Budget highlights for Auto Industry

Budget headlines:-

• Excise duty on small cars cut, reduced to 12% from 16%.
  
• Excise duty down on 2 & 3 wheelers to 12% from 16%.
• Excise duty on Hybrid vehicles reduced to 14% from 24%.
• Customs duty on imported vehicles unchanged.
  

What this means is 2 wheels and small cars will be cheaper by around 4%.

Hyundai Motor India and General Motors today said they would slash prices by up to Rs 16,000.

The price cut on Santro could be between Rs 12,000 and Rs 14,000, while that on Getz would be between Rs 14,000 and Rs 16,000. Price cut on the newly launched i10 could be between Rs 12,000 and Rs 16,000.

General Motors is also cutting the price of its small cars Spark and Aveo U-VA.

Reductions for Maruti cars range from 6,500 rupees for the Maruti 800 model to 18,030 rupees for the diesel-powered Swift hatchbacks.

Reactions from the Industry:-

"We have decided to pass on the benefit of the excise duty cut to customers on three models--Santro, i10 and the Getz-- effective April 1,"
- Hyundai official

"We will be cutting the prices of our small cars between Rs 7,500 and Rs 14,000,"
- GM India Vice-President P Balendran

"While the step was a welcome one, it would create a further gap between the small cars and the big cars segment."
"The excise cut on Hybrid cars, would not benefit the customers much as the hydrid would be fully imported and the customs duty has not been changed."
-Honda Siel Car India Senior (HSCI) General Manager Jnaneswar Sen

"Very good, but unexpected to stop degrowth. Finance availability is a major issue."
- Suzuki Motorcycle India Vice-President Sales and Marketing Atul Gupta

"It was really heartening to hear the union finance minister announcing the slash in excise as this will result not only in bringing down prices but also in boosting the sagging sales of two-wheelers."
- Niraj Bajaj Director Bajaj Auto Ltd

"The market had been wanting this to arrest the slide in demand in recent months.''
- Mr. Munjal Managing Director Hero Honda

source:-
The Economic Times
Bloomberg
Mytoday

BS Motoring awards 2008

BS Motoring awards 2008, the oldest automotive awards in the country were recently declared and following are the winners:-
Hyundai i10 won the Business Standard Motoring Car of the Year 2008 award. It had a stiff competition from Mahindra Renault Logan, Chevrolet Spark, Maruti Suzuki’s SX4, the BMW 3 and 5 Series and the Volkswagen Passat.

Hyundai earlier won the COTY awards for the Santro in 1998 and the Getz in 2005.

The recently launched i10 has set a new bench mark in the small car segment with its build quality, ride, handling, driveability, comfort, safety features, fuel efficiency and yet a very competitive price.

The Bajaj XCD redefined the entry level bike segment in the country. Offering the best of technology and features at an extremely affordable price impressed the juries and won the Bike of the year award for the XCD. The XCD faced competition from TVS Apache RTR160, the Pulsar 200 & Pulsar 220.

Winner in the other categories were as follows:
Chevrolet Spark: Business Standard Motoring Best Value Award 2008.
Mahindra Renault Logan: Business Standard Motoring Jury Award 2008.
BMW 325i: Business Standard Motoring Performance Car of the Year 2008.
Volkswagen Passat: Business Standard Motoring Premium Car of the Year 2008.
TVS Apache RTR 160: Business Standard Motoring Performance Bike of the year 2008.
Kinetic-Sym Flyte: Business Standard Motoring Scooter of the Year 2008.

Update1:- Created a poll for Car of the Year and Bike of the Year (Right hand side panel)
So please kindly select the Car and Bike you think are winner, also leave comments as to why you think they deserve to win. We will have our winners just before the Auto Expo where most of the awards are likely to be announced.

Update2:- Poll now closed. Here are the results:-Click

Earlier poll:- Most preffered bike in 150cc segment.

Cars to be costlier next year, Is it true?

Well as I reported earlier here: Indian Automobile updates December 07
Car makers like Maruti, GM, Hyundai, Skoda are all likely to increase the prices of all their models.
Hyundai cars are expected to get costlier by about Rs. 6,000 where as the prices for Maruti cars are expected to go up by Rs. 12,000 and also heard that Skoda cars would be dearer by Rs 20,000. The reason for this price hike is told to be the rise in input costs and freight charges.

Well at the same time if you have noticed, All the manufacturers are giving great discounts, gifts, additional accessories, free insurance etc., in the range of Rs 20,000 to as high as 60,000 that too on A and B segment cars. And all the offers are valid only till Dec 31.

