India's Tata Motors swings into third quarter profit

India's top vehicle company Tata Motors said, its domestic operations swung to a third-quarter profit from a loss a year earlier as demand for cars rose, aided by new launches.

The company, which makes cars and trucks, reported a net profit of four billion rupees (86 million dollars) for the three months to December, compared with a net loss of 2.63 billion rupees a year earlier.

The earnings did not include data for British luxury icons Jaguar and Land Rover, which Tata Motors bought from ailing Ford Motor Co for 2.3 billion dollars in March 2008.

The performance was slightly below market expectations. Analysts had expected a profit of close to 4.3 billion rupees.

Revenues jumped nearly 90 percent to 89.29 billion rupees for the quarter, a company statement said.

"Introduction of new products and strong sustained growth in the existing portfolio, along with government stimulus has driven domestic demand revival," the company said in a statement.

India's large automakers have seen a revival in sales in recent months on improved consumer demand, government stimulus packages and fresh launches.

Tata Motors sold 165,413 vehicles including overseas sales in the quarter, a jump of 67.5 percent from the same period a year earlier.

The company's shares fell 2.92 percent or 20.9 rupees to 694.35 on the Mumbai stock exchange, ahead of the release of its earnings.

The company, which introduced the world's cheapest car, the Tata Nano, on the roads in July last year, said it sold 17,357 Nano cars up to December, with plans to ramp up further.

The jelly-bean shaped Nano is being produced at present from existing plants after the company was forced out of its planned factory in eastern India over a land dispute in 2008.

Nano cars are expected to roll out from a new plant in western Gujarat state early this year, media reports said.

Tata Motors says it faced the challenges of rising input costs and a possible hike in interest rates.

"The withdrawal of government stimulus, rising input costs and an increase in interest rates are concerns going ahead," the company's chief financial officer C. Ramakrishnan told reporters.

On Friday, India's central bank announced a marginal tightening in monetary policy, by raising the cash reserve ratio for commercial banks by 75 basis points to curb inflationary pressures.

Rising raw material costs pushed Tata Motors' operating profit down to 12.8 percent in the quarter, from 13.36 percent in the previous quarter ending September, the company said.

Analysts said the company may ride through these challenges by showing higher sales growth.

"The company has said that margins could be hit as inputs costs rise, but we expect volume growth to offset this, as domestic demand is strong," said Vaishali Jajoo, analyst with Mumbai-based Angel Broking.

Range Rover First Steer in the UK

The Range Rover is a four-wheel drive luxury sport utility vehicle (SUV) produced by Land Rover in the United Kingdom, owned by the India-based Tata Motors. It was first introduced in 1970 and is still in production today. There have so far been three major generations. The original model was known simply as the Range Rover until almost the end of its life, when Land Rover introduced the name Range Rover Classic to distinguish it from its successors.

The second generation had the internal Land Rover code name "P38A", and the latest generation is internally designated "L322".

Ghost may prise open India for Rolls-Royce

At about half the price of the firm’s Phantom, the new model will be in showrooms by the end of the year



Car maker Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, part of BMW AG, has said it plans to introduce the Ghost, a new global model, in India by the year-end. This comes right after the launch of marquee brands Jaguar and Land Rover by Tata Motors Ltd on Sunday.

The Ghost, which is to be unveiled formally at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September, will be on display in showrooms in November or December, said Colin Kelly, regional director, Asia Pacific, at Rolls-Royce in a phone interview on Monday.

A formal launch would be followed by events designed for prospective customers only. “Our cars are made to order and so our marketing is made to order as well,” said Kelly. Bookings and deliveries for the car, which will cost nearly double than the popular Jaguar models, would commence in 2010.
“The Ghost is a Rolls you can drive everyday,” is how chief executive Tom Purves had described the car in an interaction with Mint in May.

Indeed, the car comes at a price that is nearly half that of the company’s present offering, the Phantom. The company expects to price the car between $250,000 and $270,000 (Rs1.2-1.3 crore) before taxes and import duties, which can easily double the price. With the less expensive tag, Rolls-Royce hopes to substantially increase the number of cars it sells in India. There are at present around 200 Rolls-Royce cars in the country.

