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Monday, 1 December 2008
Cars with Made in India Tags
The car manufacturers are working on different strategies to strengthen their position in India. Now they are trying to win Indian hearts by manufacturing ‘Made in India' cars as buyers are inclined to Indian made products driven by their love for the nation. Some of the car majors like General Motors, Maruti Suzuki (MSIL), and Volkswagen have already laid stone for this new 'Truly Indian’ project. These cars would be developed almost completely in the country, utilizing the technical expertise and skills of creative Indian engineers. The cars will be exclusively built keeping in mind the Indian road conditions and the buyers taste. General Motors is expected to introduce ‘Indian car’ by next year. The Indian car leader Maruti Suzuki is working on full swing for the production of India-built car and also plans to hire more engineers further to facilitate the manufacturing process. Though Maruti Suzuki A-star is the fruit of Indian technical expertise and designs, we cannot call it completely India made, as a lot of Japanese technologies are used to develop the vehicle. Hyundai i10, which has bagged many awards and critics’ appreciation both in India as well as abroad, is also completely manufactured in India. Also, in the lineup is the Volkswagen’s 'Indian Car', which is currently under the development stage. ‘Made in India’ cars would probably be the next latest trend in the Indian car industry. This will further strengthen the position of Indian car industry globally. But hope the design, quality, and the price are also taken care. Labels: Car-Manufacturers, Indian-cars, Maruti-Suzuki
Monday, 24 November 2008
Economic Recession – Nightmare for Component Manufacturers
The global recession that has struck our world is now peaking. The tide of financial downfall in the U.S. has left no company untouched. Major U.S auto manufacturers that have faced severe financial difficulties include decade old names such as General Motors and Ford. GM and Ford are at the verge of bankruptcy. Struggling to stay alive, these manufacturers have finally asked for help from their government. How does this affect the Indian auto market? The heavy loss along with a severe liquidity crunch in the U.S has compelled people to cut upgrades to bigger and better cars. Due to a lack of finance in the market, the number of people buying new cars has almost come to a standstill. With deteriorating car sales, car production has also seen a massive slow down, which means that the demand for auto components is fast dwindling. Auto players, who use to import car components from the fast growing and cheaper Indian market, have cut down their auto component orders due to the hard hit of recession. Even players like Bajaj Auto, Hyundai Motors, and Tata Motors from India have cut down their component orders. After a slowdown in August 2008, September proved to be a promising month for the auto industry. Production growth in September 2008 was recorded to be 12.70% with a domestic sales growth of 5.39%. This growth was further swayed away by the strong wind of recession in the month of October. In October, car sales fell down to about 9.05% over October 2007 along with a slowdown in car production that dropped to about 12.32%. Export sales also dipped from various markets, which have taken a stiff beating on the component manufacturers. Fortunately, the strong and growing Indian economy with its vast working population may have a cushioning effect on the car manufacturers and dealers. However, the auto component manufacturers will hit the hardest during this slow down and the declining sales are likely to continue at least until March 2009. Labels: Car-Manufacturers, Ford-Cars, General-Motors
Maruti Cuts Production
At one end Maruti Suzuki has unveiled its world’s strategic model A-Star and at the other end the company is cutting down production of its other car models. It is believed that the month of October had brought great challenges and tough times for not only Maruti but other car manufacturers as well. Maruti’s sale recorded a steep decline in October and a further decline in the month of November. In response to the slowdown, the company decided to cut down the production. Earlier Maruti Suzuki had three shifts in its Gurgaon facility. But now, it has been reduced to two and a half shifts aimed at streamlining inventory levels. Not losing hopes, Maruti introduces the A-Star and expects the market to bounce back with new excitement and booming sales by the end of this year. With such an aim, Maruti revives its marketing strategies and initiatives. It also continues special offers for government employees and the corporate sector to take away incremental sales. Labels: A-star, Car-Manufacturers, Maruti-Suzuki
Tuesday, 18 November 2008
Time To Look Ahead
Car manufacturers are struggling hard to cope up with the hard hit of global recession. Some are cutting down their car prices, some are replacing expensive car components with cheaper one. While many are offering special discounts for corporate and government employees and few are even cutting down their production. At the other end of the spectrum automotive manufacturers strongly feel that Government must also move hand in hand with them to help stoke the demand in the economy. They believe that if government reduces the excise duty, it will help them to reduce car prices and deliver best to their esteem customers. Car manufacturers think that reduction in excise duty, indirect taxes, fiscal stimulus, and improved infrastructure would help boost auto industry in the country. Surprisingly, the rate of inflation is coming down with the reduction in oil prices. All take this is as a golden opportunity to look ahead to the future growth of the auto industry in India. Industry, Government, and Economy all look ahead towards a brighter vision. Labels: Car-Manufacturers, Car-prices
Thursday, 13 November 2008
Cars May Get Cheaper
Innovation is creeping in the car industry as car manufacturers are trying to hunt for cost efficiencies. This seems to be a worse period for the car industry when global recession has bang the Motown. Shockingly, car manufacturers are struggling to drive hard bargains with commodity vendors and find interesting ideas for tightening the belt. Talking about Honda, the company is looking to squeeze operational efficiency and cut down the use of electricity to skim cost. Interestingly, Honda is also growing creepers on the rooftops to reduce the dependence on AC. This is just an initiative; the company is still trying further to help meet the required cost rduction. After Honda, Tata Motors is also trying to cut down cost by replacing expensive car components with cheap and affordable alternatives. Even Maruti is making a greener move and trying to make its car parts recyclable. In a similar manner if all the car manufacturers are on the verge of meeting the required cost efficiencies, then cars of the future are definitely going to be cheaper. Labels: Car-Industry, Car-Manufacturers, Tata-Motors
Honda Civic Hybrid Gets Affordable!
