is expected to undergo validation by May so that commercial production can begin next July," chairman C K Birla told TOI on the sideslines of the AGM on Tuesday.

While the platform and overall dimensions will be retained, the exteriors will be comprehensively redesigned by auto styling experts from Europe.

MD Manoj Jha said the new car will look very different from the current Ambassador. "The new car will be a sibling of the Ambassador but the change will be so holistic that it will be a completely different vehicle. Apart from the new-look retro exterior, the interiors will be revamped. It will be powered by BS IV-complaint and BS V-ready 1.5 litre and 2 litre di-esel as well as petrol engines that are powerful and fuel-efficient. Overseas technology firms are working on each aspect of the car to ensure the vehicle is on a par with cont-emporary vehicles on Indian roads in terms of built quality and reliability," he said.

(Sourced from: The Economics Times)

NALCO achieves record production of alumina and Aluminium- Aug 11

National Aluminium Company Limited has achieved the highest ever metal production of 0.431 million tonnes in the financial year 2009 to 2010 against the previous best of 0.361 million tonnes achieved in 2008 to 2009 with an increase of 14.4%.

Similarly, the company achieved a record production of 1.592 million tonnes of alumina hydrate with capacity utilization of 101.05% against the previous year level of 1.577 million tonnes. Power generation has also increased to 6295 MU from 5541 MU achieved in the year 2008 to 2009.

It may be mentioned that despite global recession, when many companies around the world were resorting to production cuts, NALCO not only kept its operation at optimal level, but also surged ahead with 2nd phase expansion in order to leverage its advantage of low cost production and anticipated increase in demand for metal in domestic market.

The production performance is considered to be impressive in spite of the severe coal shortage faced not only by NALCO, but also by the industries across the country.

According to the audited financial results for the year 2009 to 2010 taken on record in the Board of Directors Meeting held in New Delhi, the Company has posted a net profit of INR 814.22 crore against the previous year’s figure of INR 1272.27 crore and sales turnover of INR 5310.47 crore against INR 5531.06 crore achieved during the previous year. Although production volume has increased, the lower profit is mainly due to decrease in sales realization because of lower LME prices and higher fuel costs.

Use of modern technology in steel industry in India- Aug 10

The steel making technology in India is on the verge of entering the next generation with major players concentrating on up gradation and modernization of facilities. The focus is on making use of iron ore fines to produce steel.

The front runner is Steel Authority of India Ltd which is in discussions with two foreign steel majors for using this technology. Mr CS Verma chairman of SAIL said that “Use of iron ore fines will help in cost efficiency. The detailed project report for a joint venture with POSCO is almost ready. The POSCO tie up will help us get FINEX technology. Today, India doesn't have technology to use iron ore fines.”

SAIL is also in talks with Japanese steel-maker Kobe Steel for setting up a plant near Durgapur, where Kobe will provide its patented ITMK-3 technology that uses iron ore in the form of nuggets.

Also, SAIL plans to use new technologies, such as coke dry quenching facilities, in coke ovens in the five blast furnaces that it is upgrading. This would not only help the company increase coke production, but also reduce its coking coal demands, Mr Verma said. SAIL also spends about INR 150 crore annually on its in house research and development.

Mr Verma said that the blast furnaces productivity will increase by almost 1,500 tonnes per day by equipping them with top pressure recovery turbines and auxiliary fuel injection systems.

The report added that private enterprises, too, are not far behind. Jindal Steel and Power Ltd's production cost is expected to be lower by 15% to 20% by using hot briquetted iron. JSPL recently acquired Shadeed Iron and Steel Co's new plant in Oman, which has this technology.

JSW Steel has tied up with Japan's JFE Steel to target the fast-growing automobile sector. The two companies will work together on energy efficiency, environmental management, improvement of production process quality and yield.

_{(Sourced from Business Line)}

Mahindra board approves SsangYong Motor bid- Aug 10

Auto major Mahindra & Mahindra's board on Saturday approved bidding to acquire beleaguered South Korea's SsangYong Motor ahead of the August 10 deadline for submission of bids. "The board of directors of the company at its meeting held on August 7, 2010, have authorised submission of a binding bid to acquire majority stake in SsangYong Motor Co Ltd, South Korea," the company said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

The company, however, did not elaborate on the details.
Company officials were tight-lipped on the sum that the firm could shell out to make its bid successful, although it has been speculated that SsangYong could be worth up to USD 500 million.
The board's decision came after it had postponed taking a decision twice in July, as the company sought more information and wanted to take a final call to a date closer to the August 10 deadline of submission of bids.

Earlier on July 15, a special meeting of the company's board had deferred the decision to be taken on July 28, which also did not finalise on the bid.

SsangYong Motor (SM), which is into mainly manufacturing of sports utility vehicles (SUV) and recreational vehicles (RV), had extended the deadline for submission of bids to August 10 from July 20.
SM has SUV models like 'Rexton', 'Kyron' and 'Actyon' and sedan 'Chairman'. The Seoul-based firm, which has been undergoing a court-led restructuring since 2009, had shortlisted six bidders, including Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M), P K Ruia-led Ruia Group and a Nissan-led consortium, as potential suitors.
Industry analysts had said M&M is interested in SM as the homegrown utility vehicle major can gain technological benefits from the range of SUVs that the South Korean firm has at its disposal.
In 2008, M&M had lost out to Tata Motors in the race to acquire the British premium car brands Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford.

The other Indian entity interested to acquire SM - the P K Ruia group, which had sought more time to complete the due diligence, had also said it would be taking a final decision in the next two days.
China's SAIC Motor Corp owns 10 per cent in the troubled automaker and about 70 per cent is held by creditors, led by state-owned Korea Development Bank.

_{(Sourced from HT)}

New models to help Maruti retain No 1 place- Aug 9

India's largest car-maker, Maruti Suzuki, plans to ride on the back of new launches in the future to retain its numero uno position in the market place and beat-back competition from its peers.
"We will continue to retain our 50 per cent market share going forward. Though there is stiff competition, we intend to face it through the launch of more models in the future," Maruti Suzuki India 's Chairman, R C Bhargava, said.

Admitting to "stiff competition" in the domestic automobile market, Bhargava said Maruti's strategy to beat the competition would be through the launch of new models.
"We will continue to launch more models in future to face the intense competition in this sector," he said.

Bhargava's comments assume significance as the car-maker's market share slipped below the 50 per cent mark during the January-June 2010 period.
Presently, the auto major faces competition from car-makers such as General Motors, Ford, Fiat, Toyota and Honda.

Maruti is eyeing a double-digit growth at between 12-14 per cent this year, Bhargava said.
"Yes, we have been facing severe production constraints. If we had not faced production constraints, we would have been achieved a higher marketshare today. But, we are always trying to cater to the people's demand," he said.

The company plans to boost capacity at its plants in Gurgaon and Manesar to 1.2 million units from one million to cater to the market demand by end-this year.

"We are expanding our production capacity to meet the market demand," he said.
Bhargava, who has penned Maruti's success story in his book -- The Maruti Story -- said, "It was a long journey for Maruti Suzuki in India , but still we have miles to go..."

"It was a trial and tribulation for many decades to float a brand in India . No doubt, Maruti has shown the way to many car-makers to manufacture low-cost small cars in the Indian market," he said.
Input costs have been a major concern these days and it has been a big challenge for car-makers to maintain prices, the auto industry veteran said.

"On one hand we are facing production constraints and on the other we are facing a shortage of components. However, we are still managing both and delivering our product to the people," he said.
Bhargava thanked Sanjay Gandhi, who had apprenticed with Rolls-Royce Motors before returning to India to manufacture a people's car.

"Credit goes to the Gandhi family who helped float the Maruti brand in the Indian market," Bhargava said.

TATA and Fiat JV facing mounting losses- Aug 9

The 50:50 JV posted a loss of INR 970.7 crore for 2009-10, an increase of 39%. Fiat India Automobiles Pvt Ltd the three year old joint venture company formed through the association of TATA Motors and Fiat Auto SpA is facing rough weather, as it posted record losses last year.

The 50:50 JV company posted a loss of INR 970.7 crore for 2009-10, an increase of 39% over the INR 698.4 crore loss in the year before.

FIAPL which owns the INR 4,000 crore Ranjangaon facility near Pune is the company responsible for manufacturing cars, engines and transmissions for both Fiat, one of Italy's largest carmakers and TATA Motors brands.

While neither company commented on the reason for the losses, analysts said it was primarily due to under utilized plant and high material costs.

Production of Fiat products such as the Grande Punto and the Linea has been on a much lower level than earlier anticipated by the market. The company had discontinued the Palio model recently due to muted response and increased competition.

At present, Fiat makes less than 2,300 units per month at the plant, whose capacity is 16,500 per month. The Italian company utilized less than 15% of the installed capacity of the plant last year, producing just 26,180 units for both domestic and export markets.

TATA Motors produces the Indica Vista and Indigo Manza at the plant, which has flexible production lines.

The models of both Fiat and TATA produced at the plant share engines and transmission. Production of TATA branded products from Ranjangaon was not to be ascertained.

Fiat sales have been sliding for two months, with a drop of 14% seen in domestic sales last month, at 2,301 units.

As a result of an agreement between TATA and Fiat in 2006, both companies sell their products through joint outlets, making use of a single distribution channel. This has resulted in increased instances of product cannibalization, according to some sales representatives employed at various showrooms.

Further, according to the report, TATA Motors has cut on finance provided to FIAPL substantially to INR 97.50 crore during the reporting year, against INR 291.47 crore given in the previous one. TATA had an investment of INR 999.54 crore as on March 31, representing 50% of the holding.

TATA Motors has also given a letter of comfort to certain banks and other lenders against credit facilities extended to FIAPL. This is however, restricted to 50% of the value of credit facilities extended, INR 1,193.8 crore as of March 31.

_{(Sourced from BS)}

Maruti to increase sales outlets to 1,500 in 5 years- August 6

The country's largest car maker Maruti Suzuki is planning to increase its sales outlets across the country to 1,500 in the next five years, a top official of the company said.

Presently the company had 828 sales outlets and there were plans to double them in the next five years, General Manager (Marketing and Sales), Partho Banerjee told reporters.

The endeavour of Maruti was to have presence in all districts and taluks. 'We try to identify the socio economic conditions of a particular area, two-wheeler sales and based on that work out a strategy to start outlets, he said.

Maruti, which sells 8000 cars per month in Kerala, is aiming to increase its sales outlets in the state to 100 in the next five years from the present 59, he said.

On exports, he said totally 1.5 lakh vehicles were exported last year of which 80 per cent was A-star. Main export market was European countries.

Maruti Suzuki today launched Alto-K10 in the Kerala market which comes with improved suspension, new cable type transmission, superior brake syustem and more knee room for rear seat passengers.

The existing Alto clocks average sales of over 20,000 units every month nationally and 2,700 in Kerala and the company hoped to better this with the new launch, Banerjee told reporters.

On the sales expectations this year, he said one million Maruti cars were sold last year. 'We have capacity constraints, but our endeavour is to better it'. In the first quarter of this fiscal, there had been already 26 per cent growth for the entire industry, he said.

The New Alto is priced LXI RS 3.02 lakh and VXI Rs 3.15 lakh (ex-showroom Kochi).

_{(Sourced from The Economics Times)}

Hindalco raises aluminium prices by INR 7500 per tone- August 6

Reuters reported that leading Indian aluminium maker Hindalco Industries is raising aluminium prices by INR 7,500 per tonne effective immediately on higher world prices.

Mr Sunirmal Talukdar CFO of Hindalco said that the company beat market forecasts to post an 11% rise in June quarter standalone net profit.

_{(Sourced from Reuters)}

Tata-Fiat JV faces mounting losses- August 5

The 50:50 JV posted a loss of Rs 970.7 crore for 2009-10, an increase of 39 per cent.

Fiat India Automobiles Pvt Ltd (FIAPL), the three-year-old joint venture company formed through the association of Tata Motors and Fiat Auto SpA, is facing rough weather, as it posted record losses last year.

Tata Motors, India's largest automobile company, has published the financial details of its various subsidiaries and associate companies in the annual report for last year, released on Monday. The company publishes financial records pertaining to its own share in the entity.

FIAPL, which owns the Rs 4,000-crore Ranjangaon facility near Pune, is the company responsible for manufacturing cars, engines and transmissions for both Fiat, one of Italy's largest carmakers, and Tata Motors’ brands.

While neither company commented on the reason for the losses, analysts said it was primarily due to under-utilised plant and high material costs.

Production of Fiat products such as the Grande Punto (a hatchback) and the Linea (a sedan) has been on a much lower level than earlier anticipated by the market. The company had discontinued the Palio model recently due to muted response and increased competition.

At present, Fiat makes less than 2,300 units per month at the plant, whose capacity is 16,500 per month. The Italian company utilised less than 15 per cent of the installed capacity of the plant last year, producing just 26,180 units for both domestic and export markets.

Tata Motors produces the Indica Vista and Indigo Manza at the plant, which has flexible production lines.

The models of both Fiat and Tata produced at the plant share engines and transmission. Production of Tata branded products from Ranjangaon was not to be ascertained.
Fiat sales have been sliding for two months, with a drop of 14 per cent seen in domestic sales last month, at 2,301 units.
As a result of an agreement between Tata and Fiat in 2006, both companies sell their products through joint outlets, making use of a single distribution channel. This has resulted in increased instances of product cannibalization, according to some sales representatives employed at various showrooms.
Further, according to the report, Tata Motors has cut on finance provided to FIAPL substantially to Rs 197.50 crore during the reporting year, against Rs 291.47 crore given in the previous one. Tata had an investment of Rs 999.54 crore as on March 31, representing 50 per cent of the holding.

Tata Motors has also given a letter of comfort to certain banks and other lenders against credit facilities extended to FIAPL. This is, however, restricted to 50 per cent of the value of credit facilities extended, Rs 1,193.8 crore as of March 31.

Hyundai rolls out 30 lakh car from TN unit- August 5

Korean car maker Hyundai Motor today rolled out its 30 lakh car from its Sriperumbudur facility in Tamil Nadu.

The car was flagged off by HMIL CEO H W Park at a ceremony.

The company, entered India with its flagship model Santro in 1998, is hoping to sell 3 lakh units this year, Park said.

