After a 17-day worker strike, Hyundai has resolved the situation and decided to shift i20 production to Europe. Thanks to the strike, export targets fell short by 15% and production was down 5%. The company’s also facing electricity shortage after talks with the state government failed.
Hyundai i20 has been on sale for just a month, the company says the i20 has given Hyundai a wonderful new year, amidst the economic crisis. The i20 which surprised Hyundai with phenomenal record sales, is now spreading good news to employees too. The i20 sales has gone to the extent that Hyundai was forced to recall 100 of its trainees that were discontinued in December due to the ongoing credit crisis.
Good news for Toyota lovers. At some point in time, you have had the desire to own the Camry and probably settled for a Corolla. But you know what? Your next car could be the Camry.
Toyota India is seriously thinking about manufacturing it’s luxury sedan Camry here in India. This would bring down its price tag by atleast 4 lakhs as Toyota needn’t pay for the excise. The Camry range begins at 21-lakh and is fighting for the top spot in the D-Segment which has a market of 8,000 vehicles annually.
Pantnagar’s Tata facility we hear, is bustling with activity these days. Reports suggest that, Tata Nano is ready and likely to hit the dealer networks by February 2009 end. Both the “base” model and the “fully loaded” model will be available at the dealer showrooms mid-to late February. Tata Motors is keen to drive the Nano into dealer showrooms for potential customers to look at and get a feel of the car, which is expected to be a volume grosser for the company eventually.
It has not been even a month since Hyundai launched its i20 hatch in India and now the company plans to launch its i30 and Avante (new Elantra) soon in Indian in what we call a launching spree!
The i30 which was first launched at the Tokyo Motor Show for the Japanese market, is now being considered for an Indian debut because of the tremendous response towards the recently launched i20.
The German car manufacturer – Bavarian Motor Works (BMW) today announced axing work hours at four of its main production facilities in Germany due to sick economic conditions.
BMW Indian operations in Chennai, gets the 3-Series in a box from one of these plants and puts it together locally. Although BMW India projects a 100% increase in sales, 3,000 or 4,000 cars annually would do little in forcing the German plants work longer hours.
The Italian Auto major -FIAT has said that India will play an important role in the launch of FIAT’s low cost car brand which is expected by year 2010.
Earlier, Fiat had plans of confining the low cost brand to the European markets. Now though, FIAT is considering India as a key hub for its new brand chiefly for supply of cheap yet durable components.
The Suzuki Kizashi, which will be Suzuki’s first car in the D-Segment will remain locked up in Suzuki’s garage till the end of the decade, Reuters reports.
Suzuki CEO Osamu Suzuki, it seems had hinted this way back last year in an interview sighting unfavorable economic conditions. He claims that there is no point in producing a car that will sell under a segment that’s doing horribly worldwide. Suzuki (under the name Maruti Suzuki) has been struggling even in India, where it commands more than 50% of the market share.
