VW Beetle

The car will be imported from its Mexico plant as a fully efficient unit after the testing sessions of the company are done with. It has been pretty important to different people living in different parts of the globe – It was once the quasiofficial vehicle of Germany’s hated Third Reich in the 1940s, the Beetle went on to become the darling of California beatniks in the Swinging 60s.

Owing to the 110% import duties, the car will have to compete with the nearby priced rivals like Toyota Camry, Honda Accord and Mercs.

The Indian unit of Volkswagen said pricing the Beetle competitively was a big challenge for the company and blamed taxes and logistics for the high price. “But we are working very aggressively on Beetle’s debut in India,” said Neeraj Garg, Volkswagen India’s director for passenger cars.

The already selling models of Volkswagen in the country are Jetta and Passat both coming under the sedan category, but the premium(or rather too costly) hatchback segment of India has been less explored till date, that only by Fiat 500 actually, which has a price tag of Rs 15 Lac(Ex-Delhi).

Also known as Bug, the Beetle will sport a 1.9-litre TDI diesel engine and a 5-speed manual transmission. Its other features will include rain sensors and cruise control, along with acoustic rear parking sensors to fit into small parking spaces. Its safety features will include ABS, traction control, anti-skid system and standard front and side airbags.

Mr. Garg said Volkswagen was not looking at high volumes but hoped to leverage its brand value before launching its mass-market Polo hatchback, expected to debut sometime later this year. Fiat’s model 500, (also called the Cinquecento) launched last year, has managed to sell just 58 units to date.

“We are expecting a much better response for the Beetle, which carries a very high iconic value,” Mr. Garg said.

Volkswagen’s decision to launch the Beetle comes at a time when rival BMW has put on hold its plan to launch the equally iconic small car Mini in India. BMW, which does not see it as a viable proposition yet, has pushed back the India rollout of Mini beyond 2010 and will continue to focus on bigger sedans and sports utility vehicles for now

Honda India  have been releasing new variants, new cars and have also seen their sales rise. A few days ago,  Honda had cut the prices of the CR-V and Accord. Now HSCI (Honda Siel Cars India) has sent word that they registered twelve percent growth in sales in the month of July.

July last year saw them selling some 4337 cars. But in July 2009, 4,857 were sold by Honda in India. As for the period between April to July, 17,625 units were sold by HSCI. This is a 7.4 percent increase in sales if you compare it with the figures for the same period in 2008, when 16,412 units were sold.

According to Honda India, its City model sold 3268 units while the Civic sold 299 units. As for the recently launched Honda Jazz, it sold an impressive 1037 units. Coming to the high-end cars from the Japanese carmakers, the Honda Accord and the Honda CR-V sold 223 units and 30 units respectively.

Global two-wheeler major Yamaha Motor is stepping on the gas to make up for the lost time and market share. It’s now targeting to more than double its market share and pep up the brand with some new bikes. CNBC-TV18’s Sumantra Barooah reports what bikes can be seen next from Yamaha, and the company’s target for market share

Yamaha is basically trying to pep-up the brand both in terms of its products and through that5 increase its market share. The next launch will be at least two new bikes and both of these would be imported, so don’t expect them to be priced below Rs 10 lakh. It will be in the range Rs 10 lakh or above.

The reason behind the launch of these brands is to kind of spice up the brand a little bit. They already have some very big motorcycle brand names like MT01 and R1 and these 2-3 which they will launch by mid-September will add to those.

In addition to that they will also increase their locally-made bike portfolio with new variants. The objective behind these steps is to increase the market share to about 10% for the current 3.75-4%, which means they want more than double their market share by 2012.

Yamaha last year had announced that they will invest Rs 800 crore in India, of which, about 70% has already been invested and the rest will invest for the new products.

Swedish luxury car-maker Volvo Car is expected to launch its luxury sedan S60 in India by 2010, once the car is reintroduced in the European markets in the middle of next year.

The company would also consider setting up an assembly facility in the country as soon as Volvo Car India, the Indian subsidiary of the Ford Group company, starts selling at least 2,000 units a year.

Volvo S60

“We will be launching the S60 in the Indian market after it is rolled out in Europe in the middle of next year. We hope to have it in India before the end of 2010,” Volvo Car India Managing Director Paul de Voijs said.

The S60 was phased out since May this year and the new car would be an advanced version, he added.

Volvo Car India, which sells its vehicles as completely- built-unit (CBU) here, would bring in the S60 from its parent facility in Belgium.

When asked about setting up its own production facility in India, Voijs said the firm would look at having an assembly plant only after achieving a “reasonable sales target”.

“We will look for annual sales of, may be, around 2,000- 3,000 units before setting up an assembly plant here. Our major plants in Sweden and Belgium have still got a lot of extra capacity,” he added.

Volvo Car India, which sells its vehicles as completely- built-unit (CBU) here, would bring in the S60 from its parent facility in Belgium.

When asked about setting up its own production facility in India, Voijs said the firm would look at having an assembly plant only after achieving a “reasonable sales target”.

“We will look for annual sales of, may be, around 2,000- 3,000 units before setting up an assembly plant here. Our major plants in Sweden and Belgium have still got a lot of extra capacity,” he added.

Voijs said the company is also exploring possibilities to bring its SUV XC60 in the country, although no final dates have been fixed for the launch of the crossover model.

