Automotive Updates - 29th May 2014

• BMW India today launched the 2014 BMW X5 at an all-India ex-Showroom price of INR 70.9 lakhs. 

• Post its debut at the 2014 Auto Expo in February, TVS has started sales of the 2014 TVS Wego in the country. The updated Wego is available in two variants: standard and disc. 

• Nissan has announced the appointment of Guillaume Sicard as its deputy president, Nissan India Operations, effective July 1, 2014. He will report to Kenichiro Yomura, the president of Nissan India Operations and his responsibilities include strategic decision making and streamlining operational efficiency to help achieve the company’s objectives here.

• Japan's Isuzu Motors aims to expand its dealer network in India six-fold to about 60 outlets in the country by the end of the next financial year. 

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•  Nissan today announced the opening of its Sales and Marketing Headquarters in Mumbai, inaugurated by Takashi Hata, Senior Vice President Nissan Motor Co., Ltd and Chairman of

• BMW India is going on the aggressive and is expanding its number of dealerships in India. On the sidelines of the launch of the all-new BMW X5 in Pune today, BMW India’s president Mr Philip Von Sahr mentioned that the company will increase its dealership count in India. Introduced to the world in 2013, the BMW i8 will be launched in India later this year. 

• Toyota Kirloskar Motor has been ranked the highest in the J D Power Asia Pacific 2014 India Dealer Satisfaction with Automotive Manufacturers Index (DSWAMI) Study released today. Topping all other OEMs with a score of 925 on a 1,000-point scale, it is followed by Maruti Suzuki with a score of 884 and Honda Cars India at 869. Overall dealer satisfaction with carmakers averages 827 points in 2014, up from 817 points in 2013.

• Global automotive supplier Denso Corporation has developed a new electronic fuel injection system for small motorcycles called DIET-FI (Denso Intelligent Economical Technology-Fuel Injection). The company says DIET-FI is the world’s first fuel injection system that doesn’t use a throttle position sensor or engine temperature sensor. Instead, it uses newly developed control technologies that ensure the same fuel economy and environmental performance as conventional fuel injection systems, thus cutting costs.

• Swedish CV major Scania has opened its account with Karnataka’s largest fleet operator SRS Travels by delivering two of its luxury coach buses.   With this, Scania has succeeded in attracting one of the major Volvo bus customers in the private segment in Karnataka. SRS Travels, which has a fleet size of 5,500 vehicles comprising mini buses, luxury coaches and MUVs, is known for its interstate coach buses in South India.

• It is unlikely that the Hindustan Motors Ltd (HM) plant at Uttarpara that manufactures the iconic Ambassador car will reopen soon, West Bengal labour minister Purnendu Bose said on Thursday.

• “After discussing with the HM management, I have a feeling that the Uttarpara plant will not reopen soon,” Bose told reporters here after emerging from a bipartite meeting with the HM management. The company had declared suspension of work at the plant, the oldest in the country and the only vehicle manufacturing one in the state, on 24 May. “I have asked them (HM management) to lift the suspension at the earliest,” Bose said, adding he had asked the management why the government was kept in the dark while declaring suspension of work at the plant.