Bharat Forge Ltd., the flagship company of the USD 2.1 billion Kalyani Group and a leading global supplier of forged and machined components, today announced its second quarter results with combined revenue reaching Rs.1071.2 crore and PAT of Rs. 79.1 crore, a growth of 8% and 6% respectively.The combined EBITDA margins improved to 19.0% from 18.2% a year ago. Bharat Forge on a Stand alone basis achieved a healthy growth of 25% in Revenue & 9% in PAT, which now stands at Rs. 588.5 Crore and Rs. 67.7 crore, respectively. 

The highlight of the quarter was PBT, which reached Rs 101 crores, a growth of 10% on the back of strong exports. On a sequential basis, Operating profit before Tax excluding other income have grown by 68% from Rs 45 crores to Rs 76 crores. Exports recorded a stellar growth of 42% on a YoY basis, despite continued softness in the US Medium & Heavy Commercial Vehicle industry & a strong rupee. The exports growth adjusted for currency appreciation is an impressive 54%. 

Commenting on the results, Mr. Baba N Kalyani, Chairman and Managing Director of Bharat Forge Ltd., said the company’s improved performance had come on the back of strong demand from Europe & Asia Pacific which now constituted roughly 50% of the exports and successful ramp up in production of heavy duty engine parts and passenger car engine components for the US and European market. The company’s non-auto capacity expansion programme at Baramati and Pune was progressing as per schedule and the facility will come on line for trial runs by 1st and 2nd quarter FY09, respectively, he added.

By order of the United States Bankruptcy Court, Eastern District Of Michigan, Southern Division (Case No: 06-58298-PJS), Hilco Industrial will be auctioning the bankrupt asset of a world class automotive manufacturer specialising in complete forged, turned and hollow tube automotive camshaft facility that include cam shaft manufacturing lines for Chrysler, Ford, Jaguar and General Motors. 

While a host of late model equipment will be auctioned, additional equipment like toolroom machinery, presses, heat treat, material handling, forklifts, air-compression equipment is also expected to feature on the list. According to sources at Hilco the auction will be conducted on the 6th, 7th and 8th of November 2007, in English, accepting U.S. currency only. For further information contact: George Laidlaw, Hilco Industrial, at glaidlaw@hilcoind.com. Tel: 616.233.0702.

Netherlands-based AlgaeLink NV, a global developer and manufacturer of scalable photo-bio reactors for the production of bio-diesel, has announced the development of patented photobioreactor systems for algae, which are the only ones in the world that are not built out of pre-manufactured tubes, but out of special manufactured UV protected transparent sheets, equipped with a type of zipper. 

When the 4 to 6 mm thick sheets arrive on the building site, they are easily and automatically folded into a durable and sturdy, perfectly round tube with a diameter of 64 cm. This tube automatically seals water tight. With this construction the shipping costs will be reduced by 90 per cent. During the three years of its development, AlgaeLink has made tremendous progress in the science of algae and the engineering of their patented, large commercialized micro-algae production systems.

Škoda India has introduced a new, Ambiente version of its Laura. Called, Laura Ambiente, the new variant is offered at an attractive price of range of Rs 12, 89,990 (ex showroom Thane) and is available in four colors, brilliant silver, candy white, satin grey and corrida red. The car has all the virtues emblematic of every Skoda India car including the added safety features like two airbags, traction control system (ABS + ASR), rear parking sensors with parktronic display and automatic wipers with rain sensors.

Officials of MAN Ferrostaal AG, a German engineering major, met Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh and expressed desire to set up a rail wheels-and-axle plant in the state, an official statement said. CEO Michael Walter and executive director John Tremus of MAN Ferrostaal met Raman Singh at the state secretariat and expressed interest in setting up the plant in a special economic zone (SEZ). "The German company officials held preliminary discussions with the chief minister in the presence of chief secretary Shivraj Singh and Aman Kumar Singh, joint secretary to chief minister, for setting up a mega rail wheel-and-axle plant based on latest German technology," the statement read. MAN Ferrostaal officials told the chief minister that the company would require about 150 acres of land for setting up the plant.

General Motors India is in the process of setting up a new facility to manufacture engine and transmission parts in the country, according to industry sources. The facility is likely to be a part of the new facility being constructed at Talegaon near Pune. While the Talegaon facility is expected to be operational by next year, Karl Slym, the newly appointed president and managing director of General Motors India, in his first interaction with the media, said, “We are evaluating setting up a manufacturing unit for powertrain products. However, the investment and the precise location of the new facility would be announced shortly.” 

