CARBLOGO

Hyundai Eon is set to hit Maruti Suzuki hardest in India with its 800 cc engine and Rs 2.5 lakh price tag Hyundai must be giving some sleepless nights to one particular carmaker in India. It is going to introduce a small car with around 2.5 lakh price tag and everyone here understands as to which carmaker will be hit hardest. am sure this is going to be one of the most watched entries by Hyundai in the Indian car bazaar. It has already swept the market with its cars for almost every segment. With the Eon, it is going to attack Maruti Suzuki in its comfort zone. The car will be directly competing with Maruti’s Alto and is priced lower than Chevrolet Spark, another small car. But given the massive volume that Maruti commands in the market in the entry level car, Eon is certain to be competing directly with the market leader. Already South Korean carmaker has impressed the market with Santro, a car that competes with Maruti WagonR, i10, i20 besides other high end cars. The best th...

Striking workers at the Manesar plant refused to hold negotiations with the Maruti Suzuki management on Tuesday, prompting a state government mediator to blame them for the breakdown of peace talks.  Haryana labour minister SCL Sharma, who was mediating on behalf of the state government, said, "The workers are not agreeing to come back to work unless all their 62 colleagues, who were suspended, were taken back. All this is difficult as criminal cases have been lodged against many of them."  The state government also released three leaders of the Maruti Suzuki Employees Union in an effort to end the 23-day-old industrial stir that has dented Haryana's image as a peaceful investment destination. The MSI management and workers have been locked in a stand-off since August 29, when the management prevented workers from entering the factory premises unless they signed a good conduct bond.  On Tuesday, the workers at the Manesar plant submitted a petition to Gurgaon de...

Amid the stand-off between protesting workers and the management at Maruti Suzuki India Limited’s (MSIL’s) Manesar facility in Haryana, industry leaders from the area on Tuesday met to discuss ways to prevent labour trouble from spreading in the automobile hub. MSIL Chairman R C Bhargava was believed to be at the meeting which was attended by Bony Polymers Managing Director Raj Bhatia, JBM Chairman S K Arya, N K Minda, Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India Senior Vice President (HR) Harbhajan Singh and Rico Auto Head (HR) Surinder Singh, among others.“The industry is a little worried about the situation. People involved with the auto industry are concerned as the labour unrest may affect their units as well,” a PTI report said quoting sources. Production at Munjal Showa’s Manesar plant was affected last week when workers went on a strike demanding regularisation of casual employees. It was called off with the management agreeing to regularise trainee workers who have completed five...

Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW)’s BMW brand in August expandened its sales lead over Daimler AG (DAI)’s Mercedes-Benz and Toyota Motor Corp. (7203)’s Lexus, delivering the most luxury models in the U.S. for a fifth straight month. BMW’s U.S. sales, helped by deliveries of the new 5-Series sedan and X3 sport-utility vehicle, rose 6.5 percent last month compared with a year earlier to 20,815, the Munich-based automaker said yesterday in a statement. The results bring BMW a step closer to being 2011’s top-selling U.S. luxury brand and ending Lexus’s 11-year streak. Mercedes sales fell 1.9 percent to 18,477 in August while Lexus fell 7 percent to 18,103 as the Japanese make continued to suffer from inventory disruptions following the March earthquake and tsunami. “This has been a very strange August for our industry with both difficult news and unfortunate events -- consumer confidence down and an earthquake, hurricane and floods in the Northeast” Jim O’Donnell, head of BMW of Nort...

Mercedes-Benz introduces new version of flagship sedan C-Class in India Mercedes-Benz, a Germany-based car manufacturer, has unveiled an advanced version of its flagship sedan C-Class in India. It is priced in the range of Rs 29.75 lakh and Rs 32.30 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi). Moreover, the firm is planning to unveil 3-4 new products consisting of upgrades and also new variants of the current models, in the upcoming two months in India. Mr Debashis Mitra, Mercedes-Benz India Director (Sales & Marketing), said, “The C-Class is our flagship and we are the market leader in this segment. The new C-Class will further strengthen our position in the market.” Furthermore, the firm is eyeing to sell 250-300 units of the new C-Class as compared to nearly 200 units of the outgoing version. The C-Class is considered as the cheapest model from the firm's stable and the old model has been priced at Rs 29.75 lakh-Rs 32.80 lakh.

German luxury car maker BMW on Thursday said it has increased annual output from its Chennai plant to 11,000 units with the start of second shift from June. The company, which is present in India through a wholly owned subsidiary, today launched its sports utility vehicle X3 priced between Rs 41.2 lakh and Rs 47.9 lakh (ex-showroom, across India). "We have expanded our production facility by starting the second shift of production. The production has been expanded to 11,000 units annually from 10,000 units," BMW India President Andreas Schaaf told reporters here. Earlier in March, the company had ramped up production capacity from 8,000 to 10,000 units per year in single shift operations. "If needed we can add another assembly line, if needed we can increase the output of the second shift and if needed we can add another production site. Everything is possible on our strategy for the next 10 years," Schaaf said. He said the company was targeting to sell one...

BMW Raises India Factory Output India -- BMW AG's India unit Thursday said it has raised capacity at its factory for the fourth time in a year to meet rising demand for its luxury sedans and sport-utility vehicles in Asia's third-largest automobile market. The latest expansion will take annual capacity at the plant, located in Chennai in Tamil Nadu state, to 11,000 cars and SUVs from 10,000 previously. In December, BMW raised the plant's capacity by 48% to 8,000 units a year and then in March by 25% to 10,000 units. This was after the company raised production to 5,400 from 3,000 in September 2010. The auto maker is lifting capacity so it can assemble its new X3 SUV, which was until recently imported from its German factories. The expansion comes on the back of record growth in car and SUV sales in India. BMW expects total local sales of premium cars and SUVs to soar to 23,000-24,000 vehicles in 2011, up from 15,000 last year. Demand for luxury cars and SUVs is b...