Bridgestone to invest Rs 2600 crore in Pune

Bridgestone India Private Limited, (BSID) has announced that it will be investing Rs.2600 crores towards building a new manufacturing unit near Pune's Chakan Industrial Area in Maharashtra. The company also announced that it has reached an agreement with the Government of Maharashtra for accquiring approximately 8.288 million sq ft of land. The factory will be used for manufacturing passenger car radial tyres along with radial tyres for buses.

Bridgestone is planning to start the production of radial tyres for passenger cars by January 2013 and that of radial tyres for buses by August 2013. The demand for these tyres have gone up cosiderably and is expected to further aid economic growth. The company expects production capacity of passenger car radial tyres and bus radial tyres to reach 10,000 and 3,000 units per day by 2020 respectively. The demand for tyres is further expected to grow owing to the development of road infrastructure and increase in automotive sales.

by Motoroids

Chevrolet to showcase 2011 Cruze RS

Chevrolet has announced that it will be showcasing its 2011 RS appearance package for the Cruze at the upcoming New York International Auto Show. The RS appearance package will be offered as an exterior option on the Cruze LS, LT and LTZ variants to potential buyers. With the RS package, the Cruze gets a more sporty and butch look in comparison to the plain model. The Cruze RS gets fog lamps, rocker panel extensions and a spoiler on the exterior. It will also feature an upgraded interior package including backlit instrument cluster and chrome accent rings.


As of now Chevrolet has not announced any plans of offering the RS appearance package as an option to potential buyers of the Cruze in India. Though we seriously hope that Chevrolet does offer the RS package as an option in India. This RS package seriously enhances the sporty appeal of the Cruze as evident from the pictures. The Cruze is already notching up numbers on the sales chart owing to its refreshing good looks and powerful diesel mill. This appearance package will further enhances the exterior appeal of the car, giving customers a reason to cheer about and bring one home.
 

Ford sells its Volvo brand to Geely of China

Ford has finally decided to get rid of its Volvo brand. The American company got into an agreement to sell Volvo and related assets to Zhejiang Geely Holding Group of China for Rs 815 crore. The sale is officially expected to be closed by the third quarter of 2010. Much of this time will be consumed in getting permissions from governments in countries where the Swedish brand has presence.

Ford is completely selling off the Volvo brand, and will not keep any of the shares with it. Ford, that bought Volvo in 1999 hasn’t been able to make much of the deal, as the Swedish brand has not made any money since 2005.

As a part of the deal, Ford will keep supplying Volvo critical components. Ford will also reportedly provide support in terms of engineering, IT and other areas before the Chinese company could manage these things all by itself. The deal also includes the use of some of Ford’s intellectual property rights by Volvo and Geely.

Commending on the development, Alan Mulally, Ford’s president and CEO said “Volvo is a great brand with an excellent product line-up. This agreement provides a solid foundation for Volvo to continue to build its business under Geely’s ownership. At the same time, the sale of Volvo will allow us to further sharpen our focus on building the Ford brand around the world.”

 

Geely Chairman Li Shufu, on the occasion, said, Shufu said: "We are pleased to have reached this agreement with Ford, enabling us to safeguard and strengthen Volvo's renowned brand heritage. This transaction will ensure Volvo's continued leadership in the premium segment, where it enjoys a global reputation for safety and environmental-friendly technologies. As part of the proposed transaction, Zhejiang Geely Holdings will maintain the strong collaborative relationships that Volvo has built with employees, unions, suppliers, dealers and above all, customers. On completion, Volvo Cars will be a separate company with its own management team based in Gothenburg, Sweden, and a new board of directors."

Geely has raised the loan for this deal from banks in China, USA and Europe, and loans guaranteed by the governments of Sweden and Belgium. First impressions suggest that production of Volvos will continue in Sweden and Belgium to stay closer to the supplier chain and the main market.

Several cars to be phased out due to BS IV norms

The Bharat Stage IV (BS IV) emission norms will be applicable from the 1st of April, 2010. However, the entry of the BS IV norms has marked the exit of various old car models including the Skoda Octavia, Fabia (petrol) and Chevrolet Tavera. Maruti had taken the decision of not upgrading its Maruti 800 to suit the BS IV norms after which Skoda has decided to do the same for a few of its car models including the Octavia and Fabia (petrol). The Octavia’s 1.9 TDi Pumpe-Duse engine along with the Fabia petrol engine will be spared from being upgraded to the BS IV requirements making it face the similar fate of the once-legendary Maruti 800. These cars will now not be available in 13 cities across the country.

The Tavera from Chevrolet’s stable too is ready with its bags packed to bid good bye to all the BS IV cities. The MPV contender’s 2.5-litre diesel engine will not be upgraded by the firm to meet the BS IV requirements which will make the car unavailable in BS IV cities.

 

However, all the four cars mentioned above will be available in the showrooms of BS III cities across the country. Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune, Kanpur, Ahmedabad, Surat and Agra are a few amongst the cities which will bear the BS IV emission norms from the 1st of April.

