Auto Monitorwww.amonline.in16 April 2012Vol. 12 No. 08 40 Pages ` 50

I N D I A ’ S N O . 1 M A G A Z I N E F O R A U T O M O T I V E N E W S , V I E W S & A N A LY S I S

“THE OBJECTIVE OF THE EMO IS TO MINIMISE THE OUTSIDE FOOTPRINT AND MAXIMISE INSIDE SPACE”

INTERVIEW

Pg 8Samir Yajnik, President Global Services &COO Asia Pacific, Tata TechnologiesPg 9-12

NEW MATERIALS

Now Turns

Weekly FOCUS

NEWS IN BRIEFYadvinder S Guleria returns to HMSI

Yadvinder S Guleria returns to Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India (HMSI)

as Vice President-Sales and Marketing. He was one of the

founding members of HMSI during its establishment since 2000 and had worked for Honda for 11 years. He was previous-ly heading dealer development, domestic sales & exports and logistics operations in his earli-er stint. In April 2011, he joined Polaris India, the off-road vehi-cle maker as Director, Sales & Dealer Development.

As an old Honda hand, he brings with him a career span-ning close to two decades in the automobile industry. He has handled business operations, spearheaded sales and has been actively involved in new product development. His rich experi-ence also includes new market and network development. E

aton is looking to have a major presence in the commercial vehicle hybrid systems in India

and could subsequently establish its brand in the aftermarket for supplying components and serv-ice to hybrid/electric systems.

“The key issue for a nascent market like India for hybrid sys-tems is what kind of systems would be accepted in this mar-ket and then a follow up question would arise on what can local and global players offer here,” said Vice President & General Manager, Global Aftermarket & Clutch Business, Eaton Corporation, John Beering. He added that challenges in India are different from other devel-oping markets due to high cost sensitivity and near ‘total’ lack of support infrastructure for hybrids and electric vehicles. Hybrid and electric vehicles are likely to have much higher

customer acceptance when sig-nifi cant charging infrastructure is available and the company is

evaluating its strategy for charg-ing infrastructure for countries like India and China as well.

Eaton has already entered the market for supplying charging stations to infrastructure service providers for electric and hybrid vehicles in North America and is looking for a larger role for itself in this segment globally. The company has already sup-

plied parallel hybrids for buses manufactured by Tata Motors and supplied to Delhi transport

body. It is evaluating the sup-ply of charging infrastructure equipment for electrics/hybrids in India, but is not looking to set-up the infrastructure itself.

The company is looking to establish a major presence in the aftermarket in India for clutch and torque systems for commercial vehicles. In most other segments, a large installation base of the

company’s products through OEM sales could ensure a major after-market opportunity. It is focusing on selling products under its own brand in the aftermarket in India and is not currently looking to introduce multiple brands in the aftermarket for various product segments. “In some of the mar-kets, we have multiple brands in the aftermarket due to legacy issues and other segmentation reasons. But we have been aim-ing to have few brands or a single ‘Eaton’ brand in the aftermarket in most of the markets that we operate globally.”

The vehicles group and the aftermarket business for Eaton comprises entire after-market products and services including replacement and reman-ufactured products and services for existing product portfolio in the market. Eaton is a major player in the aftermarket for fl uid control products as well as engine valves and is looking to establish a leadership position in India in these segments.

Two-wheeler sales have sustained their momen-tum in the last fi scal even as car and commercial

vehicle segment faced uncer-tainty in last fi scal ending March 2012. According to the data avail-able from the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), the domestic two-wheeler sales grew by around 14 percent to touch 13,435,769 units in the last fi scal from 11,768,910 units clocked in previous fi scal.

Two-wheeler exports grew at a faster pace of around 27 per-cent to touch 1,947,198 units in the last fi scal ending March 2012 as compared to 1,531,619 units in the previous fi scal. The two-wheeler exports growth was led by the scooters segment, which grew at around 79 percent to touch 90,605 units in the last fi s-

cal as compared to 50,646 units in the previous fi scal. Motorcycles exports grew by around 25 per-cent to touch 1,847,517 units in the last fi scal.

Bajaj Auto continued to be the largest two-wheeler exporter with export dispatches of 1,267,648 units in the last fi scal, a growth of around 30 percent while its exports for March grew by around 66 percent to touch 90,465 units. Scooters segment also led the two-wheeler sales with a growth of around 24 percent to touch 2,562,841 units in last fi scal as compared to 2,057,604 units. Suzuki Motorcycle India notched up the highest growth in the two-wheeler exports with dispatches of 6,941 units in the last fi scal, a growth of 718.51 percent.

Light commercial vehicles segment also grew at a fast clip of around 27 percent to touch 460,831 units compared to 361,846 units in the previous

year. Overall commercial vehicle sales grew by around 18 percent to touch 809,532 units in the last fi scal as compared to 684,905 units in the previous fi scal.

Domestic passenger vehi-cle sales grew at a tepid rate of around 4.66 percent in the last fi scal to touch 2,618,072 units as compared to 2,501,542 units in the previous fi scal. Passenger vehicle exports grew by 14 per-cent to touch 507,318 units in the last fi scal as compared to 444,326 units exported in the previous fi scal. Nissan Motors India was the fastest growing passenger

vehicle maker, notching up sales of 33,268 units in the last fi scal, a growth of 155 percent.

Asia Motor Works notched up the fastest growth of 47 percent in the commercial vehicle seg-ment selling around 10,021 units in the last fi scal. Scooters India emerged as the fastest growing three wheeler brand in the last fi scal with sales of 17,589 units in the April-March 2012 period. The three-wheeler segment declined by 2.43 percent in the last fi scal as most of the three-wheeler players registered a negative growth in the last fi scal.

Eaton looks for bigger hybrid play

Domestic LCV sales, 2W exports scale new peaks last fi scal Our Bureau

New Delhi

Top 5 Car Makers

Company Mar-11 Mar-12 Change

Maruti 110,424 112,724 2.08%

TML 32,461 43,244 33.22%

Hyundai 31,822 39,122 22.94%

M&M 17,899 25,344 41.59%

TKM 9,726 18,220 87.33%

Top 5 Car Exporters

Company Mar-11 Mar-12 Change

Hyundai 23,730 20,107 -15.27%

Maruti 11,528 13,228 14.75%

Nissan 13,457 11,294 -16.07%

Ford 1578 3122 97.85%

TML 360 1,240 244.44%

* Source: SIAM/ ** Excluding exports/ *** all sub segments considered/ ^ excluding MRPL

DATA MONITOR

Abhishek Parekh Mumbai

Our Bureau New Delhi 2010-11 PVs CVs 2Ws 3Ws

Domestic Sales 2,501,542 684,905 11,768,910 526,024Exports 444,326 74,043 1,531,619 269,968

2011-12 PVs CVs 2Ws 3Ws

Domestic Sales 2,618,072 809,532 13,435,769 513,251Exports 507,318 92,663 1,947,198 363,876

Source: SIAM

EDITORIALDiagnosis and prognosis

Despite all odds, the fi nancial year 2012 that went by was signifi cant for auto industry on three counts. For the fi rst time in history, passenger vehicle exports crossed half a million mark and

the domestic passenger car sales crossed the two million mark. Besides, Honda Motorcycles and Scooters India Ltd became the third largest two-wheeler manufacturer in the country, dislodging TVS Motor Company.

According to the SIAM report, the industry exported 2,910,055 vehicles in 2011-12 registering a growth of 25.44 percent. Passenger vehicles grew by 14.18 percent in this period and commercial vehicles, three-wheelers and two-wheelers segments registered 25.15 percent, 34.41 percent and 27.13 percent growth respectively, during the peri-od. Though there is still a long way to go, all these fi gures only show that India is emerging as an export destination for automobiles.

As far as production is concerned, the industry wit-nessed 13.83 percent growth to 20,366,432 vehicles last fi scal. As usual, the two-wheelers lead the pack amounting to 76 percent of the total vehicles produced followed by pas-senger vehicles, three-wheelers and commercial vehicles accounting for 15 percent, four percent and four percent respectively.

After the global fi nancial crisis in 2008-09, car sales in

India grew by just 1.4 percent. However, it rose swiftly and maintained a comfortable growth, registering about 25 percent in 2009-10 and 29 percent in 2010-11. In 2011-12, pas-senger cars grew by 2.19 percent and if the trend continues, the segment will only witness signifi cant growth in the next couple of years, though SIAM estimates it to be between 10 and 12 percent. The apex body has projected similar levels of growth for the entire industry.

While there is a cautious optimism in the industry, it is necessary for the players in the industry to take risks to move to the next level. The government should support by way of speedier implementation of GST, infrastructure and keep infl ation under control. The requisite results may not emerge unless there is a conscious effort to blend the efforts of the industry and the government.

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QUOTESNicolas Sarkozy, French President on PSA/Peugeot-Citroen’s plans to relocate its French manufacturing facility

S Nakanishi, MD & Chief Executive, Maruti Suzuki on the Ertiga launch

“I will see the Peugeot CEO in coming days and of course keep my pledge to do everything possible to save the Aulnay site”

“Utility vehicles are a promising segment, and we have been largely absent from here so far”

Auto Monitor

T. Murrali t.murrali@infomedia18.in

MRV looking for R&D synergies with Ssaongyong Motors 9M&M is looking to integrate advanced research and development activities in the automotive and agricultural segments at ‘Mahindra Research Valley’ (MRV) near Chennai

BASF plans major expansion in Asia 10As the industry moves towards weight reduction, BASF is working towards becoming the preferred choice of the customer in this realm

Going green is no more a fashion statement 11Interarch is setting up a new plant in Gujarat to manufacture pre-engineered factoriesto cope with the rising demand for new factories in the region

Fuel efficiency to increase 75 percent by 2040 12Lightweighting measures in vehicles will propel 75 percent increase in fuel efficiency by 2040, according to ExxonMobil Chemical projections

Building lightweight trains 12A new material capable of withstanding even extreme stresses has been developed for diesel engine housings on trains making it 35 percent lighter than their steel and aluminium counterparts

Diesel demand distorts used car market 13Price differential between petrol and diesel is not only leading to burgeoning demand for new diesel cars, but has also caused a distortion in the used car market

Car sales to grow 10-12 percent this fiscal: SIAM 14The car sales in India are likely to grow between 10-12 percent in this FY2012-13, compared to the previous FY, according to latest projections from SIAM

CONTENTS

Pravin Shah, Chief Executive, Automotive Division, M&MOver last three decades, Shah has been at the forefront of functions like finance and IT systems within the automotive and tractor business, as well as general management

FOCUS: NEW MATERIALS

CORPORATE

38

GLOBAL WATCHFord sales up 30 percent in Russia 32Ford’s first-quarter sales this year rose 30 percent in Russia, led by demand for its Ford Focus and overall industry growth

Renault-Nissan, AvtoVaz partnership expands with new facility 28The 250,000 sq mt industrial complex will take full advantage of the Renault-Nissan Alliance’s expertise in engineering and cost savings

Virgin Atlantic orders Citroën commercial vehicles 30Virgin has placed order for 45 Citroën LCVs, including 22 Berlingo five-seat crew vans, dispatch vans, relay specialist dropsides and a relay specialist Luton van

22

EVENT OF THE WEEK

Maruti Suzuki India Ltd (MSIL) enters into utility vehicle segment with the launch of Ertiga with the introductory price (ex-showroom Delhi), starting at `5.89 lakh for petrol and `7.30 lakh for diesel. The car maker claim that the vehicle will create a new segment –‘Life Utility Vehicle (LUV) and is available in six variants and seven colours. Ertiga shares the platform with Maruti Swift and has a lot of common components, entailed MSIL a total development cost of `410 crore.

With this utility vehicle, the company has introduced its K-14 VVT 1.4 litre petrol engine in India for the � rst time. The new 1.4-litre K-Series petrol engine has 95ps@6000 RPM and claims a fuel ef� ciency of 16.2 kmpl. The diesel variant has D13A (1.3 litre) is 1,248 cc DDiS VGT engine produce 90ps@4000 RPM and give fuel ef� ciency of 20.77 kmpl.

Seven-seater Ertiga begins at `5.89 lakh

THE OTHER SIDE

10 11

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STARBUS ULTRA

Auto Monitor

816 APRIL 2012

I N T E R V I E W

Can you elaborate on the technology and innovation in the eMO project?

The drivers and base for designing this vehicle were very much to try and make a mini-mum footprint vehicle because this is an urban vehicle concept. This concept vehicle is for the

time when we will be seven bil-lion people on the planet. In such a scenario, the city cars should be easy to drive, easy to manoeuvre and easy to park. The objective is to minimise the outside footprint and maximise inside space. This vehicle can accommodate four full sized adults; not only Asian

but also relatively ‘taller’ western passengers comfortably.

The whole idea is that the entry and exits, i.e getting into the car and getting out of the car, should be extremely comfortable and should give you the feeling of space. The other factor behind the design of this car is that it’s got to be distinctive in styling. It can’t be looking like yet another vehi-cle out there in the market. So the envelope has to be positive.

If the vehicle is brought into production mode, what percentage of change would be required?

This is completely ground up—one that there is no produc-tion line that can manufacture this today. The ground princi-ples are that there should be no weld shop, there should be minimal number of assemblies being put together so that it can be easily manufactured wherev-er required. We have applied for 15 patents so we can use some of those patent ideas to come out with a new vehicle for OEMs. We are not out there touting this specifi c vehicle to be made pro-ductionable, but in principle it is. So if an OEM comes to us wanting the same EV but with chang-

es, we can consider and work accordingly.

We actually priced it—we actually thought of, assuming that we could take it to the market how would we price it. So it was priced at $20,000. As you know most of the price of this $20,000 is the battery. I don’t know the exact percentage, but its large percent-age of the price.

Could you share the powertrain details and what would be the fuel and battery combination?

It is a full battery electric vehi-cle, 18.4 KW lithium ion, I believe, and you know it does not go with conventional engine type. It’s a battery operated vehicle and its fuel effi ciency is about 150 miles per gallon. Its highly fuel effi cient if you take it to that and you know its completely safe with nine air bags—four ENCAP rate standard. In terms of the range, the battery would run out at about 105 km. So you would need a post or need to recharge it at 105 km.

As a designing company,

are you supporting other OEMs also?

We have two types of custom-ers. For the fi rst type—we do system integration work and full vehicle programme work with companies who are close to us. The other types of companies are start-ups. We learnt a lot of lessons with some of the start-up companies in the US. We worked for them, we did subsystem design. We helped make hybrids for them and we learnt some les-sons. But typically we would talk

to the larger OEMs with whom we do business closely and we would ask them if they would like to outsource big chunks of work or rather give us a full vehi-cle programme.

Is your focus primarily going to be on electric and hybrid vehicle only?

Our focus is not necessarily electric, but we have done this full study for electric vehicles; we also do hybrids. In fact, the fi rst project we did was for a start-up company, which was a hybrid vehicle. Its not that we can take up only end-to-end assignments for full battery, but we can also do part design or as sought by the customers.

The Indian government has extended support for hybrid vehicles and more incentives are expected. How do you see it?

We are not necessarily saying that we want only be a specialist in the battery electric vehicle, but we also do traditional, emission-type gasoline vehicles very well. I see the trend of both, gasoline and petrol emission will come down to a level where it will become quite acceptable to have them and at a price point that is good enough for the market.

While the price points of these vehicles will also come down, and they will fi ercely compete for the market share, I don’t really see hybrids becoming more than 20 percent of the market by 2020. I don’t see them becoming more than 70 percent of the market due to problems like battery life and points to recharge.

