Fitch Ratings has revised Jaguar Land Rover Automotive plc’s outlook to ‘negative’ from ‘stable’, indicating a higher risk of a downgrade in its credit rating in the future. The move comes in the wake of higher investments by the company into research and development and...
AUTO
JLR sales in China continue to be down, August retail falls 5% overall
Jaguar Land Rover today reported total retail sales of 36,629 vehicles in August 2018, down 4.9% year on year, hit by a 38% fall in sales in China due to ongoing tariff war between the US and China. However, Chinese retail sales showed a slight...
Ashok Leyland sets up electric vehicle facility at Ennore plant
Ashok Leyland, one of India’s top two commercial vehicle makers, said it has set up an electric vehicle unit at its Ennore plant, giving the company the capacity to “deal with” about 5,000-10,000 electric vehicles per year. The move comes eight months after it signed...
Mahindra Marazzo comes with aggressive pricing of Rs 9.99 lakh
Mahindra & Mahindra has unveiled its next SUV, the Marazzo, at a price that is considerably below what the market was expecting. While the ‘shark-inspired’ UV was supposed to be priced in the same range as the XUV500, the actual starting price is about 20%...
Despite Kerala impact, Bajaj Auto august sales up 30% on exports
Bajaj Auto, one of India’s biggest two- and three-wheeler makers, reported relatively strong auto sales numbers for August. Total sales came in at 4.37 lakh, up 30% over 3.35 lakh in August last year. Growth was led by exports, even as the floods in Kerala...
Maruti Suzuki employees contribute Rs 1.5 cr to Kerala Flood relief
Maruti Suzuki, India’s biggest carmaker, said it will contribute Rs 3.5 cr, including employee contributions, to the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund in the context of floods in Kerala. “With regard to the recent floods and colossal damages in Kerala, Maruti Suzuki stands with the...
India Ratings gives AAA rating to Motherson Sumi
Credit rating agency India Ratings and Research has awarded its top AAA rating to Motherson Sumi Systems, the auto components manufacturer said. Ind-Ra, a unit of global rating agency Fitch, took into consideration the company’s strong trackrecord and diversified client-based to issue the rating. “MSSL’s...
Hero MotoCorp starts selling first premium bike Xreme 200R, price Rs 90k
Hero MotoCorp Ltd., the world’s largest two-wheeler manufacturer, said it will start shipping its first premium motorcycle, the Xtreme 200R, from its factories next week. This marks the end to a long period of waiting for the fans of the machine that is priced at...
Jaguar Land Rover sales down 22% in July as US-China tariff war bites
Jaguar Land Rover today reported total retail sales of 36,144 vehicles in July 2018, down 21.6% year on year, primarily, it said, reflecting “transitional issues” in certain markets. Retails for July were down in China (46.9%), reflecting continued market volatility in the first month of...
SWIFT HYBRID LAUNCH: Govt says no GST cut for bigger competitors
The Finance Ministry today said there would be no cut in the GST levied on bigger hybrid vehicles sold in India. At present, medium and large sized hybrid cars are taxed at a rate of 43%, including a ‘compensation cess’ of 15% — only marginally...
Mahindra SUV sales continue decline in July, Marazzo launch next mont
Mahindra & Mahindra’s passenger vehicle sales continued to be impacted by the success of Vitara Brezza and other SUV models from its biggest rival Maruti Suzuki. For the July quarter, total utility vehicle sales at Mahindra & Mahindra fell by 7% compared to a year...
Lumax reports strong quarter, boosted by 46% sales growth
Lumax, India’s biggest maker of automotive lamps, reported a 32% increase in its Apr-Jun quarter, boosted by a sharp increase in revenue. Revenue jumped to Rs 496 cr, up 46% compared to the same quarter a year ago, while net profit rose to Rs 20...
Maruti Suzuki recalls Swift, Dzire cars made between May & July
Maruti Suzuki, India’s largest carmaker, said it will recall 1,279 units of new Swift and new Dzire cars to check for a defect in the airbag system. These vehicles were manufactured between 7th May 2018 and 5th July 2018, the company added. The suspected defect is...
Dealers getting petrol at Rs 36.68/liter, diesel at Rs 39.77/liter-Govt
The price of petrol charged to the dealers, before taxes and deal commission, is Rs 36.68 per liter in India as of July 16, while that of diesel was Rs 39.77, ministry of petroleum and natural gases has revealed. However, on that day, petrol was...
34 years later, Maruti Suzuki crosses 2 cr production mark
Maruti Suzuki said it has completed production of 20 million (2 cr) vehicles in India, 34 years after it started production. The feat has been achieved in a little over seven years after the company hit the 10 mln (1 cr) milestone. The carmaker is...
Infosys to donate station to Bangalore Metro
Infosys Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Infosys, said it has signed an agreement to construct and maintain a metro station next to its main campus in Electronics City, Bangalore. The station, to be constructed at Konappana Agrahara, will be covered under the second phase of Bangalore...
Commercial vehicle sales up 57% this year over FY18
Vehicle sales in India are on a strong growth curve in the new financial year, according to numbers released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers or SIAM — the apex body of automakers in India. A total of 53.79 lakh vehicles were produced in...
Vitara Brezza completes 3 lakh sales in 28 months – fastest SUV sales
Maruti Suzuki said it has sold 3 lakh units of Vitara Brezza, the most popular SUV to have hit the Indian market ever. Given that the model was launched in March 2016, this works out to average sales of 10,700 units per month. The number...
Mahindra India tractor sales rise 24% in June as monsoon sets in
Mahindra & Mahindra, one of the country’s top tractor makers, said it saw a sharp jump of 24% in the number of tractors sold in June this year. Total tractors sold by the company in June in India jumped to 39,277 from 31,660 last year....
JSW Steel outlines expansion plans for Vijayanagar Works
JSW Steel said it will increase the manufacturing capacity of its Vijayanagar Works plant to 13 millions tons per year from 12 MTPA by March 2020 at a cost of Rs 7,500 crore. The plant is claimed as the largest state-of-the-art single location steel manufacturing...