Monday, 15 August 2011

Auto Industry : Four Wheelers poised to be highly competitive


Tata Motors
Market Share: Commercial Vehicles 63.94%, Passenger Vehicles 16.45%
Tata Motors Limited is India’s largest automobile company, with consolidated revenues of USD 14 billion in 2008-09. It is the leader in commercial vehicles and among the top three in passenger vehicles. Tata Motors has winning products in the compact, midsize car and utility vehicle segments. The company is the world's fourth largest truck manufacturer, and the world's second largest bus manufacturer with over 24,000 employees. Since first rolled out in 1954, Tata Motors as has produced and sold over 4 million vehicles in India.
Tata Motors is the first company from India's engineering sector to be listed in the New York Stock Exchange (September 2004), has also emerged as an international automobile company. Through subsidiaries and associate companies, Tata Motors has operations in the United Kingdom, South Korea, Thailand and Spain. Among them is Jaguar Land Rover, a business comprising the two British brands which was acquired in 2008. In 2004, it acquired the Daewoo Commercial Vehicles Company, South Korea's second largest truck maker. The rechristened Tata Daewoo Commercial Vehicles Company has launched several new products in the Korean market, while also exporting these products to several international markets. Today two-thirds of heavy commercial vehicle exports out of South Korea are from Tata Daewoo. In 2005, Tata Motors acquired a 21% stake in Hispano Carrocera, a reputed Spanish bus and coach manufacturer, and subsequently the remaining stake in 2009. Hispano's presence is being expanded in other markets.
In 2006, Tata Motors formed a joint venture with the Brazil-based Marcopolo, a global leader in body-building for buses and coaches to manufacture fully-built buses and coaches for India and select international markets. In 2006, Tata Motors entered into joint venture with Thonburi Automotive Assembly Plant Company of Thailand to manufacture and market the company's pickup vehicles in Thailand. The new plant of Tata Motors (Thailand) has begun production of the Xenon pickup truck, with the Xenon having been launched in Thailand in 2008. Tata Motors is also expanding its international footprint by franchises and joint ventures assembly operations in Kenya, Bangladesh, Ukraine, Russia, Senegal and South Africa.
With over 3,000 engineers and scientists, the company's Engineering Research Centre, established in 1966, has enabled pioneering technologies and products. The company today has R&D centres in Pune, Jamshedpur, Lucknow, Dharwad in India, and in South Korea, Spain, and the UK. It was Tata Motors, which developed the first indigenously developed Light Commercial Vehicle, India's first Sports Utility Vehicle and, in 1998, the Tata Indica, India's first fully indigenous passenger car. Within two years of launch, Tata Indica became India's largest selling car in its segment. In 2005, Tata Motors created a new segment by launching the Tata Ace, India's first indigenously developed mini-truck.
In January 2008, Tata Motors unveiled its People's Car, the Tata Nano, a development which signifies a first for the global automobile industry. Nano brings the comfort and safety of a car within the reach of thousands of families. The standard version has been priced at USD 2,200 or Rs.100,000 (excluding VAT and transportation cost). The Tata Nano has been subsequently launched as planned, in India in March 2009.
Maruti Suzuki India
Market Share: Passenger Vehicles 46.07%
Maruti Suzuki India Limited, a subsidiary of Suzuki Motor Corporation of Japan, is India's largest passenger car company, accounting for over 45% of the domestic car market. The company offers a complete range of cars from entry level Maruti-800 and Alto, to stylish hatchback Ritz, A star, Swift, Wagon-R, Estillo and sedans DZire, SX4 and Sports Utility vehicle Grand Vitara.
Since inception in 1983, Maruti Suzuki India has produced and sold over 7.5 million vehicles in India and exported over 500,000 units to Europe and other countries. The company’s revenue for the fiscal 2008-2009 stood over USD 4 billion and Profits After Tax at over USD 243 million.
Hyundai Motor India
Market Share: Passenger Vehicles 14.15%
