Seat Ibiza voted ‘Most Wanted Vehicle of 2009’
The SEAT Ibiza has been voted "Most Wanted Vehicle of 2009" in Macedonia by spectators of the "Auto Magazine" television programme. This is the ninth award given to the Spanish brand's car since its launch midway through last year, a significant fact that proves the new Ibiza's enormous popularity among the public and the media.
The SEAT Ibiza received the award at an event held at the Skopje capital's ABC Sports and New Business Centre thanks to the wide margin of winning votes cast at the seventh edition of these awards; another excellent piece of news surrounding SEAT's best-selling model in the year it is celebrating its 25th anniversary.
This new distinction joins the eight already won by the Ibiza on the following list since its launch: "Golden Steering Wheel" in Germany in the small car category; "Young Car 2009" by the readership of the Spanish magazine Car and Driver (in its SC version); "Compact Car of the Year" in Holland by the Dutch motoring club ANWB; "ECOBEST 2008" to the new Ibiza ECOMOTIVE as the most ecological car of the year; "Car of the Year 2009 by the readers" in Spain by the Grupo Editorial Prensa Ibérica, the La Vanguardia newspaper and the Autofácil magazine; "Auto 1" in Poland by the Auto Bild magazine; "Small Car of the Year" in Portugal by the members of the "Car of the Year - Crystal Steering Wheel Trophy" jury and the prestigious "Red Dot Award" in Germany in the Product Design 2009 category.
The SEAT Ibiza range is currently available in two body styles - the five-door and SC, with a total of six engine choices - three Diesel and three petrol. Before the summer, the range will feature common rail technology on the 90 hp 1.6 TDI engine, and will also be joined by the FR, CUPRA and Bocanegra versions, including the twin-charged 1.4 TSI engine featuring a seven-speed DSG gearbox and steering wheel shift paddles, and the ecological ECOMOTIVE version rounds off the attractive offer of the Spanish model.
[Via: infibeam]
Honda India Launches CBF Stunner Fi
The CBF stunner was the Honda's attempt to attract young customers who love performance and style. In a similar bid, Bajaj had earlier announced it would launch sporty version of XCD 125cc. Honda India has succeded well with the Stunner CBF.
Honda showcased the CBF stunner concept at the Auto Expo and since then the enthusiasm of bike lovers have raised anticapting its launch. Now, Honda Bikes India has come up with the Fi variant of CBF Stunner.
The new stunner Fi pumps out 11bhp of peak power and 11Nm of peak torque which is almost same in comparison to the non-fi version. Honda CBF Stunner Fi has been priced at Rs64,700 (ex-showroom, Delhi).
Tata Motors raises Rs.4200 Crore
In one among the largest debenture issues by an Indian corporate, Tata motors raised Rs.4200 Crore ($840 million) through an issuance of Secured Non-convertible Rupee Debentures.
With the tranches Guaranteed by State Bank of India, the debenture issue had four tranches with maturities from 23 to 83 months. On maturity, these debentures with a coupon rate of 2 percent will be redeemed at varying premium.
The issue is aimed at funding repayment of $3 billion bridge facility availed for acquiring Land Rover and Jaguar. The Chief Financial Officer of Tata Motors, Mr. C. Ramakrishnan said that the issue was oversubscribed and was a good success.
Mutual funds, Banks and Financial institutions were among the institutional investors who chose to invest in this debenture issue by Tata Motors. The pricing was done through book building process. The maturity yields for the issue will be 6.75% , 8.4% , 8.45% and 10 % for trenches with durations of 23, 47, 59 and 83 months respectively. The lead arrangers of the issue were Citi group and Tata capital.
[Via: Carazoo]
Tata Motors Raise Funds to Repay JLR Deal
Tata Motors has raised $840 million in debentures that will now be used to replay the Jaguar Land Rover deal. The company had been struggling to meet the repayment of the three billion dollar bridge loan that it took last year to buy these prestigious brands. "The funds raised will be used for part repayment of the three-billion-dollar bridge facility taken for acquiring Jaguar Land Rover," Tata Motors said in the statement late Wednesday.
Tata Motors had raised a debenture issue which was quite successful and well subscribed. The company had already paid$1.11 billion out of the total debt and the balance remains to be paid by next month. ''The issue structure effectively met the company's requirement of tenors, cost and servicing,'' said Tata Motors' Chief Financial Officer, C Ramakrishnan.
