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September 16, 2011
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Audi to Open More Outlets in India
MUMBAI (ET): It seems the fight between German auto majors for leadership position in the luxury car space in India is heating up, with Audi upping the ante in an attempt to unseat the top two firms, BMW and Mercedes-Benz, by 2015. “Having recorded 95 per cent growth during the January-August
the Volkswagen Group company is ramping up its dealership network and hiring more personnel. “We will be hiring at least 600 more people and raising our dealerships to 25 by the end of 2012. We will also enhance our portfolio with the launch of the Q3 (model) next year,” Perschke said.
Audi India Head Michael Perschke looks to Audi being the number luxury cars segment by 2015.
period here, India is well ahead of other growth markets for us globally and we are confident that we are on track with our vision of being the No. 1 luxury car maker in India by 2015,” Audi India Head Michael Perschke said in a statement. In August, Audi reported a 100plus per cent jump in sales to 510 units, as against 250 units in the month-ago period. During the January-August period, its sales jumped a full 95 per cent to 3,655 units from 1,876 units in the corresponding year-ago period. On the back of these robust sales numbers, Audi, which is placed at No 3 in the luxury car market in terms of sales numbers, has set a target for sales of 5,000 units this year. To attain this coveted position,
At present, BMW is the No 1 luxury car-maker in the country, a position it snatched from MercedesBenz for the first time in 2009. While Mercedes sold 4,890 units in January-August this fiscal, a growth of 40 per cent from 3,495 units in the year-ago period, BMW had sold 5,364 units till July. Even as these foreign car-markers report high sales numbers, domestic auto majors have been witnessing a sharp decline in sales since last July, when overall sales slumped by 16.7 per cent year-on-year.August was no better, with domestic automakers’ sales falling by over 10 per cent. Recently Mercedes had said that it wants to claw back its leadership position here by 2015 and towards this it would be launching 10 new models over the next three years.
“Our entire product portfolio, relevant to this market, will come here in the next three years...I think, we will have 9 to 10 new brands by then,” Mercedes-Benz India Sales & Marketing Director Debashis Mitra had said recently. Some of these new products will also include its proposed small cars, Mitra had added. Merc India had first lost its leadership position to BMW in 2009 when it could sell only 3,247 units as against BMW’s 3,619 units. In 2010 too, Merc sold 5,819 cars compared to 6,246 units of BMW. On the market leadership position, BMW said it is confident of maintaining its No 1 slot, which it has done for the last two years, in future too. “Our cars are positioned to attract all generations of people, who aspire to have a one in the BMW. We have no problem in selling cars to uncles, fathers, mothers and pops. Maybe that is the reason for our success,” BMW India President Andreas Schaaf had told PTI earlier. While other players are currently reviewing their targets downward in the light of the negative sales numbers beginning July, Audi is confident to exceed its set target of 5,000 units this year. “We are confident that we will exceed our set target of 5,000 units this year,” Perschke said. Audi continues to be the market leader in the luxury SUV segment with its Q5 and Q7 and in the super sports car segment with its R8, he said. Audi India sells various models including Audi A4, Audi A6, Audi A7 Sportback and Audi A8L.
SAIL in JV with Posco
NEW DELHI (TOI): Staterun Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) is on the verge of signing the joint venture agreement with top Korean steel maker Posco for a three million tonnes steel plant near Bokaro in eastern Jharkhand state. SAIL and Posco had signed a memorandum of understanding for
to hold majority of shares as the technology is their’s . We are discussing with them and let us see how we structure the shareholding pattern. We are not very rigid. It is a closely guarded technology. We want to bring that technology to India. Likemindedness is there and we
SAIL is set to finalize the joint venture with Posco, Korean steel maker that uses environmentally friendly iron making processes.
setting up the plant a year ago. “We are on the last level of discussion and this should be finalized soon,” SAIL chairman Chandra Sekhar Verma told TOI. The plant is expected to use FINEX technology developed by Posco. It is an environmentfriendly iron-making process that allows the direct use of iron ore fines and noncoking coal as feedstock, according to the company’s website. It says the technology helps lower the operating costs and emissions compared to the blast furnace process. FINEX reduces overall construction costs by eliminating the need for sinter and coke plants. A plant using the technology occupies only 60% of the area of a blast furnace plant of equal capacity. Verma said the holding structure in the new joint venture is still being discussed but SAIL is flexible on the issue as it is keen to bring the technology to India. “They want
should be able to resolve all the pending issues,” Verma said. Verma said SAIL has undertaken various initiatives to overcome the shortage of coking coal and would meet its requirements through a mix of coal from its captive mines as well as acquisition of coking coal mines overseas. “ We h a v e f o r m e d t h e International Coal Ventures Ltd. This company has been formed by five government companies SAIL, Coal India, RINL, NTPC, NMDC. The purpose of forming this company is to acquire coking coal assets outside.” Verma said MOU has been signed with the Indonesian government and SAIL was working on selecting a particular coking mine in the country. In return SAIL has offered to set up a three million tonnes steel plant in Indonesia. “The coking coal produced will be used for making steel in Indonesia and surplus coking coal will be brought into India.”
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INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, SEPT 16, 2011 • WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM