SBI Offers Car Loans on Reduced Rates
State Bank of India will be launching a new car loan scheme 'SBI Ezee' for financing new cars on July 1. As per this scheme, SBI will charge interest rates as low as 8 percent for the first years of the car loan repayment tenure.
According to this new car buyers can get loans at reduced rates of 8 percent per annum and 10 percent fixed interest rate for the second and third year. The interest rates would be reset from the fourth year at the card rate from the date of sanction of loan. The new interest rates would depend on the tenure of loan.
The card rates on SBI car loans are 0.25-0.75 percent below the bank's prime lending rates (PLR). The SBI Ezee car loan scheme will attract waiver of the full processing fee, during the scheme period.
As per reports in the leading financial daily, the new scheme would make car loan EMI cheaper than ever before. On a loan of Rs 1 lakh the EMI would be as low as Rs 1,559 in the first year and Rs 1,647 in the next couple of years.
[Via: carazoo]
Nissan plans on dominating the ZEV market
While many auto makers are in the process of making zero emission vehicles, none has entered the market in a big way. Nissan is hoping to dominate this market by rolling out 100,000 cars every year when it starts production in its Tennessee plant in the US. According to Nissan, the market will see ZEVs as early as next year but in 2012, there will be a lot more vehicles available.
Toyota, GM and Honda are planning more fuel efficient vehicles and they will be Nissan's big rivals. Nissan has already set the ball rolling by applying for U.S. government financing to aid it make electric vehicles and develop the advanced batteries that power them.
The company has already signed 27 initial agreements with various governments and agencies to help finance and meet its goals. It is well aware of the global recession that has particularly affected auto makers and is in no hurry. It hopes to sell 3.08 million vehicles in the current fiscal year to March 2010, down 9.7 percent year-on-year, so it is well in tune with reality. However, it is also aware that the future lies in pollution free (or fuel efficient) vehicles.
[Via: wheelsnews]
Toyota to pump in Rs 800 crore in India
Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) is all set to invest another Rs 800 crore towards expansion activity in India. The company will be investing this sum of money towards capacity expansion at its existing plant near Bangalore and also towards setting up a second manufacturing facility from where it will roll out its first small car for the Indian market.
Toyota, which has already invested around Rs 3,000 crore in India, currently manufactures the Innova MUV and Corolla sedan in the country, while it also sells the Camry and Land Cruiser, which it imports as CBUs.
In recent years, Toyota's arch rival Honda has stolen a march over Toyota in the Indian market. While Honda has gone ahead and launched mass-market cars like the City sedan and Jazz hatchback, Toyota still doesn't have a small car offering despite having been present in India for a decade. Also, the Honda Accord is much more reasonably priced than the Toyota Camry, while Toyota doesn't have a small SUV to counter the Honda CR-V in India.
How Toyota rejigs its product portfolio will probably decide whether it can take on Honda on an equal footing in India, over the next few months/years.
[Via: indiaautomotive]
Ford India Bets Big on Indian Market
Ford India recently got an approval for investing $500 million for setting up Indian operations and their further expansion. The parent company Ford Motors faced economic crisis and did not file for bankruptcy. Ford India is quite eager to enter the small car market in India where it currently lacks presence.
According to Ford India Managing Director, Michael Boneham, the Indian operations did not receive any distress calls from either Ford Motors in US or Ford Asian center operations in Bangkok. The company had already announced investments worth $500 million earlier and there was no intimation to the Indian operations to hold them back. The company still sticks to its original plans for India as there had been considerable slow down in the market but definitely no meltdown like the other markets.
Ford considers the small car launch to be a critical part of its overall strategy to grab larger market share and strengthen its presence in India. Ford intends to retain its brand image in India thus will go ahead with its original plans. Boneham remarks that having a small car in India is a necessity to be present here successfully.
[Via: cartradeindia]
Historic Vauxhalls to be shown at 2009 Goodwood FoS
At the upcoming Goodwood Festival of Speed in the UK, which will be held between 3-5 July this year, Vauxhall will exhibit two of its historic concept cars that haven't been put on public display (except for the company's Luton-based Heritage Centre) for nearly two decades.
The first of these cars is the XVR concept, which was first unveiled in 1966 in Geneva. This two-door sports-coupe features gullwing doors, pop-up headlights and all-independent suspension - high-tech stuff for the 1960s.
