I N D I A ’ S N O . 1 M A G A Z I N E F O R A U T O M O T I V E N E W S , V I E W S & A N A LY S I S
Auto Monitor Vol. 11 No. 12
1-15 July 2011
www.amon l i ne .i n
INTERVIEW BRIDGESTONE STARTS PRODUCTION OF TRUCK, BUS RADIAL TYRES H Gonzalez Mori, Director, Sales & Marketing, Bridgestone India
Global Light Vehicle assembly outlook
Pg 08
` 50
AUTOPINION OUTLOOK FOR DEAL ACTIVITY IN INDIA: 2011 AND BEYOND
Source: Thomson Reuters and other publicly available sources
Pg 14
BorgWarner to develop automatics for small cars
NEWS IN BRIEF Toyota Introduces Corolla Altis
T Murrali Detroit
I
n a bid to toughen the competition in the C segment sedan, Toyota Kirloskar Motor recently re-launched its Corolla Altis in New Delhi.
The company has upgraded the design with new pricing. The petrol variant comes with an all new powerful engine—2ZR Dual VVT-i 1798 cc engine. The variant is also available in both-super CVT-i with seven-speed sequential shiftmatic or six-speed manual transmissions. The four-speed AT in this car has now given way to the super CVT-i with 7 speed sequential shiftmatic. The car will be available in seven colours and is priced from `10,53,300 onwards in petrol and diesel variants.
DATA MONITOR Domestic Top 5 PV-makers Sector
May-10
May-11
Change
MSIL
90,041
93,519
3.86%
HMIL
27,151
31,123
14.63%
TML
25,035
22,718
-9.26%
M&M ^
14,518
18,515
27.53%
GMI
8,214
8,292
0.95%
Domestic Top 5 2W-makers Sector
Apr-10
Apr-11
Change
HHML
425,058
485,122
14.13%
BAL
191,726
218,321
13.87%
TVS
136,621
158,829
16.26%
HMSI
132,090
135,745
2.77%
17,614
27,959
58.73%
IYM
40 Pages
Domestic Top 5 CV-makers Sector
Apr-10
Apr-11
Change
TML
27,766
34,044
22.61%
M&M
8,211
8,145
-0.80%
ALL
5,973
5,082
-14.92%
VECV Eicher
2,488
3,206
28.86%
FML
1,696
1,658
-2.24%
* Source: SIAM/ ** Excluding exports/ *** all sub segments considered/ ^ excluding MRPL
Dual tronic clutch system
D
etroit headquartered $6.3 billion automotive Tire 1 major BorgWarner has fi rmed up its plans to develop automatic transmission for small cars focusing on few markets in Asia. This is to primarily offer technologies that the company has harnessed over a period of time for the small car segment. At a recent interaction here, the Chairman and CEO of BorgWarner, Tim Manganello said vehicle manufacturers across the globe have constantly been looking at technologies that could offer better fuel economy coupled with minimal emissions but at the best cost. In order to develop a ‘tropicalised’ sort of automatic transmission addressing different markets, the company will be leveraging technologies that it has developed so far and season them with inputs from its operations in Europe, China and Japan in addition to its North American operations. The new transmission will be manufactured in China and will
MPS6 with damper
initially be catered to small car segments in India, China and Japan. Commercial production will commence in about four years, he said. Auto transmission in India is yet to see a significant presence as the end users are apprehensive of poor fuel economy. Though these issues are addressed through a host of new technologies, similar improvements happen simultaneously in manual transmissions also. Currently an insignificant percentage of the passenger vehicles sold in
Tim Manganello, Chairman & CEO, BorgWarner
India have automatic transmission. Few companies including Hyundai, Mahindra, Honda Siel, Toyota Kirloskar and Maruti offer automatic transmissions. However, the automatic transmission is set to grow gradually in the next five years due to increasing traffic and customers’ need for better and hassle free driving comforts. BorgWarner is present in 19 countries globally manufacturing automotive components under two divisions—engine and drivetrain. The engine division
that comprises turbo systems, thermal systems, emissions systems, Morse TEC and Beru systems accounts for 72 percent of the total sales while the drivetrain division represents the rest. Currently, the major share of 51 percent revenues come from Europe while Americas account for 26 percent of the sales and Asia accounts for 23 percent. The company has an optimistic outlook for Asia due to natural growth of auto industry in addition to government regulations like emission standards and increasing customers’ expectations for fuel economy. The company will seek to offer up to 15 percent more fuel economy through automatic transmissions, close to four percent improvements through its thermal systems, between 15 to 30 percent increase in light turbochargers and up to five percent increase in VCT. Manganello said the company hopes that turrbocharges will witness about 148 percent growth in the next five years followed by diesel segment of 102 percent supported by vehicle production growing by 66 percent.
Suprajit to supply moulded components, expand capacity Abhishek Parekh Mumbai
S
uprajit Engineering has set up an internal team to evaluate and prepare entry strategy for plastic moulded body parts, extrusion products, tank units among other value added synthetic or plastics based components. Bangalore based control cables manufacturer, Suprajit Engineering is hoping to leverage its expertise in plastics processing technology in its bid to diversify its revenue base. ‘We are hoping to supply value added products to existing and new customers and are also hoping to maintain our leadership position in control cables business,’ said Vice Chairman and Managing Director, Suprajit Engineering, K Ajith Kumar Rai. He added that the overall sales in the automobile sector is likely to moderate around 10 to 15 percent over the next couple of years with the two-wheeler segment grow-
ing faster than the overall rate. ‘There is a reluctance in case of most buyers now on the decision to opt for a car, especially petrol powered ones given the high fuel prices. It will be a while before buyers return to the market in a major way,’ he said. Moreover, the growth in the vicinity of around 25 percent in the two-wheeler segment over the last couple of years has made it difficult for component suppliers to meet the demand from OEMs. The company has embarked on a programme to increase the overall capacity by around 50 percent from 100 million cables per annum to 150 million cables per annum across facilities. It is setting up a cable plant at Pathredi in Rajasthan, to meet the requirements of customers in North India. Additionally, the company has acquired additional land in the Bommasandra Industrial area to set up a cable plant to meet the requirements of its south India-based customers.
K Ajith Kumar Rai, Vice Chairman & MD, Suprajit Engineering
Its capacity expansion plans at 100 percent EOU for the nonautomotive cable segment is in the fi nal stage of the implementation. The company is also in the process of shifting a major part of production from its UK subsidiary Gills Cables (now renamed Suprajit Europe) to take advantage of the low manufacturing base in India. It is also establishing another facility in Chakan to cater mainly to four-wheeler
segment. The Chakan facility is expected to start commercial production by around September this year. The Company has bagged new orders during the year from customers like BMW, Volkswagen, Nissan, Brose, John Deere and additional orders from existing domestic and international customers. Moreover, the company is evaluating setting up a facility in Sanand for its next phase of growth, but is yet to draw up a concrete plan in terms of investment and products to be manufactured there. The company is investing around `40-50 crore in the current expansion programmes in Bangalore and North India to raise its capacity by around 50 percent. The company’s consolidated sales grew by 42.66 percent to `379.17 crore from `265.78 crore in the last fi scal. The PAT increased by around 50 percent to `33.3 crore from `22.16 crore in the same period.