Posts filed under 'Automotive'
New York : The increased demand for “green” vehicles is spilling over to the rental car counter, where many more drivers will soon be able to choose a hybrid vehicle. Hertz Global Holdings Inc. said Thursday it will spend $68 million to add 3,400 Toyota Prius hybrids to its fleets by 2008. And Avis Budget Group Inc. said this week it plans to make 1,000 hybrid Prius vehicles available for rent as early as next week.
Brian Chee, an automotive analyst for Autobytel.com’s soon to be launched Web site MyRide.com, said that even with the fleet expansions, hybrid vehicles still represent a small part of rental car fleets.
“This is a first step,” Chee said. “It’ll be interesting to see if the rental car companies continue this. Like other companies, they’re making a ‘green’ statement, and this is a good way to do it.”
By replacing 1,000 of its ordinary rental cars with the gas-electric Prius models, Hertz said it will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by an estimated 3,000 tons per year.
“Today’s announcement highlights the next step in what is already a multiyear effort by Hertz to promote environmental sustainability throughout the company,” Mark Frissora, the company’s chairman and chief executive, said at Thursday’s announcement.
“As a global leader in car rentals, we recognize our unique opportunity and obligation to promote environmental practices and give our customers environmentally friendly options.”
Hertz said its hybrid vehicles will be available for rent at 50 of the company’s U.S. airport locations, with 100 of them reserved for its New York City fleet.
The stop-and-go flow of Manhattan traffic provides an ideal driving environment for the hybrids, allowing them to mainly operate off of their electric motors, the company said.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the greater availability of hybrid rental cars is in line with his city’s goal to reduce its emissions by 30 percent by the year 2030.
“These hybrid cars really put Hertz in the driver’s seat … in meeting one of the greatest challenges of our time, which is global warming,” Bloomberg told the gathering at the Museum of Natural History.
John Barrows, a spokesman for Avis, said this week his company will offer Prius hybrids in its California, Portland, Ore., Seattle and Washington, D.C., markets but may expand the locations in the future based on consumer demand.
Barrows said Avis also believes that the Prius rentals will not only appeal to travelers, but those interested in buying a hybrid.
“Obviously we have customers who want them,” he said. “And there are other people out there who are interested in purchasing a hybrid but really want to check one out before buying one.”
Chee, the automotive analyst, said the rentals offer Toyota Motor Corp. a chance to showcase the Prius, as well as give potential buyers a chance to decide if a hybrid is right for them.
“I do think it’s a risky move for Toyota, because what they’re saying is: ‘Here’s the car, here’s how it drives, we stand by our power train, and we think it’ll win people over,’” Chee said.
“It shows Toyota’s confidence that it’ll win over fans when they don’t have to buy it.”
Enterprise Rent-A-Car also operates a fleet of more than 3,000 hybrid vehicles, in addition to 41,000 flex-fuel cars and light trucks that can run on ethanol-based fuel, the company said.
Source : News.yahoo.com
June 15th, 2007
The two General Motors car plants in Oshawa are the most productive vehicle assembly operations in North America despite facing big job losses and a construction overhaul, an industry report has revealed.
U.S.-based Harbour Consulting said in its annual report yesterday that the Number 2 car plant topped the annual ranking while the adjacent Number 1 operation finished second among more than 70 auto assembly facilities across the continent.
“Once again, the workers at General Motors here have proven that when given the investment, they can produce vehicles better than anyone in the western hemisphere,” said Chris Buckley, president of Local 222 of the Canadian Auto Workers.
The Harbour study of auto productivity, which companies follow closely in the fiercely competitive vehicle industry, showed four of the top six assembly plants are in Ontario. Joining the two GM plants are the Honda complex in Alliston and the CAMI Automotive factory in Ingersoll.
In Oshawa, the study found the Number 2 plant required an average of 15.68 labour hours to assemble the Pontiac Grand Prix and Buick Allure and LaCrosse mid-size models in the past year. Meanwhile, the Number 1 plant required 16.34 hours to assemble the Chevrolet Impala and Monte Carlo mid-size models.