Maruti sales zoom in July to cross 100,000 units- August 4

Hyundai pips Tata Motors to regain Number 2 spot.
Riding high on the back of new launches, Maruti Suzuki, the country's largest car manufacturer, has again crossed the 100,000 sales mark in a month, while also recording its highest-ever domestic sales in July.

It saw total sales (domestic and exports) of 100,857 units during the month, a growth of 29 per cent over the 78,074 units sold during the same month last year. It sold 90,114 units in the domestic market in July, helped by new launches such as the updated WagonR and the Eeco, and continued upbeat demand for the Swift, DZire and Ritz outstripping supply.

Maruti had sold 67,528 units in the domestic market last July. Its previous best performance in the domestic market came in May, when it sold 90,041 units (with exports, the total was also over 100,000).

Shashank Srivastava, chief general manager (marketing), said: “The sales momentum can be kept up in the coming months, especially now that market sentiments are looking very positive. In addition, the monsoon has been very good. The only point of worry is the inflation levels.”

The company, which had spooked investors last month when it showed higher than expected royalty payout to parent Suzuki over technology transfer, is now gearing up to launch a new variant of the Alto hatchback on Wednesday, which will sport a more powerful engine.

Analysts are expecting the buoyant sales trend to continue for Maruti in the coming months, given its strong product plans and the coming festive season.

Hyundai surge, too

Meanwhile, Korean car brand Hyundai Motors regained the number two spot in July, which it had lost to Tata Motors, as increased dispatches of the Verna Transform and sustained demand for the i10 and i20 models pushed overall numbers.

The company sold 28,811 units in the domestic market, an increase of 24 per cent over the 23,193 units sold in the same month last year.

Tata Motors, India's biggest auto company (by revenue) had trounced Hyundai for the second spot in June by a small margin, on the back of higher dispatches of the Nano. Tata Motors’ domestic sales for July was 27,864 units.

Arvind Saxena, Director, Marketing and Sales, Hyundai Motor India, said: “The increased demand clearly shows that the recently launched Verna Transform has been well received. The market continues to be positive and in the next quarter, we expect the trend to continue, with the onset of the festive season.”

Sales of Mahindra & Mahindra, India's biggest maker of utility vehicles, were flat at 16,720 units, growth of 0.19 per cent during July, as compared to 16,688 units sold in the corresponding month a year earlier.

The company sells the Scorpio, Xylo and Bolero, among other vehicles, including pick-ups, under the utility vehicle category. M&M has been facing shortage in parts supply, such as that for tyres, which had impacted production.

Sales of the Logan sedan showed an uptick for the third continuous month, selling 752 units of the car as compared to 444 units in the same month last year.

M&M had bought Renault's 49 per cent stake in the troubled joint venture company, Mahindra Renault, a few months earlier.

Meanwhile, sales of Honda Siel Cars India declined by 3.5 per cent during the reporting month, at 4,685 units as against 4,857 units. The company's Civic and Jazz models have been under pressure for some time, due to increased competition.

Maruti raises prices by Rs 2,000-7,500

Maruti Suzuki, the country’s biggest car maker, has raised prices across models by Rs 2,000-7,500, with immediate effect. The increase, which had been brought about due to rise in input costs, would be seen across all models, except the Alto, stated the company.

SAIL RSP registers higher production in April to July- August 4

Steel Authority of India Limited’s Rourkela Steel Plant has continued to operate its major production facilities well over the rated capacity in the first four months April to July of the current fiscal.

According to RSP sources, the steel plant produced 1.095 million tonnes of Sinter, 0.727 million tonnes of hot metal, 0.666 million tonnes of crude steel and 0.663 million tonnes of saleable steel, corresponding to 107%, 109%, 105% and 113% respectively.

It has achieved significant growth in the production of hot metal and saleable steel during April-July 2010, compared to the corresponding period last year.

Sources said that similarly in dispatch of saleable steel, RSP surpassed the levels achieved during the corresponding period of last year.

In the finishing units segment, the steel plant has produced 157,120 tonnes of plate mill plates, 228,187 tonnes of hot rolled coils for sale, 101,122 tonnes of hot rolled plates, 16,138 tonnes of ERW pipes, 10,741 tonnes of SW pipes, 50,540 tonnes of cold rolled coils, 3,193 tonnes of tin plates, 39,897 tonnes of galvanized sheets and 26,168 tonnes of CRNO steel during the period.

_{(Sourced from PTI)}

Maruti hikes prices by up to Rs 7,500 across segments- August 3

The country's largest car maker Maruti Suzuki India on Monday raised the prices of all its models, except Alto, by up to Rs 7,500, citing a sharp increase in input costs.

The new prices are applicable with immediate effect, the company said.

"Due to a sharp increase in the input costs, Maruti Suzuki India has decided to pass on a part of this cost impact to customers," the company said in a statement.

The price revision, however, will not include its largest selling model Alto, it added.

"The approximate price revision on various models (Ex Showroom, Delhi) ranges between Rs 2,000 and Rs 7,500. The price increase ranges between 1 per cent and 1.5 per cent," the statement said.

The hike comes on a day when the company reported its best ever domestic monthly sales for July at 90,114 units, a 33.45 per cent increase from 67,528 units in July 2009.

Maruti Suzuki India on Monday reported 29.18 per cent jump in its total sales, including exports, for July at 1,00,857 units. It had sold 78,074 units in the same month last year.

_{(Sourced from The Economic Times)}

Indian steel imports in 2009-10 up by 25%- August 3

It is reported that Indian steel imports for the year 2009-10 have risen 25%. This is according to the provisional figures released by the Joint Plant Committee.

As compared to 5.839 million tonnes of steel imports in 2008-09, the figure shot up to 7.296 million tonnes last year.

In the light of increased imports, the steel ministry is keeping a close watch on the situation.

Mr A Sai Prathap minister of state for steel said that "The Government is carefully watching the trends in imports of steel into India and may apply suitable policy measures to mitigate the adverse consequences of any surge in steel imports, as and when required."

_{(Sourced from BL)}

Maruti's new Alto to cost upto 2 lakh- August 2

India's largest car maker Maruti Suzuki is all set to bring on the road a revamped and cheaper Alto. Maruti feels that now is the best time to launch a stripped down version of its largest selling car. It sells close to 20,000 Altos every month making it India's best selling car model.

Maruti hopes the leaner Alto will not only help it counter competition from new cars in the markets but also replace the iconic Maruti 800 which is being phased out. Sources told ET Now that the new Alto will have a 1 litre K-Series Engine and will be priced up to Rs 2 lakh.

Maruti Chairman, RC Bhargava said: "The Alto will not be much more expensive than the 800 and we will keep trying to do whatever we can to make it more and more affordable."

"The car will be in showrooms in the next couple of months but don't expect major changes in design. The company doesn't want to change the design of its highly successful car model and its not just Alto, Maruti is planning to refresh its entire car line up a new Wagon R which is also expected before end of April," Bhargava added.

Maruti on Saturday said that it had invested Rs 290 crore in upgrading its hatchback WagonR that will be rolled out from a new platform with a new engine by end of this month.

"This (new WagonR) is not a minor change, but a full model change. So, lot of investment have gone for it. We have invested about Rs 290 crore for upgrading the model," Maruti Suzuki India Executive Officer (Marketing and Sales) Mayank Pareek told reporters.

The new WagonR will have a Bharat Stage IV emission norms compliant K10B engine. It will be produced from the company's Gurgaon facility.

_{(Sourced from ZIGWHEELS)}

Hinduja Foundries plans Greenfield unit- August 2

Hinduja Foundries has earmarked about INR 220 crore for its expansion plans in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

The reports added that the company is likely to invest around INR 170 crore for setting up a Greenfield facility at Toopran in Hyderabad in Andhra Pradesh and the remaining INR 50 crore is to be utilized for balance of plant and optimization at its Sriperumbudur plant in Tamil Nadu. The new facility at Toopran is likely to come up on 60 acre with a capacity of around 48,000 tonne per annum.

Of the total the company is likely to fund the INR 50 crore through debt and equity. However the company did not disclose as to how the remaining funds are to be raised.

_{(Sourced from Project today)}

'India not ready for electric cars yet'- July 30

While Mahindra & Mahindra has taken a lead in development of electric vehicles (EVs) by buying the majority stake in Reva Electric Car Company, other car makers are also developing concept vehicles to cater to the emerging demand for EVs in India in the years to come. At the moment, that demand is still quite small.

By industry estimates, less than five per cent of the passenger car market in India would comprise electric cars over the next five-seven years, at 1,75,000 units, when the industry size would double to 3.5 million units, as against over 1.6 million in 2009. Globally, it is anticipated that by 2020, five per cent or nearly two million cars would be EVs.

_{(Sourced from: MSN News)}

Ashok Leyland buys 26% equity in UK-based bus maker- July 30

Commercial vehicle major Ashok Leyland (ALL) has picked up a 26% stake in Optare, a UK-based bus manufacturer. The long-term strategic co-operation will involve an investment of $7.5 million and is expected to support ALL’s efforts to accelerate technology, new product development and address new markets.

ALL has been negotiating with the $125-million Optare for over a year to clinch the deal. The UK company, founded in 1985, specialises in low-floor, mid-sized buses as well as modern range of city buses.

Having operations at Leeds and Blackburn, Optare has close to 34% market share in the UK, where it competes with players such as WrightBus and Alexander Dennis. This strategic alliance will be a critical part of ALL’s global bus programme that is currently under development, ALL MD R Seshasayee said on Thursday.
Optare has a capacity to produce 1,100 units per annum.

It had pioneered the low-floor, double-decker in the UK and its new electric bus product has already fetched orders, with more countries in the Europe promoting cleaner and greener mobility. The Optare Solo is a leader in the midibus sector and over 4,000 units have been sold so far. It operates in the UK, Continental Europe and North America.

ALL will have access to Optare’s technology, including a modern range of mid-size and full-size city buses, which will appeal to several global markets, Hinduja Automotive executive vice-chairman V Sumantran said.

Optare CEO Jim Sumner said (via a live video conference from the UK) that the company had been scouting for a long-term strategic partner and the new partnership will help lead the way in low-carbon designs.

Mr Sumantran said that apart from access to Optare’s current range of products, they will share IPR (intellectual property rights) on co-developed products. The two companies will also share components in various areas like those related to climate control or drive train systems as both seek to leverage on common design elements. To a query, he said this was a fresh offer and the stake was finalised at more or less the market price.

ALL has the option of raising its stake in Optare in the future. A part of the investment will be used immediately to service Optare’s debt, with whom ALL has an exclusive manufacturing agreement.

_{(Sourced from: The Economic Times)}

Maruti to fix oil leakage in 6K Altos- July 29

Maruti Suzuki said on Wednesday it is fixing an oil leakage in the engines of 6,000 Altos produced in April that causes starting problems in the small car, less than a year after more than 1 lakh units of its flagship export model A-Star were recalled for faulty fuel pumps.
The company has asked its more than 800 sales network centres and nearly 2,740 service workshops to check and repair the affected Altos, but a spokesman played down the episode, saying it is not a recall. “The vehicle, if affected, may show some starting problems. This can be easily repaired at the workshop," he said.
The country’s biggest carmaker sold 64,500 Altos between April and June. Maruti could not ascertain yet the number of cars that face the problem.
The company also ships Alto to Nepal and Sri Lanka. The A-Stars were recalled from November 2009 from India and export markets such as Europe, Australia and North Africa.
Experts said problems in Alto erupted after the company tweaked the F-series engine that was upgraded to meet Bharat Stage IV emission norms that kicked in April.
"The engine comes with some design changes incorporated in its core structure, which could have led to this problem. It can affect the pressure in the engine and also impact car’s performance," said an auto expert, preferring not to be named.
Maruti dealers in Delhi NCR have asked customers to get their cars rectified at the earliest after it started receiving complaints of oil leakages during May and June, people familiar with the matter said. "We do not know the total number of cars having the problem. We have called 28 customers to bring their cars for technical evaluation," a Delhi-based Maruti dealer said on condition of anonymity.
Alto is Maruti’s largest-selling model in India. The company sold 2.35 lakh Altos, or 27% of total sales, for the year to end March.
The company will be hoping that the incident does not snowball into a recall scandal linked to faulty pedals that dented Japanese carmaker Toyota’s reputation for quality. Maruti is already up against an eroding market share as competition intensifies. It is also launching a refurbished Alto next month to capitalise on the strong brand recall of the car.

(Sourced from: The Economic Times)

NALCO to relocate its second aluminum plant to Sundergarh- July 29

Sify reported that National Aluminum Company has zeroed in on Sundergarh in western Orissa to relocate its second aluminium cum power complex, estimated to cost about INR 16,000 crore after the originally selected site of the project in Jharsuguda district ran into problem on environment grounds.
Sources said that the company is likely to submit a proposal on new location of the project to the state government next week. But, the fate of the project even at the new location hinges on availability of water. The company has written to the state government for construction of a barrage on a seasonal tributary of Ib River to store water for use in the project. It has offered to bear the cost of the barrage estimated at about INR 100 crore.
The sources said that though the company proposed to build 0.5 million tonnes per annum aluminum smelter and 1260 MW captive power plant, the final project size will depend on the amount of water allotted to it. Going by the thumb rule, the project will require about 1,200 acres of land at the new location which is about 200 kilometers from the earlier site in Jharsuguda.
Nalco was crowded out of Jharsuguda, which boasts of 3 other mega proposals for aluminum cum power complexes from Vednata, Hindalco and L & T Dubal on environment pollution grounds.
Seeing the rush of investment at Jharsuguda, the Orissa government had asked the Nagpur based National Environment Engineering Research Institute to conduct a pollution carrying capacity study for the region. NEERI, in its report, has capped the total aluminum capacity for the region at 2 million tonne.
This sealed the fate of Nalco’s Jharsuguda plan as Vedanta Aluminum, Hindalco and L&T Dubal, which also have their projects in the same locality have already received the government nod for 1.6 million tonne, 0.36 million tonne and 0.3 million tonne aluminum capacities respectively, taking the aggregate envisaged aluminum output for the region past 2 million tonne.
Hence, Nalco had started looking for alternative sites for the project and sent teams to Sundergarh, Sambalpur and Bolangir to scout for new location.
Mr BL Bagra director finance of NALCO said that “After analyzing various datas collected by these teams on availability of land, water sources and transportation facility etc at various places, we zeroed in on a place 40 kilometers from Sundergarh town as most suitable for the project. A formal proposal informing the state government about the new location will be sent next week.”

