November car sales down 8.25 percent: SIAM

New Delhi, Dec 10 (IANS)

India's automobile industry, in a slump due to high fuel and interest costs, saw a further dip in passenger car sales year-on-year in November that went 8.25 percent down on negative consumer sentiment.

Car sales in the month under review stood 1,58,257 units from 1,72,493 units sold in the corresponding month of last year, the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) said Monday.

According to SIAM, sales of commercial vehicles last month declined 7.31 percent to 61,410 units from 66,254 units sold in November 2011.

Two-wheeler sales during the period inched higher by 1.23 percent at 1,175,429 units from 1,161,176 sold in November 2011.

Motorcycle sales in the month under review were marginally up at 8,67,518 units from 8,67,088 units sold in the corresponding period of 2011.

Scooter sales during last month zoomed 6.64 percent at 2,44,392 units from 2,29,173 units sold in October 2011.

Three-wheeler segment sales were up by 20.67 percent at 51,670 units from 42,821 units in the month under review.

Total vehicles sales last month stood at 1,515,600 units, up 1.79 percent from 1,488,894 units sold in the like period of 2011-12.

--IANS

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Tata Motors consolidated net profit up 10.5 percent

Mumbai, Nov 7 (IANS)

Automobile giant Tata Motors Wednesday reported an increase of 10.5 percent in its consolidated net profit for the second quarter of the current fiscal which stood at Rs.2,075 crore from Rs.1,877 crore in the corresponding quarter of 2011-12.

The company's consolidated income for the quarter under review rose by 19.9 percent at Rs.43,403 crore from Rs.36,198 crore in the second quarter of last fiscal.

The company said that it received dividend worth 150 million pounds from Jaguar LandRover (JLR), whose volume of growth during the quarter under review increased by 13.9 percent, helped by high demand in markets like China.

"Volumes growth at JLR was driven by China and especially Range Rover Evoque," the company said in a statement.

Other Tata Motors subsidiaries including JLR contributed a dividend of Rs.1,312 crore from Rs.29 crore in the corresponding quarter of 2011-12.

On a standalone basis Tata Motors net profit rose by 750 percent at Rs.867 crore including the dividend from JLR of Rs.102 crore in the second quarter of 2011-12.

However, standalone operating margins declined to 5.9 percent in the quarter under review from 7.2 percent in the corresponding quarter of last fiscal.

"Competitive pressures on pricing in certain segments and weak product mix has impacted operating margins on the standalone basis," the statement said.

The income on the standalone basis declined by 3.65 percent at Rs.12,481 crore from Rs.12,954 crore in the second quarter of last fiscal.

Total sales including exports of commercial and passenger vehicles increased by 5.8 percent for the quarter ended Sep 30 and stood at 223,655 units.

However, the company said that sales of medium and heavy commercial (M and HC) vehicles were impacted.

"Weak macro economic outlook and sluggish industrial demand coupled with diesel price increase have impacted medium and heavy commercial vehicle sales," the statement added.

--IANS

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Maruti Suzuki ends November with 12.5 percent growth

Chennai, Dec 1 (IANS)

Car maker Maruti Suzuki India Ltd Saturday said it closed November with 12.5 percent growth in volume as compared to the number logged in November 2011.

The company said it sold 103,200 units (domestic 90,882 units, exports 12,318) last month as compared to 91,772 units (domestic 82,870, exports 8,902) in November last year.

The company saw increased volumes in its compact (Swift, Estilo, Ritz), super compact (DZire) and utility vehicles (Gypsy, Grand Vitara, Ertiga) portfolio while it was negative growth in all other segments - mini (M800, Alto, A-Star, WagonR), mid size (SX4), executive (Kizashi) and van (Omni, Eeco).

The company's cumulative sales for the period April-November 2012 stands at 732,580 units (domestic 660,102, exports 72,478) as against 681,200 units (domestic 607,417, exports 73,783) logged in the comparable period last year.

--IANS

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Hyundai Motor's November sales down 2.3 percent

New Delhi, Dec 1 (IANS)

Hyundai Motor Saturday reported a marginal 2.3 percent decline in November sales at 55,762 units from 57,071 units sold in the same period of 2011.

The company's domestic sales fell by 0.7 percent at 34,751 units from 35,000 units sold in the corresponding month of last year.

The exports fell by 4.8 percent in the month under review, and stood at 21,011 units from 22,071 units shipped out in November 2011.

"The adverse market conditions due to high interest rates and inflation continued to pose challenges for growth. Increased diesel fuel price temporarily affected the strong momentum of diesel car sales," said Rakesh Srivastava, vice president, sales.

