Auto Monitor - 1-15 December 2010

Auto Monitorwww.automonitor.co.in1-15 December 2010Vol. 10 No. 22 40 Pages ` 50/-

I N D I A ’ S N O . 1 M A G A Z I N E F O R A U T O M O T I V E N E W S , V I E W S & A N A LY S I S

BMW India recently rolled out the 10,000th car from its

Chennai-based plant, which the luxury car maker had opened on 29 March, 2007. The plant produces the BMW 3 Series and 5 Series sedans in petrol and diesel variants. By end of 2010, the plant – which has a capacity to produce 5,400 units per year on a single shift basis – will also start producing the BMW X1.

Meanwhile, the company plans to scale up its investments in India to ̀ 180 crore by 2012-end. Till September this year, BMW had invested `110 crore in India, a company statement said.

BMW Plant Chennai hits 10,000 mark

NEWS IN BRIEF

SkodaAuto India launches Yeti SUV

SkodaAuto India recently launched its fi rst sports utility vehicle (SUV), Yeti, in the coun-try, priced at `15.40-16.62 lakh (ex-showroom, New Delhi). The SUV has been launched in two variants – Ambiente and Elegance – and is powered by a 2.0-litre TDI CR (common rail diesel) engine. The Czech carmaker has reported a booking of about a 1,000 units for its new offering which will be brought into the country as CKD (completely knocked-down) units, assembled at its Aurangabad plant. The SUV delivers a maxi-mum power of 140 bhp at 4200 rpm, and offers a mileage of 17.67 km per litre.

VISIT, EXPERIENCE, GROW BUSINESS

AHMEDABAD-10-13 DEC 2010Gujarat University Exhibition Hall,Ahmedabad

THE WAY I DO AT

9920401226 | www.engg-expo.com

VOLVO BUSES LIKELY TO INTRODUCE ARTICULATED BUSES IN INDIA NEXT YEAR

INTERVIEW

Pg 08Akash Passey, Managing Director, Volvo Buses India

Our Bureau Mumbai

Utlility vehicle major, Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) recently signed

an agreement in Seoul, South Korea to acquire Ssangyong Motor (SYMC). The total cost of 70 percent stake acquisition in Ssangyong for M&M is around $463 million (`2,123 crore) with $378 million (`1,733.31 crore) in new stocks and $85 million (`389.76 crore) in bonds.

As part of the agreement, SYMC will continue to function as an independent entity with a Korean management. The labour union

M&M sign acquisition agreement with Ssangyong

Contd. on P22

Pg 14

DEAL TRENDS IN CROSS BORDER M&A – NAVIGATING AUCTIONS

AUTOPINION

VS Parthasarathy, Group CIO and EVP, M&A and Finance, M&M, Yoo-il Lee, Joint Receiver, SYMC, Pawan Goenka, President, Automotive and Farm Equipment Sector, M&M and Young-tae Park, Joint Receiver, SYMC

DATA MONITORDomestic Top 5 PV-makers

Sector Oct-09 Oct-10 Change

MSIL 71,551 107,555 50.32%

HMIL 28,301 34,725 22.70%

TML 24,781 29,053 17.24%

M&M^ 13,114 16,061 22.47%

GMI 7,385 10,006 35.49%

Domestic Top 5 2W-maker


HHML 344,768 491,356 42.52%

BAL 179,404 239,936 33.74%

TVS 118,299 173,771 46.89%

HMSI 53,418 140,059 162.19%

IYM 26,879 31,791 18.27%

Domestic Top 5 CV-makers


TML 26,204 29,754 13.55%

M&M 6,892 9,108 32.15%

ALL 4,934 4,628 -6.20%

VECV Eicher

2,024 3,070 51.68%

FML 752 1,572 109.04%

* Source: SIAM/ ** Excluding exports/ *** all sub segments considered/ ^ excluding MRPL

Shobha Mathur Chennai

Coimbatore-based Roots Industries (RIL) has entered into an equal

joint venture with the largest electrical horn manufacturer in Russia, Avtocom. The JV compa-ny – Roots Avtocom – in Lyskovo, Russia would produce electrical horns for OEMs in Russia.

The Memorandum of Understanding with Avtocom for the Russian project was inked in July this year. Roots Industries is the largest manufacturer of elec-trical horns in India and holds a high ranking globally.

The joint venture would invest `14 crore in the new com-pany over a three-year period, with `7 crore to be invested initially. To start with, electri-cal horns would be supplied to German carmaker Volkswagen (VW) for the Polo compact, cus-tomised for the requirements of the Russian market. VW is also in the midst of setting up a man-ufacturing facility in Russia that would become operational by

April 2011, at around the same time as the Roots Avtocom JV goes on stream.

For the Volkswagen Polo, pre-production trials have been undertaken at the Roots factory in Coimbatore. The prototypes are currently under approval stage by VW. The fi nal clearance for the product is to be received from VW just before commence-ment of production in Russia.

Chairman, RIL, K Ramasamy told Auto Monitor that the JV company would also supply electrical horns to other car man-ufacturers in the Russian market including French major Renault and Japanese carmaker Toyota, who builds the Camry sedan at its St Petersburg plant in Russia.

Banking On RussiaRecently, there was news of

Toyota planning a second plant in Russia to accelerate its busi-ness activity in the country. Renault though, was the fi rst car company to start assembling foreign-made vehicles in Russia, starting with the Logan sedan in 2005 and the Sandero hatchback

in 2010. Korean carmaker Hyundai, meanwhile, has completed construction of its fi rst plant in Russia that would commence pro-duction in 2011 with the compact sedan RBr.

RIL is also a suppli-er to Toyota in India and is supplying a disc-based electrical horn for the car-maker’s latest entry-level sedan, Etios.

‘There is a lot of potential in the growing automotive market in Russia that will increase both our top lines and sales,’ con-fi rmed Ramasamy.

Lines up investment of 3̀6 crore in three years

Roots Industries inks JV with Russian horn maker Avtocom

Contd. on P33

K Ramasamy, Chairman, Roots Industries

Marketing & SalesAssociate Vice President:Sudhanva JategaonkarSales Co-Ordinator: Akshata Rane

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CONTENTS

THE OTHER SIDE 38

GLOBAL WATCHRenault seeks job cuts in France to offset production decline 34Renault is seeking an early-retirement agreement with unions in response to declining domestic demand and production

Auto bailout saved more than 1.4 million jobs 34US government bailout of GM, Chrysler and other automotive firms saved more than 1.4 million jobs according to the Center for Automotive Research

NHTSA probes rental car recall repairs 35National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has opened an investigation into how quickly rental car companies fix recalled vehicles

Ford reduces its debt by $1.9 billion 35Ford expects to end the year with more cash than debt after converting $1.9 billion in debt to new common stock that will be issued before the end of the year

Claude d’Gama Rose, Managing Director, Continental Automotive Components (India) Formerly with Siemens VDO before its merger with Continental, d’Gama Rose was closely associated with the transformation of the company from a mechanical instrumentation company to a full-blown automotive electronics company

CORPORATENissan considering SKD operations for Teana sedan 06Nissan is studying the feasibility of initiating semi-knocked down operations for its luxury sedan Teana in India by mid next year

Three-wheelers, commercial vehicles lead exports growth in FY11 15Vehicle exports registered encouraging performance this fiscal lead by 95.3 percent growth in exports of three-wheelers during April-October FY11

Bosch to expand its aftermarket spark plug range 16Riding on the success of its platinum iridium spark plugs, Bosch is already working on combinations of a new range of spark plugs it plans to introduce in the Indian market

Kalyani Hayes kicks-off car wheels facility 19Kalyani Hayes Lemmerz passenger car steel wheel facility will have initial capacity of two million units set up at a cost of `70 crore and will be extended to four million units in two years

Anand Group targets `9,000 cr revenues by FY14 19Anand Group is aiming for a turnover of `9,000 crore by 2014 and is chalking out a capital expenditure plan of `1,400 crore

‘Natural gas emerging as a viable alternative fuel for transportation’ 20Participants at the NGV India exhibition sought policies and framework aimed at further promotion of CNG for public & private transportation and expansion of CNG refill infrastructure

Incentive scheme announced for propping-up EVs 20Electric vehicle manufacturers received a booster dose in the form of an incentive scheme covering all vehicle segments from the Union Ministry of New & Renewable Energy

INTERVIEW081212

‘Electric bus will help in making electric vehicles popular’ 12Chief of Operations, Mahindra Reva, R Chandramouli says that financial incentives by the Government and the company’s pricing strategy will help the ‘green car become the people’s car’

VISIT, EXPERIENCE, GROW BUSINESS


THE WAY I DO AT


Auto Monitor6 1 - 15 December 2010

CORPORATECORPORATE


Nissan Motor India (NMIPL), the Indian subsidiary of Japanese

carmaker, Nissan Motor, is stud-ying the feasibility of initiating semi-knocked down (SKD) oper-ations for its luxury sedan, Teana, in India by mid-next year. This is likely to have a signifi cant bearing on the car’s pricing, as customers pay huge import duties on CBU (completely built units) imports.

When asked, Managing Director and CEO, NMIPL, Kiminobu Tokuyama said the

company is studying the possi-bility of introducing the Teana in a SKD form in due course. Sources in the know, however, said SKD operations are likely to be started by the middle of 2011. The sedan is expected to be assembled at the Oragadam plant of the Renault Nissan Alliance, near Chennai.

At present, NMIPL imports the Teana, the X-trail SUV and its sports car 370Z in CBU form into India.

Reacting to a question, Automotive Practice Leader, PricewaterhouseCoopers India, Abdul Majeed said that foreign manufacturers in India who were

importing luxury cars in CBU form did so only in the initial phase when volumes did not jus-tify their assemblies locally. Once sustained volumes were possible, manufacturers preferred to scale up operations in the local coun-try by localising components of the SKD or CKD cars.

‘To achieve cost effi ciencies, a manufacturer will have to localise parts, and for that he has to have a strong supplier base locally. More importantly, today, currency movements are huge, so the OEM also runs a risk in importing from a foreign country,’ he added.

Moreover, India has a large automobile market and assembly operations could enable OEMs to further spike up their presence in the country by reaching out to more customers with a lower car price.

‘No foreign OEM can grow in the Indian market by depending on imports. In terms of sentiments also, people will prefer to buy from a manufacturer who has a pro-

duction set up in the country so that a proper aftermar-ket service and spare part

availability is ensured that may not be possible with

imported vehicles,’ Majeed pointed out.

Heavy DutiesGovernment rules governing

Indian customs duty sanction import of vehicles in CBU, SKD and CKD (completely knocked down) state into the country.

According to the Central Board of Excise and Customs, Government of India, a basic cus-toms duty of 60 percent is enforced on motor cars with an engine of over 1,500 cc. The latest edition of the Teana sedan sports a 2,500 cc V6 petrol engine with the car cost-ing around `25 lakh.

Import duties also include a countervailing duty of 20 percent plus Rs 15,000 per unit to protect the domestic industry from sub-sidised imports by the exporter, an automobile cess of 0.125 per-cent, an education cess of around three percent and additional duty of four percent. Besides, a nation-al calamity contingency duty of one percent ensures that the total duty structure spills over 100 per-cent on the vehicle.

In comparison, the CKD attracts a basic customs duty of just about 10 percent and even after addition of various duties just about totals around 25 percent.

‘There is no separate customs duty for automotives imported in SKD form into India but all vehi-cles coming into the country in a knocked down condition and not in CBU form attract a basic cus-toms duty of 10 percent,’ said an offi cial from the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM). Hence, the SKD car draws a similar import duty of around 25 percent that is enforced on a CKD and that is considerably lower than that enforced on a CBU – one of the reasons why Nissan is keen to bring the Teana in SKD form and pass the benefi t of a slashed price tag to the customer.

According to a recent sales statement released by NMIPL, the Teana showed a slight dip in September sales to 18 units from 21 in the corresponding period last year. However, Tokuyama told Auto Monitor that the Teana had been gaining in popularity in India and therefore the need to tap the market further with a compet-itive pricing. The Oragadam plant of the Renault Nissan Alliance currently produces the petrol ver-sion of the compact Nissan Micra and would soon start rolling out its diesel version.

‘The diesel engine will be exclusive for the domestic market and very fuel-effi cient. But there are no plans to export the diesel car at the moment. Globally, the

Nissan considering SKD operations for Teana sedan

NMIPL is gearing up to offer the diesel version of Micra in December and bookings have already commenced across Nissan dealerships in the coun-try. The diesel version of Micra comes with fuel economy of 23.08 kmpl (as approved by ARAI). The Micra Diesel is powered with a 1.5 litre Common Rail Direct Injection K9K Diesel engine, which is mounted for the very fi rst time in India on Nissan’s

versatile ‘V’ platform. Micra Diesel will also be exported to South Africa

by next year. The vehicle will be available in two var-iants of XV and XV (premium) in six colour options – sunlight orange, brick red, pacifi c blue, storm white, blade silver and onyx black. The company has sold over 5,000 units of Micra till November 25 this year.

Nissan Micra Diesel in December

Contd. on P31

CorrigendumIn our issue dated 15-31 October, 2010, the story titled ‘Bosch lines up aggressive port-folio for two-wheeler segment’ erroneously stated that Bosch supplies ESP for 2W segment. There is no ESP solution avail-able for two-wheelers in the market currently from any sup-plier. We regret the error.


INTERVIEWINTERVIEW

Shobha Mathur

What are your product plans for the next year?

Every year, we add a couple of products. Now, we see the need for articulated buses in the city and inter-city segment, wherein specifi cations for engines and transmissions will move further up. The focus will be on bring-ing in large buses into India, including double-decker buses. Articulated buses can carry up to 150 people and are benefi cial for the operator, especially in peak hours.

Moreover, there is scope for further application of electron-ics and computers in Volvo buses in India. The environmental roadmap in the country will also be moving much faster over the next three to fi ve years, when the need for hybrid buses will be felt. Demand for hybrid buses already exists in the developed markets. Commercially, Volvo is selling hybrid buses globally that result in a 30 percent fuel saving in Europe for the fl eet operator.

What are VBIL’s plans for ramping up capacity and scal-ing up manpower strength at its Bangalore plant as it adds new products to its bus portfolio?

In terms of manpower

strength, we added 250 to 300 people in the organisation this calendar year as business vol-umes grew. Now, we have 1,000 plus employees and plan to add another couple of hundreds in the coming two to three quarters.

We are regularly ramping up plant capacity and the plant has been built to accommodate a capacity of 1,000 buses per annum. We are running at around 600 units as of now. We will also produce CNG buses soon and will make regular investments that I cannot quantify now as we are still fi rming up plans. We show-cased our CNG bus at the Auto Expo 2010, and are production-ising the same, within the next one year. We are currently in dis-cussions with State Transport Undertakings of Uttar Pradesh, Mumbai and Delhi and mass pro-duction of the CNG buses should start by middle of next year.

Regarding investments, VBIL had invested `100 crore at the time of setting up its Bangalore plant, but it has now reached the stage, when big amounts need to be further invested. So, it is very clear that investments will follow.

What have been the growth

drivers for Volvo Buses?The Indian Government’s

Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) gen-erated business for us during the slowdown last year. This year, the market has shifted from a city bus dominated one to a coach domi-nated one that means inter-city and long distance coaches.

We held a 76 percent mar-ketshare in the inter-city luxury coach segment last year. However, during the last couple of years, the coach market has been down. That tide has turned around now and this year most of our business has come from the inter-city seg-ment from private players. This is a very healthy sign that the econ-omy is growing.

For Volvo, the key change has been the drive of its multi-axle buses into India. Even the coach buses that were 12 metres, have now changed to 13.7 or 14 metre multi-axle buses. While the cus-tomer profi le is the same, their requirement for the products has evolved from a normal 4x2 bus to a multi-axle 6x2 bus. We are a country where 70 percent of the population travels by buses so when a multi-axle bus can seat more people it translates into higher occupancy levels and higher revenue and improved profitability for the operator, though he may have to shell out more for the multi-axle bus.

Volvo has diesel buses for long distance travel, while CNG is focused on the city segment and that is how it will continue for the next three to fi ve years. However, from an environment perspective, emission standards are important and today, it is pos-sible to achieve better emissions even with diesel. Over the last 15 years, diesel technology has evolved and is 30 percent more fuel-effi cient than a gas-run bus.

Globally, we are moving to Euro VI, while in India 13 cities have moved to Euro IV with the enforcement of the new emission norms. We are ready with the Euro IV roadmap and will implement

the new emission norms as they unfold over the next four years.

What will be your focus from here on?

Our key focus is on main-taining our leadership position, expanding in both the city and inter-city segment, hooking up our bus centres, improving our soft services for customers and expanding training for drivers and fl eet operators. So far, we have trained 10,000 drivers in India at our training facility in Bangalore. Besides, we offer refresher sub training programmes in different parts of the country. Training of people in areas such as welding and painting however, require more focus.

Mostly, we offer ‘on the job’ training. This necessitates need to improve the training process, so that over the next fi ve years,

another 15,000 to 20,000 person-nel can be trained.

Today, electronics in buses is a start-up business in India, but we plan to build up our software along with the hardware sys-tems in future. It’s not only about bolts, nuts and bearings now but the industry is slowly graduating towards a computer-based sys-tem in public transport systems.

In terms of localisation con-tent, Volvo buses in the country have a 45 percent localisation level. While bus bodies are com-pletely localised, the driveline is still made from global aggregates. Driveline volumes don’t justify localisation but Volvo Eicher is investing in a new engine plant, so VBIL could look at that.

