Page 33 - Automobile Industry

Elon Musk forces eco-conscious Scandinavians to choose between EVs, unions

A small walk-out at Tesla's seven repair shops in Sweden over unfair working conditions has in the past month spiralled into a storm of labor strikes

China to set up auto research institute in Thailand as EVs gain traction

Thai govt tax incentives and subsidies already drawn Chinese carmakers, including BYD and Great Wall Motor, which committed to investing $1.44 billion in new production facilities in the country

EV retail sales grow 25.5% to 152,606 units in November, says Fada

Electric vehicle total retail sales, including passenger and commercial vehicles, grew 25.5 per cent to 1,52,606 units in November, according to data released by the Federation of Automobile Dealers Association (FADA) on Thursday. The total EV retail sales in November 2022 were recorded at 1,21,596 units, according to FADA. The e-two-wheeler sales were 18.82 per cent higher at 91,243 units during the previous month from 76,791 units in November 2022. The e-three-wheeler volume rose 32.37 per cent to 53,766 vehicles in the reporting month as compared to 40,619 units retailed in the year-ago period, the data showed. Electric passenger vehicles retail sales in November this year stood at 7,064 units, a growth of 77.35 per cent over 3,983 units in the same month of last year. The electric commercial vehicle (e-buses) retail sales were reported at 533 units in the previous month as against 203 units retailed in November 2022, registering a year-on-year growth of 162 per cent, it said.

Strong order book to help Lamborghini see steady growth in India: Official

Super luxury car maker Automobili Lamborghini on Wednesday said a strong order book and product portfolio in India will help it register consistent growth in the domestic market. Automobili Lamborghini, which launched its first plug-in hybrid super sports car Revuelto with V12 engine at a starting price of Rs 8.89 crore (ex-showroom) on Wednesday, said almost all its cars to be delivered in India 2024 onwards will be hybrid. "Lamborghini order bank, or the product portfolio in India, is strong... that will allow us to have a constant growth in the market," Automobili Lamborghini Region Director for Asia Pacific, Francesco Scardaoni told PTI in an interaction. He said India is one of the fastest-growing markets for Lamborghini, and it is witnessing a strong demand from the country. "The new Revuelto sets the stage for an era of super sports car evolution in the hybridisation phase," he said. In response to a query on the company's growth prospects in 2024, "first of course we have

Maruti Suzuki's electric SUV to be manufactured in Gujarat's Hansalpur

Leading car manufacturer Maruti Suzuki on Wednesday announced that its upcoming electric SUV will be manufactured in Gujarat, and a new plant will be added to the company's existing manufacturing facility in Hansalpur, nearly 90 km from here. Suzuki Motor Gujarat Private Ltd (SMG), which runs the car manufacturing plant at Hansalpur, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Maruti Suzuki and commenced operation in February 2017. "Our first EV, an SUV, will be launched in the next financial year of 2024-25. It will come out from SMG's Gujarat plant. At present, the entire SMG facility at Hansalpur has three plants - plant A, B and C. Now, to manufacture the EV, a new plant, also called a production line, will be added there," Maruti Suzuki Executive Director (Corporate Affairs) Rahul Bharti told reporters. The upcoming EV SUV, to be produced here at the SMG plant, will be exported too, he added. In March 2022, SMG's parent firm Suzuki Motor Corporation signed an MoU with the Gujarat governme

'Increasing demand for SUVs major road safety, environmental challenge'

The automobile industry's relentless push to sell larger and heavier SUVs a major road safety as well as environmental challenge and the government should discourage sale of these big vehicles, a top official of the Global New Car Assessment Programme (Global NCAP) said on Tuesday. Speaking at an event organized by the Institute of Road Traffic Education (IRTE), Global NCAP executive president David Ward said the Indian government has taken maximum steps for increasing road safety in the past few years including development of Bharat NCAP with partnership with GNCAP. "The car industry's relentless push to sell ever larger and heavier SUVs is bad news for road safety, but particularly for those driving smaller, more (fuel) efficient vehicles, and vulnerable road users," he said. According to Ward, the risk of fatal injuries to vulnerable road users increases as the bonnet height of the vehicle hitting them increases. "Increasing growth and demand for SUVs in India and other countrie

