Drive

Chevron revamps Kandy station

Chevron Lubricants Lanka PLC with the Ministry of Transport opened the refurbished Kandy Railway Station at a ceremony recently.

The renovation project undertaken by Chevron Lubricants Lanka PLC at a cost of Rs. 8 million for the expediency of railway commuters in the country was opened by Governor - Central Province Tikiri Kobbekaduwa.

“It is an important day in the history of our organisation” said Managing Director / CEO, Chevron Lubricants Lanka PLC Kishu Gomes. “We are indeed proud to be associated with this project, and support the Ministry of transport and the Sri Lanka Railways in their efforts to restore the grandeur of this great landmark,” he said.

Chevron Sri Lanka, marketer of Caltex, Delo and Havoline branded lubricants has been involved in numerous projects within the community, but the Kandy Railway Station renovation project is the first transport sector endeavour that Chevron has committed to.

“This initiative is the first project within the transportation sector undertaken by us in the country”, said Gomes. “We are indeed honoured to be part of this effort and are confident that this investment to upgrade the facilities at the station will benefit all train commuters who use the facilities.”

General Manager Railways Dr. Lalithasiri Gunaruwan applauded Chevron for their contribution towards the restoration and enhancement of the Kandy Railway Station. He expressed his appreciation to the organisation for undertaking and financing this endeavour.

The Kandy Railway Station is one of the most active stations in the country facilitating travel to all parts of Sri Lanka. The station is used as one of the focal hubs in the Sri Lankan railway system and regarded as one of the busiest stations in the country. Through this project Chevron aims to uplift the present standards for the benefit of local travellers and make train travel more pleasurable.

Chery wins three Sales Awards in 2008

The latest statistics released by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers’ reveals that Chery has been ranked 5th in sales volume with 356,000 units in the billboard of national passenger vehicles. Chery has been crowned Sales Champion of Chinese independent auto brands for three consecutive years.

Chery is marching toward its second development phase from 2008, that is, from the first stage of “Build up China’s own brand by independent innovation” to the second stage of “Keep opening and innovating while building the Chinese independent international brand”. This second phase emphasizes “Quality, Brand and Service”.

Due to natural disasters, fluctuation of global oil prices, rise in raw material prices and the explosion of the financial crisis in 2008, not only the domestic economy but also the national automotive industry has been considerably affected. Despite the depression of the overall car market, Chery’s development in quality upgradation, brand building, service improvement and sales performance still remains steady.

Chery is not only No.1 in Chinese independent auto sales for three consecutive years, but the No.1 in exports for six consecutive years exporting 135,000 cars in 2008 - a 10 percent increase compared to 2007. Chery’s eight overseas plants have started operations and Chery cars have been exported to over 60 countries in 2008.

With a sales volume of 133,387, Chery QQ comes on top in small-displacement vehicle sales.

The Chery QQ’s features of low fuel consumption and its best packaged price contribute to the Chery’s high sales despite the global financial crisis and tax imposures.

Nissan’s India plans under review

Japan’s third largest auto maker by sales Nissan Motor Co. Ltd, which is facing losses globally, is reviewing its capital expenditure and manufacturing plans, according to two local parts suppliers to the firm.

“The company has asked us to scale down the supplies by at least 30 per cent,” said a vendor for Nissan’s project in Chennai, where it shares a manufacturing facility with French car maker Renault SA. “They are re-evaluating all the projects in India to halve the costs. They have even put a cap on the number of people they want to hire for the project.”

Another supplier confirmed the 30 per cent scale-down at the Chennai plant. Both the vendors did not want to be identified citing confidentiality agreements with Nissan.

“We are optimizing investments and will probably do a slower ramp up at our Chennai facility. If the ramp up is slower, supplies will have to be scaled down,” Nissan’s Vice-President for Global Corporate Communications, Simon Sproule, said over the phone from Japan on Tuesday.

Manufacturing at the Chennai facility was estimated to reached peak volume in one-and-a-half years from the start of production, but will need three years now, the vendor added.

Sproule did not confirm if Nissan has asked the vendors to prune supplies, but maintained that plans for the Chennai facility going on stream in early 2010 and the company’s new model launches in India were on track.

Nissan is also reviewing the programs at its three joint ventures with Ashok Leyland Ltd, India’s second largest maker of trucks by sales, for making engines, light commercial vehicles and technology development.

“Both companies are facing the same challenges. We are, hence, working on how best to structure the next step,” said Sproule.

On Nissan’s plans with Bajaj Auto Ltd to make an ultra-low-cost car, spokeswoman for Nissan India, said “The ULC (ultra-low-cost) project continues to be studied between the three partners (Bajaj, Renault and Nissan).

We will disclose more information when we have finalized the product and manufacturing scope for this vehicle. For now, we are not forecasting an introduction date, but still intend to be active in this segment in the future.”

Nissan India had announced a 50:50 joint venture with Renault last February to use a common facility for making cars for Indian and overseas markets. They had pledged a combined investment of Rs. 4,500 crore into the facility.

Sproule said Nissan would “make adjustments” to the investment, but did not give more details. Last month, Renault announced it was putting its vehicle launch programme from its Chennai facility on hold, citing unfavourable market conditions.

Nissan still plans to launch its maiden compact car, Micra, in India from the Chennai facility by the second half of 2010, she said.

Faced with slowing demand and recessionary pressures, the Japanese auto maker said on February 9 that it plans to cut 20,000 jobs globally between March 2009 and March 2010 and expects to make 2 billion (around Rs. 14,440 crore) losses in the current fiscal year. Livemint.com

India to become exports hub for two-wheelers

Japanese auto makers are eyeing India as a potential exports hub for their automobiles.

The Japanese auto maker, Yamaha, intends to make India its exports hub for two-wheelers and engines.

The company intends to plan its shipments to Japan and the US from India. It has already strengthened its dealer network and after sales service network in India.

It further intends to have more than 600 dealerships across India by 2010.

Yamaha will invest nearly Rs. 240 crores in the country by 2010/11 to develop two India-specific models. “India can be an export hub for our two legendary models - FZ16 and R15.

Also we export bike engines in substantial amounts to our other global operations,” said India Yamaha Motor CEO and Managing Director Yukimine Tsuji. “Japan and the US have been asking for our bikes and are interested in importing from India,” he said.

Tsuji also said that the company exported nearly 40,000 bikes and 10,000 engines from India to countries such as Nepal, South Africa, Sri Lanka, and Latin American countries. He said that India is the second largest exporter for Yamaha after China. The company now intends to cater to demands from the US and Japan.

India is already a global exports hub for small cars for companies like Hyundai and Maruti Suzuki. General Motors, Ford and Nissan are also in the race to make India as their exports hub for their global small cars.

cartrade.com