Page 26 - Automobile Manufacturer

India's light vehicle market fastest growing among top 10 markets: S&P

Auto sales in India reached a record high of 3.8 million units in the FY23, surpassing the pre-Covid peak of 3.3 million units seen in FY19

Audi, ChargeZone inaugurate ultra-fast charging station in Mumbai

German luxury car manufacturer Audi on Thursday inaugurated an ultra-fast charging station, conceptualised and developed in collaboration with ChargeZone, in Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) here. Claiming to be India's first ultra-fast charging station, it has a total capacity of 450 KW, which delivers 360 KW of power to an electric vehicle, Audi India said in a statement. Currently, Audi India has the luxury EV portfolio with six electric cars -- ?Q8 50 e-tron, Q8 55 e-tron, Q8 Sportback 50 e-tron, Q8 Sportback 55 e-tron, e-tron GT and RS e-tron GT -- in India. According to the company, this charger can charge Audi Q8 55 e-tron with a 114 KWH battery from 20 per cent to 80 per cent in just 26 minutes. "The inauguration of India's first, ultra-fast charging station by Audi India is a significant milestone in our ongoing efforts to develop a comprehensive electric vehicle ecosystem for our valued customers," Balbir Singh Dhillon, Head of Audi India, said. The company said its e-tron ...

40 years of Maruti 800: Jairam Ramesh recalls contribution of Indira, Rajiv

Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Thursday recalled the launch of people's car Maruti 800 40 years ago, and said Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi played a quiet but hugely effective role in the background. Former environment minister Ramesh also said that while celebrating Maruti-Suzuki and its multiple impacts, let us also pause and worry a bit from the inequality and climate change point of view that more than 50 per cent of car sales are now of SUVs. In a post on X, Ramesh said, "Today 40 years ago, the consumer revolution overtook India and its engineering industry got transformed. The Maruti 800, the people's car was launched and the nation recalls Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, who played a quiet but hugely effective role in the background." It is also important to recall O Suzuki and V Krishnamurthy who made the landmark Suzuki-Maruti joint venture possible, he noted. Krishnamurthy had earlier built BHEL and was to later turn around SAIL, Ramesh pointed out. "One of th

M&M, investors to put Rs 875 cr in Classic Legends over next 2-3 years

CLPL revived heritage brands like Yezdi and Jawa. However, it has been able to gain significant market share in the premium segment, which is still largely dominated by Eicher Motors' Royal Enfield

Manufacturing sector expected to reach $1 trn by 2025-26 led by Gujarat

The automobile, electronics, and textile sectors in India have witnessed surge in investment and will lead the manufacturing sector's growth in India, according to a report by Colliers

Passenger vehicles cruise to a record, small car sales skid 21% in Nov

Rajesh Menon, Director General of SIAM, said, "Passenger Vehicles posted the highest ever sales in November 2023 of 3.34 lakh units, albeit with a growth rate of 3.7 per cent

Volkswagen India, Skoda set to hike prices by up to 2% from January

Volkswagen Passenger Cars India on Tuesday said it plans to hike prices by up to 2 per cent across model range to offset adverse impact of rising input and material costs from January 1, 2024. Already other manufacturers such as Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai Motor India, Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, Honda, Audi and BMW, have announced plans to increase prices of their vehicles in January. Effective January 1, 2024, the company plans to hike prices by up to 2 per cent across its model range owing to rising input and material costs, a spokesperson of Volkswagen Passenger Cars India said in a statement. "While the brand continues to absorb most of the input cost increase, however, some impact will have to be passed on to the end consumers," it added. Volkswagen Passenger Cars India sells vehicles ranging from mid-sized sedan Virtus to premium SUV Tiguan priced between Rs 11.48 lakh and Rs 35.17 lakh.

JSW Group, China's SAIC Motor begin negotiations on royalty fees

China's largest auto firm keen to get higher royalty fee; JSW group wants to go with industry benchmark

Election code impacts commercial vehicle sales in post-festival period

When asked about this, a company executive of a leading CV player said that the figures for only one month were down due to some stock correction happening at the retail end

Tata Motors to hike commercial vehicle prices by up to 3% from January 1

Tata Motors on Sunday said it will hike prices of its commercial vehicles by up to 3 per cent from January 1, 2024, to offset the residual impact of the past input costs. The increase will be applicable across the range of commercial vehicles, Tata Motors said in a statement. Passenger vehicle makers such as Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai Motor India, Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, Honda and Audi have also announced plans to increase vehicle prices in January.

