The Auto village proposal: India may soon have a permanent mini expo

Auto Village proposes to have about 80 vehicle showrooms and workshops of all automobile brands

You may no longer have to wait for the biennial Auto Expo to explore automobiles of all brands at one location. Haryana is working on the proposal from a private company that wants to set up an Auto Village over more than hundred acres of land.

Auto Village proposes to have about 80 vehicle showrooms and workshops of all automobile brands across industry segments (cars, two wheelers, three wheelers, commercial vehicles and tractors, etc) at one location, an RTO, recycling units, test tracks, new vehicle launch zone, financing institutions, component shops, petrol pumps, hotels and an amusement park. In addition to this facility, another land parcel of over hundred acres will be used to develop a residential project targeting thousands of people who will be employed in the Auto Village.

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Himanshu Narayan, the director of Auto Village, said he has received offers for land parcels from a few private owners but the facility could also come up on a land purchased from the state government. “All I can say is the first facility will come in the national capital region in the state of Haryana and not more than hundred kilometres away from Delhi”, he said.

Auto Village, which is in talks with the state, has sought waiver of VAT and vehicle registration charges from the Haryana government to make prices attractive and pull buyers from city-based showrooms. “This will give a new direction to the automobile industry in the country. Buyers will have the advantage of comparing and test driving different brands at one location, securing finance and then driving out with a registered vehicle. It will be a one day affair”, he said. Read more

Maruti Suzuki struggles to meet demand for Baleno

Maruti Suzuki struggles to meet demand for Baleno

Customers who booked the Baleno, Maruti Suzuki’s latest premium hatchback, may have to wait for up to six months for delivery. The company is struggling to meet demand and production can only be increased at the cost of other models.

The country’s biggest car manufacturer is facing production constraints with the Baleno forcing it to juggleoutput between domestic and export markets. The Baleno is among the top selling cars with unserviced bookings of 55,000 units and sales of 44,000 units in just six months.
Maruti Suzuki India (MSIL) started exporting the hatchback in January to Europe and Japan, leading to lower supply in domestic market, a consistent fall since December.
Domestic volumes of Baleno dipped 41 per cent in March to 6,236 units, lowest since its launch, compared with 10,572 units in December, the best month so far.
This is even as the exports have more than trebled in the past three months to close at 5,600 in March from 1,800 in January, according to MSIL.
The company is running its plants in Haryana at near-full capacity, with incremental volumes coming only through improvisations such as debottlenecking. Increasing the Baleno’s production beyond this will mean sacrificing volumes of other models. “We expect Maruti Suzuki to hit acapacity roadblock this year despite efforts at debottlenecking its stated manufacturing capacity of 1.55 million units. The Gujarat plant is expected to add 0.25 million units of capacity only next year,” said a Religare report.
MSIL has said the Baleno production expansion is going as planned but demand continues to outstrip supply. In addition, sources say, there could be issues in ramping up component supplies from the vendors. R C Bhargava, chairman, MSIL said, “When there is a surge in demand of a particular product, we have to make a judgment on what the long-term demand is going to be and what is the optimum mix. Capacity has to be increased, but by how much?”. Read More