Tata Motors sales fall 3 p.c. in August; Nano sales dip 85
p.c.
Tata Motors today reported a 2.84 per
cent decline in total sales during August 2011, to 64,078 units with sales of
its small car Nano falling by 85 per cent during the month.
The company had sold 65,954 units in the same
month of 2010, the company said in a statement.
The homegrown firm's total passenger vehicles
sales in the domestic market stood at 16,829 units in July, a fall of 33.25 per
cent from 25,212 units in the same month last year.
The company's latest offering Nano's sales
stood at 1,202 units during the month, down 85 per cent, the company said.
The 'Indica' range reported sales of 7,206
units, down 4 per cent vis-a-vis August, 2010, Tata Motors said.
In addition, the 'Indigo' family recorded sales
of 5,100 units, a decrease of 24 per cent in comparison to the same month last
year. Sales of 'Sumo', 'Safari' and 'Aria' grew by 15 per cent to 3,321 units.
In the commercial vehicles segment, the company
sold 43,045 units in the domestic market during the month under review compared
to 35,585 units in the same month last year, translating into an increase of
20.96 per cent.
Light commercial vehicle sales during the month
amounted to 26,344 units, a growth of 27 per cent over last year, while medium
and heavy commercial vehicle sales stood at 16,701 units, a growth of 12 per
cent compared to August, 2010.
The company's exports fell by 18.48 per cent to
4,204 units last month from 5,157 units in the same month last year, it added.
German auto major Volkswagen on Wednesday launched its
upgraded version all-New Jetta 2 litre in diesel variant starting at Rs 14.12
lakh (ex-showroom New Delhi
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Mazda is Planning to enter India
The fifth largest car manufacturing company in Japan , the Mazda is coming to India India are Honda, Nissan, Toyota India India
The company is famous for excellent and high quality car models which are very popular for their engine performance,
features, Interior, and car design. If you buy any Mazda car you will be surprised with the car performance.
When a buyer wants to buy a new car, they always want to
test Mazda car first, and once they try it, Mazda makes their mind very clear
to Go for it..
July Domestic car sales down 15.76 pc .
.
Domestic passenger car sales
have fallen for the first time after 30 months of continuous growth,
registering a 15.76 per cent decline in July this year mainly due to hikes in
lending rates and lower production by market leader Maruti Suzuki during the month.
Car sales in the country
stood at 1,33,747 units in July, 2011, as against 1,58,767 units in the same
month last year, according to figures released by the Society of Indian
Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) on Wednesday.
“This is the first time since
January, 2009, that car sales have fallen. Interest rates and fuel prices were
going up in recent months and that led to an overall negative sentiment in the
market,” SIAM Director
General Vishnu Mathur told reporters at New
Delhi
The car market last witnessed a fall in January, 2009, when sales shrunk by 3.16 per cent year-on-year. Last month’s decline is the steepest since November, 2008, when car segment sales fell by 19.34 per cent, he added.
The production loss at Maruti’s Manesar facility due to preparations for the launch of its new Swift model and realignment of its DZiRE model’s output also severely impacted sales, he said. Earlier this month, Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) said that due to these two planned activities, sales in July were negatively impacted by nearly 17,000 units. “There is no lack of demand, but just lack of conversion of demand into purchases by customers,” Mathur said.
SIAM Senior Director Sugato Sen said non-availability of certain components like castings also impacted the output of many car-makers. During the month, MSI India posted a 31.04 per cent dip in domestic car sales to 52,483 units.
Rival Hyundai Motor India’s sales were down by 11.49 per cent to 25,501 units. Tata Motors saw a decline of 43.13 per cent in sales to 13,997 units during the month. When asked about the outlook, Mathur said: “Interest rates and fuel prices are challenges for the market. Hopefully, interest rates have reached their peak... If crude continues to soften, then there may be some positive impact as it will lead to inflation coming down.”
The forthcoming festive season is also likely to help car-makers push sales, but to what extent it can boost growth has to be looked at, he added. The auto industry has started slowing down this fiscal, with the passenger car segment growing by only 7 per cent in May. In June, it saw its slowest growth rate in 27 months of 1.62 per cent.
against its earlier forecast of 16-18 per cent.
Starting with the iPod, the little lower-case prefix has become a
byword (or by-letter?) for high technology and there's seems to be no end to
the trend. It's become an i-fad. BMW started down this road a decade ago with
iDrive, the name for the control system in its cars. Now it has signed up the
vowel for something altogether bigger: a sub-brand that focuses on electric
power that will parallel its M badged high-performance division, only with a
low-emissions focus. Where M stands for extreme dynamics, i stands for extreme
efficiency.
BMW set out its i stall in Germany Leipzig
They will have in common a variety of alternative driveline
technologies, from battery power to plug-in hybrid and possibly beyond. They
will be built from carbon fibre and have a futuristic design language of their
own.
"The sustainable mobility solutions from BMW i mark the dawn
of a new era in personal mobility for the automotive industry," board
member Ian Robertson says.
Work began four years ago when BMW assembled a special team of
engineers and designers to develop a zero-emission vehicle and the freedom to
question anything. That work set the template for the i3 and the broad outlines
for all subsequent i cars.
BMW's vision has a lot in common with other carmakers' solutions
for clean-sheet, zero-emission cars. It stows the batteries in a flat panel
under the floor so the weight is carried low, to minimise dynamic problems, and
mounts an electric motor at the rear.