Hyundai Motor India Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of world’s fifth largest automobile company, Hyundai Motor Company, South Korea, and is the largest passenger car exporter. Hyundai Motor presently markets 49 variants of passenger cars across segments. These includes the Santro in the B segment, the i10, the premium hatchback i20 in the B+ segment, the Accent and the Verna in the C segment, the Sonata Transform in the E segment.
Hyundai Motor, continuing its tradition of being the fastest growing passenger car manufacturer, registered total sales of 559,880 vehicles in the year 2009, an increase of 14.4% over 2008. In the domestic market it clocked a growth of 18.1% as compared to 2008 with 289,863 units, while overseas sales grew by 10.7%, with export of 270,017 units. Hyundai Motor currently exports cars to more than 110 countries across European Union, Africa, Middle East, Latin America and Asia. It has been the number one exporter of passenger car of the country for the sixth year in a row.
In a little over a decade since Hyundai has been present in India, it has become the leading exporter of passenger cars with a market share of 66% of the total exports of passenger cars from India, making it a significant contributor to the Indian automobile industry. In 2009, in spite of a global slowdown, Hyundai Motor India’s exports grew by 10.7%. In 2010 Hyundai plans to add 10 new markets with Australia being the latest entrant to the list. The first shipment to Australia is of 500 units of the i20 and the total i20 exports to Australia are expected to be in the region of 15,000 per annum.  
Mahindra & Mahindra
Market Share: Commercial Vehicles 10.01%, Passenger Vehicles 6.50%
Mahindra & Mahindra is mainly engaged in the Multi Utility Vehicle and Three Wheeler segments directly. The company competes in the Light Commercial Vehicle segment through its joint venture subsidiary Mahindra Navistar Automotives Limited and in the passenger car segment through another joint venture subsidiary Mahindra Renault. In the year 2009, on the domestic sales front, the Company along with its subsidiaries sold a total of 220,213 vehicles (including 44,533 three wheelers, 8,603 Light Commercial Vehicles through Mahindra Navistar Automotives and 13,423 cars through Mahindra Renault), recording a growth of 0.6% over the previous year.
The company’s domestic Multi Utility Vehicle sales volumes increased by 3.3%, as against a decline of 7.4% for industry Multi Utility Vehicle sales. A record number of 153,653 Multi Utility Vehicles were sold in the domestic market in 2009 compared to 148,761 MUVs in the previous year.Hence, Mahindra & Mahindra further strengthened its domination of the domestic Multi Utility Vehicle sub-segment during the year, increasing its market share to 57.2% over the previous year’s market share of 51.3%.
Mahindra & Mahindra is expanding its footprint in the overseas market. In 2009 the Xylo was launched in South Africa. The company formed a new joint venture Mahindra Automotive Australia Pty. Limited, to focus on the Australian Mark
Ashok Leyland
Market Share: Commercial Vehicles 16.47%
Against the backdrop of the sharp slump in demand for commercial vehicles, during 2008-09, Ashok Leyland registered sales of 47,118 medium and heavy commercial vehicles (M&HCV), 37.5% less than in the previous year. This includes 16,049 M&HCV buses and 31,069 M&HCV trucks respectively, 8.7% and 46.3% less than in the previous year.
The company lost 1.8% market share in the Indian medium and heavy commercial vehicle market during the financial year 2008-09, mainly due to loss of sales in the truck segment. This was because the Eastern Region, where the Company’s presence had been historically weak, was relatively stable, whilst the market declined sharply in other regions.
While total industry volume of the medium and heavy duty buses declined by about 8.7%, the Company’s market share grew marginally and Ashok Leyland retained its number one position in this segment.
The Company sold 6,812 vehicles in the overseas markets during 2008-09. This represents a decrease of approximately 6.5% over the previous year. Total industry volume related to overseas markets to which the Company exports (such as Sri Lanka, the Middle East) witnessed a reduction of about 25% over the previous year.
To combat the impact of decline in CV sales, the Company focused on non-cyclical businesses in the portfolio.
The Company produced in all 54,049 vehicles during the year. To contain costs and conserve cash, the Company worked only about 50% of the working days in all its manufacturing units during the second half of the year.


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