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Indra Traders tie- up with HNB

Indra Traders tied up with Hatton National Bank (HNB) for a leasing promotion on their FOTON trucks recently.

The “FOTON Vaasi” promotional scheme will give their mutual customers a landmark offer with the best and lowest leasing package for the FOTON brand of trucks imported and marketed by Indra Traders.

Indra Traders and HNB together have shown their commitment and dedication on the FOTON brand of commercial trucks by embarking upon such a large scale strategic tie-up with many benefits to their loyal and expanding customer base.

The “FOTON Vaasi” special leasing scheme consists of free insurance cover, free registration, free credit card and lowest leasing rental. The trust and confidence displayed on FOTON trucks sold by Indra Traders has been evidently displayed by the market choosing FOTON trucks with an ever increasing sales growth resulting in FOTON emerging as the leading brand of Chinese trucks in the country.

Further the superiority of the after sales service and commitment towards providing quality service to the brand by Indra Traders are demonstrated looking at the vast resources and capital infusion the organisation has contributed towards FOTON brand. The availability of ample stocks of all the required spare parts that are imported directly from the manufacturer by Indra Traders in another convenience to the customers. Special pricing in keeping with the market requirements on key genuine parts have enabled FOTON customers to keep operating costs to a minimum.

Firms putting brakes on auto shows

Facing their worst sales in decades, carmakers are cutting spending on auto shows, the industry’s traditional customer-courtship event.

General Motors Corp has scrapped plans to debut its new Buick LaCrosse and the Cadillac CTS Coupe at the Los Angeles Auto Show next week and said that it was canceling its only news conference planned for the event. Chrysler, meanwhile, said it would make local dealers pay for the company’s exhibition stand at the show and would reveal no new products. Ferrari, Rolls Royce, Land Rover and Suzuki Motor Corp, meanwhile, are withdrawing entirely from the nation’s premier auto show, held in Detroit in January.

Those and other auto show cutbacks come as GM, Chrysler and Ford Motor Co. lobby for billions of dollars in federal aid, GM and Ford lost a combined $30bn in the first nine months of the year, and GM said last week that it could run out of cash in the first half of 2009. Privately held Chrysler does not release financial results but is widely believed to be in dire financial straits.

Through October, overall US auto sales are down nearly 15 percent compared with last year, and just one major automaker, Subaru Motor Co, has sold more cars here this year than last.

In response, Detroit’s automakers have cut production and shed thousands of jobs; GM announced 5,500 new layoffs in the past week alone. And all auto companies, including leading import brands, say they have been reducing other spending, including product development and marketing budgets.

That, increasingly, is affecting auto shows. The shows in Los Angeles, Detroit, Chicago and New York are traditionally the largest and most important. Drawing media to their new model and concept car introductions, they build buzz and then throw open their doors to potential buyers.

“Clearly, we’re affected,” said Andy Fuzesi, general manager and co-owner of the L.A. Auto Show, which has nearly 20 percent fewer exhibitors at this year’s show than last year’s, when nearly 100 companies paid to show their wares and more than 1 million people attended. “Everybody is clearly reassessing where they spend their money.”

Of course, not all automakers are pulling back. Ford is introducing six vehicles at the L.A. show, including two new hybrids, and is throwing a huge party for the debut of its 2010 Mustang redesign. “We have no plans to cut back on our show activity,” Ford spokesman Jay Ward said. The nation’s second-largest automaker is planning to debut as many as five other vehicles at the Detroit show, according to a source at the company who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss such details.

For Suzuki, which sold 100,000 cars in the U.S. last year, spending money on the Detroit show no longer made sense. Suzuki’s sales here are down 12 percent this year, and with no new models or concept cars to introduce, the company decided to give up on the North American International Auto Show. Instead, the company is hosting a small dinner for media. The Peninsula

Auto sales down 14.42% in India

The Indian auto industry’s hopes of cashing in on the festive season were dashed by severe liquidity crunch and high financing costs, with total vehicle sales in domestic market dipping by 14.42% in October.

The industry, which witnessed a total vehicle sales of 865,404 units as against 1,011,221 units in October last year, was dragged down by poor passenger cars, motorcycles and commercial vehicles sales.

According to the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), domestic passenger car sales went reversed gear in October with a 6.59% fall at 98,900 units as against 105,877 units in the same month last year. Motorcycles sales were at 538,353 units as against 657,874 units last year, down by 18.17%, while that of commercial vehicles were down by 35.95% to 28,027 units during the month from 43,756 units in the year-ago period.

“Whatever steps that were taken up by the government and the RBI to ease liquidity crunch are not sufficient. They have been used up to correct existing problems in the system and it had not trickled down to the auto industry,” SIAM director general, Mr Dilip Chenoy said.

He said October sales were so bad that it had pulled down the cumulative sales growth of the fiscal to 5.64% (in April-October) from 10.07% (in April-September period).

“Financing is still a big issue for the auto industry and we are keeping a watch till the end of this month to forecast what growth the industry can achieve this fiscal,” Chenoy said, adding for the passenger cars sustaining even a single digit growth would be a challenge.

Earlier this year, SIAM had projected an overall sales growth of 12-15%, which was revised to 8-10% in September.

During October, sales of car market leader Maruti Suzuki India declined by 6.42% to 52,153 units, compared with 55,731 units in the same month last year, SIAM said.

Hyundai Motor India Ltd, on the other hand, riding on the back of its new hatchback ‘i10’, managed a growth of 9.91% at 20,001 units, against 18,197 units a year ago.

Tata Motors was also able to marginally push the sales northward at 14,100 units, while the same stood at 14,006 units in October last year. General Motors sales also increased by 25.33% to 5,477 units from 4,370 units last year. asiaone