Fiat has reduced the price of the company's flagship model, Palio Stile, by Rs 12,000 following the cut in excise duty rates. The cut will be applicable on all the three versions of the car - SL, SLE and SLX.
Rajeev Kapoor, CEO, Fiat India Automobiles, said: "We welcome this move by the Finance Minister, and have decided to pass on the benefit to our customers. The price revision will be applicable across the country effective March 1."
Bajaj Auto, the country's second-largest two-wheeler maker, today announced a reduction in prices of motorcycles.
The reduction comes after Finance Minister P Chidambaram's proposal of cutting excise duty on two-wheelers to 12% from 16%. Bajaj Auto has, however, reduced prices over and above the excise duty benefit to revive sales.
The price of entry-level 100cc model Platina has been reduced by Rs 3,000, and the showroom price now stands at Rs 30,000. The prices of Discover (125cc and 135cc), Pulsar (150cc and 180cc) and automatic scooter Krystal have been reduced by Rs 1,000.
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Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Fiat cuts Palio price, Bajaj cuts bike prices
Saturday, March 1, 2008
Maruti, Bajaj, Hero Honda Feb sales decline
Maruti Suzuki (MSIL), India's largest car maker, registered a marginal (0.4%) rise in domestic sales in February at 59,311 units when compared with 59,095 units sold in February 2007.
The company said the marginal increase is due to customers postponing their purchase decision in anticipation of the excise duty cut in the budget.
Finance Minister P Chidambaram yesterday proposed to bring down excise duty on small cars to 12% from 16%. Maruti has decided to pass on the complete benefit of the excise cut to customers, and has cut prices of its cars in the range of Rs 6,500 to Rs 18,030.
Sales in the A2 segment, including cars like Swift and Alto, increased 2.7% to 44,059 units. The company sold 1,958 units in the A3 segement including SX4 and Esteem - an increase of 8.9%. Exports increased 15.5% to 4,511 units in February.
General Motors India today reported a 80% increase in sales at 5,563 units in February when compared with 3,087 units sold in February 2007.
The company sold 1,681 units of Tavera, 1,102 units of Aveo, 360 units of Optra, 2,229 units of Spark and 191 units of Captiva.
P Balendran, vice president, GM India, said: "We are very pleased to see such a robust growth for all our carlines under the Chevrolet brand. With the consistent surge in monthly sales, our key focus remains to address the changing customer needs while providing them world-class products and best-in-class service."
Bajaj Auto and Hero Honda have witnessed a decline in sales in February on the back of falling demand for entry-level models and restricted availability of finance.
Bajaj Auto reported an 8% decline in motorcycle sales at 158,662 units for February as against 171, 780 units sold in February 2007. A release from the company said: "A degrowth of about 13% in the 100cc segment offset stable sales in the 125cc + segment resulting in an overall degrowth of 10% for the motorcycle industry."
Hero Honda had its biggest fall (5%) in monthly sales in this financial year at 265,431 units from 280,515 units in February 2007. The company has blamed lack of finance as the reason for the decline in sales.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Bajaj Auto to list new companies in April
Bajaj Auto, India's second-largest motorcyle maker, will list two newly formed companies, Bajaj Holding and Investment (BHIL) and Bajaj Finserve (BFL), in April after the company got the go-ahead from the court for the demerger this week.
A release from the company said Bajaj Auto (BAL) will be renamed BHIL. Under the scheme of demerger, every shareholder in BAL would be entitled to get one equity share each in the new companies.
Sanjiv Bajaj will be the managing director of Bajaj Finserve (BFL) while Rahul Bajaj will be the non-executive chairman.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Q3 Results Update - Part 1
Bajaj Auto Q3 consolidated net down 17%
Bajaj Auto today reported a 16.60% decline in consolidated net profit at Rs 273.82 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2007 when compared with Rs 328.35 crore in Q3FY07.
According to a release issued to the Bombay Stock Exchange, net sales and income from operations declined to Rs 2,633.26 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2007 from Rs 2,696.03 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2006.
The company, on a standalone basis, reported a 5.32% decline in net profit at Rs 326.81 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2007 as against Rs 345.19 crore in Q3FY07.