So whats the catch? Great offers till 31st Dec and Price hike in Jan, does that sound fishy?
Okay one more clue: What would a second had car buyer ask you when you would sell your car? Well the question would be "Which Year ?".

Honestly i have been watching this for past couple of years and you will find history repeats its self. Car manufacturers and dealers are eager to clear all their stocks before year end as there is a natural slow down in auto sales in december as most of the car buyers prefer to wait for a month for buying a new car rather than adding an extra year in the life of their car. This is in spite of absolutely no changes expected in the models next year. Hence the dealers offer discounts, spread the word about price hike following next year (which is not found to be true in most of the cases) etc.

In my opinion this is the best time to buy a car. The prices may or may not increase but the discounts, benefits that are on offer right now wont be there for sure.

GM planning Hybrids and Electric vehicles for India

What is a Hybrid Car? Check here.

General Motors is currently working on hybrid and electric cars for India. The cars are likely to be launched in India within the next five years. This seems to bve a very logical step for all the car manufacturers to reduce emissions and help environmental conservation. The hybrids have many advantages apart from being environment friendly. In many countries they get many incentives and subsidies, tax exemptions and they are fuel efficient too, i.e more miles per gallon.

The company will be showcasing its hydrogen car GM Sequel at the Auto Expo in New Delhi, to study the market and understand the audience response.

The real challenge for the company is to keep the cost down. GM has tied up with IIT Kharagpur for a join research in the areas and has commited more than $1 million.

Source Economic Times

Related :-

• Tata teams up with ISRO to produce Hydrogen power...
• Tata Indica Electric and Hybrid
• Hybrids and Hybrid cars in India
• Honda Civic Hybrid to hit Indian roads soon
• Chevrolet scores in J.D Power Asia Pacific 2007 India Initial Quality Study(IQS)
  

Chevrolet scores in J.D Power Asia Pacific 2007 India Initial Quality Study(IQS)

J.D. Power Asia Pacific Reports:
Chevrolet Models Rank Highest in Three of Seven Vehicle Segments in Automotive Initial Quality in India.Honda City, Honda CR-V, Mahindra-Renault Logan, Maruti Swift and Toyota Innova Also Rank Highest in Their Respective Segments. The study, which serves as the industry benchmark for new-vehicle quality measured at two to six months of ownership, has been completely redesigned for 2007 to provide manufacturers with deeper insights and more actionable information to improve problem determination and drive product improvement. The redesigned IQS now examines more than 200 problem symptoms in two distinct categories—quality of design and quality of production—across eight vehicle components: vehicle exterior; driving experience; features, controls and displays; audio, entertainment and navigation; seats; heating, ventilation and cooling (HVAC); vehicle interior and engine and transmission. Overall quality performance is based on both design quality and production quality problems per 100 vehicles (PP100), with lower scores indicating a lower rate of problem incidences and higher vehicle quality.

The new Chevrolet Spark leads the compact car segment with a score of 127 PP100. The Honda City and Chevrolet Aveo tie for the top rank position in the midsize segment with a score of 109 PP100 each, while the Chevrolet Optra (97 PP100) ranks highest in the premium midsize segment.

The 2007 India Initial Quality Study (IQS), now in its 11th year, is based on evaluations from nearly 6,000 owners who purchased a new vehicle between November 2006 and July 2007. The study includes 43 vehicle models covering 11 makes. The study was fielded from May to September 2007 in 15 cities across India.
Problems per 100 vehicles in braces

1. Compact (185)
   1. Spark (127)
   2. Wagon R (159)
   3. Estilo (160)
2. Premium Compact (133)
   1. Swift (116)
   2. U-VA (123)
   3. Getz (222)
3. Entry Midsize (169)
   1. Logan (65)
   2. Ikon (117)
   3. Esteem (174)
4. Midsize (121)
   1. Aveo, NHC (109)
   2. Fiesta (121)
5. Premium Midsize (123)
   1. Optra (97)
   2. Corolla (108)
   3. Civic (130)
6. MPV (177)
   1. Innova (111)
   2. Tavera (149)
   3. Bolero (214)
7. SUV (229)
   1. CRV (50)
   2. Endeavor (61)
   3. Scorpio (233)

Earlier For an eighth consecutive year, Maruti Suzuki ranks highest in customer satisfaction with authorized dealership service, according to the J.D. Power Asia Pacific 2007 India Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI).

Logan was surely a surprise pack which scored really well in the segment.
Dowload / Read it here

Special thanks to msdivy From TeamBHP forum.