_{(Sourced from Sify.com)}

Japanese steel major JFE to take 14.99 % stake in JSW- July 28

Announcing the contours of the deal, JSW Steel Vice-Chairman and Managing Director Sajjan Jindal at a teleconference said the deal would result in a minimum accrual of Rs.4,800 crore and a ‘potential accrual' of Rs.5,700 crore to the company.

JSW Steel Vice Chairman and Managing Director Sajjan Jindal addressing a press conference in Mumbai on Tuesday

The agreement would enable JFE to appoint a non-executive director on the JSW Steel board. JFE is the fifth largest steel producer in the world. “The deal ensures that JFE's holdings never cross 14.99 per cent,” Mr. Jindal clarified. The deal aimed “at deleveraging the company's balance sheet,” he said.

JSW Steel has now debts amounting to Rs.16,000 crore. “The deal will result in JSW's debt-equity ratio to fall from the current level of 1.7:1 to 0.5:1 by 2012,” Mr. Jindal said. The deal would enable the company to access technology, service demand for steel in the automotive industry and reduce costs of production, he added.

Apart from the share subscription agreement, JSW signed a technical assistance agreement, a collaboration agreement and a “substrate supply agreement,” that would enable JSW to source steel for the automotive sector from JFE till it establishes its own capacity. Pointing out that steel for automotive applications is “mostly imported,” Mr. Jindal said JFE would be the project consultant for its new cold rolling mill. He termed the deal “game changing in JSW's evolution.” “The agreements with JFE will short circuit our learning curve,” he added.

JSW steel, on a standalone basis, reported a net profit of Rs.350 crore in the first quarter, an increase of 3 per cent over the previous year. Net sales increased by 19 per cent to Rs.4,647 crore. Terming the environment in the quarter as ‘challenging', Mr. Jindal said domestic steel prices were lower because of declining prices in the international market. He said raw material prices, particularly coking coal, continued to remain high. The first shipments from the company's iron ore mine in Chile were likely to commence in October, he said.

(Sourced from The Hindu)

Old models Alto, Santro, Indica in top four best-selling list- July 28

Indians’ romance with their old cars seems eternal. Despite a crowd of new models, around 30 at the last count, tried and tested old war horses such as Suzuki Alto, M800, Hyundai Santro, Mahindra Bolero, Ford Ikon, Hyundai Accent and Tata Indica continue to give the newbies a run for their sales.

Indeed, three of the top four highest-selling models in India - Alto, Santro and Indica - are all a decade old or more.

Says Maruti Suzuki chairman RC Bhargava: “The largest-selling cars in India are still the cheapest cars. Alto is the biggest volume gainer for Maruti because at a low price, it is a full-service car. Also customers get similar features in all cars and the basic technology is not that different. So, why not go for something tried and tested?.”

Unlike other markets, where most models have a definite shelf life, in India companies seldom phase out an old model entirely. In most of the cases, the old model and its refurbished avatar exist side by side, adding incremental volumes to the overall brand. Car marketers say this consumer peculiarity has to do with trusting something that's tried and tested and looking for the best value for money option.

Consider the numbers. Out of the one lakh cars it sells every month, Maruti Suzuki's 10 year-old bestseller, Alto, sells around 20,000 units. The company is all set to launch a new-age sibling for the Alto next month using both models to clock around 350,000 units a year.

Maruti’s next bestseller is another decade-old model, though it has recently been refurbished—the Wagon R, which sells around 11,000-12,000 units every month. What’s more, Maruti’s oldest model, the M800, despite being phased out of 13 cities due to emission norms, still sells around 2,000 units a month, and is on wait list in markets such as Srinagar.

The second-largest selling model in the small car market is an another old-timer—the Hyundai Santro, which, 12 years on, still sells around 7,000 units a month. Together with its younger stablemate i10, the duo clock around 20,000 units a month for Hyundai.

The Santro’s stable sales is one reason why Hyundai has no plans of phasing it out. And although it has had a number of refreshes in the last 12 years, Hyundai has no plans of any more nips and tucks for now.

“Last year, we introduced some minor changes such as beige interiors and grille in the Santro and we don’t want to do anything major right now,” said Arvind Saxena, director, sales and marketing, Hyundai Motor India. “The Santro is selling well and making changes will increase cost and lead to a price mark up.”

Like Maruti, Hyundai has other models in its stable which are going strong even after a long stint on the roads. Case in point, Accent. The company sells around 1100-1200 Accents a month, a decent number in the mid-size sedan segment.

The third largest selling small car, the Tata Indica, is also of the same vintage as the Santro and first rolled out in 1998. Since then the car has had nips and tucks nearly every year with the bigger changes coming in 2001 (Indica V2) and 2006 (Indica V2 Xeta) and 2008 (Indica Vista). The Indica sells around 11,000 units a month and, till the Nano ramp up hits peak capacity, is still Tata Motors’ largest selling car.

Marketers are baffled at this peculiar Indian phenomenon of old models going strong. “It may have to do with credibility and affordability,” says the head of sales of a volume car company. “In some cases consumers want to buy a brand that’s an established success to derisk a high-value purchase.

_{(Sourced from: The Economics Times)}

TATA Sponge Iron Q2 profit up by 59%- July 27

TATA Sponge Iron disclosed a phenomenal rise in standalone net profit for the quarter ended June 2010. During the quarter, the profit of the company rose 59.38% to INR 259.000 million from INR 162.500 million in the same quarter previous year.

(In INR million)

The company reported net sales for the quarter for the quarter rose 20.09% to INR 1,404.600 million, while total income for the quarter rose 19.08% to INR 1,418.500 million, when compared with the prior year period.

(Sourced from Steel Guru)

SAIL to revamp Jagdishpur unit- July 27

NEW DELHI: Public sector steel major Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) on Monday announced its plans to invest Rs. 100 crore to revive its steel unit at Jagdishpur in Uttar Pradesh. Formerly known as

FULFILLING OBJECTIVES: (from left) Steel Secretary Atul Chaturvedi, SAIL Chairman C. S. Verma and Managing Director of Rourkela Steel Plant S. N. Singh at a stone laying function in Jagdishpur on Monday.

Malvika Steel, the defunct unit was acquired last year for Rs. 209 crore and rechristened as Jagdishpur SAIL Unit (JSU).

“The total cost of JSU's Phase-1 revival has been estimated to be Rs. 100 crore,” SAIL said in a statement here on the occasion of a stone laying ceremony for a steel (TMT bar) mill there.

As part of the revival plan, SAIL is to set up a 1.50 lakh tonnes per annum (tpa) TMT bar unit at a cost of Rs. 46 crore to manufacture items required by infrastructure and construction companies.

“The entire team of JSU has to work with exemplary dedication, zeal and commitment to fulfil the objectives of acquiring the unit,” Steel Secretary Atul Chaturvedi said while laying the foundation for the mill along with SAIL Chairman C. S. Verma.

“The proposed facilities and product-mix envisaged in Phase-1 also include a 10,000 tpa cold forming line and a 13,000 tpa corrugation line,” SAIL said in its statement.

_{(Sourced from The Hindu)}

Honda to launch plug-in hybrid, electric car in 2012- July 26

Honda Motor Co plans to launch a plug-in hybrid and battery electric model in 2012 as part of its strategy to push to the front of a race by global automakers to develop more fuel-efficient cars.

Japan's No.2 automaker was one of the world's only car makers to offer gasoline-electric cars during the past decade but has begun looking like a laggard without a "strong" hybrid or concrete plans to mass-produce pure electric cars.

Global competitors from Volkswagen AG (to Hyundai Motor Co are preparing to launch strong hybrid models that are more fuel-efficient than Honda's "mild" hybrids such as the Insight, while also readying battery-run cars.

Chief Executive Takanobu Ito, outlining the firm's medium-term strategy, said Honda was planning to sell a plug-in hybrid vehicle and a battery-powered electric model in Japan and the United States in 2012.

Japanese rival Toyota Motor Corp is planning to bring a plug-in hybrid to market in 2011 and recently formed an alliance with California start-up Tesla Motors to develop electric vehicles.

"Considering Toyota is set to launch a plug-in hybrid next year, Honda's 2012 schedule sounds a bit far off. This underscores the gap in the level of technology at these automakers," said Kazutaka Oshima, president of Rakuten Investment Management.

"That said, while Toyota has the lead, there really isn't anyone else who is as advanced as Toyota in this field and Honda appears to be close."
Asked about the walk-outs over the past two months at affiliated suppliers in China, the world's biggest auto market, Ito acknowledged that poor communication may have been at fault.

"It's possible that the dialogue between workers and our local management in China was lacking," he said, vowing to do better to prevent further disruption.

_{(Sourced from The Times of India)}

Steel Strips starts exports to BMW from Chennai- July 26

It is reported that BMW had nominated SSWL to supply spare wheel for its world renowned model MINI. Mini is currently made in Oxford plant and it is exported to about 70 countries worldwide.

Steel Strips Wheels Ltd said that it has begun exports to BMW on July 23, from its Chennai factory.

BMW had nominated SSWL to supply spare wheel for its world renowned model MINI. Mini is currently made in Oxford plant and it is exported to about 70 countries worldwide.

SSWL shall export 48000 wheels annually for this particular model.

BMW has also agreed to consider SSWL for their future models where they are using steel wheels. SSWL has been nominated after clearing very stringent requirements of BMW on quality / testing parameters.

_{(Sourced from India Infoline News Service)}

Toyota Corolla Altis diesel launched- July 23

Oil burner variant of Toyota's sedan launched at Rs 10.95 lakh to Rs 13.75 lakh - to go up against the Chevrolet Cruze and Skoda Laura.

Toyota Kirloskar Motors India has launched the diesel variant of its Corolla Altis sedan. The move had been on the cards for quite a while now, as ZigWheels had mentioned in its Cars of 2010 story in the beginning of this year. The new variant has been sensibly priced at Rs 10.95 lakh for the base variant to Rs 13.75 lakh for the top end version of the car. Armed with the diesel powerplant, the car will go head to head against the likes of the Chevrolet Cruze and the Skoda Laura in the Rs 12-15 lakh segment.

While most diesel cars in this segment sport 2.0-litre engines, the Altis may pop a surprise by donning a 1.4-litre D-4D engine under its hood. The engine is already seen on the international Corolla, as also the Toyota Yaris, and it won't be surprising to see the mill in the Indian Altis. Given the impending launch of the Toyota Etios sedan and hatchback in diesel versions later this year, the Corolla Altis may work as the harbinger of the small D-4D in India.

The variable geometry turbocharger equipped engine makes about 85bhp of power, but its real strength lies in its fuel efficiency - a factor that has often been neglected in this segment that people are now warming up to. The car returned a phenomenal 14 kmpl in the city and 24 kmpl on the highway during our tests.

TATA NYK Shipping JV expands fleet- July 23

TATA NYK Shipping Pte Ltd a 50 50 joint venture between TATA Steel and Japan's NYK Line has expanded its fleet size from one ship in 2007 to 2011. Only one of these vessels is owned by the company while the others have been acquired on charter.

The reports said that the vessels are of different types such as Supramax 45,000 DWT to 60,000 DWT, Panamax 65,000 DWT to 80,000 DWT and Capesize 150,000 DWT and above adding diversity in terms of cargo carrying capacity.

The company which is primarily engaged in transportation of dry bulk and break bulk cargoes including coal, iron ore, bauxite and steel products mainly for the TATA Group posted 52 % growth in cargo throughput in 2009 to 2010 to 6.79 million tonnes up from 4.48 million tonnes in 2008 to 2009.

Consequently the revenue earning was up 40 % to INR 352 crore. According to TATA Steel's annual report for 2009 to 2010 however the company suffered a net loss of INR 3 crore during the year under review as compared to a net profit of INR 1 crore in 2008 to 2009.

_{(Sourced from Business Line)}

Sesa Goa to buy land for steel mill this fiscal- July 22

Aiming to diversify into steel making, the country's largest iron ore exporter Sesa Goa targets to buy land for the proposed plant in Jharkhand this financial year.

Mr PK Mukherjee MD of Sesa Goa told PTI that "No story has so far unfolded on this front. We are planning to meet our first milestone that is of acquiring land for the project in Jharkhand in the current fiscal.”

The company had last year evinced interest to foray into making steel primarily to get access to rich iron ore reserves in states like Jharkhand and Orissa, which encourage value addition while granting such mineral deposits to companies.

Sesa Goa already has pig iron making facilities at its premises in Goa. The Vedanta Group company operates mines in Goa, Karnataka and Orissa. In Orissa, the miner is already in pact with Orissa government to foray in steel making.

The group's Chairman Anil Agarwal had earlier said that “Though, its premature to talk about it, we will look for strategic investor or partner who has specialization of making steel to partner us for the steel ventures. We would like to be a mining company in the JV.”

Mr Mukherjee had earlier said the company has a license to prospect iron ore mines in Jharkhand and it has applied to convert it into a mining license.

Sesa Goa produced about 21 million tonnes of iron ore last fiscal and expects the output to grow in the current financial year, as it targets the 50 million tonnes mark in next 2 to 3 years. The company is actively scouting for properties in India and overseas to meet its iron ore production target.

_{(Sourced from ET)}

SAIL plans to develop port in eastern coast- July 21

According to an advertisement in the Economic Times, Steel Authority of India Ltd., the nation’s largest steel producer, plans to develop a deep draft port in the eastern coast.

The newspaper said that the company is seeking consultants to identify the location of the port and the bids can be submitted till July 31.

_{(Sourced from ET)}

Indian Railway revenue earnings up by 3%- July 21

The total approximate earnings of Indian Railways on originating basis during the period from July 1st to 10th 2010 were INR 2267.35 crore as compared to INR 2191.91 crore during the same period last year registering an increase of 3.44%.

The total goods earnings have gone up from INR 1445.45 crore during the period from July 1st to 10th 2009 to INR 1503.83 crore during July 1st to 10th 2010, showing an increase of 4.04%. The total passenger revenue earnings during the period 1 July 1st to 10th 2010 were INR 684.22 crore as compared to INR 666.37 crore during the same period last year, reflecting an increase of 2.68%. The revenue earnings from other coaching amounted to INR 63.16 crore during this period compared to INR 56.49 crore during the same period last year, showing an increase of 11.81%.