General Motors India is sourcing engine and transmission parts from its global facilities in different locations of the world depending on the product. According to Slym, GMI will be launching the Captiva SUV. The vehicle is expected to be shown at the forthcoming Auto Expo (2008). According to sources, initially, Captiva will be imported as a CBU and depending on the demand, assembled here in India.

Neoplan participated at Europe’s largest bus trade fair, Busworld at Kortrijk. The company displayed its range of buses and coaches in the exhibition hall and outdoors. It exhibited shimmering mother-of-pearl paintwork, elegant graphics and lettering, and with a jewellery motif befitting the Neoplan VIP class. Particular focus was on comfort and security, and especially after the introduction of active comfort drive suspension (CDS) and the new cornering light. Outdoors, a two-axle Cityliner Safety with CDS, ACC and LGS was displayed as well as put on test drives with trained personnel to enable a feel of the benefits of this unique system.

Higher bus sales despite the slowdown in the domestic commercial vehicle market has helped Ashok Leyland report a profit after tax of Rs 1,685.24 million for the first half of the current fiscal, up 2.4 per cent over Rs 1,645.10 million in the first half of the last fiscal. 

Ashok Leyland’s half yearly sales volume was 37,033 numbers compared to 36,903 numbers for the first half of the last fiscal, despite a 5per cent fall in the country’s medium and heavy commercial vehicle segment. Garnering more than half of the market share in the bus segment has helped the Company offset the impact of the slowdown in the goods segment.

DaimlerChrysler has announced a new heavy-duty engine platform for Daimler Trucks. Andreas Renschler, member of the Daimler Board of Management and Head of the Daimler Trucks Division, and his colleagues, Dr. Michael Dostal, who is responsible for Powertrain Operations & Manufacturing Engineering, and Chris Patterson, who is responsible for the NAFTA Region and the commercial vehicle brands Freightliner, Sterling, Western Star, and Thomas Built Buses, presented the new Heavy-Duty Engine Platform (HDEP) for the North American market in Detroit, Michigan, US. 

“The new family of heavy-duty engines, which were jointly developed in Germany, Japan and the U.S., marks an important step toward the realization of our worldwide modular strategy,” said Renschler at the launch. “As part of the Global Excellence Program, we will make much greater use of common parts and even modules across our brands. This will enable us to achieve significant economies of scale in the long term and will consolidate our position as a global leader.” 

The objective is to replace the current eight engine families with just three for all brands worldwide. In a first step, the HDEP will be used to replace today’s four heavy-duty engines with a global engine platform for this segment over the mid to long term. Since 2002, US $1.5 billion has been invested worldwide in the development of the HDEP. With 90 percent shared parts, it will be possible to achieve considerable cost savings in the long term. The savings are mainly due to common development and production series management, globally coordinated engine production and economies of scale. Target volumes have been set at 200,000 units per year in the mid- to long-term. 

These engines, which will be built in Germany, Japan, and the US, will be offered in three displacement categories—12.8 litres, 14.8 litres and 15.6 litres. Once the Detroit Diesel DD15 has been launched on the market, the engine family also will be used by Mitsubishi Fuso in the medium-term and later by Mercedes-Benz. Due to the long development cycles for commercial vehicles, the market launches have been planned to coincide with the model changeovers of the individual products and brands. For this reason, the HDEP will now be available in the new Freightliner Cascadia for the first time worldwide. Implementation in Daimler Trucks’ four other truck brands will follow in succession.

automechanika is the world's premier event for automotive parts, equipment and service suppliers. For years it was hosted in Germany and confined to the west. Its magnitude and potential soon reached the Far East and Asia Pacific regions making it imperative to host its Eastern equivalent. And what better destination than China to attract the most influencing players to exhibit at automechanika China to be held in Shanghai between 5th and 7th December 2007. 

Orbitz is a destination specialist for China. When it comes to trade fair tours, Orbitz has no equal. That's because its Business Tours division comprises a team with the expertise and vast experience of having handled numerous delegations to automechanika in its earlier hostings. For automechanika China, Orbitz has thoughtfully designed all-inclusive visitors' travel packages that make for a hassle free and eventful business visit. 

