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Lanka's first Motor Super Market

Shirajiv SIRIMANE

For the first time in Sri Lanka a Motor Super Market would be opened next year in Rajagiriya.

Managing Director Rajagiriya Tours and Transport, Nishantha Basnayake said they would invest Rs. 60 million for this project.

He said that the Super Market would include a filling and a service station, workshop to undertake any repair and a special area to service air conditioning. In addition all spare parts and body parts would be marketed at the venue giving the customers a wider choice.

"To keep the customers occupied while their car is being attended to, we will offer free Wifi facility and internet," Basnayake said. Rajagiriya Tours and Transport was established in 1996 as a small business venture with one vehicle, by young entrepreneur Basnayake who was attached to Aitken Spence Travels.

Over the years, the Company has grown to be among the top three motor hiring companies with a fleet in excess of 500 vehicles.

"We are today a fully fledged Travel Solutions Provider, in short and long term rental of motor vehicles, ranging from motor bicycles to luxury motor cars, vans, 4W/D Jeeps to luxury coaches," he said. The Company is probably the only Travel Solutions Provider in Sri Lanka, operating with a fleet of over 500 motor vehicles, backed by a Mobile Maintenance Service Unit performing with 24/7 alert. The Company runs its own fully equipped Workshops and a Service Facility, with a skilled technical staff and a computer aided Wheel Alignment Unit

"With its superior cutting-edge service efficiency, the RT&T has been able to become the Corporate Transport Service Provider for many reputed companies in Sri Lanka," he said.

He said that the fluctuating oil prices are one of the biggest problems they face in the industry. "Each time the prices are revised we have to write to our clients and this is a big hassle," he said.

Toyota, Honda reduce global output on U.S. Truck cuts

Toyota Motor Corp., Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co., Japan's three largest carmakers, cut global production last month as falling home values and gasoline near $4 a gallon crippled U.S. demand for trucks and sport-utility vehicles.

Toyota reduced global production 17 percent in August, Honda's output fell 4.8 percent, led by a 10.2 percent drop in the U.S. and Nissan built 5.5 percent fewer vehicles, the companies said in separate statements.

Toyota cut overseas production the most in 12 years and Honda will make 50,000 fewer Pilot SUVs and Odyssey minivans than originally planned in the U.S. Truck sales in the country plunged 22 percent last month as banks cut lending and drivers avoided larger vehicles.

``A recovery in the U.S. economy won't take place until the second half of next year,'' said Koichi Ogawa, chief portfolio manager at Tokyo-based Daiwa SB Investments Ltd., which manages $28 billion. ``The U.S. economic slump may also slow down China and other emerging markets.''

New vehicle sales in the world's largest car market may fall to 14.2 million units, the lowest total in 15 years, according to market researcher J.D. Power & Associates.

High gas prices, the mortgage crisis, tighter credit for loans - they're all having a big impact on car demand and production.

"The sudden change in the U.S. economy will sooner or later lead to a global slowdown,'' said Osamu Suzuki, Chairman of Suzuki Motor Corp. in Tokyo yesterday.

Toyota's drop in overseas production was the first since December 2001. U.S. vehicle production fell 36 percent to 82,400 vehicles. The carmaker is suspending output of Tundra pickups and Sequoia SUVs in Texas and Indiana for three months from August.

Honda's domestic output also fell 10.5 percent compared with the year earlier period when carmakers made up for losses after a July 16 earthquake.

Honda is expanding in China and Russia to reduce its reliance on North America, where the Tokyo-based automaker gets about 70 percent of its operating profit.

The automaker said on Sept. 19 it will raise annual production capacity in Turkey by 26 percent to 63,000 vehicles a year by the middle of next year to meet rising demand in Russia. Honda's sales in the country have more than doubled so far this year through August.

The company is also setting up a second factory in India in northern Rajasthan state. Honda makes City, Civic and Accord models in India and imports CR-Vs. (Bloomberg)

Tata quitting Indian car protest site: reports

India's Tata group was moving out of an unfinished factory built to make the world's cheapest car due to violent protests over a land dispute, reports said.

Tata was moving equipment from the plant in Singur in West Bengal to an unspecified facility following a deadlock in talks between state authorities and the protesters, the Press Trust of India reported.

A Tata Motors spokesman declined to comment, but state police confirmed that laden trucks were seen leaving the plant in Singur, a suburb of Kolkata, capital of the Marxist-ruled state.

The northern state of Uttarakhand, which already houses a sprawling Tata Motor plant manufacturing commercial vehicles, said company executives were scheduled to begin talks Thursday for land for the Nano project.

"Senior officials of the Tata Motors are coming to us tomorrow for talks with our government regarding the venue for the Nano project," state industries secretary P.C Sharma told reporters in state capital Dehradun.

The United News of India, quoting unnamed company officials, said the group has already told suppliers to deliver spare parts for the jellybean-shaped Nano to the existing Tata Motor facility in Uttarakhand.

Tata ploughed 350 million dollars into its Singur factory, but it cannot complete the plant - it is 90 percent built - and begin production due to violent protests by the state opposition party and farmers who say their land was stolen.

Efforts to resolve the stand-off failed again Wednesday as protest leaders left a compromise meeting with state governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi, officials said.

Tata Motors had said it hoped to launch the four-door Nano in October in time for the big-spending Hindu festival season. The company wants to sell the car for 100,000 rupees (2,150 dollars).

Shifting the Singur plant could delay any mass roll-out for months. AFP

GM to pitch Hummer, French site

General Motors Corp. plans to distribute marketing materials for its Hummer brand and a French transmission plant in October as part of a plan to accelerate the $15-billion cost-cutting and fund-raising plan it announced in July, Treasurer Walter Borst said Wednesday in a presentation to analysts.

Speaking at the Deutsche Bank Leveraged Finance Conference, Borst said GM is progressing on a fast pace in the cash-generating plan it announced July 15 and has hired "additional outside resources to help us meet or exceed these targets." Borst said GM hopes to raise $2 billion to $4 billion in cash through asset sales, but is considering the sale of assets "significantly in excess of this amount."

"I would anticipate additional announcements for you here in the fourth quarter," he said. "We believe we can monetize certain assets without impacting the strategic direction of the company."

GM issued what it refers to as its liquidity plan on July 15 to quiet Wall Street concerns that the company may not have enough cash to sustain itself until 2010. While the plan initially quelled that concern, more recent mayhem in financial markets again has the automaker confronting worries that it doesn't have enough cash to make it through the current downturn and may now have more trouble raising money.

GM Daewoo said Wednesday that it will draw the rest of a $2-billion line of credit from the Korea Development Bank for new car development and facility improvements. A GM Daewoo spokesman said the loan is unrelated to GM's North American restructuring.

GM shares fell 37 cents to $10.35.

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