Automotive Updates - 14th July 2014

• Ford Motor Company has announced the Alan Mulally Leadership in Engineering Scholarship, a $1 million (Rs 6 crore) program that honors the company’s former CEO by providing financial assistance to outstanding students pursuing degrees in the field of automotive engineering.

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• Maruti Suzuki has launched a limited of the Ritz in India. Called Ritz Elate, the car is equipped with new decals and extra kit and will be available only in mid-level VXI and VDI variants. The limited edition has been priced at Rs 19,990 over the standard car and being a limited edition

• Government will make necessary changes in law and bring it on par with international standards to enable cars, especially those running on bio-fuels, to ply on Indian roads, Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari today said. 

• He said the government will try to introduce the changes in the next session of Parliament. 

• The Renault Group is driving for aggressive growth in the India market and is already chalking out a new, geographical game-plan. As of September 1, 2014, the Group is changing its international structure. To support growth during Phase 2 of its medium-term ‘Renault Drive the Change’ strategic plan, the current Asia-Pacific region will be split into two new regions. While the new Middle-East India region will include the Middle East, the Gulf countries and the Indian sub-continent, the Asia-Pacific region will include China, ASEAN countries, Korea, Japan, Australia and Oceania.

• Japanese car-maker Toyota will halt some production at its South African assembly plant from Tuesday due to a strike at companies supplying car components, a company spokeswoman said on Monday."Toyota will close two production lines from Tuesday at our Durban plant," spokeswoman Mary Willemse said.

• Magyar Suzuki of Hungary is the only car manufacturing subsidiary for the Japanese automaker in Europe. On the 9th of July, the 23-year old facility rolled out its 2.5 millionth vehicle.The milestone car is a facelifted Suzuki Swift GL 5-door variant in a white body color which is powered by the 1.2-litre K-Series petrol engine, equipped with a manual transmission. The car will be sold to a customer in Hungary.

•  American motor company Ford said on Monday it has temporarily suspended production at one of its South African plants due to a strike at some of its suppliers."Production at our Silverton assembly plant has been temporarily suspended due to the strike," spokeswoman Alicia Chetty said.

• Volkswagen AG will invest a three-digit million euro amount at its Tennessee assembly plant to build a new seven-seater crossover SUV starting in 2016, a person familiar with the plans told Reuters on Monday.The German automaker chose to build the three-row sports utility vehicle at its plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, instead of at its facility in Puebla, Mexico, which had also been a contender.

• The KPIT team is busy developing solutions that could lead to more efficient battery-powered or fuel-cell powered electric vehicles for use in India and other similar markets. One solution it is working on is a low-cost version of the concentrated photo-voltaic technology which will charge the vehicle while parked, “but not at an exorbitant cost”. The target for the team is to reduce the payback period of cost in the technology from around eight years to 2-3 years.

• The designers at BASF’s Coatings division, which develops, produces and markets innovative automotive coatings, automotive refinishes and industrial coatings, have published their automotive colour trends for 2014 and 2015. As per their collection titled ‘Under the Radar’, new colour ranges are appearing on the trend radar.

• International automotive supplier Continental is presenting a new evolutionary stage of its head-up display (HUD). The Augmented Reality HUD supplements the exterior view of the traffic conditions in front of the vehicle with virtual information (augmentations) for the driver.

image from forbes.com