“The objective of the eMO is to minimise the outside footprint and maximise inside space”Tata Technologies offers end-to-end car design and development solutions to the OEMs. The company recently showcased its concept electric vehicle—eMO in Detroit, designed for city movement. President, Global Services & COO Asia Pacific, Samir Yajnik, in an interview with Nabeel A Khan, said that the company is not restricting service to hybrid and electric vehicles, but tapping ‘traditional’ fossil fuel powered vehicles as well.

eMO

Auto Monitor

N E W M A T E R I A L S 916 APRIL 2012

MRV looking for R&D synergies with Ssaongyong Motors

M&M is looking to integrate advanced research and devel-opment activities in

the automotive and agricultural segments at ‘Mahindra Research Valley’ (MRV) near Chennai.

“We are not looking to move two-wheeler, truck, defence serv-ice and engineering research

centres to this location,” said President, Automotive & Farm Equipment Sectors, Dr Pawan Goenka. The MRV will work close-ly in co-operation with the R&D centre of Ssangyong in Korea.

The company is seeking to provide freedom to the engineers and designers to proactively pur-

sue research in the areas like environment-friendly advanced propulsion systems— hydro-gen, fuel cells, bio-diesels and hybrids. Additionally, embedded systems, infotronics, artifi cial intelligence, mechatronics and advanced telematics will be other areas that engineers at MRV will be able to pursue. The facility will also afford the Mahindra Group research capabilities in alter-native polymer technology for automotive applications, vehicle passenger safety and validation of aggregates and vehicles. MRV’s advanced communication net-works will also enable global networking for researchers.

Commenting on light weight technology, Dr Goenka said, “We are working on making our vehi-cles lighter to conserve fuel and reduce emissions. The company will be investing around `30 to 50 crore towards this project in the next three years, with a goal of cutting the average weight of an SUV by upto 250 kg.”

The centre has 34 laborato-ries plus projects ranging from

new engine platform to the next-generation hybrid vehicles. It is simultaneously working on new generation technologies such as electric and hydrogen vehicles. The work is already started in developing the next-gen electric vehicle powertrain, which is lead by Mahindra Reva.

The research centre for Mahindra is built in Mahindra World City, 50 km south of Chennai, with an investment of ̀ 650 crore on 125 acre. The MRV is an integrated research centre, in operation since 2009, and will be a key design hub for the company, with staff to be increased from 1,500 to 2,500 by next year. The XUV500, which hit the market last year, was the fi rst product to be designed and devel-oped at the MRV.

After inaugurating the Mahindra Research Valley (MRV) in Chennai recently, Former President, Dr Abdul Kalam said currently Indian designers are mostly using metals for the chas-sis and the body. Researchers have to work on fi bre reinforced composites which will have bet-

ter impact characteristics and also eventually it should become cost effective for the consumers.

He further emphasised that the researchers should fi nd design methods by which composite structures can become a preferred choice for automobile manufac-turers. Composite structures are widely used for the construction of fuselage and the wings in the aircraft industry, for the passen-ger aircraft and military aircraft including light combat aircraft (Tejas). Composite structure despite offering high strength to weight ratio are yet to be accepted by the automobile industry due to higher cost.

According to Dr Kalam, the effi ciency of the internal combus-tion engines has to be improved continuously. The future genera-tion of cars and trucks have to use bio-diesel, ethanol and hydro-gen. Bio-fuels are renewable and can be produced in short notice as against fossil fuels which have been generated over millions of years. Hydrogen is considered to be the fuel for the future and is

environment-friendly and renew-able. It will remove dependence on petroleum resources. He also said that public policies will encourage Indian and foreign companies to make use of emul-sifi cation and use of alternate green fuels as a green technolo-gy for saving fuel and improving environment.

The R&D houses a design centre, an Engine Development Centre (EDC), an NVH lab, a fatigue test, a reliability lab, a driveline development centre and an electrical & electron-ic lab. The facility will develop prototypes and components, which will then be transferred to high volume production lines at M&M’s different manufactur-ing plants located in the country and overseas. Though the centre lacks the chassis dynamom-eter, crash test facility and a wind tunnel test capability, the company is looking to invest in these capabilities and utilise the SsangYong’s crash test facil-ity in order to bring down the overall cost.

The R&D houses a design centre, an

Engine Development Centre (EDC), an NVH lab, a fatigue

test reliability lab, a driveline development

centre and an electrical & electronic

lab. The facility will develop prototypes and components, which will then be transferred to high volume production

lines at M&M’s different manufacturing plants located in the country

and overseas

Our Bureau Chennai

M&M will launch a tractor this year from its new testing, design and research centre (MRV) in Chennai. This will be the second product form the company, after its premium SUV XUV500 designed at the centre. The company will be launch-ing the tractor this year, its fi rst since the Arjun tractor, which was launched in 2005.

M&M’s President, Automotive & Farm Equipment Sectors, Dr Pawan Goenka said, “The new tractor will be designed at our Mahindra Research Valley, in Chennai and will be manufac-

tured at the Nagpur plant.” He also said, in future the com-pany will manufacture the tractors from its new facility in Zaheerabad in Andhra Pradesh, which is built at an investment of `300 crore.

The plant will be ready by July this year with an installed capacity of around 100,000 trac-tors which can be scaled up to meet additional demand. The new plant will manufacture tractor models in the range of 30 HP to 90 HP for both the domestic as well as the export markets.

New Tractor In Works

Former President, Dr Abdul Kalam at the inauguration of the MRV

Auto Monitor

N E W M A T E R I A L S1016 APRIL 2012

BASF plans major expansion in Asia

Automakers are tar-geting to reduce the weight of automobiles in order to contain fuel

consumption and consequently emissions. As the industry moves in this direction, consumption of engineering plastics in vehicles will also increase. It is expect-ed that by 2020, the average car in Europe will consist of more than 25 kg of engineering plastic and similar growth will prevail in other markets. Engineering plastic manufacturer, BASF is working towards becoming the preferred choice of the customer in this realm.

The chemical company plans to invest in a new plant to pro-duce Ultrason PolyEtherSUlfone (PESU) at its site in Yeosu, Korea. This is one of company’s high-

performance thermoplastics products and the annual capac-ity of the new plant will be 600 metric tonne.

Construction of this special-ty plastic manufacturing plant starts this year and the pro-duction is expected to begin by early 2014. After the expan-sion of the plant, BASF’s total engineering plastics capacity in Asia will exceed 200,000 tonne per annum.The company has also expanded the capacities of compounding plants in Malaysia and plans to more than double the capacity of its plant in China by 2015.

In the next 10 years, the market for polyamide and PolyButylene Terephthalate (PBT) compounds in Asia Pacifi c is expected to grow on an average by about eight percent per year. Last year, the consumption of polyamide and PBT compounds in Asia was over

one million metric tonne and China accounted for 50 percent of this.

Engineering plastic has seen the fastest growth in India though the market size is not yet as large as some other countries in Asia. To cater to the demand, BASF has engineering plastics com-pounding plant in Thane. This plant is linked to the network of its regional compounding plants in Asia Pacifi c region.

In India, this growth is driv-en by the increasing usage of engineering plastics in different industry segments, especially automobile where there materials are an integral part of complex, high-value, high performance automotive systems and make a signifi cant contribution to the performance, safety and comfort of modern motor vehicle. This compares with all other major markets in Asia, except China

where electrical & electronics has a 10 percent higher share than automotive.

Light Weighting Products BASF claims to have pioneered

several lightweight solutions

for the automotive industry. Its engineering plastic can be used in seat frames in order to substi-tute steel.

“The combination of high-per forma nce eng ineer ing plastics with optimised simula-tion methods such as Ultrasim, BASF has succeeded in devel-opment of several complex high load and safety components like oil pans, stabilisers, engine mounts and structures that pro-tect pedestrians. Many of these have been developed by the company together with our cus-tomers.” Senior Vice president, Engineering Plastics Asia Pacifi c, BASF, Andy Postletwaite told Auto Monitor.

The trend in modern engine

development goes to downsiz-ing from eight or six cylinders to four to three cylinders. However, the heat on the plastic part is increased. To avoid re-substitu-tion by metal and to use the light weight potential of plastics fur-ther, BASF has developed a new polymide with a sophisticated heat stabilisation system.

According to the com-pany, Ultramid Endure is a polymide for the high tempera-tures in the charge air duct that can well compete with more expensive high performance plastics of a completely different chemistry. Ultramid Endure eas-ily withstands continuous use at temperatures up to 220 degree celsius as well as spikes up to 240 degrees celsius on turbo charged engines. This extends the fi eld of application of polyamides into the high temperature area.

The amount of polyamide in a European mid-sized car was about six kg in 1970; today it accounts for about 20 kg of the cars in Western Europe. In India, in contrast the use of high-grade engineering plastics is much lower. “There is obviously a great potential in India for engineering plastics manufacturers such as BASF. Due to the improved prop-erties, an increasing number of applications have made their way into automotive construction,” he said. Electro-mobility will make new demands on materials and will result in a further increase in the proportion of plastics used in cars, he added.

Automobile parts made of carbon fibre com-posites, currently used in racing cars and air-

craft, may be manufactured in India for passenger cars, London-based industrialist Lord Swraj Paul has indicated. Paul’s Euro 1.5 billion Caparo Group, which supplies components to all the major car manufactur-ers in the country, is exploring the possibility of setting-up plants in composite materials in South India.

According to a report fi led by PTI, the group has built the world’s fastest supercar Caparo T1 with the capability to touch speed of 0-60 mph in 2.5 sec-ond and has been put up for sale for £280,000 pounds (nearly `2 crore) in the UK. “We are explor-ing the possibility of setting-up a plant for composite components

for cars, most probably in South India,” Lord Paul told PTI. He said the composite car is light-er and therefore consumes less fuel and is more eco-friendly. “It is the technology of the future,” he said adding such components were used in an aircraft like Boeing 787.

The Caparo Group, one of the largest auto component makers in India with 32 manufacturing facilities, is looking to acceler-ate production in the country after posting “extremely well” growth in 2011 even when the global automobile market con-tinued to remain sluggish, he said. “Yes, we will. We will ramp up (capacity) quite a bit this year and next year. Now most of the plants are in operation. Some of them are not in their full capac-ity,” he said.

(Courtesy: IBN Live)

Caparo mulls carbon fibre plants in India

Nabeel A Khan New Delhi

BASF has expanded the capacities of

compounding plants in Malaysia & plans to more than double the capacity of its plant in China by 2015. It also

plans to invest in a new plant to produce PESU in Korea

Andy Postletwaite, Senior Vice president, Engineering Plastics Asia Pacific, BASF

BASF designed i-flow with Hyundai

Auto Monitor

N E W M A T E R I A L S 1116 APRIL 2012

Going green is no more a fashion statement

Shooting at ceramics

While most car com-panies are striving to make their prod-ucts green by cutting

down on emissions, many others are also trying to make the manu-facturing units green. According to Interarch Building Products, manufacturer of pre-engineered buildings, automotive companies are even ready to shell out more money for setting up green facto-ries. Interarch is also setting up a new plant in Gujarat to manufac-ture pre-engineered factories to cope with the rising demand for new factories in the region.

According to the company, not just vehicle manufacturers but also the suppliers strive towards building if not completely green, but environment-friend-ly factories. “Everyone seems to be building green factories. Companies don’t mind paying

extra for it,” Director, Gautam Suri told Auto Monitor. The com-pany has fi nished a green plant for Tata Motors in Dharwad. Even the ancillary units are making their upcoming plants as envi-ronment-friendly as possible, he added. The only difference between OEMs and component manufacturers is that the former might go for insulation all over while the vendors insulate part of their factories.

The benefi ts of building green factory include energy savings of up to 40 percent, water savings of up to 30 percent, enhanced indoor air quality, good day-lighting and hence increased productivity, better health, wellbeing, safety of the work force and reduced use of fos-sil fuels. In order to build green factory buildings a special kind of steel with increased recycla-ble material is used. Such steel is more energy effi cient than steel made freshly from iron ore

and help companies in earning more credit points towards their green initiatives. Green roofi ng is another factor that counts.

“Roofi ng system is an impor-tant factor. The green roofi ng systems have special colour cod-ing and help in absorbing heat,” Suri said. In India, where most factories do not have heating or cooling systems, such roofi ng is essential to regulate the tempera-ture inside the factory especially

in the summer months.The coming in of the Japanese

players in the country has also given a boost to this trend. There is a Japanese cluster developing in the Delhi-Mumbai corridor, which has given a push to the growing number of green factory buildings in the country. Also the Japanese OEMs have encouraged such efforts.

Interarch builds up to 300 factory buildings in a year. The

company, which has built fac-tories for Honda, Bajaj, General Motors and Tata Motors has recently added Toyota to its list of customers. It has also built fac-tories for suppliers such as ANG Auto, Sona Steering, and Wheels India among others. It has three plants across the nation and a design centre with 125 engi-neers. Last year the automotive sector contributed 25 percent of its revenue.

In corrosive, high-tem-perature environments, metals quickly lose their elasticity. Beyond certain

temperatures the material fails and its properties are compro-mised; metallic springs stop working if heated above 500 degrees celsius, for example. But what to do if these are exact-ly the conditions a production process requires? One way of avoiding the problem has been to make components out of ceramic, a material that is light-weight, rigid, corrosion-resistant and able to withstand high tem-peratures. Yet this only offers a partial solution, as producing thin ceramics for parts such as leaf springs, lightweight mirrors

for optical and extraterrestrial use, or membranes for sensors and fuel cells is both time-con-suming and expensive. This is because ceramics can only be machined using costly diamond tools, and the process itself cre-ates tensions within the surface of the material which cause the fi nished part to distort as soon as it is removed from the machine. Reshaping the components after manufacture has never been a viable option before as the mate-rial is too brittle, and so the large amounts of waste that are gener-ated push the costs up.

Precisely Calculated Paths Guide The Way

Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institutes for Mechanics of

Materials IWM in Freiburg and for Production Systems and Design Technology IPK in Berlin have now found a way to straight-en out distorted ceramics using Shot Peening, a process by which small pellets, known as shots, are fi red at the surface of a com-ponent with a blasting gun. The shot strikes the surface and alters the shape of the thin, outermost layer of material. By moving the gun over the ceramic part along a precisely calculated path, sci-entists are able to counteract any undesired warping or cre-ate lightly curved mirrors out of thin, even ceramic plates. “Shot peening is common practice for working metals,” said Dr Wulf Pfeiffer, who manages this busi-

ness unit at the IWM, “but the technique has never been used on ceramics because they are so brittle—they could shatter, like a china plate being hit with a ham-mer. This meant that we had to adapt the method to the material with great precision.”

The researchers began by ana-lysing which size of shot would be suitable for use on ceramics, as the surface could be destroyed by pellets that were too big. Pellet speed is another critical fac-tor: hitting the material too fast causes damage; too slow and the shape of the surface is not altered enough. They also discovered that it is important not to bom-bard the same spot too often with too much shot. Before producing a new component, the scientists

fi rst conduct experimental anal-ysis to determine what can be expected of the particular ceramic involved. They fi re a beam of shot at it and then measure the result-ant stresses to see what sort of deformation is possible and how the beam should be directed.

The experts have already produced various prototypes, including a ceramic leaf spring and a concave mirror. For man-ufacturing simple components, the technique is now advanced enough to be used in series pro-duction. The IWM scientists have

recently gone one step further and are developing a computer simu-lation that will allow components to be worked in multiple axes. Meanwhile their colleagues at the IPK are working on automat-ing the process using a robot.

–Courtesy Fraunhofer Institute

Shambhavi Anand New Delhi

The Interarch engineered Tata Motors facility

Shooting at ceramics

Auto Monitor

N E W M A T E R I A L S1216 APRIL 2012

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Fuel effi ciency to increase 75 percent by 2040

Building lightweight trains

Vehicle light weighting measures will propel 75 percent increase in fuel efficiency by 2040—

ExxonMobil Chemical projected this based on an annual survey conducted recently. It further added that on reduction of every 10 percent in weight, the vehicle can achieve an increase of up to seven percent in fuel effi ciency.