Total income declined from Rs 2,729.18 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2006 to Rs 2,680.35 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2007.
Sun Pharma Q3 net up 60%
Sun Pharmaceutical Industries today reported a 60.09% increase in net profit after minority interest at Rs 318.35 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2007 as compared to Rs 198.85 crore in Q3FY07.
According to a release to the BSE, the company's total income has increased to Rs 821.88 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2007 from Rs 603.59 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2006 .
Mahindra & Mahindra PAT up 68%
Mahindra and Mahindra today announced a 67.63% increase in profit after tax (PAT) on a stand-alone basis at Rs 405.15 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2007 as against Rs 241.68 crore in Q3FY07.
According to a release to the BSE, the company's total income increased to Rs 2,980.25 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2007 from Rs 2,617.30 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2006
Aurobindo Pharma net dips 8%
Hyderabad-based generic pharmaceuticals and active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) manufacturer, Aurobindo Pharma, witnessed a slight decline of 8% in net profit at Rs 55.25 crore for quarter ended December 31, 2007 when compared with Rs 60.12 crore in Q3FY07.
The company's total income grew 7.35% to Rs 549.52 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2007 from Rs 511.86 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2006.
Tata Chemicals Q3 PAT dips 42%
Tata Chemicals today announced a 41.55% dip in net profit after tax (PAT) of Rs 91.09 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2007 as compared to Rs 155.85 crore in Q3FY07.
According to a release to the Bombay Stock Exchange, the company's total income has decreased to Rs 1712.67 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2007 from Rs 1,793.70 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2006 .
The company has, however, on a stand-alone basis, posted a PAT increase of 7.45% at Rs 125.48 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2007 when compared with Rs 116.77 crore in Q3FY07.
The company's total income has decreased to Rs 1,236.52 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2007 from Rs 1,318.81 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2006 .
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Car in 2-4 yrs but not for Rs 1 lakh: Bajaj
Bajaj Auto, the country’s second-largest two-wheeler maker, today unveiled the prototype of its small car with the promise that it will run 34 km for every litre of fuel. That is about twice the fuel efficiency of the most fuel-efficient small car in the market.
Unlike Tata Motors, whose forthcoming low-cost car has come to be known by its anticipated price tag of Rs 1 lakh, Bajaj says its car will not sell on the basis of the price.
Small car sales, which make up more than two-thirds of India's domestic market, are expected to nearly double to 2 million units a year by 2010 helped by rising middle-class income.
Unveiling the prototype two days before Tata Motors is slated to show its car, Rajiv Bajaj, managing director, Bajaj Auto, said: "This is not a Rs 1 lakh car. It will be priced competitively but not sell on the pricing. Offering the customer twice the fuel economy is more effective than offering half the price."
He indicated that the car, which will take two to four years in the making and come in both diesel as well as petrol versions, will be fitted with a "unique" two-cylinder engine. Its gear system, too, will be unusual. "It will have a unique transmission system that will strike a balance between geared transmission, which is very efficient but not every convenient, and automatic transmission, which is convenient but not very efficient," said Bajaj.
The company is in talks with French car maker Renault and Nissan, in which Renault is the single-largest shareholder, to develop the car for mass production.
"In the very, very-very-very-very unlikely event (that talks with Renault and Nissan fail) we have every intent to move forward on our own," Bajaj said, adding he was confident the talks would be successful.
The car project will be undertaken by a new company in which all three will hold equity. The new company will also spearhead Bajaj Auto’s foray into light commercial vehicles, which it unveiled today.
The car will be manufactured at Chakan near Pune. The plant, which is being built with an initial capacity of 250,000 units, will also produce the light trucks, which Bajaj expects to launch in 2009.
Friday, December 28, 2007
Suzuki may cut Maruti 800 prices to compete with Tata`s 1 lakh car
Suzuki Motor, facing growing threats to its 50 per cent share of India’s car market, may cut the price of its cheapest car in the country to counter Tata Motors’s proposed Rs 100,000 ($2,500) car.
“We will have to do at least that,” Shinzo Nakanishi, managing director of Suzuki’s local unit, Maruti Suzuki India, said in an interview at the company’s head office in Hamamatsu, Japan, yesterday. Suzuki’s cheapest car in India, the Maruti 800, now costs from Rs 192,124 in New Delhi showrooms, according to Maruti’s website.