Last year, the firm sold 14 cars in India through two dealerships in New Delhi and Mumbai and it expects to sell about as many cars this year. “(Next year) we expect to sell two-three times what we sold in 2008,” Kelly said.

The Ghost should also help the firm reach 3,000 cars in global sales by 2010. Last year, it sold 1,212 cars worldwide.

According to Kelly, Indian buyers of Rolls-Royce are very similar to counterparts globally. They tend to be hard working wealthy individuals. But they differ in the amount and type of personalization they like to have in their cars. “This could be anything from the person’s initials to the company logo embroidered into the headrest of the car,” he said.

“There are no plans to expand the number of dealerships in India as of now,” he added. The company would, however, look at setting up service only facilities in cities where the number of cars warranted them. It usually waits for a city to have a dozen cars before it considers setting up such a facility.

At present, the Indian market is about one-eighth the size of the Chinese market and one-third of the Japanese market but it’s a gap that the firm believes could narrow substantially in the next few years.
A recent Capgemini-Merrill Lynch Wealth Report noted that India has about 1,000 individuals with at least $40 million in liquid assets. Rolls considers each of them potential customers.

Geneva fever

THE car industry might be in the middle of its worst recession ever, but you would never have guessed it as Geneva was bursting with new motors.

More than 85 new models made their debut and they were the best reasons for governments around the world to back the motor industry.



The threat of redundancies and the feeling car firms were tightening their belts was always lying just under the surface of every new model’s launch.

But for at least a day I would prefer to celebrate some cracking new cars of all prices and styles.

Starting with the world’s cheapest four-seat car, the dinky Tata Nano is about to go on sale in India for 100,000 rupees (less than £2,000). It will go on sale in the UK and Europe in 2010.

Tata boss Ratan Tata, who also owns Jaguar/Land Rover, had good news for his British luxury car firm when he revealed that Jaguar would be adding a two-seat sports car to their range. But the most important new family car was the Ford Iosis Max concept.



It gives a very strong indication, particularly from the front, of how the next generation Focus — the UK’s best-selling car — will look but without the sliding doors.

Elements of the Iosis Max design will also be found in the next version of the Focus C-Max people carrier when both new models arrive in late 2010.


Volkswagen unveiled arguably their most crucial model with the stylish new Polo, It goes on sale here this autumn.

It has definite shades of the new Golf and the Scirocco coupé from the front. It is a guaranteed sales hit with prices expected to start around £8,000.



Renault unveiled four new models, including the new Scenic, Megane estate and a face-lifted Clio.

But the car that really caught the eye was the racy RS high-performance version of the Megane coupé. The RS badge clearly throws down the gauntlet to the latest Focus RS.

Although the Renault is slightly less powerful at 250bhp, it will still be more than fast enough to lose you your licence and will undercut the Ford’s £25,000 price tag by a couple of grand.



French rivals Citroen and Peugeot also had plenty to shout about.

We’ve already reviewed the Citroen DS Inside, but this French rival to the Mini gets better every time I see it. It goes on sale next year. The Peugeot 3008 is more practical than pretty, a very versatile five-seat family car.

It’s another example of just how much the French makers are raising their game when it comes to interior quality. On sale later this year.

I still can’t quite believe that Skoda are bringing out a car called the Yeti.



But ignore the name and you find another sound motor from the Czech firm that is like a rugged people carrier. On sale this summer, expect prices to start from £12,000.

Fiat are looking to maximise the boom that the 500 supermini has given to the brand with a cabriolet version just in time for summer.

It gets a sliding fabric hood and is set to be the newest fashion statement for the ladies.

The big message from Geneva was that the motor industry may be like a boxer up against the ropes taking a lot of punishment.

But it showed it is in great condition and more than capable of going the distance of the recession.

