ElectroMech has announced plans to build a facility in Chennai. The plant will accrue an investment of Rs. 10 crores, with a capacity to manufacture 200 cranes per year which can be upgraded to 500 cranes. With India’s largest crane manufacturing facility at Pirangut (Pune), ElectroMech’s current manufacturing capacity is 2000 cranes annually and will boost up to 2500 cranes with the new state-of-the-art facility in Chennai. This facility will be built on 8000 sq.mts with built up area of around 4000 sq.m, and will manufacture various industrial cranes like single girder, double girder, stacker and goliath cranes. 

The project is scheduled to be completed in February 2009. The Chennai facility is expected to help ElectroMech to better serve its increasing count of clients in South India. A few notable installations in this part being Saint Gobain Glass in Sriperumbudur, Hansen in Coimbatore, and a whole host of Korean automobile ancillaries situated around Sriperumbudur.

Peter Kronschnabl, President, BMW India, with Neeraj Kumar, MD & CEO, OAIS

BMW India signed a co-operation agreement with ORIX Auto Infrastructure Services Limited (OAIS) for leasing services of BMW cars in India. The leasing services will be offered to customers through the BMW dealership network across India. Additionally, OAIS will also support BMW through its existing business network. 

Through this agreement, OAIS will offer unique services to BMW group customers. Further, the products will be customised to cater to the special requirements of BMW customers. With this agreement, BMW and OAIS aim to deliver hallmark quality of service through all BMW dealerships and BMW corporate customers across the country. 

Commenting on the development, Peter Kronschnabl, President, BMW India said the agreement reflected BMW's commitment to set new benchmarks in service quality and customer care in India. Neeraj Kumar, MD & CEO, OAIS said “Our focus has always been value creation and through this tie up, OAIS will be able to provide a value product for the Indian market. Customers can experience superior products and avail the benefits under value added lease.

Chennai-based infrastructure development company, Consolidated Construction Consortium Ltd (CCC) has bagged a Rs 1.4 billion order to build the Renault-Nissan vehicle plant at Oragadam near Chennai. CCC has also won a project worth Rs 1 billion to build a global automotive centre for the National Automotive Testing and R&D Infrastructure Project (NATRIP) at Oragadam. 

With these orders, the company's total order backlog is Rs 31.8 billion, which is to be executed over a period of 18 months. "We are consolidating our presence in the auto plant construction sector," company CEO R Sarabeswar said. CCC has earlier built buildings for Hyundai Motor India and Toyota Kirloskar, and currently is constructing the Mahindra Automobile plant at Pune as well as the automobile research plant for the Mahindra group at Chennai.

Berger Paints' acquisition of Poland-based Bolix S.A. will be completed by the third week of August, opening up markets for Berger in European countries and enabling it to sell Bolix's energy-saving paints in India, Chairman Kuldip Singh Dhingra said. "The acquisition will provide synergy benefits to Berger's presence in the region, both in terms of new business opportunities and regional markets. The growth prospects are enormous," Dhingra told reporters after the 84th annual general meeting of shareholders. 

Berger acquired Bolix in April from private equity group Advent International for $34.8 million with its internal resources. Dhingra said Berger also plans to launch Bolix's paints in India, but he refused to provide a time-frame. "The products are doing very well in countries which are conscious about saving energy and we are sure they will be well received in India as well," Dhingra said. 

Bolix, with a turnover of $45.5 million in 2007, is the largest provider of external insulation finishing systems or EIFS in the B2B segment in Poland. It exports to Ukraine, Russia and the Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Bolix products have an 80 per cent penetration in the Germany market, 40 per cent in Poland and 3 per cent in Ukraine. 

Meanwhile, Managing Director Subir Bose said the automotive-paint manufacturing plant with a capacity of 24,000 tonnes per annum at Jejuri near Pune, being built at a cost of Rs 50 crores, will be operational by September 2009.

Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) has said that its Board of Directors has approved the acquisition of business assets of Pune-based Kinetic Motor Company Ltd. (KMCL). The acquisition will be done through a new company to be formed. The consideration for the acquisition is a sum of Rs. 110 crores (subject to closing due diligence) plus 20 per cent stake to KMCL in the new company. M&M will hold the balance 80 per cent of the equity. 

