Maruti Suzuki to limit exports to last year's level

India's largest automaker Maruti Suzuki will limit exports to the last year's level due to capacity constraints, a top official of the carmaker has said.

They are not competing in exports (with other carmakers) since they are short of capacity. So, exports will decline.

Maruti Suzuki exported 1.47 lakh units in 2008-09, the highest ever export figures, with the compact car A-star alone clocking over 1.27 lakh units.

'A-star' was exported to European countries, including the UK, France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands. Major non-European export markets for the car include Algeria, Chile, Indonesia and neighbouring countries.

South Africa, Hong Kong, Australia and Norway were new markets where the company's cars were exported during the year

To address increasing demand for its products, Maruti Suzuki has commenced work to increase capacity at the Manesar plant.

In March 2010, the company had announced a Rs 1,700 crore investment for expanding production by 2.5 lakh units at its Manesar plant.

Production capacity after the expansion will reach 12.50 lakh units by 2012.

All the models are in the waiting list. The average waiting list is three months for the diesel variant of Swift Dezire.

Now Maruti will keep increasing production in whichever way it can primarily to meet customer demand...their reasonable target (to meet the demand) is 2012.

Maruti Suzuki sold 10.18 lakh vehicles in 2008-09 fiscal, the first time in Indian automotive history that a car company has sold over a million units in a financial year. This included sales of 8.70 lakh units in the domestic market, the highest ever by the company in a fiscal.

The growth of the automobile industry might grow by 15%. Even SIAM (Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers) also said the industry would grow by 12-14 per cent and that is reasonable...but we have to look at base effect also.

Bhargava felt one of the biggest challenges facing the industry is lack of infrastructure especially when they are looking at global developments (in automobile industry).

Maruti Suzuki reported a 17.28 per cent jump in sales to 88,091 units in June against 75,109 units in the same month last year.

Skoda is changing its gears

Its track record has been patchy, but the carmaker wants to launch at least one model every year. Amid much fanfare on a cold and misty January morning in New Delhi, SkodaAuto India, known for its tank-like sedans and peppy powertrains, announced its much-awaited entry into the compact car segment, with the launch of the Fabia. That was over two years back.

The pricey little hatchback (Rs 4.99-7.68 lakh) got a warm response with more than 3,500 units sold in the first four months. But then the Hyundai i20 happened, putting Skoda — one of the three brands of Volkswagen — on reverse gear.

Hyundai pitted the i20 directly against the Fabia in terms of price (Rs 4.5-6 lakh), space and comfort. The i20 clocked average sales of over 2,000 units per month in the first six months compared to 875 units per month of the Fabia.

That’s an understatement considering that Fabia sales are now averaging just 500-550 units per month compared to 4,000-5,000 units of the i20, as per the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (Siam) and company data.

Fabia suddenly started facing a lot of questions. The money one would pay for a Fabia can be better used by a discerning customer to buy two Maruti Altos and an automatic scooter — basically an entire family’s automotive needs, says an analyst.

Skoda’s travails did not end there. The company’s once most popular brand Octavia (a Rs 10.5-13.5 lakh sedan) was phased out creating a wide gap in the product line-up which includes the Fabia (entry level), Laura (premium) and Superb (luxury). The Octavia was positioned between the Fabia and the Laura for the premium car maker.

But the Czech car marker is fighting back in India, and how. It is getting ready for a new play with a range of new models which will hit the market this year. In fact, Skoda would launch at least one new model every year in India.

The new model from Skoda this year will be the much-publicised Yeti, a compact five seater sports utility vehicle slated to explore the segment (Rs 10-13 lakh) that has been left untouched by many manufacturers.

The company will start the assembly operations of the Yeti around October and will launch the SUV around the same time. Presently all cars of Skoda are assembled and not made here.

This will be followed by a refurbished Fabia, complete with a new bumper and fog light and new interiors, in December this year. Company officials are tight lipped about any changes in the pricing, but say it would be competitive.

Skoda will also plug the gap left by the phase-out of Octavia with the planned launch next year of an all-new sedan slotted in the entry premium segment (Rs 10-13 lakh). This new car is built on the same PQ25 platform which was used by Volkswagen to make the Vento sedan that will hit the market later in the year.

The company is also working on a new small car below the Fabia. The starting price could be around Rs 3.5-4 lakh and could house a new small engine. This car would be launched in 2012 after Skoda finalises its assembly plans at the Chakan plant of Volkswagen.

This was necessary as in the absence of a volume-generating compact car like the Hyundai i10 or a Maruti Suzuki Wagon R, SkodaAuto has been playing on a rough pitch in India. In the year-ended March, 2010, the company had a minuscule share of 1.1 per cent of the car market, with sales of 17,502 units.