The total approximate number of passengers booked during the period July 1st to 10th 2010 were 218.70 million as compared to 210.09 million during the same period last year, showing an increase of 4.10%. In the suburban and non-suburban sectors, the number of passengers booked during July 1st to 10th 2010 were 115.03 million and 103.67 million as compared to 110.56 million and 99.53 million during the same period
last year, registering an increase of 4.04% and 4.16% respectively.

_{(Sourced from www.steelguru.com)}

TATA Steel sees sharp spurt in prices this fiscal- July 19

TATA Steel expects a sharp rise in steel prices during the current fiscal on the back of the economic recovery and strong performance by consumer industries like infrastructure and automobiles. TATA Steel in its latest annual report said that "With economic and steel market conditions becoming more favorable and the steel producers needing to recover the rise in input costs, it is anticipated that there will be a strong rise in steel prices in 2010-11.” Domestic steel firms saw prices coming down by up to INR 6,000 a tonne to around INR 27,000 to INR 33,000 during the past few months. It said that buoyed by expected strong performances by consuming segments like automotive, construction, infrastructure and capital goods, steel consumption is expected to increase by more than 10% this fiscal.

_{(Sourced from PTI)}

Fiat 500 to soon start second India innings- July 19

Fiat is re-launching its flagship compact marquee Cinquecento, popularly known as Fiat 500, in the next few months. This follows the successful entry of Volkswagen’s iconic Beetle, which has surpassed original sales targets and created a flutter in the luxury small car space.
Italian carmaker had launched Cinquecento in 2008, creating the market for high-end hatchbacks that costs as much as premium sedans. But its marketing efforts failed to lift Cinquecento sales and only 68 units were sold till date. In contrast, Volkswagen sold over 300 units of Beetle since its launch last November, with over 100 units sold in the May-June period alone.
"Retro cars with distinctive looks are a big hit and that’s what we would capture in our new campaign to be rolled out in a few months," said Fiat Auto India CEO Rajeev Kapoor. Fiat has delayed the launch of its other luxury cars such as Bravo sedan and is banking on the compact luxury vehicle segment by relaunching Cinquecento.
Cinquecento was reintroduced in Europe in March 2007, exactly 50 years after the first Fiat 500 rolled out of the factory in Turin.
In India, it comes strapped 1.3 litre CRDi multi-jet engine (that also powers, the Punto, Maruti Swift and Tata Indica Vista) but Fiat aims to hit the market with some new variants of the car and will allow customisation to get an advantage in the market.

_{(Sourced from www.economictimes.indiatimes.com )}

Car makers cautious on diesel model launches- July 16

Car makers are anxiously watching the government’s move over its stated intention to deregulate diesel prices, as future model variants to be launched in India will depend entirely on the price at which the cheaper (than petrol) fuel is sold.

Car makers such as Mitsubishi, Maruti Suzuki, Toyota Kirloskar and Ford India are reviewing their plans of adding diesel engine options to the existing petrol models. Presently, diesel is cheaper than petrol by a minimum of 28 per cent, going up to 40 per cent in the four major metros.

Sandeep Singh, deputy managing director (sales and marketing), Toyota Kirloskar, said, “Our decision on launching the diesel variant for the Etios or for other models will be based on the government’s move for the fuel. About 50 per cent of small car buyers are buying diesel models currently but this will be reviewed if diesel prices go up.”

Besides being the cheaper fuel, thanks to the heavy subsidy provided by the government, diesel has traditionally been more fuel-efficient than petrol counterparts, due to the high energy content in the fuel. Diesel models also command a premium over petrol variants, which can range between Rs 50,000 and Rs 100,000 for compact cars and sedans, due to their expensive and complex technology.
However, with engineers working on tuning petrol engines to make these more fuel efficient, car makers are focusing more on petrol.

Y V S Vijay Kumar, executive vice president and business head of the Chennai car plant of Hindustan Motors, said, “Our diesel Outlander may not come to India very soon, as there is uncertainty over the price of the fuel. Customers will move towards the petrol models as they carry more power and refinement, if the price of diesel goes up.”

Outlander is the premium sports utility vehicle from Mitsubishi and is presently sold only with a petrol engine.Korea’s Hyundai Motor had reportedly concluded a recent feasibility study for having a diesel engine plant in the country which would have an annual capacity of 300,000 units per annum. The company is yet to decide on the proposed plant, whose study was conducted prior to the government’s deregulation plans. The plant would cost $550 million (Rs 2,500 crore).

Arvind Saxena, director, sales and marketing, Hyundai Motor India, said “Over foru to six years, the price gap between petrol and diesel has narrowed considerably. After the deregulation, this gap is expected to narrow even further and this will increase the demand for gasoline powered cars.”
Ford India is in a more comfortable situation. It has built a one-its-kind engine plant, which can manufacture both petrol and diesel engines on the same manufacturing line.

_{(Sourced from www.business-standard.com)}

Mitsubishi Motors keen to pickup stake in Hindustan Motors- July 16

BS reported that Japan's largest automakers Mitsubishi Motors Corporation is showing keen interest in having equity participation in the loss-making auto company Hindustan Motors, which is also its current technical partner.

The two companies, which have maintained a relatively low-profile in the Indian automotive segment, currently share a technical collaboration through the Chennai Car Plant which makes two sedans and two sports utility vehicles for Mitsubishi.

According to sources attached to Mitsubishi, officials from the Japanese-headquartered company will be approaching promoters of Hindustan Motors for negotiations in due course. The company is expecting a positive rejoinder from the HM, which is run by the C K Birla Group.

Mitsubishi had forged a technical alliance with Hindustan Motors, makers of the iconic Ambassador car, twelve years ago. However, products of the two companies have remained separate over the years with the CCP making only Mitsubishi products.

_{(Sourced from BS)}

Renault to roll out Influence in India- July 15

French carmaker Renault would launch its first sedan -- Influence -- in India by 2011, a top company official said today.

"We will introduce the first sedan Influence by 2011... and a SUV Koleos by 2012-13," Renault India Country General Manager and Managing Director Marc Nassif told reporters on the sidelines of an event here.

He said Influence would be manufactured at the company's facility at Oragadam near here. Renault has tied-up with Japanese automaker Nissan for setting up the manufacturing unit at a joint-investment of Rs 4,500 crore.

Nassif, who is also the Deputy Managing Director of Renault-Nissan Automobile India, said the company is keen on localising the products they manufacture at their facility.

"I think Micra will have around 60 per cent of localised content...we want that to reach 80 per cent," he said. During a panel discussion on India as a global hub of automobiles and components at the two-day AUTOSCM 2010 seminar on automobile supply chain industry organised by CII, Nassif said, "India needs to solve all the infrastructure issues for increasing auto components supply to other countries."

Global logistics firm DHL CEO (Global Forwarding) Christoph Remund said that in years to come the automobile industry's real growth is expected from the Middle Eastern, Asian and Latin American markets.

Port of Zeebrugge, Belgium Representative Sven De Wachter said the supply chain industry must be recognised by Indians.

Heaping praises over the Indian government's endeavour to draft a policy (for this industry), he said it should happen at a 'rapid pace'.

He added that India's domestic market is driving the economy and because of it the country was not affected by the global financial crisis.

_{(Sourced from www.financialexpress.com)}

Benxi Steel to supply auto plate to TATA Motors- July 15

Liaoning Province based Chinese steel producer Benxi Iron and Steel Group has announced that it recently signed a contract for the supply of 5,000 tonnes of SPCC SD cold rolled steel auto plates to India's TATA Motors Group.

The products in question will be produced by Benxi Steel's No 2 cold rolling plant. The scheduled delivery date is August 5th 2010. Benxi Steel has also revealed that if the cooperation proves to be successful TATA Motors will sign a long term contract with them.

_{(Sourced from Steel Orbis)}

BMW 5-Series now made in India- July 14

German luxury car maker BMW today started rolling out new 5-Series sedans from its Chennai facility in India at a price between Rs 38.9 lakh and Rs 58 lakh (ex-showroom).

The company had unveiled the new 5-Series sedans with petrol and diesel options in April.
"The BMW 5 Series is the core product in our model range and has significantly contributed to the image and success of BMW in India. We are confident that the new BMW 5 Series produced in Chennai will further increase our momentum in the Indian luxury car segment," BMW Plant Managing Director Juergen Eder said in a statement.

The company will start the deliveries of the cars by end of this month, the statement added.
While the 523i, 530d and 525d will be produced as completely-knocked-down units at the Chennai facility, the 535i will be imported as a completely-built-unit.

The company has sold over 3,700 units of the 5-Series sedans in India since 2007. The luxury model accounts for over 50 per cent BMW's total sales globally.

_{(Sourced from www.financialexpress.com)}

Indian steel majors hoping for better market in August- July 14

It is reported that some of the leading Indian steel makers said prices of the steel could rise next month on account of increased input cost pressure and improved demand.

Mr Vikram Amin ED sales & marketing of Essar Steel said that “Steel prices have bottomed out. With the liquidation of inventories we expect the prices to firm up now August onwards.”

A SAIL spokesperson said that “Steel prices have already gone down by 12 to 15 % during the current financial year. Outlook for prices is now stable in view of the growing economy.”

The spokesperson added that the company did not change the prices of its products in July and there is no scope for further cut in prices. Steel firms did not alter their price line in the current month mainly in view of a fall in demand as construction work slowed down ahead of monsoon.

Mr Vinod Garg executive director Ispat Industries however said he did not anticipate a price hike due to rise in imports. Mr Garg said that “I don't see steel prices falling anymore. There is a high input cost pressure."

_{(Sourced from NDTV Profit)}

Growth in car sales to halve this fiscal- July 14

Rising commodity prices and interest rates could slow growth in the country's car sales by half in 2010-11, according to the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM). Releasing its first ever such demand forecast for the Indian automobile industry here on Thursday, SIAM pegged total domestic car sales for 2010-11 at 17.1 lakh units, a year-on-year (y-o-y) growth of about 12-13 per cent per cent.

While car sales are predicted to be higher than last year's figure of 15.3 lakh units, the rate of growth is far short of the 25 per cent witnessed in 2009-10 over the previous year, when sales stood at 12.2 lakh units. The forecasts were based on several parameters ranging from macro economic factors like GDP, inflation and interest rates to income demographics and financing opportunities.

The association said supply constraints from components makers facing rising costs of raw materials, besides a declining low-base effect and compliance with new emission norms later this year, will be major factors that will impact sales growth.

SIAM president Pawan Goenka said over the past six months prices of natural rubber had increased 40 per cent, while that of pig iron and steel had risen by 25 per cent and 10 per cent respectively. In order to recover costs, car manufacturers have begun increasing prices of their models.

“Anything that affects the equated monthly installment, whether it is price increases or interest rate increases, will have an impact on demand,” said Goenka, who is also M&M president (automotive and farm equipment). The April deadline for the pan-India roll out of Bharat Stage III emission norms has been put off till October. “With the change in emission norms, prices will go up, and we have always had concerns on interest rate increases.” However, on a positive note, Goenka said the slower sales growth followed strong expansion in the country’s auto industry.

SIAM has forecast the highest growth rate among all auto segments to be in commercial vehicles (goods) at 19-20 per cent with sales touching 6.2 lakh units in 2010-11 as against 5.3 lakh units last fiscal. “There is expected to be a lot of demand in the CV (commercial vehicle) space in India...it will experience good growth,” Goenka said.

In data released for the April-June quarter, SIAM said passenger vehicle sales increased 32.7 per cent at 5.54 lakh units against 4.17 lakh units sold in the same period.

_{(Sourced from www.financialexpress.com)}

Indian Railways carry 218 million tonnes of freight in 2 months- July 13

The Indian Railways have carried 218.25 million tonnes of revenue earning freight traffic during April to June 2010. The freight carried shows an increase of 5.16 million tonnes over the freight traffic of 213.09 million tonnes actually carried during the corresponding period last year, registering an increase of 2.42%.

As per report during the month of June 2010, the revenue earning freight traffic carried by Indian Railways was 71.85 million tonnes. There is an increase of 0.32 million tonnes over the actual freight traffic of 71.53 million tonnes carried by the Indian Railways during the same period last year, showing an increase of 0.45%.

_{(Sourced from www.steelguru.com)}

Mahindra & Mahindra rolling Xylo micro-hybrid- July 13

Mahindra & Mahindra expressed that it shall be rolling out on the red carpets the micro-hybrid version of its upcoming versatile machine Xylo prior to the year-end, as it moves up to launch two electric cars from the Reva string by the end of the year 2011.While many of the customers are aware of the concept of Hybrid, the Micro-hybrid is an advanced step into the same arena where the machine switches off the engine mechanically putting it on the idle mode and restarts with the wink of pressing the accelerator, without switching on the engine time and again.
However the same alternative is already present in its brands like the SUV Scorpio and Bolero Maxi Truck.

According to the president of the automotive and farm equipment division, Pawan Goenka, New Delhi expressed that the group is planning to roll out the Xylo micro-hybrid before the end of the year. He further added that there already about 50,000 micro-hybrid vehicles from the M&M domain donning on the roads now.

Upon asking, the president of the automotive and farm equipment division upon the roadmap for the newly grabbed electric car manufacturer Reva, he expressed that the group is looking forward for the commercial launch of Reva NXR and NXG by the fourth quarter of the year 2011.