“By 2040, the vehicles will be high on innovation in terms of usage of plastics, which will make them more fuel effi cient than automobiles manufactured today. Also, the number of vehi-cles with hybrid technology is growing and will continue to penetrate further into the auto industry,” Asia Pacifi c Automotive Marketing Manager, Dina Wang told Auto Monitor.

A large percentage of the com-

pany’s business comes from the automotive industry, which includes both OEMs and suppli-ers. It is looking at enabling the automotive industry to reduce the thickness of plastic and replace some of the metals with engineering plastic. ExxonMobil foresees that the use of polypro-pylene, santoprene TPVs and exxtral polyolefi ns in cars is going to double by 2020.

According to the company, products like Santoprene TPV can offer up to 29 percent weight savings as compared to the use of Ethylene Propylene Diene Monomer (EPDM) rubber. Also, Santoprene TPV, when used in making air ducts may offer 25 to 45 percent weight cuts compared to the use of TSR (Technically Specifi ed Rubber) compounds. It asserted that exxtral poly-olefi ns can replace some of the metal parts and thicker plas-tics on bumper fascia to provide

weight savings of upto 10 percent. Exxtral polyolefi ns can offer up to 50 percent of weight reduction by replacing some metal parts.

Exxtral polyolefi n is a special-ty ThermoPlastic Olefi n (TPO) compound based on polypropyl-ene that is designed to replace higher-cost, heavier and hard-to-recycle materials traditionally used in automobile parts.

In India, it has recently introduced light weight bumpers with General Motors’ hatchback car—Beat. The thickness of the bumper of Beat has been reduced from 3.2 mm to about 2.5 mm. It also provided the rack and pinion bellows for Mahindra Xylo, which was made of santoprene TPV that delivers lower weight and increased life. Ford Figo is another

car, which has used a lot of poly-mer products from ExxonMobil for lightweighting.

ExxonMobil is also working with Volkswagen, Toyota on vari-ous parts of their cars—either for converting polymers to polypro-pylene or converting metal parts to polypropylene.

“We have been able to make even thinner parts that have the

same performance characteris-tics as those of thicker parts those were used in the past.” Manager, Compounding Automotive Polyolef ins Compounding, ExxonMobil, Jim McKinley told Auto Monitor.

In order to provide strength and quality, a high fl ow, high impact polypropylene base is blended with plastomers and elastomers, which is then blend-ed with talc, that is used as a stiffening agent along with sever-al other special adhesives that go together to give the performance needed in bumper applications.

There are a lot of applications in the inner and the outer section of the car, which ExxonMobil feels provide opportunities for weight reduction. Earlier, the door pan used to be metal and now it’s being replaced with plastics. Today, the use of polypropylene is moving towards the inside of the door also.

The less trains weigh, the more economi-cal they are to run. A new material capable

of withstanding even extreme stresses has now been devel-oped. It is suitable for a variety of applications, not least diesel engine housings on trains—and

it makes these components over 35 percent lighter than their steel and aluminium counterparts.

In their efforts to render cars and trains more economi-cal, manufacturers are trying to fi nd lighter materials to replace those currently used. But there is a problem: Lighter materials

tend not to be as tough as steel or aluminium, so they cannot simply be used in place of these metals. Rather, it is a question of manufacturers deciding which components can really afford to have weight shaved off and how to integrate them into the overall systems.

Working together with Bombardier GmbH, KraussMaffei Kunststofftechnik GmbH, Bayer MaterialScience AG, DECS GmbH, the DLR’s Institute for Vehicle Concepts, the University of Stuttgart and the Karlsruhe Institute for Technology, research-ers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology ICT in Pfi nztal have now developed a polyurethane-based sandwich material that is extremely resilient. “To demonstrate the material, we manufactured a component that is subject to signifi cant stresses and which has to fulfi l a number of requirements–the diesel engine housing for a train,” said a scien-tist at the ICT, Jan Kuppinger. This housing is located beneath the passenger compartment, ie between the car and the tracks. Not only does it shield the engine against fl ying stones and protect the environment from any oil that might escape, but in the event of a fi re, it also stops the fl ames from spreading, thus meeting the fl ame retardant and fi re safety standards for railway vehicles. Kuppinger added, “By using this new materi-al, we can reduce the component’s weight by over 35 percent—and cut costs by 30 percent.”

The researchers opted for a sandwich construction to ensure component stability: Glass fi bre reinforced polyurethane lay-ers form the outer facings, while the core is made of paper hon-eycomb. Polyurethane is a bulk plastic combining two sub-stances. Since it can be adapted to fulfi l various requirements, it is referred to as a ‘customisable material’. In foamed form it is soft, and can be used for exam-ple as a material for mattresses; in compact form it is strong and hard. The researchers began by incorporating various additives into their polyurethane, alter-ing it in such a way as to ensure it would meet fi re safety standards.

Then, the partners optimised the standard manufacturing proc-ess, fi bre spraying, by developing a mixing chamber which allows even more complex structures to be produced in any required size. The diesel engine housing they made is approximately 4.5 meters long and more than two metres wide. “This is the fi rst time it has proved possible to use this proc-ess to manufacture such a large and complex component that also satisfi es the structural require-ments,” stated Kuppinger.

Previously, one problem encountered with fi bre spray-ing was that it was impossible to determine the precise thickness of the polyurethane top layers. But now the researchers have found a way to do this, using com-puter tomography to inspect the manufactured layers and then applying a specially-adapted eval-uation routine to establish their exact thickness. This information helps to simulate the strength of the component, as well as its abil-ity to withstand stresses.

The scientists produced their diesel engine housing demonstra-tor as part of the PURtrain project, which is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). The demonstra-tor passed its fi rst strength test, in which, the scientists placed it in a test rig and then applied forces to it at various locations, measuring the extent to which it deformed—with fl ying colours. In the next stage, the researchers want to trial the component in a proper fi eld test. If that, too, proves suc-cessful, it will then be possible to use the material to make roof segments, side fl aps and wind defl ectors for the automobile and commercial vehicle industry, and to ramp up the manufactur-ing process to produce medium volumes of between 250 and 30,000 units.

–Courtesy Fraunhofer Institute

Nabeel A Khan New Delhi

ExxonMobil’s Dina Wang & Jim McKinley

The new housing material will help optimise engine protection from the environment and in case of fire, stops the flames from spreading

Auto Monitor

C O R P O R A T E 1316 APRIL 2012

Source: Mahindra First Choice

Diesel demand distorts used car market

The price differential between petrol and diesel is not only lead-ing to burgeoning

demand for new diesel cars, but has also caused a distor-tion in the used car market. The demand for petrol powered pre-owned cars has taken a beating in the last few months and the scenario is unlikely to change in the near term, according to used car dealers.

“The demand for diesel cars is ruling steady but the demand for petrol powered cars has come down significantly. The rush for new and used diesel cars is helping keep the prices steady whereas prices of petrol cars in the used car market have fallen signifi cantly over the past one years so,” said Chief Operating Of f icer, Motorexcha nge, Vinay Sanghi.

Motorexchange operates B2B and B2C platforms for used cars. More than a million visitors have been logging on cartrade.com, the consumer portal, while around 1,200 automobile dealers are registered users on the B2B platform cartrade, which is the online auction marketplace for cars that connects institutions like banks, fi nance companies, insurance companies and auto dealers to trade used and repos-sessed cars. The portals were launched towards the end of 2009 as an online platform for transacting used vehicles. The platform site enables business (fi nancial institutions and fl eet owners) and consumers to sell their pre-owned vehicles.

“In the last one year, the demand for used cars has grown around 1.5 times compared to that for new ones. This means there is demand but affordability is an issue,” said Auto Consultant, Rajabather Mohan based in Chennai. He elaborated that the expectations of those selling die-sel cars are running high. There is a gap of at least `50,000 between what sellers want and what the buyer is willing to pay. Mohan also said, “Till August 2011, the ratio of petrol and diesel cars used to be 45:55 in Chennai. It is now 25:75 and this shows the demand in diesel cars.”

In Bangalore, considered one of the biggest used and new car markets in the country, the die-sel cars sales have increased by 25 percent, as per some dealer estimates. A manager at a lead-ing pre-owned car showroom in Bangalore says that the inven-tory holding period for petrol models has gone up from around

10-15 days last year to anywhere around 35-40 days currently. Meanwhile, the growing demand for diesel cars has led to sup-ply constraints, leading to an increase in their prices by eight to ten percent.

With more and more fi nan-cial institutions coming in, the segment has got a boost. Most banks such as Kotak Mahindra and HDFC Bank are pursuing pre-owned car fi nancing busi-ness with aggressive strategies. Currently, around 25 percent of used cars that are sold are fi nanced. The used car market is already larger than the new car market in volume terms and is set to grow further as overall

vehicle population or ‘car parc’ increases. According to some estimates, the used cars seg-ment grew faster than the new car segment over the last fi s-cal. A domain of service stations till very recently, pre-owned cars have now become lucrative enough to attract new car deal-ers as well. As per the estimates of a leading car fi nancier, the used cars industry is expanding at 25-30 percent against around 13 percent or so growth in the new car sector.

Established players like Mahindra First Choice Wheels Ltd (formerly Automart India), which has around 180 outlets, is focussing on increasing its dealership network further and looking to compete with dealers of new cars. “It is imperative for customers to realise the benefi t of opting for a used car. For the price of a hatchback, a potential customer could get a premium sedan without compromising on warranties and quality that comes with a new car,” said Vice President- Operations & Network, Mahindra First Choice Wheels, Yatin Chadha. He added that one of the biggest challenges for any used car dealer is establishing his/her credibility and ‘differ-entiation’ factor in a competitive market. He considers ‘stable’ demand or growing preference

for diesel cars to be a transitory phenomenon due to fuel price differential and other factors. Older diesel cars also require more maintenance compared to similar aged petrol cars and hence the price differential may not grow beyond a point.

“The disparity between die-sel and petrol price has widened, there is a signifi cant rise in the demand of diesel cars. However, the petrol cars are still preferred in the below ̀ two lakh price range,” said a Tata Motors Assured deal-er, KB Motors’ Anil Bagaria. He added that there is a difference of around four to fi ve percent in the rate of interest when compared with new cars.

Petrol cars are still preferred in the

below `two-lakh price range. Since

the disparity between diesel and petrol price has widened, there is a significant rise in the demand of diesel cars

—Anil Bagaria of KB Motors

Our Bureau Mumbai

2007 Purchase In

Model (In ` Lakh) 2008 2007 2011 March

1 Alto Lxi 1.7 1.9 1.8

2 Wagon R Lxi 2.1 2.35 2.2

3 Swift Vxi 2.55 2.9 2.7

4 Swift Vdi 3.65 3.4 3.65

5 Santro Gls 2 1.75 2.15

6 Accent Gle 2.05 1.75 2.1

7 Verna Petrol XXI 3 2.7 3

8 Verna Diesel 4.75 4.4 4.75

9 SX4 Vxi 3.25 3 3.5

10 Indica Dls 2.15 1.85 2.15

11 I-10 Magna 2.25 2 2.25

12 Fiesta Petrol 2.25 2 2.25

13 Fiesta Diesel 3.6 3.35 3.6

14 H-City Zx-Gxi 3.6 3.2 4

15 Innova G4 7.75 7.4 7.5

Today’s Purchase (Mar’12)

Auto Monitor

C O R P O R A T E1416 APRIL 2012

Car sales to grow 10-12 percent this fi scal: SIAM

The car sales in India is likely to grow between 10-12 percent in this fi nancial year (FY 2012-

13) compared to the previous fi nancial year, which concluded in March, the apex body of carmak-ers, Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) said recently. The car sales had record-ed a year-on-year (YoY) growth of 4.66 percent in FY11-12 com-pared to the corresponding year. While SIAM projected that sales of the total automobile will also grow by the same percent in this fi nancial year.

“The projection is based on the stable interest rates for sometime and RBI’s remark about the current interest rates being at the peak and can only come down from here. We hope that the positive sentiment will emerge and industry will do a lit-tle better than the previous year.” President SIAM, S Sandilya said.

The commercia l vehi-cle segment, which was very much bullish in the just con-cluded fiscal is expected to moderate slightly in this fi scal due to the cyclic change. The seg-ment is likely to grow between 9-11 percent in this fi nancial year compared to over 18 percent growth in the previous year. For the M&HCV segment (passen-ger carriers) and M&HCV (goods carriers), the growth is likely to

be between fi ve and seven per-cent. The growth of M&HCV (passenger carrier) was 3.03 per-cent in FY 11-12 and the current growth project is subject to the government’s announcement under JNNURM (Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission) scheme. However, the analysts feel that in terms of the goods carrier, the growth could be affected by the likely shift from railways to road trans-port due to increase in the rail freight.

The three-wheeler segment, which de-grew last fiscal by 2.43 percent, may rebound this fis-cal with a five and seven percent growth, SIAM predicted. “We are trying to find out the rea-son as to why this segment had experienced a negative growth. However, I think one of the rea-sons could be the increase in the less-than-one-tonne four-wheelers.” Sandaliya added. The growth projection for the three-wheeler goods carrier and three-wheeler passenger carrier lies between three-five percent and five-seven percent respectively. In the last fiscal, the three-wheeler goods car-rier grew by 6.31 percent, while passenger segment de-grew by 4.5 percent.

The YoY growth in the sales of two-wheeler will be marginally low at 11-13 percent compared to 14.16 percent growth last fi scal. The scooter segment, which had registered the highest growth of

24.55 percent last year, is expect-ed to continue the rally with a growth between 15-17 percent. Motorcycles, which recorded a YoY growth of 12.01 percent is expected to grow between 10-12 percent this fi scal.

Positive Sentiment In Q4March was quite happening for

the automobile industry in India as for the fi rst time in history, car sales crossed two million units in a fi nancial year. The sales growth of total passenger vehicle in the month of March 2012 was at 20.59 percent as compared to the corre-sponding month, a year ago.

The growth rate for over-all domestic sales for 2011-12 was 12.24 percent amounting to 17,376,624 vehicles. In March 2012, domestic sales grew at a

rate of 10.11 percent as compared to March 2011. Passenger Vehicles segment grew at 4.66 percent dur-ing April-March 2012 over same period last year. Passenger Cars grew by 2.19 percent, utility vehi-cles grew by 16.47 percent and vans by 10.01 percent during this period. In March 2012, domes-tic sales of passenger cars grew by 19.66 percent over the same month last year.

The overall commercial vehi-cles segment registered growth of 18.2 percent during April-March 2012 as compared to the same period last year. While Medium & Heavy Commercial Vehicles (M&HCVs) registered a growth of 7.94 percent, light commercial vehicles grew at 27.36 percent. CV sales regis-tered a growth of 14.82 percent in March 2012 compared to March 2011.

Total two-wheelers sales registered a growth of 14.16 per-cent during April-March 2012. Mopeds, motorcycles and scoot-ers grew by 11.39 percent, 12.01 percent and 24.55 percent respec-tively. If we compare sales fi gures of March 2012 to March 2011, the growth for two-wheelers was 8.27 percent.

Three-wheelers sales record-ed a decline of (-) 2.43 percent in April-March 2012 over same period last year. While goods carriers grew by 6.31 percent during April-March 2012, pas-senger carriers registered decline by (-) 4.50 percent. In March 2012, total three-Wheel-ers sales declined by (-) 9.11 percent over March 2011.

Exports In FY11-12During April-March 2012, the

industry exported 2,910,055 auto-mobiles registering a growth of 25.44 percent. Passenger vehicles registered a growth at 14.18 per-cent in this period. Commercial vehicles, three-wheelers and two-wheelers segments record-ed growth of 25.15 percent, 34.41 percent and 27.13 percent respec-tively during April-March 2012.

For the fi rst time in history, car exports crossed half a million in a fi nancial year. In March 2012 compared to March 2011, overall automobile exports registered a growth of 17.81 percent.

