Eric Leblanc, managing director, Volvo India, handing over the keys of the 200th tipper to V Prabhakar Reddy, partner, VPR, & Co

Volvo’s Truck Division (India) delivered the 200th tipper to VPR & Co., a leading civil contractor operating in the mining and irrigation sector, recently. With the 200th Volvo Tipper joining its fleet, VPR & Co. has become the owner of the largest fleet of Volvo Tippers in India. This is also a big landmark for Volvo Trucks, which signifies the growing demands of its tippers for most challenging mining and infrastructure operations. Eric Leblanc, managing director, Volvo India, handed over the keys of the 200th Tipper to V Prabhakar Reddy, partner, VPR, & Co. With the inclusion of 200th Volvo tipper VPR & Co has a total of 200 Volvo tippers in its fleet, which started with just 8 Volvo trucks. 

Speaking on the occasion, Leblanc said, “This is a strong recognition of the superior technology and high performance of Volvo Tippers in varied Indian terrains. As the mining and infrastructure sector in India is taking on new challenges every day, Volvo is gearing up to provide efficient, safe and also economy solutions to fulfill all required demands”. Volvo has more than 50 per cent market share in the mining segment when it comes to high performing tipper trucks. The company also enjoys a close to 70 per cent repeat purchase rate and many of its customers today have fleet sizes of over 50 numbers and these numbers continue to grow.

Global Automobiles, a subsidiary of the Kolkata-based Xenitis group, has tied up with China's Guangzhou Motors for the production of entry-level cars in India, a top company official said. "We had earlier entered into a technology transfer pact with Guangzhou Motors, a state-run enterprise of the Chinese government, to manufacture two wheelers in West Bengal," said Suparna Maitra, head of corporate strategy of Xenitis. "Now we have signed a similar pact for producing small cars as well," Maitra told a news agency. The price, he added, would range between Rs 100,000 and Rs 125,000 ($2,400-$3,000). "It will be a no frills car. We will be able to see them on road by the end of 2008. We are also looking for land near our motorcycle factory and hopefully we will be able to have things in place in a couple of months." 

The company's four-stroke 125 cc bike, Expression, rolled out last month from its factory in Chinsurah, some 60 km north of Kolkata and not too far from Tata Motor's Singur site. Asked how they will compete with a group like the Tatas, who are also planning to roll out a small car by the end of next year, Maitra said: "We are not competing with the Tatas at all." Maitra said they had studied the market well and felt the need for a "people's car". "We want people riding two-wheelers to graduate to four-wheelers. We will position our product in that way keeping the affordability factor in mind." The company is also not deterred by the fact that small car sales had gone down five per cent last fiscal for the first time in three years. "It's a cyclical trend. Sales will go down but we are hopeful it will go up again." 

The competition in the entry-level car segment is getting tougher with a host of companies announcing their plans to enter the segment, including the Tatas, Hero Honda and Bajaj Auto. According to industry sources, even Nissan Renault was looking at a tie-up with Mahindra and Mahindra to find their feet in the small car segment. Xenitis, founded by Santunu Ghosh, was set up in 2002 and two years later the company started manufacturing a low cost branded computer - Aamar PC (My PC in Bangla), but diversified into two wheelers in a tie-up with Guangzhou Motors. The state-run Guangzhou Motors Co was founded in 1992 to make motorcycles and is one of the 70 large enterprises supported emphatically by the provincial government, according to information posted on the group's website.

Mahindra & Mahindra Farm Equipment Sector has won an AE50 award from ASABE, The Society for Engineering in Agricultural, Food, and Biological Systems, for Shaan. ASABE, an international, not-for-profit organization of diverse members dedicated to advancing agricultural, biological and food engineering, chose Shaan as one of the year’s most innovative designs in engineering products or systems for the food and agriculture industries. 

