Honda Cars India sees 46% increase in October sales

Despite tough market conditions, rising fuel prices and higher interest rates, Honda Cars India Ltd has recorded a 46% increase in domestic sales during the month of October 2012. The company sold 8,085 units during the month as compared to 5,526 units in the month of October 2011. Not only the month of October, but the entire period from April to October 2012 has been particularly noteworthy for HCIL. The company sold 43,525 units during this 7 month period as against 29,717 units sold in the same period in 2011 resulting in a growth of 46%

Exports were also up during the month of October. HCIL exported 420 units during the month and is in the process of expanding their export operations so as to make India a major export hub for some of their models.

During the month, Honda Cars India sold 3,976 units of its flagship sedan City and 3,700 units of its small car Brio. They also sold 306 units of its premium hatchback Jazz and 60 units of sedan Civic, besides 43 units of Accord. However their CR-V did not record any sales during the month. With Diwali around the corner, the company now looks forward for even better domestic sales in the month of November.


Auto News Release
Honda Cars India Ltd reported a growth of 46% during October 2012
New Delhi, November 1, 2012: Honda Cars India Ltd (HCIL), leading manufacturer of premium cars in India, registered an increase of 46% in domestic sales with 8085 units during October 2012 as against 5526 units sold during the same period last year.
The company has cumulatively sold 43,525 units during April – October 2012 as compared to 29,717 units in the corresponding period last year recording a growth of 46%.
The company also exported a total volume of 420 units during October 2012. HCIL has started the export of Honda Brio to South Africa & SADC (South African Development Community) countries from October 2012 and is expanding the Honda's export business to make India as another hub for export of certain models.

Enthused with the sales growth this month, Mr Jnaneswar Sen, Sr. Vice President, Sales & Marketing, HCIL stated "Our sales performance in the month of October has been very impressive despite the tough market conditions and we are extremely delighted with the response received to new launches last month. The expansion of export business is also a significant milestone in our journey and we are confident that this will contribute to the growth of HCIL".

Model wise sales break-up:
Brio: 3700
Jazz: 306
City: 3976
Civic: 60
Accord: 43
CR-V: 0

About Honda Cars India Limited
Honda Cars India Limited (HCIL), leading manufacturer of passenger cars in India was established in December 1995 with a commitment to provide Honda's latest passenger car models and technologies, to the Indian customers.
HCIL has two state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities at Greater Noida, U.P and Tapukara, Rajasthan.
The company's product range includes Honda Brio, Honda Jazz, Honda City, Honda Civic and Honda Accord which are produced at the Greater Noida facility. The Honda CR-V is imported from Japan as Completely Built Unit. Honda's models are strongly associated with advanced design and technology, apart from its established qualities of durability, reliability and fuel-efficiency.

Nissan India Oct 2012 sales decline by 38%: Micra Promo for Rs 22,000 premium

Nissan India registered a decline in car sales for October 2012 by as much as 38%. Upheavals in the Indian auto sector following tough market conditions, Nissan India car sales have suffered in the last month. Taking the period April to October 2012 into account, the company recorded cumulative sales of 23,642 units as against 12,570 units in the corresponding period of the previous year.

Most sales were seen in the Micra hatchback and Sunny sedan as was seen with X-TRAIL, Teana and the 370Z sports car. Bookings for the recently launched Evalia are also coming in as the company looks ahead at increased sales during the upcoming festive season. A special festive offer is being initiated to entice customers into showrooms wherein customers stand a chance to get refunds on purchases and winning 500 gms of gold.

In September, Nissan also launched their special edition Micra PRIMO along with brand ambassador Ranbir Kapoor. This limited edition model is seen with LED lighting with ORVM mirrors, remote controls for rear view mirrors, rear parking sensors with indicators and Double DIN premium audio system with USB port. The model is priced at Rs.22,000 over the standard Micra and is available in four petrol variants and two diesel variants. True to Nissan style, the company is also offering round the clock assistance, extended warranty and roadside assistance on all their products.

On the other side of the coin, Nissan has also declared that from 1st November 2012 prices of Nissan Micra and Nissan Sunny will be increased following higher material costs and increases cost of transportation due to rising fuel prices.