Recently, Volvo Buses India commenced the bus centre con-cept in India and is upgrading its service and aftermarket facilities at bus centres in Delhi, Bangalore and Hyderabad. Chennai and Mumbai will also have new bus centres. The bus centre will be a one-stop shop not only for service facilities but also for soft services like consultancy services, mobil-ity systems and customer built solutions for fl eet operators. We have already conducted a pilot with Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation on a small basis and it has been quite well received. Our aim is to get clos-er to the customers and become a complete solutions provid-er. This will give us an edge in providing comprehensive fl eet maintenance, so customers are left to manage their business. We are the fi rst to introduce it in the commercial vehicle industry. Workshop and full contract busi-ness and soft sales in the future will account for nearly 50 percent of our revenues in India.

Are your export plans on track?

The bus industry is manpow-er-oriented and manpower costs

Swedish major bags inter-city bus orders from Bangladesh, Sri Lanka

Volvo Buses likely to introduce articulated buses in India next year Volvo Buses India (VBIL), the Indian arm of the Swedish major, Volvo Bus, is deliberating the introduction of articulated buses in the city segment, among many others, in 2011. Articulated buses, which can essentially bend in the middle, are marketed by Volvo in various countries globally.Articulated buses can seat a larger number of passengers compared to the regular single-decker buses. They comprise two rigid parts linked together by a pivoting joint and are usually of single-deck. Compared to a regular city bus that can seat around 50 people, an articulated city bus can accommodate up to 150 people. One of the other key plans at VBIL is to start production of its CNG city bus platform by mid-next year. In a recent chat with Auto Monitor, Managing Director, VBIL, Akash Passey talked about the company’s plans to usher in new technologies, consolidate its bus centres and extend its soft service bouquet besides reaching out to export markets. Excerpts:

Akash Passey, Managing Director, Volvo Buses India

Contd. on P22

EDITORIALEDITORIAL

Small cars, bigger segment

By the time this copy of Auto Monitor reaches you, you would be witness to yet another automobile launch in India.

Come 1 December, the largest carmaker in the world, Toyota Motor, would introduce a new product into the Indian market, created for the Indian market – the entry level sedan, Etios. The company has thoughtfully designed the logo to refl ect Indianness, with the ‘i’ in Etios resembling a ceremonial tilak!

No manufacturer globally can afford to miss the Indian small car market. Although present in the Indian market for over a decade each, both Toyota and Honda – hitherto not present in the A or B segments of the industry – are just about getting ready with their small car offerings. The Etios hatchback is sched-uled for an India launch in the fi rst quarter of 2011, while Honda too is likely to introduce its small car in the latter half of 2011.

Starting with the Auto Expo in January this year, carmakers have introduced several new products in the small car segment that have signifi cantly raised bars in the fi ercely competitive market. While consumers have benefi tted immensely in terms of options available, the small car pie in the growing Indian automobile market has also been steadily increasing.

Interestingly, it was during 2010 that the country’s largest carmaker, Maruti Suzuki India, for the fi rst time saw its share in the

Indian market dip below 50 percent. For a company that is dependent on the success of its small cars, it has vowed to get back the 50 percent share. This year, MSIL launched new avatars of two of its most successful compact cars – the WagonR and Alto with the popular 1-litre K-series engines. MSIL also launched a new minivan, Eeco, replacing the Versa. The company’s strategy seems to have worked in its favour with all the products registering record numbers.

With regards the small car, the other com-pany that has made good progress with its India strategy is Japanese carmaker, Nissan Motor India. After ensuring a successful launch of the petrol version of the Micra com-pact car, the Chennai-based manufacturer is all set to launch the diesel variant of the car. On the other end, Volkswagen too has been reporting good sales of its Polo hatchback. Till end-October, the company had sold over 14,000 Polo compacts in India.

With a rapidly increasing distribution net-work, both Nissan Motor India and VW India are likely to garner a sizeable share of the Indian small car market.

It is also important to note the success of the American manufacturers – Ford India and General Motors India – in the small car segment. In December last year, GM India introduced the Chevy Beat – a product that has helped the company stay ahead of Ford

India in the overall passenger vehicle seg-ment. Ford India, on its part, launched its highly successful small car, Figo, in March this year. This new Ford product has been able to gain a signifi cant mind space among the Indian consumers.

Among other carmakers, Fiat’s push with the Punto has not quite met the desired results, while SkodaAuto’s Fabia and Honda Siel’s Jazz have not set the charts on fi re. Hyundai Motor India had no new launches this year, but it introduced an upgraded i10 in October.

The next year looks exciting as Toyota and Honda enters the small car segment. The brand value that both these companies com-mand in India should hold them both in good stead. It will be interesting to see how MSIL goes about retaining its 50 percent share in the market. It would also be exciting to watch Nissan and VW take on established names in the compact car segment.

Deepangshu Dev [email protected]

IMAGE of the fortnight

Editorial TeamEditor: Deepangshu Dev SarmahFeatures Editor: Shobha MathurPrincipal Correspondent: Abhishek ParekhSenior Correspondent:Nabeel A KhanCorrespondent:Shambhavi AnandContributing Editors: Sirish ChandranBertrand D’Souza

Design & PhotographyChief Photographer: Mexy XavierAsst. Art Director: Varuna NaikSenior Designer: Ganesh PatereScanning & Colour Correction: Ravikumar Potdar, Ravi Salian, Sanjay ShelarProduction Team: Dnyaneshwar Goythale, Vikas Bobhate, Pravin KoyandePhotographer:Mohd Nasir (New Delhi), Neha Mithbawkar, Joshua Navalkar

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FORTNIGHT’S QUOTES

Jitin Prasada, Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas

‘If the availability of CNG in India is increased, vehicle manufacturers will make CNG-compatible vehicles. The Government will provide all necessary support’

Sergio Marchionne, CEO, Chrysler and Fiat on Chrysler model range

‘I think we have now turned the corner on products, and that is an important piece of the puzzle’ Daniel Akerson, Chief Executive

Officer, GM

‘General Motors is playing a strong role in the future of green cars’

Carlos Ghosn, Chief Executive Officer, Nissan and Renault

‘We’re still stuck in a situation, where credit is not flowing normally, and the recession that began in the US is spreading across the globe’ Sohinder Singh Gill, President,

Society of Manufacturers of Electric Vehicles (SMEV)

‘The recently announced incentives for electric vehicles will double the sales of electric two-wheelers in India’

Best selling ‘small premium utility vehicle’ for Volvo Cars glo-bally, the XC60, was recently launched in the Indian market. Volvo Auto India, the Indian unit, plans to deliver 45 units of the new vehicle in January next year. The XC60 has been priced at `39.5 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi). The company will import the vehicle as completely built units from Volvo’s manufacturing facility at Ghent in Belgium.

Managing Director, Volvo Auto India, Paul de Voijs said, ‘We have already received lot of pre-bookings for the XC60 and it bears testimony to the faith our customers have for the Volvo brand.’ The XC60 will be competing with BMW’s X3 and Audi’s Q5, he said.

Last year, the company sold 140 units of its premium offerings in India – SUV XC90 and luxury sedan S80 – and hopes to do ‘slight-ly better’ this year as compared to 2009.

The company also plans to expand its dealership network to nine by the end of this year from the current seven. Three to four additional dealerships should come up by next year, de Voijs said.

Volvo gets XC60 to India


INTERVIEWINTERVIEW

Shambhavi Anand

How do you plan to make Reva more popular among the masses?

There are three things need-ed to make any car a car for the masses. More people should have access to it so that they are able to feel, see and touch it. Secondly, it should be affordable in terms of price and the third, one should

have more choices. To begin with, we are show-

casing the Reva at Mahindra dealerships. With distribution improving, people will have more access, and will be able to touch and feel the car. We are working on getting the pricing of the prod-uct right. As economy of scale grows, we will be able to achieve

that. On the supply chain side, our association with Mahindra & Mahindra will help improve things. More importantly, there should be more options and we are working towards bringing out new variants. To help the seg-ment grow, other manufacturers too should make efforts at getting into the EV segment. Something like an electric bus will help in making the concept familiar in order to sell more.

Which cities do you think Reva will sell the most?

Currently it is Bangalore. Delhi is also a big city for Reva. Pune is also coming up in a big way because I saw people were very conscious and aware of the environment. Kerala is a major destination for us – the State has banned plastic and is equal-ly conscious. Jaipur is another important place. Whichever place has tourism they become little conscious because tour-ists are demanding awareness. Electric vehicles will fi nd positive response from such places.

Give us an update on your production capacities.

Our current plant in Bangalore produces around 100 cars every month. Our new plant is also com-ing up in Bangalore. Power in the new plant is generated by solar energy and it has natural venti-lation, rainwater harvesting, and green building. According to the Indian Green Building Society, it will be either of gold or platinum rank. We are planning to com-plete it by next year. Its capacity will be 30,000 cars.

Which new overseas market will you target?

We are already very strong in Europe and get a lot of support from the Government there. In Asia, recently Malaysia reduced import tax on electric vehicles. In the last couple of weeks, we have had a lot of inquiries from there. So we will have to evaluate that. China is one of the largest auto markets and given the huge demand for eco-friendly vehicles it could generate in future, we would like to take our new cars into that market as well.

What is your pricing strategy?

We have tied up with Mahindra Finance, which will enable us to offer customers a unique fi nanc-ing plan. Revai buyers can now pay an interest-free, refundable deposit of `100,000 followed by monthly instalments of `8,401 for a period of 36 months and drive home a Revai. At the end of three years, the customer can either continue the car by mak-ing a fi nal payment of `50,000 or return the car and claim the refundable deposit of `100,000.

What kind of help do you get from the Government?

World over, governments are becoming conscious and giv-ing subsidies on EVs. The Delhi Government gives a subsidy of 29.5 percent on EVs, while the Rajasthan Government helps with VAT and road tax. We also have an alliance with BSES, who will help us in setting up charg-ing points.

‘Electric bus will help in making electric vehicles popular’The Reva electric car manufactured in Bangalore by Mahindra Reva Electric (MREC) is geared up to become popular among the masses. Financial incentives by the Government and the company’s pricing strategy will help the ‘green car become the people’s car’, said Chief of Operations, Mahindra Reva, R Chandramouli in a recent interaction with Auto Monitor. Excerpts:

R Chandramouli, Chief of Operations, Mahindra Reva

1 - 15 December 2010Auto Monitor14 1 - 15 December 2010

With the global econ-omy limping back to normalcy from the

meltdown-induced lows of 2008 and early 2009, the discernible trend in the present day mar-ket for cross border automotive mergers and acquisitions is the return of the auction process. This development suggests an enlarged buyer universe driven by the return of private equi-ty buyers and strategic buyers buoyed by increase in global light vehicle assembly volumes.

The economic climate for the most part of 2009 heavily favoured deals that were fuelled by the desire to restructure and this is being slowly rebalanced

with increased enthusiasm and expectations on the part of sell-ers and buyers prompting the return of auctions.

As Indian mid-market com-panies continue to extend their global footprint, traversing mar-kets in Europe and the US in search of acquisition targets, it is critical to be prepared for the eventual process through which transactions are achieved. Experience of emerging market mid-market companies looking for acquisitions in the Western markets suggests a perceptible discomfort with auction proc-esses as emerging market buyers tend to be more comfortable with an exclusive deal process as

this process usually comes with a longer period of exclusivity and an opportunity to complete a more detailed due diligence. Further it tends to suit their decision making style, which is consensus driven and which can take longer.

Given that auction processes require key strategic decisions, including those on price being made under tight deadlines, emerging market buyers, thanks to limited exposure to the proc-ess, tend to be pipped at the fi nish line more often than not. This factor infl uences western vendors’ perception of emerging market buyers as credible par-ticipants in an auction process.

It is therefore imperative as an acquirer to be prepared for such a process as forgoing auctions means losing out on signifi cant amount of opportunities.

Presented below are some guiding principles on dealing with auctions:

Anticipate and prepare for the opportunity

Auction processes are not launched without warning. Most often than not, private equity owners begin the proc-ess at least six months before a formal launch by testing the appetite of prospective bidders. So, it is important to have a clear and focused strategy to shortlist opportunities and the approach for each individual opportunity.

This would mean that efforts should be taken to work pre-emptive approaches even while being prepared should the approach result in a decision by the seller to launch a formal auc-tion. An important element of any preparation is fi nancial pre-paredness to deliver a credible offer and hence conversations with fi nancing partners at the very outset are critical.

Outline your strategic rationale clearly

It is important that your stra-tegic intentions in pursuing the opportunity are clearly articu-lated to the vendor, least you are perceived as an opportunistic buyer. In addition, communi-cation of your decision making structure along with an indica-tion of the time you require to complete the deal is important. The interest levels of the vendor and their advisors are typically directed towards buyers, who are perceived as credible, and hence the right perception by the other vendor about the nature of your interest is important.

Give yourself a fair chance to evaluate the business closely

Invitations to subsequent rounds of the process and oppor-tunities to examine the business

AUTOPINIONAUTOPINION

Deal trends in cross border M&A – navigating auctions

The return of the auction process

suggests an enlarged buyer universe driven

by the return of private equity buyers and strategic buyers

buoyed by increase in global light vehicleassembly volumes

John Hadley Partner, Price Waterhouse & Co

Koushik JPartner, Price Waterhouse & Co

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Contd. on P31

INDIA-2011

SOUTH

��

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For booking and sponsorship enquiries contact:

Email: [email protected] / [email protected]

Tool and Gauge Manufacturers Association

www.tagmaindia.org

DIE & MOULD - SOUTH

INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION

Exhibit Range:

* Dies & Moulds, Press Tools * Hot Runner Systems * Tool Steel * Die Casting machine/moulding machine * Accessories for Machine Tools * Cutting Tools * Mould base and standard parts of Dies & * Heat Treatment * Texturizing * Gauges Moulds * Die/mould polishing machines * Machine Tools for making Dies & Moulds, * CAD/CAM system related to Dies & Moulds C.N.C Milling/Machining centre, E.D.M. Etc. * Rapid Prototyping & Modeling * Digitizing

Exhibit at - the prospering manufacturing hub of

Automobiles & Auto Components

Auto Monitor 15CORPORATECORPORATE

1 - 15 December 2010

Nabeel A Khan New Delhi

The cumulative export of three-wheelers in the peri-od of April-October FY11

has gone up by 95.30 percent compared to the correspond-ing period a year ago, according to the latest data released by Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM). The overall cumulative vehicle exports grew by 41.44 percent to touch 1,369,544 units compared to 968,272 units in the same peri-od last fi scal.

Three-wheeler manufacturers exported 156,756 units of three-wheelers including passenger carriers and goods carriers in April-October FY11 compared to 80,264 units in April-October in FY10. The export of vehicles in this segment in the last one decade has gone up nearly ten times. According to Automotive Mission Plan 2006-16, manu-facturers exported 16,263 units of three-wheelers in 2000-2001, which grew to touch 156,756 units in April-October FY11. The three-wheelers export recorded a growth of 12 per-cent in October FY11 compared to September while commercial vehicles increased 34 percent. Three-wheeler goods carrier has maintained a substantial growth of 64 percent in October while passenger carrier went up by 12 percent.

The production of three-wheelers went up from 326,075 units in April-October 2009 to 449,838 units in April-October

FY11. In the three-wheelers cate-gory, which reported a growth of 95.3 percent in exports, growth in exports was led by goods car-rier, growing by 225 percent to touch 955 units in this period coampred to 293 units in the same period last fi scal while passenger carrier has gone up by 94.82 percent to touch 155,801 units compared to 79,971 units in the same period last fi scal. In this period the total production of goods carrier in three-wheel-ers segment increased by 10.35 percent to touch 53,835 units.

In July-September FY11, the export of three-wheelers dipped by four percent compared to the previous quarter. In April-June period, three-wheeler manu-facturers exported 67,648 units which came down to 65,021 units in July-September.

CVs In Fast LaneThe cumulative export of

commercial vehicles recorded a growth of 89.2 percent this fi scal compared to the corresponding period in the previous fi scal. In April-October FY10, the export of commercial vehicles stood at 21,283 units which grew to 40,267 units in April-October

FY11. The production of com-mercial vehicle rose to 401,645 units from 281,306 units in the same period. In the commer-cial vehicle segment, the Light Commercial Vehicles (LCV) and Medium and Heavy Commercial Vehicles (M&HCVs) exports grew by 139.95 percent and 47.15 percent respectively in October FY11, compared to same period in 2009.

A total of 24,297 units of LCVs were exported between April and October FY11 compared to 10,430 units in April-October FY10. The cumulative export of M&HCVs reached at 15,970 units in October 2010 from 10,430 units a year ago. In the said period, the production of M&HCVs and LCVs grew by 57.57 and 32.22 percent respectively.

The export of passenger car-

riers in M&HCV segment grew by 104.63 percent to touch 5,836 units this fi scal while the goods carrier registered a mod-erate 26.66 percent growth to touch 10,134 units this fi scal compared to 8,001 units in the corresponding period last fi scal. Commercial vehicles export was buoyant in July-September FY11 with a growth of 27 percent com-pared to April-June quarter.

In July-September FY11 17,953 units were exported in this seg-ment compared to 14,189 units in the previous quarter. In second quarter this fi scal 2,726 units of M&HCV passenger carriers were exported in comparison with 1,890 units in April-July quar-ter. In the same segment the export of goods carrier touched 4,643 from 3,531 units in the previous quarter. The export

of M&HCV passenger carrier in June stood at 834 units and slipped to 643 units in July. The segment regained its momen-tum in August with exports of 379 units of LCV passenger vehi-cles and 1,052 units of M&HCV passenger vehicles.