Car Makers’ Wish ListThe car makers recently

demanded that the government should decontrol diesel also to narrow the vast gap between the price of diesel and petrol. “The gap between the prices of two fuels in the country is creating pressure on the automobile industry and the government should decontrol diesel or at least should prepare a road map for it.” President SIAM, S Sandilya said.

The representative body of the automobile industry emphasised that it does understand that the issue is politically sensitive. The government may not completely de-control diesel immediately but it can look at decontrolling it in a phased manner, SIAM sug-gested. It further argues that of the total consumption of diesel, only 12 to 14 percent is consumed by farmers.

SIAM is also working on fram-ing ‘voluntary’ recall policy, which will help the carmakers sort out if any issue detected in the vehicle which might affect the customers. “The recall policy is expected to be applicable to all manufacturers within the next few months,” said Sandilya.

The industry body also demanded that the government should bring scrap policy for specially M&HCVs. The vehicles older than 10 to 15 years should be scrapped and government should give incentive for this. The formulation of scraping pol-icy will help environment and also give impetus to the auto-mobile industry. “The vehicle manufactured 10 years ago does not match the emission norms of today. The pollution level is higher because of the older tech-nology; the government should think positively in this direction,” Sandilya concluded.

Nabeel A Khan New Delhi

Categories of Vehicles YoY Growth in YoY Growth Projection by SIAM for FY

FY 2011-2012 2012-2013

Total PVs 4.66 10-12

Total CV 18.2 9-11

3W (Passenger) -4.5 5-7

3W(Goods) 6.31 3-5

Total 3W -2.43 5-7

Scooters 24.55 15-17

Motorcycles 12.01 10-12

Mopeds 11.39 10-12

Total 2W 14.16 11-13

Grand Total 12.24 10-12

Jaguar Land Rover achieves 157 percent growth

Jaguar Land Rover notched up sales of 2,288 units in India in 2011-12 compared to 891 units in the previous

fi scal and 226 units in FY 2009-10. During the fi scal year, Jaguar Land Rover India increased their product offering through the launch of the globally acclaimed Range Rover Evoque, Jaguar 2012 model year range (incorporating the XJ, XF and XK) and the fast-

est and the Jaguar XKR-S. In May 2011, the fi rst India assembled Land Rover Freelander 2 was launched from the Pune assem-bly plant. The Jaguar product range in India includes the XJ, XF, XFR, XKR and the XKR-S. For Land Rover, it includes the Freelander 2 (assembled in Pune), Discovery 4, Range Rover Sport, Range Rover and the Range Rover Evoque.

Auto Monitor

C O R P O R A T E 1516 APRIL 2012

Value added services like price

guides, inventory & registration information

are integrated into the platform

Renault (in)Fluence again! Motorexchange to provide value added services on trading platform

The fully owned sub-sidiary of Renault sas, Renault India recently unveiled the new vari-

ant of Renault Fluence Diesel. The new Renault Fluence Diesel E4D is the top of the range version price at `15.2 lakh (ex-showroom). The engine of the car is powered by a new generation R 1.5 dCi (K9K) engine and offers a fuels effi -ciency of 20.4 kmpl according to the company.

The new 1.5 dCi, engine will produce 110 PS of power and 240 nm of torque and has a special place in the diesel range. It is one of Renault’s top-selling engines with more than one million units sold globally in 2011.

The new engine offers reduced load losses due to new variable geometric turbo. The air intake path has been simplif ied to achieve more efficient turbo performance without much increasing fuel consumption. The compa-ny also said that a low inertia

turbo improves response at low engine speeds making hassle-free for city drivability. Piezo injector significantly improves combustion performance with more precise spray pattern, which in turn increases the engine power. Fluence diesel has the lowest emission stand-ards in its category.

Renault India had launched the Fluence in May 2011 with a different diesel engine. Speaking on the occasion, Managing Director, Renault India Pvt Ltd, Marc Nassif said, “Fluence was the fi rst offering from Renault in India. We are highly pleased with the product’s performance and it has been very well accepted by the Indian customers. The new upgraded Fluence is all about our commitment to the Indian market and is a result of the feedback we have received from our customers”.

The car will be competing with the likes of Volkswagen Jetta, Skoda Laura and Toyota Corolla Diesel, which are priced at `16.4 lakhs, `15.23 lakh and `16.05 lakh respectively.

Motorexchange is looking to enhance its technology plat-form and notch up a

turnover of around $one billion over the next two to three years.

“We are looking to make this the most robust and sought after used car auction platform in India. The value addition and connec-tivity is the differentiation that this platform offers compared to any other similar endeavours,” said CEO, Motorexchange, Vinay Sanghi.

Currently, more than a million customers visit the consumer site- cartrade.com and around 1,200 automobile dealers are registered users on the B2B plat-form cartradeexchange.com, an online auction marketplace for cars that connects institutions like banks, fi nance companies, insurance companies and auto dealers to trade used and repos-sessed cars.

Value added services includ-ing price guides on used cars, inventory information and list-ing by dealers, registration information and dealer manage-ment system are integrated into the cartradeexchange platform to help faster decision making process. To broaden the appeal of the platform, the entire inventory of used cars is visible on the B2B and consumer websites. The con-

sumer website is largely geared to generate leads on individual buy-ers with transaction on used car buying and selling done offl ine.

“Features like inventory sharing by dealers on regular basis are helping to enhance the transparency in the market and better price discovery for used car pool,” said Sanghi. He added that in addition to enrol-ment of larger number of dealers on the platform, the company

is also looking to enhance the scalability of auction and lead generation business.

MotorExchange was launched towards the end of 2009 as an online platform for transacting used vehicles. The site enables business (fi nancial institutions and fl eet owners) and consumers to sell their pre-owned vehicles. It claims to offer an effi cient price discovery mechanism to sellers in addition to defi ned timelines and transparency. Buyers on the platform are used vehicle dealers who gain access to a large pool of vehicles. It also focuses on repos-sessed vehicles from commercial banks (that come from loans defaulters). The B2B platform charges buyers a commission fee and provides the services to sell-ers for free.

Renault India Pvt Ltd is expecting to sell around 30,000 units of car in the calendar year 2012; this

would be a twenty times hike from the previous year’s number. The company sold around 1,500 vehi-cles in the calendar year 2011 while it sold over 1,000 vehicles in the fi rst two months of 2012.

“We expect an increase of around 20 times in the sales over the last year as then we had only two products—Koleos and Fluence but now we have Pulse, and Duster and a new car is going to be launched very soon.” Managing Director, Renault India, Marc Nassif said.

The crossover Duster is going to be launched around Diwali and it will be followed by one more product. All the products

will be assembled at its facilityin Chennai.

Renault has also recently start-ed production at the new line in Chennai plant, taking the annual production for the entire alliance in India to four lakh units.

To back the sales expectations the company plans to have 100 dealerships across the country by December, 2012. Currently it has 42 dealerships across in India.

To further lay emphasis on the after sales services, the carmaker is offering its cus-tomers the Renault Complete Car service package which is a globally benchmarked; offer-ing customers with a host of facilities including a four-year or 80,000 km warranty, labour free service at 2,000, 10,000 and 20,000 km with 24/7 roadside assistance through a dedicated customer helpline, a valet serv-ice to pick-up, service & drop off the car, concierge services to help navigate and fi nd hotels, and dining options.

The cars would be serviced by Cotech technicians who have been specially trained at the Renault facility in France.

The French carmaker came to India in 2005 in a collabora-tion with M&M to manufacture the Logan, but in April 2010 Renault decided to go solo fol-lowing which, in May 2011, it introduced its f irst product sedan, Fluence.

Growing portfolio helps Renault set target of 30,000

The crossover Duster is going to

be launched around Diwali and it will

be followed by one more product. All

the products will be assembled at its facility

in Chennai

Our Bureau New Delhi

Abhishek Parekh Mumbai

Our Bureau New Delhi

Vinay Sanghi, CEO, Motorexchange

Marc Nassif, MD, Renault India with the new launch

Auto Monitor

S T U D Y1616 APRIL 2012

While the unor-ganised service sectors or unau-thorised outlets

like garages and local mechanics remain the most frequently vis-ited sources for servicing tyres in India, original equipment tyre owners are increasingly having their tyres serviced at authorised retail outlets, such as independent tyre dealers or purchase dealers, according to the JD Power Asia Pacifi c 2012 India Original Equipment Tyre Customer Satisfaction Index (TCSI) Study released recently.

More than one-half (53 per-

cent) of original equipment tyre owners in India who experi-ence a tyre-related problem have the repair made by a roadside mechanic. However, 38 percent of owners take their vehicle to a retail outlet for tyre repairs, com-pared with seven percent in 2011, according to the study.

“The shift in preference for organised retail outlets refl ects customer demands for better service, facilities and processes. Therefore, it might be prudent on the part of tyre manufacturers to fi ne-tune their retail strategy to ensure a superior customer experience at these outlets,” said Executive Director, JD Power Asia Pacifi c, Singapore, Mohit Arora.

The study, now in its 12th year, measures satisfaction among original equipment tyre owners during the fi rst 12 to 24 months of ownership. The study measures overall satisfaction across four factors (listed in order of impor-tance): appearance, durability,

traction/handling and ride.Satisfaction with original

equipment tyres averages 827 points (on a 1,000-point scale)—a

five-point improvement from 2011. At the factor level, appear-ance satisfaction is highest (829), while durability satisfaction (825) improves nine points year over year.

MRF ranks highest in satis-faction with original equipment tyres for a third consecutive year, achieving a score of 841. MRF improves eight points from 2011 and performs well across all fac-tors. JK Tyre ranks second with a score of 831, while Apollo ranks third at 827.

The study also fi nds that the occurrence of problems with original tyres negatively impacts

overall satisfaction. The 2012 study fi nds an increase in the impor-tance of such features as run-fl at tyres and self-sealing tyres, com-pared with the 2011 study.

Innovative technological advancements in tyres may help mitigate dissatisfaction due to commonly cited problems, such as damage due to punctures. The 2012 India Original Equipment Tyre Customer Satisfaction Index Study is based on respons-es from new vehicle owners who purchased their vehicle between May 2009 and August 2010. The study was fi elded between May and August 2011.

Buoyant automotive demand fuelled growth in alloy steel industry

Riding on the buoyancy in domestic automo-tive demand, the alloy steel consumption in

India has almost tripled dur-ing last eight years (FY03-FY11). Growing at a CAGR of about 22 percent from about 0.4 million tonne to 2.4 million tonne. It has been one of the fastest growing segments in the metal sector. Imports also benefi ted from the robust demand scenario as they

increased at a CAGR of around 31 percent during the same period.

Demand from auto ancillary and energy sectors have fuelled alloy steel growth

The auto ancillary sector accounts for about 70 percent of the end-use consumption of alloy steel while the rest goes in engineering and oil and gas sec-tor. During the last one decade (FY01 to FY11), auto ancillary industry has grown at a healthy pace of around 17 percent that has in turn fuelled the demand for alloy steel products. Further rising demand for energy (power and oil & gas) sector and engi-neering industry has also aided to the growth in alloy steel products.

Expanding demand and favourable logistics infra-structure has moved towards signifi cant capacity creation in western India during the past one and half decade. The creation of automotive clusters, easy acces-sibility to ports, combined with increasing emphasis on effi cien-cy enhancement measures has led major alloy steel manufactur-ers to set up their manufacturing units in western regions during last 10-15 years. CARE Research estimates that signifi cant portion of the domestic alloy steel capac-ity is concentrated in western region. Further, favourable logis-tics infrastructure also enables alloy steel manufacturers situat-ed in western India to cater major portion of demand from northern as well as southern India.

Healthy demand from automotive sector would continue to drive demand for alloy steel products

CARE Research expects the domestic alloy steel demand to grow at a CAGR of about 13.6 percent during FY11-FY15 peri-od. Healthy demand from auto ancillary industry that is expect-ed to grow at a CAGR of around 15 percent combined with rise in investment made towards new projects in energy sector dur-ing the same period is expected to drive the growth in domestic alloy steel industry.

Regional imbalance would continue to remain in alloy steel capacity

CARE Research foresees regional imbalance would con-tinue in alloy steel capacity and

western region would dominate industry supply. CARE Research believes that signifi cant addition in new automotive projects in Gujarat would enable alloy steel manufacturers in these regions to enhance their manufacturing capacity. CARE Research esti-mates that the western region, which accounts for around 27 percent in India’s overall automobile OEM capacity is expected to increase consider-ably to 34 percent in next two years. Further, enhancement in logistics infrastructure as well as sufficient supply position expected for alloy steel would continue to push supplies from western regions to southern and northern regions.

The shift in preference for organised

retail outlets reflects customer demands for better service,

facilities and processes. Therefore, it might be prudent on the part

of tyre manufacturers to fine-tune their retail strategy to ensure a superior customer experience at these

outlets—Mohit Arora, Executive Director, JD

Power Asia Pacific, Singapore

Authorised tyre repair shops make their presence felt: JD Power Our Bureau

Mumbai

Revati KastureHead, Industry Research

Vishal SrivastavDeputy Manager

Kunal MaheshwariAnalyst

Auto Monitor

S T U D Y1816 APRIL 2012

Bajaj benefi ts by system optimisationB

ajaj Auto has a complex operating structure with 14 regional offi c-es, 11 depots, more than

400 dealers, 1,200 services and some 1,800 service points across India. Currently some 24 million Bajaj Auto vehicles help populate India’s roads. For such company, it is crucial to have its IT systems run effi ciently.

Thus, when SAP announced the launch of Enterprise Support Services in 2008, offering sig-nifi cantly enhanced systems to analyse and improve IT infra-structure performance, Bajaj Auto was one of the fi rst in India to sign on.

The company CIO, Anil Khopkar, said they’ve worked with SAP since 2001 and operate within a complex supply chain and IT operations landscape with them.

Better Transaction Data“For us, SAP is a business crit-

ical application, which means that any disruption in availability could seriously affect our busi-ness and overall sales and market share, so high performing SAP systems are essential,” Khopkar said. “We have benefi ted in areas such as hardware memory and CPU utilisation management, load balancing areas. All areas where we could not source that level of expertise, feedback and advice,” Khopkar said.

He added that benefi ts from using SAP Enterprise Support have included an “up to 40 per-cent improvement in spare parts availability, 40 percent better forecasting accuracy, a 30 percent improvement in transaction run-time as well as sustaining system support for an increase in sales of 32 percent.”

Master Data ManagementFrom the master data manage-

ment point of view, the upgraded SAP services had helped aggregate Bajaj Auto’s enterprise informa-tion and achieved reduced data management costs. Bajaj was able to provide more accurate product packaging and a better shipping service.

“Essentially we get inputs from SAP to run certain pro-grammes and checks on our complete SAP footprint. Bottlenecks or inefficient areas in the database or programmes are identified early, so we can resolve these issues early and thus enhance the overall per-formance with minimal issues; In a nutshell that’s how SAP Enterprise Support helps us.”

Optimised InvestmentKhopkar stated that what the

company gets in return for the added investment of Enterprise Support is much better per-formance, and SAP expertise, really like a trusted partnership. Essentially, a pro-active business partner able to proactively assist and reactively resolve our prob-lems in diffi cult times.

“Because we have been able to manage our performance much better and have been able to complete jobs more effi -ciently, we are able to optimise our resources, so our IT invest-ment is paying for itself. We have saved budget on what we would otherwise have invested in our IT infrastructure.”

The Way AheadKhopkar had this advice for

enterprises considering engaging SAP Enterprise Support services. “Potential SAP Enterprise Support

customers need to study their particular situation and future IT strategies and needs. Basically do a cost-benefi t analysis with SAP Support to properly understand the benefi ts that would be made available, and then calculate their potential savings,” he said.

