India to be Small Car hub for Ford

NEW DELHI: Alan mulally, the 64-year-old messianic chief executive of Ford Motor Co, aims to realise in India the dream of his company’s legendary founder Henry Ford: opening up the highways for everybody.

The former Boeing executive, under whom Ford avoided the embarrassment of having to seek a US government bailout that rivals General Motors and Chrysler had to avail of, is a fan of India’s “frugal engineering” capabilities and plans to make the country Ford’s small car hub. In a departure from the past, Ford also plans to bring all its models into India, attempting to catch up with rivals and gain greater traction in the red-hot Indian car market .

“This is a new Ford,” Mr Mulally told ET NOW in an interview. “Our commitment is that we will bring all the vehicles that we have to the markets that we serve. The Figo is just one part of that larger vision.”

Ford, which rolled out the rickety Escort cars in 1998 in a joint venture with the Mahindras, is realising its folly of not producing right-sized and right-priced vehicles in India, a flawed strategy that saw it cede space to Asian rivals such as Hyundai and Honda. It has now launched the small car Figo to take on Maruti Suzuki’s WagonR and Swift, and Huyndai’s i-10.

Mr Mulally has been on course to deliver what he had promised for the US auto maker. He cut costs, eliminated staff and helped the company post a quarterly profit, though an annual profit still eludes him. Its shares are soaring and its sales have beaten cross-town rival General Motors in February — after more than a decade.

He achieved most of the targets because of what he calls “laser focus” on his ‘One Ford’ plan, which he announced when he took over in 2006. He pledged the Ford brand and other assets to borrow $23 billion, which he then termed as “the world’s largest home-equity loan”.

While global car makers, such as Italy’s Fiat and France’s Peugeot, are looking for alliances to improve efficiencies, Mr Mulally is selling brands, factories and cutting jobs.

“Back then we took a very important call — that we will be laser focused on the Ford Blue Oval brand worldwide,” Mr Mulally said. “It’s a brand people recognise and appreciate, and we want to grow it and be focused on it.”

That has meant saying goodbye to a cache of iconic European brands — Aston Martin, Jaguar-Land Rover and now Volvo Cars — so that the focus of all innovation and attention of the group is on the mother brand.

Like Carlos Ghosn, CEO of Renault-Nissan, Mr Mulally is a fan of India’s frugal engineering expertise. And with the Figo, he is looking to make India Ford’s small car hub.

“(Ford will) absolutely make India its small car hub. India is a tremendous operation for us, it has tremendous capability in all elements of the automobile business, including design, and it’s already integrated with our entire global system. So India will continue to take a more important role for us worldwide,” he said.

And his larger mission is to fulfil the dream of its founder. “Henry Ford used to say, ‘We want to open up the highways for everybody’,” said Mr Mulally. “We want to do just that in India.”

Honda to Recall 437,763 Cars Worldwide over Airbag

Japans second- largest automaker Honda Motor Co. said Wednesday it will recall a total of 437,763 vehicles globally to fix a defect in the driver's airbag installed on certain models produced in 2001 and 2002.

The recall, the third related to the same defect since 2008, will cover 378, 758 units in the US, 41,685 units in Canada, 4,042 units in Japan and 13,278 units in Mexico, Taiwan and Australia, the Tokyo-based firm said in a statement. "Based on our ongoing investigation and analysis, we decided to expand the recall, which has included a total of 514,355 units in North America, Japan and other regions since November 2008 and June 2009," it said.

The latest Honda recall covers seven models sold in the US, including 2001 and 2002 Accord and Civic cars, Odyssey minivans, CR-V sport-utility vehicles and 2002 Acura TL cars. In Japan, the affected models are Inspire, Saber and Lagreat.

Honda said the driver's airbag inflators in the vehicles may deploy with too much pressure and rupture the casing, causing injury or fatality to vehicle occupants. 12 persons were injured in the US in connection with the defect by July 2009, "although there have been no incidents since the previous recall" last year, it said.

Honda's recall came one day after Toyota Motor Corp., the world's largest automaker, announced massive global recall of hybrid vehicles worldwide, including its best-selling Prius, to fix brake problems, putting a dent in the Japanese automaker's reputation.

Source: Khabrein.info

Maruti Clocks a Sharp Growth in Car Sales on January

Leading automobile major Maruti has clocked a record growth in car in January this year and has cited an increase of 33 percent over the previous month. The impressive numbers clocked by Maruti comes at a time when the automobile industry is preparing itself for a high growth seasons with most analysts predicting huge sales in coming months for most major vendors.

Though Maruti has done wonderfully well in its domestic market, it exports too has sharply risen to 14,500 in January and this also serves as an indicator that Indian made small cars are increasingly finding acceptability across world markets. Apart from Maruti many other automobile manufacturers in Indian including the likes of Tata Motors and Mahindra are looking to tap the export market which has over the years become more receptive to Indian brands which offer a good option of affordable price and standard quality.

It is also important to note that the robust revenues clocked by Maruti is adding to the bottom-line of its parent company, Suzuki Motor Corporation. The Japanese small car behemoth has announced a 18 billion yen for its third quarter and it owes a great deal of this growth to Maruti. In order to tap into the increasing demand for its cars, Maruti has firmed up plans to spruce up its production capacity and it aims to manufacture more than a million cars this fiscal, which if achieved would be a landmark figure for the company.

Source: Economynews.in

10 New Models At Delhi Auto Expo

Global auto makers will unveil 10 new car models at the upcoming New Delhi Auto Expo as part of their strategy to tap the growing Indian market, where annual car sales are forecast to grow to 3 million units by 2016.

"We expect nearly 1.8 million visitors to the expo," said Rajive Kaul, chairman of the steering committee for Auto Expo 2010. "We have cut short the auto expo by two days this year as we were not certain about the global economic conditions."

Makers including Suzuki Motor Corp. (7269.TO), Honda Motor Co. Ltd. (HMC) and Toyota Motor Corp. (7203.TO) will be among those unveiling cars at the expo, which Kaul says will have 2,100 participants from 30 countries.

"(Delhi Auto Expo) will be the largest show in terms of footfalls as some of the auto shows overseas saw reduced participation," said Dilip Chenoy, director general of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers.

The global economic slowdown didn't severely affect demand for new cars in India, prompting several global auto makers to increase their focus on Asia's third-largest market after China and Japan.

Local sales in India started rising in February, after declining for four months, and surged 61% in November to 133,687 units, the largest percentage gain since February 2004.

The Indian unit of Toyota Motor--Toyota Kirloskar Motor Pvt. Ltd.--will globally premiere a concept version of its small car, the company's first small car for the Indian market, at the auto show. The model, with a 1.2 liter gasoline engine, will be commercially launched in India by end-2010.

Honda Siel Cars India Ltd., a unit of Japan's Honda Motor, will also showcase the concept version of its second small car model in India, which is likely to be launched in the country in 2011.

Small cars comprise nearly two-thirds of annual car sales in India.

Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. (532500.BY), India's largest car maker by sales, will display 17 vehicles at the expo, it said.

Ford Motor Co. (F) and Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. (7201.TO) will, however, be among the notable absentees from the Jan. 5 to Jan. 11 show.

Source: Online.wsj.com