Three-wheelers, commercial vehicles lead exports growth in FY11

Monthly Export (3W and CVs)Segment April May June July August September October Total

Three-Wheeler Passenger Carriers 27,229 19,838 20,187 21,764 21,368 21,456 23,949 155,791

Three-Wheeler Goods Carriers 75 80 239 225 124 84 138 965

LCV 2,451 3,197 3,120 3,636 3,405 3,543 4,945 24,297

M&HCV 1,437 1,685 2,299 2,071 2,800 2,498 3,180 15,970

Total 31,192 24,800 25,845 27,696 27,697 27,581 32,212 197,023

Export trend in Q1FY11 and Q2FY11 (3W and CVs)Segment Apr-Jun 2010 Jul-Sep 2010 Change (%)

Three-Wheeler Passenger Carriers 67,254 64,588 -3.96

Three-Wheeler Goods Carriers 394 433 9.9

LCV 8,768 10,584 20.71

M&HCV 5,421 7,369 35.93

Total 81,837 82,974 1.39


CORPORATECORPORATE


Riding on the success of its latest offering of platinum iridium spark plugs for the

two-wheeler aftermarket, Bosch is already working on combi-nations of a new range of spark plugs it plans to introduce in the Indian market.

Spark plugs are likely to be tuned to suit different engines, ranging from variations in gap size between electrodes, changes in metal composition and substi-tution of two electrodes with four to boost electric charge. Also on the drawing board is a complete iridium spark plug sans a combi-

nation of platinum.‘The iridium spark plug will

have different properties but similar advantages to the plati-num iridium spark plug. Our manufacturing and design strategy is to develop spark plugs for every kind of engine,’ explained Vice President, Automotive Aftermarket, Bosch, S Muralidharan.

With growing variations and range of spark plugs, the com-pany is also taking stock of its existing production capacity at its Bangalore plant. Muralidharan confi rmed that Bosch was tar-geting a capacity of over one lakh spark plugs per day and was expanding in every segment of

the product. The compa-ny has a target of crossing the 30 million units annu-ally from the 18 million per annum mark and a limited range in its prod-uct portfolio a couple of years ago. The current year is expected to close at around 30 million units.

Elaborating on the latest platinum iridium spark plug, he remarked, ‘we dominate the mar-ket as we are the category creator of the product in India. These spark plugs facilitate easier cold cranking in the morn-ing, when temperatures

are lower and a bike is kick started or an elec-tric starter is switched on. This is when you require something more than an ordinary spark plug.’

Bosch’s plat inum iridium spark plug for two-wheelers has a very fi ne diameter of 0.6 mm mak-ing it one of the smallest in the market working on the premise that the lower the diameter, the higher is the effi ciency of the plug. The plugs’ outer shell is nickel-plated enabling easy screw-in and screw-out of the spark plug from the vehicle.

Competing spark plugs are mostly manufactured using zinc-plated shells. Additionally, these spark plugs differ from the ordi-nary ones in that its tip is made of combination of platinum and iridium, while the most existing ones in the market have copper tips. Hence, platinum iridium spark plugs do not result in any kind of carbon deposit, thereby almost eliminating any clean up for better cranking.

Not Mass MarketThe platinum iridium spark

plugs have not been designed as a mass-market product by Bosch despite positive response from customers exceeding com-pany’s expectations, clarified Muralidharan. While express-ing inability to quantify the sales volumes, he said that platinum iridium spark plugs were likely to constitute about 10 percent of the company’s spark plug business.

The aftermarket division of Bosch launched platinum irid-ium spark plugs for two-wheelers across 10 cities and has also com-menced exports of plugs for both two-wheeler and four-wheel-er applications to the ASEAN countries. The company plans to cash-in on the booming two-wheeler market in India as well as the ASEAN countries, where 100 cc and 200 cc bikes and scooters are dominated by Japanese man-ufacturers Honda and Suzuki, with similarities in Indian and Japanese components.

Bosch is more focused on mar-keting its platinum iridium spark plugs in the two-wheeler seg-ment than for passenger cars, as according to Muralidharan, car owners can afford to pay for an even more expensive and high-er quality full platinum spark plug. With engine quality par-ing up to meet more stringent emission norms and new gen-eration vehicles high on quality quotient, spark plugs with dif-ferent combination of metals are expected to be used in engines for shoring up vehicle perform-ance, going forward.

The company had intro-duced the fusion spark plug for the four-wheeler aftermarket in India last year. Its product range now comprises the Super Plus plug with four electrodes, the Platinum Plus comprising sin-gle electrode and providing 15 to 20 percent more service life than regular spark plugs and the Fusion spark plug with four elec-trodes with a maximum service life of 100,000 km.

Bosch to expand its aftermarket spark plug range

S Muralidharan, VP, Automotive Aftermarket, Bosch

Auto Monitor 191 - 15 December 2010

CORPORATECORPORATE

Our Bureau Mumbai

Kalyani Hayes Lemmerz, a joint venture between H a y e s L e m m e r z

International and the Kalyani group, recently inaugurated their passenger car steel wheel facility in Pune. The passenger car wheel facility is likely to have annual capacity of two million units set up with an investment of around `70 crore.

‘The capacity will be raised to four million units over the next couple of years as there is a buffer capapcity of just 300,000 wheels, which is clearly inade-quate to serve the growth plans of passenger car OEMs,’ said a com-pany offi cial. He further added that priority of the JV would be to serve local demand from passen-ger car manufacturers for 13- to 17-inch wheels and any sourcing for Hayez Lemmerz is not cur-rently on the agenda but could be considered when capacity is doubled to four million from the current level.

The passenger vehicle pro-duction and sales is likely to touch around fi ve million units over the next four to fi ve years based on current growth projec-tion by major OEMs as well as the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM).

The company has already booked around 1.7 million units for major domestic and inter-national passenger car OEMs including FIAT, Tata Motors, M&M, Volkswagen India, Volkswagen US, Volkswagen-Mexico, Volkswagen-China, Ford

India and Renault Nissan India.

Kalyani Hayes Lemmerz has been present in India since 1996 in the commercial vehi-cle steel wheels segment and serv-ing major domestic OEMs including Tata Motors, Volvo Eicher CV, Volvo, Mercedes, Swa ra z, Isu z u, Mahindra Navistar, and KAMAZ along-with global OEMs such as Daimler, Volvo and Iveco with a capacity of one million units per annum. The company’s passenger car wheels facility is

located in the same premises as the CV facility.

Hayes Lemmerz International is a leading wheel manufac-

turer, catering to both the steel and alloy wheel sectors headquartered in Nort hv i l le, Michigan and has 17 manufacturing locations global-ly. Kalyani Hayes Lemmerz began its operations in 1996 with a facility for manufacturing one million com-mercial vehicle wheel rims with f irst customer

being Tata Motors for its trucks and buses.

The company received tech-nological back-up from Hayes

Lemmerz Werke, Germany. It forayed into export segment by developing tubeless wheel rims for the East Asian markets, par-ticularly Korea and Taiwan. It has since developed specialised wheel rims for commercial vehi-cle manufacturers like Daimler Benz, Germany; Volvo Trucks, Sweden and Iveco, Spain. The Company extended its product range from 16- to 24-inch wheels.

In the domestic market, Kalyani Hayes Lemmerz has developed passenger car wheels for Fiat’s Punto and Linea, Volkswagen Polo and Tata Sumo and Tatamobile. The Company also supplies to Volkswagen in the US, Mexico and China.

Kalyani Hayes kicks-off car wheels facility, to expand to four million units in two years

Prakash Kodlikeri, MD, KHL, Curtis Clawson, Chairman, Hayes Lemmerz, Baba Kalyani, Chairman, BFL, Fred Bentley, COO & President, Global Wheel Group, Hayes Lemmerz, Pieter Klinkers, President, Hayes Lemmerz

Our Bureau New Delhi

Anand Group is expecting to register a turnover of `9,000

crore by 2014, which is more than double its existing reve-nue. During the same period, it plans to make a capital expend-iture of `1,400 crore to aid its organic growth process alone, Chief Executive Offi cer, Deepak Chopra said.

With 14 joint ventures and eight technical licenses, the investments will be mainly in Gabriel India, Spicer India and Mahle Filter Systems India, in the form of debt as well as equity.

Though the Group does not have elaborate plans for inor-ganic expansion owing to its JV pattern of growth, acquisition of one of its partners, Faurecia, is in pipeline, said Chopra.

The CEO also said that the group wants to focus more on the domestic market rather than targeting the overseas market because it foresees more growth in the domestic environment rather than overseas. The group would also hire around 5,000 employees by 2014, growing its workforce to 13,000 people from 8,000 right now.

Anand Group targets 9̀,000 cr revenues by FY14


CORPORATECORPORATE

Our Bureau Mumbai

Electric vehicle manufac-turers recently received a booster dose in the form

of an incentive scheme from the Union Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE). The scheme envisages incentives of up to 20 percent on the ex facto-ry prices of the vehicles, subject to a maximum limit. The cap on the incentive will be `4,000 for low speed electric two-wheel-ers, `5,000 for high speed electric two-wheelers and ̀ 100,000 for an electric car.

The subsidies come with some eligibility riders, including one where electric vehicles must have at least 30 percent indige-nous content, a siginifcant sales and after-sale service outlets and a multipoint check system forac-counting the real retail sale. The scheme will be operational for the remaining part of the cur-rent fi scal FY11 and will continue through the FY12.

‘We need to get more clarity on the applicability of various vehicles for this scheme as some of the aspects like vehicle speed in case two-wheelers are not very clear. But this is one of the

more comprehensive nationwide scheme, which will be very posi-tive for the segment,’ said Chief, Technology & Strategy, Mahindra Reva, Chetan Maini.

Director, Societ y of Manufacturers of Electric Vehicles (SMEV) and Chief Executive Offi cer, Hero Electric, Sohinder Singh Gill said that the incentive scheme will act like a lifesaving drug for the EV industry, ‘which is almost in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) with stagnation in growth over the last one year’. It will be particularly benefi cial for the electric two-wheeler and small car category because these are the only two segments where the products are available, he said.

Manufacturers point out that incentive schemes have helped in generating customer demand for electric vehicles. Delhi serves as an example, where a simi-lar incentive scheme has led to a healthy growth in volumes with more than 40,000 electric scooters on Delhi roads. SMEV is now actively pursuing with the Government for working on a National Electric Vehicle Policy that will have far reaching posi-tive impact and implications on the Indian transport sector.

Society of Manufacturers of Electric Vehicles (SMEV) is the registered representative body of the Indian electric vehicle manu-facturers, which has been formed in order to provide a common platform for promotion, develop-ment and advancement of interest of key stakeholders contribut-ing to the growth of the Indian electric vehicle industry. SMEV constitutes of 34 members from the electric vehicles manufac-turing and components industry, which manufactures electrically operated vehicles and its parts and accessories.

Incentive scheme announced for propping-up EVs

Our Bureau Mumbai

India, the fi fth largest market by volumes for Compressed Natural Gas (CNG)-powered

vehicles, is also one of the fastest growing markets for such vehicles globally. Policies and framework aimed at further promotion of CNG for public transport as well as private vehicles as well as expanding the CNG refi ll infra-structure should be taken up on priority basis, according to prom-inent participants at the recently held NGV India 2010 conference titled ‘Meeting the Demands of India’s Surging NGV Growth’ in Mumbai.

Nearly 200 companies from around 25 countries partici-pated in the two-day exhibition with more than 5,000 industry delegates expected to attend the conference.

Speaking at the inaugural session, Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas,

Jitin Prasada said the coun-try would soon see CNG-driven two-wheelers on the roads. ‘This along with CNG driven taxis and three-wheelers would cre-ate a revolution on our roads to provide affordable, comfort-able travel to the middle class, the offi ce workers and factory employees,’ the Minister said.

Prasada further informed that the Government has already sanctioned 6,335 km of pipeline and the Petroleum & Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) is in the process of authorising another 5,000 km of pipelines to connect various parts of the country. A list of 201 cities in India has been drawn out by the Government, where Pipelines Natural Gas (PNG) and Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) facilities would be rolled out in the coming years.

PNGRB has already held two rounds of bids in the last few months, where proposals from interested parties were invit-

ed for 16 cities. The Minister stressed that the public sec-tor companies, as well as the private ones, have to bid on an equal footing to win the bid for any particular city, a statement by the Ministry said.

According to Chairman and Managing Director, GAIL India, BC Tripathi, the requirement for natural gas is forecast to grow at more than 10 percent annually to over 300 standard million cubic metres per day. The NGV India 2010, already in its second edition, is hoping to be a regional plat-form for the Indian natural gas industry and beyond to explore the latest developments and

exchange ideas on the emerging technologies and processes.

‘The use of natural gas vehi-cles in India is ranked fi fth in the world and is growing at a rate of 45 percent per annum against a global range of around 30 per-cent. The country thus provides the gas industry with high poten-tial for growth with 230 cities set for conversion,’ said Managing Director, Bangkok Exhibition Services, David Aitken.

Equipment makers includ-ing Landi Renzo, Endress + Hauser, Atlas Copco, Sandvik and Tomasetto Achille, dis-played their latest systems and technologies at the show. The

conference programme included keynote, plenary and technical sessions addressing the future of NGV, focusing on vehicle supply, supply chain and safety.

Among the new technologies introduced at the show include CNG powered two-wheelers. Several new and fi rst time par-ticipants at the show also helped raise the appeal of the show as an international event for nat-ural gas industry. NGV India 2010 provides an international platform for the Indian natural gas and allied vehicle industry to explore the latest develop-ments, and exchange ideas on the emerging technologies.

‘Natural gas emerging as a viable alternative fuel for transportation’

Jitin Prasada, Union MoS for Petroleum and Natural Gas inaugurating the NGV India exhibition in the presence of BC Tripathi, CMD, GAIL (India) and Bhure Lal, Chairman, Environmental Pollution Control Authority; CNG-powered motorcycles at the Sagas stall


CORPORATECORPORATE

have a lower base in Asian countries compared to global economies, so it is but natural that over a period of time, we move our focus to exports in order to become cost competi-tive. Exports had taken a back seat during the recession period but the planning and process has been put into place and we will be exporting starting 2011.

Exports will start with small volumes because customer requirements in each country are different and some have a much higher specifi cation level than what is prevalent in the Indian bus industry, though our product is global in nature. In fact, 25 percent of our volumes will come from exports over the next four years.

We plan to tap the South Asian markets like Bangladesh and Sri

Lanka, from where Volvo Buses has already picked up orders for coaches, multi-ax-le 6x2 buses as well as for 12 metre inter-city buses with higher specifi cations and dif-ferent transmissions, more sophist icated inter iors sporting a different seat-ing profi le. Exports to South Africa will also commence from next year.

We have commenced studies in the Middle East and other South East Asian countries and plan to export between 25 and 50 units in 2011. We will be looking at better real-isations of 5-15 percent in all these markets compared to the domestic market.

Volvo has been present in the African market for the last forty years as a chassis supplier. Our profi le will now be chang-

ing to a complete bus supplier. VBIL is cost competitive and India has a good trading rela-tionship with Africa so it is but natural to look at exporting to South Africa from India.

With the India-Europe FTA round the corner, do you foresee exports from India being profi t-

able for VBIL?I think they will be

profitable in terms of labour hours. In India, the labour cost is 30 percent less compared to Europe, so it will be labour hours versus the transport cost. Logistically, if we procure a good transport solution, then Asia – particularly India – could turn into an export hub. However, Europe and other devel-oped markets are not easy

to penetrate, so it will be a very long learning curve before you can even move to the specifi ca-tion levels of those markets.

Also, mature markets are fairly well segmented in terms of inter-city, city, tourist & lux-ury coaches. That is absent in India at present. Here, we talk in terms of complete volumes. This

segmentation will occur in India over the next fi ve to seven years, when technology levels will also face an uptick in terms of larg-er engines and better driveline technology. In the developed market, a coach is in a much higher segment than an inter-city bus.

How is the bus scenario evolving in India?

The bus scenario in India has changed at a slow pace as initially the two-wheeler and then the passenger car seg-ment underwent changes. If the infrastructure growth in the country grows commensu-rately, then over the next four years, the Indian city bus seg-ment will experience a growth of around 25 to 30 percent and the coach segment will grow at 10 to 15 percent.

Volvo Buses likely to introduce... Mature markets are

fairly well segmented in terms of inter-city, city, tourist coach, luxury

coach. That is absent in India at present and will occur over the next five

to seven years

Contd. from P8

of SYMC, M&M and SYMC have also signed a tripartite agreement with provisions for employment protection, long-term invest-ment and commitment for no labour dispute. The defi nitive agreement contains informa-tion related to securing outside investment, the establishment of principal management, repay-ment of rehabilitation claims to protect the interests of creditors and establishing a foothold for SYMC normalisation.

Additionally, the definitive agreement also encapsulates terms and conditions related to the process of acquiring new stock and corporate bonds, down payment and deposit guide-lines, repayment of rehabilitation claims, employment guarantees and other covenants.

SYMC has been undergoing a corporate rehabilitation proc-ess since February 2009 and the court receivership will conclude upon court approval and the termination of corporate rehabil-itation process. M&M has already deposited 10 percent of the fi nal purchasing price per terms of the defi nitive agreement with the remaining balance to be depos-ited three days prior to SYMC’s stakeholder meeting.

The Korean automaker will update its corporate rehabilita-tion plan to include reference to repaying liabilities with cash-in from the deal and will be required to receive approval from credi-tors and the court on the updated plan. After completing all the acquisition procedures and the repayment of rehabilitation claims, the corporate rehabilita-tion process is likely to be fi nished by March, 2011.