However, he added: "The festival season stimulated sales of petrol cars. Eon demand continues to grow month on month leading to supply challenges."

Segment-wise, cumulative sales of A2 segment which includes hatchback majors like Eon, Santro, i10, i20, were 48,650 units, followed by the A3 sedan segment which includes Accent and Verna at 6,526 units, A4 luxury segment sedan of Elantra at 513 units, A5 Sonata at 20 units and sports utility vehicle (SUV) Santa Fe at 53 units.

The company added that its cumulative sales during January-November 2012 grew by 4.65 percent at 593,448 units from 567,090 units sold in the corresponding period of 2011.

The domestic cumulative sales during the period under review increased by 5.92 percent at 364,579 units from 344,193 units sold in January-November 2011.

Exports during the period under review grew by 2.68 percent at 228,869 units from 222,897 units shipped out in the like period of last year.

--IANS

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Tata Motors global wholesales post 6 percent rise in October

Mumbai, Nov 15 (UNI)

The global wholesales of Tata Motors Group, including Jaguar Land Rover, were 1,00,660 units in October, which was higher by six percent over the corresponding period of last year.

Cumulative wholesales for the fiscal were 6,79,051 units, which were higher by seven percent, compared with the corresponding period of previous fiscal.

The global wholesales of all commercial vehicles like Tata, Tata Daewoo and the Tata Hispano Carrocera range -- were 51,396 units, in October 2012, up by 19 percent over the same period of last year.

Cumulative wholesales for the fiscal were at 3,34,941 units, higher by four percent over October 2011.

The global wholesales of all passenger vehicles were at 49,264 units in October 2012, down by five percent compared with the corresponding period of last year.

Cumulative wholesales for the fiscal were 3,44,110 units, higher by 10 percent as against the corresponding period of previous year.

Global wholesales of Tata passenger vehicles were at 21,367 units for the month, down by 17 percent over the same period of October 2011.

Cumulative wholesales for this fiscal were flat at 1,55,319 units.

Global wholesales for Jaguar Land Rover in the month of October 2012 were 27,897 vehicles, up by seven percent over October 2011.

Jaguar wholesales for October 2012 were 3,339 and cumulative wholesales were 24,945 vehicles, while Land Rover wholesales for the month were 24,558 and cumulative wholesales were 1,63,846 vehicles.

Cumulative wholesales for Jaguar Land Rover for the fiscal were 1,88,791 vehicles, higher by 21 percent over the last year.

--UNI

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Fiat to Up Ownership of Chrysler to 52 Percent, Take Controlling Interest

Today, Fiat announced that it would be spending an additional $500 million to buy the last of the U.S. Treasury’s shares in Chrysler, which will give it a controlling 52-percent share in the Pentastar company. Just a week ago, Fiat pumped $1.3 billion into Chrysler, upping its stake from 30 to 46 percent of the automaker.

When the deal is approved by the appropriate federal regulatory agencies, Fiat will become the fourth body to control Chrysler in the past 10 years. None of these owners saw success with Chrysler: Daimler paid $36 billion in its merger/takeover of Chrysler in 1998, and sold it for $7.4 billion in 2009. Cerberus, the private equity firm that acquired Chrysler in 2009, oversaw the automaker’s descent into bankruptcy. The U.S. government, which then took over Chrysler, says that it will likely have lost $1.3 billion when it finally ceases to have any ownership in the company this year. (Some would argue, of course, that $1.3 billion was a fair government price to pay for keeping a major American industrial producer afloat. Others, maybe not.)

By the end of the year, Fiat may up its stake in Chrysler even further, to 57 percent. As of now, the second-largest shareholder in Chrysler is the United Auto Worker’s benefits fund, which is called the VEBA; it has 41.5 percent of the company.

Fiat’s CEO, Sergio Marchionne, also told reporters of an ambitious plan to sell 6.6 million cars worldwide between the two corporations in 2014. The combined sales for all of the Fiat- and Chrysler-owned brands globally in 2010 was 3.6 million, casting a dubious light on Mr. Marchionne’s claim. Fiat’s launch in the U.S. with the new 500 has been less than a smash hit; the company had previously targeted 50,000 sales for 2011, and revised that number downward to 45,000 a few weeks ago. To date, just 3141 examples of the stylish hatch have been sold, and we expect total sales for 2011 to fall well short of the hoped figure. BMW’s Mini line—which consisted of the hatchback, convertible, and Clubman at the time—racked up 45,644 U.S. sales in 2010.

We’ll bring you more news on Fiat’s takeover of Chrysler as it develops.

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