VE Commercial Vehicles to invest Rs 1,000 cr by 2013 to expand business  
NEW DELHI: VE Commercial Vehicles Ltd today said it will invest Rs 1,000 crore by 2013 on various activities, including expansion of engine production capacity, launch new products and enhancing R&D.

"We have set a capex of Rs 1,000 crore for 2012 and 2013. Our investment plans are on track and there is no downturn effect on it," VECV Managing Director Siddhartha Lal told reporters on the sidelines of SIAM annual convention here.

The investment will go into various areas, including ramping up engine production capacities, enhancing R&D infrastructure, developing new products and strengthening distribution and after sales network, he added.

The firm has a capacity to produce 60,000 engines a year. It is setting up a new plant to roll out one lakh engines, which is based on Volvo technology, every year.

The new plant will be commissioned by the middle of next year, Lal added.

Talking about new products he said: "We have launched a 14 tonne truck in this fiscal. The next new product will come by the end of 2013 and in between we will have refreshes and variants of our existing products."

VEVC is a 50-50 joint venture between the Volvo Group and Eicher Motors Ltd. Apart from manufacturing and selling of Eicher branded trucks and buses, the company is also responsible for sales and distribution business of Volvo trucks within India.

Source : Economic Times (9/6/2012)

Hero MotoCorp to phase out three models - Impulse and Ignitor motorcycles and Maestro scooter  
NEW DELHI: They may be newly-launched products, but Hero MotoCorp has said it will phase out Impulse and Ignitormotorcycles and Maestroscooter after some time as they have been launched with technology assistance from erstwhile partner Honda Motor Co of Japan.

Pawan Munjal, MD of Hero MotoCorp, said the company wants an independent robust R&D set-up, for which it has stitched up a new technology agreement with a European design and technology provider — its third such partner since its split from Honda last year. He said going forward, Hero MotoCorp wants to develop products with its new partners so that it can replace those developed with Honda.

Hero, that is setting up an integrated R&D centre near Jaipur with an investment of Rs 400 crore, has been getting aggressive in firming up alliances to guarantee new technology flow after the departure of Honda. Munjal did not disclose the name of the new European partner. In February, the company announced a partnership with US superbike company Erik Buell Racing (EBR), and in March signed a research deal with Austrian engine manufacturer AVL.

Source : Economic Times (9/7/2012)

Audi to set up dedicated assembly unit at Aurangabad  
NEW DELHI: German luxury car maker Audi is setting up a dedicated production unit at the Aurangabad plant of Volkswagen group firm Skoda in order to meet increasing demand in the Indian market.

The company, which assembles sedans A4 and A6 along with SUV Q5 at the Aurangabad plant, is looking at an installed capacity of 3,000 cars a year at the new unit.

"We are setting up a dedicated production plant in Aurangabad. It will have a capacity of 3,000 units annually," Audi India Head Michael Perschke told PTI on the sidelines of SIAM annual convention here.

The construction of the plant is going on and it will be completed by the end of this year. The company will assemble two models at the upcoming unit, he added.

"Will start the assembly of SUV Q7 by the end of this year and will probably start the assembly of Q3 from next year," Perschke said.

When asked about the investments on the new unit, he said: "We had announced a five year plan of 30 million euro of which 65-70 per cent have already been consumed. The investment in the new plan will come from this."

Without sharing details he said, the company will announce another five year investment plan from 2013.

Currently the company has capacity to assemble 6,500 units in India annually.

Audi India is targeting to sell 8,000 units this year and is expecting 20 per cent jump in 2013.

Source : Economic Times (9/6/2012)

Mission to promote electric vehicles to be launched this month  
NEW DELHI: A mission plan to promote electric and hybrid vehicles in the country is expected to be formally unveiled by the government by the end of this month.

"In the next fortnight, I hope, I am sure, that the Prime Minister will officially launch the National Electric Mobility Mission Plan 2020, " Minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises Praful Patel said here today.

He was speaking at the annual convention of Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers ( SIAM).

The government wants to promote electric and hybrid vehicles in the country. According to industry, the government will save Rs 30,000 crore in fuel by providing Rs 14,000 crore in subsidy to industry for manufacturing electric vehicles. The industry contribution would be about Rs 8,000 crore.

The plan lays the vision, sets the targets and provides the roadmap for achieving significant penetration of efficient and eco-friendly electric vehicle (including hybrids) technologies in India by 2020.

The country has set a target to produce six million green vehicles by 2020, of which four to five million are expected to be two-wheelers. At present, there are only about 1,500 electric four-wheelers and about four lakh electric two-wheelers.