SYMC, which manufactures Rexton, Kyron, and Korando SUVs as well as luxury passenger car, the Chairman, was put into receiver-ship in January 2009, after the comany recorded losses of $75.42 million. The global economic criss and shrinking demand for its products was blamed for the com-pany’s dipping fortunes.

M&M was selected the pre-ferred bidder over fi ve rivals in August last year by Ssangyong’s creditors. The Indian automaker expects the deal to be completed by March 2011.

M&M sign acquisition...

Contd. from P1


ANALYSISANALYSIS

Passenger Vehicles

PC

OEMs 2009-10 2010-11

BMW 1,749 3,171

Fiat 15,114 13,933

Ford 16,620 55,110

GM 31,571 50,221

HM 4,606 4,864

HSCI 34,275 35,110

HMIL 172,452 206,832

MR 3,302 4,948

MSIL 423,275 533,653

Merc 1,812 3,032

Nissan 116 4,508

Skoda 9,454 10,165

Tata 100,423 151,164

TKM 5,463 6,219

Audi 1,095 1,892

VW 1,722 20,451

Total 823,049 1,105,273

81.30%

-7.81%

-9.56%

231.59%

59.07%

5.60%

2.44%

19.94%

49.85%

26.08%

67.33%

3786.21%

1087.63%

7.52%

50.53%

13.84%

72.79%

47.43%

73.64%

36.76%

81.89%

116.77%

516.67%

11.31%

82.05%

0.00%

72.53%

7.12%

50.45%

380.70%

222.58%

22.91%

37.53%

21.85%

34.29%

Cumulative passenger car sales grew by 34.29 percent in 2010-11 to touch 1,105,273 units as compared with 823,049 units in the previous fi scal. Utility Vehicle (UV) sales grew by 21.85 percent in FY11 to touch 183,825 units compared with 150,866 units notched up in the previous fi scal. Multi Purpose Vehicle (MPV) sales increased by 50.45 percent in FY11 to touch 119,377 units compared with 79,349 units in the previous fi scal.

Volkwagen India registered highest growth rate in the pas-senger vehicle segment with 3786.21 percent to 4,508 units as compared with 116 units in the same period in the previ-ous fi scal.

Cumulative Light Commercial Vehicle (LCV) sales grew by 26.25 percent in the April-September period of FY11 to touch 190,672 units as compared with 151,032 units sold in the same period in the previous fi scal.

Medium & Heavy Commercial Vehicle (M&HCV) sales grew by 53.19 percent in FY11 to touch 173,003 units compared with 112,931 units notched up in the previous fi scal. Three-wheeler sales increased by 20.74 percent in FY11 to touch 299,131 units as compared with 247,738 units in the previous fi scal.

Hindustan Motors notched up the highest growth rate in the LCV with 90.7 percent gain to touch 246 units this fi scal as com-pared with 129 units in the previous fi scal. Asia Motor Works notched up highest gain in M&HCV segment with 110.92 percent growth to touch 3,419 units as compared to 1,621 units in the corresponding part of the previous fi scal.

In the April-September period of FY11 cumulative Scooter/Scooterette sales grew to 1,163,127 units, from FY10 fi gure of 764,643 units, a growth of around 52.11 percent.

Motorcycles/StepThrough sales increased from 4,132,838 units in FY10 to touch 5,190,740 units in FY11, a growth of around 25.60 percent.

Moped/Electric Scooter sales increased from 322,918 units registered in FY10 to 400,266 units in FY11, a growth of around 23.95 percent.

Mahindra & Mahindra 2W notched up the highest growth rate in scooters segment this fi scal with more than 292.74 percent increase in volumes from 22,758 units in FY10 to 89,379 units in FY11. It was followed by Suzuki Motorcycles with 82.56 percent growth to touch 121,493 units as compared with 66,550 units in the previous fi scal.

HMSI notched up highest growth rate in motorcycles seg-ment with 70.51 percent increase from 230,572 units in FY10 to 393,151 units this fi scal. It was closely followed by Bajaj Auto with a growth of 55.87 percent this fi scal from 923,012 units to touch 1,438,707 units. TVS Motors registered the high-est growth rate in mopeds/electric scooters segment with around 24.91 percent increase in volumes from 320,436 units in FY10 to 400,266 units in FY11.

MPV

OEMs 2009-10 2010-11

Force 0 68

Maruti 52,451 90,496

Tata 26,898 28,813

Total 79,349 119,377

Commercial Vehicles Two-Wheelers

LCVs (PC+GC)

OEMs 2009-10 2010-11

ALL 403 404

Force 5,410 9,285

HM 129 246

M&M 42,332 56,136

MNAL - 6,658

Piaggio 6,160 5,571

Swaraj 1,957 2,281

Tata 91,683 105,864

VECV - Eicher

2,958 4,227

Total 151,032 190,672

3 Wheelers (PC+GC)

OEMs 2009-10 2010-11

Atul 5,972 10,339

Bajaj 101,989 119,370

Force 965 137

M&M 24,882 34,075

Piaggio 101,760 113,531

Scooters 6,076 7,345

TVS 6,094 14,334

Total 247,738 299,131

M&HCVs (PC+GC)

OEMs 2009-10 2010-11

ALL 23,923 45,923

AMW 1,621 3,419

JCBL 23 14

Daimler* - 50

MNAL - 85

Merc Benz

110 83

Swaraj 2,877 4,011

Tata 73,338 102,539

VECV - Eicher

10,222 16,080

VECV - Volvo

491 514

Volvo Buses

326 285

Total 112,931 173,003

scooter/scooterettee

OEMs 2009-10 2010-11

BAL 3,202 27

HHML 111,811 176,950

HMSI 384,369 520,466

M&M 2W

22,758 89,379

SMIL 66,550 121,493

TVS 175,953 254,812

Total 764,643 1,163,127

Mopeds/Electric

OEMs 2009-10 2010-11

TVS 320,436 400,266

Electr-otherm*

2,482 NA

Total 322,918 400,266

Motorcycles/StepThrough

OEMs 2009-10 2010-11

BAL 923,012 1,438,707

HHML 2,487,259 2,769,469

HMSI 230,572 393,151

IYM 140,047 157,127

M&M 2W

- 2,664

RE 29,999 28,235

SMIL 28,662 24,159

TVS 293,287 377,228

Total 4,132,838 5,190,740

* Data not available since August 2008 onwards

UV

OEMs 2009-10 2010-11

BMW 340 256

Force 3,173 4,678

Ford 1,047 1,818

GM 8,474 11,589

HM 889 1,617

HSCI 155 336

HMIL 12 74

ICML 695 428

M&M 86,544 96,335

MSIL 2,323 4,229

Merc 57 274

Nissan 93 300

Tata 19,400 23,845

TKM 27,664 38,046

Total 150,866 183,825

-24.71%

-12.58%

-38.42%

-85.80%

91.96%

110.92%

-39.13%

0.00%

0.00%

-24.55%

39.42%

39.82%

57.31%

4.68%

53.19%

0.25%

71.63%

90.70%

32.61%

0.00%

16.56%

15.47%

42.90%58.26%

26.25%

73.12%

17.04%

36.95%

11.57%

20.89%

135.21%

20.74%

35.41%

292.74%

82.56%

55.87%

11.35%

70.51%

12.20%

-

-5.88%

-15.71%

28.62%

24.91%

0.00%

23.95%

25.60%

44.82%

52.11%

-99.16%

As the automobile industry ends the year on an exciting note and looks forward to an eventful year ahead, Auto Monitor has been at the forefront and completes 10 years in existence. On this Anniversary we look back to

an eventful decade and look through the prism for clues to unfold events which are likely to shape the automotive sector in the next decade and beyond…

A decade in perspective

Be a part of this historic journey, this January!

To know more: call 022 3003 4651 or write to us at: [email protected]

ANNIVERSARY

th

January 2011

Automotive Logistics (AL) India 2010 will bring together the coun-try’s carmakers and Tier suppliers with the LSPs, systems and infra-structure providers who face the daily challenges of their market. It will also attract logistics experts from around the world to provide insight for logistics and supply chain management in India.

The third annual event will be held at the Le Royal Méridien Hotel Chennai from 8 – 10 December, 2010. An opening cocktail recep-tion will be followed by two days of high-level presentations and a gala dinner, giving many oppor-tunities for networking.

Building on the success of the previous conference, the third AL event in India, that was held in Pune in November 2009, the event will feature 30 speakers, with over 200 delegates expected to attend.

Challenges and solutionsDemand continues to increase

in the country’s home market, while OEMs simultaneously look to grow their exports. So they face the supply chain challeng-es of raising production while working towards global quality standards.

In a recent interview with Automotive Logistics mag-azine, Kalpesh Pathak, the assistant vice president of corporate supply chain for Fiat India Automobiles, said:

“Focus is required in the areas of packaging improvements, standardisation across suppliers and OEMs, hassle-free movement of goods across the country, effi -cient methods of tax recovery and improving the skill and knowl-edge level of the logistics industry professionals.”

In addition, the balance of responsibility for logistics and sup-ply chain operations is constantly shifting; fi nding the right balance between OEM and LSP-led man-agement is a major concern to all players in the market.

All of these requirements and more are the theme of the Automotive Logistics India 2010 conference. The meeting is a vital forum for building the right partnership between OEMs and logistics vendors, in both inbound and outbound, with the goal of achieving world-class quality logistics.

The conference will bring together domestic, transplant and joint venture OEMs, and the principal tier suppliers, with both Indian as well as global logistic providers. Overall, delegates will benefi t from:– The presence of the most sen-

ior OEM executives responsible for logistics and supply chain operations

– Expert speakers from OEMs, tier suppliers and logistics service providers

– Internationa l expert ise

from global supply chain professionals

– Networking and contacts that are unrivalled across India’s automotive logistics sector

– Special round table discus-sion sessions – ask senior OEM and supplier executives those tough questions, up close and personally

A report of last year’s event in PuneMarket boom, but where are the 3PLs?

PUNE 2-4 December 2009: As delegates assembled in Pune,

India’s car sales figures for November were released – and they made startling reading. Growth is back in India: market leader Maruti Suzuki saw sales jump 60% over the same month in 2008 (though only 17% up on 2007); Tata Fiat was up 55%; Hyundai up 93%; GM up 65%; and Mahindra more than doubled

at 102%. The fi gures confi rm that late

2008 was just a brief pause in the upward trajectory of car produc-tion and sales.

But logistics is groaning under the strain. Both speakers and del-

egates lamented the low cost/low investment logistics model that exists in the automotive sector in India. OEMs called for a sig-nifi cant increase in the low level of involvement from sophisticat-ed 3PLs.

Forging new partnerships: How OEMs suppliers and LSPs will raise quality, speed & effi ciency

R.S. Kalsi, Executive Officer (SPD, SND and Logistics) of Maruti Suzuki will give an exclusive analysis of how the logistics infrastructure is developing in India

Andreas Ginkel, Director of Logistics,GM International Operations will speak on how GM’s global logis-tics activities mesh with its operations in India

Speakers confirmed for the upcoming event include: Anand Venkateswaran, General Manager Sales Logistics, Hyundai India Motor Andreas Ginkel, Director of Logistics, General Motors International Operations and Asia Amlan Bose, General Manager of Material, Planning and Logistics, Ford Asia Pacifi c R.S. Kalsi, Executive Offi cer (SPD, SND and Logistics), Maruti Suzuki India Nil Madhab, Deputy General Manager of Supply, Chrysler India Prem Verma, Chief Executive Offi cer, Tata Kalpesh Pathak, Assistant Vice President of Corporate Supply Chain, Fiat India S.K. Krishnan, Vice President of Demand Chain Management, Mahindra and Mahindra Auto Sector Rashy Todd, Managing Director, Audi Dealership Sudhir Gupta, Executive Vice President of Supply Chain Management, TATA Autocomp Systems Hitesh Thakkar, India Logistics Manager and AP Process Manager, Delphi Pirojshaw Sarkari, Chief Executive Offi cer, Mahindra Logistics

For a full speaker list, visit: http://www.automotivelogisticsindia.com/Speakers/

~ Advertorial ~

Register today at: http://www.automotivelogisticsindia.com/6/Registration/

~ Advertorial ~

Automotive Manufacturing Solutions is looking forward to hosting the third AMS India conference, to be held from December 6 – 9 at the spectacu-lar Le Royal Méridien Chennai. Centred on the theme: ‘Quality up: Cost down’, the conference will be one of the largest sin-gle gatherings of both Indian and international automotive manufacturing executives, each of which will have travelled to India in order to uncover new techniques and technologies to further improve fi nished vehicle quality while still reducing over-all production costs.

Chennai, the capital of Tamil Nadu state and India’s fourth largest city, has a broad tech-nology base that includes a swath of automotive investment. International OEMs such as Hyundai, Renault-Nissan, BMW and Ford have large production facilities located around the city, while there is a substantial sup-plier base in the region. In all,

Chennai lends itself to a discus-sion on improved effi ciencies within automotive production.

Responding to market growth

The Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) reported that in July this year, the Indian new car market achieved record monthly sales of almost 160,000 units – a 38% year-on-year increase. Contributing factors to this growth were cited as recent increases in per cap-ita income and the availability of low-cost loans. Over the past year, carmakers have also played a key role in driving the market, introducing a wide range of new models, including the Ford Figo and third-generation Nissan Micra. Now SIAM predicts that by the fi rst quarter of 2011 sales will increase a further 13%, a fi g-ure that some industry analysts say is a conservative estimate.

Generally speaking, car buyers in India prefer not to wait for their

new cars, which means that vehi-cles of the desired specifi cation must be available for immedi-ate delivery. This requires every outlet to stock a wide selection of cars fi tted with a choice of popu-lar equipment packs. If the right car is not available, it could not only mean the loss of a single sale but, considering the population’s brand loyalty, multiple future sales as well. In addition to this, car buyers in India – and in the surrounding regions that take delivery of Indian-made vehicles

– are keenly aware of what they want in terms of fi nished vehicle quality.

The market pull created by this demand presents new chal-

lenges to all carmakers based in India. While companies may ben-efi t from increased economies of scale in terms of part purchasing and cost-per-unit reductions, pro-duction speed must be increased to deliver suffi cient vehicle quan-tities – while still retaining (or even improving) overall vehicle quality. Alternatively, where max-imum capacity has already been achieved, such as in the case of Maruti Suzuki, a new greenfi eld facility must be constructed to service the growing market.

This is the core of what speak-ers at the upcoming AMS India conference will be looking to address, with OEMs offering their individual perspectives of how to increase output without affecting quality, while technology and equipment suppliers will high-light what they can provide to improve production effi ciencies in order to increase the capacity of a given plant.

The conference will bring together domestic, transplant

and JV OEMs, and the principal Tier suppliers, with the provid-ers of all the technologies which make up vehicle manufacture and assembly. Attendance is at the VP/production director and plant management level, and will be from within India and other key automotive production regions.

Subject matter will cover:

OEM manufacturing strat-egies in THREE headline speaker sessions

Production and plant case studies, and the blend of labour and automation

Sessions on specific tech-nologies, from stamping, powertrain in both i.c. and elec-tric/hybrid, BIW, to robotics, and testing and evaluation

Skills and human factors Automation, and the planning

& management of the digital factory

Heavy vehicle – truck and bus, and two- and three-wheelers

TWO paintshop sessions with presentations from top global paintshop providers

TWO powertrain sessions with OEM, Tier supplier and machine maker speakers

A special outsourcing and sup-plier strategy session with GM and Magna Steyr speakers

With conference attendees at the vice-president, director or plant manager level, in addition to the informative presentations, there will be ample opportunity to network with industry col-leagues on a one-to-one basis to discuss individual strategies designed to address local market growth in India. We hope that you can join us in Chennai for what will surely be a worthwhile – and enjoyable - experience.

AMS India conference: Vehicle maker experts meet in Chennai

Ford India’s President and MD Michael Boneham will give delegates an insight into the carmaker’s plans for future vehicle and engine pro-duction in India

General Motors India’s, Director of Supplier Footprint Optimisation, Nilesh Shah will talk on outsourcing developments and purchasing strat-egies

Confirmed speakers at AMS India 2010M. M. Singh, Managing Executive Offi ce (Production), Maruti Suzuki IndiaAmit V Patel. Engineering Group Manager, Mfg Eng - Manufacturing Automation Center, General Motors IndiaNilesh Shah, Director - Supplier Footprint Optimisation, General Motors India Michael Boneham, President and MD, Ford IndiaTom Chackalackal, Vice-President Manufacturing, Ford IndiaSarangarajan Thathapillai, Assistant VP, Production Division, Hyundai Motor India Rajeev Wasan, VP Manufacturing, Honda Siel Cars India L. P. Pereira, CEO, Mahindra Vehicle ManufacturersSelvam Ganesan, Manager, Projects, Mahindra Vehicle ManufacturersM C Silus, Senior Manager, Projects, Mahindra Vehicle Manufacturers Nitin Rajurkar, General Manager,Technical, TATA Motors

& More...For a full speaker list, visit: http://india.amsconferences.com/speakers

For full progamme information, visit: http://india.amsconferences.com

VISIT, EXPERIENCE,GROW BUSINESS



C O R P O R AT E Auto Monitor 43

First in Business Wordwide

17-19 Feb, 2011 | NSE Ground, Goregaon, Mumbai

Concurrent Shows

Contact: Prachi +91 9820373804 or [email protected] or SMS HITECH to 51818

EnvisioningThe Future Of Manufacturing

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KTH

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1

INNOVATIONSE iE i

SINGLELARGEST

CONVERGENCEE

Factories of Tech Future | Future Design | Business Strategies

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For the first time in India, there an event that promises to deliver future solutions for the complete manufacturing & engineering industry. HiTech Manufacturing Show is a first of its kind event bringing the entire industry under one roof. With HiTech Manufacturing as a backdrop for the entire value chain, the show also has HiTech Material Handling and HiTech Automation as concurrent shows to complement

the growth process and future of the industry.


