Automotive Updates- 7th and 8th November

• Japanese carmakerNissan is preparing for a potential legal dispute with joint venture partner Ashok Leyland if parleys to sort out differences over platform-sharing, design and manufacturing fail, according to sources and internal communication accessed by ET.Legal counsellors from Nissan Motor Co, Japan have instructed top executives of Nissan Motor India to preserve documents relating to the loss-making joint venture and avoid oral or email conversations with executives of Ashok Leyland, the country's second-largest maker of trucks and buses. (ETauto)

• Even as the Hyundai India is working towards increasing the production of Creta to plug the demand supply gap in the domestic market, initial phase of exports has been going for going on since September 2015. According to the data on Zauba, the India made Hyundai Creta has been exported to 44 countries in limited numbers.Once the domestic supply stabilizes, we would see a steady increase in the crossover’s export volumes. As of now, the Creta’s international markets include Peru, Bolivia, Egypt, Greece, Oman, UAE, Kuwait, Saudi Trinidad & Tobago, Vietnam, Morocco, Chile, Jordan, Fiji, Ghana, St. Maarten, Aruba, South Africa, Samoa, Seychelles, Costa Rica, Paraguay, Panama, French Polynesia, Mauritius, Curacao, Guatemala, Barbados, Djibouti, Belgium, Sudan, Lebanon, Madagascar, Bahrain, St. Lucia and Nepal. Interestingly, Hyundai has also shipped several units of the crossover the US, and 2 units to Netherlands via air cargo.(rushlane)

• Honda is recalling more than 25,000 cars in the US to replace the rear grab rail brackets, which it says could interfere with the deployment of a side curtain airbag.The car maker says no such instances have been reported and that it discovered the faulty design during internal testing.(livemint)

• Maruti Suzuki India's entry level car Alto has become the best ever selling model in India with a cumulative total of more than 29 lakh units sold over a period of 15 years, overtaking its now phased-out M800. Launched in September 2000, the model touched cumulative sales of 29,19,819 units in October, 2015. This was even better than what M800 - the once bread and butter model of the company - had achieved. Commenting on the milestone, Maruti Suzuki Executive Director (Marketing and Sales) R S Kalsi said, "Over the years, Alto has brought happiness to 29 lakh families to become India's largest selling single brand car.(cartrade)

•  Maruti Suzuki, India's largest manufacturer by volume, today launched the AMT (Automated manual transmission) version of its tall-boy model Wagon R and Stingray. The auto gear shift transmission will be available in VXi variants of both models. While the Wagon R with AMT has been priced at Rs 4.76 lakh ex-showroom Delhi, the AMT model of Stingray will cost Rs 4.98 lakh. The company has kept the price of LXi, VXi and LXI CNG variants of WagonR and Stingray unchanged.(ETauto)

• 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.2Gwwg0Ou.dpuf

• Commercial vehicle maker Ashok Leyland has decided to write-off Rs 157 crore in its accounts as diminution in the value of investment made in its earth-moving equipment joint venture with John Deere, said a senior company official on Thursday.Speaking to reporters here, chief financial officer Gopal Mahadevan said a decision was taken to write-off the sum as the joint venture company - Ashok Leyland John Deere Construction Equipment Company making backhoe loader - was not performing well. (ETauto)