Automobile Newsletter - February 06 to February 10, 2012

Top Stories 
 
India's car sales rise for 3rd straight month in January
India’s domestic sales of passenger cars rose for a third successive month in January as the industry bounced back from a sharp deceleration amid growing signs of the high interest rate cycle nearing an end.
 
Car sales in the first month of 2012 stood at 196,013 units, up 7.2% from the corresponding month a year earlier, the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) said in a statement in New Delhi.
 
Car sales in January surged by an impressive 23% from the previous month.
 
Local sales of trucks and buses stood at 69,859 units in January versus 61,537 units sold in the same month a year ago, data from the industry body showed today. That translates into a year-on-year growth of 13.5%.
 
Local two-wheeler sales rose to 1,113,831 units last month from 980,243 units sold in January 2011, according to the SIAM data. That represents an increase of 13.6% from January 2011.
 
Total automotive sales grew by 12.17% to 14,81,435 units in January 2012 as against 13,20,644 units sold in the same month of 2011, SIAM data added.
 
Maruti Suzuki sales surpass 10mn milestone
Maruti Suzuki India has reportedly crossed one-crore units milestone of cumulative sales in the domestic market as the 10 millionth vehicle, a Red Swift Vxi, was dispatched to Coimbatore today morning from the company’s Manesar plant.
 
Shinzo Nakanishi, Managing Director and CEO, Maruti Suzuki was quoted as saying “Maruti Suzuki’s success story is closely linked with the success story of India in the last two decades. Even as India has grown and transformed, Maruti Suzuki has evolved to meet changing demands.”
 
The company had rolled out its first car, an M800 in December 1983 and attained five million domestic sales in February 2006 in India, according to reports.
 
In Focus Stories
 
India is key market for Rolls-Royce: Anil Shrikhande
Anil Shrikhande President Rolls-Royce India said “India is a key market for Rolls-Royce and one in which we have been active for over 75 years.  We continue to develop our manufacturing and engineering-services presence here through mutually beneficial collaborations with companies like Hindustan Aeronautics Limited  (HAL), L&T, TCS and QuEST. Most recently, we announced the start of construction of a facility in Bangalore, to manufacture important aerospace components for the Trent family of engines.  We also continue to support the Indian Armed Forces and will deliver 60 Rolls-Royce water jets for a new fleet of 20 Fast Patrol Vessels for the Indian Coast Guard.
 
“We continue to grow our business and support customers across the wider sub continent, announcing Energy contracts to deliver additional power in Bangladesh, where we now have sold over 80 Bergen engines for power generation.
 
Today Rolls-Royce engines are powering India’s critical growth sectors like – civil aerospace, defence aerospace, marine and energy. We are proud to be  a partner in progress and look forward to continuing to deliver excellence for our customers in India during 2012.”Read More…
 
Maruti, Hyundai, Honda most popular brands in Used Car Market: Study
Sulekha.com, India’s leading digital marketplace for local needs, today announced the results of a study undertaken on the Used Car Market in India. This study has been conducted using Sulekha.com’s database of over 85,000 second-hand cars of selective brands listed on its site over the last 3 years.
 
This analysis covers the hatchback as well as the sedan market. It covers the used car market in New Delhi/NCR, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Cochin and Kolkata.
 
Key interesting findings:
Maruti, Hyundai and Honda are the most popular brands in the used car market.
For every car of Honda in the seconds market, there are 3 cars of Hyundai and 5 cars of Maruti.
Swift models constitute one-third of the Maruti hatchback seconds; Alto models make up another 25%.
Whereas, Santro models constitute 50% of the Hyundai hatchback seconds.
The Sedan category is dominated by Verna and Accent for Hyundai. And 2 out of 3 Honda sedans are City models.
 
Cost savings:
 
The study reveals that Rs. 30,000 to 50,000 can be saved by buying a year-old hatchback instead of a new one. Similarly, Rs. 50,000 to 70,000 can be saved by buying a year-old sedan rather than a new one.
The cost of a second-hand hatchback ranges from Rs. 2.5 lakh to 5 lakh, depending on the age of the car. The price of a second-hand sedan ranges from Rs. 4 lakh to 9 lakh, depending on the age of car. Read More…
 
 

Results Watch
 
M&M Q3 net profit at Rs. 6.62bn
Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd. (M&M) has reported a net profit of Rs. 6.62bn for the fiscal third quarter on revenues of Rs. 83.87bn.
 