CORPORATECORPORATE

in detail, including opportunities to interact with the management hinge on the attractiveness of the preliminary non-binding offer.

A strategy adopted by buy-ers, including private equity, pending confirmation of the existence of synergies is to posi-tion the preliminary offer in an ‘attractive zone’ with an articu-lated intention to move up the price band on confi rmation of synergies. This strategy would presuppose that the difference between a ‘good offer’ and the ‘winning offer’ is the existence of synergies. Buyers should also realise that even private equity buyers are approaching the deal with the same mindset and their offers at times are contingent on fi nancing packages.

Also appreciate the value of

appointing experienced trans-action advisors, including investment bankers, account-ants and lawyers, who have experience of your sector and the country in which your target is based. In addition to this expe-rience, they can also help bridge cultural barriers and bring with them the much needed experi-ence to achieve an effi cient and rapid transaction experience for you.

Confirm synergiesA planned due diligence

effort across multiple streams focusing on the risks and oppor-tunities should be undertaken as you progress ahead. However, it is important to appreciate right at the outset that the level of information that would be available to buyers would rarely

match the information availa-ble in a negotiated process and hence focusing your efforts on critical areas around synergies and their estimation is criti-cal. Direct interactions with the management could be limited to management presentations.

Securing the support of target management

Given that most mid-market companies f rom emerging countries lack man-agement bandwidth, it is critical to have the support of the target’s management team to continue post the acquisition. Management incentive packag-es would need to be addressed to help retain management. It is important to convey to the man-agement as to why you are the ‘right acquirer’ and also outline

your strategic vision and integra-tion plan. Management at times tends to be sceptical of emerging market buyers on account of per-ceived cultural differences and hence it is important to allay their concerns.

Securing the financing package

Demonstrating f inancing strength is a key step to posi-tion to the vendor that a move forward is not contingent on fi nancing approvals. Part of the preparation discussed earlier is around how the contingencies linked to fi nancing are kept to a bare minimum, as any ven-dor would like to minimise the chances of a winning bidder lacking financial support, to consummate a deal.

A clearly articulated strategic

rationale coupled with careful preparation for an auction proc-ess and speed of decision making during the process are essen-tial to ‘close the deal’. Above all, conveying the right impression of your company and highlight-ing the strengths that you will bring to the target, can go a long way in infl uencing the ven-dors and their management when they are choosing the suc-cessful bidder.

(John Hadley is Executive Director & Koushik J is Senior Manager with the Financial Advisory Services, PwC India. The authors are M&A profession-als with signifi cant experience of cross border transactions in the automotive sector. They could be reached at [email protected] and [email protected])

Deal trends in cross border M&A... Contd. from P14

Nissan diesel mix is higher than the petrol one and basically the same trend will be maintained in India,’ Tokuyama explained.

Recently, NMIPL had released the sketch of its new global sedan that would be premiered at the 8th China (Guangzhou) International Automobile Exhibition in December 2010. To be launched fi rst in China, the model would be rolled out in India in the sec-ond half of 2011 and would also be produced at the company’s Oragadam plant.

Maintaining Status Quo Meanwhile, a threat of import

tariffs being slashed sizably on products from European markets post the signing of the EU-India Free Trade Agreement have placed a question mark over India’s grow-ing status as an export hub.

A SIAM offi cial clarifi ed that the association had already expressed its dissent to a lower import tariff regime and asked the Government to maintain the sta-tus quo of existing custom duties on imported cars and two-wheel-ers in CBU form.

Nissan had recently com-menced export of its petrol Micra to the European markets with a consignment of 3,866 cars. Tokuyama, when queried on whether Nissan exports could be dented if import tariffs were reduced post the FTA, preferred not to comment.

But another OEM said that India held its forte in labour costs that were around 30 to 40 percent less than foreign countries and these were adequate to hold back import invasion into the country.

Similarly, Majeed was of the opinion that India held a strong cost arbitrage that would enable the country to maintain its export status.

‘An India-EU FTA can ben-efi t India’s trade status by being treated at par with other players in its export-import markets. It will also provide a level playing fi eld to India and help streamline freight costs that are high due to rising oil prices,’ he elaborated. Majeed however, cautioned that before an FTA was entered into, a full analysis of it was necessary with opinions sought from all stakeholders.

Nissan considering... Contd. from P6


ADVERTISERS’ LISTADVERTISERS’ LIST

PRODUCT INDEXPRODUCT INDEX

Pg No. ........Advertiser ....................................................................... Tel .............................................................E-mail ...................................................................... Website

18 ............. ADEA- Automotive Dealership Excellence Awards......+91-22-30034650 ................................. [email protected] ........................... www.adea.in

11 ...............Assab Sripad Steels Ltd ................................................... +91-44-24951980 [email protected] ...................................... www.assabsripad.com

31 ...............Atlas Copco (India) Ltd .................................................... +91-20-30722222 [email protected] .................................... www.atlascopco.com

6 ................Auroral Sinter Metals Co., Ltd. ........................................ +886-37-542-988 [email protected] .................................... www.auroral-sinter.com.tw

26 ............. Auto Monitor - 10Th Anniversary ...............................+91-2230034651 .................................. [email protected] .......................................... www.automonitor.co.in

15 ...............Birla Tyres ....................................................................... +91-33-22814717 [email protected] ................................................ www.birlatyre.com

5 ............... Capgemini Consultancy India P Ltd ...................................................................................................................................................................... www.in.capgemini.com

17 ...............Coatec India .................................................................... +91-160-2648700 [email protected] ............................................ www.coatecindia.com

1,4,29 ....... Engineering Expo .......................................................+91-9920401226 .................................. [email protected] ................................ www.engg-expo.com

12 ...............Forging Machinery Manufacturing Co ............................ +91-161-5011755 ........................................................................................................................ www.nkhhammers.com

27 ..............G W Precision Tools India Pvt Ltd ................................... +91-80-40431252 [email protected] ...................................................... www.gwindia.in

20 ..............Goodie Enterprises ......................................................... +91-11-41613643 [email protected] ........................................ www.goodiesons.com

BIC .............Guhring India Private Limited ........................................ +91-80-40322500 [email protected] ..................................................... www.guhring.in

9 ................Haas Automation India Pvt Ltd ...................................... +91-20-32935433 ......................................www.HaasCNC.com .................................................

30 ............. HiTech Manufacturing Show ......................................+91-9820373804 .................................. [email protected].......................................

6 ................IGUS India Pvt Ltd ........................................................... +91-80-39127800 [email protected] ............................................................ www.igus.in

22 ............. IMTMA ........................................................................+91-20-66246600 ................................. [email protected] .................................................. www.imtma.in

35 ............. IMTMA ........................................................................+91-88-66246600 ................................. [email protected]................................................ www.imtma.in

16 ...............ISMT Limited ................................................................... +91-20-66024901 .....................................www.ismt.com .........................................................

23 ..............Jyoti CNC Automation ..................................................... +91-2827-287081 [email protected] ....................................................... www.jyoti.co.in

7 ................Lanxess India Pvt.Ltd...................................................... +91-22-21729200 ......................................www.lanxess.in ........................................................

3 ................M And M Auto Indus Ltd ................................................. +91-124-4763200 [email protected] .............................. www.mandmsprings.com

33...............Marks Pryor Marketing Technology ................................ +91-20-66743300 ......................................www.markspryor.com .............................................

BC ..............Micromatic Machine Tools .............................................. +91-80-41492285 [email protected] ................................. www.acemicromatic.com

8 ............... Ningbo Junling Mould Technology Co., Ltd ................+86-574-8610-3666 .............................. [email protected] ...................................... www.junlingmould.com

20 ..............Norka Instruments (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. .......................... +86-21-5032-7099 [email protected]........................................ www.afa-tech.com.cn

21...............Padmini VNA Mechatronics Pvt. Ltd............................... +91-124-3207398 [email protected] ........................................ www.padminivna.com

25 ............. Pepperl+Fuchs(India) Pvt Ltd. ....................................+91-80-28378030 ................................. [email protected] ................................ www.pepperl-fuchs.com

14 ............. TAGMA ........................................................................+91-22-28526876.................................. [email protected] ................................. www.tagmaindia.org

FIC..............Tata Motors Ltd. .............................................................. +91-22-66561820 ......................................www.prima.tatamotors.com ...................................

19 ............. Titan Industries ..........................................................+91-4344-664846 ................................ [email protected] .......................................... www.titanautomation.in

28 ............. Triune Exhibitors Pvt Ltd. ..........................................+91-80-43307474 ................................. [email protected]........................ www.triuneexhibitors.com

13 ...............Yamazaki Mazak India Pvt Ltd ....................................... +91-20-27351417 ......................................sudhir_patankar@mazakindia.com ........................ www.mazak.com

Product ............................................................ pg no.

Accelerator pedal sensor accessories ........................21

ADEA - Automotive Dealership Excellence Awards .....18

AS-interface systems ..................................................25

Auto Monitor-10th Anniversary ..................................26

Auto parts ..................................................................12

Automation ................................................................17

Automation & storage system ....................................25

Automobile parts .......................................................6

Bearings .....................................................................6

Billet shearing machines ............................................12

Building automation ..................................................17

Cable carriers .............................................................6

Cable connectors ........................................................6

Cables for bus systems ...............................................25

Cables handling & processing systems .......................25

Cables scraps ..............................................................25

Capacitive and magnetic sensors ...............................25

Castings forgings ........................................................12

CED coating machines ................................................17

C-frame power press ..................................................12

Chains .........................................................................6

Chemlok coating machines ........................................17

Clutch housing ...........................................................8

CNC .............................................................................9,23

CNC cutting machines ................................................17

CNC hmcs ...................................................................23

CNC laser cutting machines ........................................17

CNC lathes ..................................................................BC

CNC machines ............................................................23

CNC oval turning centers ............................................23

CNC oxy fuel cutting machines ...................................17

CNC plasma cutting machines ....................................17

CNC turn mill centers .................................................23

CNC turning center .....................................................23

CNC vertical machining center ...................................23

CNC/VMC machines ....................................................13

Coating machines .......................................................17

Coating plants ............................................................17

Coating systems ..........................................................17

Commercial vehicles ..................................................FIC

Compression springs ..................................................3

Compressor ................................................................31

Connectors .................................................................6

Connectors accessories ..............................................25

Countersinks ..............................................................BIC

Crimp contact & tools ................................................25

Custom-made cables ..................................................25

Cutting machines .......................................................17

Cylinder box ...............................................................8

Cylindrical grinders ....................................................BC

Data cables .................................................................25

Diamond tools ............................................................BIC

Die & mould - South International Exhibition ...........14

Dip spin coating machines .........................................17

Drilling tools ...............................................................BIC

EGR valve ....................................................................21

Electronic control unit ...............................................21

Engine block for automobile ......................................8

Ex series .....................................................................23

Exhibition - engineering expo ....................................1, 29

Exhibition - hitech manufacturing show ....................30

Extension springs .......................................................3

Factory automation ....................................................17

Fluidised bed coating machines. ...............................17

Forging press ..............................................................12

Friction drop hammers ..............................................12

Friction screw press ...................................................12

Glide coating machines ..............................................17

Gun drills ....................................................................BIC

H frame power press ..................................................12

Hammers ....................................................................12

Hollow bars ................................................................16

Horizontal CNC machines...........................................23

Horizontal machining center .....................................9,23

Identifi cation systems ................................................25

Imaging & vision systems ...........................................17

Inductive ....................................................................25

Industrial connectors .................................................25

Instrumentation made cables ....................................25

Kx series .....................................................................23

Kxg series ...................................................................23

Lathes .........................................................................9

Lean assembly lines ...................................................19

Linear assembly lines .................................................19

Machinery steel ..........................................................11

Marking solutions.......................................................33

Metal cutting tools .....................................................27

Milling centres ............................................................9

Milling cutters ............................................................BIC

Modular tooling system .............................................BIC

Mx series ....................................................................23

Nx series .....................................................................23

Paint shop equipment ...............................................17

Paint shop machines ..................................................17

Photoelectric sensors .................................................25

Powder matallergy products ......................................6

Power chucking cylinders ..........................................BC

Pre-treatment systems ...............................................17

Protective-conduit system .........................................25

Quality steel ...............................................................11

Reamers .....................................................................BIC

Roatry .........................................................................9

Robotic assembly lines & robotic weld cells ..............19

Rotary assembly machines.........................................19

Rotary encoders .........................................................25

Scada & dcs implimentaion .......................................17

Sensors .......................................................................25

Solid carbide drills .....................................................27

Solid carbide drills with IC .........................................27

Solid carbide mills ......................................................27

Solid carbide reamers ................................................27

Solid carbide reamers with IC ....................................27

Solid carbide special drills .........................................27

Solid carbide special mills ..........................................27

Solid carbide special reamers ....................................27

Speciality chemicals ...................................................7

Spiral cables ...............................................................25

Spray equipments ......................................................20

Stainless steel gear parts ............................................6

Strip steel ...................................................................11

Sx series ......................................................................23

Taps ............................................................................BIC

Testing machine .........................................................20

Tool bits .....................................................................11

Tool steel ....................................................................11

Torsion springs ...........................................................3

Transmission cylinder box..........................................8

Transmission gears .....................................................6

Transmission housing .................................................8

Truck tyres ..................................................................15

Turrets ........................................................................BC

Two wheeler tyres ......................................................15

Tyres ...........................................................................15

Ultrasonic sensors ......................................................25

Vaccum pump ............................................................21

Vertical line series ......................................................23

Vertical machining center ..........................................9, BC

Vision inspection systems ..........................................19

VMC -linear series .......................................................23

Wire forms ..................................................................3

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‘We contribute technical know-how, assembly and pro-duction lines, tooling and other key inputs to the JV, whereas our Russian partner will bring to the table infrastructure, marketing and administrative expertise.’

Meanwhile, the Russian facili-ty would begin operations with 50 people, of which about 30 would be locally employed. About four key managerial employees will be provided by RIL and will be permanently posted at the plant. Roots would also impart opera-tor, technical, product, testing and validation training to staff and workers at the plant.

An April StartThe new manufacturing facil-

ity that would be operational in April 2011 would house a press shop, components, housings and tools shop.

Ramasamy said that the new facility was undergoing some modifi cations and was almost ready. The production unit would be located within the existing plant of Avtocom, where a sepa-rate building had been allotted for production and stocking operations with a built-up space of 12,000 sq ft.

Drawing similarities between Indian and Russian policies that promoted local investment, when foreign collaborations were formed, Ramasamy said that Roots would localise over 80 percent of its horn components to achieve cost effi ciencies. These would include housings, grills and trumpets for which import duties would shore up the cost of the fi nal product.

‘It is not economical to trans-port all the components from India, so only critical com-

ponents like diaphragms and contacts will be produced in our Coimbatore plant and sent to our joint venture facility in Russia,’ he added.

The Russian plant would have a production capacity of 0.6 mil-lion horns in the fi rst year, 1.8 million in the second year and 2.4 million units in the third year of operations. The JV is targeting a top line of `24 crore within three years with `6 crore expected at the end of the fi rst year of operations.

Ramasamy said that the pro-duction at their Russian plant would primarily target the Russian Federation requirements but later, the partnership could look at opportunities in the CIS countries as well.

International OperationsRIL also has manufacturing

facilities in Iran and Malaysia, where it is currently upgrad-ing its capabilities. It set up a 50:50 joint venture with Razmin Industries of Iran in 2009 with an investment of `6 crore. The JV company, Razmin Roots Company of ARVAND Freezone, is expected to register a turnover of `9 crore in FY11 with plans to double it in FY12.

In Iran, RIL is expanding capacity by adding another shift in the next six months to pare up the production to over 120,000 horns per month. In the cur-rent fi scal, the plant capacity is expected to touch 0.75 million horns and around 1.5 million in the subsequent financial. The present capacity stands at 60,000 horns per month in a single shift.

According to Ramasamy, the equipments have been installed and training of staff has to be

undertaken. That is expected to take another six months.

The electrical horns pro-duced in Iran cater to the Iranian four-wheeler OEMs. ‘Both our Malaysian and Iranian plants are focused only on the domes-tic markets and are not meant for exports,’ remarked Ramasamy.

Roots set up an 80:20 joint ven-ture company Roots Industries (Malaysia) about eight years ago, with Roots holding 80 percent of the stake in it with the bal-ance held by its local partner. ‘We cater to 60 percent of the OE requirements in Malaysia and are targeting a top line of ̀ 3.5 crore in FY11 and ̀ 4.2 crore in FY12 there,’ he said.

In Malaysia, the company holds a marketshare of 60 per-cent in electrical horns, as air horns are not popular in foreign markets because of the noise

pollution caused by their high decibel levels.

Strong PerformanceOverall, Roots Industries is

targeting a consolidated turno-ver of `137.87 crore from both its Indian and foreign operations in the current fi scal with RIL India contributing a top line of `125.37 crore. A 25 percent growth is expected over that in FY12.

Talking about the advantages that would accrue to the com-pany with the new joint ventures and expansion plans, Ramasamy said it would shore up the reve-nue, employee strength and also add new customers to the com-pany’s kitty.