“If you are an enterprise where your IT systems are critical to the business, and you depend on consistent and reliable availabil-ity, as well as needing to manage your hardware data volume accu-rately for the longer term, then the focus should be on performance optimisation, This is what SAP Enterprise Support with the solu-tion manager can do for you.”

The benefits from using SAP Enterprise

Support have included an up to 40 percent

improvement in spare parts availability, 40 percent better

forecasting accuracy, a 30 percent

improvement in transaction run-time as well as sustaining system support for an increase in sales

of 32 percent—Anil Khopkar, CIO, Bajaj

Auto India

Nvidia Maximus helps Fisker Automotive drive at full speed

Fi s ker Automot i ve describes its premi-um hybrid electric vehicles as “respon-

sible lu x u r y w it hout compromise”. As a new automo-bile company pioneering a new categor y—luxur y hybrids—Fisker pays attention to detail in the creation of its cars. And as a company whose fi rst prod-uct is currently being launched, it utilises compelling imagery to communicate its vision and entice future customers.

Creating that imagery involves numerous steps and soft-ware tools, including Dassault Systèmes CATIA and Autodesk Alias for 3D modeling, various Bunkspeed products (incl. Shot, Move, Udrive, Hypershot, and Pro) for photorealistic render-ing, and Adobe Photoshop and After Effects to perfect the qual-ity of animations and images produced by Bunkspeed. Fisker has recently adopted the new Nvidia Maximus platform, which allows a single workstation to do both visualisation and compute-intensive tasks simultaneously, so that the rendering process no longer monopolises designers’ workfl ows.

“The Maximus system lets me get more done in the same amount of time,” said Senior Surfacing Designer, Fisker Automotive, Mark Rumsey, “I can still use my computer while it’s doing ray tracing.”

The ChallengeAs part of Fisker’s design styl-

ing organisation, Rumsey creates still images and animations used in marketing imagery for the company’s website and print, as well as for use in high-level execu-tive meetings. He joined Fisker in 2010 after 20 years of involvement with computer-aided drafting and 3D computer surfacing, for both industrial and entertain-ment applications.

“Fisker is a company with big ideas, big goals, and big aspi-rations,” said Rumsey. “Fisker wants to reduce the time need-ed to bring new cars to market, which means greater reliance on digital means, including real-time ray tracing, visualisation, animation, and rendering. That mindset fi lters throughout the organisation, and it means all of us are looking for ways to squeeze time out of our processes.”

Cars represent big digital models—5.5 million to 6.5 mil-lion polygons, typically. Before the Nvidia Maximus solution was available, Rumsey encountered various challenges in his workfl ow while creating photorealistic-qual-ity digital stills and animations of the new Fisker Karma.

Rumsey’s typical workfl ow was to prepare a model in Alias and input the data into Bunkspeed. After applying different materi-als, setting up the lighting and defi ning the right camera angle he would then launch a render-

ing. “Each still frame takes any-where from a minute to 20 min-utes to render, and animations take several hours, usu-ally overnight. Rendering used all the GPUs on my compu-ter, so I was shut down from doing anything else while rendering was happening,” said Rumsey.

The SolutionThe Nvidia Maximus platform

combines the industry-lead-ing, professional 3D graphics capability of an Nvidia Quadro professional Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) with an Nvidia Tesla C2075 companion GPU that’s able to perform compute-inten-sive tasks on its own. As a result, a single Maximus-powered work-station can do ray tracing or complex number-crunching while leaving compute cycles available for other tasks simultaneously, such as 3D design, simulation, or preparing a presentation.

“I can allocate the compan-ion GPU to rendering, leaving the other GPU and the CPUs available to do other work,” said Rumsey. “I can work on several different turntables, like 360-de-gree spinned views of a car with different colours, send the imag-es off to render, then on that same

workstation I can keep using Bunkspeed to apply different textures to the car or to work on different variants of a car, or I can model in Alias, send emails, or research things on the Internet.”

The Impact“Because the Nvidia Maximus

platform enables me to still use my computer while I’m rendering, it means I can get more iterations of a design done in the same amount of time,” said Rumsey.

It also enhances the creative process. “I have time to try out more options and see the results quickly in photorealistic qual-ity,” he said. “Before Maximus, if something came to mind while the machine was rendering, I couldn’t act on the idea right away, so sometimes ideas got lost. With the Maximus system, now I can explore different ‘what if’ scenar-ios. If I have an idea for a different camera path or lighting or refi ning some detail on the model itself, I can create multiple options to present to the marketing depart-

ment, so the final prod-

uct is just that much better.”Collaboration

among Fisker team members has improved,

as well. For instance, Rumsey can sit down with a

colour expert on the team and they can work together to select the right colours for a particu-lar feature of the car. With the parallel-processing capabilities of the Maximus system, they can make a colour change, do a real-time ray tracing to check how it will really look, and go back and forth until they agree on the exact shade and hue. Felt Rumsey. “We get fast interactiv-ity with Bunkspeed and fast ray tracing, all at the same time.”

Whether it’s preparing pho-torealistic images for billboards to be used by Fisker dealerships around the country, tweaking the lighting for a single website image, or creating a promotional video or animated fl y-over, Nvidia Maximus technology is helping Fisker’s design styling organisa-tion produce better results in less time, and without the frustration of waiting for the computer to fi nish rendering. “Creativity, productiv-ity and time management—those are the advantages I’ve found with the Nvidia Maximus platform,” said Rumsey.

(Courtesy: Nvidia)

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SAP services had helped aggregate Bajaj Auto’s enterprise information spanning across 14 offices and a number of plants across India and achieved reduced data management costs. It was able to provide more accurate product packaging and a better shipping service.

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Auto Monitor

C O R P O R A T E2016 APRIL 2012

Internet helps vendors cross national boundaries

The list of automotive related business ben-efiting from having an online presence is

growing. Twenty Four x Seven Mercantile House, founded by Naveen Pamnani can be billed as one of the more innova-tive business in the automotive space. Rather than competing with vendors of auto spare parts from China, he has built-up his presence as a reliable supplier of spares for vintage cars and bikes on eBay.com, the eponymous online bidding platform. Having garnered business and atten-tion of vintage car communities across the globe, he is now look-ing to grow his product offerings as well as offer his expertise to other traders and exporters look-ing to build online venture with focus on international markets.

Founder of Twenty Four x Seven Mercantile House Ltd operates India’s leading distri-bution company of vintage auto

parts. Pamnani sells automobile parts, engineering goods and hand tools directly to end con-sumers. He realised the immense potential of the internet and started selling spare parts for vintage bikes and scooters on eBay. The company specialis-es in customised body parts for vintage British bikes like Royal Enfi eld, BSA, Triumph, Norton, AJS, Lambretta and Vespas and also specialises in restoration of vintage bikes.

“Having restored and retrofi t-ted my own vintage motorcycles, I realised that providing spares for refurbishing vintage motorcy-cles through an online platform might turn out to be a good value preposition. Moreover, why restrict yourself to a workshop or the domestic market when there is a signifi cant market for such spares internationally?” pon-dered Pamnani. He is still coping with delivery channels as ship-ment from traditional can get increasingly unviable for low cost products and options like post-age delivery, bundled exports in

collaboration with other export-ers and such other innovative modes have become essential for viability.

He further added that any online trading initiative, espe-cially in the automotive space, requires building up credibili-ty. He found that a platform like eBay.com was an ideal mode to offer services globally and cut out distributors or importers who could eat up the margins in the process of reaching out the end customers.

Pamnani’s venture clocked sales of over $10,000 in the fi rst month after launch. It has already amassed more than 10,000 customers in the US, the UK, Australia, Europe and even Uruguay and Israel and has notched up annual sales of around $2.5 million.

He is now looking to get his online venture to the next stage, having already started sell-ing spares for vintage cars to customers across key markets like the US, the UK, Australia and some European countries. He is looking to sell spares for contemporary cars and agri-cultural equipments through online channels to customers globally. He is targeting around 25 to 30 percent of revenues from newer categories over the next two to three years. Additionally, he is also an eBay certifi ed trade assistant and wants to assist other trading companies on garnering business online. He is looking at a commission-based model by helping traders or exporters to build-up and generate traf-fi c for their products on eBay rather than adding ‘unrelated’ products on his own or forming joint ventures with numerous trading partners.

When queried on why he did not put in efforts at building-up a brand in the domestic market, he quipped, “We will continue to focus on exports as it does not make sense for us to have a larger or offl ine presence in the Indian market given its price sensitiv-ity.” He added that he has been operating a workshop to disman-tle vintage or old cars to study the parts and systems of such cars in order to procure such parts from reliable local vendors. Identifying and building-up a credible set of vendors for procuring spares for such vintage vehicles continues to be the most challenging task, emphasised Pamnani.

In addition to having a signif-icant presence on eBay, he also operates country-specific web-sites for vintage vehicle spares including Roya lspa res.com (UK), Classicspareparts.com (Australia), Vintagespares.com (Europe) and Bulletwala.com (North America). Even though traffic at these sites has been growing, he prefers to conduct business on eBay and empha-sis that higher volumes can be more effortlessly garnered on a platform like eBay, which also gives additional benefit of providing authentic custom-er feedback.

After the successful intro-duction of the Vento IPL edition last year, the German car manufac-

turer Volkswagen has unveiled its models of Polo and Vento recent-ly in Chennai for the next edition of the sports event.

At the launch of the new cars, Volkswagen Passenger Cars Director and Member of Board, Neeraj Garg, said, “After the successful introduction of Volkswagen Vento IPL Edition last year, as per the brand’s ‘action model strategy’, the new season will see the IPL Editions on selected variants of both Polo and Vento.” These variants that come with additional features will be available to the customers at no additional cost, he said.

Elaborating on the action model strategy of the brand, Garg said “In the previous edition of IPL, we launched our fi rst action model, Volkswagen Vento. During the event last year we sold around 2,000 cars more. To replicate the same success story this year, we are launching both Polo and Vento models. The huge response we received towards these spe-cial editions has prompted us to continue with the IPL Edition this time.”

After taking part in the brand building exercise last year, the company reported that the awareness level grew by 12 per-cent. This year the company is displaying IPL edition in all its 103 dealerships spread across the country in about 87 cities. The company has sold around 69,000 Polo’s and 59,000 Vento cars since its launch back in 2010.

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Pamnani realised the immense potential of the internet and started selling spare parts

for vintage bikes and scooters on eBay

Naveen Pamnani, Promoter, Twenty Four x Seven

Auto Monitor

C O R P O R A T E 2116 APRIL 2012

Automotive design, development takes centrestage for Pune’s Vishwakarma Institute

Pune-based Vishwakarma Institute of Technology has entered into an agreement with State

University of New York at Binghamton (Binghamton University) for exchange and enhancement of curriculum and other initiatives for automotive and engineering courses offered at Pune. The tie-up would include student exchange, internship and course upgradations.

“We are looking to have a deeper engagement with Binghampton University for exchange programmes as well as quality internship opportuni-ties in the automotive sector for our students. Our understanding will grow in the coming years and may encompass to other fi elds as well,” said Director Vishwakarma

Institute of Technology, Dr Rajesh Jalnekar in a chat with Auto Monitor.

V ishwa ka rma Inst itute recently hosted the fi rst interna-tional conference on ‘Research Trends in Design, Analysis and Manufacturing of Mechanical Systems’ at its VIT Pune cam-pus in association with the State University of New York at Binghamton (Binghamton University) and Anveshak Technology and Knowledge Solutions. This conference pro-vided a platform for industry and academia to collaborate on an International level, to dis-cuss research trends as well the need and challenges of industry- academia collaboration in the manufacturing sector.

The conference included a panel discussion on the ‘Needs And Challenges For Industry-Academia Collaboration In

India’ with distinguished pan-ellists including MD of Boeing Research and Technology-India, Dr Bala Bharadvaj; Distinguished Professor and Dean of Watson School of Engineering and Applied Science at SUNY Binghamton, Prof K Srihari; Director, Mercedes-Benz India, Devdutta Chandavarkar; Chief Executive Offi cer, MESTECH Services, Sanjay Sharma and Dean of Engineering and Technology at Asia Institute of Technology, Prof Nitin Afzulpurkar. The panel dis-cussion was followed by technical sessions on ‘Design And Analysis’ and ‘Manufacturing Execution Systems’ by senior researchers and managers from GM India Science Lab, MESTECH Services, Tata Motors, Daimler India Commercial Vehicles and ANSYS.

Apart from industry experts, the conference included stu-dents from VIT and renowned engineering colleges from Pune.

This gave them a chance to inter-act with industry professionals, while helping them understand the practical applications of con-cepts generally taught to them in classroom environment.

“One of the points that I would like to elaborate on is the multi disciplinary approach. It is an important aspect for grooming the engineering students across all the institutes. VIT has a spe-cial programme which includes the knowledge comprehension of understanding, synthesis application as well as knowledge creation which we inculcate in the students from the beginning of their curriculum; ensuring a multi-career growth oppor-tunity in India and globally,” he added.

VIT also plans on providing internships in India and overseas for three-six months for the selec-tive courses and students during their tenure of courses spread over four years. The institute is eventually looking to spread the concept to all the courses being offered by the institute.

Vice President for Research at Binghamton University, Prof Bahgat Sammakia said, “It has become increasingly impor-tant for students to be equipped with diverse skill sets in order to serve the global economy. Hence, we are pleased to part-ner with Vishwakarma Institute of Technology in their endeav-our to provide the students with enhanced academic experience by providing them an oppor-tunity to work on cutting-edge projects made available by our industry partners in the US and Europe.”

TVS Motors has select-ed IBM’s ILOG Transportation Analyst solution to map truck-

ing routes for timely delivery to its various dealership networks. The software optimises TVS Motors transport planning and assets utilisation.

The ILOG software helps determine the best possible pickup and delivery dates, based on various constraints related to route and distance. With the implementation, TVS will be able to predict and communicate delivery dates, improving reve-nue projections more effectively. Improved visibility into the deliv-ery timelines and routes would allow the company to ensure that its transportation vehicles take the best possible routes. It will also help the company in reducing the overall costs asso-ciated with transportation and logistics for the dealerships and bring down the costs associated with multiple drop shipments to a single dealership.

IBM’s ILOG Transportation Analyst software helps deter-mine the best possible pickup and delivery dates, based on var-ious constraints related to route and distance.

IBM ILOG Transportation Analyst, which is part of the IBM Smarter Commerce offerings is focused on helping companies swiftly adapt to rising custom-er demands in today’s digitally transformed marketplace. IBM Smarter Commerce will address the spectrum of enterprise com-merce activities in new ways.

