Automotive Updates - 8th May 2014

• Tata Motorshas raised $300 million (about Rs 1,800 crore) through an issue of debt securities carrying a fixed interest rate.TML Holdings Pte Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of the company, issued and allotted $ 300 million in principal amount of 5.75 per cent senior fixed rate notes due 2021, Tata Motors said today in a filing to the BSE. 

• Harman International Industries, the global audio and infotainment group, has received the 2014 Global Product Leadership of the Year Award for high-end car audio by industry analyst Frost & Sullivan.

• Japanese auto major Nissan will start selling its Datsun brand from exclusive showrooms within this fiscal as it plans to have in three years' time totally independent outlets of its two brands in India. 

• Tata has silently launched the updated Aria in three variants with prices starting from INR 9.95 lakhs (ex-Showroom, New Delhi).On the outside, the refreshed Aria gets side body decals, dual barrel headlights with projector lights, clear lens for the taillight clusters and a black bezel for the headlamp cluster (available only on the top-end model)

• Bosch is betting big on the two-wheeler segment as one of the growth markets of the future. It expects worldwide sales of motorcycles to reach around 150 million units in 2020, more than the equivalent figure for cars. Just as it is for cars, Asia will be the driver of growth in the two-wheeler segment.

• The man behind the booming alliance - Renault-Nissan JV; chief operating officer of Renault and Nissan and chairman of the Russian auto group AvtoVAZ (better known as Lada automobiles) – Carlos Ghosn re-elected as chairman CEO of Reanult till 2017. Renault group has anounced that the Carlos Ghosn will be the CEO for the forthcoming 4-years. The decision was taken by the General Assembly and approved by 81.17% of the members. Ghosn extented his contract till decenber 2017. Renault, Nissan and their subsidiaries Dacia and Datsun all the four companies are doing wonders under one man - Carlos Ghosn.
• 

• German luxury carmaker Audi said on Thursday that global deliveries rose 11.6 per cent in April to 149,050 autos, helped by demand for the A3 compact and the A6 station wagon.

• Bharat Forge’s German subsidiary Bharat Forge Aluminumtechnik GmbH & Co KG (BFAT) has won a multi-year contract worth euro 250 million (Rs 2,086 crore) from a German OEM. The order is for the supply of suspension components based on unique technology industrialised by BFAT over the past few years and puts the company at the forefront of the aluminium component industry which is witnessing huge demand globally, thanks to growing global OEM demand for vehicle lightweighting.

• Defiance Technologies, the engineering company that is helping Nissan develop Datsun products, might be partly be sold off to Nissan.A report on the Economic Times states that Nissan is considering picking up a 20 to 40 percent stake in the engineering firm. The Chennai-based firm is at present owned by a clutch of companies that are part of the Hinduja Group. Ashok Leyland owns 29 percent of Defiance Technologies and around 35 percent is held by Ashley Holdings.

• Car market leader Maruti Suzuki has told its dealers to target around 15% growth this fiscal as it looks for a 300 basis point jump in its market share in the country’s 25 lakh unit passenger vehicle market to 45%. The encouraging outlook for FY15, which incidentally is a sharp contrast from the lower 5-6% growth expectations for FY15, announced during the Q4FY14 results last month, was presented to the dealers at an annual meet in Italy earlier this month.

• Image source - http://www.google.co.in/imgres?imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.rokemneedlearts.com%2Fcarsindepth%2Fwordpressblog%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2011%2F12%2FCH4F225carlos-ghosn.jpg&imgrefurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.rokemneedlearts.com%2Fcarsindepth%2Fwordpressblog%2F%3Fp%3D5960&h=450&w=343&tbnid=fWJU9jmLOG8pcM%3A&zoom=1&docid=1Tm3XYmteL-SdM&ei=KMxrU9rFLtKxuATYooHYBA&tbm=isch&ved=0CJMBEDMoIzAj&iact=rc&uact=3&dur=1212&page=3&start=33&ndsp=24