_{(Sourced from www.in.com)}

Tata Motors, JLR to jointly develop engines, cars- July 12

Tata Motors has kickstarted a move to jointly develop engines and vehicles with its UK subsidiary, Jaguar Land Rover, over two years after its $2.3 billion acquisition of the British marques."Initiatives have been taken on joint development programmes for engines, vehicles and platforms, which would leverage skills of the company (Tata Motors) and Jaguar Land Rover -- resulting in synergies in operations of the company and its subsidiary," Tata Motors said.
The company informed its shareholders about the development, and sought their approval for raising up to Rs 4,700 crore in long-term funds.
Tata Motors, however, did not elaborate on the various programmes that have been initiated with Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) and other subsidiaries.
"These would yield substantial savings in the operations of the company and its subsidiaries," it said.
Tata Motors had acquired the two iconic brands from US car giant Ford in 2008 for $2.3 billion.
The company singled out the role played by its non-executive vice-chairman, Ravi Kant, in bringing about synergies between Tata Motors and JLR. In recognition of his achievements, the company's board approved a remuneration of 75,000 pounds (about Rs 51 lakh) per annum for Kant.
"As vice chairman, he (Kant) has been performing a key function in overseeing and coordinating the operations of JLR, besides reviewing the existing manufacturing processes, which would result in substantial cost reduction and rationalisation of platforms," the firm said.
Tata Motors had appointed Kant as advisor with effect from June 2, 2009.
As part of its strategy to expand the company's domestic and global footprint, Tata Motors had announced that it would invest about Rs 10,000 crore in the next two-three years on product development, facility modernisation and other capex purposes.
Earlier, JLR had announced plans to increase sourcing of components from low-cost countries, including China and India, in the coming years to reduce input costs.
"Material cost is a significant challenge and JLR previously said that over the next few years it will grow the amount of materials and components it purchases from lower cost countries," a JLR spokesperson had said.
To facilitate sourcing from India and China, JLR had opened purchasing offices in the two countries in 2009.

_{(Sourced from Press Trust of India)}

Audi sales in February jump over by two fold- July 12

Luxury carmaker Audi India reported an over two fold jump in its February sales at 252 units over the same period last year. The company had sold 113 units in February 2009.
Mr Benoit Tiers MD of Audi India said that "The latest sales figures show that we have continued to make an impressive progress in order to achieve our ambitious goals. Like past, this year too we will focus on the customer-orientated products for the Indian market.”
He said that the company is looking at introducing new sophisticated and sporty luxury models in the coming months but did not provide details.
The statement added that the company's luxury sedans A4 and A6 performed well during February.

_{(Sourced from Press Trust of India)}

Domestic car sales up 31 pc & bikes 30 pc in June- July 9

Domestic passenger car sales jumped by 30.79 per cent to 1,41,184 units in June, 2010, compared to 1,07,948 units in the same month last year, said an Indian automobile body.
According to figures released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) today, motorcycle sales in the country during the month grew by 29.98 per cent to 7,15,985 units from 5,50,830 units in the same month last year.
Total two-wheeler sales in June, 2010, increased 31.99 per cent to 9,33,101 units from 7,06,934 units in June, 2009.
Sales of commercial vehicles jumped by 44.14 per cent to 52,211 units in June, 2010, from 36,222 units in the corresponding period of the previous year, SIAM said.
Total sales of vehicles across categories registered a growth of 31.42 per cent to 12,05,990 units in June against 9,17,645 units in the same month last year, it added.

_{(Sourced from www.ptinews.com)}

Tata Steel company indicates rise in steel prices- July 9

Tata Steel, the world's sixth largest steel producer, today hinted at increasing the prices of steel.
Balasubramanian Muthuraman, Managing Director of the company, said the rise in the input costs would be passed on to the customers.
"Globally, raw material prices have gone up. If producers don't pass on the price increase, their margins will be affected. We are hoping that we'll pass on the increase in raw material cost," said Muthuraman.
He said though the demand for steel both in the domestic and international markets is growing, the cheap imports from China, which has overcapacity, continues to be a challenge.
He, however, declined to indicate the quantum of the proposed increase in prices and when would it come into being.
"There are positive trends in the international markets such as the US and Europe.

_{(Sourced from www.ptinews.com)}

Coming soon: A flying car- July 8

A car that also doubles up as a plane will soon be a reality. Massachussetts-based company Terrafugia has developed a car-plane and plans to deliver it to its customers by the end of 2011.

Called the 'Transition', the car-plane recently cleared a major hurdle when regulator Federal Aviation Administration granted a special weight limit exemption to it, the company said. It costs USD 194,000, excluding additional charges for options like a radio, GPS and a full-plane parachute. So far, the company has more than 70 orders with deposits.

"It is the next 'wow' vehicle. Anybody can buy a Ferrari, but as we say, Ferraris don't fly," Terrafugia vice president Richard Gersh said.

The car has wings that unfold for flying and fold back again for driving. It can take off in about a minute but would need a runway to takeoff and land. It is designed to fly primarily under 10,000 feet and has a maximum takeoff weight of 1,430 pounds, including fuel and passengers. Gas mileage on the road is about 30 miles per gallon (12 km/litre). "There is no launch button on the (instrument) panel," Gersh added.

The company is looking to market Transition to private pilots as a convenient and cheap way to fly. It can be driven on roads and be parked conveniently in a garage at home.

Terrafugia, founded in 2006 by five Massachusetts Institute of Technology students, said the car-plane reduces the chances of an accident by allowing pilots to drive under bad weather.

_{(Sourced from: www.financialexpress.com)}

TATA to set up solar photovoltaic plant in Gujarat- July 8

ET reported that TATA Group has proposed to set up the country's largest single solar photovoltaic plant with a capacity of 50 MW at Mithapur in Gujarat.

The company official said that "TATA power will be implementing a 50 MW plant at Mithapur in Gujarat which shall be the largest single solar photovoltaic installation in the country.” The proposed photovoltaic plant will be set up at the company's chemical plant at Mithapur in Gujarat.

TATAs had recently shifted its Nano car project from Singur in West Bengal to Sanand in Gujarat.

Mr Ratan Tata chairman of TATA while inaugurating the plant last month said that the group would surprise the Gujarat government by making more investments in the state.

A company stated that the PV plant is expected to reduce the dependence of its Mithapur chemical unit on fossil fuels and effect lower carbon emissions. Apart from this the company also plans to set up a 5 MW geothermal plant in Gujarat.

_{(Sourced from Economic Times)}

Audi begins assembly of Q5 at Aurangabad plant- July 8

German carmaker Audi has started assembly of its Q5 model at its Aurangabad plant. In the future, up to 1,500 units annually of the Q5 will roll out from the assembly line. The sports utility vehicle (SUV) is the third Audi model after the A4 and A6 to be produced in India, increasing the production volume of the company in India this year to more than 2,400 units, compared with 732 vehicles in the preceding year. Altogether, Audi has produced around 2,000 cars in India since the start of production in September 2007. By 2015 up to 6,000 units will be rolling off the line each year.

“The production of the Q5 is part of our long-term growth strategy in India,” said Audi Board Member for Production Frank Dreves. “The Indian market for automobiles will grow rapidly, and the Q5 is the right automobile at the right time,” he said.

Final assembly of the Audi Q5 takes place in five work cycles on two assembly lines alongside the A4 and A6 at the Volkswagen Group's Aurangabad plant.

Last year also saw Audi expanded its line-up of engines for the models produced at the Aurangabad site and newer engines are to follow soon.

In addition to the locally produced Q5, A4 and A6 models, Audi offers its Indian customers the Audi A8, Q7 and TT, as well as the R8 supercar.

The company has continued its good performance in India recording half-yearly sales of 1400 cars — the highest ever in India and a growth of 71 per cent.

For the second quarter (April-June 2010), Audi India sold 622 cars growing 42 per cent.
Its sales in June stood at 233 cars, up 14 per cent over June 2009 sales.

“This is the beginning of what we believe will be Audi's most successful year in India to date,'' Audi India Head Michael Perschke said.

The entire Audi model range is available across the country in 13 cities. Further dealerships are likely in South Mumbai, Lucknow, Coimbatore, Surat and Indore. Audi employs around 58,000 people worldwide, including 45,500 in Germany. Between 2010 and 2012 the Audi Group is planning to invest around euro 5.5 billion, mainly in new products to sustain the company's technological lead.
By 2015, Audi plans to increase the number of models in its portfolio to 42.

_{(Sourced from www.thehindu.com)}

Volkswagen Launches New Sedan Volkswagen Vento in India- July 7

Volkswagen, Europe's largest car maker unveiled its new sedan the New Volkswagen Vento in New Delhi today."For the Volkswagen Group, India is an important strategic growth market, as we continue to grow our volumes and market share in this automotive boom market with our brands Volkswagen, Audi and Skoda", Christian Klingler, Group Board Member for Sales and Marketing commented during the car presentation.

In the first six months of 2010, the Group delivered 16,900 vehicles in India, showing an increase of more than 100 percent and therefore a higher growth than the overall market (+29 per cent).

"This clearly reflects the success story of Volkswagen in India and builds a strong base for our long term goal to achieve 8-10 per cent market share for the Group", Klingler continued.

Speaking about the showcasing of the Vento, Mr. Neeraj Garg, Member of Board and Director, Volkswagen Passenger Cars, Volkswagen Group Sales India Pvt. Ltd said, "The Volkswagen Vento is a completely new product offering from Volkswagen in India. It will be another important brand pillar for us to stimulate the brand's growth in the country."

He further added "The Vento stands for German engineering, Best in Class Features. This particular model has been specifically designed with the expectations and wants of our customers in mind, making the Vento set benchmarks in its class." he concluded.

The New Volkswagen Vento
The New Volkswagen Vento will be available with a petrol and diesel variant. The petrol variant is equipped with a 1.6 litre engine with an output of 105PS @ 5250 rpm and a Torque of 153NM @ 3800 rpm.

The diesel variant is also equipped with the 1.6 litre engine with an output of 105PS @ 4400 rpm and a Torque of 250 NM @ 1500-2500 rpm.

It will be available in two trim levels including Trendline, Highline. The petrol variant is paired with a 5-speed manual and a 6-speed automatic gear box and the diesel variant is paired with a 5-speed manual gearbox.

The interior is equipped with storage compartment in front doors for 1 litre Bottles, sunglass storage inside glove box, foldable roof handles with coat hooks, front and rear centre armrest, cupholders and "Livon" fabric upholstery are proof of the sure instinct of high design quality which interprets the classic elements of the Vento in a contemporary way.

In exteriors too, the Vento offers Body colored bumpers, Chrome inlays in front grille, body coloured exterior door handles & mirrors (Highline), rough road package with increased ground clearance and partially zinc coated body with 6 years anti-rust warranty.

With regards to safety, the Vento Highline is equipped with ABS, Front Airbags for driver and co-driver, Anti Theft system with interior surveillance and back up alarm.

On comfort, the Vento Highline offers CD MP3 Player with 4 speakers, Electrically adjustable outside mirrors, Climatronic automatic air conditioning with rear AC vents, Remote control for central locking. Multi function info display including door opening warning, height adjustable driving seats and a steering wheel adjustable for reach and rake which improves the drivability of the passenger.
The Vento will establish a leadership position in its class with category defining attributes of space, style, comfort and safety. It will be manufactured at Volkswagen's Chakan plant with an annual capacity of 110,000 cars and will be available through Volkswagen's 47 dealerships across the country.

_{(Sourced from Volkswagen India)}

TATA Steel Q1 sales hit by demand slump- July 7

TATA Steel said that its sales in the April to June quarter remained stagnant at 1.396 million tonnes compared to the year ago period due to sluggish domestic demand scenario and excessive imports from China. In the corresponding period last year, the steel major’s sales stood at 1.4 million tonnes.

TATA Steel in a statement said that “The first quarter sales at 1.396 million tonnes were almost similar to that of the corresponding period of last year, primarily on account of weak market sentiments in commercial segment of flat products and excessive imports of hot-rolled coil from China.”

Hot-rolled coil is primary steel product from which other vital items of the commodity are carved out. However, the sales of the flat products, used mainly in automobile sector surged by 20% during the quarter compared to the corresponding period last year while that of the long products, used primarily in construction saw an increase of 8% in sales.

During the quarter under review, TATA Steel saw its saleable steel production surging by 3.17% to 1.59 million tonnes against 1.5 million tonnes last year.

TATA Steel’s crude steel output for the first quarter of the current fiscal has surged by 8.25% to 1.62 million tonnes over the year-ago period. The company produced 1.5 million tonnes of crude steel in April-June last fiscal. The company said its hot metal production surged 8.24% in the April to June quarter to 1.82 million tonnes.

_{(Sourced from PTI)}

Tata Motors to invest Rs 10,000 cr- July 7

Tata Motors on Tuesday said it will invest about Rs 10,000 crore in the next two to three years on product development, modernisation of its facilities and other capex purposes.

Seeking shareholders' approval through a postal ballot to raise long-term funds, among others, the company said it has plans for expanding product range and increase the presence in the domestic and global markets in both commercial and passenger vehicle segments.

The company plans to raise about Rs 4,700 crore long-term fund through issue of securities in domestic and international markets to fund the company's expansion programmes and reduce debt.

_{(Sourced from www. timesofindia.indiatimes.com)}

Ford India sells more than 17,000 Figos- July 06

Ford India posted record-setting sales in the first quarter with a total of 22,858 units sold from April-June, compared to 6,184 units in the same period last year.

Sales in the March-June 2010 period have already exceeded the company's total sales volume for calendar year 2009.

In the month of June, Ford India sales grew by 267 percent. The company sold a total of 7,269 units, compared to 1,982 units in June 2009. That success was driven mainly by the popularity of the Figo.

''This is a phenomenal feat with our March to June sales figures alone exceeding the entire sales volume for 2009,'' said Michael Boneham, president and managing director, Ford India. ''We will continue to focus on our customers' needs so that they will feel the Ford difference with our products and services.''

''We are beginning our second production shift this month in order to step up production to meet the demands that we have created,'' Boneham added.

With more than 24,000 purchase orders in the first four months on the market, Figo is helping to drive sales growth. Ford India is gearing up production to export the Figo to South Africa. This marks the beginning of an accelerated export strategy for Ford India's first sub-compact car, and first small car to be exported overseas from India.

_{(Sourced from www.financialexpress.com)}

Tata Motors overtakes Hyundai in June- July 06

After more than two years, Tata Motors has dislodged Korea ’s Hyundai Motors in India from the second spot in monthly domestic passenger vehicle sales. The spurt in Tata’s June numbers has primarily been due to a dramatic increase in sales of the Nano, after the mother plant at Sanand in Gujarat went onstream last month, as well as a surge in that of the Indigo. Tata Motors’ domestic sales went up by 63.2 per cent in June, with the company selling 27,811 units compared with 17,039 in the same month last year.

Hyundai saw its car sales grow by 18.9 per cent, selling 27,366 units. much-reported small car of Tata, more than doubled from an average of 3,500 units in recent months to 7,704 in June, pushing up overall numbers. The Indigo range recorded sales of 7,502 units, growth of 113 per cent over June last year, when 3,522 units were sold.

