Automotive Updates - 9th November 2015

• The board of General Motors, the biggest US carmaker, is in India this week to review the progress of its revival plan in the country. The visit by CEO Mary Barra this is her third in the last 15 months at the head of a 20-member group reflects the importance of India as an auto market for GM, given that it's expected to become the third largest in the world by the end of this decade.The team, which includes international business head Stefan Jacoby, met key stakeholders including government officials, vendors and dealers to discuss its plans. Barra is keen to lift the local unit's performance. (ETauto)

• Earlier this year, Mahindra launched the TUV300 in India. The vehicle has been selling in good numbers. Our sales reports show, that In the two months that the vehicle has been in the market, the company has shipped close to 9,000 vehicles out of its plant. What is interesting here is that a large number of these bookings are for the AMT version.Media reports claim that Mahindra has received 12,000 bookings for TUV300. Almost 50% of them are for the AMT version. The popularity of the transmission technology has been rising since its introduction in India in 2014.(teambhp)

• An exceptional loss because of the recent blasts at Tianjin Port weighed on the UK-based luxury carmaker Jaguar Land Rover’s second quarter performance and resulted in a consolidated net loss of Rs 429.76 crore for parent Tata Motors in the quarter. The automaker recognised a loss of 245 million pounds for about 5,800 vehicles involved in the Tianjin Port explosion. Post the exceptional charge, loss before and after tax stood at 157 million pounds and 92 million pounds, respectively (against profit before and after tax of 609 million pounds and 450 million pounds, respectively in the corresponding quarter last year). - See more at: http://www.autocarpro.in/news-national/tata-motors-reports-loss-q2-jlr-hit-tianjin-blasts-9656#sthash.aCTriOHk.dpuf

• British luxury carmaker Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has launched a secret project to cut costs of 4.5 billion pounds ($6.8 billion) and build 1 million cars per year by the end of the decade, the Sunday Times reported.The project, called Leap 4.5, will entail building more models on similar core skeletons, overhauling the carmaker's supply chains and slowing down or halting the recruitment process, although there are no plans for redundancies, the paper reported citing people familiar with the matter.(businesstoday)

• Hyderabad Angels and Hiro Mashita - led, Singapore-based, early-stage investment firm M&S Partners have invested an undisclosed amount in Iradium Automobiles, which owns and operates online automobile parts and services marketplace SparesHub.com.While the exact terms of the transaction were not disclosed, Hyderabad Angels member investors, Prasad Vanga and PS Sreekanth, the investment director of the city-based angel investor network, will join the board as director and observer respectively.(ETauto)

• Niche bike maker Royal Enfield is looking to expand its product line up by introducing two new models by 2017. The company, which sells various popular models like Bullet, Classic, Thunderbird and Continental GT, is developing two engine platforms. The two new products would be based on the new engine architecture. "The first model based on the new engine platform will be out next year. Another model will follow in 2017," Eicher Motors Managing Director and CEO Siddhartha Lal said.(cartrade)