Automotive Updates - 11th June 2015

• In what may mark a major partnership in the auto sector,Tata Motors and Fiat are planning to set up a joint SUV assembly line, reported ET Now.According to ET Now, the two auto majors will jointly invest around Rs 3,000 crore for the assembly line.The capacity of the new line is expected to be around 1 lakh units. "While Tata Motors will look to manufacture its Q501 and Q502 SUVs from the line, Fiat is expected to use it for its Jeep models," the channel reported.(Etauto.com)

• Mercedes-Benz, which is seeing handsome demand for its cars in India, has added a new production line at its Chakan plant in Pune. This helps double the German carmaker’s annual capacity from the earlier 10,000 units to 20,000 units and become the company with the largest installed production capacity for any luxury carmaker in India. With the addition of the new line, the Pune plant now sees an overall investment of over Rs 1,000 crore since inception. On June 11, the chief minister of Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis inaugurated the new production facility and also drove out the first-ever GLA made by Mercedes-Benz in Pune. Also present on the occasion were Prakash Javadekar, Union minister for Environment, Forest & Climate Change; Subhash Desai, minister for industries, Maharashtra; Eberhard Kern, MD and CEO, Mercedes-Benz India and Piyush Arora, executive director (Operations), Mercedes-Benz India. - See more at: http://www.autocarpro.in/news-national/mercedes-benz-india-doubles-production-capacity-rolls-gla-suv-8605#sthash.IA3Y7pwH.dpuf

• In what could be the first significant investment by a Chinese company, the country's top real estate player, Dalian Wanda Group, plans to invest $10 billion in India in the next 10 years to construct industrial townships and retail properties.Wang Jianlin, the chairman of the Beijing-headquartered group, expressed his intent to explore business opportunities in India at a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Tuesday. (Etauto.com)

• Earlier this year, Tata Motors had showcased the Hexa concept crossover at the 2015 Geneva Motor Show. Now the company has confirmed that it will introduce the vehicle in India later this year.The Hexa is based on the Aria, but features design changes to the exteriors and interiors. The car shown at Geneva had a flatter bonnet, a honeycomb grille with a thick brushed aluminium lining, new projector headlamps, bumpers with brushed aluminium skid plates, body cladding, blackened B, C and D-pillars, wraparound LED tail lamps, and a new tail gate with a thick brushed aluminum strip running across it, connecting the two tail lamps.(team-bhp)

• Auto major Tata Motors on Thursday launched assembly operations for light commercial vehicles in Tunisia with its local partner ICAR SA.Tata Motors will commence production of pick-ups and light commercial vehicles this month, the company said in a statement. The industrial launch of Tata Motors assembly plans in Tunisia is a major step in the company’s continued expansion in Africa and the global automotive industry, Tata Motors international business, commercial vehicles business unit head R.T. Wasan said.(livemint)

• Japanese automaker Isuzu Motors may persist with the contract manufacturing agreement with Hindustan Motors even after its new plant at SriCity in Chitoor, Andhra Pradesh, begins operations next April.Speaking to TOI, Suzuki Motors India deputy managing director Shigeru Wakabayashi said the company was yet to take a call on the pact with HM but also hinted at the possibility of continuing with the manufacture of its sports utility vehicle MU-7 at its Thiruvallur facility near Chennai while making only pickups at the SriCity plant. (Etauto.com)