The AE50 award program is sponsored by Resource to emphasize the role of new products and systems in bringing advanced technology to the marketplace. These engineering developments help farmers, food processors and equipment manufacturers to cut costs, enhance quality and increase profits. Said Anjanikumar Choudhari, President – Farm Equipment Sector, “We are delighted that our multi-utility tractor, SHAAN, was selected from over 1500 worldwide entries for this prestigious award. It is a true reflection of the engineering design capabilities of Indian companies, now beginning to compete successfully with the best in the world.”

Rajkot-based three-wheeler manufacturer Atul Auto recently appointed a dealership in Haryana, its first in the state. The setting up of dealership-- Bright Auto in Bahadurgarh , Haryana, takes the J.J. Chandra promoted three wheeler manufacturer into Northern India. The Haryana outlet will market passenger, commercial and special purpose vehicles, and in petrol, diesel and CNG variants. Speaking on the occasion, H.S. Sikka, Regional Manager (North), Atul Auto Limited said, “This dealership is an attempt on the part of Atul Auto to enter the National Capital Region (NCR) and the places adjoining to New Delhi. 

Right now, we have limited presence in these places and with this channel we intend to capture at least 10per cent market share in the future. In order to have the right impact, we are planning to enter the market with our CNG variants.” In order to consolidate Atul’s presence in this market the company is planning to open a five more dealership in the North, starting off with Ghaziabad and four more by the end of next month. “After launching in Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, we plan to launch Atul Auto vehicles in Srinagar (J&K), Mandi (HP), Ponta Sahib (HP) and Bilaspur (HP) to name a few of the places”, added Sikka.

The DaimlerChrysler Truck Group and Fiat Powertrain Technologies (FPT) announced today to have concluded a strategic co-operation agreement in the field of powertrains. 

The first step of this agreement concerns the long-term supply of light-duty diesel engines (FPT F1C) to the Mitsubishi Fuso Bus & Truck Corporation (MFTBC), to be used in the Canter light commercial vehicle which will be marketed in major markets, including Europe and Japan. 

FPT will supply around 80,000 F1C engines per year to Mitsubishi Fuso starting in 2009. The supply volumes will increase over the following years. The engine is a Common Rail Diesel engine, with 3.0 liter displacement, rated 177 Hp at 3,500 rpm and a torque of 400 Nm at 1,400 rpm. Thanks to the optimized design of all engine components and to the advanced technology of its injection and turbocharging systems, the F1C engine guarantees excellent performance and fuel consumption. The F1C engine is currently manufactured only in Foggia, Italy, but production in an additional site will shortly be started as part of the globalization of FPTs footprint. 

The current Canter generation was introduced in 2002 and is one of the most successful light-duty trucks in Asia - sold over 132,000 times in 2006 in over 106 countries world-wide. Its great success and Mitsubishi Fuso’s core competence for such vehicles makes MFTBC the world-wide Competence Centre for light-duty trucks within the DaimlerChrysler Truck Group. 

Within the framework of this strategic supply-agreement the two companies are also investigating further potential business opportunities in other markets, including South East Asia. “This agreement is a key step in our strategy aimed at developing strategic partnerships in all sectors of the Group” said Sergio Marchionne, CEO of Fiat Group. “Our ability to partner with DaimlerChrysler is confirmation that the decision to carve out our powertrain activities as a separate sector two years ago was the right one, and that we have products and technical skills to satisfy the needs of a demanding market.” 

Dieter Zetsche, Chairman of the Board of Management of DaimlerChrysler AG and responsible for the Mercedes Car Group, said: “Today’s and future emission regulations demand a high level of investment and technological specialization. This agreement provides a value added for both companies, Fiat Group and DaimlerChrysler.” 

Andreas Renschler, Member of the DaimlerChrysler Board of Management and responsible for the Truck Group, added: “Today is a milestone for the DaimlerChrysler Truck Group in many ways. With this alliance we have reached the best decision for our Fuso customers as we will offer them the most modern, technologically advanced and ecologically friendly light-duty engine for their businesses. And the engine will deliver high performance combined with highly competitive fuel efficiency.” 