A Tata Motors’ spokesperson said: “Going forward, our expectation would be to maintain the No 2 position in the industry.”
Analysts said Tata would be able to sustain its growth in sales. “The newly-created Nano segment has huge opportunities and, therefore, Tata Motors is likely to sustain its numbers because of the higher volumes it will generate,” said Abdul Majeed, national head of automotive practice in PricewaterhouseCoopers.
However, Hyundai executives said that as they made only passenger cars, unlike utility vehicles made by Tata such as the Sumo, the comparison should be only within the former category, where the Korean major is still No 2.

Others are more sceptical of a Tata lead. “While Nano numbers are the pre-sold orders and the company is only accelerating the deliveries from its new plant, we need to wait and watch for at least a quarter to see if it is sustainable. Moreover, Tata’s will need more products in the passenger car category to remain ahead of Hyundai in the long run,” said Rakesh Batra, national head (automotive practice), Ernst & Young. More, as Hyundai would be launching a small sub-Santro car, whose date of launch has not been disclosed.

Buoyed by a spurt in demand, the overall passenger vehicles’ market continued its steady growth, with sales up by 26.8 per cent in the month. As many as 176,920 units were sold by leading auto companies (see chart). Maruti Suzuki continued to be in the top spot, selling 72,812 units, much ahead of the competition, a growth of 17.9 per cent. “The growth in June is extremely high as you must remember the base was very high last year in June,” said R C Bhargava, chairman of Maruti Suzuki. “The fundamentals of the economy are good and demand is picking up on the back of new models. The industry is expecting an annual growth of 12 per cent in 2010-11”.

Many of the new car models have helped their companies to show good numbers. GM India saw its sales go up 112 per cent in June, thanks to growing demand for its recently launched Beat, which sold 3,415 units. Ford India has a three-month waiting list for its small car, the Figo.

Maruti Suzuki June sales up by 17%- July 06

Car market leader, Maruti Suzuki India sold a total of 88,091 vehicles in June 2010, a rise of 17.28% YoY. This includes 15,279 units for export. The company had sold a total of 75,109 vehicles in June 2009.

The Car maker’s domestic sales rose 17.90% to be at 72,812 units as against 61,773 units in the prior year period. The exports of the company registered a rise of 14.60%. Total exports of the company were at 15,279 as against 13,339 in the prior year period.

Maruti Suzuki’s volume in the domestic A3 segment grew by 32.50% while in the A2 segment the sales volume grew by 11.40% during the month as compared to sales in June 2009. The month sales in C Segment grew by 43.909% as compared to June 2009.

_{(Sourced from IRIS)}

Ford India sales in June jumps by 267%- July 2

Ford India reported a 267% jump in its sales to 7,269 units in June as compared to 1,982 units in the same period last year on the back of a good response for its Figo.
Mr Michael Boneham president and MD of Ford India said that "Success was driven mainly by the popularity of the Figo. We will continue to focus on our customers needs so that they will feel the Ford difference with our products and services.”
He said that the company has sold 22,858 units from April-June this year, as compared to 6,184 units in the same period last year. This is a phenomenal feat with our March to June sales figures alone exceeding the entire sales volume for 2009.”
Mr Boneham further said that "We will begin our second production shift this month in order to step up production to meet the demands that we have created.”
The company sells its Ikon, Endeavour, Fiesta and Figo in Indian market. It has more than 167 dealership outlets across 97 cities in India.

_{(Sourced from ET)}

TATA Motors gets orders for 300 World Trucks- July 2

TATA Motors' World Truck range has received 300 bookings from three operators in the steel sector with deliveries scheduled in three months.

Its offerings now are a 40 and 49 tonne tractor trailer with plans to move into the lower tonnage segments in due course. This fiscal may see two more products on the World Truck platform.
The World Truck ranges from 10 to 75 tonne include multi axle trucks, tractor trailers, tippers, mixers and special application vehicles.

Mr R Ramakrishnan vice president sales of TATA Motors said that the company is now focusing on creating an environment conducive to the marketing of the range.

TATA Motors is also prioritizing an awareness program, driver training and customer support network before pushing sales. Since last September, when the Prima series was launched, sales have totaled 100 units.

Mr Ramakrishnan said that “We are engaging with operators in different sectors creating awareness of the product and offering driver training. This is a more sophisticated truck which emphasizes productivity, operating economy and driver comfort. Customers now need to get familiar with the vehicle.”

TATA Motors, along with TATA Steel, began test marketing the Prima range among operators in the steel segment. Plans are under way to include other sectors such as cement, construction and car carriers. Another group company, TATA International DLT makes the World Truck trailers especially those specific to each industrial application.

_{(Sourced from Business Line)}

Toyota says 270,000 vehicles have faulty engines- July 2

Toyota Motor Corp said on Thursday about 270,000 vehicles sold worldwide, including luxury Lexus sedans, have faulty engines, but the company did not say whether it would recall the automobiles.
The world’s biggest automaker said the defective engines could stall while the vehicles were moving.
Of the 270,000 vehicles, some 180,000 were sold overseas and the rest in Japan. They include luxury Lexus sedans and popular Crown models.

Kyodo News agency and Fuji TV, without providing sources said Toyota would recall 270,000 vehicles. Toyota spokeswoman Ririko Takeuchi would not say if the company would issue a recall.

Toyota has been working to patch up its reputation after more than eight million vehicles were recalled worldwide over reports of unintended acceleration and other defects.

U.S. authorities slapped Toyota with a record $ 16.4 million fine for acting too slowly on those recalls. Toyota dealers have repaired millions of vehicles, but the automaker still faces more than 200 lawsuits tied to accidents, the lower resale value of Toyota vehicles and the drop in the company’s stock.

In the aftermath of the recalls, Congress is considering an upgrade to auto safety laws to toughen potential penalties against automakers, give the U.S. government more powers to demand a recall and push car companies to meet new safety standards.Toyota said last week it will recall 17,000 Lexus luxury hybrids after testing showed that fuel can spill during a rear-end crash.

_{(Sourced from: www.thehindu.com)}

Indian Railways plans wagon unit at SAIL land at Kulti- July 1

The Indian Railways is planning to set up a wagon manufacturing unit at Kulti in Burnpur for which the Steel Authority of India Ltd will provide land.

Ms Mamata Banerjee railway minister said that “The railway ministry has taken a decision to set up a wagon unit in Kulti. While SAIL will provide land, RITES will provide the expertise.”

As per report a sum of INR 30 crore will be provided for reviving the infrastructure of the ailing unit, she announced today while visiting the unit. The railway minister also provided an additional order for 500 wagons to the unit beside the initial order of 500 wagons.

She said that “There is a huge demand for wagons by the Railways. Supply the wagons quickly and you will get more orders.”

The Railways had placed an order of 500 wagons with the unit immediately after its takeover. Ms Banerjee said that she would take up the issue with the Union finance minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee to bring the pay scale of workers of Burn Standard at par with that of the Braithwaite. She also assured the workers of giving productivity linked bonus.

Earlier, Ms Banerjee visited Braithwaite & Co and placed an additional order for 750 wagons apart from 15 cranes. At present Braithwaite has an order for 1,250 wagons from the Railways.

_{(Sourced from www.thestatesman.net)}

Maruti’s June sales soar 17 %- July 1

The country’s largest car maker, Maruti Suzuki India, on Thursday reported a 17.28 per cent jump in June sales to 88,091 units over the same month last year.The company had sold 75,109 units in June last year, Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) said in a statement. In the domestic market, Maruti sold 72,812 units against 61,773 units in June 2009, an increase of 17.87 per cent.

Exports surged 14.57 per cent to 15,279 units from 13,336 units in the year-ago period, it added.
For the April-June quarter, MSI’s total sales rose 24.96 per cent to 2,83,324 units compared to 2,26,729 units in the year-ago period.

Domestic sales in the first quarter of 2010-11 increased 23.03 per cent to 2,42,887 units from 1,97,415 units in the same period last fiscal.Exports for the quarter surged 37.94 per cent to 40,437 units against 29,314 units in the first quarter of FY’10, the company said.In June this year, sales of the company’s once bread-and-butter model M800 fell 14.27 per cent to 2,090 units compared to 2,438 units in June 2009, the statement said.The A2 segment (comprising Alto, WagonR, Estilo, Swift, A-Star and Ritz) witnessed 11.40 per cent growth last month at 51,418 units compared to 46,156 units in the year-ago month.The A3 segment sales (consisting SX4 and DZiRE) increased 32.50 per cent to 8,081 units compared to 6,099 units in the corresponding period a year ago, the company said.

MSI’s total passenger car sales rose 16.11 per cent at 71,503 units in June against 61,583 units in the same month in 2009, it added.

_{(Sourced from www.thehindu.com)}

Tata Nano Superdrive Concludes In Mumbai- June 30

The Tata Nano Superdrive caravan, which travelled a distance of 15,000 km, touching 36 cities across India, concluded its 26-day voyage in Mumbai. The cars were flagged in by Mr. Ratan N. Tata, Chairman, Tata Sons & Tata Motors, in the presence of Tata Motors’ senior management.

The Tata Nano Superdrive, comprising 9 Tata Nanos, each festooned with a theme, had started from Sanand on June 2 to celebrate the inauguration of the plant. The cars traveled across India on three different routes. Each route was christened after our tri-coloured national flag namely ‘Saffron Route’, ‘White Route’ and ‘Green Route’, keeping with the theme of the country-wide drive.

Driving across the Saffron route, covering north India, the cars visited Udaipur, Jaipur, Hisar, Amritsar, Chandigarh, Delhi, Meerut, Agra, Lucknow, Kanpur, Gwalior, Kota. On the White route, the cars travelled from central to east India, visiting Indore, Bhopal, Nagpur, Raipur, Ranchi, Patna, Kolkata, Bhubneshwar, Vishakhapatnam, Hyderabad, Aurangabad. The Green route saw cars cover west and south India, visiting cities like Surat, Mumbai, Pune, Goa, Mangalore, Kochi, Coimbatore, Chennai, Bangalore, Kolhapur, Solapur, Nashik and Ahmedabad.

The Superdrive branded Nanos were absolute traffic-stoppers as they visited prominent landmarks in every city. Citizens at these landmarks greeted the people’s car with immense excitement. Prospective customers were given an opportunity to drive them and enjoy the cars in the real world. At malls, shoppers were given an up-close experience with the car and its unique features. To celebrate the car’s first year, Tata Motors also organised a celebration ceremony for Nano owners in every city. Mr. Ratan Tata also unveiled a book written on the Nano. The book is titled ‘Small Wonder’ and it certainly has left people wondering what this small car is capable of.

_{(Sourced from: www.carwale.com)}

Mahindra to make smaller aircraft for Indian market- June 30

Mahindra Aerospace of the 6.3-billion dollars utility vehicle maker Mahindra Group will become the first Indian private firm to manufacture smaller civil aircraft for the Indian general aviation market, which is set to boom this decade.

We will manufacture the turboprop aircraft in 2-20 seat capacity at our recently acquired Gippsland Aeronautics (GA) in Victoria State of Australia and market them in India ," Mahindra Board Member Hemant Luthra told IANS here.

Once Mahindra Aerospace plant at Malur near Bangalore is set up and certified for production in the next three years, the manufacturing will be shifted to India to hard-sell the multi-utility aircraft for various civil aviation requirements.

"We want to be the premier Indian producer of aircraft. We will explore every opportunity to become a top aircraft manufacturer on the lines of the Brazilian Embraer," Mahindra Vice-Chairman and Managing Director Anand Mahindra said on the margins of an aviation event here Saturday.

The 26-year-old GippsAero is a leading turboprop aircraft manufacturer for the general aviation sector and has certification in 32 countries worldwide, including the U.S. Federal Aviation Regulations (FAR 23), which testifies the highest degree of safety to fly fare-paying passengers between small and remote airfields.

Mahindra Aerospace acquired majority stake (75.1 percent) in GippsAero and Aerostaff Australia for Rs.175 crore (USD 38 million) in December 2009 jointly with Kotak Private Equity.

Aerostaff is a 20-year-old manufacturer of aerospace components and assemblies for global aerospace original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) at Port Melbourne in Victoria state.

About 250 smaller aircraft of GippsAero operate in 34 countries. It currently has an order book to manufacture about 20 aircraft in the 8-10 seat capacity.

"As aircraft manufacture is labour intensive, there will be advantages in assembling some aircraft in India but safety is paramount. Till our factories get accredited for the highest safety standards, the planes will be made in Australia and will gradually migrate them to be made in India ," Luthra said.

As GippsAero has IP/type certificate approvals and produced various aircraft meeting international standards, Mahindra plans to manufacture even the five-seater turboprop, jointly developed by Mahindra Plexion Ltd with the state-run National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) here.

The prototype, codenamed NM5, is a multi-role, multi-mission civil aircraft, modelled on NAL's Hansa project.

"NM5 has a huge potential in the Indian market, as it can be used for short hauls by corporate executives, VIP travel, tourism, medical evacuation, training pilots and ferrying cargo," Luthra said.

A study conducted by A.T. Kearney for the Mahindras revealed about USD 5 billion (Rs.23,250 crore) of general aviation aircraft are sold worldwide every year, with turboprops accounting for over 50 percent of the total market.

"We see a tremendous market in India and overseas. We will also price our product against competition to ensure that we have enough orders to deliver every year," Luthra added.

With the civil and military aircraft market set to grow exponentially, Mahindra Aerospace has decided to invest USD 50 million (Rs.230 crore) in the Malur plant to expand capacity for rolling out smaller aircraft and components to tier-1 aerospace suppliers and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).

"We are encouraged by tier-1 suppliers and OEMs to quadruple our investment in Bangalore facility from USD 10 million planned earlier. We are looking at a 20-acre land, with access to an old airstrip at Kolar for test flights," Luthra noted.

The company plans to get its components' manufacturing facility certified first and then the assembly plant in the next 18-24 months.

The Malur facility will allow the company to make components for the general aviation market, meet offset needs of OEMs selling civil or military aircraft to India and an effective vendor to global aerospace majors.

"General aviation is a vast network, with cities as a primary hub being served by larger aircraft/jets. We intend to serve the final frontiers with smaller/turboprop aircraft that can land on unpaved or short runways, making any city/town accessible," Mahindra said.