TVS Motors logs into IBM solution for asset optimisation

Our Bureau Chennai

(L-R) Dr Sanjay Sharma, MD MES Tech; Dr Bala Bharadwaj, MD, Boeing Research and Technology India; Dr Balgat Sammakia, VP for Research at Binghamton University; Prof Srihari, Dean, School of Engineering Binghamton University; Prof Nitin Afzulpurkar, Dean, College

of Engineering AIT; Rajesh M Jalnekar, Director, Vishwakarma Institute of Technology, Devdutta Chandavarkar, Director, Mercedes Benz India and Sandip Tonapi , President & CEO of Anveshak Technology and Knowledge Solution

Our Bureau Mumbai

Auto Monitor

A N A LY S I S2216 APRIL 2012

8.55%

-23.84%

6.41%

78.80%

13.44%

158.42%

441.30%

92.45%

60.76%

0.31%

Passenger Vehicles

Passenger Cars

OEMs 2010-11 2011-12

BMW 3,171 3,442

Fiat 19,247 14,658

Ford 85,241 81,413

GM 79,325 78,401

HM 6,359 2,489

HSCI 55,431 43,093

HMIL 327,203 348,168

M&M 8,991 16,076

MSIL 871,059 756,972

Merc 2,731 3,098

Nissan 10,495 27,121

RI - 2,624

Skoda 18,959 27,736

Tata 232,863 227,776

TKM 14,948 80,914

Audi 1,205 2,319

VW 43,512 69,949

Total 1,780,740 1,786,249

MPV

OEMs 2010-11 2011-12

Force 204 140

Maruti 146,210 131,625

M&M 377 23261

Tata 46,725 57,855

Total 193,516 212,881

Commercial Vehicles Two-Wheelers

LCVs (PC+GC)

OEMs 2010-11 2011-12

ALL 584 5,735

Force 19,058 21,649

HM 301 164

M&M 93,691 114,716

MNAL 9,155 9,318

Piaggio 8,444 9,992

Swaraj 3,705 3,980

Tata 181,968 236,333

VECV - Eicher

6,597 8,480

Total 323,503 410,367

3-Wheelers (PC+GC)

OEMs 2010-11 2011-12

Atul 17,160 24,184

Bajaj 187,830 185,538

Force 142 11

M&M 56,373 62,351

Piaggio 184,947 170,043

Scooters 12,214 15,777

TVS 20,847 13,071

Total 479,513 470,975

M&HCVs (PC+GC)

OEMs 2010-11 2011-12

ALL 71,903 70,711

AMW 5,977 8,827

JCBL - 1

Daimler* 103 85

MNAL 1,043 2,986

Swaraj 6,739 7,146

Tata 168,789 185,042

VECV - Eicher

26,675 32,744

VECV - Volvo

932 590

Volvo Buses

496 618

Total 282,657 308,750

Scooter/Scooterettees

OEMs 2010-11 2011-12

BAL 27 -

HML 307,259 379,051

HMSI 813,250

1,086,490

M2W 145,721 121,768

SMIL 209,038 257,490

TVS 394,408 460,079

Total 1,869,703 2,304,878

Mopeds/Electric

OEMs 2010-11 2011-12

TVS 633,259 702,041

Electrotherm* 2,482 NA

Total 635,741 702,041

Motorcycles/StepThroughs

OEMs 2010-11 2011-12

BAL 2,194,522 2,356,374

HD 0 626

HML 4,457,670 5,176,677

HMSI 600,866 697,015

IYM 251,762 325,678

RE 48,523 69,902

SMIL 45,031 46,527

TVS 574,570 572,644

Total 8,172,944 9,245,443

* Data not available since August 2008 onwards

UV

OEMs 2010-11 2011-12

BMW 256 2,453

Force 2,982 4,406

Ford 2,811 2,226

GM 18,452 21,084

HM 2,350 1,750

HSCI 456 318

HMIL 341 1,489

ICML 632 447

M&M 152,903 181,019

MSIL 5,046 4,995

Merc 197 403

Nissan 431 272

RI - 335

Skoda 1,003 1,531

Tata 37,084 41,959

TKM 59,414 61,069

Audi 687 1,062

VW 3 6

Total 285,048 326,824

882.02%

7.42%

-45.51%

13.60%

1.78%

29.88%

28.54%23.37%

26.85%33.60%

-16.44%

23.18%

7.38%

16.13%

16.00%

29.36%

-

-

44.06%

3.32%

-0.34%

10.86%

0.00%

13.12%

16.65%

23.28%

-100.00%

-

-

-1.66%

47.68%

186.29%

6.04%

9.63%

22.75%

-36.70%

24.60%

9.23%

-30.26%

47.75%

14.26%

23.82%

6070.03%

10.01%

-20.81%

-25.53%

40.93%

-1.22

-92.25%

-37.30%

10.60%

-8.06%

29.17%

-1.78%

-60.86%

-4.49%

-1.16%

-13.10%

22.44%

18.33%

The passenger car segment grew by 0.31 percent during the April-February period this fi scal, while the utility vehicles grew by 14.66 percent and the multi-purpose vehicles grew by 10.01 percent in this fi scal.

Toyota led the passenger car segment with a growth of around 441.3 percent from 14,948 units to touch 80,914 units this fi scal, as compared to the previous period. M&M registered the highest growth in the multi-purpose vehicle segment with 6070.03 percent growth to touch 23,261 units in April-February 2012 period.

The overall commercial vehicles segment registered a growth of 18.63 percent in April-February, 2012 as compared to the same period last fi scal to touch 719,117 units. M&HCVs sales grew by 9.23 percent to touch 308,750 units compared to 282,657 units in the same period in the previous year. The LCV segment grew by 26.85 percent to touch 410,367 units in this fi scal, compared to 323,503 units in the same period last fi scal.

Three-wheeler sales were relatively fl at at 470,975 units in April-February period compared to 479,513 units in same period last year. Passenger carriers fell by 4.12 percent in April-February while goods carriers registered growth of 8.32 percent.

ALL registered the highest growth in the LCV segment to touch 5,735 units. Atul Auto registered highest growth in three-wheeler segment to touch 24,184 units.

Domestic two-wheelers sales witnessed a growth of 14.77 percent in this fi scal to touch 12,252,362 units against 10,675,906 units during the same period in the previous fi s-cal. Mopeds, motorcycles and scooters grew by 10.86 percent, 13.12 percent and 23.28 percent respectively.

The motorcycle sales grew to 9,245,443 units in April-February period as compared to 8,172,944 units in cor-responding period in the previous fi scal.

In the Motorcycle segment, Royal Enfi eld sales were up by 44.06 percent in April-February period this fi scal, while Bajaj Auto’s sales grew by around 7.38 percent to touch 2,356,374 units compared to 2,194,522 units in same period last fi scal.

In the Scooter segment, the sales of Hero MotoCorp grew by 23.37 percent while TVS Motor sales grew by 16.65 percent in this fi scal.

Hero MotoCorp reported its best sales for February at 510,458 units, registering a jump of 10.26 percent over the same month last year. Bajaj Auto witnessed fl at growth in its February sales at 203,919 units against the same month in the previous fi scal.

TVS Motor Company reported total domestic two-wheeler sales of 152,796 units in February registering a growth of 0.84 percent. Honda Motorcycles India registered the highest growth in domestic two-wheelers sales at around 48.76 per-cent to touch 197,496 units in February this year.

-22.26%

46.29%

858.20%

366.66%-

18.39%

52.64%

2.79%

54.59%

100.00%

14.66%

-29.27%

-1.01%

-36.89%

13.15%

104.57%

-

-9.98%

-31.37%

10.43%

-17.48%

-2.18%

Auto Monitor

C O R P O R A T E2416 APRIL 2012

Mobis to strengthen eastern frontiersNew Indian branch to be step towards bigger global market yield

Mobis, one of the lead-ing South Korean auto parts suppli-ers, is set to diversify

its exports base by expanding its footprint in the emerging markets of China and India. The company has completed a detailed analy-sis of the Indian market and its competitors and established a business strategy targeting the Indian market with safety sys-tems including airbags, and automotive systems includ-ing audio as strategic company products.

According to the company’s website, it has local branches in North America (Detroit), Europe (Germany), Japan (Tokyo) and China (Shanghai), has estab-lished an exclusive global sales network in leading and emerging markets following the opening of a local branch in India.

The new branch would be responsible for auto-part orders from car manufacturers in and around New Delhi, India. And with the set-up, the company plans to leverage this competitiveness

by securing customers in emerg-ing markets including China and India.

The StrategyThe airbag market is expect-

ed to grow 37 percent annually in India, as the Indian govern-ment enforces tougher measures to install airbags in ten major Indian cities commencing this year. As local auto manufacturers demand high quality audio sys-tems, the segment is expected to grow 19 percent annually.

The auto major plans to gradu-ally expand sales offi ces in China to other regions by next year while carrying out business to obtain component orders prima-rily with the local Indian branch. The company is a major suppli-er to international automakers including GM, Chrysler in North America, and BMW, Volkswagen, and Mercedes in Europe.

Vice President, Mobis I nt er n at ion a l Bu s i ne s s Department, Lee Jun Hyung said, “The company will develop these strategic products tailored to the Indian market in coopera-tion with a research institute in Hyderabad, India, while rein-

forcing price competitiveness through design improvement, and promoting aggressive busi-ness activities”.

Mobis is tar-get i ng major Indian compa-nies like Maruti Su z u k i, Tat a Motors and M&M that account for

more than 60 percent of the Indian market besides Hyundai Motors.The latest New Delhi branch office is for best access to these companies and best use of existing R&D person-nel. The company will hold a briefing session for auto manufacturers in November with additional Indian mar-ket analysis and preliminary business activities.

The company has expanded exports to overseas car manufac-turers to 10 percent of overall sales by increasing major auto-part exports to leading car manufactur-ers in North America and Europe. The company aims to expand its share to 20 percent of the glo-bal market by 2020, through a diversifi cation across leading and emerging markets.

Force Motors entered into an agreement with Hindustan

Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) for sup-ply of genuine oil to be used in its entire range of automotive aggregates like the engine, gearbox, and axles. The contract was signed after extensive trials of genuine oil in various operat-ing conditions of aggregates by both Force Motors and HPCL.

The oil is specifically for-mulated to the Force Motors specifi cations to further enhance the life and reliability of prod-ucts across its light commercial, multi-utility, agricultural and personal vehicle segments.

The HP Force genuine oils will be distributed to the dealers of Force Motors and to the mar-ket on a national level through the HPCL’s strong distributor network. Force Motors’ vehi-cle range includes Trump small commercial vehicles, Trax multi-utility and cross country vehicles, Traveller light commercial vehi-cles and the Balwan range of Agricultural Tractors. It has also launched sports utility vehicle, the Force One recently.

Force Motors, HPCL in agreement for oil supply

The oil is specifically formulated

to the Force Motors specifications to

enhance the life and reliability of products

across its light commercial, multi-utility,

agricultural & personal vehicle

segments

The company will develop these strategic

products tailored to the Indian market in cooperation with a research institute in Hyderabad, India, while reinforcing

price competitiveness through design

improvement and promoting aggressive business activities—Lee Jun Hyung, VP, Mobis International

Business Department

Our Bureau Mumbai

Our Bureau Mumbai

Auto Monitor

2616 APRIL 2012

G L O B A L W A T C H

International auto round-upUS fuel economy breaks record

Higher gas prices are prodding Americans to buy more fuel-ef-fi cient vehicles, according to a report released by the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute. It said fuel economy of all new vehicles sold in the US has topped 24 miles per gallon for the fi rst time. Average fuel economy—window-stick-er values of combined city/highway fi gures—of cars, light trucks, minivans and SUVs pur-chased in March was 24.1 mpg, up from 23.9 in February and 23.6 in January. The fuel effi -ciency of vehicles sold in March is now 20 percent—or four mpg —higher than in October 2007, the fi rst month of monitoring by U-M researchers.

Automakers report growing interest in more fuel-effi cient models as gas prices topped $four-a-gallon earlier this month in several parts of the country, including Michigan. The aver-age price of fuel retreated below $four over the Easter week-end in Michigan, but remains above that threshold in states such as California, Connecticut and Illinois.

The nationwide price recent-ly was $3.92 a gallon, according to AAA. GM said last week that its 12 vehicles getting 30 mpg

or better on the highway had combined US sales of about 100,000 for March, the automak-er’s highest ever monthly total. Automakers are also boosting fuel effi ciency to meet new gov-ernment requirements.

Thirteen major automakers, including Detroit’s Big Three, signed off on a proposal to near-ly double fuel standards to 54.5 mpg by 2025. The rules are to be finalised later this year. They will cost the industry $157.3 billion, the Obama adminis-tration estimates, but will save consumers a projected $1.7 tril-lion at the pump. That’s on top of the 2012-2016 fuel efficiency increases to 34.1 mpg, a require-ment that will cost an estimated $51.5 billion. Between the two regulations, the price of a new vehicle in 2025 will increase by about $3,000, the administra-tion estimates.

Ford sales up 30 percent in Russia

Ford’s f irst-quarter sales rose 30 percent in Russia, led by demand for its Ford Focus. Ford Sollers of Russia sold 27,323 vehi-cles in the fi rst quarter, up from 20,919 for the same period last year. Ford started the joint ven-ture with Russian partner Sollers OJSC last year. The partnership sold 19,596 Focuses in the fi rst

three months of the year. Sales for the Ford Transit nearly dou-bled for the quarter to 2,016. Automakers sold nearly 2.5 mil-lion cars and light commercial vehicles in 2011.

In an unrelated development, the company is recalling 160,000 2012 Ford Focus cars over poten-tially faulty windshield wipers. Ford said a seal plug on the pas-senger side windshield wiper motor electrical connector may be missing, which allows water into the motor and may make it inoperative.

The company said the recall of 140,310 cars covers 2012 mod-els built through October 18 at its Michigan Assembly plant in Wayne. The automaker says the recall also includes about 20,000 outside the US for a total of about 160,000. Ford will install a rede-signed seal plug. If it is missing, Ford dealers also will grease the electrical connector and ensure the wipers are working.

Rental car company Avis Budget Group said it is pulling 10,000 recalled 2012 Ford Focus vehicles from its rental fl eet until they are repaired. That accounts for about three percent of the company’s 300,000 vehicles in North America.

The company is looking to expand its biggest factory com-plex in China to meet growing

demand in the world’s largest car market. The $600 million expan-sion will include a new assembly line, body shop and paint shop at its Chongqing site in southwest-ern China, Ford said. Chongqing is the company’s largest manu-facturing operation outside of the Detroit area.

Ford is trying to catch up with rivals who have been in China longer and command a bigger share of sales. The expansion will give the automaker the abili-ty to make 350,000 more vehicles per year, increasing its total to 950,000 by 2014. That will help Ford’s goal of tripling the cars in its Chinese line-up to 15 over the next three years.

Ford opened a new vehicle assembly plant Chongqing in February, one of four new facto-ries due to begin operations by the end of next year. The com-pany already has two assembly plants and an engine plant in operation there. Like many other automakers, it is banking on the potential for growth in sales in China’s vast hinterland, where most families have yet to buy their fi rst cars and demand is expected to soar with rising incomes. The growing factory complex in Chongqing is part of Ford’s plan to boost worldwide sales by nearly 50 percent by 2015, to about 8 million vehicles per year.

Ford will invest in the fac-tory with joint-venture partner Changan Ford Mazda Automobile Limited. Changan Ford Mazda makes the Mondeo mid-size car, the Focus compact, Fiesta subcompact and S-Max small van for sale in China. Changan Ford Mazda also has factories in Nanjing, China. Ford has a rela-tively small presence in China. Its January and February sales fell 16 percent from a year ear-lier to 71,954. General Motors’ China sales rose by 7.7 percent to 487,208 over the same period. Overall, China’s vehicle sales weakened further in the fi rst two months of this year as the econo-my slowed and higher fuel prices deterred some buyers.

Ford, PSA end tie-up on large diesel engines

Ford and PSA/Peugeot Citroen said they will end their partner-ship for joint development of large diesel engines. Both companies said the move was not related to PSA’s new alliance with GM. The decision to develop larger die-sel engines separately was being discussed with PSA well before the GM-PSA announcement, according to a company offi cial. A joint Ford-PSA statement said the two companies “have decid-ed to independently develop and manufacture their larger diesel engines (2.0-litre and above) to meet their future needs as well as new regulations.”

Light commercial vehi-cles built after 2015 will be the fi rst to use large diesel engines developed and built separately, the companies said. Ford said the cooperation with PSA will continue in medium displace-ment 1.4-1.6-litre diesels, which accounted for about 75 percent of the more than 20 million engines the two partners have built in the last 12 years.

Ford uses the large diesels for its Focus and Mondeo cars,

C-Max, S-Max and Galaxy min-ivans and Kuga SUV. PSA offers the engines in cars and mini-vans including the Peugeot 308, 407 and 508 models and Citroen C4, C5 and C8.

GM agreed in February to buy seven percent of PSA as part of an alliance to cooperate on pur-chasing and vehicle development in a bid to cut costs in Europe.