“This agreement witnesses the level of our technology and supports the strategic role of FPT in expanding its business outside the captive market” said Alfredo Altavilla, CEO of Fiat Powertrain Technologies. “We trust this supply agreement can be the first step in a long-lasting and mutually satisfactory cooperation in further selected projects.”

The Spanish multi-national tier 1 supplier, Ficosa together with GMV has introduced an intelligent communications module for vehicles, which improves traffic movement and safety. While sources at Ficosa agree that in the next few years, communications between vehicles and also those from vehicle to infrastructures will become increasingly important in addition to electronics and the protection of the environment, the aim of finding solutions and meeting these increasing needs in vehicle communications led Ficosa and GMV to develop a miniature communications module. The module is based on multi-architectural technology, which is flexible and capable of evolving as well as adapting to new communication standards that arise in the vehicle’s lifecycle. The multi-architectural technology is also sufficiently powerful to integrate different telematic and safety services and applications in one device. 

The system can support many services and applications including the European emergency call system (eCall), safety and mobility applications based on both vehicle-vehicle communication and vehicle-infrastructure communication, services provided by the vehicle manufacturer (call centre, remote vehicle diagnosis, on-road assistance, etc.), fleet management systems, automated toll payments, car insurance single payment systems, vehicle information gathering systems to determine real traffic situations, stolen vehicle tracking devices, automatic payment systems (parking, petrol stations, etc.), navigation and on-board entertainment. 

As a hugely valuable element for automobile constructors, the module developed by the Spanish multi-national is easily incorporated into the vehicle (becoming invisible to the user) thanks to its tiny size.

Mahindra & Mahindra has launched a range of premium lifestyle accessories branded “S-Nothing Else Will Do”. The launch of the premium lifestyle merchandise is part of Mahindra’s brand extension strategy for the Scorpio and the brand extension using accessories has been a model successfully followed by global automotive majors owning premium and cult brands. Mahindra is pioneering this challenging but innovative international strategy in the Indian four-wheeler market to satisfy the demand of a rising number of customers, who want to be associated with the brand. The merchandise range that promises to create a style statement for its owners includes branded Polo neck & Round neck T shirts, coffee tumblers, Stylized key chains, Stylized caps, and miniature Scorpio model toy cars. 

Automotive Systems Division of the Germany-based automotive supplier, Continental AG, has signed a joint venture agreement with Rico Auto Industries to build a hydraulic brake systems plant in India in two phases and with the aim of generating sales of € 30 million (Rs 165 crores) in a first phase. The joint venture will be a 50/50 partnership between the two companies with Continental Automotive Systems having the management lead. The plant will begin mass production of hydraulic brake systems in the fourth quarter of 2008, with employment strength of around 450 at Gurgaon near New Delhi. In addition to hydraulic brake products the plant will also produce calipers for front and rear axles, drum brakes, master cylinders, brake boosters and load sensing proportioning valves for vehicles of all classes, and supplying to OEM customers in India. The planned annual production capacity is 1.0 million of brake actuation units and 2.0 million of brake calipers, 1.5 million drum brakes and 0.5 million load sensing proportioning valves. On completion of second phase the plant will have annual turnover of € 65 millions (Rs. 357.5 crores) and a strength of 625 persons. 

"RICO is a well established auto component supplier in India, which will bring local market know-how to the JV", said Heinz Zingel, Executive Vice President, Hydraulic Brake Systems and member of the Management Board of Continental Automotive Systems. "The new plant, designed according to world-class standards, will become the production base of our hydraulic braking products in India". Arvind Kapur in his statement said, "We are very pleased to have Continental as a partner in this venture. Continental being one of the leading technology provider & manufacturer of brake systems in the world would add significant value to the Indian Auto Component Industry through this Joint Venture. With our experience in casting & machining, along with Continental’s proven leadership in the braking systems, we complement each other very well". 

While the US$ 250 million Rico group has one of the biggest ferrous and aluminum casting and machining facilities in India, and is one of the major suppliers of machined components and assemblies to Indian and global OEMs, Continental Automotive Systems set up its presence in India in 2006 and recently started engineering activities in Bangalore.