_--IANS

Indian auto export may grow 15% this fiscal- June 29

The government today said the country's total vehicle export is likely to increase by up to 15 per cent in the current fiscal, as demand from Europe is expected to rise.

"We may see a 10-15 per cent increase in auto exports over and above the last fiscal's export," Joint Secretary in the Department of Heavy Industry Ambuj Sharma told PTI.

According to the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), the overall vehicle export from India grew by 17.90 per cent at 18,04,619 units in the last financial year, while the same stood at 15,30,594 units in 2008-09.

Sharma said most of the European nations that are growing will lead to an increase in consumer spending and demand for auto sales in those regions.

The European nations are a major destination for the Indian auto industry's passenger car export.

_{(Sourced from PTI)}

Benz enters pre-owned car business- June 29

German luxury carmaker Mercedes-Benz on Monday launched its globally benchmarked pre-owned car programme — Proven Exclusivity — in India. This unique initiative utilises specific global benchmarks for vehicle evaluation, quality and warranty to offer Mercedes-Benz certified pre-owned cars to customers.

Launching the programme here, Mercedes-Benz India Managing Director and CEO Wilfried Aulbur said the pre-owned cars would be offered for sale through the authorised Mercedes-Benz dealerships where the customer would receive additional support in areas such as financing, documentation and delivery.“Through our pre-owned programme, customers can own a Mercedes Benz for as low Rs.15-18 lakh as against Rs.26-28 lakh for a brand new, entry-level C Class model,” he pointed out. “Comprehensive evaluation and refurbishment criteria, scientific tools for audit and inspection as well as manufacturer backed warranty go into the making of a certified ‘Proven Exclusivity' vehicle,” he said.

Mercedes-Benz will initially offer this scheme in six dealer outlets across four cities — Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Chandigarh — and add another 6-8 outlets by this year-end.

“We hope that the pre-owned car business will account for 10-15 per cent of its car sales by 2011,” Dr. Aulbur added. The pre-owned car market in India is estimated at about 10-15 per cent of current new car sales in 2010 and estimated to grow substantially in the next couple of years.

The company is also planning to hire about 250 engineers for its research and development centre in Bangalore.

_{(Sourced from: www.thehindu.com)}

Small Car Shootout!- June 28

It's the hottest segment in the Indian automotive space and the Chevrolet Beat's entry has spiced things up quite a bit. Muntaser Mirkar takes some of today's best selling hatches and pits them against Chevy's new kid on the block!

Just when it seemed all settled in the small car segment, things have started heating up again. India's always been a country that has preferred hatchbacks to sedans and Maruti seemed to be the first to capitalize on that emotion with a host of different offerings through the years to keep their sales charts soaring. The Ritz is the latest big hit from them and apart from the car's debatable appearance, it had almost every other front sealed - whether it was value for money, space, performance or even reliability. The Ritz' assault has been attempted to be dented by quite a few other contenders - most prominently the Hyundai i20 that stormed into the Indian market offering even more space and gadgetry along with a rather nice 1.2 litre engine. Then there's the Skoda Fabia as well - maybe a tad boring on the outside, but it's got quite a few fans out there owing to its superior quality that comes granted with all of Skoda's products.

The Jazz promised a lot when Honda disclosed plans to launch the car in India and quite frankly, it delivered too. If you really consider how much the Jazz brings to the plate then the otherwise exorbitant price tag starts sounding pretty reasonable and that's what the many buyers of the car have realized. Fiat wasn't going to be one to stay quiet while all of this was going on and with their renewed re-entry into the Indian market they brought with them the Punto - gorgeously beautiful, spacious and with a very refined engine under the sensuous hood. It all seems very well set up that way - each buyer has a car that will cater to their needs. But you see, there's a problem brewing for each and every one of the cars mentioned here and it's called the Chevrolet Beat. The mean looking little machine is out to grab a huge chunk of that massive small car market and it's got all the right weapons too. This is going to be one interesting battle.

_{(Sourced from: The Times of India)}

The Skoda Superb is now more affordable!- 28 June

The Skoda Superb 1.8 TSI now Rs. 1.5-lakh cheaper! Well, yes. If you don't mind shifting gears yourself that is. Priyadarshan Bawikar puts in some manual labour and finds out if the deal is as sweet as it seems

Now we've always loved the new Skoda Superb here at ZigWheels ever since we first got our hands on it last year. We absolutely adored the sort of space and comfort the car offered, we went nuts after its performance and handling and were absolutely floored by the genuinely down-to-earth pricing (for that segment at least). And who can forget those wonderful engine options; the screamy 1.8-litre TSI petrol, the refined and frugal 2.0-litre TDI diesel and the mental 3.6-litre V6 petrol with four-wheel drive. While the big 4x4 took home our 'most fun-to-drive car' award last year, secretly, we all loved its smaller brother, the 1.8 TSI more. Its high-revving nature was almost motorbike-like and the 7-speed twin-clutch transmission delivered lightning quick gear shifts which made the experience of throwing it around twisty mountain roads feel like attempting a special stage in the Monte Carlo rally driving a WRC car.Ok, so now you know how much we love to drive the 1.8 TSI version of the new Skoda Superb. But fun as the DSG gearbox is, nothing beats the thrill of driving a good car with a proper manual transmission. And this year, it was almost like Skoda heard our silent cries for stick-shift and rolled out a new variant of the Superb with an honest-to-goodness manual gearbox. Now while the move might not really have been to appease us driving enthusiasts, we'd certainly like to believe so. So what does this new variant really deliver? Well, for starters, the delectable 1798cc 16-valve direct injection TSI engine remains unchanged, as does everything else on the car. It still has the same refined interiors, the same wonderful mix of comfortable ride quality and deft handling and the same good looking exteriors. In fact, the only change you'll really notice is the inclusion of an extra pedal to the left of the brake and a gear stick with a 6-speed manual shift pattern in place of the DSG gear selector.

But one very important thing the Superb has lost with the switch from DSG to manual transmission is weight - a whole 76 kilos at that! Since the 160PS of power from the engine remains unchanged, the drop in weight improves the power-to-weight ratio of the car a little. This, combined with the more exact control the manual transmission, with its well sorted out gear ratios, offers, there is a distinct improvement in the Superb's performance as well as in that all important factor, the fuel economy. Even though we were unable to match the superfast gear changes of the DSG gearbox, with perfectly timed upshifts, the manual transmission Superb managed its dash to 100km/h from a standstill in just 9.53 seconds, a full 0.25 seconds quicker than the automatic. The fuel efficiency also creeps up a little to 9.5kmpl in the city and 12kmpl on the highway. Slot the gearbox into sixth and do a long highway haul and you should have no trouble significantly improving that second figure.

That being said, driving in the city with the manual gearbox makes you realize how hard the engine and transmission have to work with this nearly 1.5 tonne car in stop and go traffic. One could say that we've have been spoiled by automatic gearboxes a little, as we found ourselves missing the comfort of not having to do the work of shifting gears and operating the clutch when crawling through traffic. But the real masterstroke of the manual transmission Superb is the new price - Rs. 18.28 lakh ex-showroom Delhi; which puts it at just Rs. 27,000 more than the top spec diesel Laura. And the Superb has got enough spec to really out-spec its smaller sibling by a whole country mile. In fact, this new Superb is such a sweet deal given its killer pricing and feature list, it should make many-a-more-expensive cars quiver in their booties. If you have a chauffer to drive you everywhere, then this manual transmission Superb is a great option thanks to its price and fuel efficiency. But if you want to leave the driving duties to yourself and don't mind paying a little extra, we would recommend that you stick to the automatic - it's just that little bit more comfortable and easier to drive around town.

_{(Sourced from: The Times of India)}

TATA Motors plans new manufacturing unit of Ace- June 28

TATA Motors, India's largest vehicle maker, will set up a new manufacturing plant for the Ace and for other similar products, as it tries to defend its share in the segment from increased competition.

The Ace, launched five years ago is a light truck catering to the last mile segment within city and rural areas. The company makes the product at Pantnagar in Uttarakhand, where production is reaching maximum capacity.

Mr Ravi Pisharody president, commercial vehicle business unit of TATA Motors said that "We have not decided yet on how to put more capacity in place for the Ace as the current facility is reaching its peak. We will have to look at ways to expand and this can be well through another plant."

Further, the production line at Pantnagar, which also makes the Nano, will be freed extensively in the coming months to make way for the Ace. The company had altered this facility to make 50,000 units of the Nano per annum before the small car’s mother plant came on stream earlier this month.

The company, thus, hopes to increase production of the Ace by 28% to 22,000 to 23,000 units per month from 17,000 to 18,000 units per month at present. In addition, it plans to sell 150,000 units of the Ace cargo and a further 70,000 to 75,000 units of Magic.

_{(Sourced from BS)}

Hyundai plans Rs 1.6 lakh car- June 25

Korean car-maker Hyundai is likely to unveil a small car that will compete with Maruti Suzuki’s Alto, the biggest selling car model in India , at the next Auto Expo to be held in New Delhi in 2012.According to a senior official of Hyundai Motor India Ltd, the subsidiary of the Korean auto major, development of the small car is currently underway at its parent company’s R&D centre in Korea . Considering the fact that the car has been designed and developed keeping in mind the Indian market, the next Auto Expo in 2012 will be the ideal platform to unveil the car,” the official, who asked not to be identified, said.
The car will be positioned below the company’s existing flagship model, Santro, and operate in the segment that the Alto from Maruti Suzuki is in, the official added.
Alto is currently the highest selling car model in India, with average sales of over 20,000 units per month, and is priced between Rs 2,28,000 and Rs 2,80,000 (ex-showroom, Delhi). In the past, HMIL had indicated its small car could be priced at around $3,500 (around Rs 1.60 lakh), which would have meant that it would compete with the likes of Maruti Suzuki’s M800 (at a Delhi ex-showroom price of Rs 2,05,000 to Rs 2,14,000) and even the Tata Nano (with a Delhi ex-showroom price of Rs 1,23,000 to Rs 1,72,000). However, rising input costs have put the auto makers under pressure. Even Tata Motors is understood to be planning a price hike of up to Rs 15,000 on the Nano once it has delivered the first one lakh units to customers who booked the car when it was launched in 2009. “There is minimal contribution in terms of engineering from India , but there has been a lot of input like component development, market research and customer feedback from here,” the HMIL official said.

Hyundai may relaunch Elantra; Santa Fe to be launched in Oct- June 25

The country's second largest carmaker, Hyundai Motor India, today said it may relaunch premium sedan Elantra, which was phased out in 2007 due to dwindling sales, in the country.Apart from this, the company will roll out its SUV Santa Fe in October this year which will carry a price tag between Rs 20 lakh and Rs 22 lakh a unit.We are reviewing the relaunch of our Elantra in the country which will be subject to the growth in the market size of the premium segment," company's Senior Director Y K Koo told reporters here today. However, Koo did not reveal about the likely timeframe of its relaunch. "The market for premium segment in which Elantra fits in is just 3 per cent of total market size of cars in the country. But this market is growing," he said.Hyundai phased out luxury sedan Elantra in 2007 in view of its low sales in the country. It was placed in the most competitive segment with other models including Toyota Corolla, Honda Civic, Skoda Octavia etc.Asked about new launches, Koo said that the company is expecting to roll out its SUV Santa Fe in the second half of this year. " Santa Fe may be launched in the month of October and its price can be in the range of Rs 20 lakh to Rs 22 lakh which will be very competitive," he said.Koo further said that the company attained 31 per cent growth in sales during the period between January and May this year. "The whole auto industry grew by 27 per cent in January-May but we post growth of 31 per cent," he said.Stating that the company infused a sum of Rs 70 crore in developing new 'Verna Transform', Koo said that the new launch would fuel the sales of Verna from 1,500 units per month to 2,000 units a month. The company has so far sold 82,000 units of Verna since its launch in September 2006.On expanding its network, he said company would take the total strength of its dealers to 320 by this year end from 290 at present.Currently, company's i10 model constitutes highest share of 40-50 per cent in its total sales. Hyundai achieved sales of 5.6 lakh units in 2009, out of which 2.7 lakh units were exported.

TATA to roll out S-92 chopper cabins- June 25

TATA Advanced Systems Limited a wholly owned subsidiary of TATA Sons is all set to roll out the first Indian-made S-92 chopper cabins in November this year.TASL in a joint venture with US based Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation has set up a helicopter cabin manufacturing facility at the Aerospace and Precision Engineering Special Economic Zone in Adibatla.Senior officials of the Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation which developed the SEZ said that the TASL facility had commenced production on April 8 and the chopper cabins were expected to be ready by November.APIIC has allotted 50 acre in the 250 acre SEZ for setting up the TSAL facility, which will initially cater to the exports market. The main manufacturing unit has come up over an extent of 7 acre.

Being the anchor client of the Adibatla aerospace cluster, TASL gave a major boost to the state government's plan to project Hyderabad as an aviation hub. Now, APIIC officials said, many were coming forward to set up shop at the place but land was not available.

They told Business Standard that TATA group was also asking for an additional land of 70 acres for setting up another facility for manufacture of aerospace components. However, there was only an extent of 40 acre, which was readily available for allotment. The aerospace cluster is spread over 350 acre. Of this 250 acre has been notified as SEZ.

_{(Sourced from BS)}

Get ready to welcome Kia cars in India soon- June 24

Kia, part of the Hyundai's small car ally plans to enter India. Kia is one of the largest car maker in the world selling 16 lakh vehicles per annum across the globe through its cars produced in 14 plants that too located in major markets like the Germany, Australia, China and US.

Kia feels that the auto market in India is promising these years than 4 years back when it attempted to enter but withdrew due to sluggish sales of cars. In order to understand the Indian auto market intensely, the South Korean maker has given this job to a global consultancy to conduct product clinics so as to test its cars on Indian roads.

Kia is more confident on Indian market because of Hyundai's success in the country. Being the second largest car maker in India, Hyundai sold more than 42000 cars in May 2010. Hyundai has also achieved massive milestones in exporting its cars from its Chennai manufacturing plant.

Now, it will be very interesting to know about the marketing strategy and Kia's portfolio in India, because Maruti Suzuki is the leading auto maker in India, but with the fourth largest car maker Hyundai-Kia group entering with a host of cars, will stir the Indian auto market for sure!

