Volkswagen India to merge all subsidiaries under single company

Source: Business Standard, Sept 30, 2019

Mumbai: If the Skoda range of cars was the first brand the Volkswagen Group saw winning the favour of customers in India when it first launched in 2001, it is making no mistake about using the same established benchmark to drive forward the company’s operations in the subcontinent for the future. Next month, three corporate entities run by the group will be subsumed under one new entity – Skoda Auto Volkswagen India Private Limited (SAVWIPL).

It will serve as the new streamlined corporation entity for the group that sells cars that include Audis, Porsches Volkswagens, and Lamborghinis. The three Indian subsidiaries being merged are Volkswagen India Private Ltd, Volkswagen Group Sales India Private Ltd and Skoda Auto India Private Ltd, according to sources.

Tighter norms may dent mini-car segment

Source: Business Standard, Nov 04, 2015

Mumbai: Automobile firms are likely to take their focus away from the mini-car segment as fears grow over tighter norms for emissions and crash tests.

The MINI Family.
MINI, MINI Clubman, MINI Convertible, MINI Countryman and MINI John Cooper Works.

Currently, India’s vehicular regulations are less stringent than those of developed markets. Regulators are expected to enforce stricter norms over the next few years, which besides addressing pollution, will push up the overall cost of a car.

N Raja, director and senior vice-president (sales and marketing) at Toyota Kirloskar Motors, said: “As a global strategy, we have decided to stay away from the segment below Rs 500,000. Cost of tech will rise significantly in the next five to six years in areas such as new emission norms and crash test. Pressure on pricing will go up.”

Festive demand puts car sales in top gear, volumes grow 23%

Source: Business Standard, Nov 02, 2015

New Delhi: Carmakers had a festive bonanza in October, with top five automobile manufacturers seeing high double-digit sales growth rates. The industry is estimated to have grown at a healthy rate of 23 per cent, if data for 10 companies are any indication.

The 10 companies (excluding Nissan and Fiat) are projected to have sold 260,838 units in October this year, compared with 211,882 units in the same month last year. While a few companies have officially announced their sales data for the month, the others are expected to do so on Monday.

German carmaker Volkswagen, though, saw a second straight month of sales decline; its volumes fell 30 per cent in October, in spite of some efforts to push sales. The world’s largest automobile company has since September been hit by a scandal related to the alleged fudging of emission data which triggered a massive recall of 11 million vehicles.

Mercedes-Benz to expand manufacturing in India

Source: The Economic Times, Oct 23, 2015

NEW DELHI: Mercedes-Benz India is looking at expanding local manufacturing, a plan that though depends on getting support such as tax concessions from Maharashtra, the state where its factory is located, new managing director and chief executive Roland Folger said. The first product the luxury car maker launched in India since Folger took over on October 1, GLE-Class, is also the first model that the company is making locally from day one.

Local production of the other seven models it makes in India started at least six months after the launch. Local production allows the company to make its vehicles more affordable — vehicles imported as fully built attract between 60% and 100% import duty — thereby helping sell more here.

BMW would look at increasing localisation

Source: Business Standard, Oct 15, 2015

Chennai: Luxury car maker BMW said that it would look at increasing its localisation to full fledged manufacturing depending upon the volume of sales. The company, in a long term, would also look at possibilities of exporting from India, said Philipp von Sahr, president, BMW Group India.

Speaking to reporters after launching the BMW M range of cars – BMW X5M and BMW X6M – Sahr said, “We make now the step from assembly to more or less fully fledged production. The last step would be the paint and body. Making this in India makes sense when there is much more volume there, but it will come – sooner or later. I cannot say when, but we are prepared to do so.”

Audi gears up for fresh investment in India

Source: Times of India, Sept 03, 2015

NEW DELHI: German auto major Audi is set to pump in fresh investment and enhance its manufacturing set-up in India as the company eyes sales of over 50,000 cars by 2020.

A senior official in the Volkswagen group – of which Audi is a constituent – said the fresh investment for India will be announced “very soon” by a board member from the brand’s headquarters. “The plan is to have a bigger set-up in India as the market is seen as key and strategic,” the official said, requesting anonymity.

Car sales up 17% on smart pricing, highest in 3 months

Source: Times of India, Aug 11, 2015

NEW DELHI: Car sales grew 17% in July, the highest since April, boosted by a lower base and aggressive pricing by manufacturers.

According to numbers released by industry body Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (Siam), sales volumes in July stood at 1.6 lakh units against the near 1.4 lakh units sold in the same month last year. Car sales had reported 18% growth in April last year.

Companies have been launching new models such as Creta SUV by Hyundai and the S-Cross crossover by Maruti Suzuki, to create excitement in the market. Ford will drive in ‘Aspire’ entry sedan later this week and the upgraded Figo compact during the year. Mahindra will be driving in a new compact SUV around October-November, the festive season, while Maruti will introduce a new premium compact. Siam records wholesale deliveries in its report and these vehicles have been despatched to dealerships out of factories.

Auto part makers line up for Sanand

Source: Times of India, Jul 10, 2015

Auto component-makers JBM Auto Ltd and Oerlikon Drive Systems Segment, an arm of the Swiss engineering company Oerlikon, recently commissioned their units in Motown Sanand.

With the car-manufacturing plants of Tata Motors and Ford India already operational and Maruti Suzuki’s plant under construction, Sanand is expected to attract investments of up to Rs 20,000 crore over the next three years from various auto part-makers.

India’s auto exports hit a record high in 2014-15

Source: LiveMint.com, May 21, 2015

Mumbai: I want to appeal all the people world over from the ramparts of the Red Fort,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in August last year, “come, make in India; come, manufacture in India. Sell in any country of the world, but manufacture here.”

For inspiration, his target audience need not have looked beyond India’s vast automobile factories that build millions of vehicles for global markets every year. Just to illustrate, South Korean car maker Hyundai, which set up shop in the southern city of Chennai in 1996, now exports to 119 countries, shipping over 190,000 cars in 2014-15.

Cars sales grow at fastest pace in 30 months

Source: The Economic Times, May 12, 2015

NEW DELHI: Carmakers have hit top speed early in the new fiscal, posting the industry’s fastest sales growth in 30 months in April, thanks to improved consumer sentiment in urban areas, new model launches and favourable fuel prices.

According to data released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), 1,59,548 cars were sold in the domestic market in April, 18.14% more than 1,35,054 cars sold a year ago. This is the fastest growth rate since October 2012, when the industry grew 21.19% and 1,69,788 cars were sold the in domestic market.

“Green shoots are visible in the domestic automotive industry though we are still in the recovery stage,” said Vishnu Mathur, director-general at SIAM. “We have not reached the peak levels when 2.35 lakh cars were sold in India in March 2012, but as a positive sign many companies are showing growth,” he told ET.