Both plants have been among the most productive assembly operations on the continent in recent years. Last year, the Number 2 plant finished second while the Number 1 operation, which topped the rankings in 2005, was seventh.
They are also among the leaders in North and South America in producing vehicles with the least amount of defects, according to J.D. Power and Associates.
GM, the country’s biggest auto maker, will shut down the Number 1 plant at the end of this year and move Impala production to the neighbouring Number 2 operation. Construction projects have already started for a flexible manufacturing operation and consolidation of the two car operations at the site.
Buckley said it’s “a darn shame” the car operations will lose more than 3,000 jobs after the transformation is complete.
In late 2008, the new operation will start producing unidentified mid-size cars and the Camaro sports car. The Number 2 plant will shut down in 2009.
CAMI, a joint venture between GM and Suzuki, had languished in productivity for years because of low demand but it jumped into fourth place in 2006. Productivity in assembling the Equinox, Torrent and XL7 models improved to an average 17.85 labour hours for each model.
Honda’s Number 1 plant in Alliston, the study showed, required an average of 18.82 hours to make the Civic compact, the country’s most popular car.
Greg Gardner, a Harbour market analyst, said productivity at Canadian assembly plants is generally strong, citing the fact some of them run on three shifts.
Results from other plants here showed DaimlerChrysler workers in Windsor needed an average of 21.95 labour hours to build each Caravan minivan while they posted 20.97 hours for the 300 Series and other full-size models at the Brampton operation.
It took 20.24 hours to make the Corolla compact and 22.37 hours to assemble the Matrix crossover utility vehicle at Toyota’s complex in Cambridge.
Ford’s plant in St. Thomas posted an average rate of 20.52 hours. The company’s Oakville plant finished near the bottom of the productivity standings at 46.08 hours for each Edge and Lincoln MKX crossover vehicle, but Gardner noted the company was going through a slow launch last fall.
Harbour said in its report that Toyota led the six biggest auto makers in manufacturing including assembly, stamping, engine and transmission operations. Honda topped assembly productivity with an average rate of 21.13 hours.
The Harbour report found the gap among major auto makers in productivity continues to narrow. Furthermore, the correlation between quality and productivity is strengthening, the report said.
It also showed parent Ford Motor Co. lost an average of $5,234 (U.S.) on each vehicle before taxes last year in comparison to red ink of $50 in 2002. GM reduced its losses by almost half to $1,436 on each vehicle while DaimlerChrysler’s red ink shot up to $1,072 on every model.
Nissan led the money makers with $1,575 in pre-tax profit per vehicle while Honda generated $1,368 on each model.
Source : Thestar.com
June 1st, 2007
New Delhi : Consolidating its position in the two-wheeler market would be the primary strategy of Hero Honda in fiscal 2007-08. The company that launched eight models in the last fiscal, will look at a slew of more launches and some facelifts in the current year.
Hero Honda’s managing director Pawan Kant Munjal said, “We will work towards maintaining our current market share of over 50% and continue to focus on the 100 cc segment. We will also consolidate our presence in the two-wheeler space.”
The two-wheeler major also launched another model in the entry level segment — Splendor NXG. The bike is strapped with a new 100 cc engine and comes in two variants. While the spoke wheel variants is priced at Rs 40,990 (ex-showroom Delhi), the cast wheel variant is priced at Rs 41,990 (ex-showroom Delhi).
Stressing on the fact that the new model will not cannibalise its previous variants, he said, “Even though Splendor NXG is the new generation of this brand, both brands will continue to co-exist as different customers have different needs.”
Splendor has been Hero Honda’s largest selling brand. Hero Honda V-P-marketing & sales Anil Dua said, “We believe that the new Splendor will further increase the sales tally of the brand this year.” There is a gap of 1,00,000 units in the sales tally of Hero Honda and Bajaj Auto and the new model is expected to push Hero Honda’s sales further, he said.
