Automotive Updates - 9th September 2014

• Hinduja Group flagship firm Ashok Leyland  has received orders for around 4,000 buses from State Transport Undertakings valued at Rs 1,500 crore. A total of 22 State Transport Undertakings (STUs) across the country including Calcutta State Transport Corporation, Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation and Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation have placed large orders for the buses, Ashok Leyland said in a filing to BSE. (economicstimes.com)

• Suzuki Motorcycle India which launched its 155cc Gixxer motorcycle in New Delhi hopes to get 80 percent of its sales from tier 1 towns, Atul Gupta, executive VP, SMIPL told Autocar Professional. Gupta said he is confident that the bike will rack up sales of 50,000 units within six months. The company has already received 1000 bookings with a majority coming from South. In September-October festive season, Suzuki hopes the Gixxer will bring in 12,000 units. (autocarpro.in)

• The KTM RC390, arguably the most anticipated motorcycle in recent times, has been launched in India at INR 2.05 lakhs (ex-showroom, New Delhi). The price is introductory.Based on the Duke 390, the fully faired RC390 is propelled by the same belligerent 372.3 cc single-cylinder fuel injected engine which impresses with 42.9 bhp and 35 Nm of torque on tap. The gearbox is a 6-speed unit. (indianautoblogs.com) 

• Mahindra & Mahindra is lining up three major offerings in the compact sport-utility-vehicle segment for launch over the next 18-24 months, as it aims to reclaim space lost to the Ford EcoSport and Renault Duster over the past couple of years.All the three vehicles will be less than four metres long, a segment that industry experts say is going to be a key driver of passenger vehicle sales and where M&M has only a limited presence. (economicstimes.com)

• British luxury carmaker, Jaguar has unveiled the XE, its smallest sedan yet, in London. The XE slots below the XF in Jaguar's model line-up and competes with the Audi A4, BMW 3-Series and Mercedes C-Class. The XE follows the same design language as other Jaguar sedans. The front fascia is similar to the XF and XJ with a similarly styled grille and headlamps with "J-Blade" day-time running lights.(teambhp.com)

• J.D. Power Asia Pacific’s 2014 India Sales Satisfaction Index (SSI) Study indicate that Toyota has achieved the highest score of 866. New car buyers have rated Toyota well across all factors – delivery process, delivery timing, salespeople, sales initiation, dealer facility and paperwork.(motortrend.in)

• KTM Motorcycle has drawn its mid-term plan, which aims at annual sales of 2,50,000 motorcycles globally by 2020. Of that number, Bajaj Auto’s Chakan facility, where KTM bikes are currently manufactured will contribute 1,00,000 units for that year, or a significant 40 percent On the sidelines of rolling out the KTM RC 200 and RC 390 bikes in Pune, Stefan Pierer, CEO, KTM Sportmotorcycle AG said “We aim to sell 1,40,000 bikes globally in 2014, against the total sales of 1,23,859 units last year (2013). Our EBIT margin stood at 7.7 percent last year and we expect that it will touch 9 percent this year.” (Autocarpro.in)

• The Tata Xenon for the Australian market has received a 2015 model year update which sees the double cab variant garner a more than respectable four-star safety rating (out of a maximum five stars) at the ANCAP (Australian New Car Assessment Program) crash test.(indianautoblogs.com)

• The Mahindra Group today announced a donation of Rs. 2 crores to the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund to aid in ongoing disaster relief operations in the state of Jammu & Kashmir.(Motoroids.com)