Automotive Updates - 11th May 2014

• Passenger Vehicle (PV) is expected to have the highest CAGR between 2014 -2019 in India, leaving behind even the two-wheeler segment, Frost & Sullivan forecasts.

• According to the report, PV is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 9.5 percent with annual sales reaching to 3.95 million units by 2019 while the two-wheeler will go up by 5.3 percent to reach 21.30 million units yearly sales. Utility Vehicle is expected to drive the growth in PV segment with an anticipated growth of over 20 percent over the next five years.

•  Eicher Motors plans to invest Rs 2,000 crore in its various business verticals, including commercial vehicles and motorcycles, by the end of 2015.

• Volkswagen has joined the bandwagon of a growing number of car makers by announcing that they are developing a new 10-speed Direct Shift Gearbox (DSG). This was revealed by Hans-Jakob Neusser, the development chief of Volkswagen Group at the 2014 Vienna motor symposium in Austria. 

• Fiat Chrysler Automobiles' Chrysler unit said on Friday it was recalling an estimated 780,477 minivans after reports of overheating, including some fires, in third-row power window vent switches.

•  Iconic cult bike maker Harley-Davidson has hit the sweet spot with its model 'Street 750', that is built in India, accounting for nearly 60 per cent of its April sales in the country within the first month of starting deliveries.The company, which is present in India through a wholly-owned subsidiary Harley-Davidson India, had launched the Street 750 priced at Rs 4.1 lakh in February and opened for bookings in March.

• Subaru cars maker Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd said on Friday it would stop manufacturing Toyota Motor Corp's Camry at its Indiana plant in the autumn of 2016.In a separate statement, Toyota said it would shift the production of the Camry that is now being manufactured at Fuji Heavy's Indiana plant to its own Kentucky plant in the autumn of 2016.

• Automotive Carbon Fibers (ACF), a joint venture between the BMW Group and SGL Group is tripling the capacity of carbon fiber plant in Moses Lake, USA, with an investment of $200 million, in addition to the previously invested $100 million.

•  Image from livemint.com