“We have bucked the industry growth trend and have grown higher. We grew by 19% while the industry has grown by 11% last fiscal,” he said. The deluxe segment contributed about 67% to Hero Honda’s total sales. Splendor, Passion and Glamour are the three top-selling brands in this segment for Hero Honda.
Source : Economictimes.indiatimes.com
May 29th, 2007
NEW DELHI : Acacophony of horns, revving engines and squealing brakes fills Jagdish Khattar’s 11th-floor office in Connaught Place, New Delhi’s central business district.The company Khattar runs, Maruti Udyog, makes half of the cars jostling on Indian roads and every automaker on the planet is fighting to add its vehicles to his traffic jam.This year, India’s 1.1 billion people will snap up vans, small trucks and cars - especially pint-sized models - more quickly than anyone except the Chinese, according to Global Insight. From 2006 through 2011, India will be the fastest-growing auto manufacturer among the world’s top 20 car making countries, the accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers says.
“Everyone is looking at India after what happened in China,” says Ashvin Chotai, the director of Asian automotive research for Global Insight. “There’s no other place that even comes close.”
Global Insight predicts that Chinese sales of light vehicles - cars, trucks and vans that weigh less than six tons - will soar by 50.6 percent to 12 million by 2012.
In India, General Motors, Honda Motor, Volkswagen and half a dozen other companies plan to spend at least $6.6 billion on new factories to cash in on the nation’s auto lust. Fiat, Nissan Motor, Renault and others are linking with local manufacturers. All are betting on a country where 7 people in 1,000 own a car, compared with 450 per 1,000 in the United States and 500 per 1,000 in Western Europe.
India’s 216 million-member middle class is rushing to make up for decades of automotive deprivation. In 1991, P.V. Narasimha Rao began dismantling state controls that had shut out foreign companies and left India with only Maruti and two other homegrown automakers, Hindustan Motors and Premier Automobiles.
Rao, who was prime minister from 1991 to 1996, kept duties on auto imports as high as 100 percent and encouraged foreign carmakers to set up local assembly and manufacturing plants. Auto companies began to trickle in, led by Daewoo Motor of South Korea in 1995. Customers followed, buoyed by bank loans and rising salaries.
In the year that ended on March 31, Indian passenger car sales climbed 21 percent to 1.38 million. By 2015, they are expected to almost triple to three million, according to the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers.
Khattar, a former civil servant who ran a government-owned cement company and sold Indian teas in London from 1979 to 1983, says that Maruti has advantages in luring new car buyers.
GM, Honda and others assemble cars in India, importing most of the parts. Maruti, which is 54 percent owned by Japan’s Suzuki Motor, builds cars from scratch. Maruti’s new subcompact called the SX4 shows another of the company’s selling points. The model has two airbags, anti-lock brakes, an anti-theft system and automatic climate control. It sells for 689,000 rupees, or $16,980, in New Delhi. The equivalent Honda model, called the City ZX, costs 727,000 rupees without the frills.
“Our competitors can sell at our price, but can they produce at our cost?” Khattar said.
So far, investors are backing Khattar. “Everyone will have to beat Khattar because he knows the Indian market well,” said Amit Kasat, an auto analyst at Motilal Oswal Securities. Maruti’s stock price soared to 829.9 rupees on May 22; the government sold a 25 percent stake to the public in June 2003 at an issue price of 125 rupees. On May 10 of this year, the government sold its remaining stake for 23.6 billion rupees. Shareholders, including banks and insurance companies, now own 46 percent of Maruti; Suzuki owns the rest.
“He has done a great job to get Maruti among the most profitable car companies today,” Govindarajan Chellappa, an analyst at Credit Suisse Group, said of Khattar. “What else could shareholders ask for?”
One thing is better roads. Outside Khattar’s window, Maruti 800s, the smallest car the company makes, jostle with Toyota Corollas, Chevrolet Aveos and swarms of other models - some so tiny that they could fit on the bed of a U.S. pickup truck.
During Mumbai’s rush hour, traffic crawls at 10 kilometers, or about 6 miles, an hour.