 The Honda Civic Hybrid now wants to spread Green all around! Not only the environment-friendly “reduce emissions” kind, but also the kind that makes a miser smile. Honda gives its Civic Hybrid an 8 Lakh price cut, which is said to be one of the steepest in the history of the Indian car market. This offer is effective immediately and is said to be valid till the end of the year. Talk about saving GREEN! The cut will be between the Rs 8.14 to 8.17 Lakh range bringing the ex-showroom price of the Hybrid down to approximately Rs 13.25 Lakh in some cities – close to the price of its much more successful Civic petrol sibling. This is the first for Honda in terms of marketing strategy practiced in India. However, this strategy is not uncommon for other Indian car manufacturers. To try and bring Hybrid sales of 63 cars in 6 months up to par to match the 5000 cars in 6 months Civic Petrol sales is a big dream to have and will be an even bigger accomplishment if successful. Well, this may not be the last drastic step Indians see car manufacturers take if the world economy continues to disintegrate in the near future. Labels: Car-Manufacturers, Honda-Cars, Indian-car-market
Tuesday, 11 November 2008
Car’s Interior also Needs Attention
Car designing was earlier restricted to the style, appeal and exterior of the car. But now the trend has changed. Everyone wants path breaking aesthetics both in the exterior as well as interior. This has widened the arena of car designing. Whether it’s a high-end luxury car or a small compact car, we always need a warm hug from the car interiors. Car manufacturers and designers later realized the fact that a normal car owner spends much of their time in the interior, either driving, reading books, or listening music and some even spend most of their days in their cars to commute from one place to another. Interestingly, some car owners even ask for customization of the car interiors. Talking about the BMW 3-Series convertible that offers a blend of comfort and luxury with their high-end car seats and the armrest. Armrest has reflective polymers to reduce surface temperature of the leather. Coming to the Volvo cars, it also offers innovative interiors. Similarly, many car manufacturers offer a blend of comfort and luxury in the car interiors to lure more customers. There are many things that can complement the interior today. A long list including the friendly controls, impressive dashboards, hugging car seats, and appealing upholstery, actually define the inner beauty of a car. As it is a known fact that the inner soul is more beautiful than the outer appearance. The same applies to a car’s interior that needs to be more impressive and beautiful than the exteriors. Labels: Car-Designing, Car-Manufacturers, Luxury-Car
Government Employees Aid to Surge Car Sales
Though the Indian car market is on a slowdown, car manufacturers have recorded a surge in sales due to special offers extended to the government employees. Many car manufacturers like the Maruti, Hyundai, and General Motors, during the festive season had introduced special schemes and discounts for government employees in response to the pay revision. This special scheme has showed a substantial jump in the car sales across the sector. So, these manufacturers further plans to extend the schemes by another one month to cope up with the sluggish car market. Maruti, Hyundai, and General Motors are all happy and satisfied with the announcement of such schemes in the car market. This was a direct hit to the government employees who rarely feels the need to have a car. But now, the offers have knocked out their thoughts and they are approaching car dealers. The growing consumer interest has forced them to extend the scheme with high hopes to record a still higher sales figure. Labels: Car-Manufacturers, Car-Sales, Indian-car-market
Friday, 31 October 2008
Buy a Home to Get a Car
The caption ‘buy a home to get a car’ sounds so simple. But is it that simple. Along with the car market, the entire economy is dwindling with high inflation and financial crisis. The middle class section of the society has headed towards a tough, challenging, and strange crossroads, a point where they have to cut down their basic necessity of life. Buying a home has become a challenge and even buying a car. Both are a necessity today. But, interestingly, today real estate owners are offering special schemes and discounts to lure customers. They are not able to reduce or cut down the actual cost because of increasing inflation but they are definitely offering incentives in terms of interiors and even cars. Yes, some of the real estate owners are offering cars to all their customers on booking a flat. This means, to buy a car of worth Rs 5 lakh or even Rs 10 lakh, you have to buy a house worth Rs 25 or 40 lakh. Car manufacturers are simply trying to club promotional activities to push car sales. But is this the right strategy for advertising or branding? Labels: Car-Manufacturers, Car-Market, Car-Sales