The deal will enable Mahindra to design and market a range of scooters, value engineered motorcycles and high-end motorcycles for the Indian and global markets, helping it establish a robust, end-to-end two-wheeler business in every segment of the industry. In yet another development, the Board of Directors of M&M and Punjab Tractors have unanimously approved a scheme of amalgamation of Punjab Tractors Limited (PTL) with Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. M&M owns a majority stake in Punjab Tractors and acquired 63.33 per cent stake in PTL in July 2007. MHFL, a wholly owned subsidiary of M&M, currently holds 1.31 per cent of PTL, and is also in the process of being merged into M&M. 

Under this amalgamation scheme, pursuant to provisions of Sections 391 to 394 and other relevant provisions of the Companies Act, 1956, PTL will be merged into M&M and all its assets and liabilities will be transferred to M&M at book values. Upon the scheme becoming effective, M&M will transfer all the equity shares held by it in PTL to a Trust, of which M&M is the beneficiary. M&M will issue its shares to PTL shareholders as on record date, based on the swap ratio determined by independent valuers.

Based on its recent analysis of heavy-duty truck bearings market, Frost & Sullivan has presented GGB Bearing Technology with the 2008 North American Frost & Sullivan Award for Product Innovation of the Year in the Class 7-8 truck bearings segment. Each year, this award is presented to the company that has demonstrated excellence in new products and technologies within its industry. 

This year's award is in recognition of GGB's development of robust, long-lasting DX(R)10 with DuraStrong technology bearings, and its focus on application-specific heavy truck bearings that perform effectively under the rigors of on-highway and vocational operation, consistently delivering superior return-on-investment and customer value. 

GGB, formerly known as Glacier Garlock Bearings, is the world's largest manufacturer of metal-polymer plain bearings. The company has cemented its position as a leader in product innovation in the heavy truck bearings market through the development of its DuraStrong technology, which it effectively leveraged to design and introduce the innovative DX(R)10 bearing.

India's leading bus and truck maker Ashok Leyland Ltd said it was developing a new range of trucks with a new engine and new cabin. “The modular platform, engine and the cabin will provide the necessary competitive edge for us and also offer good price-performance ratio for the buyers,” Ashok Leyland Managing Director R Seshasayee told reporters in Chennai. 

Asked about the cost advantage of the new product, he said: “There will certainly be advantage for the company as we will be dealing with limited number of vendors and parts. The customers will also benefit because of this. However, I am not in a position to quantify the cost advantage for the company.” 

Under the new platform named as Unitruck, Ashok Leyland will roll out 16-49 tonne trucks from 2010. The trucks will feature a range of gear boxes, with cost effective automatic and automated manual transmission as options on some models. “Unitruck models will also sport a new generation cabin initially before modular cabins replace them,” Seshasayee said. He added that the cabins in the export vehicles would have features that are entirely different from the vehicles sold in India. 

He said Ashok Leyland's 50:50 joint venture project with Finnish company Alteams to make high pressure diecasting aluminium products was progressing well. “The plant will come up in Cheyyur near Chennai. Land acquisition is in progress,” Seshasayee added.

Cinven, one of the leading international private equity firms, has announced that it has reached an agreement to acquire German truck supplier Jost Group. Subject to regulatory clearance, the purchase price is undisclosed. While the transaction will be financed from the fourth Cinven fund which with a volume of Euro 6.5 billion—one of the largest funds dedicated solely to large European buyouts, Jost is expected to present a good growth engine. 

Not only has Jost grown significantly faster than the market over the past five years and has been able to increase annual sales at double digit rates on average to around Euro 445 million in 2007, it recently closed the acquisition of Tridec, which is one of the leading manufacturers of mechanical and hydraulic steering systems. With a presence in Eastern Europe, China, Brazil and India, Jost is now a leading global manufacturer of systems, modules and components for the truck industry.

Hyundai Motor India has announced an exchange and upgrade scheme that allows customers to lower their monthly car-loan payments even as they upgrade to a bigger car. The scheme is targeted at all those users of smaller compacts who would prefer to upgrade to a bigger car but are prevented from doing this by the higher EMI’s of a bigger car. Under the new exchange and upgrade scheme, all they have to do is bring in their smaller compact to any Hyundai dealership and get an evaluation of this done at the dealership and put the value as a down payment to upgrade to a bigger Hyundai car. 

Typically, the Equated Monthly Installment (EMI) value for a 48 month loan tenure works out to be an amount which will be lower than the EMI for a smaller car. The scheme is open for all makes of car and upgrade is possible for the most popular hatchback Santro, the newly launched, award winning i10 or even the bigger cars like the Accent and the Verna.