Nissan gets over 1,000 pre-bookings of 'Micra' in 4 weeks- June 24

Nissan Motor India today said it has received 1,049 pre-order bookings of its hatchback 'Nissan Micra', which is to be launched on July 14, in just four weeks.

The bookings began at the company showrooms from last week of May 2010.

Speaking on the occasion, company MD and CEO Kiminobu Tokuyama said, ''We are delighted with this encouraging initial response.

With the launch of the new Nissan Micra next month, Nissan will begin an exciting journey in India aiming to provide Indian customers with a full range of products and services. We are confident that this booking trend will continue to improve as we move closer to the start of sales by middle of July 2010.'' The company's existing range of products include X-Trail (SUV model), Teana (luxury Sedan) and 370Z (iconic sports car).

All the three products are imported from Japan as Completely Built Units (CBU).

The company, the Indian subsidiary of Nissan Motor Company of Japan, will also commence exports in second half of the current fiscal year to more than 100 countries, including Europe, the West Asia and Africa.

_--UNI

Tata Motors going steady as regards world truck sales- June 24

Tata Motors is moving steadily on marketing its high horse power world truck developed with south Korean subsidiary Tata Daewoo, a top company official said Tuesday.

We are doing concept marketing. We first understand a prospect's goods carriage pattern and the route he carries. Only when we are satisfied that his interests will be best served with our world truck we would suggest our models," President Ravi Pishorady told reporters here.

He said as a policy the company sells the world truck along with the trailer.

"We ensure that the prospect has two drivers for this high horse power (HP) truck as it is for long haul. Initially we sold 180HP trucks and now we sell 280HP models. We will be reaching 100 unit sales soon," he said.

He was here to participate in a company function to celebrate sales of 500,000 units of small goods carrier Ace since it was launched five years ago.

Speaking about the success of the goods carrier, he said: "We sell around 11,000 units per month. Currently the production capacity is sufficient."

He said the total industry volume is around 18,000 units per month and is growing at a rate of 25 percent.

"We have around five variants including passenger carriers. Though competition has increased we have the first mover advantage," Pishorady added.

Asked about the passenger variant Magic, he said the models sells around 5,000 units per month.He said the 0.5 tonne vehicle to carry passengers is being test marketed in Rajasthan.

_--IANS

GM India launches cashless maintenance service- June 24

General Motors India Tuesday launched a scheme on all its Chevrolet cars and said it would help customers lower the cost of ownership.

The scheme will allow a customer to avail free maintenance of the car for three consecutive years or 45,000 km, whichever is earlier after paying a subsidized amount of Rs.13,499 in advance.

"In case the cost exceeds the maximum maintenance expense for three years outlined for each model, Chevrolet promises a full refund of the differential," said the company in a statement.

The scheme is also applicable to Chevrolet pre-owned cars, available at 41 locations across the country.

_--IANS

Hyundai launches advanced Verna at Rs 6.56 lakh- June 24

The country's second largest car maker Hyundai Motor India today launched an advanced version of its mid sized sedan Verna, priced between Rs 6.56 lakh and Rs 9.22 lakh (ex showroom Delhi).

"The Verna Transform is all set to boost Hyundai's already superior line-up of products in India by raising the benchmark in the sedan segment," Hyundai Motor India Managing Director and CEO H W park told reporters here.

The new car -- Verna Transform-- will be available in two engine variants of 1.6 litre petrol and 1.5 litre diesel.

The company has sold 82,076 units of the old Verna, which was launched in September 2006.

Tata Motors to introduce Air Car- June 23

Tata Motors is taking giant strides and making history for itself. First the world's cheapest car and now it is also set to introduce the car that runs on air, compressed air.

With spiralling fuel prices it is about time we heard some breakthrough!

India's largest automaker Tata Motors is set to start producing the world's first commercial air-powered vehicle.

The Air Car, developed by ex-Formula One engineer Guy Nègre for Luxembourg-based MDI, uses compressed air, as opposed to the gas-and-oxygen explosions of internal-combustion models, to push its engine's pistons. Some 6000 zero-emissions Air Cars are scheduled to hit Indian streets by August 2010.

The Air Car, called the MiniCAT could cost around Rs. 3,50,000 ($ 8177) in India and would have

arange of around 300 km between refuels.

The cost of a refill would be about Rs. 85 ($ 2).
The MiniCAT which is a simple, light urban car, with a tubular chassis that is glued not welded and a body of fiberglass powered by compressed air. Microcontrollers are used in every device in the car, so one tiny radio transmitter sends instructions to the lights, indicators etc.

There are no keys - just an access card which can be read by the car from your pocket. According to the designers, it costs less than 50 rupees per 100Km (about a tenth that of a petrol car). Its mileage is about double that of the most advanced electric car (200 to 300 km or 10 hours of driving), a factor which makes a perfect choice in cities where the 80% of motorists drive at less than 60Km. The car has a top speed of 105 kmph. Refilling the car will, once the market develops, take place at adapted petrol stations to administer compressed air. In two or three minutes, and at a cost of approximately 100 rupees, the car will be ready to go another 200-300 kilometers.

As a viable alternative, the car carries a small compressor which can be connected to the mains (220V or 380V) and refill the tank in 3-4 hours.. Due to the absence of combustion and, consequently, of residues, changing the oil (1 litre of vegetable oil) is necessary only every 50,000 Km).

Chevrolet celebrates 7th anniversary in India- June 23

Chevrolet completed seven years of its journey after its foray into the Indian market in 2003.
To celebrate this important milestone and strengthen its ever increasing customer base, General Motors India has undertaken several initiatives like Chevrolet free Mega Service Camps that include Exchange and Loan Facilities, Product and Accessories Displays and Test Drives across the country.
It has also initiated the Mega Gold Rush scheme for customers who will be awarded gold coins with purchase of select Chevrolet vehicles. To engage with consumers, several fun-filled activities around the Beat are being organized in prominent malls in key cities across the country.

To make its customers a part of the celebrations, Chevrolet will also host gala evenings, special movie shows and a slew of dealer driven activities across the country.

Launched in 2003, Chevrolet has become one of the most popular and the fastest growing automotive brands in the country, having sold over 3,00,000 cars in India. With a wide array of products and services, Chevrolet has brought unmatched product quality and unparalleled performance to the Indian consumers.

Speaking on the occasion, P Balendran, Vice-President, GM India said, “Chevrolet has come a long way in India in its journey of seven years. Chevrolet’s best-in-class products, widespread customer outreach through an expansive network, promise to deliver quality, efficiency and performance have led to widespread acceptance and support for our brand."

GM India operates two state-of-the-art facilities manufacturing facilities in Halol and Talegaon. It has recently added second shifts in both the plants, and is in the process of setting up a 160,000-unit Powertrain manufacturing facility, at the Talegaon manufacturing plant premises. It has also set up a Technical Centre at Bangalore (GMTCI) that has three operational units: Research & Development (R&D), Engineering and a Design Studio - India’s first such digital studio.

As a responsible corporate citizen, the company has been at the forefront of fulfilling its corporate social responsibility. GM India believes in working with the Government to spread awareness of issues that are in the public interest and have an overall impact on the state’s development and economy.

GM India continues to work on several product programs and innovative initiatives to cater to the wide and varied requirements of its valued customers in India and fulfilling the ‘Chevrolet Promise’. Truly, there’s a great journey ahead with Chevrolet and the company is committed to achieving greater milestones in the Indian market.

_{(Sourced from: www.financialexpress.com)}

GM unveils cashless car ownership offer- June 23

Car-maker General Motors India today launched its cashless ownership offer for its customers to provide best-in-class products and services.

The offer would help enable General Motors India to increase sales of its all models including the recently launched Chevrolet Beat.

“This is a unique offer which would provide a low-cost of maintenance for our customers. It will ultimately help to increase sales of all models and mostly recently launched Chevrolet Beat,” GM India’s Vice-President, P Balendran, said here.

As a part of the Chevrolet cashless ownership offer, the customer will only have to pay a one-time subsidised amount to avail free maintenance and service of his car for the next three-years or 45,000-kilometres.

This offer will cover all the periodic maintenance services and running repairs. In tandem with the Chevrolet promise, in case the cost exceeds the maximum maintenance expense for three-years outlined for each model, Chevrolet promises a full refund of the differential.
The cashless ownership offer will be applicable to all models and the recently-launched Chevrolet Beat at a cost of Rs 13,499 covering all services and maintenance for a period of three-years or 45,000 kms, Balendran said.

To further bolster the excellent ownership experience of Chevrolet vehicles, the company has extended the Chevrolet pre-owned car programme called ‘Chevy OK’ which is now operational at 41 locations pan-India.

GM India produces Chevrolet Captiva, Optra, Cruze, Aveo, Aveo U-VA, Spark, Beat and Tavera in India.

_{(Sourced from: www.financialexpress.com)}

Japan's small-sized bars output up in May - June 23

In May, Japan's small size bar output hit 773,500 tons, up by 8.7 percent compared with April, but down by 1.9 percent year-on-year.

The total production during Jan- May was 3.4433 million tons, up by 1.1 percent year on year, and the estimated output through 2010 is expected to reach 8.26 million tons.

Karnataka iron ore to last 60 years - June 23

While the massive steel and mining investment proposals at the Global Investor's Meet would double the state's iron ore consumption, Mr Murugesh Nirani Karnataka large and medium scale industries minister is confident that the state's iron ore deposits will last another 60 years.

Mr Nirani told Express that "Going by the assessed capacity, we can go on producing up to approximately 80 million tonnes of iron ore every year for the next 60 years. We need 40 million tonnes of iron ore per annum if all the proposals turn into reality. To produce one tonne of steel, we need approximately two tonnes of iron ore.”

The state government cleared proposals to set up steel plants and mining related industries worth INR 170,000 crore at the GIM.

When asked whether the state has conducted any studies to assess the state's iron ore deposits, the minister said that "We have conducted a basic analysis. In 2009-10, we exported 45 million tonnes of iron ore. In 2010-11, we expect to export 45.5 million tonnes of iron ore. We are not giving new mining leases any more. We are also not renewing licenses. The deposits will last for about 60 years if we produce at a rate of 80 million tonnes per year.”

_{(Sourced from Express News Service)}

Government measures to foster Chinese scrap market - June 23

People Daily quoted according to the data by China Association of Metalscrap Utilization at China Scrap Forum which opened in Kunshan, Jiangsu province May end, China scrap steel consumption in 2009 grew by 15.4%YoY at 83.1 million tonnes, the highest level in history and the import scrap amount also beat record at 13.69 million tonnes.

It is well known that scrap is a significant raw material in steel making as a major substitute of iron ore. To increase the use of this resource and make its supply easier and more convenient is believed an important solution to the tension abatement in iron ore import and promotion to China's energy-saving and emission reduction campaign.

As per report, in comparison with iron ore, scrap employment in steel making can help save about 60% energy, 40% water and reduce discharge of waste water, gases and residue about over 70%. Besides, scrap steel is also a resource that can be reclaimed in cyclical economy.

According to the Association observation, China consumption of scrap steel has augmented almost three folds from 2000 to 2009, an increment of 6m tons a year on average. In spite of this, China still lags far behind the world average level in using scrap steel. The consumption of scrap is about 40% to 45% of the crude steel output on average in the world while that the figure in China is 14.6%.

Mr Yu Xinhe vice president of Wuhan Iron and Steel Group Corporation said "The use cost of scrap is much higher than that of iron ore, which is the root reason why Chinese steel mills are not assuming scrap largely."

Mr Zhang Zhongyu manager of a Jiangsu-based scarp distribution company said "We are expecting Chinese government will issue encouragement measures in favor of introduction and adoption of eco-friendly scrap processing equipments such as subsidy or rewards to share equipment cost of enterprises."

He said that "On the other hand, we are expecting more license and autonomy in scrap import market, as a means to expand scrap import to supplement domestic market.”

_{(Sourced from People Daily)}

Criteria for Chinese steel industry to come out soon- June 22

Shanghai Securities News reported that criteria for steel enterprises admittance to and operation in the industry are prepared led by the Ministry of Industry & Information Technology and hopefully to be released soon.

The criteria are understood very important for the steel industry to implement merger and acquisition, elimination and support growth of the competitive enterprises.

The state council declared a policy on pushing forward restructuring of steel sector and strengthening the campaign of energy conservation and emission reduction two weeks ago.

Mr Li Yi head of the MIIT said that the steel industry will play a crucial role in the campaign of energy conservation and emission reduction, and this moment is the toughest stage for the campaign to succeed.

The report said the criteria are important in the industry's selection. For instance, iron ore resource allocation will firstly go to the enterprises up to the criteria.

MIIT official said management of the steel industry will be officially initiated as soon as the criteria are issued.

Separately, the ministry is also reportedly to constitute specific measures for promoting M&A, in light of the policy released weeks ago.

_{(Sourced from Shanghai Securities News)}

Japanese pipe makers hike mechanical pipe prices- June 22

Sumitomo Metal Industries (SMI) hiked the price of A513 mechanical pipe By US$$280/ton but kept ERW pipe price stay unchanged.

Japan’s pipe makers forecast that demands for mechanical pipes will keep rising, especially from China, India, and Southeast Asia.

On the other hand, they worried that demands from US, Australia, and Thailand may slow down if the stimulus policies weren’t carry out continuously.

Now the companies are talking to buyers on the contract of the fourth quarter, and it's said that they plan not to hike price due to rising raw material costs.

France’s crude steel up by 59% in May- June 22

According to statistics, France’s crude steel output was 1,573,850 tons in May, up by 58.6 percent year-on-year and up by 8.58 percent month-on-month.

Among them, the output of electric furnace and blast furnace were 542,000tons and 1,031,850 tons respectively, increasing by 17 and 95 percent.

The total output during Jan-May was 6.76 million tons, increased by 42.4 percent compared to the same period of last year.

Scrap import price plunges in Taiwan- June 21

Taiwan’s scrap import price has dropped due to weak demand.

According to the trader, American main scrap mill, SIMS, cuts the price to US$340/ton for 80:20 container scrap to Taiwan.

Current settle price of American 80:20 container scrap is US$325/ton which is higher than anticipation but it’s said that the price should further go downward to US$320/ton, as the global scrap buyers are still adopting a wait-and-see attitude.