India’s $14 billion highway development program is not keeping up - for drivers or carmakers. “We are not able to grow the way we should,” said Rajeev Chaba, the president of General Motors India. He says India’s inadequate roads and ports are part of the reason the country trails China as a car market.
“In China, the government is supporting the industry in a big way,” Chaba says.
Source : Iht.com
May 24th, 2007
MUMBAI - India’s Tata AutoComp Systems Ltd. and France’s Valeo are in discussions to buy a stake in the New York-listed auto parts firm Visteon Corp. , Business Standard said on Monday citing unnamed sources.The newspaper said a deal could be valued between $1.5-$2 billion but it was not clear whether the two firms would jointly or independently bid for Visteon, an ailing unit that was spunoff from car maker Ford .
Unlisted Tata AutoComp is part of India’s salt-to-software Tata group. A spokesman could not be reached immediately for comment.
Source : news.yahoo.com
May 21st, 2007
MUMBAI, May 14 (Reuters) - Shares of India’s Hero Honda fell more than 2 percent in a firm Mumbai market on Monday, after the firm announced below-forecast earnings after the market closed on Friday.
Its shares slid 2.4 percent to 688 rupees while the benchmark index was up 1.44 percent at 0433 GMT.
India’s top motorcycle maker, Hero Honda Motors Ltd. reported a worse-than-expected 27 percent fall in quarterly profit as high raw material costs and cut-throat competition squeezed margins.
India’s Munjal family and Japan’s Honda Motor Co. each hold 26 percent.
Source : Yahoonews.com
May 14th, 2007
May 10, 2007
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Car sales in India rose 11.3 percent on year in April, but growth was inhibited by firmer interest rates and stock market volatility, an industry body said on Thursday.
Indians bought 82,934 cars last month, compared with 74,542 in April 2006, the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers said on Thursday.
Source: ndtvprofit.com
Sales of all passenger vehicles — cars, utility vehicles and multipurpose vehicles — rose 11.8 percent to 105,962 units in April from 94,771 a year ago.
Sales of commercial vehicles — trucks, buses and goods carriers — rose 6.5 percent to 30,836 in April.
The two wheeler market fell by 5.95 percent to 570,381 units mainly due to depressed motorcycle sales.
Motorcycle sales in India fell by 9.7 percent in April to 463,091 units.
May 10th, 2007
NEW DELHI: BAJAJ Auto could be headed for a division between Rahul Bajaj’s sons-Rajiv and Sanjiv-with the demerger plan being put on the fast track. The demerger will be used as a succession plan to carve out the business between the two brothers. Sources close to the development say the brothers do not share a great personal chemistry. A source close to Rahul Bajaj, however, told ET: “There is no fight between the two brothers. They are two different individuals. Sanjiv, as the executive director of the company, reports to the MD, Rajiv. The company does not have two centres of power. The demerger plan is not linked to them.”
The proposal to demerge Bajaj Auto was first mooted a few years ago by the company’s management, ostensibly on the suggestion of FIIs that felt the company had excessive cash on its books. As per a loose plan, a part of the company’s cash and investment assets, including its shareholding in its insurance joint ventures with Allianz, were to be spun off and the option of these being merged with Bajaj Auto Finance had also been considered.
If and when the demerger goes through, Rajiv, 39, will continue to head the two-wheeler giant while the financial services company will be run by Sanjiv, 37, an MBA in finance from Harvard. The proposal was, however, never taken to the board and has been on the backburner for some time now.
Sources close to the family say the demerger process has now been accelerated, and the frosty relations between the two brothers could be one reason for this. “The frostiness between the two brothers is not entirely a figment of people’s imagination,” says a source. Right now, Bajaj Auto’s motorcycles business is handled by Rajiv while the Rs 6,000-crore portfolio management function has historically been handled by Rahul Bajaj. “So it does get awkward for Sanjiv as he ends up being the co-pilot in both, which doesn’t give him the same satisfaction as doing something on his own.”
Source: The Economic Times
February 9th, 2007