Govt makes air-conditioned truck cabin for drivers mandatory from Oct 2025

All new trucks manufactured on or after October 1, 2025, must be equipped with AC cabins for drivers, as the Road Transport and Highways Ministry has issued a notification for mandating air-conditioned truck cabins. In a gazette notification, the ministry has said, "...the vehicles manufactured on or after October 1, 2025, shall be fitted with an air-conditioning system for the cabin of vehicles of N2 and N3 category". The testing of the cabin fitted with an air-conditioning system shall be as per IS14618:2022, it added. In July, Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari said the draft notification to mandate the installation of air-conditioning systems in the cabins of trucks has been approved. Recently, the minister said that truck drivers play a key role in the transport sector, one of the most important areas for India, and there is a need to address issues regarding their working conditions and state of mind. Air-conditioned cabins for trucks will soon be made mandatory, ..

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

Suzuki Motor Gujarat unit crosses 3 mn cumulative production milestone

Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) on Wednesday said its Gujarat-based unit has crossed 30 lakh cumulative production milestone. Suzuki Motor Gujarat (SMG) has surpassed the milestone within a span of around 6 years and 11 months since commencing operations in February 2017, MSI said in a statement. SMG has an annual production capacity of 7.5 lakh units and the vehicles manufactured at the plant are sold in both domestic as well as export markets. "With the acquisition of Suzuki Motor Gujarat, we are further enhancing our production flexibility. The production of our battery electric vehicles will also be undertaken at the Gujarat plant and is expected to start in FY 2024-25," MSI MD and CEO Hisashi Takeuchi stated. Currently, the facility rolls out some of the popular models like Swift, Baleno, Dzire and Fronx. Around 50 per cent of the vehicles manufactured at SMG in 2022-23, were exported to global markets, Takeuchi noted. MSI board recently approved the acquisition of SMG from Suzuki

MG Motor India retail sales increase by 2% to 4,154 units in November

MG Motor India on Friday said its retail sales increased by 2 per cent to 4,154 units in November 2023. The automaker had sold 4,079 units in November 2022. EV sales continued to account for around 30 per cent of the total vehicles sold last month, MG Motor India said in a statement. The recent collaboration with Charge Zone reasserts the focus of the company on boosting EV infrastructure and it has so far established a network of more than 12,000 chargers across the country, it added.

TVS Motor November sales: Total sales up 31% YoY to 364,231 units

TVS sold a total of 16,872 units of electric two-wheelers in November 2023 as against 10,056 units sold in November 2022

India to act as automaker Toyota Motor Corporation's regional Hub

Japanese auto major Toyota Motor Corporation on Friday announced a regional restructuring with India being integrated into its 'Middle East, East Asia & Oceania Region' operations and slotting the country to act as the hub of the new geography. As part of this development, Masakazu Yoshimura, MD and CEO of Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) -- the company's joint venture in India with the Kirloskar group -- will concurrently be the Regional CEO, Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) said in a statement. "Currently, as a part of the Asia Region, the Indian market already enjoys high priority. With this change, India will now play an even more crucial role by being integrated into the Middle East, East Asia & Oceania Region and acting as the hub of the new 'India, Middle East, East Asia & Oceania Region' starting January 1, 2024," it said. TMC further said, "The new reorganisation, which underlines the growing significance of India in Toyota's global business landscape, reflects the ...

Maruti Suzuki November sales: Total sales up 3.39%, SUV sales rise 50%

The mid-sized sedan, Ciaz clocked just 278 units last month as compared to 1,554 units in November 2022

Mahindra sales rise 21% to 70,576 units in November, export declines

Mahindra & Mahindra on Friday said its total wholesales increased by 21 per cent year on year to 70,576 units in November. The Mumbai-based automaker had dispatched 58,303 units in November 2022. Utility vehicle dispatches stood at 39,981 units last month, an increase of 32 per cent over 30,238 units in the year-ago period, Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) said in a statement. Exports, however, declined 42 per cent last month to 1,816 units as compared to 3,122 units in November 2022. "We continue our growth trend, backed by strong demand for our SUV portfolio...While we saw a healthy festive season, we faced supply challenges on select parts during the month. We are keeping a close watch and taking appropriate steps to mitigate the challenges," M&M President Automotive Division Veejay Nakra said. M&M said its tractor wholesales stood at 32,074 units in November as compared to 30,528 units in the year-ago period. Exports, however, declined to 1,005 units last month from ..

M&M November sales: Total sales up 21% to 70,576 units, SUV sales shine

Exports for November 2023 were down 42% year-on-year. Year-to-date exports until November 2023 also dropped 17%, reaching 17,986, compared to 21,633 units exported during the same period in FY23

Mobile phone PLI has created 500k incremental jobs: Ashwini Vaishnaw

As many as 5,000 people will work to manufacture smartphones and feature phones at a large scale in the new unit, Vaishnaw said