There's one purely business package and two business-cum-leisure packages with holiday extensions to each Beijing and Bangkok-Pattaya. All three packages offer a city and shopping tour of Shanghai including Oriental Pearl TV Tower and an exciting River Cruise on the Huangpu river to help unwind. There's a choice of two hotel options namely 4 star or 3 star to suit most budgets. However, both city centre hotels afford the best in comfort and convenience. 

The packages include daily Indian breakfast and dinners, airport to hotel transfers and daily fairground transfer during the trade fair, sightseeing of Shanghai, Beijing and the Great Wall of China, Bangkok and a tour of Coral Island (Pattaya). Moreover the package price also includes Chinese and Thai single entry visas, overseas Mediclaim, airport taxes and the services of an experienced tour manager to make sure the delegates have an absolutely relaxed trip. [Contact: Orbitz Corporate & Leisure Travels (I) Pvt Ltd, Mumbai. Tel: 022-24102801, 24197400. Fax: 91-22-24102805. E-mail: neeraj@orbitz-world.com]

Remsons, which is into the manufacture of control cables from the year 1965, has entered into a joint venture with US-based Orscheln Products LLC, which is into the manufacture of transportation motion control systems for the North American and European industrial and off-highway OEM sectors. Christened as Orscheln Remsons, the joint venture operations are expected to commence by the end of this year. Combining the expertise of both the partners, the joint venture will manufacture transmission controls, fluid level indicators, parking brake controls, cables, modulators, shifters, pedals, control cables and throttle control systems. 

Speaking about the JV, Krishna Kejriwal, managing director of Remsons Industries and director of Orscheln Remsons, says, “The joint venture has been formulated along a win: win principle; products have been demarcated and markets have been outlined. Orcsheln will hold a 60 per cent stake in the JV and Remsons will hold the rest”. Announcing that the joint venture company will introduce new products with an initial investment of Rs 10 crores, Kejriwal added, “The funding will be through equity and debt”. 

Robert Orscheln, products president and chief operating officer, Orscheln, said, “Orscheln is very pleased to work with Remsons. Our companies represent over 100 years of privately owned family businesses with common traditions of facing ever changing market pressures with proven technology and exemplary customer service. We are prepared to work through the ups and downs”. 

Interesting the joint venture has already bid on projects and is in discussions. While both the companies are expected to leverage their existing relationships to secure a greater chunk of the business here in India, Remsons, which has facilities in Daman and at Gurgaon, already has on its client list companies like Maruti, GM, Fiat, Tata, Piaggio, Ashok Leyland, LML, Kinetic, HM, Reva, International Cars & Motors, Hero Motors, Sonalika, Minda huf, Johnson Controls, Electrolux, Dana, Subros, Behr, Sona Group and Pricol.

Automaker Daimler AG is close to announcing a joint venture with an Indian firm to manufacture trucks for the Indian market. “In India we are very close to an announcement,” Andreas Renschler, a member of the Daimler board, said at an event in Detroit to launch a new heavy-duty diesel engine. 

“We have found a partner,” he said. Daimler is planning to expand its commercial vehicle division in India and Russia, media reports said. Daimler, which already sells a small number of its Actros heavy trucks in India, also plans to produce completely knocked down (CKD) versions of the vehicle in limited numbers later this year. That would complement the much larger production of the vehicle planned with Mercedes' Indian partner, which was not identified. 

Daimler holds small stakes in two Indian truck makers, Tata and Eicher. “We are discussing building a factory for truck assembly. We will make a final decision by the end of this year,” Renschler said. “We have a very good position in our traditional markets. The real growth, if you look to the world market, will happen - or is already happening - in China, India and probably also Russia,” he said. 

Daimler's five truck brands, Mercedes, Mitsubishi Fuso, Freightliner, Western Star and Sterling sold 537,000 units last year for almost 32 billion euros (about $46 billion). The group would again reach last year's record level of operating profit of 2.02 billion euros in 2007, he said. Daimler has invested a total of $1.5 billion since 2002 in the development of a global engine platform for all heavy-duty trucks in the mid to long-term. The goal is for trucks using the platform to have 90 per cent shared parts and to produce a target volume of 200,000 trucks annually in the mid to long-term. The automaker says it would save 600 million euros from the global engine platform once the system is fully implemented.

Two-wheeler manufacturer Kinetic Motor Co Ltd’s new vehicle ‘Flyte’ is expected to cannibalise the company's other models like ‘Nova 135’, ‘4S’ and ‘Kine’. “We expect Flyte to cannibalise around 30 per cent of our scooter sales. However, we expect overall volumes to grow because of Flyte,” Ajinkya Firodia, senior vice president, sales and marketing, told the media in Chennai where the model was launched. 