The company is also investing `22 crore in its Indian operations over the next two years, funded through internal accruals and a term loan. It is expanding capac-

ity in India by 40 percent during FY12 for meeting the expanding requirements of its customers. The current fi scal is expected to close with six million elec-trical horns. The target is to reach 9.5 million horns per annum by FY13, primarily for fulfi lling the needs of the pas-senger car segment.

At present, the OE demand constitutes 25 percent of the total RIL India top line, with exports contributing 40 percent and the aftermarket bringing up the rear in electrical horns.

Despite the dip in exports dur-ing the slowdown, RIL’s key export markets continue to remain the US, Europe and the Middle East. Overseas sales have been notch-ing a healthy 20 percent growth per annum and the company expects exports to account for ̀ 45 crore by FY11-end.

Roots Industries inks JV with Russian... Contd. from P1

Inspection and assembling conducted at Roots Industries’ Coimbatore facility

Auto Monitor34GLOBAL WATCHGLOBAL WATCH


Shanghai Auto buys one percent stake in GMGM’s Chinese venture partner Shanghai Automotive Industry has acquired a one per-

cent stake in the Detroit automaker for $500 million. Shanghai Automotive had earlier expressed its intention to acquire shares in GM, its venture partner since 1997. The two automakers teamed up in China, where foreign companies are allowed to produce cars only in ventures with domestic car companies. The JV has been successful in China, selling more than 2 million vehicles this year, and they are now joining forces to target India’s booming car market. Shanghai Automotive is the controlling shareholder of SAIC Motor, which is acquiring 15.15 million GM shares at $33 apiece, through its SAIC Motor HK Investment unit.

Renault, Nissan to build EVsRenault and Nissan plan to build 500,000 electric vehicles annually by the end of 2013.

In a recent interaction with automotive reporters, CEO, Renault and Nissan, Ghosn also predicted additional consolidation in the auto industry, but said it may come through joint projects rather than one automaker acquiring another. Nissan is launching its elec-tric Leaf, which has a 100 mile range, in December. It plans to sell 20,000 Leafs in the US during the next year. Ghosn predicts that because of strong consumer demand, Nissan will be ‘capacity constrained’ for the Leaf for the next three years. Nissan and Renault each will have four electric vehicle models by 2013. For Nissan, the Japanese automaker plans an electric light commercial vehicle, small city car, luxury car, plus the Leaf. Nissan plans to produce 200,000 battery packs annually and 150,000 vehicles in the United States by 2013, when its new Leaf factory starts production in Tennessee. The Tennessee plant won a $1.4 billion low-cost government loan.

VW unit Skoda plans huge rise in China productionSkoda wants to produce 500,000 cars in China in the future, said Chief Executive

Offi cer, Winfried Vahland in a newsletter of Skoda unions, according to a Reuters report. The Volkswagen AG Czech subsidiary produced 131,779 cars in China in 2009. Skoda is

on pace for record sales this year, selling 568,990 vehicles in the fi rst nine months, led by a 65 percent jump in China. Skoda expects to double its new-car sales to around 1.5 million in 2020, driven by growth in China, India and Russia, Vahland said. Larger vol-umes at the Skoda will play an important role in helping VW reach its target of 10 million annual sales by 2018, at which time it hopes to topple Toyota as the top global automaker. As part of a 10-year international growth plan, Skoda sales outside Europe will increase to make up half of the brand’s volume from 30 percent today. Skoda sales rose 1.4 per-cent to 684,226 last year.

Toyota will launch electric iQ in green pushToyota will launch an elec-

tric version of its iQ minicar in 2012, targeting urban commut-ers who drive short distances. Toyota said the battery-pow-ered iQ will be cheaper than rival electric cars such as the Mitsubishi i-MiEV or the Nissan Leaf. Both are larger than the 3+1 seat iQ. Toyota did not specify a price range for the planned electric car. Prices for the iQ with a gasoline engine start at 12,900 euros (about $17,640) in Germany. The bat-

tery powered iQ will run 105km (65 miles) on a single charge. It will launch in Europe, Japan and the United States. Sales in China are also being considered, the company said. Toyota is developing the iQ in-house and is also working with luxury electric car maker Tesla Motors on an electric version of its RAV4 compact SUV.

International auto round-upAutomobile trading business of Porsche Holding Salzburg to be sold to Volkswagen

The family shareholders of Porsche Holding Gesellschaft are likely to exercise the put option to sell to Volkswagen the operating business of Porsche Holding Salzburg (PHS). The transfer of the automobile trade company will take place at a fi xed price of €3.3 bil-lion, probably during the fi rst half of 2011 but no later than 30 September, 2011. PHS will retain its status as a single organisational unit with its successful business model as well as all assets and all brands. At the same time we will be signifi cantly strengthening our own trade activities in major markets and regions. PHS is Europe’s most successful private automobile trading company and has a particularly strong presence in Austria, Western Europe and South Eastern Europe as well as China. In the last fi scal ending March 2010, unit sales of 421,000 new vehicles generated sales revenue of €12.2 billion, with profi tability higher than the market average. PHS employs some 20,300 people.

Renault seeks job cuts in France to offset production declineRenault is seeking an early-retirement agreement with unions in response to declin-

ing domestic production. The company is holding talks under French labour laws that allow factory workers to seek early retirement, said spokeswoman at Renault, Caroline De Gezelle declining to comment on the number of employees affected because the negotiations are ongoing. The plan is linked to forecasts that include an estimated 23 percent output drop next year at Sandouville, the Northern French plant producing the Laguna and Espace models. Renault’s domestic production has fallen in step with declining sales of larger cars assembled exclusively in France. Smaller models such as the Clio subcompact and Twingo minicar are increasingly manufactured for the Western European market in Turkey, Slovenia and other lower-wage economies. Renault has said it may transfer future replacements for the Espace minivan and Laguna mid-sized car to its plant in Douai, France, from Sandouville. Production at Sandouville, which employs 2,500 people, is likely to drop to 53,000 vehicles next year from an expected 69,000 in 2010, De Gezelle said.

Volkswagen to spend $71 billion to help leapfrog ToyotaVolkswagen said it will invest about Euro 51.6 billion (nearly $71 billion) in its auto-

motive division in the next fi ve years as it aims to pass Toyota as the leading global automaker in sales and profi tability by 2018. ‘These investments underline Volkswagen’s goal of becoming the leading automobile manufacturer for its customers, employees and shareholders,’ VW CEO Martin Winterkorn said in a statement after the automak-er’s supervisory board approved investment plans for 2011 to 2015. About 27.7 billion euros will be invested in modernising and extending the product range of all the group’s brands, which include Audi, Bentley, Porsche and Lamborghini on the luxury side and the VW, Skoda and Seat volume brands. VW said it will continue developing hybrid and electric motors and invest in new generations of engines with enhanced performance, fuel consumption and emission levels.

French battery maker Saft eyes Chinese EV marketEuropean battery producer Saft and its automotive partner Johnson Controls are in

talks with a number of local companies to enter the Chinese market for electric vehicles. Johnson Controls and Saft manufactures the cells and cooling system for the lithium ion battery used in the Mercedes Benz S-class and BMW 7-series mild hybrids. China wants to leapfrog established Western auto companies by skipping development of high tech combustion engines and going straight to drivetrains powered partly or entirely with electricity. The Chinese government is going to subsidise the industry very signifi cantly to bring clean vehicles to market, but these subsidies are going to be directed at the 100 percent Chinese companies like Shanghai Automotive, Beijing Automotive, Geely and Chery and not the Western-Chinese joint ventures. While lithium-ion batteries are used in a myriad of consumer electronics, the car industry is only just starting to employ them, since they were previously considered too unstable and not durable enough to be used for 10 years without a marked loss of performance. Studies suggest the lithium-ion car battery market could be worth $5 billion by 2015, or even twice that depending on how quick carmakers bring models to the market.

EUROPE

ASIA

AMERICASAuto bailout saved more than 1.4 million jobs

The US government bailout of GM, Chrysler and other automotive fi rms saved more than 1.4 million jobs, according to the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor. It estimated most of the jobs —1.14 million—were saved in 2009 during the low point of the industry’s severe downturn. But another 314,400 jobs were saved in 2010, the center said Wednesday. The government will recoup some of the $82 billion spent on the bailout when GM launches an initial public stock offering . The IPO will allow it to reduce the 61 percent stake in GM that it took in exchange for loans. A failure of one or two of Detroit’s Big Three might have driven many suppliers out of business, putting at risk healthier companies like Ford and the foreign transplants.

US vehicle fuel efficiency hits record levelFuel economy soared to its highest overall level last year, increasing by 1.4 mpg, to 22.4

mpg — the highest since the government started keeping track in 1975, according to a report in the Detroit News. The Environmental Protection Agency said that ‘real-world’ 2009 model year fl eetwide fuel economy was 22. 4 mpg — slightly better than the record set in 2007. The EPA said the 2010 model year projected fl eetwide average is 22.5 mpg. Americans opted for smaller, less powerful vehicles last year, the report showed. They purchased fewer SUVs, vans and pickup trucks. The report said the average weight and horsepower of a new vehicle fell from the 2008 to 2009 model year. The average vehicle weight fell from 4,085 pounds to 3,917 pounds—though it is projected to rise to 4,009 for the 2010 model year. But the way that fi gure is calculated is different than how EPA cal-culates the real-world fuel economy of vehicles.

Chevrolet to commence Volt deliveriesChevrolet will start delivering its all-new range-extended

electric Volt in the coming weeks. The Volt was one of two cars Chevrolet showcased at the recent Los Angeles Motor Show. The other is the all-new Chevrolet Camaro convertible. Head, Marketing- Chevrolet, Chris Perry, said the drop-top Camaro will be available in February as a 2012 model.

Government urges fix for recalled Ford minivansThe government is urging owners of recalled Ford minivans to get their vehicles fi xed,

according to a report in the Associated Press. About 575,000 Ford Windstar minivans from the 1998 to 2003 model years were recalled in August over concerns that the rear axles could corrode and potentially break. The recalled vehicles were sold or registered in regions where heavy use of road salt can cause more corrosion. That includes Canada, New England, the Mid-Atlantic states and the Great Lakes region. The National Highway Traffi c Safety Administration said only about 75,000 of the minivans had been fi xed by the recall, leaving a large number of vehicles still to be repaired. Typically, 70 percent of recalled vehicles get fi xed in 18 months.

Bridgestone announces 425 job cuts, restructuringBridgestone Americas is cutting 425 jobs nationwide and moving two unit headquar-

ters to the Music City, according to a report in the Associated Press. The restructuring includes relocating the headquarters of its Bandag new and retreaded commercial tire unit to Nashville from Muscatine, Iowa, by next year. The company will also relocate the headquarters of the Bridgestone Americas Original Equipment tire unit from Michigan. The company said all the current Bridgestone locations, including Muscatine and Lovi, will continue to house important operations.

Turkish cab among potential New York’s ‘Taxi of Tomorrow’ A futuristic Turkish taxi cab with a see-through roof for gazing at the skyline is among

three fi nalists in New York City’s search for the ‘Taxi of Tomorrow’,according to a Reuters report. The model V1 by Turkish automaker Karsan Otomotiv made the short list along with models by Nissan and Ford, the city announced. The city’s Taxi and Limousine Commission launched the ‘Taxi of Tomorrow’ competition in 2007 to win an exclusive contract to provide cabs for at least 10 years.

Auto Monitor 35GLOBAL WATCHGLOBAL WATCH


The National Highway T r a f f i c S a f e t y Ad m i n ist rat ion ha s

opened an investigation into how quickly rental car companies fi x recalled vehicles, according to a report in the Detroit News. NHTSA said on its website that it is looking at nearly 3 million recalled vehicles from GM, Ford and Chrysler that were sold to rental car companies. The review covers 29 models — from sedans to minivans to sport util-ity vehicles — built from 2000 to this year.

The agency said its probe is to give ‘an indication of how completely and how quickly rental car fl eets, in general or individually, perform neces-sary recall-related repairs or other remedies on the vehicles owned and then leased for use on the roadways.’

The Center for Auto Safety, a group founded by Ralph Nader and Carol Houck, has fi led a petition with the Federal Trade Commission urging Enterprise Holdings to repair vehicles before they rent them.

NHTSA said it ‘has been informed of incidents involving allegations of personal injury and death claimed to have been caused by safety defects and failures’ that are ‘on rental car vehicles for which a safety recall to remedy the safety defect or noncompliance had alleged-ly not been performed prior to the rental car company’s lease of the vehicle.’

Repair WorkNo law requires rental car

companies to fi x vehicles before they return to service, said Sharon Faulkner, executive director of the American Car Rental Association. Most com-panies quickly repair vehicles once they get a notice, she said.

The FTC petition follows a suit the center’s Houck and her husband fi led against Enterprise Rent-A-Car that stems from the 2004 deaths of their two daugh-ters, Raechel and Jacqueline, ages 24 and 20. The sisters rent-ed a PT Cruiser from Enterprise that, unknown to them, had been recalled for risk of under-hood fires. While traveling through California, the car caught fi re, causing it to col-lide with a semi-trailer truck, instantly killing the women, the petition said. After fi ve years of fi ghting, Enterprise admit-ted liability in the deaths. The couple won a $15 million dam-ages-only verdict in June.

The petition said at least four people had rented the vehi-cle after Enterprise received a recall notice. Privately held Enterprise has a third of air-port business in the United States and Canada through its Enterprise, Alamo and National fi rms. Enterprise spokeswoman Laura Bryant said the company would cooperate with NHTSA in any inquiry involving cur-rent practices. NHTSA issues hundreds of recalls annually and automakers issue hundreds of service bulletins affecting millions of vehicles in North America, including thousands of our rental cars and trucks, Bryant said.

NHTSA probes rental car recall repairs Ford recently said that it

expects to end the year with more cash than debt after

converting $1.9 billion in debt to new common stock that will be issued at month’s end, accord-ing to a report in the Associated Press. The last time this situation occurred was the second quarter of 2008.

Debt reduction is crucial for the company that avoided fol-lowing GM and Chrysler into bankruptcy, where those car-makers shed most of their debt. Ford mortgaged everything the company had, including its Blue Oval trademark, to restructure itself and has made cleaning up its balance sheet a priority. The automaker seeks to get its debt back to investment grade sta-tus and start paying dividends again. To raise cash and reduce

debt, Ford said it would make conversion offers, with cash inducements, on two convert-ible debt securities. Investors had been given time to decide whether to participate in the spe-cial offer conversion. Ford said 74 percent chose to do so, signaling confi dence in the automaker.

Ford will make a $534 million cash payment and issue 274 mil-lion shares to the noteholders. The cash premiums refl ect the value of pending interest pay-ments. It is a good deal for both sides, said senior Director, Fitch Ratings, Stephen Brown. Ford lost its investment grade status in 2005. Most ratings agencies still have Ford a notch or two below the watershed mark. Ford has reduced automotive debt $12.8 billion this year, down to about $21billion from the $34 billion it

held at theend of 2009. Ford also has lowered its total annual inter-est costs nearly $1 billion. Debt conversions cut interest costs about $180 million.

‘These successful conversion

offers represent another sig-nifi cant step toward our goal of reducing our automotive debt and improving our balance sheet,’ said Chief Financial Offi cer, Ford, Lewis Booth.