Cutting prices may help Suzuki maintain dominance in its biggest market as the company faces greater competition from Tata and foreign rivals including General Motors and Hyundai Motor. Other automakers including Renault have also proposed selling ultra-cheap cars in India, the world’s second-fastest-growing major auto market.
“By cutting prices, the profit margin will drop, and it may also hurt the brand image,” said Koichi Ogawa, who helps oversee $28 billion at Daiwa SB Investments in Tokyo. “Investors care more about profitability than market share.”
Suzuki fell 2.3 per cent to 3,370 yen at the 11 am close on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The Topix Transportation Equipment Index declined 1.4 per cent. Today is the last trading day of the year, and the exchange closed after the two-hour morning session.
Concern about instability after the assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto may have contributed to today’s share decline, Ogawa said. Suzuki’s Pakistani unit, Pak Suzuki Motor — the country’s largest automaker — plans to increase production capacity to 250,000 vehicles by 2009, from 120,000 now to meet rising demand.
India sales
In India, automakers are spending $6 billion to increase capacity as economic growth and rising incomes make cars affordable to more people. Vehicle sales may triple by 2015 in the country, where only seven in 1,000 people now own an automobile.
Suzuki, which started selling cars in India in 1983, is relying on growth in the country and in Europe as demand wanes at home. Sales in India of the company’s Swift, Alto and other models rose 18 per cent to 336,758 in the six- months ended September 30, surpassing Suzuki’s sales in Japan for the first time.
The country’s annual passenger-car sales more than doubled in the past five years to 1.08 million in the 12 months ended March 31, according to the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers. The total is likely to reach 3 million by 2015, the government estimates.
Renault, Volkswagen
Aiming to tap the growth, Renault and Volkswagen began selling cars in India in the past two years, while Honda Motor — Japan’s second-largest carmaker — plans to unveil its first hatchback model in the country to take on Suzuki.
CSM Worldwide estimates Suzuki’s share in India may drop to 24 per cent in 2013, as cheap cars increase competition. “So far, it’s been easy to maintain a 50 to 55 per cent share, because there weren’t strong competitors,” Nakanishi said yesterday. “But from now on, it won’t be the case.”
Tata Motors, the country’s largest truckmaker, will unveil its $2,500 car in New Delhi on January 10. The yet-to-be-named model would be the nation’s cheapest car and target motorcycle buyers. India is the world’s second-largest motorcycle market behind China.
Suzuki won’t sell a car as cheap as Tata’s because it will be unprofitable, Nakanishi said.
“Demand for both Tata’s car and the Maruti 800, when prices are cut, will be immense,” said Amit Kasat, an analyst at Motilal Oswal Securities in Mumbai, who recommends buying shares in both automakers. “We need to see how much the price will be reduced and how Tata’s cars will be accepted.”
Nissan, Bajaj
Renault and Nissan Motor, Japan’s third-largest automaker, are planning to build a $3,000 model with Bajaj Auto, the country’s second-largest motorcycle maker, to compete in India. Renault, based in Boulogne-Billancourt, France, owns 44 per cent of Nissan.
Spending on expanding factories in India will bring down Maruti’s net income margin, Nakanishi also said. The profit ratio will fall to “7 or 8 per cent” beginning next year, compared with 10 per cent this year, he said.
Suzuki will spend 200 billion yen ($1.75 billion) to expand capacity and to build a research facility in the northern state of Haryana, already home to Maruti’s factories. The research facility will develop cars designed for the Indian market.
The company will invest an additional 200 billion yen by 2010, to raise factory capacity to build the new A-Star car. It will boost output capacity by 300,000 units, increasing total capacity in India to 960,000 by financial year 2009.
Suzuki will start exporting the A-Star to Europe next year. The automaker is counting on the new model to boost annual European sales to 420,000 vehicles from 310,000 last business year.
Maruti Suzuki will use its cash to fully-fund the investments, said Nakanishi. Suzuki will build 1.2 million vehicles in India in financial year 2009 — 1 million for India and the rest for exports, he said.