The operating profit margin (OPM) for the period under review stood at 12.1%.
 
On a standalone basis, total income has increased to Rs. 84276.10mn for the quarter ended December 31, 2011 from Rs. 81629.60mn for the quarter ended December 31, 2010.
 
On a consolidated basis, the company has posted a net profit after tax of Rs. 7059.40mn for the quarter ended December 31, 2011 compared to Rs. 6084.90mn for the year-ago quarter.
 
Total income has increased to Rs. 82563.40mn for the quarter ended December 31, 2011 from Rs. 61756.60mn for the quarter ended December 31, 2010. Read More…
 
Apollo Tyres Q3 cons net profit at Rs980.42 mn
Apollo Tyres Ltd has posted a net profit of Rs. 980.42 mn for the quarter ended December 31, 2011 as compared to Rs. 1204.16 mn for the quarter ended December 31, 2010.
 
Total Income has increased from Rs. 23737.27 mn for the quarter ended December 31, 2010 to Rs. 32315.51 mn for the quarter ended December 31, 2011. 
 
Bharat Forge Q3 net profit at Rs1031.30 mn
 
Setco Automotive Q3 net profit up 7%
 
Sales Watch
 
Kia Motors sales up 3.3% in January
Kia Motors Corporation announced its global sales figures (export sales, domestic sales and sales from overseas plants) for passenger cars, recreational vehicles (RVs) and commercial vehicles for January 2012, recording a total of 185,284 units sold.  This figure represents a year-on-year increase of 3.3%.
 
In January, Kia posted strong double digit year-on-year sales increases in two of its major sales regions – 33.2% in Europe* (35,852 units sold) and 27.4% in North America (39,291 units sold). It was the highest total global January sales ever for Kia.
 
Kia’s best selling model in overseas markets for the month of January was the B-segment Rio (known as ‘K2’ in China) with 32,288 units sold. The C-segment Cerato (known as ‘Forte’ in some markets) was the second best seller with 25,489 units delivered, while the Sportage compact CUV, D-segment Optima sedan and Sorento mid-size CUV followed with 24,647, 15,459 and 14,473 units sold, respectively. Read More…
 
Mahindra’s XUV500 registers 25,000+ booking in second phase
Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. (M&M), India’s leading SUV manufacturer, today announced that it has received an overwhelming 25000+ booking applications from customers for the second phase of bookings for its XUV500. Bookings for the XUV500 had re-opened on 25th January across 19 cities in India namely Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore, Pune, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh / Panchkula, Ludhiana, Jallandhar, Patiala, Kochi, Trivandrum, Calicut, Trissur, Coimbatore, Nagpur and Nasik.  During the first phase of launch in October 2011, the XUV500 had received 8000+ bookings in just 10 days across 5 cities.
 
The second phase of bookings were open for 10 days from 25th January till 3rd February 2012. As a customer-centric measure and to ensure a fair and transparent allotment, Mahindra will undertake an XUV500 draw since the booking applications have exceeded 7200 in the second phase. Read More…
 
Domestic News
 
Used cars prices continue to rise in 2012: NADA
Increasing demand and a drop in the supply of used cars and trucks will lead to higher used vehicle prices in 2012, says Jonathan Banks, executive automotive analyst with the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) Used Car Guide.
 
"Consumers shopping for either a new or used vehicle will benefit this year from higher trade-in values along with loosening credit," Banks said at a press briefing during the NADA Convention and Expo in Las Vegas. "For dealers, reliance on customer trade-ins will increase as they strive to meet the challenges of growing demand in a supply-constrained market."
 
On a seasonally adjusted basis, the NADA Used Car Guide predicts used vehicle prices will increase by 1.8 percent by the end of the year, peaking in April and May. Used vehicle prices increased 3 percent in 2011. Read More…
 
Hindustan Motors sets Rs. 12.25 price for pref allotment
Hindustan Motors has fixed Rs. 12.25 a share as the price for its preferential allotment of 11.8 million shares and warrants each to promoters, the company said over the weekend.
 
The shares and warrants will be issued to Amar Investments Delhi, Bengal Rubber Company Ltd., Central India Industries Ltd. and Hindustan Discounting Co. Ltd., all part of the promoter group, Hindustan Motors said in a statement.
 