Tata Motors is in talks with bankers to raise the remaining Rs. 4700 crore in order to repay the remaining loan. The company had earlier managed to raise Rs. 25 billion earlier this month with its fully paid advance bookings from more than 203,000 customers in India for its latest model Nano. Tata Nano has been acclaimed as the world's cheapest car.
[Via: cartradeindia]
Toyota To Launch Corolla Limited Edition
Toyota India will launch the Corolla Altis Limited Edition in August this year. Toyota will manufacture only 100 cars per month for the next three months.
The Corolla Altis Limited Edition will get a rear spoiler, side skirts all around, sporty alloy wheels, chrome finished grille and 2 new colors - Warm Silver and Grey Mica Metallic. After all the 300 limited edition cars are sold, all the accesories on the Limited Edition Corolla will be available at Toyota dealerships.
[Via: motorbeam]
Boxer 125: Bajaj’s sub Rs 25,000 bike
According to some reports in the media, Bajaj has started manufacturing its low cost 125cc bike in China. This bike, which will be sold in China, Nigeria and some of Bajaj's other exports markets, will be branded 'Boxer' instead of 'Bajaj.' The 'Boxer' branding will also be used in India, when the bike is launched here by end-2009 or early-2010.
Bajaj's low cost Boxer 125 is expected be priced at around Rs 22-24,000. Since the company does not want to associate itself with such low-priced budget bikes, it will sell these bikes under the Boxer brand rather than use the Bajaj name. To begin with, Bajaj will manufacture around 20,000 units of the Boxer 125 per annum at its plant in China. About 75% of the total production will be sold in Nigeria.
Currently, Bajaj's cheapest motorcycle is the Platina 100, which sells for around Rs 35,000, ex-showroom. Bajaj's chief competitor, Hero Honda also sells a bike in this segment - its CD Dawn is priced at Rs 33,500, ex-showroom.
Both Bajaj and Hero Honda believe they can significantly boost their motorcycle sales by launching bikes that cost around the Rs 20,000 mark. The primary market for these ultra low cost bikes would be rural India, where these bikes could replace bicycles and mopeds etc. While motorcycle buyers in bigger Indian cities gravitate towards style and performance, purchase price and fuel-efficiency are still the two most important factors for motorcycle buyers in smaller towns.
[Via: indiaautomotive]
No-frills Alto to take on Tata Nano
Maruti Suzuki, which sells every second car sold in India, is going to refresh its entire existing portfolio of older models in the next two years, a top company executive said. Swift, the largest selling premium hatchback in the country, will get a fresh design and new petrol engine while Maruti's largest selling product Alto will come in two new variants.
A source in the automobile industry with direct knowledge of the plans said Alto will have a stripped down version to compete with Tata Motors' small car Nano and an upmarket variant loaded with the new KB series engine to take on Hyundai Santro, GM's Spark and other compact cars in the market.
Maruti's other cars, the ageing WagonR and the Versa are also being overhauled while the company will tweak the engines of 25-year old Maruti 800 and the Omni to meet the new BS4 emission standards coming in April 2010. The sports utility vehicle Grand Vitara will also don a new engine.
Maruti Suzuki MD & CEO S Nakanishi said, "We have exhausted our quota of new cars with eight new launches in India in the past three years. Now we are looking at strengthening our leadership by refreshing our old portfolio." The company has developed the new KB series petrol engines with an investment of Rs 1,200 crore, which will be strapped in several of these cars. In addition the company capex of Rs 1,800 crore in the fiscal will also fund the portfolio revamp.
[Via: economictimes]
Goodyear India launches DuraPlus
The Indian arm of the US-based Goodyear is working on boosting its production capacity by 15%, which will take its annual production to four million tyres per annum.
The company is also launching a new tyre - Goodyear DuraPlus - which is aimed at small family hatchbacks that account for the largest segment in the Indian car market. Goodyear India wants to target the replacement market with this new tyre and is also negotiating with car manufacturers for OEM fitment.
Apart from the tyres its manufactures in India, Goodyear is also planning to offer puncture resistant run-flat tyres (RFTs), which are often fitted to high-end luxury cars. These tyres, which cost more than Rs 10,000 each, will be imported from Goodyear's manufacturing facilities in the US or Europe.
[Via: indiaautomotive]