Ford reduces its debt by $1.9B

Lewis Booth, Chief Financial Officer, Ford

A: Passenger Cars- No of seats not over 6A1: Mini - (Upto 3400 mm) Maruti Suzuki India Ltd (Maruti 800 ) 3,896 3,204 22,200 23,020 3,124 2,631 18,980 14,744 55 1,208 2,474 6,979Tata Motors Ltd (Nano) 3,002 4,794 9,777 40,492 3,018 3,065 10,518 40,467 0 0 0 0Total 6,898 7,998 31,977 63,512 6,142 5,696 29,498 55,211 55 1,208 2,474 6,979A2: Compact (3401-4000mm Fiat India Automobiles Pvt Ltd (Palio, Fiat500,Grande Punto) 844 1,340 9,064 8,354 1,221 1,347 8,346 7,876 53 93 284 903Ford india Pvt Ltd ( Fusion, Figo ) 0 7,265 455 50,484 57 7,149 493 45,328 0 661 0 4,135General Motors India Pvt Ltd (Beat, Spark,U-VA) 4,517 6,575 26,920 42,883 4,807 6,561 27,727 41,290 23 39 254 197Honda Siel Cars India ltd (Jazz) 360 0 6,609 856 830 332 5,432 3,132 8 0 30 15Hyundai Motors India Ltd(Santro,Getz, i10, i20) 46,905 43,808 296,103 311,472 25,269 31,165 153,927 183,829 22,138 15,234 153,882 130,187Maruti Suzuki India Ltd (Alto,Wagon R,Zen,Swift, A-Star, Ritz) 63,570 82,245 430,369 523,423 51,437 77,502 351,266 446,968 13,633 9,691 76,773 78,699Nissan Motor India Pvt Ltd (Micra) 0 9,745 0 20,402 0 1,062 0 4,342 0 9,186 0 9,186SkodaAuto india p.ltd ( Fabia ) 750 703 2,876 3,539 767 756 3,376 3,576 12 0 16 0Tata Motors Ltd (Indica) 9,603 14,648 65,062 83,815 9,640 9,732 66,508 58,634 247 508 2,124 4,064Volkswagen India Pvt Ltd (Polo) 0 2,084 0 14,317 0 2,344 0 14,366 0 0 0 0Total 126,549 168,413 837,458 1,059,545 94,028 137,950 617,075 809,341 36,114 35,412 233,363 227,386A3: Mid -Size (4001-4500mm) BMW India Pvt Ltd (Z4 Roadster) 0 0 0 0 6 11 6 51 0 0 0 0Ford India Pvt Ltd (Ford ikon,Fusion,Fiesta) 3,206 2,254 16,863 11,935 3,217 1,584 16,127 9,782 232 50 706 747General Motors India Pvt Ltd (Cheverlet Aveo NB) 324 400 1,736 2,612 332 399 1,849 2,456 5 6 36 83Hindustan Motors Ltd (Ambassador, Lancer,Cedia) 902 653 4,613 4,949 895 630 4,606 4,864 0 0 0 1Honda Siel Cars India Ltd (City) 5,057 3,285 24,064 28,148 5,129 4,316 24,004 27,748 4 0 14 32Hyundai Motors India Ltd (Accent,Verna) 5,062 5,708 25,543 34,808 2,988 3,464 18,243 22,834 1,297 2,266 9,524 12,702Mahindra Renault Pvt Ltd (Logan) 638 1,230 4,163 6,348 401 1,079 3,302 4,948 250 0 1,000 1,500Maruti Suzuki India Ltd (SX4,Dzire) 8,773 11,386 53,271 72,816 8,804 11,621 53,029 71,941 78 83 271 483Nissan Motor India Pvt Ltd (Nissan 370Z) 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 6 0 0 0 0Skoda Auto India Pvt Ltd (Corolla) 0 131 0 131 0 100 0 100 0 0 0 0Tata Motors Ltd (Indigo,Marina) 1,983 3,583 4,525 27,864 4,899 8,292 23,397 52,063 141 61 684 1,116Volkswagen - Audi (TT, R8) 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 5 0 0 0 0Volkswagen India Pvt Ltd (Beetle) 0 1,633 0 2,653 0 1,659 0 3,262 0 0 0 0Total 25,945 30,263 134,778 192,264 26,671 33,159 144,563 200,060 2,007 2,466 12,235 16,664A4 : Executive (4501-4700mm) BMW india pvt Ltd (3 Series) 12 79 620 1,065 140 267 659 1,372 0 0 0 0Fiat India Automobiles Pvt Ltd (Linea) 914 643 6,687 6,115 1,000 723 6,768 6,057 13 51 203 119General Motors India Pvt Ltd (cheverlet Optra, Cruze) 677 1,290 1,509 7,394 975 1,290 1,995 6,475 0 0 2 3Honda Siel Cars India Ltd (Civic) 660 483 3,198 3,187 623 401 3,147 2,861 0 0 0 3Hyundai Motors India Ltd (Elantra) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0Mercedes-Benz India Pvt Ltd (C-Class, 161 181 956 1,372 157 177 1,039 1,458 0 0 0 0SLK Roadster, CLK Cabriolet, E-Coupe)Skoda Auto India Pvt Ltd (Octavia,Laura) 723 428 3,247 4,100 638 385 4,397 4,033 0 0 0 0Toyota Kirloskar Motor Pvt Ltd (corolla) 833 962 5,376 5,960 834 962 5,302 5,929 0 0 0 0Volkswagen - Audi (Q5) 0 0 0 0 14 58 127 374 0 0 0 0Volkswagen India Pvt Ltd (Jetta) 0 595 273 3,296 158 281 1,355 2,141 0 0 0 0Total 3,980 4,661 21,866 32,489 4,539 4,544 24,789 30,702 13 51 205 125A5 : Premium (4701-5000mm) BMW india pvt Ltd ( 5 & 6 Series) 177 387 919 1,273 158 351 857 1,441 0 0 0 0Honda Siel Cars India Ltd ( Accord ) 270 184 1,710 1,264 280 197 1,692 1,369 0 0 0 5Hyundai Motors India Ltd ( Sonata ) 35 20 320 161 44 22 282 167 0 0 0 0Mercedes-Benz India Pvt Ltd (E-Class, CLS) 115 130 519 1,203 125 137 524 1,235 0 0 0 0Nissan Motor India Pvt Ltd (Teana)** 0 0 0 0 14 23 116 160 0 0 0 0Skoda Auto India Pvt Ltd (Superb) 338 435 1,682 2,481 336 420 1,681 2,456 0 0 0 0Toyota Kirloskar Motor Pvt Ltd (Camry ) 0 0 0 0 37 25 161 290 0 0 0 0Volkswagen - Audi (A4,A6)* 0 0 0 0 76 218 656 1,195 0 0 0 0Volkswagen India Pvt Ltd (Passat, Touareg) 0 8 55 636 59 59 367 661 0 0 0 0Total 935 1,164 5,205 7,018 1,129 1,452 6,336 8,974 0 0 0 5A6: Luxury (5001mm&abve) BMW india pvt Ltd (7 Series ) 0 0 0 0 19 58 227 307 0 0 0 0Mercedes-Benz India Pvt Ltd ( S-Class) 3 89 210 382 38 64 249 339 0 0 0 0Volkswagen - Audi (Q7,A8) 0 0 0 0 49 69 312 318 0 0 0 0Volkswagen India Pvt Ltd (Phaeton) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 21 0 0 0 0Total 3 89 210 382 106 191 788 985 0 0 0 0Total A 164,310 212,588 1,031,494 1,355,210 132,615 182,992 823,049 1,105,273 38,189 39,137 248,277 251,159Utility VehiclesB: Max. Mass upto 3.5 tn, B1(a): No of seats not over 7BMW india Pvt Ltd (X3, X5, X6) 0 0 0 0 20 66 340 256 0 0 0 0Force Motors Ltd (trax) 5 0 13 24 5 3 13 24 0 0 0 0Ford India Pvt Ltd (Endeavour) 316 252 1,200 2,010 184 293 1,047 1,818 0 0 0 0General Motors India Pvt Ltd (Tavera, Captiva) 540 742 3,205 4,509 656 871 4,105 5,503 0 0 2 0Hindustan Motors Ltd (Pajero) 136 269 897 1,611 124 272 889 1,617 0 0 0 0Honda Siel Cars India Ltd (CR-V) 0 0 0 0 47 29 155 336 0 0 0 0Hyundai Motors India Ltd (Tucson) 0 0 0 0 0 74 12 74 0 0 0 0Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd (Scorpio, Bolero, 6,692 10,479 50,689 57,123 7,738 10,543 49,619 56,620 172 153 436 722Soft Tops, Hard Tops, Xylo)Maruti Suzuki India Ltd (Vitara) 0 0 0 0 0 17 59 66 0 0 0 0Mercedes-Benz India pvt. Ltd (GL-Class, M Class) 0 0 0 0 7 52 57 274 0 0 0 0Nissan Motor India Pvt Ltd (X-Trail)* 0 0 0 0 25 44 93 300 0 0 0 0Tata Motors Ltd (Safari) 1,368 2,176 10,817 13,773 1,631 2,302 10,720 13,376 0 11 58 151Toyota Kirloskar Motor Pvt Ltd (Innova,Prado) 2,574 3,203 13,451 21,941 2,519 3,299 13,542 22,163 0 0 0 0Total 11,631 17,121 80,272 100,991 12,956 17,865 80,651 102,427 172 164 496 873(b) :No of seat inculding driver exceeding 7 but not exceeding 9(7+1&8+1)( M1(B2) ) Force Motors Ltd (Trax) 0 0 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0General Motors India Pvt Ltd (Tavera) 88 118 989 767 96 138 1,535 778 0 0 0 1International Cars & Motors Ltd (Rhino) 50 41 513 460 100 48 695 428 0 0 38 0Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd (Scorpio, Bolero, 4,360 4,768 30,535 38,891 4,944 5,473 29,957 38,273 33 120 240 841Soft Tops, Hard Tops, Xylo)Maruti Suzuki India Ltd (Gypsy) 185 361 1,537 2,871 168 405 2,264 4,163 10 70 40 117Tata Motors Ltd (Sumo, Safari, Winger) 753 1,112 2,569 7,320 289 525 2,039 3,532 17 27 107 239Toyota Kirloskar Motor Pvt Ltd (Innova) 2,341 2,265 14,221 15,908 2,260 2,316 14,122 15,883 0 0 0 0Total 7,777 8,665 50,374 66,217 7,857 8,905 50,612 63,057 60 217 425 1,198Total B1 19,408 25,786 130,646 167,208 20,813 26,770 131,263 165,484 232 381 921 2,071B2: Max Mass upto 5 tonnes (a) : No of seat inculding driver not exceeding 13(M2(A1)) Force Motors LtdForce Motors Ltd (Trax, Traveller) 316 726 3,129 4,707 342 849 3,160 4,654 0 0 4 0General Motors India Pvt Ltd (Tavera) 545 685 3,158 5,415 519 747 2,834 5,308 0 0 5 4Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd (Bolero, Soft Tops, Hard Tops) 130 0 6,889 1,428 432 45 6,968 1,442 5 0 58 30Tata Motors Ltd (Sumo, Winger) 92 92 5,514 543 851 1,042 6,641 6,937 4 0 127 75Total B2 1,083 1,503 18,690 12,093 2,144 2,683 19,603 18,341 9 0 194 109Total Utility Vehicles (Uvs) 20,491 27,289 149,336 179,301 22,957 29,453 150,866 183,825 241 381 1,115 2,180C :Multi Purpose Vehicles (MPVs)-Van type vehicles & Max Mass not excdding 3.5 tonnes (M1( c )) Van Type Force Motors Ltd (trip) 0 52 0 131 0 38 0 68 0 0 0 0Maruti Suzuki India Ltd (Omini,Versa) 8,209 15,009 53,269 91,912 8,018 15,379 52,451 90,496 88 301 725 1,230Tata Motors Ltd (ACE-Magic) 3,981 4,290 27,215 29,105 4,453 4,095 26,898 28,813 49 28 95 52Total MPVs 12,190 19,351 80,484 121,148 12,471 19,512 79,349 119,377 137 329 820 1,282Total Passenger Vehicles (PVs) 196,991 259,228 1,261,314 1,655,659 168,043 231,957 1,053,264 1,408,475 38,567 39,847 250,212 254,621Commercial VehiclesM&HCVsA: Passenger Carriers, A1: Max mass not over 12 tn (b): No of seats over 13Ashok Leyland Ltd 132 123 849 1,051 77 72 687 987 25 16 143 141Swaraj Mazda Ltd 216 276 1,292 2,127 177 63 1,056 1,860 0 0 0 4Tata Motors Ltd 253 326 2,868 3,245 314 356 2,885 3,766 2 13 43 321VE CVs - Eicher 63 25 1,137 1,646 86 92 1,128 1,630 5 0 7 117Total A1 664 750 6,146 8,069 654 583 5,756 8,243 32 29 193 583A2: Max mass exceeding not over 16.2 tn(b): No of seats over 13Ashok Leyland Ltd 1,710 1,740 8,480 12,703 1,374 1,397 6,622 10,101 91 437 792 2,292JCBL Ltd 23 NA 23 14 23 NA 23 14 0 NA 0 0Swaraj Mazda Ltd 0 7 13 53 0 0 9 43 0 0 0 0Tata Motors Ltd 1,284 1,497 8,451 10,987 1,193 1,420 7,275 9,355 327 754 1,829 2,950VE CVs - Eicher 28 21 130 123 30 19 128 101 0 0 38 11Volvo Buses India Pvt Ltd 57 46 339 174 41 47 297 179 0 0 0 0Total A2 3,102 3,311 17,436 24,054 2,661 2,883 14,354 19,793 418 1,191 2,659 5,253A3: Max. Mass exceeding 12 but no exceeding 16.2 tonnes (M3(C)) Passenger Carrier (D) Volvo Buses India Pvt Ltd 3 18 34 109 2 20 29 106 0 0 0 0Total M&HCVs(passenger carriers) 3,769 4,079 23,616 32,232 3,317 3,486 20,139 28,142 450 1,220 2,852 5,836B: Goods CarriersB1: Max mass over 7.5 tn & less than 12 tnAshok Leyland Ltd 115 48 815 1,739 165 212 696 1,674 39 8 220 154Swaraj Mazda Ltd 311 320 1,966 2,354 250 286 1,812 2,108 52 0 120 115Tata Motors Ltd 1,775 1,599 10,755 10,230 1,734 2,067 10,044 12,614 137 170 776 1,428VE CVs - Eicher 1,349 2,155 8,447 12,047 1,374 2,022 8,155 11,889 32 72 317 370Total 3,550 4,122 21,983 26,370 3,523 4,587 20,707 28,285 260 250 1,433 2,067B2: Max mass not over 16.2 tn(a): Max mass 12-16.2 tnAshok Leyland Ltd 1,241 1,015 7,100 11,014 883 736 5,664 8,796 202 541 1,210 2,231Tata Motors Ltd 3,325 3,321 17,935 26,436 3,065 2,734 16,433 20,616 386 496 2,478 3,129VE CVs - Eicher 193 376 1,020 2,135 86 301 451 1,677 80 45 579 335Total B2 4,759 4,712 26,055 39,585 4,034 3,771 22,548 31,089 668 1,082 4,267 5,695B3: Max mass over 16.2 tn(a): Rigid Vehicles (i) Max mass 16.2-25 tnAshok Leyland Ltd 1,778 350 7,341 13,883 1,518 1,112 7,261 13,947 0 0 214 0Asia Motor Works Ltd 324 361 1,163 2,944 349 460 1,305 2,975 0 0 0 0Force Motors Ltd 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0Mahindra Navistar Automotives Ltd 0 56 0 370 0 10 0 57 0 0 0 0Tata Motors Ltd 4,343 3,557 28,589 31,893 4,079 3,726 26,952 31,105 311 294 1,613 1,420VE CVs - Eicher 33 110 172 520 29 51 185 457 10 0 63 4VE CVs - Volvo 4 0 4 1 4 0 4 12 0 0 0 0Total 6,482 4,434 37,270 49,611 5,979 5,359 35,707 48,553 321 294 1,890 1,424(b) Max mass over 25 tnAshok Leyland Ltd 33 49 400 5,248 27 442 636 5,282 0 0 5 0Daimler India Commercial Vehicles Pvt Ltd* 0 20 0 98 0 1 0 50 0 0 0 0Kamaz Vectra Motors Ltd NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NAMahindra Navistar Automotives Ltd 0 118 0 136 0 24 0 28 0 0 0 0Mercedes-Benz India Pvt Ltd 20 0 41 101 27 0 110 83 0 0 0 0

PRODUCTION AND SALES FLASH REPORT FOR OCTOBER 2010 Source: SIAM

Category Segment/Subsegment Manufacturer. Production Domestic Sales Exports

For the month of Cumulative For the month of Cumulative For the month of Cumulative

