Renault Witnesses Management Shifts
The Indian subsidiary of the French auto maker Renault witnesses a management rejig after its Head of Operations resigned. "After 25 years with Renault and the last four years heading Renault operations in India, Sylvain Bilaine has decided to leave the company to create his own consultancy firm in France," Renault India said in a statement. Bilaine was Country General Manager for Renault in India.
Renault has now created two new posts in India and it will now have a Country General Manager and Chief Operating Officer. Sudhir Rao, currently stationed in Paris as head of Asia-Africa procurement functions will come in as the chief operating officer.
This is a strategic placement that shall help the company in dealings with M&M and Bajaj Auto. Renault currently has a joint venture in India with M&M to manufacture Logan. It is also planning to manufacture another ultra-cheap car with Bajaj Auto in India.
Rao would be the Indian interface with both these Indian companies. Bilaine, who set up Renault India, initiated the ULC project and was responsible for the creation of the Mahindra Renault joint venture operation, has taken VRS and plans to open a consultancy with branches in Paris and India.
[Via: cartradeindia]
Tata Nano Promotions
Nano is one car that does not need any promotion at all. The car itself is a brand and has attracted the world with its price tag. However, Tata Motors does not think so. The company has planned an advertisement budget of nearly Rs. 10-12 crore for the first few months itself.
Rediffusion Y&R group CEO Mahesh Chauhan was questioned about the ad budget for Nano for which he refused to comment. However, he did tell that there is definitely a lot of excitement for the brand and a lot of media presence.
The creative content for Nano is being handled by Rediffusion. The overall marketing campaign has been designed in such a way that it is definitely much lower than the budget for most of the small cars.
"While working on the ad strategy, the thinking was that the first burst of ad spend will be at the launch and once the production is ramped up, the ad spend will also be ramped up," said the COO of a Delhi-based ad agency with knowledge of the Nano campaign.
[Via: cartradeindia]
Toyota Express Maintenance
Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) announced the launch of the Express Maintenance Service (EMS), at Nandi Toyota, Bangalore. The service provides a one-hour periodic maintenance service for all Toyota models is available to customers at the same price as the normal service.
It reduces the servicing time of a vehicle from the existing 17 hours to 1 hour by eliminating the stagnation time between processes. For Dealers, the implementation of TSM Advanced Program will bring a significant increase in workshop productivity. This service requires 3 people at the maintenance bay and requires specific tools and equipments that are procured locally. Customers could avail this service by prior appointment.
Currently Toyota has 82 state-of-the-art outlets across the country with a total service staff of 3315 personnel. Every month over 80,000 vehicles are serviced and more than 2400 personnel are trained by TKM annually. After the success of the pilot project at Lakozy Toyota, Mumbai, in 2005 the EM Service was implemented at 14 locations. In 2009 TKM plans to spread this project to 50 more locations.
[Via: CW]
Yamaha plans to launch FZ1 in India
Yamaha commenced the big bike era in India with the launch of the YZF-R1 and the MT-01 last year. Suzuki, Ducati and Honda have also joined the bandwagon in recent times. With more and more multi-cylinder, high capacity bikes coming into the country, the competition has started to heat up. However, sustaining this contest is going to be tough for manufacturers since there are very few potential buyers for premium bikes in India.
Yamaha Inidia now have some interesting plans to tackle this situation. Our sources tell us that the company has sent the FZ1 for homologation in India. We also hear that the Semi-Knocked Down kit or the SKD route is being considered for the bike. This will put the FZ1 in a much lesser price bracket - less than even the Honda CB1000R which is the cheapest imported litre-class bike currently available here.
The FZ1 is powered by a 998cc liquid-cooled engine producing a maximum power of 150PS at 11000rpm. The bike will either sport a quarter fairing or will be a completely naked one. This Yamaha can prove to be the perfect option for the city as well as for those long Sunday morning rides. With the FZ1 entering the market and at a much affordable price, the war of the Japs is definitely going to be a level higher now.
[Via: BIKE]
Audi A2′s Revival
Audi A2 will see its revival. The plan to launch a successor to the Audi A2 has reached the concept car stage, with a design for the car being shown inside Audi's Ingolstadt HQ, according to the firm's R&D chief, Michael Dick. The new car will "be recognisable as an A2 but very different from the old car", said Dick. However, the Audi A2 will not be launched this year.