Volkswagen - Pune Plant’s first anniversary

Volkswagen’s Pune plant is one of its most modern plants amongst the Volkswagen group. The plant was inaugurated on the 31st of March, 2009. Very soon, the plant will complete a year of functioning in the City of Pune. To cherish this special occasion for Volkswagen, the firm has organized a grand celebration starting from the 27th of March, 2010. “Volkswagen India. Building Cars. Winning Hearts,” will be the theme of the celebration.

The firm has decided to share its joy amongst with the city of Pune by distributing muffins with a 1 year candle. This will be a symbol of the 1 year birthday cake and will be distributed during the screening of the IPL matches at Inshanya Mall on the 27th and 28th of March.

On 30th of March, as a part of the celebrations, the works of the Artist Lala who is a German residing in Pune will be unveiled at the Volkswagen India plant. Around 20 paintings which display the cultural exchange between Germany and India will be displayed as a part of the exhibition at the Chakan plant.

On the 31st of March, which is exactly a year after the inauguration of the plant, an art competition will take place for the children of the employees who serve at the Volkswagen Pune plant. The theme of the competition for children within the age limit of 6 to 12 years will be “Volkswagen Employee Children. Winning Hearts with Polo.” The firm will reward all participants after which all the paintings will be displayed at the plant. On the same day, there will be an after-work dinner for all the employees at the plant. During this part of the celebrations, the efforts of the Volkswagen employees will be recognized and appreciated. “Volkswagen People. Winning Hearts,” will be the theme of this party.

The Pune plant has proved to be a catalyst for the firm in achieving its sales targets in the Indian subcontinent. With a maximum production capacity of 110,000 vehicles annually, the plant is technically advanced with all kinds of facilities. The plant covers all stages including the press shop, body shop, paint shop and final assembly. Along with the Volkswagen Polo, the Skoda Fabia is also built at the Pune plant. The Pune plant is reportedly the largest investment (Rs 3,800) by a German company in India.

AMG - Reportedly developing an entry level performance saloon?

Automotive websites are once again abuzz with reports of AMG developing a super sports saloon based on the future generation B-Class. According to Autocar, this new entry level AMG offering will borrow styling cues from the Mercedes Benz F800 Style Concept which was unveiled at the 2010 Geneva Auto Show. Autocar has further said in its report that this new AMG will be powered by a new engine based on the 3.5 liter turbocharged V6 mill that was actually developed for the CLS350.

The report also says that the engine will be downsized to 3.2 liters and utilize an electrically operated pressure wave supercharger. It further reveals that maximum power output will be close to 400bhp and there is a possibility of the power being delivered to all four wheels with more bias towards the rear. To the non-performance engine enthusiast, a pressure wave supercharger is one which utilizes the exhaust gases generated by an internal combustion engine to generate pressure waves which compress the intake air.

AMG is developing this entry level performance saloon to in order to increase the chances of attract more customers especially in the young age group to its brand. Once launched, this new car will face stiff competition from the likes of BMW 1 Series and Volkswagen Golf R. We will keep you posted as and when more information surfaces.

Images: These Images are of the Mercedes-Benz F800 Style Concept

Virgin All Set To Fly - Australian GP

It’s no secret that the Virgin Racing team had quite an abysmal time at the Bahrain Grand Prix. Initially the pre-qualifying practice sessions and the qualifying sessions at the Bahrain Grand Prix did show some amount of hope and promise for the debutants. However, much of their hopes and aspirations were extinguished when both their cars retired within just a few laps of the race.

Both their drivers and the technical director were disappointed and understandably so. After all, the pre-season had started off with much promise for them and it was to be seen how the only team on the grid to have boldly used only CFD design and technology would perform.

Having said all that, all those problems, and the woes of Virgin Racing at Bahrain are all in the past and were not necessarily related to their CFD designed aerodynamics. The cars suffered from hydraulic and transmission problems which made the sun set rather quickly on their weekend in Bahrain.

This time round at the Australian Grand Prix, Virgin Racing certainly hopes to make an impact. It is a rather interesting race, being a street circuit and will require the drivers to use their technical skill. Good speed and lap times will be crucial during the qualifying sessions as the new regulations do seem to have made over-taking a little too difficult.

The Virgin Racing team seems to be rather upbeat about this weekend and one hopes they can certainly do better than the Bahrain Grand Prix. In my opinion, I am certain that they will. After all, let’s not forget that this is a young team with young drivers and there may certainly be a few technical glitches at the start; but nothing that can’t be fixed.

My prediction for the race is that Timo Glock and Lucas di Grassi will both complete the race this time round and see the much desired chequered flag. I think that would be a good goal to achieve and as long as the team manages that, this race will be a successful one. I believe that one must climb the ladder to success slowly but surely and a step in the right direction would be to finish the race this street circuit.

Timo Glock is said to like the race track and conditions at the Australian Grand Prix and it would be exciting to see the young Lucas di Grassi race on this circuit for the first time. I certainly look forward to the race this weekend and to Virgin Racing being competitive. I am sure that they will do much better as the season progresses. But my prediction for this weekend is that both the cars make the chequered flag.