However, few of BMW's rivals have progressed beyond the concept stage.
Most of the electric vehicles due for sale during the next few years fit the
electric components into cars that follow conventional formats because they
were designed for internal combustion engines first.
A rethink of the car layout was combined with a commitment to use
carbon fibre to tackle the problem of battery weight: typically, batteries add
hundreds of kilograms to an electric car. Carbon fibre is half the weight of
steel and at least as strong. It's composed of woven layers of carbon strands bonded
together and has been the preferred material of top-echelon racing categories,
such as Formula 1, for decades.
Until recently, its high cost and cumbersome production process
have restricted its use in road cars to small components or cosmetic trim, with
a couple of high-profile and very expensive exceptions. With the i3, BMW is
bringing carbon fibre construction into the luxury mainstream for the first
time. It slices about 300kg out of the car weight that would otherwise reduce
its range. It also reduces the number of body parts dramatically, from 150-200
in a standard car to less than 40.
The company has been working with carbon fibre since 2003 and has
gradually developed a production process that cuts the cost and time involved
in forming the material. It has amassed experience by, among other things,
fitting its M3 and M6 performance coupes with carbon fibre roofs.
Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz are in hot pursuit, but BMW is
declaring its hand first.
In both the i3 and i8, the carbon fibre body is glued to an
aluminium chassis that houses the batteries, locates the suspension and forms
the safety crumple zones front and rear. Coloured plastic body panels are then
mounted on top.
As well as lower weight and superb rigidity, carbon fibre allows
designers to be more adventurous. A feature of the i design language is an
unusual layering effect that could not be achieved in sheet metal.
BMW design chief Adrian
"We wanted to create a product that would be radically new;
it would be zero emissions but appeal in an emotional sense too," van
Hooydonk says.
BMW describes the i3 as the first premium electric car. It's about
10cm longer than a Mini but has four doors and an impressive amount of space in
its uncluttered cabin, with room for four and 200 litres of cargo. The strength
of the body means there's no need for a B-pillar, so the doors open gate-style
for easy access.
During the past three years, BMW has been gaining experience with
electric motors with trial fleets of battery-powered Minis in Europe and the US
However, one measure of the challenge in making electric cars is
that despite keeping the i3's weight to 1250kg, the driving range of 130km to
160km remains well within the numbers being achieved by battery vehicles
already on offer. Charging takes six hours, although a fast-charge is possible
that gives 80 per cent after one hour.
One option on the i3 will be a small range extender engine, a
petrol two-cylinder with a displacement of about 600cc that sits next to the
electric motor, which can recharge the batteries on the move. This avoids the
range anxiety issue that plagues battery cars and it's a strategy that will
become commonplace. The Holden Volt, which arrives here next year and is
already on sale in the US
As a plug-in hybrid, the i8 relies less on batteries. It has a
1.5-litre three-cylinder petrol engine at the rear, driving the rear wheels,
while an electric motor mounted at the front drives the front wheels. The i8
can be driven by the petrol engine or a combination of both units, which output
260kW in tandem.
It can also operate on electric power alone for up to 35km with
recharging in under two hours. The batteries are housed between the seats in
what would usually be a transmission tunnel so that the car sits low, like a
sports car should. Weight has been kept down to a relatively modest 1480kg.
By the time the i8 arrives, supercars built of carbon fibre will
be more common. Two due here soon and already on sale in Europe
are the Lamborghini Aventador and McLaren MP4-12C.
The i8 isn't as quick as those cars - 4.6 seconds to 100km/h
against mid-3s - but it has unrivalled fuel economy of 2.7 litres per 100km on
the European test cycle. Even driven flat out it can achieve 5 to 7 litres per
100km, BMW says, and has a top speed limited to 250km/h.
The radical design is aerodynamically sophisticated, channelling
air through its C-pillar, for example, and like the i3 has large diameter but
relatively narrow wheels to cut drag. At 4.6m long, it's compact for a 2+2
seater with dramatic wing doors giving access to both rows.
In many ways, sports cars are the easybeats of vehicle
electrification. Electric motors deliver quick and responsive power ideal for
performance cars. Because supercars can command large premiums, they can afford
to use exotic materials and expensive batteries are a smaller proportion of the
final price. The i8 is expected to be pitched well into supercar territory at
about $300,000.
The less spectacular i3, which must recoup the cost of lithium ion
and carbon fibre much lower in the market, will be a better test of BMW's
approach. It has yet to offer any clues on its price but aims for luxury buyers
in the big cities, with some reports suggesting BMW expects to build about
30,000 a year.
The company declined to volunteer a production target at the event
in Frankfurt but did claim that the i project
formed part of its normal R&D expenditure and would support its target of
an 8 per cent to 10 per cent return on sales. The fact it joined forces with
Peugeot-Citroen to develop the electrical components will help the numbers add
up.
But this is far from business as usual. It's one of the most
dramatic signs so far of the tectonic shifts occuring in the car industry
towards lightweight construction and alternative drivelines. These moves date
back to Toyota
There's a lot going on and while BMW has declared its hand more
openly than its luxury rivals, both Audi and Mercedes have electrification in
their sights. But now there's one less letter of the alphabet for their
marketing departments to commandeer.
Bmw electric.Bmw i3, bmwi8.
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