Maruti Suzuki's Manesar plant will restart soon: Bhupinder Singh Hooda  
KOLKATA: Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said he expected Maruti Suzuki's violence-scarred plant at Manesar to resume production shortly and ruled out the possibility of the company relocating the factory to another state.

"They (Maruti Suzuki) are going to start it (Manesar plant) as early as possible," Hooda said in Kolkata on Sunday.

Denying any chronic industrial relation problem in the state despite militant trade unionism at the Honda two-wheeler plant in the past and the recent violence and arson in Maruti Suzuki's Manesar unit in which an executive was burnt alive and scores injured, Hooda insisted there was absolutely no issue of labour trouble in the state and that the Maruti Suzuki management had itself clarified that it was not shifting the plant from Haryana.



"They (Maruti Suzuki) can expand their facilities in other areas as per their requirement but they will not shift the Manesar plant. That is what I am told my Maruti officials and as Maruti has itself clarified and will go by only what the company says," Hooda added.

The company top brass though have alluded to the possible presence of urban naxalism in the industrial region.

"How else can one explain the actions of workers? No worker in the world will destroy his own place of work," Maruti Suzuki chairman RC Bhargava has said. Hooda claimed the Maruti Suzuki management was satisfied with the steps taken by the goverment, including the formation of a special investigation team to probe the incident. Hooda though skirted the issue of Naxalism and said there could be several reasons behind the violence. He claimed the Maruti management was happy with the steps taken by the state government, including the formation of a special investigating team.

"The overall crime rate and man days loss in Haryana is the lowest among states. The Maruti episode was an 'untoward' incident," he said. Hooda pointed out that Haryana had become an automobile hub with every second car and motorcycle produced in India manufactured in the state. During the past 7-8 years, Haryana has emerged as the leading state in the country in a number of areas like per capita investment, per capita income, wheat and milk productivity, industries, education and sports.

"India has won three medals so far in the London Olympics and two of the sportspersons hail from Haryana. Similarly, Haryana players had contributed 22 gold medals out of India's tally of 38 golds at the Commonwealth Games. Yet, it is a small state with only 2% population of the country," Hooda said.

Source : Economic Times (8/5/2012)

Toyota to launch its all-new premium luxury car Camry in India on August 24  
CHENNAI: Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) is all set to launch this month its all-new new premium luxury car "Camry" in the country and it would be assembled at the company's Bangalore facility.

"We are going to launch Camry on the 24th of this month in New Delhi..", TKM Deputy Managing Director (Marketing) Sandeep Singh told reporters here.

Declining to give out details on the features of new Camry, he said the components of the car would be imported and assembled at Bangalore plant. "We have enough space there to produce the car," he said.

TKM, a joint venture between Japan's Toyota Motor Corp and the Kirloskar Group, had introduced Camry in India as a Completely Built Unit from Japan. Camry is one of the largest selling cars for Toyota globally.

The company currently offers its popular Multi-Utility Vehicle 'Innova', hatchback and sedan 'Etios Liva' and 'Etios', 'Corolla Altis' and Sports Utility Vehicle 'Fortuner'.

TKM has two manufacturing facilities in India with a total capacity of three lakh units. The first plant manufactures Innova and Fortuner and the second plant Etios, Etios Liva and Corolla Altis.

To a query on market remaining sluggish, Singh said Toyota did quite well in terms of sales. "We are doing quite well in terms of sales. We are targeting to sell 1,70,000 units this year, compared to 1,31,000 units (last year)..", he said.

TKM has reported a seven per cent increase in sales at 14,574 units during July 2012.It had sold 13,592 units in July last year.

On TKM's proposed engine plant in Bangalore, Singh said it would begin production this month.

The plant would cater to Toyota's hatchback Etios and Etios Liva, with a combined investment of Rs 500 crore.

In addition to engines, TKM is scheduled to start producing transmissions for "Etios" and Etios Liva in early 2013. Exports of the transmissions are also being planned, a company official said.

Singh was here to flag off their first ever "Etios Motor Racing" at the Irungattukottai race track here.

Source : Economic Times (8/5/2012)