TRW introduces touchpad technology

TRW recently unveiled its new capacitive touchpad sensor incorporating advanced hand-writing recognition software to help drivers and passengers coordinate and operate a variety of functions within the car. The new touchpad has the advantag-es of improved human machine interface (HMI), advanced rec-ognition functionality and smaller packaging and greater design freedom within the driv-er cabin.

Advanced engineering man-ager for TRW’s Body Control Systems, Frank Koch comment-ed, “The increase in mobile connectivity has inspired us to create a single point of contact between the driver and applica-tions used in the vehicle which will enhance user-friendliness, comfort and help improve safe-ty. TRW research has shown that the use of in-vehicle handwriting recognition operation reduces driving deviations by 78 percent compared with the alphanumer-ic keyboard method.”

The handwriting-recogni-tion touchpad can be used as a standalone product or as a mul-tifunction control panel. The user ‘writes’ individual char-acters with a single fi nger on the touch sensor area and this input is interpreted by soft-ware and acknowledged by an audible feedback.

The touch sensor is able to recognise handwritten num-bers, letters and symbols and enables the driver to operate applications such as mobile phones, navigation systems and the radio as well as sending mes-sages, from a single point. It even has the potential of replacing simple switches within the car.

One of the key features is the system’s ability to recognise written inputs and allow an intuitive and fast handling of applications. For the first time, the user is able to input sym-bols such as Chinese characters without the need of writing aids that normally transcribe those characters into the Latin alpha-bet. The touchpad technology has huge potential for global vehicle markets. The design and location of the multifunc-tion controller is f lexible and can be developed to suit cus-tomer needs. TRW’s tests have shown that either the centre console or the door armrests are the optimal locations. The new touchpad technology will be ready for production by 2012.

The company’s products include integrated vehicle control and driver assist systems, brak-ing systems, steering systems, suspension systems, occupant safety systems (seat belts and airbags), electronics, engine components, fastening systems and aftermarket replacement parts and services.

Nissan will transfer some pro-duction of its Qashqai compact car to Russia from the UK. The move is part of a plan to double annual production at the auto-maker’s factory in St Petersburg to 100,000 by 2014.

Russia is the largest market for cars built at Nissan’s plant in Sunderland, northeast England. The carmaker’s vehicle sales in Russia climbed 73 percent in 2011 to just under 60,000 cars. Last year, the Sunderland plant produced 301,277 Qashqais run-ning three shifts at maximum capacity. Next year, Nissan will start production of the Leaf elec-tric car for European markets in Sunderland on the same line as the Qashqai.

The Qashqai production transfer will happen when the next generation model is launched in two years. Lawther did not say how much pro-duction will be moved to St Petersburg. The St Petersburg factory currently builds the Teana sedan, Murano large SUV and X-Trail medium SUV. After 2014 the factory will also make the X-Trail’s replacement, pre-viewed at the Geneva auto show by the Hi-Cross concept.

All Qashqais made in Russia will be sold there, allow-ing Nissan to avoid import tariffs. Last year, the Qashqai was Nissan’s best-selling car in Europe with volume of 216,970 units, up 1.3 percent from the year before, according to JATO Dynamics.

Nissan also builds the Juke small SUV and the Note small minivan in Sunderland. Last year, the factory built 480,485 cars in total. Nissan will replace the Note next year with a sleeker subcompact model based on the Invitation concept shown at the Geneva auto show this year, also

to be made at Sunderland.The company plans to invest

$200 million to build a new compact hatchback car at its factory in Sunderland, England. Production of the car, which will compete against models such as the Volkswagen Golf and Ford Focus, will start in 2014. The hatchback marks Nissan’s return to Europe’s mainstream compact segment quit by the company in 2006 after it ended UK production of the Almera.

Currently, the Qashqai compact crossover, built in Sunderland, is the automaker’s entry in Europe’s second larg-est segment by volume after

subcompacts. Nissan will con-tinue to build the Qashqai in Sunderland, along with the Juke crossover. The factory will begin production next year of the Leaf electric car for European mar-kets, as well as a subcompact based on the Invitation concept that was unveiled at the Geneva auto show in March. The sub-compact will replace the Note.

The factory’s annual capaci-ty is being expanded to 550,000. Last year, the plant built 480,485 vehicles. An additional shift will be added to help raise produc-tion capacity for the new model to around 80,000 units a year, Nissan said.

Nissan did not release details of the compact, which indus-try observers expect will be based on the second-generation Tiida already on sale in some global markets.

More details about the car, including its name, pricing, engine line-up and equipment levels will be released closer to the sales launch, the automak-er said.

However, the new model may help balance demand for the yet-to-be-proven market for the Leaf EV, he said.

Higher Qashqai production in UK

Nissan plans to invest $200 million

to build a new compact hatchback

car at its factory in Sunderland,

England. Production of the car will start in 2014

Auto Monitor

G L O B A L W A T C H2816 APRIL 2012

Volkswagen opens Oldtimers division for restoration

Magneti Marelli, Changchun Fudi in powertrain JV

Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles is of fer-ing restoration of historic Volkswagen

Commercial Vehicles for cus-tomers, inclusive of detailed documentation. The van has its own department dedicated to preserving its her-itage: Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles Oldtimers. Formed in 2007, the team has purchased and restored about 100 vehicles for its own collection.

To facilitate the same, Vol k s w agen Com merc ia l Vehicles Oldtimers moved to a new building in Hanover at the beginning of this year. An area of approximately 7,000 sq mt now not only accommodates histor-ical treasures but also houses a workshop, which includes everything from a sheet metal bending bench, lathes and mill-ing machines to a paint shop. The department has a staff of 13,

from mechanics to a technology historian and an event planner.

Service FeaturesOwners of an historic

Volkswagen Commercial vehi-cle can now have it restored here, at its place of origin. No matter whether a full or partial resto-

ration is required, or a van is simply to be made roadworthy, the ‘Bulli’ workshop team will undertake any assignment.

The staff talks through all personal restoration wish-es with the customer before preparing an individually tai-lored offer. Uniquely, only here does the customer receive cer-tifi cated works restoration. In addition, for each customer the team of Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles Oldtimers provides comprehensive documentation of the restoration of the vehicle, with every step photographical-ly documented and described in detail. Thus the work performed by the specialists from Hanover is recorded for posterity.

Some of the replacement parts needed when working on classics are even taken from Volkswagen’s original stock, with support from Volkswagen Classic Parts.

Italy-based Magneti Marelli and China’s Changchun F u d i E q u i p m e n t Technology Development

Co Ltd (FUDI) recently signed an agreement to set-up a JV for manufacturing powertrain components. According to the agreements, Magneti Marelli will own 51 percent in the new entity ‘Changchun Magneti Marelli Powertrain Components Co Ltd’. The partners would invest around $14 million in the venture.

JV ProfileThe JV will specifi cally deal

with the production of intake manifolds, throttle bodies, fuel rails and air/fuel modules for automotive applications, aimed primarily at Chinese carmakers operating in the area.

Production is expected to start at the end of the year, and once the JV is operating at full speed it will reach a maximum produc-tion capacity of approximately 1.7 million intake manifolds and 1.2 million throttle bodies a year. Built over a surface area of 4,000 sq mt, the plant will employ a work-force of about 300 employees.

Production FacilityThe facility of the new JV will

be located in Changchun, in north-eastern China, a strategic location in China, where lead-ing Chinese companies in the sector also have their plants. In particular, the JV will settle in the economic and technological development area of Chaoyang, where Fudi can count on a long-

standing industrial presence.“This JV further expands our

presence in the territory, which now also includes a produc-tion facility in the north-eastern region of the country, a strategic area due to the presence of one of the largest Chinese carmak-ers,” said CEO, Magneti Marelli, Eugenio Razelli.

Magneti Marelli has been operating in China since 1996 with production plants and research centres in the areas of Shanghai (headquarters and Powertrain, Exhaust Systems and Lighting, in addition to the JV in Jiading with SAGW dedicat-ed to the production of hydraulic components for the Freechoice robotised transmission, Wuhu (Lighting and Powertrain), Guangzhou (Electronic Systems) and Hangzhou (shock absorb-ers in JV with Wanxiang Qianchao Company).

Global ReachMagneti Marelli designs

and manufactures systems and components for the automotive industry. With its 77 production units, 11 R&D centres and 26 application centres in 18 coun-tries, over 34,000 employees and a turnover of Euros 5.9 billion in 2011, the group supplies all lead-ing carmakers in Europe, North and South America and the Far East. Its business areas include electronic systems, lighting, powertrain, suspension systems and shock absorbers, exhaust systems, aftermarket parts & services, plastic components and modules, and motorsport.

Renault-Nissan, AvtoVaz partnership expands with new production line €400 million investment generates capacity of up to 350,000 cars annually across three brands

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin inau-gurated a new car manufacturing facility

recently, marking the expansion of the Renault-Nissan Alliance and Avtovaz partnership.

Executives including AvtoVaz President, Igor Koma rov; Renault Chief Operating Officer, Carlos Tavares and Nissan Chief Operating Officer, Toshiyuki Shiga hosted Putin at the ‘Job One’ ceremony at the Avtovaz plant in Togliatti (Russia), the largest assembly plant in the

world. The first car off the new line was the Lada Largus multi-purpose van.

Around $400 million was invested into this 250,000 sq mt industrial complex, which will take full advantage of the Renault-Nissan Alliance’s expertise in engineering and cost savings.

The complex hosts the new production line inaugurated recently. The line has a maxi-mum capacity of 350,000 cars per year and will produce vehicles for the three brands—Renault, Nissan and AvtoVaz. Production

starts with two new Lada mod-els, followed by a Nissan vehicle later in 2012, and two Renaults in 2013. Five separate models will be produced across the three companies, reducing costs while preserving the unique character-istics of each brand.

“Our collaboration is deep-ening every day and increasing economies of scale across the Alliance,” said Renault-Nissan Alliance CEO and Chairman, Carlos Ghosn. “It’s a win-win for all parties—and the bene-fits keep accelerating as Russia becomes Europe’s economic engine of growth.”

A Solid PartnershipThe partnership started in

2008, when Renault bought a 25 percent stake in AvtoVaz and began the transfer of technology and know-how to AvtoVaz manu-facturing facilities.

“We initiated our project of a common production line in Togliatti two years ago, in the most diffi cult times for the econ-omy—so it’s a great honour to see it come to fruition,” said AvtoVaz President Igor Komarov. “Our partnership continues to grow deeper by the day.”

This new production tool installed in Togliatti contributes to the three partners’ common goal: achieve capacity of at least 1.6 million vehicles per year in Russia by 2016.

Parallel to the expansion in Togliatti, the companies are in the fi nal stages of negotiations

to increase the Renault-Nissan Alliance’s stake in AvtoVaz.

The alliance sold 878,990 cars in Russia last year—including 578,387 Ladas. With a mar-ket share of nearly 33 percent, Russia is the Alliance’s third-largest market after China and the United States.

Russia is the fastest growing economy in Europe and should remain in the forefront for sev-eral decades, thanks to the surge in upper- and middle-class con-sumers in the region.

More than 10 million Russian households earn more than $50,000 per year. The consulting fi rm Ernst & Young forecasts that Russia will overtake Germany as Europe’s biggest auto market in 2015 with approximately 3.4 mil-lion new cars sold.

The plant will start with two new Lada

models, and a Nissan vehicle in 2012. Parallel

to the expansion in Togliatti, Renault-Nissan

is in the final stages of negotiations to

increase their stake in AvtoVaz

“Our collaboration is deepening every day and increasing economies of scale across the Alliance,” said Carlos Ghosn (L), Renault-Nissan Alliance CEO & Chairman

The Togliatti Plant

Auto Monitor

G L O B A L W A T C H3016 APRIL 2012

Denso Corporation is looking to relocate and expand its tech-nical centre located

in Shanghai and serves as part of Denso’s regional headquarters in China. It will employ more than twice as many people com-pared to the number it currently employs. The company is looking to invest around 7.2 billion yen by the end of fi scal year March 2014. The technical centre is scheduled to start operations at its new site in June 2013.

“With this expansion, we aim to improve customer service and product competitiveness by designing more products locally and offering more market-specifi c designs,” said Executive Director in charge of Denso Engineering Research and Development Centre, Yasushi Yamanaka.

As part of the relocation,

the new technical centre will add large test facilities includ-ing a wind tunnel to upgrade its product design and develop-ment capabilities. Currently, the company has 22 production companies in China producing a variety of products including automotive air-conditioning sys-tems, engine control components, fuel injection components, alternators, starters, and car nav-igation systems. In addition to the Shanghai Technical Centre,

it has another development base, Denso Software Shanghai Co Ltd, in Shanghai which devel-ops software for mass-produced products, mainly for car naviga-tion systems.

Headquartered in Kariya, Aichi prefecture, Japan, Denso is a lead-ing global automotive supplier of advanced technology, systems and components in the areas of thermal, powertrain control, electric, electronics and infor-mation and safety. The company has more than 200 subsidiaries and affi liates in 35 countries and regions (including Japan) and employs approximately 120,000 people. Its consolidated global sales for the fi scal year ending March 2011, totalled around $37.7 billion. Last fi scal year, Denso spent 9.3 percent of its global consolidated sales on research and development.

In response to the improving response in the UK market, SMMT Chief Executive, Paul Everitt stated, “The

UK bus and coach sector enjoyed a solid fi rst quarter of 2012 with registrations up 56.5 percent.”

The purpose-built bus and coach segment continues to see an upward trend as operators seek to add the most reliable and fuel-efficient technologies

to their f leets. Since 2009, more than 550 diesel hybrid buses have been registered, a figure that will grow as the third round of the Green Bus Fund in England takes effect.

There are long lead times in the bus and coach sec-tor between orders (or sales) and registration. The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) is one of the

largest and most inf luential trade associations in the UK. It supports the interests of the UK automotive industry at home and abroad, promoting a united position to government, stake-

holders and the media. The automotive industry is

a vital part of the UK econo-my accounting for £49 billion turnover and £10 billion value added.

With over 730,000 jobs dependent on the industry, it accounts for more than 10 per-cent of total UK exports and invests £1.3 billion each year in automotive R&D.

Virgin Atlantic orders Citroen commercial vehicles

Virgin Atlantic has placed an order for 45 Euro V complaint Citroen LCVs, including

22 Berlingo fi ve-seat crew vans, dispatch vans, relay specialist dropsides and a relay specialist Luton van. In total, Virgin Atlantic will have ordered over 100 vehi-cles once the complete LCV fl eet replacement programme has been fi nalised.

The fi ve-seat Berlingo crew vans will be used by Virgin Atlantic’s aircraft engineers as they keep the long-haul aircraft in operational condition. The dispatch vans are being used for longer distance travel between airports, both in the UK and mainland Europe, to collect and deliver time-critical aircraft parts and equipment.

Most of the Relay Specialist Dropsides will used by the stores teams to carry items like air-

craft wheels and tyres. The Relay Specialist Luton van, resplendent in Virgin Atlantic’s distinctive livery, will be based at Heathrow. It will be used by the facilities maintenance crew to move any-thing from paint to furniture between airports and other com-pany facilities.

Virgin Atlantic has a target to reduce CO2 emission per passen-ger mile by 30 percent between 2007 and 2020. The company’s Logistics Manager, Matt P Neville, was attracted by Citroën’s low emission LCVs, as well as the breadth of the range and the vehi-cles’ signifi cant fi nancial benefi ts. “When it comes to the combina-tion of low emissions and low whole-life costs you can’t beat Citroën,” he believed.

The introduction of the clean-er and more fuel effi cient Euro V engines in the Citroen LCVs has helped Neville win Virgin

Atlantic’s Hero Award for sus-tainability. The mileages of the vehicles vary signifi cantly. Those remaining within an airport clock up just 5,000 miles per year. At the other end of the spectrum, some

take it in turns to cover a 350 mile route seven days per week.