The 125cc Flyte is a ‘scooterette’ made by Kinetic Motor with technology from Taiwanese firm Sanyang Industry Co Ltd (SYM). In Chennai, the ex-showroom price of Flyte is Rs 36,499. Nova, 4S and Kine sell for Rs 38,500, Rs 38,000 and Rs 27,500, respectively. In order to reduce the cannibalisation, Kinetic Motor plans to convert Kine into an electric bike. 

According to Firodia, around 6,000 electric bikes are imported and sold in India. “We will give a made-in-India bike. The electric bike is developed in-house and also in association with SYM,” he said. Kinetic Motor is also planning to launch a vehicle powered by liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). Firodia said the target for Flyte are owners of TVS Motor Co's 90cc ‘Scooty Pep’ and Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India Pvt Ltd’s 102cc ‘Activa’. 

Meanwhile, Kinetic Motor is going slow on its motorcycles business, as competition in this segment is tough to manage. According to Firodia, the company is marketing the motorcycles only in rural areas. He said the company is targeting a total volume of 125,000 units this year comprising 60,000 units of Flyte, 12,000 units of Blaze, 25,000 units of motorcycles and the rest from other models. Last year the company sold 90,000 units comprising 55,000 scooters, 25,000 motorcycles and 15,000 mopeds.

Magna Powertrain and Rico Auto Industries have announced a 50:50 joint venture to produce oil and water pumps with aluminum housings for automotive engine applications for Indian and European markets. Production is scheduled to begin in early 2009 at a new manufacturing facility at Gurgaon. 

“This joint venture is a significant step forward for both companies. It will bring two world-class manufacturers together and leverage each other’s strengths and relationships. It also provides a platform for which Magna Powertrain can expand its capabilities and deliver global solutions to Indian OEMs”, said Guenther Apfalter, president, Magna Powertrain Europe and Asia. 

Arvind Kapur, managing director of Rico Auto said, “We welcome this joint venture with Magna Powertrain as it provides RICO Auto with significant value-added opportunities for further growth in our home market as well as potential growth in other markets around the world”.

Arkema Group subsidiary, Resinoplast has commissioned Resichina Engineering Polymers, a specialty compound production plant for the automotive market, in Changshu, North of Shanghai. Specialising in the manufacture of compounds for various applications and especially in automotive industry and building, the compounds are used to manufacture the synthetic leather used as skin for various trims and components in car interiors: dashboard, central console, door liner. 

The facility’s first production line came on stream in July this year, and is to double in the first half of 2008 to achieve a capacity that will be able to accommodate the entire demand from the Chinese market in the medium term. In order to provide local support to its customers, the company employs a Chinese technical team who can guarantee a supply of product and a quality of service matching the best international automotive standards. 

The new plant benefits from Resinoplast’s technical expertise, in particular in terms of development and cooperation with carmakers and automotive equipment manufacturers. Today, these synthetic leather skins are fitted in half of all European cars, and this market share is rising constantly. With its comprehensive range of high performance and innovative products, Resinoplast has become the leader in this application in both the European and the Chinese markets.

Hero Honda has introduced a new 150cc motorcycle called the Hunk. The Hunk, according to Pawankant Munjal, managing director and CEO, Hero Honda, is a tribute to the youth of India. Aimed at the basic premium motorcycle market the Hunk is an outcome of some of the key findings of the extensive research among the youth to make it a complete package of world-class technology, unprecedented features and stunning looks. 

Highlights of the Hunk include a new generation “Advanced Tumble Flow Induction” (ATFI) technology 150cc, 14.2bhp engine with advanced microprocessor ignition system and multi mapping digital CDI. The Hunk also has a anti-kick back device that prevents kick-back during cranking.

Tata Motors has introduced an enhanced Indica turbo V2. The car is now available with dual front airbags and anti-lock braking system (ABS).These safety features will be available on the Indica V2 Turbo DLX, a top-end variant of the Indica range that has been amongst the top 3 selling cars in the industry and in its segment for several years, with production of over 8 lakh units since its launch. 

The Indica, according to company sources, complies with European standards for full-frontal, offset-frontal and rear crash for passenger survivability and has acquired a reputation of being one of the safest hatchback cars on Indian roads.