Tata Motors seeks new sites to make Nano

TATA Motors sought new sites for its cheap car plant yesterday after protests forced it to suspend work on the project, a crisis seen as a big blow to India's effort to attract investors.

The company, which became globally known when it bought British luxury cars Jaguar and Land Rover earlier this year, hoped to have its cut-priced "Nano" model rolling off the production lines and in showrooms by October.

But analysts say the launch of the groundbreaking vehicle, conceived by Tata chief Ratan Tata to get poor Indians off motorcycles, would be delayed by months if the assembly line was moved to other Tata factories in India.

A Tata statement late on Tuesday fell short of declaring the company was exiting Marxist-ruled West Bengal state in eastern India for good. But it would be "highly optimistic to think of a (swift) return to normalcy at the Singur site", a senior Tata official said.

The announcement shocked business leaders, who warned it would hurt India's image as an emerging economic superpower and viable investment destination.

Investor confidence would be "completely shattered", said Venu Srinivasan, chairman of leading Indian two-wheel seller TVS Motor.

India's most powerful businessman, Mukesh Ambani, chairman of Reliance Industries, has said the protests are "counter-productive for the country's economic growth, its global image as well as our ability to attract investments from across the world".

Tata Motors may face penalty in Europe on JLR emissions

Tata Motors may face penalty for excess emissions from its newly acquired high-end Jaguar and Land Rover (JLR) vehicles with a stringent environment law being enforced in Europe by 2012, reports Economic Times.

In an initiative aimed at reducing CO2 emissions from new passenger cars by 19 per cent, the European Commission had adopted a proposal for legislation in December 2007.

The manufacturers can, however, make cars with emissions above the permitted limits, but have to balance by vehicles which emit less than the set standards.

Thus Jaguar-Land Rover, acquired by Tata Motors in March this year, will have to reduce their emissions. The emission standards are crafted in a way such that heavier cars have to improve more than lighter cars.

Under the proposed legislation, a premium of 20 Euros per gm per km has been proposed in the first year (2012), rising to 95 Euros by 2015.

Shares of the company declined Rs 10.55, or 2.43%, to settle at Rs 422.8. The total volume of shares traded was 134,343 at the BSE (Wednesday).

Tata Motors may revive Daimler

TATA Group chairman Ratan Tata has told investors he is considering making a super- luxury version of the car that is a favourite of Britain’s reigning monarch, a British daily reported on Monday.

Ratan Tata, whose Tata Motors bought the marque as part of its $ 2.3- billion purchase of Jaguar and Land Rover earlier this year, was looking to revive Daimler, the Times reported. The car, which is a favourite of Queen Elizabeth II, may be remodeled into a super- luxury version to rival Bentley and Rolls- Royce — funded from a kitty of a billion pounds earmarked to develop new models at Tata- owned manufacturing units in Britain.

The paper said Tata’s plans, which include selling these cars to rich customers in Britain, Asia, Russia and the Middle East, had the support of analysts. It quoted analyst Garel Rhys of Cardiff University as saying: “Tata could make a very good job of this, especially if they target the space between where the top of Jaguar’s current range ends and where manufacturers such as Bentley kick in. Daimler has a fantastic heritage.”

Tata open to Fiat selling Nano abroad

TATA Motors Ltd is open to Italy’s Fiat SpA helping to sell the low-cost Nano model overseas, chairman Ratan Tata said on Tuesday.

Tata, India’s third- largest car maker, plans to launch the Nano later this year, priced at about $ 2,500 (Rs 1 lakh). “We have held talks about the Nano being marketed in markets where Fiat already has a strong presence. I am open to consider a partnership,” Tata said.

Fiat has a joint venture with Tata to manufacture and distribute cars, engines and commercial vehicles. Tata also said the Tata group was in talks with Italian defence and aerospace company Finmeccanica SpA about supplying helicopter parts. The head of Fiat’s Iveco truck unit told an Italian newspaper in May he expected to resume talks with Tata on possible accords after the India partner completed its acquisition of Jaguar and Land Rover.