Audi wants to release an electric A2 at the same time as the conventionally powered model, so the car's design and engineering is taking longer than it would for a normal small hatchback.
"We will not make the same mistake as with the first A2 and do it all by ourselves," said Dick. "We also want to build an electric version straight away. That has consequences. At the moment you think up a car and make it electric afterwards. With that car [the A2], things go the other way around."
[Via: germancarblog]
Skoda postpones ASEAN plans, prefer to wait it out
Skoda had planned to enter the ASEAN market sometime soon but has postponed its plans and instead plans to play a waiting game to see through the current crisis. Skoda chairman Reinhard Jung says the downturn will force a consolidation process in the region and the market will need at least a year to correct itself before it can be seen which players will remain in the game.
Skoda could likely enter the ASEAN region via the FTA between ASEAN and India, which some companies like Hyundai Sime Darby have already taken advantage of. The Hyundai i10 that we get here is locally assembled via CKD packs from India. Skoda and Volkswagen just opened a plant in Pune with a capacity of 110,000 vehicles a year.
[Via: paultan]
Tata Nano Details, Models, Prices, Colors
Finally the time has come - Tata Nano has been launched in Mumbai with much fanfare. Over 100 media persons were present at the launch ceremony with over 1000 guests.
The Nano can be booked at more than 30,000 locations in 1,000 cities across India, including Tata-owned department and electronics stores, with booking forms costing 300 rupees each. It will be available at just Rs. 2,999 down payment.
Owners will be randomly selected from bookings made between April 9 and 25, and their prices will be protected, said Chairman Ratan Tata, who had promised a 100,000 rupee ($1,980) dealer price at a glitzy unveiling more than a year ago. Initially, just 1 lakh Nanos will be produced. Delivery of the first lot of Nanos will be possible from July first week onwards.
Nano has been designed with a family in mind, has a roomy passenger compartment with generous leg space and head room. It can comfortably seat four persons. Four doors with high seating position make ingress and egress easy.
With a length of 3099mm, width of 1495mm, height of 1652mm and with adequate ground clearance, it can effortlessly manoeuvre on busy roads in cities as well as in rural areas. Its mono-volume design, with wheels at the corners and the powertrain at the rear, enables it to uniquely combine both space and manoeuvrability, which sets a new benchmark among small cars.
First look at the Nano may not impress you in terms of dimensions but even though the car looks tiny and miniscule in images but it is only when you come up close to it that you can make out that its virtual length constitutes the very cabin space!
Nano is available in following 3 variants (Prices are Ex-Showroom Mumbai):
- Nano Base/Standard/Basic - 134000.00
- Nano CX - 160000.00
- Nano LX - 185000.00
The Base model of Tata Nano features:
- Seat Belts.
- Engine opening through rear bumper.
- Speedometer.
- Odometer.
- High mounted Rear Stop lamp.
- Centrally placed exhaust.
- Only Driver seat adjust-sliding and reclining.
- Fixed front passenger seat.
- Folding Rear Seats.
- 2-Spoke Steering wheel.
- Grey bumpers and interiors.
- Driver side Outside rear view mirror.
The mid variant CX features:
- AC
- Tinted glasses
- Metallic paint along with the features of Base Nano.
The top end LX model comes with following features in addition to the features in CX:
- Tripmeter.
- Front Power windows.
- Central Locking.
- Front and Rear fog lamps.
- 3-Spoke Steering wheel.
- Moulded door trim with fabric inserts.
- Floor console with glass holder.
- Anti-Glare inside rear view mirror.
- Sunvisors on both sides.
All the models come with 18 Months or 24,000 kms warranty - whichever is earlier.
Tata Nano is available in following colors:
Nano Base - Ivory White, Racing Red, Summer Blue.
Nano CX - Ivory White, Racing Red, Summer Blue, Champange Gold, Lunar Silver
Nano LX - Sunshine Yellow, Champange Gold, Lunar Silver
Nano has a rear mounted , all-aluminium, two-cylinder, 624 cc, multi point fuel injection petrol engine which develops maximum power of 34.5 Bhp at 5250 rpm with maxiumum torque of 48 Nm at 3000 rpm.