October April-October October April-October October April-October

2009 2010 08-09 09-10 2009 2010 08-09 09-10 2009 2010 08-09 09-10


SIAM DATASIAM DATA

Tata Motors Ltd 958 2,921 4,988 24,990 724 2,042 4,403 14,246 43 243 147 445VE CVs - Eicher 21 70 128 297 11 50 143 274 0 0 12 0VE CVs - Volvo 51 80 335 517 51 35 449 422 0 0 0 0Total 1,083 3,258 5,892 31,387 840 2,594 5,741 20,385 43 243 164 445Total B3 7,565 7,692 43,162 80,998 6,819 7,953 41,448 68,938 364 537 2,054 1,869B4: Max mass over 16.2 tn - Haulage tractor(a) Max. Mass exceeding 16.2 tonnes but not exceeding 26.4 tonnes Ashok Leyland Ltd 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 27 76 70 433Total 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 27 76 70 433(b) Max. mass exceeding 26.4 tonnes but not exceeding 35.2 tonnes Ashok Leyland Ltd 703 32 1,464 1,946 605 193 1,372 2,197 5 15 108 45Tata Motors Ltd 0 0 1 0 343 526 2,435 4,684 0 0 0 0Total 703 32 1,465 1,946 948 719 3,807 6,881 5 15 108 45Ashok Leyland Ltd 223 64 566 2,897 202 425 985 2,939 0 0 59 25Asia Motor Works Ltd 78 40 330 458 54 82 316 444 0 0 0 0Tata Motors Ltd 0 0 0 0 464 769 2,911 6,153 0 0 10 0VE CVs - Eicher 2 7 2 55 0 6 32 52 0 0 0 0VE CVs - Volvo 0 14 0 93 4 9 38 80 0 0 0 0Total 303 125 898 3,503 724 1,291 4,282 9,668 0 0 69 25Total B4 1,006 157 2,363 5,449 1,672 2,010 8,089 16,549 32 91 247 503Total M&HCVs (Goods Carriers) 16,880 16,683 93,563 152,402 16,048 18,321 92,792 144,861 1,324 1,960 8,001 10,134Total M&HCVs 20,649 20,762 117,179 184,634 19,365 21,807 112,931 173,003 1,774 3,180 10,853 15,9702: Max mass upto 5 tonnesLCVsA: Passenger carriersA1: Max mass upto 5 tn (M2(A2)) (a): No of seats over 13Force Motors Ltd 235 593 2,881 4,838 248 721 2,851 4,739 13 12 71 84Hindustan Motors Ltd 0 0 1 4 0 0 4 4 0 0 0 0Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd 286 0 1,960 0 213 0 1,702 0 1 0 112 0Mahindra Navistar Automotives Ltd 0 192 0 1,983 0 258 0 1,953 0 0 0 0Tata Motors Ltd 225 200 2,643 2,107 364 189 3,231 2,924 5 17 25 169Total A1 746 985 7,485 8,932 825 1,168 7,788 9,620 19 29 208 253A2: Max mass 5-7.5 tn(b): No of seats up to & over 13Ashok Leyland Ltd 76 58 523 635 83 39 403 404 10 11 176 73Force Motors Ltd 0 0 103 151 5 3 103 137 0 0 0 0Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd 30 0 1,803 0 70 0 1,774 0 24 5 108 12Mahindra Navistar Automotives Ltd 0 59 0 1,499 0 86 0 1,460 0 0 0 0Swaraj Mazda Ltd 116 86 1,166 1,842 103 188 994 1,770 0 3 21 24Tata Motors Ltd 866 824 8,747 8,441 835 919 7,993 8,131 98 213 900 1,285VE CVs - Eicher 120 126 1,340 1,796 102 121 1,095 1,579 56 22 292 245Total 1,208 1,153 13,682 14,364 1,198 1,356 12,362 13,481 188 254 1,497 1,639Total LCVs (Passenger Carriers) 1,954 2,138 21,167 23,296 2,023 2,524 20,150 23,101 207 283 1,705 1,892B Goods CarrierB1: Max mass not over 3.5 tnForce Motors Ltd 264 669 1,454 3,737 265 712 1,366 3,566 0 0 4 8Hindustan Motors Ltd 18 44 144 281 8 33 125 242 0 0 0 0Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd 5,921 9,793 39,673 61,726 6,051 9,108 36,622 56,136 569 1,378 2,328 5,737Piaggio Vehicles Pvt.Ltd 988 435 6,160 5,941 997 558 6,160 5,571 6 0 34 12Tata Motors Ltd 10,897 16,491 73,168 95,919 10,262 12,754 65,877 79,455 948 2,729 3,921 13,494Total 18,088 27,432 120,599 167,604 17,583 23,165 110,150 144,970 1,523 4,107 6,287 19,251B2:Max mass 3.5-5 tnForce Motors Ltd 195 106 981 704 220 123 1,020 718 0 7 9 7Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd 158 0 658 0 140 0 652 0 0 0 0 0Mahindra Navistar Automotives Ltd 0 0 0 1,086 0 78 0 1,124 0 0 0 0Tata Motors Ltd 496 505 2,168 4,694 433 425 933 4,176 12 129 48 419Total 849 611 3,807 6,484 793 626 2,605 6,018 12 136 57 426B3: Max mass 5-7.5 tnAshok Leyland Ltd 0 0 0 24 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0Force Motors Ltd 13 3 85 128 14 13 70 125 0 0 2 4Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd 485 0 2,052 0 418 0 1,582 0 70 52 471 116Mahindra Navistar Automotives Ltd 0 398 0 2,165 0 361 0 2,121 0 0 0 0Swaraj Mazda Ltd 121 171 1,043 759 122 104 963 511 11 40 298 240Tata Motors Ltd 2,077 2,038 12,906 12,987 2,394 1,827 13,649 11,178 168 257 1,206 1,895VE CVs - Eicher 386 622 2,468 3,564 306 408 1,863 2,648 50 70 404 473Total 3,082 3,232 18,554 19,627 3,254 2,713 18,127 16,583 299 419 2,381 2,728Total LCVs (Goods Carriers) 22,019 31,275 142,960 193,715 21,630 26,504 130,882 167,571 1,834 4,662 8,725 22,405Total LCVs 23,973 33,413 164,127 217,011 23,653 29,028 151,032 190,672 2,041 4,945 10,430 24,297Total Commercial Vehicles 44,622 54,175 281,306 401,645 43,018 50,835 263,963 363,675 3,815 8,125 21,283 40,267Two WheelersA: Scooter/Scooterette, Wheelsize not over 12’’A1: Engine Capacity less than 75cc Mahindra Two Wheelers Ltd 0 1,497 0 8,336 0 1,130 0 7,108 0 0 0 0TVS Motor Company Ltd 2,737 2,162 14,607 11,752 2,576 2,069 14,477 13,814 0 0 0 0Total 2,737 3,659 14,607 20,088 2,576 3,199 14,477 20,922 0 0 0 0A2: Engine capacity 75-125 ccBajaj Auto Ltd 245 0 3,448 0 293 0 3,202 27 0 0 624 0Hero Honda Motors Ltd 12,999 28,464 114,545 184,631 12,292 27,085 111,811 176,950 672 1,288 3,044 8,568Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India (Pvt) Ltd 39,648 82,890 393,408 529,334 35,486 79,672 384,082 520,466 2,860 947 7,378 7,654Mahindra Two Wheelers Ltd 5,722 16,554 20,036 90,372 6,804 17,410 22,468 82,203 68 132 617 986Suzuki Motorcycle India Pvt Ltd 10,234 19,700 66,668 121,531 10,183 19,747 66,550 121,493 20 0 61 90TVS Motor Company Ltd 25,334 42,374 164,937 247,455 24,712 41,520 161,476 240,998 749 1,070 5,820 9,689Total 94,182 189,982 763,042 1,173,323 89,770 185,434 749,589 1,142,137 4,369 3,437 17,544 26,987A3: Engine capacity 125 -250 ccHonda Motorcycle & Scooter India (Pvt) Ltd 0 0 0 0 0 0 287 0 0 0 0 0LML Limited NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NAMahindra Two Wheelers Ltd 0 0 763 0 0 0 290 68 0 0 133 0Total 0 0 763 0 0 0 577 68 0 0 133 0Total Scooter/Scooterettee 96,919 193,641 778,412 1,193,411 92,346 188,633 764,643 1,163,127 4,369 3,437 17,677 26,987B: Motorcycle/Step-Through: Wheel size more than 12”B2: Engine capacity 75-125 ccBajaj Auto Ltd 142,673 179,367 691,332 1,123,793 107,674 113,673 415,691 711,887 52,930 59,422 296,451 388,916Hero Honda Motors Ltd 326,221 418,549 2,393,855 2,663,805 319,357 437,088 2,351,458 2,595,901 7,660 11,673 49,225 63,370Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India (Pvt) Ltd 0 16,914 30 113,841 0 14,475 13 104,919 1 2,562 14 11,313India Yamaha Motor Pvt Ltd 6,019 5,246 43,661 46,455 6,498 7,303 39,218 45,790 360 364 1,859 6,050Mahindra Two Wheelers Ltd 0 3,350 0 4,472 0 2,664 0 2,664 0 0 0 0TVS Motor Company Ltd 38,163 53,635 263,724 371,370 32,272 53,057 214,442 295,301 7,143 7,820 47,056 60,202Total 513,076 677,061 3,392,602 4,323,736 465,801 628,260 3,020,822 3,756,462 68,094 81,841 394,605 529,851B3: Engine capacity 125-250 ccBajaj Auto Ltd 83,595 165,100 618,553 920,300 71,437 126,263 507,321 726,820 17,640 30,440 112,682 214,038Hero Honda Motors Ltd 14,329 27,738 140,685 182,515 13,119 27,183 135,801 173,568 1,056 1,236 5,039 7,179Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India (Pvt) Ltd 21,952 51,968 262,684 318,322 17,932 45,912 230,553 288,232 3,789 5,394 33,001 30,923India Yamaha Motor Pvt Ltd 22,333 28,930 113,347 152,463 20,381 24,488 100,821 111,314 4,015 5,096 25,763 46,338LML Limited NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NASuzuki Motorcycle & Scooter India (Pvt) Ltd 5,808 5,656 28,894 24,384 5,666 5,692 28,662 24,159 112 0 695 449TVS Motor Company Ltd 17,193 23,411 103,588 142,025 12,948 14,741 78,845 81,927 4,102 8,615 23,584 56,167Total 165,210 302,803 1,267,751 1,740,009 141,483 244,279 1,082,003 1,406,020 30,714 50,781 200,764 355,094B4: Engine capacity over 250 ccHonda Motorcycle & Scooter India (Pvt) Ltd 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 0 0 0 0 0India Yamaha Motor Pvt Ltd 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 23 0 0 0 0Royal Enfield (Unit of Eicher Ltd) 4,486 4,549 31,366 29,773 4,544 4,271 29,999 28,235 52 122 975 1,471Total 4,486 4,549 31,366 29,773 4,544 4,271 30,013 28,258 52 122 975 1,471Total Motor Cycles/Step-Throughs 682,772 984,413 4,691,719 6,093,518 611,828 876,810 4,132,838 5,190,740 98,860 132,744 596,344 886,416C: Mopeds: Engine capacity <75 cc, wheels over 12”TVS Motor Company Ltd 46,692 61,272 322,607 404,707 45,791 62,384 320,207 400,266 472 546 2,442 4,497Total 46,692 61,272 322,607 404,707 45,791 62,384 320,207 400,266 472 546 2,442 4,497D: Electric two WheelersElectrotherm (india)Ltd 0 NA 2,549 0 0 NA 2,482 NA 0 NA 50 NATVS Motor Company Ltd 0 0 18 0 0 0 229 0 0 0 0 0Total 0 0 2,567 0 0 0 2,711 0 0 0 50 0Total Two Wheelers 826,383 1,239,326 5,795,305 7,691,636 749,965 1,127,827 5,220,399 6,754,133 103,701 136,727 616,513 917,900III Three Wheelers (CVs)A: Passenger Carriers A1:No. of seats including driver not exceeding 4 & Max.Mass not exceeding 1 tonnes Atul Auto Limited 510 1,060 2,110 5,449 514 1,034 2,113 5,355 0 60 11 139Bajaj Auto Ltd 29,732 40,248 172,661 250,141 16,083 20,309 96,372 117,633 13,442 20,525 76,980 138,490Force Motors Ltd 54 0 108 0 24 0 72 5 0 0 0 0Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd 3,175 3,998 16,775 23,608 3,044 4,041 16,820 23,030 0 280 56 1,338Piaggio Vehicles Pvt.Ltd 11,766 14,684 75,624 88,641 11,387 13,316 73,961 80,412 392 1,636 2,294 8,880Scooters india Ltd 210 321 1,489 2,305 201 384 1,499 2,318 0 0 0 0TVS Motor Company Ltd 1,125 3,431 6,520 22,123 890 2,001 6,094 14,334 22 1,448 322 6,870Total 46,572 63,742 275,287 392,267 32,143 41,085 196,931 243,087 13,856 23,949 79,663 155,717A2: No.of seats including Driver exceeding4 but not exceeding 7 & Max.Mass exceeding 1.5 tonnes Force Motors Ltd 96 0 483 84 21 0 179 26 42 0 308 84Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd 0 751 30 2,169 0 333 210 1,549 0 0 0 0Scooters india Ltd 194 175 1,489 1,483 186 107 1,472 1,352 0 0 0 0Total 290 926 2,002 3,736 207 440 1,861 2,927 42 0 308 84Total Passenger Carrier 46,862 64,668 277,289 396,003 32,350 41,525 198,792 246,014 13,898 23,949 79,971 155,801B: Goods Carriers B1: Max.mass not exceeding 1 tonnes Atul Auto Limited 741 742 3,841 4,968 738 724 3,859 4,984 0 0 16 2Bajaj Auto Ltd 1,166 173 5,777 1,963 956 206 5,617 1,737 0 0 0 174Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd 1,314 763 7,787 7,128 1,087 739 7,835 7,073 8 16 80 168Piaggio Vehicles Pvt.Ltd 4,155 6,049 27,516 33,663 4,274 6,018 27,799 33,119 21 110 188 599Scooters india Ltd 215 430 1,669 2,471 205 466 1,659 2,429 0 0 0 0Total 7,591 8,157 46,590 50,193 7,260 8,153 46,769 49,342 29 126 284 943B2: Others Force Motors Ltd 118 0 723 15 106 2 714 106 0 0 9 0Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd 3 200 18 2,462 0 297 17 2,423 0 0 0 0Piaggio Vehicles Pvt.Ltd 0 14 0 14 0 0 0 0 0 12 0 12Scooters india Ltd 218 83 1,455 1,151 211 59 1,446 1,246 0 0 0 0Total 339 297 2,196 3,642 317 358 2,177 3,775 0 12 9 12Total Goods Carrier 7,930 8,454 48,786 53,835 7,577 8,511 48,946 53,117 29 138 293 955Total Three Wheelers 54,792 73,122 326,075 449,838 39,927 50,036 247,738 299,131 13,927 24,087 80,264 156,756Grand Total of all Categories 1,122,788 1,625,851 7,664,000 10,198,778 1,000,953 1,460,655 6,785,364 8,825,414 160,010 208,786 968,272 1,369,544

Category Segment/Subsegment Manufacturer. Production Domestic Sales Exports

For the month of Cumulative For the month of Cumulative For the month of Cumulative

October April-October October April-October October April-October

2009 2010 08-09 09-10 2009 2010 08-09 09-10 2009 2010 08-09 09-10

* Exports of Ford indicate CKDs


SIAM DATASIAM DATA


Getting PersonalWith Claude d’Gama Rose, Managing Director, Continental Automotive Components (India)

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Claude d’Gama Rose assumed the position of Head of Automotive

India within the Continental Corporation and Managing

Director of Continental Automotive Components (India), on 1 January, 2010. In

the six years that d’Gama Rose was with formerly Siemens VDO Automotive, now

Continental Automotive, as Director and Head of Finance, Controlling and IT, he was closely associated with the transformation of the compa-

ny from primarily a mechanical instrumentation company serving the two-wheeler market to a full-blown automotive electronics company, offering the complete Continental portfolio in Interiors and Instrumentation, Chassis and Safety and Powertrain to automotive OEMs in India.

In this time, he has been involved in setting up an elec-tronics manufacturing plant in Bangalore and in establishing an engineering footprint, both to support the development and manufacture of products for the Indian market as well as to support the global engineering network of Continental.

Prior to his entry into the automotive industry, d’Gama Rose was with Siemens, holding management responsibil-ity in several areas. During a ten-year stint in IT, including Head of IT for manufacturing units of Siemens, he directed the process re-engineering in the manufacturing resource planning arena.

From the mid-90s, as Head of Business Administration for the Industrial Automation and the Energy segments in Siemens, he led several business restructuring and growth initiatives, until his assignment to the automotive segment in 2003, the start of his automotive career.

In Person If not in the auto industry, where would

you be? That would depend on whether I followed desire, interest or capability. I guess I would be in academics, social activism or professional sports. But the sequence in the fi rst and in the second is not the same so I will leave that open-ended

What car do you drive? What do you dream to drive? I drive a Honda Civic but dream of speeding in a Porsche 911 Carrera

Your recent indulgence…None ... the household income allows for indul-gence by only one member of the family and that slot has already been booked (I can say this without the risk of being found out as my wife will not read Auto Monitor)

What are you currently reading?I read mainly fi ction. I am currently reading The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler, a crime writer, who died in 1959. Before that I read Rabbit is Rich by John Updike, who died earlier this year. However, death is not a prerequisite in my choice of authors. I enjoy reading JM Coetzee, Peter Carey, Milan Kundera – all fi ction-writers

What do you do when not talking business? What’s your favourite pastime?I am a sports fi end. My wife would say I am a TV addict. Put together one would describe my favour-ite pastime as watching sports on TV. But that’s too mundane; I see it as vicarious participation in all forms of championship sport – F1 racing, Champions League soccer & IPL. My wife doesn’t appreciate the difference but I hope Auto Monitor readers do

Outdoor activity you would miss offi ce for…Now that’s a diffi cult one after describing the pas-sive nature of my sports activities. What I would miss offi ce for is sky-diving, bungee-jumping, any-thing that is not remotely cerebral. Of course, I have done neither (because I would not miss offi ce!). Sometimes though, when things get really stressful at work, one does experience something similar to

free fall at the desk of the Managing Director itself!

Where did you go for your last holiday?To Kabini. It was fabulous. We saw several migra-tory bird species at the lake before they started their journey back to Central Asia and elsewhere. We saw several elephant herds, which I guess is not unusual for Nagarahole. We had seen wild elephants before but not in the numbers that we did in Nagarahole. Unfortunately, we did not see any pack of dhol, but were blessed with the chance of seeing a leopard after following its path in the bush. You can feast your eyes on predators in a zoo or park, see them laze in full view; sometimes strut their majesty before you. But when you see an elusive big cat in the wild, just a glimpse, almost a shadow in the bush, you feel rewarded, almost chosen. I’m sure we would have been disappointed if we had seen no wild animals at all but in actual fact the serenity of the forest, its age, its colour and its music, should have been reward in itself. We have no idea of what we destroy when we intrude on the forest

You get upset when...I see people with a huge amount of talent throw it all away by allowing their egos to get in the way. I see people with enormous capability underperform by neglecting discipline and rigour in what they do. I see people hiding their underachievement behind over articulation... and others not knowing or car-ing about the difference

What is the one thing you would like to change about yourself?Manage my time more decisively. Accept that 24 hours is more than enough to do all the things I want to do but imagine, claim, complain there is no time for. Get home on time. Enjoy a full weekend without feeling guilty if I don’t login to my mailbox. Reconnect with old friends (not on Facebook!), read, and travel... seems like a lot of things, but it really is only one thing.

Best thing to have happened to you…Accepting the responsibility of being a husband and a parent

THE OTHER SIDETHE OTHER SIDE

The birth of my fi rst child. It was a cae-sarean delivery after a diffi cult pregnancy. So, I was fretting outside the OT, praying that all went well. After what seemed like an eternity, a nurse walked out of the OT with what I remember as an aluminium tray (I could be wrong) cradled in her arms and the baby wrapped in a towel lying in the tray. The nurse did not say a word, just brought the baby for me to see. The baby was wide awake, almost alert, and gazed at me with what I imagined was recog-nition and trust. I could have lived that moment forever.

An experience I won’t forget…

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Documents

Auto Monitor - 1-15 December 2010