The National Council of Electric Mobility ( NCEM), which is a government body for making recommendations in these matters, held its first meeting on August 30.

On the proposal to levy additional tax on diesel cars, Patel said, "Talks on this issue are ongoing. If such talks will happen before the next Budget, we will again put our views to them (Finance Ministry)."

While the Finance Ministry had been mulling imposing additional levy on diesel vehicles to discourage consumption of subsidised fuel by personal vehicle owners, the Department of Heavy Industry was opposing the proposal saying it would hurt the industry.

Patel said, "Let us understand what the Finance Ministry wishes to say, unless they discuss it (the proposal) with us we cannot say..."

In the previous Budget, the government choose not to levy additional tax, he added.

Source : Economic Times (9/6/2012)

Jaguar Land Rover invested 370 mn pound in upgrading UK facilities  
LONDON: Tata-owned Jaguar Land Rover today said it has invested 370 million pound in upgrading its UK manufacturing facilities and in setting up of Land Rover assembly at Pune in India.

Inaugural sales of the fourth-generation Range Rover are to begin this month following a three-year engineering project, supporting 1,000 jobs in design, product development and manufacturing at Jaguar Land Rover, JLR Chief Executive Officer Ralf Speth said.

Speth, who celebrated the new Range Rover launch at a preview event in Richmond Park in London today, said, "Through a 370 million pound investment ... we have been able to build the world's first SUV with lightweight all-alumuinium construction, a car that is 20 per cent lighter, with fuel consumption and CO2 emissions reduced by 22 per cent."

As part of the investment package, Jaguar Land Rover has installed a new aluminium body shop for the latest Range Rover at the company's Solihull plant, near Birmingham.

The Range Rover formed part of a new model offencive by Jaguar Land Rover, which will launch shortly the much-anticipated Jaguar XF Sportbrake and the new Jaguar F-Type sports car, JLR said in a release.

"Jaguar Land Rover is firing on all cylinders, generating export revenues of close to 8 billion pound a year as we meet demand for a model-range that justifies continued expansion in our UK facilities and elsewhere," Speth said.

Speth said that the Land Rover assembly plant in Pune has just commenced production and five to seven cars were assembled every day.

"We are very optimistic about India and we are getting excellent support from Tata Motors," he said.

In August, demand for vehicles helped lift pre-tax profits by 32 per cent to 333 million pound for the first quarter of the current fiscal year, with more than 85,000 cars sold in the three months to June 30.

According to Speth, Range Rover has been a major contributor to that growth, with annual sales of all models increasing 20 per cent in 2011-12, driven particularly by rising demand in markets such as China and Russia.

"We are investing more than 2 billion pounds every year on R&D in order to have state of the art car," he said.

Speth said the US is the biggest market for Range Rovers while the UK, Europe and China accounted for 20 per cent of its sales each.

Describing Brazil as an important market, Speth said "We intend to set up an assembly line, a copy of the Pune plane, in Brazil."

He described Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata as "exceptional leader, a connoisseur of technology."

Source : Economic Times (9/6/2012)

Honda's new identity for car business in India by Sept-end  
NEW DELHI: Japanese car maker Honda Motor Co will have a new identity for its car business in India by the end of this month following the break-up of its joint venture with Usha International of the Shriram Group.

Last month, the company had announced that it was buying out the Indian partner from their joint venture, Honda Siel Cars India Ltd, which was established in December 1995.

"We have applied for the name change just a week back and it usually takes two to three weeks time. By the end of this month, the name change should happen," HSCI Senior Vice President and Director Raman Kumar Sharma told.

Speaking on the sideline of the annual convention of Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) here, Sharma said there would be no other structural change to the company.

"The Honda name will of course be there in the identity. We will continue to have two different companies for two wheeler business and car business," he said without disclosing the new name of the company that has been suggested to the Registrar of Companies.

Sources, however, said with the dropping of 'Siel', the company could have simply opted for Honda Cars India.

He said apart from the exit of Siddharth Shriram, who was the chairman of the company till the JV ended, the HSCI board would remain the same as there were no other directors from the Shriram group.

Honda Motor Company had acquired Usha International's entire 3.16 per cent stake in HSCI for Rs 180 crore.

Commenting on the new launches, HSCI Senior Vice President Sales and Marketing Jnaneswar Sen said an automatic version of hatchback Brio would be launched next month.

He said the company is expecting to improve its sales performance during the upcoming festive season.

Source : Economic Times (9/6/2012)