And the other car is the SRV concept, which was first shown at the 1970 Earls Court Motor Show in the UK. The car combines Italian supercar panache with four-door practicality, electric self-levelling suspension and other high-tech bits, some of which have actually made it to production Vauxhall cars over the last few years.
In addition to its concept cars, Vauxhall will also show its most powerful production car ever - the VXR8 Bathhurst S Edition, which is powered by a supercharged, 6.2-litre V8.
[Via: indiaautomotive]
Jaguar and Land Rover Are Expected Next Week
Tata Motors is all geared up to launch their recently acquired iconic auto brands Jaguar and Land Rover in India on June 28. These premium cars would be imported to India in CBU (Completely Built-in Units) kits.
Tata Motors have also planned to set up JLR showrooms in smaller cities to set up a broad dealer network and chart a India-specific marketing and distribution strategy for these high end cars.
Tata is contemplating to introduce the entire Land Rover SUVs in addition to models like Range Rover and the Range Rover Sport. The Land Rover Discovery 3 and Freelander would arrive in India later this year as Tata is till working on modifying the cars to suit Indian conditions.
Jaguar's range of premium saloons which are India bound are Jaguar XK, Jaguar XKR, Jaguar XF and Jaguar XFR.
[Via: carazoo]
Government may hike petrol & diesel prices
In response to international oil prices, which have seen an upwards trend recently, the Indian government may soon increase petrol prices by Rs 2 per litre and diesel prices by Re 1 per litre. Currently, IOC, HPCL and BPCL lose a mind-boggling Rs 135 crore per day on the sale of petrol, diesel, LPG and kerosene - it is estimated that their total revenue loss for current fiscal will stand at around Rs 38,700 crore.
Right on cue, Maruti has announced that it will launch CNG-compatible variants of most of its cars next year. The company, which has now stopped further development work on LPG-powered variants, says it will now focus on CNG. The Alto and the 800 could be the first CNG variants from Maruti - these are likely go on sale by early-2010.
[Via: indiaautomotive]
Tata Motors Tie-up with Bank of India
Leading Indian car manufacturer Tata Motors has signed an agreement with Bank of India to help serve its consumers better. The agreement has been reached on car finance in India for Fiat models through the Tata-Fiat dealer network across the country.
For new Fiat car buyers, the bank will offer special interest rates on car loans in India of up to Rs 10 Lakh at 9.75% to 10.25% over 6-year tenure for Fiat car models like Linea, Palio Stile, and upcoming Grande Punto. The customers can avail this facility at all metro, urban, and semi-urban branches of Bank of India as well as at the 100 sales touch points of the Tata-Fiat distribution network.
According to Subodh Marathe, Country Head of Fiat Product Group, "Tata Motors has always been at the forefront of introducing multiple customer centric initiatives. We felt that the strong product range from Fiat could be leveraged further with easy financing options for interested customers. Bank of India, with its great reputation, is a perfect partner to kick start this drive."
Bank of India is one of the largest public sector undertakings in the country catering to the needs of industry, exports, agriculture as well as retail segment. The bank has international presence with about 3000 branches in India and 74 extension counters spread across the country. Bank of India has won the award of Top Public Sector Bank and Best Public Sector Bank under the Best Bank and Overall Best bank in the Dun & Bradstreet Banking Awards 2008.
[Via: carazoo]
GM India Launches Confidence Building Campaign
With the North American operations of car major General Motors (GM) filing for bankruptcy, its Indian subsidiary has been busy sending out messages that all is well. The company has posted some of its key representatives across 35 cities to handle fear or apprehension that the customers may have on the future of GM's operations here in India.
To address concerns related to spare parts, investments, new launches and service networks in the country, the company is launching a new marketing campaign called "there for you, there for India".
"We are not cutting back on investments, or stopping production of any model," said Ankush Arora, GM India V-P, marketing and sales. In fact the US auto maker is going ahead with its new launches in the country. In a few days, it will launch the LPG variant of the Spark followed by the Chevrolet Cruze in September and the mini car early next year.
Till date, GM India has invested over Rs 5,000 crore across its facilities in Halol, Talegaon and Gurgaon. With the slowdown in vehicle sales, GM India was on a single shift operation in Talegaon. It expects to go back to the double shift as and when demand picks up.
The company has started helping dealers stock up spare parts and has dedicated a complete stockyard of spare parts at its Talegaon unit. Spare parts are currently being imported from Thailand, Korea, Japan and Europe. GM's India operations are independent of North America.
[Via: motorbeam]