Court orders all cars in Gujarat to switch to gas within a year

In an order which would impact lakhs of people owning cars, the Gujarat high court on Wednesday directed the state government to pass necessary laws to make it compulsory for all four-wheelers registered in Gujarat to convert to natural gas within one year. 

Further, the court gave two months to the state government to issue necessary orders to impose stringent restrictions to reduce pollution by fixing levels of emission to the minimum, at par with international norms. The order applies to both public and private vehicles running on petrol and diesel. 

The order, passed by Chief Justice Bhaskar Bhattacharya and Justice J B Pardiwala, came in response to directions sought by Dhrangadhra Prakruti Mandal, through its vice-president Devjibhai Dhamecha, to the state and Centre as well as all gas and petrol companies operating in Gujarat. 

The order said, "The state is directed to pass necessary orders compelling owners of all vehicles having registration in Gujarat to use natural gas and, if necessary, even at higher prices within the shortest possible period, not exceeding one year from today for the protection of lives of citizens." 

The judges suggested gas prices be cheaper for public vehicles and higher for privately owned vehicles. Also, fares of public transport should be fixed at reasonable rates so that the end benefit goes to the public. 

The Gujarat high court also directed the Central government to allocate natural gas for domestic and vehicular use to the city of Ahmedabad usage at the same rate as it is supplied to Delhi and Mumbai. "This is to enforce the right of equality," the judges said. 


Source: Times of India 
Cars to move on CNG

Suzuki officer burnt alive by workers, production halted

Suzuki is having two plants in India to produce cars.  Both of these are situated near Delhi, in Haryana state.  On Wednesday, workers at Manesar plant got agitated after an official of the company, who was a supervisor, got into an argument with them.  This led to heated arguments and thereafter work was stopped.  Soon, senior officers of Human Resources Department of the company were called to negotiate with the workers.  However, during the talks, workers became violent and started beating the officials present in the meeting as well as elsewhere in the factory campus.  Workers used everything that they could find to thrash the officers.  Iron rods, chains etc were freely used.  Property was damaged and vehicles and other assets were burnt.  But the violence did not stop there.  A senior officer of HR Department of the company, A K Dev, who was talking to workers, was beaten badly and then burnt alive.  Many other officials were thrashed and now have been hospitalized.  These include some Japanese officers.

Suzuki’s this plant was also in news last year when workers went on a very long strike which caused huge losses to the company.  Their demand at that time was to recognize the new union of workers.  At that time, company decided to move out of Haryana state which is infamous for its violent labour problems and to move to Gujrat, a highly developed, progressive state where Tata and other automobile manufacturers have set up their plants.

Suzuki is the number one automobile company in India in terms of number of cars sold and revenue earned and it is way ahead of its rivals Hyundai and Tata who are nowhere near Suzuki’s standing.  More than 40 per cent of cars sold in India are from Suzuki stable.

Suzuki stated that its workers were misguided by some external forces.

Meanwhile, Gujrat’s Chief Minister Narendra Modi is all set to welcome Suzuki in the state.

Marketing Team of VW Quits in India

Volkswagen India's topmost marketing team has quit, and the company's newly-appointed CEO is poaching from rival Maruti to stem an alarming slide in sales and revive the carmaker's ambition of cornering a 10 per cent market share in the next two years.

Neeraj Garg, director and member of Volkswagen's passenger cars division and the man responsible for the firm's six brands in the country, has expressed his desire to quit. He has been promoted and offered a posting in China, but ET learns that he has declined the offer. Sandeep Mandrekar, the head of sales for India and the second-in-command in the sales and marketing division, has also decided to move on.

Volkswagen has offered Garg's post to Suzuki India CGM (marketing) Shashank Srivastava while Pankaj Sharma, who was working as general manager in Maruti's True Value business, will become the head of sales replacing Mandrekar. "I don't have anything to say and would like to reserve my comments," Srivastava told ET.

Sharma confirmed his decision to leave, saying he will be joining Volkswagen soon.

Volkswagen confirmed the departure of Mandrekar, attributing it to his desire to pursue opportunities outside the organisation. "Neeraj Garg has been promoted and offered an assignment in China, which is still under discussion," a Volkswagen spokesperson said.

ET learns that some other senior executives have also decided to leave.

But the Volkswagen spokesperson described it as "speculation". The departures come on the heels of a dramatic fall in performance for Volkswagen in the first three months of the new fiscal year. Sales have fallen 16 per cent to 15,539 cars while production slumped 30 per cent to 17,533 cars. Volkswagen's market share, which excludes the sales of subsidiaries Audi and Skoda, slid to 2.35 per cent from 3 per cent in the year-ago period. Gerry Dorizas, dispatched from Japan to turn around the Indian operations, is believed to be cracking the whip and had approached the Maruti executives with job offers after Garg and Mandrekar decided to leave.

The performance is all the more galling for the Wolfsburg, Germany-based auto giant, given that it is on the verge of becoming the world's biggest car company with the successful purchase of Porsche. Its brands are doing well in emerging economies like China and Brazil and it is pushing aggressively into the US with a new plant in Tennessee, and an Audi plant in nearby Mexico to serve that country's bigger northern neighbour.

In India, Audi and Skoda, VW's affiliates, are also posting strong growth that appears to have eluded the parent despite the presence of some of the world's best-selling brands in its portfolio.

Volkswagen India sells Polo, Vento, Jetta, Beetle, Passat & Pheaton. The sales slump, if left unchecked, may affect the firm's plans to grab a 8-10 per cent market share by 2014-15. "Volkswagen has its entire portfolio in diesel, but sales have been withering as the company failed to instill confidence in Indian customers of its superior technology and brand. It failed to provide enough features and specs in its cars unlike the Japanese and Korean and lost out to long-standing rivals in the Indian market," says Deepesh Rathore, MD-India, IHS Global Insight, a multinational consultancy.

A person close to the situation said the Volkswagen headquarters are unhappy over sliding sales and bulging inventory, especially of the Vento sedan, which is made in India for global export.

Source: Economic Times

Top 5 Car Manufacturers in India - June 2012

Following is the list of top five car manufacturers in India on the basis of monthly sales figures for June 2012 (figures rounded off to nearest 100)-

1. Suzuki        83500
2. Hyundai     30500
3. Mahindra   19300
4. Tata            17200
5. Toyota        14700

Among these, Mahindra is a manufacturer producing only diesel vehicles. In the bottom three, there are Mitsubishi (273 units), Renault (787 units) and Fiat (805 units).

Top Ten Best Selling Cars in India - June 2012

 

Following is the list of tep ten best sellers in India during the month of June 2012.  Figures have been rounded off to nearest 100 -

1.  Suzuki Alto (21600)  
2.  Suzuki Swift (15700)
3.  Suzuki Dzire (13700)
4.  Suzuki Wagon R (10000)
5.  Mahindra Bolero (9500)
6.  Hyundai i20 (7700) 
7.  Toyota Innova (6800)
8.  Hyundai Eon (6600)
9.  Suzuki Omni (6300)
10. Hyundai i10 (6200)