Automotive Updates - 5th July 2014

• Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. (M&M) has announced Anish Shah’s appointment as as President – Group Special Projects wef August 1, 2014. He will be inducted into the Group Executive Board too.

•  The tyre industry has said that India's regional trade agreements are adversely impacting their business because tyres in large volumes are finding an entry into India while imports of raw materials are restricted as a direct outcome of these agreements. While the basic customs duty on tyres is 10%, under various trade agreements the duty on tyres ranges between nil to 8.6%, facilitating tyre imports into India.

• Nissan will launch its flagship GT-R in India, as per a report on Autocar India. Until now, the company was reportedly worried about our country’s fuel quality, preventing Nissan from bringing the GT-R to India.

• Ford will have a very exciting 2015 with three new products scheduled to be launched in the country. The American auto giant has the Figo hatchback replacement (Ford Ka internationally) and the Figo based sub 4-metre sedan in the pipeline that will be launched in the first half of the year, while the next generation Endeavour SUV will make its debut towards the end of 2015. One of the hottest contenders in the sub 4-metre sedan space, the Figo sedan was showcased as a concept earlier this year and is now set to be launched in the country in March 2015.

• In the build up to the launch of the Tata Zest and the Bolt, the automaker has started promoting the 1.2-litre Revotron turbocharged petrol engine that powers the duo. The Tata Revotron Labs, which are inaugurated in 15 cities across India, attempt to engage the prospective customers and spread the brand awareness of the 1.2T Revotron.

• New Government has extended excise duty cuts further. But due to rising input costs and labour costs, car makers are planning on increasing car prices across range. Renault has already announced a 1% hike in Duster, Scala and Pulse prices. The latest to announce price hike is Ford India. New price is in effect from 1st July 2014. Ford India increased prices of their best selling compact SUV EcoSport by INR 10,000 for the base variants and INR 13,000 for the top end variants.

• India is set to become the third largest economy in the world by 2030, according to latest estimates by a PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) report.The London-headquartered accountancy giant said the rapid rise of the Indian economy with its young workforce would push it up from being the 10th largest economy in 2013 to the third largest by 2030, pushing the UK back into sixth place.

• While the Honda Mobilio and the next generation Jazz hatchback are scheduled to be launched in the current financial year from Honda Cars India, the company’s solo launch in the 2015-2016 fiscal will be the next generation Accord executive sedan. The company had discontinued the eighth generation Accord in the country in December 2013 due to the lack of demand as the market had seen a paradigm shift toward diesel powered vehicles, but is now seriously considering re-launching the model in the country after a gap of two years.

• Korean car manufacturer, Hyundai unveiled the seventh generation Hyundai Sonata earlier this year. This new Sonata is expected to replace the current generation sedan that Hyundai sells in India some time next year. 

• Mazda has confirmed that the next generation of the MX-5 Miata roadster will be unveiled on September 03. This will be the fourth generation of the Miata in the cult roadster's 25 years long span. While not much has been revealed about the MX-5, one thing Mazda does say is that the new car will be built on the recently developed Skyactiv chassis and that it will have a front engine rear wheel drive layout.

•  image from economicstimes.com