Skoda hikes rates of all its models

CZECH auto maker Skoda Auto’s Indian subsidiary Skoda India on Monday announced an increase in prices of all its models in the country.

A hike in the range of Rs 10,000 to Rs 25,000 would be effective from August 1. “ The price hike has been necessitated by a variety of cost- push factors like surge in freight costs and in prices raw materials,” Skoda India member of board of director for sales and marketing Thomas Kuehl said.

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.”

Luxury cars fly in ‘ recession- hit’ India

The Luxury car market in India is growing like never before. Sample this: In the first six months sales of luxury cars have almost doubled.

Mercedes

Mercedes India has sold 1,892 cars in the country compared to 2,491 cars sold last year.

BMW

BMW has sold 1,323 cars in the first five months, which is almost equal to the 1,387 cars the company sold during the full last year.

Volkswagen

The Volkswagen group has managed to sell 810 premium cars of its two brands Audi (470 units) and Volkswagen (340 units).

Audi

And Porsche is aiming to double the tally of its car sales this year by selling over 200 premium cars.

Clearly, financial sector meltdown and the consequent wealth erosion hardly seem to be dissuading buyers of high-end cars in India, even as the global luxury car makers pump in huge resources to lure the Indian customers.

“If you look at the segment we are operating in, price sensitivity of the product is not an issue,” says Kurt Rippholz, head, communications, Volkswagen India.

To this Dr. Wilfried Aulbur, chief executive officer and managing director, Mercedes India, adds, “Back in 1995 when we started operations in India, we were optimistic about the potential that India held and we are now convinced about it.” And why not?

According to the 2008 Wealth Report by Merrill Lynch Cap Gemini there are around 1,23,000 millionaires in US dollar terms in India. Also, the country has a significant number of young, rich and enterprising people in smaller cities who are spoilt for choice. And manufacturers are strutting their products to lure them.

Bentley

So, the top- end luxury cars such as Bentley and Lamborghini, which cost upwards of Rs 2 crore, and that can only sell around 25 and 10 cars, respectively, for exclusivity sake, have industrialist buyers queuing up — for four to six months — to get their cars. But it’s the entry- and mid- segment luxury cars that are selling like hot cakes among the class aspirants.

Lamborghini

This year till June, Mercedes sold 1,000 C-Class cars ( Rs 25 lakh onwards). In fact, in March alone, it sold over a 100 Mercedes S-Class cars ( Rs 70 lakh onwards).

Maybach

BMW sold 666 cars of its 5 Series and 355 units of its Series 3 cars upto end- May this year.

BMW

Last year Audi sold 107 units of its Q7 model while Porsche sold around 90 cars of its Cayenne model. “Along with corporate sales that are pushing the sales of these premium cars, aspirational sales are fast picking up.

Interior of a Rolls Royce

Professionals in their thirties who have a global lifestyle and hail from smaller towns are the main customers in this segment,” says Aulbur. And to sell these new cars, companies are expanding their distribution network thick and fast. New dealerships are being set up in Tier II, III cities.

There is a sizeable population of Mercedes cars in cities such as Kolhapur, Ludhiana, Madurai, Coimbatore and Kochi.

Volkswagen, in its second phase of expansion opted for cities such as Hyderabad, Chandigarh and Ludhiana for their dealerships and Porsche is looking at potential new dealerships in Punjab. “We are trying to have 120 distribution dealerships in the next three years as we expect a growth of 250 per cent in the Indian auto market over a period of ten years,” says Kurt. And he is not alone; Audi is planning to take the tally to 11 dealerships from the existing seven by the end of the year.

Porsche

Porsche is looking at having nine dealerships by 2010 from the current two and is also looking at building a steady relationship with Indian customers. So, it’s zip, zap zoom time ahead for the luxury car market in India.

Hyundai exports i10s to Sudan

HYUNDAI Motor India Ltd ( HMIL) on Wednesday shipped its first consignment of disassembled knocked down ( DKD) cars to Sudan. With an order for more than 2,000 units, the first shipment comprised 96 DKD units of Hyundai’s i10.



The company’s Sriperumbudur plant near Chennai has been nominated by Hyundai Motor Company as its global manufacturing hub for small cars meant for exports. Earlier, the company was exporting its Santro model to Sudan.

H. S. Lheem, Managing Director of HMIL said that Hyundai i10 has achieved over 100,000 units of export orders in record time of less than seven months from diverse countries spanning different continents making it one of the most popular cars to be launched recently.