Automotive Updates - 23rd May 2014

• Federal-Mogul Holdings Corporation has renamed its Vehicle Components division as ‘Federal-Mogul Motorparts’. This is the next step in its ongoing strategy to drive the global growth of its premium products and leading brands. The new Federal-Mogul Motorparts name and logo will be rolled out globally effective immediately, leading into new marketing campaigns for its product brands.

•  Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd is considering investing about 40 billion rupees ($684 million) in a new factory, a top executive said on Friday, as it readies new models for an anticipated pickup in sales.

• :Honda Cars India has pinned its hopes on Mobilio and Jazz, its new models to help the company deliver "good double digit growth' in the current financial year (FY15), a senior Honda Cars executive told ET Auto.

• The Ashok Leyland Jan Bus has been launched.

• Hero MotoCorp is more than doubling production of some variants of the top-selling ‘Splendor’ range of motorcycles to meet high domestic and export demand. The move is expected to help the two-wheeler market leader regain the crown of the top-selling model in the domestic market, which the Splendor lost to erstwhile partner Honda’s Activa scooter a few months ago.

• Three-wheeler maker Atul Auto today reported a 15 per cent jump in net profit at 29.79 crore in the full fiscal ending March 31, 2014 on the back of higher demand for its vehicles.

• The 50:50 joint venture between off-road vehicle maker Polaris India and Eicher Motors is developing personalised transport solutions that also have off-roading capabilities. A report on cardekho quotes Polaris India’s country head and managing director, Pankaj Dubey, who says that in the next 3-5 years more vehicles can be expected from Polaris India. 

• Maruti Suzuki has confirmed that it has received orders for around 58,000 units of the Maruti Celerio, launched at the Auto Expo 2014. A report on the Economic Times quotes Mayank Pareek, senior executive officer at Maruti Suzuki, who says that about 28,000 units of the Celerio have been delivered as of now. A future 30,000 bookings are in hand with the company.

• Ashok Leyland is set to begin exports of the Boss intermediate commercial vehicle (ICV) from June 2014. Since the vehicle’s launch in the domestic market last year, the Boss has sold around 1,000 units till now. Plans are also underway to assembly the Boss in the company’s Dubai facility. Meanwhile, the CV maker has received an order for 1,600 units of the front-engined, fully flat-floor Janbus for different State Transport undertaking (STUs). Deliveries are slated to from next week onwards.

• Tata Motors is looking to triple its exports of commercial vehicles over the next 3 years. At present, the company exports roughly 50,000 units annually and this figure is likely to go up to 1.5 lakh units by 2017. Tata Motors will begin exporting the Prima range of trucks to new markets before the end of this fiscal. 

• Wabco India, which manufactures braking products and advance braking systems and related air-assisted products and systems, has launched its OptiDrive automated manual transmission (AMT) system for buses and trucks in India.

• KSPG AG, which ranks among the world's 100 biggest auto industry Tier 1 suppliers, has announced record Q1/2014 sales of 666 million euros (Rs 5,344 crore), year-on-year up 64 million euros (Rs 513 crore). This marks an 11 percent increase, outgrowing the 5-percent global car production gain. EBIT for the period advanced by 20 million euros (Rs 160 crore) or 74 percent to 47 million euros (Rs 377 crore).

• Optare, Ashok Leyland’s subsidiary in the UK, has launched the MetroDecker, its new double- decker bus in London. Designed and built at a modern assembly facility in Leeds, the MetroDecker leverages Optare’s extensive experience and engineering capabilities and boasts exceptional build-quality, comfort and optimised operational efficiency.

• Shiroki Corporation and Technico Industries Ltd have entered into binding agreements allowing them to exit the current relationship and hive off their seat and window regulator business into a joint venture, Shiroki Technico India. The JV will be held 51 percent (50 percent +1) by Shiroki and 49 percent (50 percent -1) by Technico with an investment outlay of Rs 150 crore over the next two years. The JV has been approved by the Board of both the companies and is expected to be operational in early 2015.