When India’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki said it would not offer diesel cars anymore, everyone stood up and took notice. That was 2019. But things could change next year as Maruti is reportedly working on a diesel engine for launch in 2021. More on this later in today’s wrap of the week, here’s a look at all the news that made headlines.
Toyota labour issue declared illegal
The Karnataka Labour Commissioner held a meeting today with workers of Toyota Kirloskar a week after Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa stepped in to end the stalemate.
In an interview with Moneycontrol, Akram Pasha, the Labour Commissioner, said: “We met with the workers of Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) today. We have declared that the strike and the lockout are illegal.”
Fiat to set up $150mn centre in Hyderabad
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA), on December 16, announced a $150 million investment to set up a new global digital hub in Hyderabad.
This new innovation and technology development facility is the FCA’s largest digital hub outside of North America and EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa). The facility will create 1000 new jobs by the end of 2021.
Car companies to hike prices
Buoyed by a sustained pull in demand for the fourth consecutive month, automotive companies will institute a price hike in January to offset input cost pressures and improve their sagging profit margins.
The hike, which comes into effect from January 1, will affect buyers of two-wheelers, cars, SUVs and commercial vehicles. Commodities such as metals, polymers, plastic and precious metals have seen prices increase, claim automakers.
Tata Motors to buyout partner stake in bus venture
Tata Motors will buy the 49 percent stake held by its partner Marcopolo in the bus-making joint venture for Rs 100 crore bringing curtains to the 14-year old partnership and paving the way for a smooth exit for the Brazilian company.
Post the purchase, Tata Marcopolo Motors (TMML) will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Motors. All technologies pertaining to existing bus body products manufactured will continue to vest with TMML.
Ssangyong misses loan repayment
Mahindra & Mahindra on Tuesday said its loss-making Korean arm SsangYong Motor Company has missed repayments of loans aggregating to 60 billion KRW (around Rs 408 crore).
In a regulatory filing, Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) said the South-Korea listed SsangYong Motor Company (SYMC) has outstanding loans aggregating to 100 billion Korean Won (approximately Rs 680 crores).
Hyundai i20 gets 30,000 bookings
Hyundai Motor India on Monday said it has received around 30,000 bookings for all new version of its premium hatchback i20 in last 40 days.
The company, which is the second largest passenger vehicle maker in the country, said it has already delivered 10,000 units of the model so far.
Ola to invest Rs 2,400 crore in TN
Ride-hailing platform Ola on Monday said it has inked an agreement with the Tamil Nadu government to invest Rs 2,400 crore for setting up its first electric scooter factory in the state.
Upon completion, the factory will create nearly 10,000 jobs and will be the world's largest scooter manufacturing facility that will initially have an annual capacity of 2 million units, a statement said.
Maruti on diesel
The start of this financial year also brought farewell to diesel engines from Maruti Suzuki as the Delhi-based company declared that it will focus only on petrol engines. Chairman R C Bhargava had claimed the cost to upgrade diesel engines to Bharat Stage VI (BS-VI) emission norms would be prohibitively high thus making them unviable to consumers.
So presently Maruti Suzuki, which is India’s largest carmaker, does not have even one offering of diesel car in its portfolio. But as many as seven models – Swift, Ciaz, Dzire, Ignis, Baleno, Brezza, S-Cross – came with diesel engines. Diesel engine cars commanded 25 percent of Maruti’s portfolio sales in early 2019.
Also, at that time Bhargava had added that if need arises then Maruti Suzuki could develop a 1.5 litre diesel engine provided there is enough demand for diesel engines. The Delhi-based company has manufactured and sold the 1.3 litre Fiat-derived four-cylinder engine, which also became its most famous diesel engine. The company had developed a tiny 0.8 litre diesel engine for the Celerio but discontinued it sooner than expected.
Now according to a PTI story earlier this week Maruti Suzuki is planning a return to the diesel segment as early as next year though there is no official confirmation from the company on it. Maruti’s no presence in diesel has hurt its volumes.
For instance, the Vitara Brezza, which was sold only with a diesel engine until FY20, is now powered by a petrol engine only. Its rivals like Hyundai Venue, Kia Sonet, Mahindra XUV300, Ford EcoSport and Tata Nexon are offered with diesel options.
The result is that the Brezza has slipped to the third position in the compact SUV space from the first-place last year. Sonet and Venue have grabbed the first and second place, respectively.
Diesel’s share in the industry’s passenger vehicle segment is at 17 percent, according to Maruti Suzuki India. And most of that share is in the SUV segment as hatchbacks and sedans have just 1.5 percent in diesel.
As with Maruti’s rivals a few companies have also said no to diesel as well. Renault, Nissan, Toyota and Volkswagen have given up diesel engine also.
Hyundai, the country’s second largest carmaker has said that it will produce diesel engines as long as there is demand for it and demand for Hyundai’s diesel engines continue to be strong. The Creta, for instance, has a diesel share of 55 percent.
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