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 ekly e W
MSIL Manesar plant to resume production Our Bureau New Delhi
Vol. 12 No. 26
20 August 2012
FOCUS
V
DATA MONITOR Top 5 Car Makers Company
Jul-11
Jul-12
Change
Maruti
66,504
71,024
6.80%
Tata Motors
21,692
32,730
50.89%
Hyundai
25,642
27,585
7.58%
M&M
19,825
24,978
25.99%
TKM
13,592
14,574
7.22%
Top 5 Car Exporters Company
Jul-11
Jul-12
Change
Hyundai
24,025
25,260
5.14%
Maruti
8,796
11,210
27.44%
Nissan
11,195
6,127
-45.27%
Ford
3192
2087
-34.62%
Tata Motors
751
709
-5.59%
* Source: SIAM/ ** Excluding exports/ *** all sub segments considered/ ^ excluding MRPL
24 Pages
` 50
INTERVIEW
NEW MATERIALS Pg 10
Merc sees bigger pie from small cities Peter Honegg, MD & CEO of Mercedes-Benz India
Pg 8
Talbros in JV with Marugo, Japan Our Bureau New Delhi
iolence-torn Manesar plant of Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL), will reopen on August 21 after a month-long lockout, said Chairman, RC Bhargava. Initially, the operations will resume with around 300 workers and would produce about 150 cars a day and gradually ramp up the production. MSIL had announced a lockout on July 21 when a senior official from the HR department was killed and several others were injured in a violent confrontation between management and the workers. The plant employs 3,300 employees of which, 1,528 are permanent. The car maker has decided to terminate up to 500 workers for their involvement in the violence. However, this number could go up depending on the internal investigation of the company as it has estimated up to 800 workers to be involved in the act. MSIL will stop employing contract workers in its production line when it starts fresh recruitment from September. The disparity in the salaries of the contract and regular employees has been seen as one of the major reasons for discontent among the workers. Production will restart under brisk security arrangements with 500 Haryana Police personnel beside company’s own 100 security personnel apart from 40 personal security officers.
w w w.am o n l i n e.i n
T
a lbros Automot ive Components (TACL) recently signed an equal joint venture with Japan-based Marugo Rubber Industries Ltd to manufacture anti-vibration components for automotive applications. The joint venture company would undertake the business of designing, development and manufacturing of rubber to metal bonded anti-vibration products including suspension bushes, engine mounts, strut mounts and hoses for the automotive OEM segment.
Business Transfer As a part of the JV agreement, rubber business owned by TACL is likely to be transferred to the proposed joint venture company to be owned by Marugo Rubber
Industries Ltd, Japan (50 percent + one share) and the company (50 percent-one share). The company declined to share any details on the development. “We will share details of the JV only after we have a plant ready for it,” a company official told Auto Monitor. Marugo Rubber Industries, based in Kurashiki, Japan designs and manufactures rubber products such as anti vibration products, bushes and rubber hoses for several OEMs such as Suzuki, Mitsubishi, Fuso, Isuzu and Nissan. Talbros Group has been actively scouting for global partners in different areas within the automotive sector in recent months. TACL has signed an equal JV with the global automotive systems and components supplier, Sistemi Sospensioni SpA, a subsidiary of Italy’s Magneti Marelli for manufac-
turing steering and suspension components. Another group company, QH Talbros, which manufactures steering and suspension components, entered into a technical alliance agreement with the Japanese ball joint manufacturer, Musashi Auto Parts. The Japanese company, which manufactures camshaft, transmission and gear components apart from ball joint will help the Indian partner in design, development, testing of prototypes and give the process for mass manufacturing.
Inorganic Growth The gasket division of the group had earlier signed a technical assistance agreement with Sanwa Packaging Industry Company, Japan, for obtaining technical know-how for the manufacturing of heat shields for automotives and related applications.
Talbros Group has been actively scouting for global partners within the automotive sector recently. It has also signed a JV with, Sistemi Sospensioni for manufacturing steerings & suspension components The group has recently set up a plant in Chennai for manufacturing steering and suspension to cater to the needs of Daimler’s new project, Bharat Benz for which, it claims to be the single source supplier for all chassis parts.
Truck sales on downtrend, sentiments may take time to revive Our Bureau Mumbai
H
eav y t r uck sa les continue on their downward direction w ith sales falling by around 18 percent during the April-July period to touch 71,456 units as compared to 87,037 units, according to the latest data available from the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SI AM). The goods carriers have been falling for the past three months
The slowdown in the industrial activity is creating uncertainty for fleet owners and hence they are unwilling to expand or upgrade their truck fleet— Umesh Revankar
and industry players have been bracing up for a slowdown in truck sales and do not expect the scenario to improve in the near term. “Slowdown in the industrial activity is creating uncertainty for f leet owners and hence they are unwilling to expand or upgrade their truck f leet. The slowdown in medium and heav y duty trucks was expected since late last year and CV industry has been gearing up for the slowdown in a way,” said Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Sriram Transport Finance Co, Umesh Revankar, a vehicle finance service provider. Tata Motors appeared to be amongst the biggest loser in the CV segment its heavy truck sales in July falling to 11,015 units as compared to 14,173 units in the corresponding month last year. Mahindra Navistar Automotive (MNAL) managed to stay in the positive territory and grow its sales, albeit on a lower base, from 136 units to 324 units
in the month of July. MNAL cumulative sales for this fiscal touched 916 units for this fiscal as compared to 644 units in the corresponding period last year. Market players expect the sales to continue on the downward trend in the coming months
in the absence of any major positive momentum on the demand side or attractive interest rate scenario. New product introduction and easier finance options could contribute to improving market sentiments and recovery in sales.