Maruti to enhance production capacity

Maruti Suzuki India's largest car manufacturer is about to achieve capacity of manufacturing one million units of cars by the end of the fiscal year 2009-2010. “On the back of high demand for compact cars, both in the domestic as well as overseas market, the company hopes to achieve full production capacity of 1-million units by the end of this fiscal,” said Mr I.V. Rao, managing executive officer, Maruti Suzuki India.



With this the Maruti Suzuki India is planning to launch a new model which is expected to replace the Maruti Versa model. In addition to this the Maruti India is also working on its plans of investing 2000 crores to expend its operations in India. A new production line is likely to be set up at the Manesar unit, which will have a capacity of 3 lakh units per year," as the statement given by Maruti spokesperson. Maruti Suzuki Is also Planning to double its exports from Mundra port of Gujarat. Currently the Maruti A-Star model is the only model to which company exports from Mundra Port.

Source :- Maruti to enhance production capacity - New Cars

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Reva is scouting for partners to make electric cars in US, Europe

Reva, Bangalore based Electric Car Company said it is searching for partners in the US and Europe for setting manufacturing bases. Deputy Chairman and Chief Technology Officer Chetan Maini said the company is having negotiations with some local parties but nothing has been finalised as yet.

Chetan Maini also said the company aims to increase sales to 30K units in three years from less than a 1,000 units per year currently. Chetan Maini also told that the sales will be around 50-50 from domestic market and exports. Reva, which had recently entered into an agreement with General Motors India for launching electric version of the compact car Chevrolet Spark, said it was also open to do partnership with other companies.



Reva's technology is useful for all sorts of vehicles from three-wheelers to big cars. But for the time being the focus will remain on the electric Chevrolet Spark for the Indian market. Reva will launch its new electric car model Reva NXR, which was showcased at the Frankfurt Auto Show, early next year globally and the other model Reva NXG will be rolled out by early 2011. Volkswagen Beetle and Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X will be soon launched in India.

Source :- Reva is scouting for partners to make electric cars in US, Europe - New Cars

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Volkswagen's roadblock leaves its impact on print media

It was on November 11, that readers of TOI saw that ads of the German carmaker’s brands from Volkswagen Beetle to Volkswagen Jetta to Volkswagen Touareg dominated the print world, blocking out other advertisers. A kind of carpet-bombing or certainly called as the roadblock in ad circles was witnessed in Indian print media for the first time. Divya Gururaj, managing director of Mediacom, the media agency that created India’s first print roadblock said, "At Google Hot Trends, Volkswagen was the most searched word on November 11, despite Cyclone Phyan dominating the airwaves that day." It worked.



Roadblock means to buy all the ad spaces in a newspaper or a television channel or a website for a day, in a way to block all other advertisers. Roadblocking is popular in the US, UK and South Africa markets, where it’s been in use since the 1970s. HUL, The country’s largest advertiser, created a roadblock in the Star Network on September 17 when only ads of its brands such as Surf, Lux, Liril and Lifebuoy played across Star channels.

Earlier it was noticed that in India, Hindustan Unilever which is the consumer product company, Nokia and mobile operator Vodafone have put roadblocks on television channels and websites before. Ravi Kiran, South Asia CEO and emerging market leader, specialist solutions, of global marketing communications agency Starcom MediaVest, warns that brands should be careful about such bigscale interventions. Be ready to welcome the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X in India soon.

Source :- Volkswagen's roadblock leaves its impact on print media - New Cars

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Tata Motors intends to introduce Indica Electric Model

Tata Motors will be introducing the electric variant of its hatchback model Tata Indica Vista by early 2011. In coming 12-14 months, Indian auto market will see the electric model shining on roads if there is enough demand in the domestic market. Presently, Tata Motors is developing its electric model for Danish, Norwegian and British market where exists infrastructure to support electric cars as well as a robust demand in the market.



Tata Motors is planning to carry out a convenient study before the car is actually launched in India. India is an extremely price sensitive market and it also lacks infrastructural support to sustain electric cars. Tata Motors had also announced earlier to launch an 'Air Car' that will run on compressed air car. Since air is not a fuel, it fails to deliver similar range and cooling as a CNG model. Volkswagen Beetle and Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X are the upcoming cars in India.

Source :- Tata Motors intends to introduce Indica Electric Model - New Cars

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Hero Hodna Splendor crosses 11th million mark

Hero Honda, the leading two-wheeler company of the country and the world, has go another record in its 25 year old history. The company rolled out its 11th million Hero Honda Splendor bike on 11th November this year. The 11th million model was rolled out in its Gurgaon facility. Hero Honda launched the first Hero Honda Splendor in January 1994 and sold one million units of the bike by November 1994. The company launched its refreshed versions time and again. The 100cc entry-level bike dominates the bikes in India. The company also bagged the largest bike maker award for the 8th time in a row. Thanks to its flagship product-Hero Honda Splendor.

Hero Honda recently introduced a new Hero Honda Karizma ZMR PGM Fi. The new Karizma is programmed fuel injected and sports full front fairing. Due its awesome look, customers in India are crazy for it. Impressed by the great success of Hero Honda in entry-level bike segment, Bajaj Auto launched its Bajaj Discover 100cc and now Honda, Mahindra and TVS is gearing up to launch bikes in the segment shortly. Other popular bikes in India include TVS Apache, Bajaj Pulsar, Yamaha R15, Honda Activa, TVS Scooty, Mahindra Duro etc.

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New Maruti Van by the end of the fiscal

Maruti Suzuki India (MSI), the largest auto maker in the country, has announced to launch a new Maruti Van in India by the end of the fiscal. This yet-to-launch van will replace Maruti Versa, an MPV. The production of the Maruti Versa has been stopped recently. The news is confirmed by I V Rao, Managing Executive Officer (Engineering), MSI in a conference held here. But other details like price, variant etc was not disclosed. He further said that the company intends to produce one million units of its vehicle within the current fiscal. As a result, the full installed capacity will be achieved.



Mr. Rao informed that MSI is in the process to upgrade their all vehicles as required by April 2010 when Bharat Stage-IV norms will be implemented. According to him, MSI is developing electric and hybrid vehicles for demo cars. However, there is no plan for a full-fledged launch of vehicles with such alternative fuel technologies. Meanwhile, there is good news for car lovers that Volkswagen Beetle is going to be launhced in India in the first week of December this year. Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X is also slated for the India launch.

Source :- New Maruti Van by the end of the fiscal - New Cars

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Advance Fiat Linea in January

Fiat, India leading company is coming to launch it car Linea with high powered Fiat Linea in January 2010. With its high performance in the market Fiat will further strengthen its segment. Fiat Linea will be powered by 1.4L engine delivering 120ps at 5000 rpm and 206nm of torque after 1750 rpm. New Fiat Linea is capable of attaining the speed of 2000kmph. In the current models of Fiat Linea is available in 1.3 and 1.4 L petrol engine.


There are other new functions are also added in it ,Hill Holder function which will hold the car from rolling backward, when you take your foot off the pedal, sensing wipers, reverse parking sensor and automatic headlamps. It has shown the good market in the other parts also so they have aim to export new models of Fiat Linea and Grand Punto to South Africa from November onwards. "We will first serve to our neighbouring countries Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Nepal than we will move forward to New Zealand and Australia" said by Senior representative of Fiat.

Source:-Advance Fiat Linea in January - New Cars

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