“Because our vehicle usage varies so greatly, we have moved away from leasing to direct purchase as it enables us to

replace the vans as and when needed, rather than having to stick to a particular timetable,” said Neville.

The purpose-built bus and coach segment continues to see an upward trend as operators

seek to add the most reliable and

fuel-efficient technologies to

their fleets

The five-seat Berlingo crew

vans will be used

by Virgin Atlantic’s

aircraft engineers as they keep the long-haul aircraft

in operational condition

Denso to relocate technical centre in China SABIC to focus on alternate energy vehicle designs

Bus and coach registrations up 56.5%

The new centre will add large test facilities including a wind tunnel to upgrade its product design & development

capabilities

Petrochemical giant Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC) has begun work on a $100 million technol-

ogy centre in Shanghai, focusing on alternative energy and new materials for the construction and auto sectors, the Associated Press reported recently.

The report quoted SABIC’s CEO, Mohammed Al-Mady as saying that the technology cen-tre would focus on helping design and create next generation alter-native energy vehicles.

Polycarbonate ComplexThis is a part of wider

expansion that includes a poly-carbonate production complex in Tianjin, a city in north-east-ern China as part of its joint venture with refi ner Sinopec.

SABIC is one of the world’s larg-est chemical producers and its investments in China are part of a bigger energy partnership that includes a build-up of jointly run refi neries as well as petrochemi-cals plants.

The company, which manu-factures fertilisers, metals and polymers, has seen strong sales and solid profi ts on the back of higher oil prices.

The development of China’s electronics, automotive, building materials and new energy sectors is boosting demand for polycar-bonates and other engineering plastics.

China produced only 220,000 metric tonne of polycarbonate in 2010, importing most of the 1.13 million metric tonne consumed by its industries.

Model Type March % Change Year-to-Date % Change Rolling Year % Change

Purpose-built single-deck buses <8.5t 15 36.4 35 133.3 100 -41.2

Purpose-built single-deck buses >8.5-12t 46 318.2 69 72.5 259 12.6

Purpose-built single-deck buses >12-16t 97 4.3 200 -1.5 803 6.4

Purpose-built single-deck buses >16t 49 81.5 82 110.3 278 14.4

Purpose-built double-deck buses 157 141.5 499 185.1 1,602 97.0

Purpose-built bus total 364 75.8 885 87.5 3,042 37.6

30

Purpose-built coaches 3.5-16t 11 37.5 29 81.3 88 -34.8

Purpose-built single-deck coaches >16t 182 95.7 234 40.1 739 18.1

Purpose-built double-deck coaches >16t 3 0 16 433.3 28 180

Purpose-built coach total 196 94.1 279 50 855 10.9

Purpose-built bus and coach total 560 81.8 1,164 76.9 3,897 30.7

*Converted: Bus <3.5t 89 -19.1 151 -27.4 498 -1.8

Converted: Bus 3.5-8.5t 691 90.9 1,028 63.2 2,480 -14.7

Converted: Bus >8.5t 0 0 0 -100.0 8 166.7

**Converted bus total 780 65.3 1,179 40.5 2,986 -12.6

All buses and coaches 1,340 71.8 2,343 56.5 6,883 7.5

Auto Monitor

G L O B A L W A T C H3216 APRIL 2012

Mercedes-Benz records high monthly sales in March’12W

it h what has been reported as Mercedes-Benz’s highest monthly

sales in the company’s history, the company has revealed that in March, its sales has risen by 11 percent to 131,334 units. And since the start of the year, a total of 313,902 vehicles were deliv-ered to customers: an increase of 11.9 percent. Moreover, the Stuttgart-based car manufac-turer managed to gain market shares in numerous markets.

In its Mercedes-Benz Cars division, the company sold a total of 340,877 Mercedes-Benz, smart, and Maybach vehi-cles (+11.6 percent), including 142,278 units (+9.8 percent) sold in March alone.

Executive Vice President Sales and Marketing, Mercedes Benz Cars, Dr Joachim Schmidt, “Following up on our record sales last year, we are also off to a suc-cessful start in 2012. To date we have recorded a new sales record in every month of this year and with 313,902 Mercedes-Benz passenger cars sold, we have set a new high for the fi rst quarter. March was even the strongest sales month of the company’s his-tory. With the start of production of the new B-Class in Kecskemét (Hungary) last week, we will have

even more vehicles available to better meet the high demand.”

The fi rst quarter saw strong sales in the SUV segment. Dr Schmidt continued, “With our SUV offensive we will extend sales further in this segment.” Besides the GLK and GL also, the SL 65 AMG has its world premiere at the auto show in New York.

In the whole NAFTA region, deliveries have been very satis-fying in the fi rst quarter (70,259 units, +15.5 percent). In the fi rst three months of the year, Mercedes-Benz set a new sales record in the US, Canada, and Mexico. Particularly noteworthy was the dynamic development in the US, where sales rose by 15.3 percent (61,513 units). Also in the month of March, the com-pany recorded sales in the US, 23,134 vehicles were delivered to customers (+7.7 percent).

The development of the Mercedes-Benz brand also had a successful first quarter in China (incl. Hong Kong). 51,328 customers (+19.5 percent) pur-chased a new Mercedes-Benz vehicle from January to March, setting a new sales record for this period. Sales were regis-tered there in March (17,660 units, +16.1 percent).

In Russia and India, Mercedes-Benz also recorded

its sales for the fi rst quarter and for the month of March. Since the beginning of the year, sales have climbed by 32.7 percent in Russia, and 6.9 percent in India. Sales development of Mercedes-Benz in Japan has grown by 44 percent compared to the same period last year.

In the fi rst three months of 2012, Mercedes-Benz has reg-istered 56,552 units sold in Germany, since the beginning of the year; an increase of 14.6 percent. Also in March, Mercedes-Benz sustained a growth rate of 10.5 percent, handing over a total of 25,932 vehicles. Sales in the rest of the region of Western Europe also developed strongly in March and in the fi rst quar-ter. From January to March, the brand with the star increased its sales on the declining total mar-ket by 6.7 percent (78,135 units). During this period, demand for Mercedes-Benz was high in Switzerland (+37.3 percent), France (+29 percent), and Great Britain (+9.6 percent).

Sales of Mercedes-Benz models have risen by 27 percent to 99,660 units. Since January, sales of the brand’s fl agship (S-Class sedan) rose by over a quarter (+27.5 per-cent, 21,507 units) compared to the previous year. The new B-Class received good customer

response, with more than 35,000 units sold since it was launched to the market in November. In the year of the introduction of its suc-cessor, the A-Class increased its sales by 17 percent (20,772 units) in the fi rst quarter. The E-Class sedan and estate also continue to be popular, with a total of 57,980 units (+3.4percent) delivered to customers.

Mercedes-Benz SUVs were in continued demand with sales of 59,116 vehicles, which set yet another record, topping last year’s high for the same peri-od. The greatest contributors to this success were the M-Class (+19 percent), the G-Class (+39.4 percent), posting a new sales

record, and the GL-Class, whose sales put on by 9.9percent short-ly before the introduction of its successor.

The smart for two also joined in the success of the Mercedes-Benz models in the fi rst quarter. Sales totalled 26,975 units, top-ping the previous year’s sales by eight percent. Especially in China (incl. Hong Kong) demand for the innovative two-seater continues to be persistently high. The number of vehicles deliv-ered since January has doubled (4,795 units, +105.1 percent), setting a new sales record. First-quarter sales of the smart for two were equally dynamic in the U.S. (+78.7 percent).

Thai Swift to be exported to ASEAN Japan autosales up by 78%

GM registers March spike

Visteon expands footprint in Southwest ChinaFawer Visteon Climate Control Systems opens plant in Chengdu

Visteon Corporation a n nou nc ed t hat its automotive cli-mate joint venture in

China, Fawer Visteon Climate Control Systems (FVCC), has opened a plant in Chengdu in southwest China to pro-duce aluminium radiators for vehicle manufacturers.

The new plant is a wholly owned subsidiary of FVCC, a joint venture of Visteon Corporation and Fawer Automotive Parts Company Ltd. The facility will support the FAW-Volkswagen manufacturing base in Chengdu, as well as other automakers in

southwest China.“This marks Visteon’s fi rst cli-

mate manufacturing facility in Chengdu,” said Visteon Product Group President, Joy Greenway. “This strategic location reinforc-es our ability to support domestic and global automakers in China, the largest automotive market.”

Located in the Fawer Industrial Park in Chengdu, Sichuan prov-ince, the new facility specialises in manufacturing mechanically assembled aluminium radiators. The 3,700-sq mt (39,800-sq ft) plant is expected to have an annu-al production capacity of 500,000 units by 2013.

“The establishment of FVCC Chengdu represents yet another strong testament to the strate-gic and successful partnership between Visteon and Fawer,” said Fawer President, Ye Fan. He continued, “We are pleased with FVCC’s growth over the years and remain committed to supporting its continuous success.”

Since the establishment of its fi rst facility in Changchun in 1995, which was expanded in 2011, FVCC has grown into a leading automotive climate components supplier in China. Drawing on its world-class manufacturing capability and

localised design services, it now supplies state-of-the-art brazed

and mechanical aluminum radi-ators, heating ventilation and air conditioning systems (HVAC) and charge air coolers to a wide range of automakers in China and for export markets.

Visteon is a leading global automotive supplier that designs, engineers and manufactures innovative climate, electronic, interior and lighting products for vehicle manufacturers. With corporate offi ces in Van Buren Township, Mich. (US); Shanghai, China; and Chelmsford, UK; the company has facilities in 27 countries and employs approxi-mately 26,000 people.

The establishment of FVCC Chengdu

represents yet another strong

testament to the strategic partnership

between Visteon and Fawer—

Ye Fan, Fawer President

March 2012 Change Jan-Mar 2012 Change

in % in %

Mercedes-Benz 131,334 +11.0 313,902 +11.9

smart 10,944 -2.8 26,975 +8.0

Mercedes-Benz Cars 142,278 +9.8 340,877 +11.6

Mercedes-Benzsales by market

Western Europe 62,821 +9.3 134,687 +9.8

- thereof Germany 25,932 +10.5 56,552 +14.6

NAFTA 26,828 +7.8 70,259 +15.5

- thereof U.S. 23,134 +7.7 61,513 +15.3

Asia/Pacifi c 31,764 +18.1 84,641 +15.8

- thereof Japan 5,512 +55.4 10,535 +44.0

- thereof China 17,660 +16.1 51,328 +19.5

Suzuki Motor Corporation has recently started pro-duction and sales of the new Swift on in Thailand.

The new Swift conforms to the eco-car project which the Thai government has been promot-ing. The project is aimed to increase the production of envi-ronmentally friendly compact passenger vehicles.

The car maker will sell the Thai-produced new Swift in the country, and is also scheduled to export to the neighbour-ing ASEAN countries. The new Swift is also being produced in Japan, Hungary, and India, achieving high appraisal world-wide for its driving performance and design.

“Suzuki received its approv-

al for eco-car production by the Thai government in December 2007. After the ground-breaking ceremony in November 2009, it started its production of the

new Swift at the new plant in the last week of March 2012,” the company said in a statement.

In the release cere-mony of the new Swift held in Bangkok, the capital of Thailand, E xecut ive V ice President, Suzuki Motor Corporation, Toshihiro Suzuki said “We would like to take hand-in-hand with the people in Thailand to assist

our customers’ wealthy lives with their vehicles by delivering valu-able products to the customers in Thailand and to the customers worldwide from Thailand.”

Automobile sales in Japan saw a growth of 78.2 per-cent in March for the fi rst time after domestic

demand dropped due to tsunami last year, according to the data released by the Japan Automobile Dealers Association.

The sales of new vehicles with engines above 660cc stood at 497,959 in March; an increase of 78.2 percent from the same month last year, reported AFP. The report also indicates that the sales were boosted by government subsidies for eco-friendly vehicles.

The Japan Mini Vehicles Association said that March sales of mini vehicles with engines below 660cc jumped 60.5 percent to 253,929 units.

Despite a slowdown in the Chinese auto-mobile market, US vehicle manufacturer,

General Motors is expecting to set a sales record for the month of March this year, reported AFP.

The company claims to have sold 257,944 vehicles in March, up more than 10 percent from last year, and its highest total for the month. The March sales got a boost due to the demand for the Buick brand. It brought total sales for the fi rst quarter to 745,152 units, which is also a quarterly record.

Nationwide sales rose just 2.5 percent to 18.51 million units in 2011, compared with an annual increase of more than 32 percent in 2010.

Auto Monitor

C L A S S I F I E D S3616 APRIL 2012

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T H E O T H E R S I D E3816 APRIL 2012

Getting Personalwith Pravin Shah, Chief Executive, Automotive Sector, M&M

Illus

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ion:

Cha

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Pravin Shah has been with Mahindra since 1981. He heads the domestic opera-tions of the Automotive sector in India. Prior to this he was the Chief Executive of International Operations in the Automotive and Farm Equipment Sectors.

Shah received his Bachelor of Commerce degree with Honors from Gujarat University. He is a Fellow Chartered Accountant, rank-ing 11th in the exams conducted by the

Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. Before joining Mahindra, he worked with AF Ferguson (now Deloitte) as a Senior Manager.

With over thirty years experience at Mahindra, Shah has been at the forefront of functions like fi nance and IT systems within the automotive and tractor business as well as general management. He has been closely involved with several milestones in Mahindra’s evo-lution as a modern Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) and Multi-Purpose Vehicle (MPV) manufacturer.

Shah is the Chairman of the International Trade Committee of the Bombay Chamber of Commerce & Industry. He has received several awards for success in exports from the EEPC and FIEO over the years, most recently the EEPC Star Performer Award for 2007-2008.

In his free time, he likes to travel and meet people from different cultures and continents. He also enjoys both playing and watching cricket. Pravin lives in Mumbai with his wife, Shobhana. They have two sons.

In Person

An experience I won’t forget…

If not in the auto industry, where would you be?Had I not been in the auto industry, I would have probably been in my original profes-sion of fi nancial and business consultancy

What car do you drive? What do you dream of driving?Currently, I drive the XUV500 and I look forward to driving the compact SUV, which we plan to launch towards the end of the year. In fact for me, driving is a pleasure and I strongly feel that manoeuvring the vehicle in different conditions improves refl exes

Your most recent indulgence…Amidst a hectic schedule and in between offi cial travel, catching up with my family has been my most recent indulgence

What are you currently reading?Today, the challenge is about staying relevant—to markets, customers, people and as a leader. So I try to read about the latest management concepts especially the Harvard Business Review. I have just started reading ‘Steve Jobs’ by Walter Isaacson

What do you do when you do not talk auto?Because I have traveled extensively, I am a keen observer of other cultures and like to refl ect on how it can be adapted into our Indian culture

Outdoor activity you would miss offi ce for…Fishing

Where did you go for your last holiday?Rajasthan

You get angry when…When results are not delivered on time and there is no proactive communication on why it has not happened

What is the one thing you would like to change about you?My impatience. I lose my patience at times especially when I do not see anything con-crete emerging out of discussions

Best thing to have happened to you… My son joining HUL as Global Brand Manager of RIN, within just two years of his stint with CEAT

It has to be the XUV500 launch in South Africa. As the Chief Executive of International Operations, it was a landmark launch for us, as it re-emphasised M&M’s position as an important global player. The response, which we received at this launch was very heart warming. In fact the XUV500 made a big impression at the Johannesburg Motor Show and has now sold over 500 vehicles in South Africa till date.

Regn. No. MH/MR/WEST/20/2012-2014. RNI No. MAHENG/2000/11414Licenced to post at Mumbai patrika channel sorting office G.P.O. Mumbai 400 001.Date Of Mailing:16th & 17th Fortnightly Issue. Date Of Publication: 13th of Every Month

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