Auto News Release

NISSAN INDIA ANNOUNCES OCTOBER SALES
Nissan's YTD Sales Up By 88%

New Delhi/ Chennai/Mumbai, November 1, 2012: Nissan announced that it registered a year-to-date sales growth of 88% per cent with a cumulative number of 23642 units from April to October this year compared with the 12570 units it sold in the same period in 2011. The domestic sales for the month of October are 1862 units.
The locally produced hatchback Micra and spacious Sunny sedan contributed largely to the sales, while the X-TRAIL lifestyle SUV, Teana premium sedan and iconic 370Z sports car comprised the remaining sales. Orders are also underway for Nissan's third home-grown model, the all-new urban-class utility vehicle Evalia.
Mr. Nitish Tipnis, Director-Marketing & Sales, Hover Automotive India (HAI), Nissan's sole and exclusive distributor in India, said, "Our overall sales volume trend is extremely encouraging and we anticipate increased demand following our recently launched festive offers where in customer has a weekly opportunity to get refund on the purchase and winning 500 gms of gold."
Commenting on the performance, Mr. Takayuki Ishida, Nissan Motor India Pvt. Ltd said, "Nissan remains very well-placed for another successful year in India based on the strength of our products and continuing expansion of the business."

Last month, Nissan announced the launch of the special edition Micra 'PRIMO'. The limited edition Micra PRIMO marks two years of successful association with the celebrity brand ambassador Ranbir Kapoor by offering a range of stylish features, including:-
• Aesthetic LED lights with ORVM mirrors
• Remote controlled outside rear view mirrors
• Elegant 'PRIMO' body decals on a pearl white body color
• Rear parking sensors with indicators
• Double-DIN premium audio system with USB port
The Primo is priced at around Rs 22,000 higher than the standard Micra and is available across four model variants XL, XV petrol and XV, XV premium diesel variants.
As part of its commitment to offer top level after-sales support, Nissan also provides customers with round-the-clock assistance and a portfolio of customer care and service schemes including Extended Warranty and Roadside Assistance for all its products.

India bound 2013 Mitsubishi Outlander launched in Japan

After launching the new third generation Outlander in Europe at the 2012 Paris Motor Show, Mitsubishi has rolled-out the right-hand-drive version in the domestic market. The crossover is available in both petrol and diesel guise in Europe, which will eventually be offered in India as well.

The Japanese version of the Outlander is powered by 2.4-litre petrol and is available in both 2WD and 4WD with host of safety features. The engine is mated to CVT gearbox with six-speed virtual gears and comes equipped with auto stop / go technology for efficiency and emissions. The 4WD system is electronically controlled; it has three modes with Mitsubishi’s S-AWC dynamic integrated control system that splits torque between left and right side. Other features include front collision warning, lane departure warning and adaptive cruise control. The prices of the vehicle in Japan begin at USD 30,271 (INR 16.28 lakh).

The European version gets all the features, along with the option of 2.2-litre MIVEC clean diesel engine. There is also a Plug-in Hybrid version of the Outlander (displayed at Paris Motor Show) with range of 800kms and emission figures of 50g/km.
Mitsubishi for some reason has delayed launching vehicles in India, despite having a usable facility through their tie up with Hindustan Motors. The company now plans to expand its operations in India and will soon launch the new small car, the Mirage, here. The new Outlander will also be here in the coming months, mainly because it has an efficient diesel mill and seven-seats to compete in the ever growing premium SUV segment.

Namitha the 'most beautiful'

‘Tokyo TV’ of Japan has made a list of the most beautiful women across the world.  From India, the chosen one is our Namitha, the Kollywood bombshell.

A Namitha photo by Karthik Srinivasan, popular photographer, has impressed Tokyo TV so much, they chose her as the most beautiful from India. Congratulations, Namitha!

This episode will be aired on November 2 . This show is about special traits and features of each country presented in a very interesting manner. This year, it is the most beautiful women from each country and our Namitha has been selected as the Indian beauty.

India’s badminton brand wars: Why Yonex is feeling the heat

In 2009 when India hosted the BWF World Championship at the Gachibowli stadium in Hyderabad, a relatively unknown Chinese apparel brand Li Ning had rented all the roadside hoardings en route to the stadium.

The move had peeved official sponsors, Yonex, so much that they even asked the organisers and the world body to interfere against the “ambush marketing” by a rival brand. Li Ning had till then not even entered the Indian market, while the name Yonex was already synonymous to badminton in the country and even across the globe.