Besides, over 75 per cent of all small car sales in India come from the segment below the Rs 5 lakh price point. There are about a dozen-odd models in that category. More than 1.52 million new cars were sold in India last year, of which 78 per cent, or 1.19 million were compact cars.

Skoda has also gone in for newer sales promotion initiatives such as selling new cars through the on-line medium to cut costs. It also introduced the concept of boutique showrooms in a limited series to promote the brand.

JFE unveils the 3-minute electric car charge

Thirty minutes used to be the gold standard when it came to charging electric car batteries. But JFE Engineering, a Japanese energy technology company, has unveiled a way to recharge batteries in one-tenth of that time.

In only three minutes, the company claims that it can recharge a battery up to 50 percent of its capacity, and in five minutes recharge the battery up to 80 percent, according to an article in CrunchGear.

The Mitsubishi iMiev had a 50-mile range after a five-minute charge in testing.

In contrast, the Nissan Leaf using 440-volt fast-charging stations takes 26 minutes to achieve an 80 percent charge of its battery. London-based Chargemaster announced the production of the Chargemaster FastCharge, which can recharge an electric car in 2.5 hours, down from the typical six hours using a standard charger.

JFE's new technology should be available in Japan by March 2011.

Auto Makers Post Higher India Sales

India's auto makers have raised prices four times since January to either protect profit margins or to pass on the impact of higher taxes and their investments on new technology. Auto makers such as TVS Motor Co., Ford India Pvt. Ltd. and Bajaj Auto Ltd. raised prices for the fourth time in June, while

Major auto sales makers in India continued to grow local vehicle sales in June as higher disposable incomes, cheaper auto loans and new small car models are driving sales.

India's auto makers have raised prices four times since January to either protect profit margins or to pass on the impact of higher taxes and their investments on new technology. Auto sales makers such as TVS Motor Co., Ford India Pvt. Ltd. and Bajaj Auto Ltd. raised prices for the fourth time in June, while others are contemplating hikes.

India's largest car maker by sales Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. posted a 17% rise in June sales to 88,091 vehicles from 75,109 a year earlier. Local sales of the Indian unit of Suzuki Motor Corp. increased 18% to 72,812 vehicles, while exports grew 15% to 15,279 vehicles.

Strong demand for its mid-sized sedans SX4 and Dzire helped boost total sales. The two models recorded a 32.5% jump in June sales to 8,081 units, while sales of the company's SUVs surged to 1,309 units from 190 units. Small car sales grew 11% to 51,418 vehicles.

Maruti said sales rose despite a production halt for routine maintenance between June 20 and June 27 at its Gurgaon and Manesar factories in the northern Haryana state. The two units together produce 4,000 vehicles a day.

Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., India's largest utility vehicle maker, said it managed to report higher numbers even though it also had a week-long maintenance halt at its factory in Maharashtra.

It posted a 20% rise in vehicle sales, including utility vehicles and light trucks. Total vehicle sales rose to 27,562 units from 22,999 a year earlier. Total local sales climbed 16.5% to 26,243 vehicles while exports grew two-and-a-half times to 1,201 units.

The Indian unit of Hyundai Motor Co. also reported a rise in local sales. "The domestic market continues to show a steady growth but exports have slowed down, especially in Europe," said Arvind Saxena, director of sales and marketing at Hyundai Motor India said.

Hyundai Motor India's local sales rose 19% to 27,366 units, while exports dipped 22% to 18,888 units.

Demand for cars this year has been helped with new launches by Maruti, Ford India and General Motors India. Small cars form a bulk of sales in India, a segment which Maruti dominates with models Alto, Wagon-R, Estilo, Swift, Ritz and A-Star.

There might be a slowdown in sales during July when purchases usually go down due to the monsoon season, but in the long-term, the industry should grow in healthy double-digits,

India's passenger vehicle sales are estimated to double to 4.5 million units by 2016.

Ford India said it sold 7,269 vehicles in June, up from 1,982 it sold last year. "That success was driven mainly by the popularity of the Figo," the company said. Ford launched Figo in March this year.

Ford India Managing Director Michael Boneham said the company will commence a second production shift at Chennai factory in the southern state of Tamil Nadu to meet the rising demand.

General Motors India Pvt. Ltd. reported healthy gains with sales climbing to 9,539 vehicles from 4,492. It sold 3,415 units of its Chevrolet Beat, launched in January, and 2,911 units of its other small car Chevrolet Spark.

TVS Motor, the third-largest two-wheeler maker by sales, reported a 36% surge in June sales to 156,685 units. Local sales gained 33% to 139,905 vehicles, while exports soared 66% to 16,780 units.

The maker of the Flame and Apache motorcycles sold 66,452 bikes in June, up 44% from a year earlier. Sales of its Scooty and Wego scooters grew 42% to 36,742 units.

The company sold 3,003 three-wheeled vehicles in the month, up from 810 units in the year-earlier period.