Wednesday, 29 October 2008
Global Small Car
With Oil prices sky rocketing, global economic crisis is hitting every sector, car manufacturers are severely hit across the globe. To add to this, some countries like India, suffer with extreme traffic problems making it even worse. In the next few years, if there is any segment that would benefit it would be the small car. We will see many more variants in the market. And unlike in the past, these variants will not be just 1.4 liter or 1.6 liter but also come out with CNG and Electric variants. Every car manufacturer will need to get more innovative in terms of design, features, ergonomics, and performance. I am however; quite surprised that many car manufactures haven’t considered India yet for launch of their small cars. On road, most of the current small cars don’t differentiate much. So, I personally see a huge scope for the launch of luxury small cars. How many have seen small cars with Sun-roof, ABS, Airbags, side impact bars, alloy wheels, and leather upholstery. Not many? Well, I hope very shortly we all will do. India not only stands a great chance of becoming a platform for global launch of small cars but also design centre for global small cars. Submitted By: Vikas Valsang Labels: Car-Manufacturers, Oil-Prices, Small-Car
Friday, 24 October 2008
Good Time For Toyota Car Owners
Like other car manufacturers, the Toyota is also eyeing the festive season to boost car sales. It also aims to catch customer’s sentiments by providing free service campaign. Exciting news is that the company has introduced the ‘Drive n Zoom’ free service campaign conducted at all Toyota car dealerships across India exclusively for Toyota customers. The key motive of introducing such kind of campaign is to spread the importance of periodic car maintenance essential for long and healthy life of cars. Good to know that the company offers 25-point free check up coupled with value-added packaged services. Underlining the campaign you’ll also get a chance to win assured gifts with the service and maintenance campaign. So, the month of October is for the Toyota car owners. Don’t waste your time and grab this excellent opportunity with open hands. Labels: Car-Manufacturers, Car-Sales, Toyota-Cars
Wednesday, 22 October 2008
Smashing Car Offers
This festive season has come up with loads of smashing car offers. Diwali is a festival of lights and you can very well brighten your house with a new car key shinning in your house. You just need to do the Diwali shopping and one new car may be yours. That sounds interesting! These days many shopping malls and branded outlets across the country especially in cities like Bangalore, Mumbai, and Delhi are offering special schemes on purchase. If you purchase anything above a specified price limit, you may be lucky to win a new car. This new car can be any, may be Hyundai i20, Mitsubishi Outlander, and may be a luxury car from the list of Audi, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz cars. No doubt that this is an excellent opportunity for purchasers to test their luck. But then, Indian car manufacturers are molding their marketing strategies to market their car models. The newly launched Mitsubishi Outlander can gain market value through these schemes and offers. But, others like Hyundai and Mercedes-Benz are simply trying to drive the sales and cope up with the sluggish car market. Car manufacturers have undying hopes attached to the festive season! Labels: Car-Manufacturers, Luxury-Car, New-Car
Wednesday, 15 October 2008
Swift Dzire in Demand
Maruti Suzuki Swift Dzire rejoices its Success! Though Maruti Suzuki Swift Dzire has lived more than six months of its launch, the demand seems to be new and fresh with every passing day. Dealers and car manufacturers are amazed with the piled booking orders while they are struggling to meet the demands of the growing customer base. The company proudly calls this cheapest sedan as a replacement of its knocked out car, Maruti Suzuki Esteem. It’s incredible to believe that the demands have so highly piled up that it accounts for a waiting period of over six months. Good to know that the new sedan has finally strengthen its dwindling position in the midsize entry-level sedan. But, unfortunately, the piling demand has resulted in an overall decrease in sales performance. The company is trying in hard to cope up with high production levels and stagger the stack orders. Labels: Car-Manufacturers, Maruti-Suzuki, Swift-Dzire
Friday, 10 October 2008
Are SUVs Still Ruling?
