Automotive Updates - 28th July 2015

• Globally well acclaimed German automaker Volkswagen has reportedly surpassed Toyota in terms of sales to become the world's biggest automaker, as shown by the figures for the first half of the year. Toyota said it sold 5.02 million vehicles worldwide between January and June, falling below earlier figures from Volkswagen of 5.04 million units shifted in the same period. US-based General Motors was sitting in third spot with 4.86 million in sales.(cartrade)

• Fair trade regulator Competition Commission of India (CCI) has imposed a penalty of Rs 420 crore on Hyundai Motor India for violating the provisions of the Competition Act, 2002.Along with Hyundai, CCI's order, dated July 27, 2015, found other two car companies - Mahindra Reva Electric Car Company and Premier to be in contravention of the provisions of the Act.(ETauto.com)

• Maruti Suzuki India Ltd on Tuesday said fiscal first-quarter profit rose 56.5% on higher sales and lower input costs.Net profit rose to Rs.1,193 crore in the quarter ended 30 June from Rs.762 crore in the year earlier. However, the performance missed analysts’ estimates by a wide margin. A Bloomberg poll of 37 analysts had expected Maruti’s June quarter profit at Rs.1,270 crore. In the preceding March quarter, Maruti Suzuki had recorded Rs.1,284 crore profit, its highest ever.(livemint)

• Homegrown auto major Tata Motors is developing a new platform for small commercial vehicles to tighten grip in the segment with its runaway success Ace mini-truck celebrates a decade of market leadership.The Tata Ace family of mini commercial vehicles has crossed the 1.5 million sales milestone since it was first launched in 2005.“We are always working on new products to meet the changing requirements of our customers. We are aware that the Ace platform is ten years old and so we are developing a new platform for small commercial vehicle,” Tata Motors Senior Vice President, Commercial Vehicles Business Unit, R Ramakrishnan told PTI.(financial express)

• The country's largest two-wheeler maker Hero MotoCorp will acquire certain assets of Eric Buell Racing for USD 2.8 million as part of a settlement agreement with court-appointed receiver in the bankruptcy matter of the US-based company. The settlement agreement was signed between HMCL (NA) Inc and HMCL Americas Inc - both entities of Hero MotoCorp Ltd (HMCL) - and the receiver appointed by the Circuit Court, Wisconsin, US, in the bankruptcy matter filed by Erik Buell Racing (EBR) and Erik Buell LLC, the company said in a filing to the BSE.(cartrade)

• Mahindra has announced the launch of the Automatic variant of the Scorpio. The new variant will be available on the top-end S10 trim level of the SUV in both - two-wheel drive and four-wheel drive configurations.The Scorpio AT is powered by the same 2,179cc, 4-cylinder mHawk diesel engine as the manual transmission version. This engine produces 120 BHP @ 4,000 rpm and 280 Nm of torque @ 1,800-2,800 rpm. The engine is mated to a 6-speed automatic transmission.(Team-bhp)