Laurus Edutech sign MoU with Tata Motors
Tata Motors, a leading automobile company in India, has signed three-year MoU with one of the leading skill development and training company Laurus Edutech to train the youth to drive commercial vehicles.
 
Under this agreement, Laurus Edutech will set up professional driving schools at regional level offering quality training and certification of drivers for HCVs and LCVs leading to increased employability. This initiative, for the next three years (2012-15), will work closely with interested dealers, transporters, fleet owners and other channel partners of Tata Motors to facilitate absorption of these youth wherever possible.
 
Tata Motors Limited (TML) is the leading automobile company in India and has aggressive growth plans for the future. This growth is likely to pose several challenges. The industry foresees shortage of experienced, licensed drivers to operate these vehicles and Tata Motors rolled out this initiative to create training and skilling capacities that will meet this shortfall in partnership with other organizations and help create respectable employment opportunities for the youth. Read More…
 
Escorts signs rate contract for supplying tractors to Government Organisations
Escorts Agri Machinery, India’s leading tractor manufacturer,  entered into a Rate Contract with the Directorate General Of Supplies & Disposal, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India, for supplying tractors on pre-approved prices directly to State and Central Government organizations without going for any tendering process.
 
This contract will entitle Escorts Agri Machinery to sell both POWERTRAC and FARMTRAC brand of tractor models, including PT 439, PT 439XL, FT 45XT, FT 65EPI (FT6060) and FT 70 - DX 4W (FT6065 4WD) for a period of 1 (one) year.
 
 
Synonymous with reliability, the Escorts range of tractors are fuel efficient, have long serviceability and low maintenance cost. Keeping in tune with modern day requirements, Escorts is today offering a comprehensive range of tractors which have been designed for both agricultural and commercial applications and are compatible with a number of implements such as rotavator, cultivator, thrasher, reaper, baler and seed drills. Read More…
 
Mahindra unveils stylish new XYLO
 
ŠKODA launches new Rapid ad campaign
 
Hero Group wins CNBC-TV18’s Indian Business Leader Awards 2012
 
Kia Rio and Optima names best subcompact and family Sedans by MotorWeek
 
Penguin India makes Ambassador its 25th anniversary mascot
 
Eicher bus body manufacturing plant to be set up at Dhar, Madhya Pradesh
 
More Rolls-Royce Ghost clients turn to bespoke personalization
 
Global News
 
Rolls-Royce records order book of £62.2bn, up 5%
John Rishton, Chief Executive, said, “Rolls-Royce performed well in 2011, and at the year-end had a record order book, record underlying revenue and record underlying profit. We continue to benefit from a broad portfolio, a large and growing customer base and access to markets where demand remains strong for our products and services.
 
“Our order book gives us good visibility of future revenues and demonstrates the confidence our customers have in us.
 
“We see opportunities for profitable growth across our portfolio. In particular, the acquisition of Tognum, that we have made in partnership with Daimler, adds significantly to the breadth of our portfolio and will accelerate growth. Read More…
 
JLR selects EMC Isilon to drive its simulation operations
EMC Corporation announced that Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), the U.K.'s largest manufacturer of premium vehicles, has deployed EMC Isilon scale-out NAS to simplify storage for its Big Data capacity and performance. The demand for new products in shorter timeframes whilst reducing dependency on physical testing had put pressure on JLR engineers to improve and streamline virtual simulation processes and deliver actionable analysis to the manufacturing teams.
 
JLR depends on advanced Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) and High Performance Computing (HPC) to develop, deliver and verify each new design to ensure that every vehicle is optimized across a range of customer attributes such as safety, quality, robustness, dynamics, aerodynamics and performance and economy. In 2010, the company undertook a project to decrease reliance on physical testing and increase its simulation operations, a project for which it has won the 2011 Project Excellence Awards for Business Project of the Year from BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT. The award recognized the company's work in aligning the right technologies to meet its changing business needs. Among those needs was new storage architecture capable of scaling in line with JLR's growing demand for simulation analysis – this was provided by EMC Isilon. Read More…
 
MAZDA receives multiple 2012 Total Cost of Ownership Awards
 
Porsche showroom complements its high-end automobiles
 
JLR selects EMC Isilon to drive its simulation operations
 
Honda unveils two Sports Car Concepts at 2012 Geneva Motor Show
 
GMC unveils 2013 Acadia and Acadia Denali