PM Modi shouldn't chase Elon Musk for manufacturing Tesla in India

If the Indian government believes this is how to build an EV-manufacturing ecosystem, however, it ought to think again

Honda Cars to increase prices of its entire model range from January

Honda Cars India plans to increase prices of its vehicles from January in order to partially offset the impact of riding input costs, according to a senior company official. The Japanese carmaker sells three models -- Elevate, City and Amaze -- in the Indian market. In an interaction with PTI, Honda Cars India Vice President (Marketing and Sales) Kunal Behl said the company will increase the prices of its models from next month due to pressure on input costs. "The model-wise amount of increase will be finalised by the end of this month. Our new model Elevate which was launched at an introductory price has been well received by the market with very high customer consideration. The introductory price will be valid till December 23 and price will be revised from January 2024," he noted. Maruti Suzuki, Mahindra & Mahindra and Audi India have also announced plans to hike prices of their passenger vehicles in January 2024 citing reasons, including cost pressure driven by overall ...

Toyota Kirloskar Motor sales up by 51% at 17,818 units in November

Toyota Kirloskar Motor on Friday reported 51 per cent growth in sales at 17,818 units in November 2023 as compared to the year-ago month. The company had sold 11,765 units in November 2022, Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) said in a statement. Domestic sales last month were at 16,924 units in the domestic market, while exports stood at 894 units, it added. The company had undertaken a week-long maintenance shutdown from November 11-19, 2023 for upkeep of machinery and equipment to sustain operational efficiencies, maintain quality and safety, the statement said. "We recorded a strong festive season with healthy bookings, and we are extremely thrilled to see the market responding very positively to our entire product range," TKM Vice President of Sales and Strategic Marketing Atul Sood said. TKM said its cumulative sales for calendar year 2023 (January-November) stood at 2,10,497 units, up 40 per cent over the same period in 2022, when the sales were 1,49,995 units.

Strike cuts Ford sales by 100,000 vehicles, cost $1.7 billion in profits

A six-week United Auto Workers strike at Ford cut sales by about 100,000 vehicles and cost the company USD 1.7 billion in lost profits this year, the automaker said Thursday. Additional labour costs from the four-year and eight-month agreement will total USD 8.8 billion by the end of the contract, translating to about USD 900 per vehicle by 2028, Chief Financial Officer John Lawler said in a company release. Ford will work to offset that cost through higher productivity and reducing expenses, Lawler said. The Dearborn, Michigan, automaker re-issued full-year earnings guidance that was withdrawn during the strike, but it trimmed its expectations. The company now expects to earn USD 10 billion to USD 10.5 billion before taxes in 2023. That's down from USD 11 billion to USD 12 billion that it projected last summer. Ford said the strike caused it to lose production of high-profit trucks and SUVs. UAW workers shut down the company's largest and most profitable factory in Louisville, ...

Two-wheeler volumes expected to grow by 4-7% this fiscal year: Report

Two-wheeler retail sales are expected to increase by just 4-7 per cent in volume terms in the domestic market this fiscal year despite logging strong growth in the festive period, according to a report. The festive season this year saw robust growth in two-wheeler retails aided by the upcoming wedding season and some recovery in rural demand, which supported sales growth in the entry-level (110 cc) segment, the report by rating firm Icra stated. The dealer inventory remained at near normal levels, with the OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) wary of a build-up in inventory at the dealerships, it added. "The industry is expected to record a moderate growth in volumes in FY 2024 (4-7 per cent) even as export volumes remain impacted by weak demand," Icra said. Elaborating on the passenger vehicles, Icra stated that the segment is expected to record a moderate growth in volumes in FY2024 (6-9 per cent) and reach an all-time high during the period. Commercial vehicle volume growth

Audi India raises prices of vehicles by 2% from Jan 1 on rising input costs

Audi India registered an 88 per cent growth and has retailed 5,530 units in the first nine months of this year

Audi India to hike prices of vehicles by up to 2% from January 2024

German luxury car maker Audi on Monday said it will hike prices of its vehicles in India by up to 2 per cent from January next year citing rising input and operational costs. The price hike will be effective from January 1, 2024 and will be across the model range, Audi India said in a statement. "Due to rising supply-chain-related input and operational costs, we have effected a price correction across our model range, maintaining the brand's premium price positioning," Audi India Head Balbir Singh Dhillon said in a statement. He further said, "the price correction aims to ensure sustainable growth for Audi India and our dealer partners, and we will ensure that the price hike's impact is as minimal as possible for customers." Audi India sells a range of vehicles from Q3 SUV to sports car RSQ8 priced between Rs 42.77 lakh and Rs 2.22 crore.