 It is believed that the world’s auto market is witnessing a sharp drop in the sales of SUV. But, in India SUVs are still ruling. Is that really true or only a speculation? We all know that the recent hike in fuel and car prices have brought down the Indian car market. Prospective car buyers are being drifted apart with the winds of inflation. In such a condition, it’s difficult to digest how SUVs are ruling here. You will be surprised to know that so far this year, car manufacturers have sold about 10,030 SUVs in the country. This number is much more than the SUV sales figure of last fiscal that accounts for about 6,398 vehicles. When it comes to SUV, the industry has reflected a growth of 57%. Any guesses to what made it possible for SUVs to reach such a high sales while the global market for SUV is going down. The reasons are simple and straight. We have inexpensive and low-capacity SUVs that are not gas guzzlers. This statement is also supported by SIAM. Labels: Car-Manufacturers, Indian-car-market, SUV, SUV-Sales
Wednesday, 8 October 2008
Maruti Suzuki’s Raid
What does raid actually means? How is Maruti Suzuki associated with the term? The dictionary meaning of raid is definitely attack but is Maruti Suzuki trying to attack? No, it’s only a sports event organized by Maruti Suzuki. You’ll be glad to know that this year Maruti has organized the tenth edition of the Indian sports event. Popularly known as ‘Maruti Suzuki Raid de Himalaya’, will be held in the mountain passes of the Himalayas from 2nd October to 9th October. The event is categorized into three sections, X-treme for professionals, Adventure Trail for the armatures, and special section for two-wheelers. Its more exciting to know that the raid will be flagged from Shimla and ending at Leh, covering a distance of about 2400 kms. At times it’s difficult to think why car manufacturers are so closely linked to such kinds of sports event. But the answer to that is simple, huge mass of sports enthusiast! With such a huge mob of people, branding is obviously relishing and refreshing. Labels: Car-Manufacturers, Maruti-Suzuki
Monday, 29 September 2008
Pay More for Imported Cars
Wake up car importers! It’s time for car importers to open their eyes and see the expected price hike for imported cars. Yes, the prices for imported cars are expected to rise due to the weakening of rupee against dollar. At this stage of downturn, car exporters are rejoicing the market but reality is that the importers will have a tough time. We just wonder how severely this will affect the foreign car manufacturers like Mercedes, BMW, Nissan, Volvo, and Porsche, who are importing their cars to India as Completely Built Units or CBUs. Even Honda CR-V would be affected by weakening of the rupee. This will definitely increase the prices of imported cars. All the luxury car manufacturers are trying hard to cushion the impact on Indian car customers but till how long? Labels: BMW, Car-Manufacturers, Honda-CR-V, Imported-Cars, Luxury-Car, Mercedes, Nissan, Porsche, Volvo
Friday, 26 September 2008
Older Car Models Have Coup the Nightmare
In the present scenario, older car models are proving their real worth during the worst ever slowdown in the car market. Among a long list of popular Indian cars, Santro, Indica and Accent are believed to be real time winners. Despite of the fact that the new generation siblings are introduced in the market, these old models are contributing a good percentage of car sales in the market. Hyundai Santro, a car ranked top by J.D Power Asia, has been a great time success even though the next generation hatchback Hyundai i10 is already in the market. It is one of the hot time favourite in compact car segment. Along with Santro, the old Toyota Corolla and Honda City have also been successful in overcoming the sluggish car market. All these cars not only have successfully held their position but have also generated incremental numbers in Motown. To bank on more numbers in the Indian car industry, car manufacturers are fighting hard to design and manufacture advanced and high-end cars. Some of the launches are siblings of the old car models and some are completely new for the market. Inspite of the fact that many new cars are rolling out on Indian roads older car models have coup the nightmare. Labels: Accent, Car-Manufacturers, Honda-City, Hyundai-Santro, Indian-cars, Indica
Tuesday, 23 September 2008
Indian Car Exporters Relishing the Era
The recent decline in car sales due to escalating fuel prices, rising interest rates and climbing input costs had badly hit the Indian car industry. All the car manufacturers were deprived of a successful smile and were forced to cut down their profit margins and push car sales at a lower cost. One after the other, some or the other bad news was swirling around the industry. But now…that’s enough! Though the domestic car sales have declined, Indian car exporters are relishing the ear. The weakening of rupee from Rs. 40 to Rs 46 in the current fiscal year has brought some smile on faces of car exporters. With the falling down of rupee, exporters like Hyundai Motor India and Maruti Suzuki are revising their export targets and exploring various overseas markets. This will definitely give them an opportunity to regain the lost smile. Will the effort of revising export targets be beneficial? Or will the car manufacturers still stay in a negative terrain? Labels: Car-Manufacturers, Hyundai-Motors, Indian-Car, Maruti-Suzuki
Monday, 22 September 2008
Search for Car Has Narrowed Down
Indian consumers always had the habit of having wide options to make a perfect car purchase. But now the trend has taken a different curve. With the introduction of several new car models in the Indian car market, car buyers are completely relying on the personal opinions or advic |
