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.
Managing Director/CEO, Chevron Lubricants Lanka PLC Kishu
Gomes and General Manager Railways Dr. Lalithasiri Gunaruwan
at the opening of the renovated Kandy Railway Station. |
“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
Chery QQ |
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.
Workers at a Nissan manufacturing facility |
“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 |