BLive looking to raise $5 million in next 6 months, says CEO Kholkar

BLive, a multi-brand electric vehicle platform, is looking to raise USD 5 million in the next six months, its CEO and co-founder Samarth Kholkar said on Friday. The investor interest in BLive is "strong", Kholkar said, adding that the company is hopeful of making a funding-related announcement in the next six months. "We have raised under USD 2 million over a period of time, and we are looking to raise USD 5 million now because our primary interest is to invest in technology and people. "Technology, because we are a platform at the end of the day, which has a lot of data coming in, now it is time to consolidate, extrapolate and use the latest technology, including blockchain to ensure we can scale up our business from a typical 10X to a 100X," he said. BLive is looking to double its revenue to about Rs 100 crore in FY25 and is aiming for profitability in 12 months timeframe. "So to boost that, we need a strong tech platform, which will help us reach that scale...to that milestone,

Three JK Tyre Motorsport drivers in fray at APRC finals in Indonesia

The final round of the Asia Pacific Rally Championship 2023 (APRC) will have a strong Indian presence with three JK Tyre Motosport drivers in fray, at the Danau Toba Rally which will be held here from November 24-26. Considered as one of the toughest rallies on the circuit, the Danau Toba Rally will run on gravel and cover a distance of 433 kms, with 150.35 kms earmarked for 11 special stages and one super special stage. On a combined grid of 63 competitive cars, out of which 18 are participating in APRC also, India's biggest promoter of motorsport JK Tyre together with Vamcy Merla Sports Foundation have fielded three young drivers under their colours, namely Jahaan Singh Gill from Chandigarh with co-driver Suraj Prasad, Coorg lad Suhem Kabeer with co-driver PVS Murthy and Lokesh Gowda from Mysore with co-driver Ashwin Naik. Jahaan, who has just sealed his JINRC title in the Indian National Rally Championship, will be driving the N11 Subaru and Suhem Kabeer and Lokesh Gowda will be

Motul India Unveils Next Level Thrill Advertising Campaign Celebrating the Spirit of Riding

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Made-In-India Honda Elevate ready to run on Japanese road next year

Japanese auto major Honda is all set to introduce its India-made mid-sized SUV Elevate in the Japanese market next year. It would be the first instance that a product manufactured by Honda Cars India Ltd (HCIL), a wholly-owned unit of the Japanese firm, will be exported to the highly regulated Japanese market. HCIL is rolling out Elevate from its Tapukara (Rajasthan-based) production facility. "After its successful debut in India earlier this year, Elevate is scheduled for Spring 2024 launch in the Japanese market under the brand name WR-V," an HCIL spokesperson said in a statement. In a first for HCIL, the model will be manufactured in India and exported to Japan, it added. "This strategic move is a strong reflection of manufacturing capabilities of India operations and also solidifies our vision of making the country a key export hub in Honda business," the spokesperson said. The company's Tapukara-based plant is fully equipped to take care of the domestic as well as export ...

Aston Martin owner Lawrence Stroll sells F1 team stake at £1 bn valuation

The deal comes on the eve of the much-hyped Las Vegas Grand Prix this weekend and shows the growing appeal of F1 in the US, the Aston Martin team said in a statement on Thursday

Renault sets out targets for EV unit Ampere, says won't sell it cheap

The group set out financial targets for the unit, including an expected break-even in 2025 and an operating margin of at least 10% from 2030

Bumpy road! Pakistan car sales continue to fall; 6,200 units sold in Oct

Motorcycle sales in Pakistan have declined by around 10% in the first four months of the financial year, which is largely due to the decreasing purchasing capacity among the common masses