Volvo Car India currently sells its sports utility vehicle (SUV) XC90 and sedan S80 in the country in both petrol and diesel variants, which are imported from its Swedish plant. It had sold about 100 units last year.

“We have not set any target for this year, but we hope to cross last year’s figures and so far it is promising,” Voijs said.

Besides, the company is expanding its dealership network to 12 by the end of this year from the existing 7 showrooms.

Voijs said discussions were on to open outlets in Goa, Ahmedabad and Bangalore, while looking for options to set up dealerships in Jaipur and Kolkata.

“With 12 dealerships, we can reasonably cover the entire country and then we will look at increasing our sales,” he said, adding, that the luxury car segment in India is growing faster than the entire Indian car market.

To a query on the likely sale of Volvo by Ford, Voijs said, “Ford is looking at buyers to sell the brand, but I don’t know when and to whom. However, it will have no impact on Volvo in India and we are already in the process of creating our own legal entity.”

The struggling US auto major Ford had reported a loss of over $14 billion in 2008. It has been reported that the company may sell off Volvo, which it had acquired in 1999 for over $6 billion for cost restructuring.

Volvo has two facilities in Sweden, besides one each in Belgium, China, Thailand and Malaysia.

New Delhi:

Car sales jumped nearly four fold in July on the back of new rollouts and cheaper loans.

Sales grew 30.9 per cent in July against 8 per cent in June. The industry has seen higher sales for the sixth month running, and the percentage gain in July is the biggest since February 2007, when growth stood at 46.52 per cent.

According to data of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (Siam), passenger car sales went up to 1,15,067 units in July from 87,901 a year ago.

]]> http://indiaautoupdate.wordpress.com/2009/08/13/car-sales-zoom-31-in-july/feed/ 0 indiaautoupdate Speedsters http://indiaautoupdate.wordpress.com/2009/08/13/zooming-passion-for-superbikes-in-india-overrides-cost-factor/ http://indiaautoupdate.wordpress.com/2009/08/13/zooming-passion-for-superbikes-in-india-overrides-cost-factor/#comments Thu, 13 Aug 2009 09:08:31 +0000 indiaautoupdate http://indiaautoupdate.wordpress.com/?p=3 ]]> Source : Economic Times

NEW DELHI:

A niche market for superbikes is quietly picking up pace in India, with enthusiasts increasingly seeking that tantalising rush of

adrenaline, undeterred by the high prices of these roaring mean machines.

Yamaha, the Japanese biggie, alone has sold about 125 superbikes, YZF R1 and MT01, since its launch in December 2007. Suzuki

with masterpieces like Hayabusa and Intruder has sold about 100 of them since 2006, while Honda and Ducati are others in the market.

While the regular models on offer have engine powers ranging from 100 cc (Bajaj Boxer) to 350 cc (Royal Enfield), the superbikes on Indian roads start from 1,000 cc (Yamaha’s YZF R1) to 1,300 cc (Suzuki’s Hayabusa).

Incidentally, the 350-cc Royal Enfield has for long been India’s answer to the Harley Davidson that has a cult following worldwide.

“It’s like an addiction, an adrenaline rush,” says Arun Thareja, a head and neck cancer surgeon at the Maharaja Agrasen Hospital here. “You literally feel you’re a cheetah as these machines are awesomely powerful,” Thareja, 46, said.

Little wonder his passion has made him president of a club called Group of Delhi Superbikers, which has 25 members ranging from doctors like him to businessmen and students.

The superbikes also have cult status in the country since most of them are imported. Indian manufacturers are yet to enter this elite segment as they are more focussed on delivering what is most in demand than in catering to a niche segment.

As a result, auto majors like Bajaj and Hero Honda have not gone above a 250 cc bike.

The positioning of superbikes is for a limited segment as they cost between Rs 125,000 and Rs 5 million – some custom-made machines can even go higher.

Says Sanjay Tripathi, head of product planning and brand management with Yamaha India:”The customers of superbikes already have two-three cars. They are real bike lovers. They can splurge as much money on a bike as they can for a car.”

One may think it is the youth that is most enthused by superbikes. But age is no bar – owners include teens, young actors like John Abraham and middle-aged professionals like Thareja.

For those unable to acquire one, modifying existing machines is an answer. Thareja, for example, owns about five bikes, and has modified three. And Hero Honda’s Karizma, a modified version, is his favourite for Sunday group rides.

“Modifying a bike costs around Rs 10,000. It also depends if you want to tinker with the engine or not. Otherwise, with a normal carburettor-modification, the cost can be as low as Rs.5,000,” he explains.

There is also an equally thriving grey market of superbikes as import duty is as high as 113 per cent. “To avoid this, people dismantle them and import them as spare parts, which attract 25 per cent duty. It is then re-assembled and sold,” says Yamaha’s Tripathi.

He estimates the market for superbikes at 600-700 units a year.

“It’s a crazy passion for crazy machines,” says motoring critic Murad Ali Baig. “These bikes are for the seriously rich. I don’t think India can have a very big market for such machines, at least in the near future.”

Agrees Atul Gupta, Suzuki India vice president for sales and marketing: “I don’t see the market expanding. Not because people don’t have the buying capability but because there is lack of good roads in the country.”