For decades, Yonex had been the only dominant brand in world badminton since no other apparel and equipment brand had attempted to make serious inroads in the sport. There were brands like Ashway, Babolat, Head in the international market but none of them could challenge the might of Yonex, thanks to their quality of shuttles and equipment.

However, in the last five-six years the scenario has started changing with new players like Li Ning, Victor, Flypower and now Thwack aggressively marketing themselves and getting support from many national associations who are encouraging competition for their own benefit.

At present, among the world’s badminton superpowers, only Japan and Malaysia are sporting the Yonex logo. While China was the first to shift to Li Ning in 2009, Korea currently sports Victor while Indonesia is slowly shifting to local brand Flypower.
Indian badminton has also not remained immune to the brand competition and no one is complaining.

For years, state associations and players complained that they were not getting good treatment from Yonex but had little or no choice but to stick to the brand since no other competitor had the quality or quantity to support them.
Maharashtra was the first state association to break-away from this trend when they signed a four-year deal with Victor even before Li Ning had entered the badminton market but the experiment had failed because Victor could not provide better back up support. However, the move did help the state association negotiate a far better deal from Yonex the next time around.

While Victor targeted the state associations, Li Ning went ahead and signed the likes of then national champion and top-20 player Chetan Anand, doubles stars Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa along with top men’s singles players Aravind Bhat and Anup Sridhar in 2009 to announce their arrival in India.

The emergence of these brands also awakened the Badminton Association of India (BAI) officials to the possibility of getting more money through sponsorship and for the first time, BAI issued a tender for sponsorship rights last year.
Though Yonex bagged the contract for another four years, this time they had to cough up Rs 5 crore as against the paltry Rs 30 lakh in the earlier contract.
Even players, who continue to sport Yonex brand, admit that the quality of service has improved thanks to the competition and are hoping that the picture will only get rosier with growing competition.

Tata Docomo Brings Fujitsu F-074 Smartphone in India; Priced at ₹21,900

Japanese multinational tech giant Fujitsu on Wednesday rolled out its F-074 smartphone to the Indian smartphone market through a partnership with telecom operator Tata Docomo

"We are very pleased that we are leveraging our partnership with NTT DOCOMO to bring world's best services and devices to India and we look forward to many such alliances to further enrich our repertoire of state-of-the-art handsets," Deepak Gulati, Executive President, Mobility Business Division, Tata Teleservices Limited, said at the launch event.

Fujitsu F-074, priced at Rs 21,900, measures 6.7mm in thickness and weighs 105 grams. The device is water plus scratch-resistant and comes with an AMOLED capacitive touch screen..
The ultra slim smartphone packs several unique features like Motion Conscious Audio system which provides clear audio by adjusting to the environment. Fujitsu F-074, which is claimed to be exclusively manufactured for consumers in Bangalore, houses all the features of a basic smartphone plus additional human centric features. One of them includes the ability of the display to automatically adjust its resolution to the intensity of sunlight.

Fujitsu F-074 is available with exciting offers from Tata Docomo. Users going for the ₹899 GSM postpaid plan will get unlimited 3G data for three months coupled with unlimited local and STD calls. Those who opt for any other GSM plans on Docomo will get 1GB 3G data for three months. Prepaid customers of Docomo can avail the offer by recharging their phones by ₹250. The device is available at Tata Docomo stores across Bangalore.

Japan looks at major role in India's infra sector

Japan on Wednesday said it is looking at playing a bigger role in development of India's infrastructure, especially the construction sector.

"As many as 900 Japanese companies are currently invested in India, especially in the manufacturing sector... However, only a few companies have invested in infrastructure space. Japan's construction companies are capable enough to contribute in it and Japan government too has plans to invest in infra," Japanese ambassador to India Takeshi Yagi said.

Addressing the second Indo-Japan Construction Forum in New Delhi, Yagi said his country has a role in augmenting infrastructure and Delhi Metro is a shining example of it.
The Indian government's focus on infrastructure during the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17) too offers a unique chance to Japanese investors to tap business opportunities here and showcase their products, he added.
Vice minister for land and infrastructure, Japan, Yuichi Masuda, said both the countries should look at greater collaboration in the sector.
Advisor, transport, in the Planning Commission, Manoj Singh said the government has accorded priority to infrastructure development during the 12th Plan including augmenting road and power sectors and Japan could offer its expertise and technology.
Chairman, Construction Industry Development Council, Chander Verma, said the present construction did not even met the requirement of 50 per cent of the population and it needed massive efforts to bridge the gap.