Automotive News - February 11, 2008 - (Page 42) 42 • FEBRUARY 11, 2008 India plants prepare to step up production Rush is on to meet local demand; exports also eyed Jesse Snyder jsnyder@craincom.de Ramping up Automakers will add nearly 600,000 units of annual vehicle production capacity in India this year. Fiat: 160,000-unit assembly plant, plus 300,000-unit engine and transmission plants. Tata Motors: Initial capacity of 250,000 at plant for Nano minicar General Motors: 140,000-unitcapacity plant; adding 25,000 units to an existing plant Volkswagen group: Expanding Skoda capacity by 18,000 units; adding Audi production BMW: Adding 1,500 units of capacity to a kit plant General Motors will open a 140,000unit-capacity plant in Talegaon near Pune and add 25,000 units of capacity to bring its Halol plant near Mumbai to 85,000. Volkswagen group will expand Skoda capacity by 18,000 units, to 30,000, and add Audi production. BMW is doubling to 3,000 the number of cars its kit plant can build. Longer range, new projects have already started. By 2010, Ford will double capacity to 200,000 units in India. Renault and Nissan will build an India plant. Last month, Indian partner Mahindra & Mahindra dropped out of the plant project. That followed Renault’s agreement to develop an ultracheap car with Indian motorcycle specialist Bajaj Auto. GM opened a design center in November and hopes to employ 1,000 powertrain and vehicle engineers there within three years, Karl Slym, GM India president, said last month at the New Delhi auto show. “India has changed from a domestic to a global market,” Slym said. “There is no better market in which to be playing.” In the fiscal year ending March 31, 2007, sales of cars, vans and SUVs jumped 20.7 percent to 1.38 million, according to the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers. That’s above the 15 percent annual growth the government expects through 2016. PUNE, India — Gurpratap Boparai’s mind races as he strides past workers installing tooling at Fiat’s big new production complex here. As Boparai, head of powertrain production, passes rows of plasticwrapped machining centers from Germany’s Heller Automotive, he is already envisioning how manufacturing processes will work this autumn. Boparai’s eyes move in turn from each machine to a different spot on the floor as he talks with a visitor. “The entire building will be slightly pressurized to help keep it clean,” he says. “That’s state-of-the-art for powertrain plants, but especially important here. It’s very dusty in India.” Boparai’s task is to ensure that the 300,000-unit-a-year-capacity engine and transmission buildings are ready by the fourth quarter to supply the 160,000-unit assembly plant under construction next door. An export hub? But automakers are looking at the long-term potential of the world’s second-most-populous country. With 1.2 billion people, India trails only China. And because of India’s low wages, automakers also view it as a potential future export center. India has only eight passenger cars per 1,000 residents, said Ranojoy Mukerji, deputy director of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers. Most European countries have more than 400 per 1,000. Suzuki exports small cars to Europe from its Indian subsidiary, Maruti. Fiat is evaluating the potential to export cars or powertrains from Ranjangaon, said Gianpiero Lubrano Lavadera, head of engineering and development. “We are considering the potential for exports from India to other righthand-drive markets, especially Australia and New Zealand,” he said. GM has no immediate plans to export from India. “But I’m not closing any doors,” Slym said. “It’s just that we don’t have the capacity to satisfy domestic demand.” Tata needs to find markets outside India to generate long-term profits on its Nano minicar project, Chairman Ratan Tata said in an interview. “Initially the Nano will be sold in India,” he said. “But it will be exported and then built in selected markets.” Automakers think exports from India can protect them from any slowdown in domestic demand. In the meantime, the construction projects continue. “It’s such a pleasure to see the plant come up from the ground and know that in six months it will be making cars,” Fiat’s Lavadera said. “I can come to work each day and see something that wasn’t there before.”c JESSE SNYDER Powertrain production chief Gurpratap Boparai knows where each machining center will be in Fiat’s new engine plant near Pune, India. Manufacturing is scheduled to start in the fourth quarter. Fiat already has three cars lined up for the new assembly plant. It will start making the Fiat Linea sedan in autumn, followed by a modified Fiat Grande Punto small car in the first quarter of 2009. In April 2009, Fiat will add a sedan code-named X1 that it will build for strategic partner Tata Motors. The Indian automaker also will buy powertrains from Fiat. In a temporary operation in another building, Ashish Mistry oversees 200 new employees who weld and assemble Fiat Palios from kits. By year end, most of the new employees will be team leaders at the permanent assembly plant. Adding 600,000 units Others are matching the fast pace of Fiat’s plant here in the Ranjangaon industrial district near Pune. Across India, auto plants are ramping up to meet demand in a car market growing at a 15 percent annual rate. In 2008, manufacturers will add about 600,000 units of car capacity. Tata Motors will open a plant near Kolkata with an initial capacity of 250,000 to build its Nano minicar. Mercedes video system will explain car features Diana T. Kurylko dkurylko@crain.com More reasons to rent from Hertz. Hertz Local Edition® can assist your dealership operation with these valuable programs: • • • • Make and model availability to ensure customer/manufacturer requirements Customized billing options Customer satisfaction index support Potential vehicle availability guarantee In addition to these great programs, our new integration application provides reporting on overflow rentals from your own loaner fleet, reducing rental severity and improving control. Plus, now dealers can buy quality vehicles directly from Hertz. To contact one of the locations nearest you, visit us at hertz.com, or call 1-800-704-4473. hertz.com Hertz rents Fords and other fine cars. ® Reg. U.S. Pat. Off. © 2008 Hertz System, Inc. MONTVALE, N.J. — MercedesBenz admits that it’s difficult to explain the technology on its cars. So the luxury make is about to give salespeople a hand and let a new digital network fill consumers in on vehicle technology. The system, called the dealer digital network, has been in a pilot program for the past eight months at five dealerships, including the corporateowned store in New York. It will start rolling out nationally after a dealer meeting scheduled for March in San Antonio. Mercedes will build a showroom at the Texas Convention Center modeled after its new Autohaus store design that dealers are being urged to adopt. The new high-definition digital network feeds content to touchscreen TV displays put in strategic positions in a showroom. Content can be updated nightly by computer from Mercedes headquarters, mak- Mercedes’ Steve Cannon says some dealer displays end up “on top of bookshelves or by the popcorn machine.” ing use of the video created for auto shows and product launches that otherwise would be mothballed. “We’ve made dealer kits, and sometimes they don’t even get opened,” says Steve Cannon, vice president of marketing. “I’ve seen car tops (displays) that we’ve lovingly produced sitting on top of bookshelves or by the popcorn machine.” Pricing hasn’t been completed. Mercedes will lease the equipment and sell a service contract to dealers. The monthly per-screen charge isn’t likely to exceed several hundred dollars, Cannon says. Mercedes calculates the average store will use three screens.c http://www.forcemktg.com http://www.forcemktg.com http://hertz.com http://hertz.com
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