The Volkswagen Group delivered 3.27 million vehicles worldwide (+5.8 per cent) from January to June 2008, the highest figure ever for the first six months of a year. Group worldwide deliveries in June also reached a new record: compared with the same period last year, the number of vehicles delivered rose by 2.4 per cent to 573,000. As a result, the development of deliveries by the Group both for the period January to June and for the month of June was significantly better than developments on the overall market (+1 per cent from January to June and-5.1 per cent in June). 

Volkswagen Passenger Cars, the Group’s highest volume brand, delivered 1.9 million vehicles (+5.8 per cent) worldwide in the first half of the year. Audi delivered 516,000 vehicles (+1.4 per cent) and Skoda delivered 367,000 vehicles (+17.9 per cent). Seat sold 206,000 vehicles (-7.5 per cent), Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles delivered 264,000 vehicles (+12.9 per cent). Bentley delivered 4,700 vehicles to customers, Lamborghini 1,300 and Bugatti 35.

Skoda India has hiked the price of its cars in the range of Rs10,000 to Rs25,000. The across-the-range price hike is attributed to the rise in freight and raw material costs. Commenting on the price hike, Thomas Kuehl, Member Board of Directors, Sales and Marketing, said, “The price hike has been necessitated by a variety of cost push factors like surge in freight costs and raw materials. The company has made efforts to absorb maximum costs to keep the price rise marginal so then impact to our valued customers is minimised.” The company recorded a 69per cent growth in sales in June 2008 as compared to June 2007.

The $75-billion Hyundai Motors, the world's fifth largest automaker, has decided to make India its global hub for small cars, the company's chief executive for the Indian market has said. 

“We have a very clear picture about the Indian market. We want to use India as our small car hub. India will be used for manufacturing and export of our small cars,” Heung Soo Lheem, Managing Director of Hyundai Motors India Ltd said. “Our upcoming i20 model, which will debut in the Paris Motor Show in September, will be solely manufactured in India,” Lheem, whose company is India's second largest car maker after Maruti Suzuki, told a media agency. 

The automaker, which sells its cars in as many as 193 countries, had launched the i10 - its new offering in the 'A' segment - last November. This car, too, is exclusively manufactured in India, he said. The Hyundai executive said i20 is a hatchback sedan offering in the 'B' segment. “This car will hit the Indian market in November,” he said, while rubbishing reports that the company will phase out the Santro and Getz, post i20 launch. Santro, which is sold as Atos in Hyundai's other markets, was used as the launch pad for the South Korean giant's foray into the Indian automobile market over ten years ago. 

The South Korean automobile giant sold 327,160 vehicles in India in 2007 and had doubled its assembly line at the Chennai plant to 600,000 units annually this January. Hyundai Motors India - which counts actor Shah Rukh Khan and tennis ace Sania Mirza as its brand ambassadors - is part of South Korea's Hyundai Kia Motors Automotive Group, formed after the merger between Hyundai and Kia in 1998.

Brembo, the Italian brand of brakes and known for its technology and expertise, has chosen Bangalore-based Methods Automotive as its (India) partner for sales, service and marketing. One of the leading manufacturer of performance braking systems, Brembo is also a supplier to almost every major team and manufacturers into closed circuit racing, rally, rally raid, etc., the world over. The company also makes brakes for some of the best and sought after super car and sports car brands. 

Methods Automotive will provide the channel support to those who want to fir Brembo brake systems through its channel outlets across India. Brembo adds to the other brands like K&N air filters, , NGK Iridium Spark plugs, Remus Exhaust systems, Koni shock absorbers, Eibach Lowering springs and Sparco Racing and street gear, which Methods Automotive markets in India.

Bajaj Auto has launched a sportier Discover 135 DTSi. Aimed at further strengthening the company’s dominant position in the premium segment, the new Discover features 135 cc DTS-i engine, racer breed tank mounted spoilers with integrated indicators, digital speedometer with tachometer and reserve fuel indicator, striking new dual tone graphics, new aggressive front fairing, nitrox suspension and front disc brake (sports version) and a wider rear tyre and racing wheel stripes (sports version). 

Three versions of the new Discover 135 DTS-I are available – sports, electric start and kick-start. Prices start at Rs.45,710 , ex showroom Pune.