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December 2020 , Kolkata :  Shri Dharmendra Pradhan, Honourable Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas and Steel, inaugurated New Lube Blending Plant at Kolkata today, in the presence of IndianOil Chairman Shri ShrikantMadhav Vaidya.  This new plant is a step towards making India self reliant in its lubricants requirement. With an investment of Rs 142 crores, this project generated a total of 72000 man days. Not only will this project meet requirements of the ever changing industrial domain, but will also ensure quality products creation with the help of its NABL accredited laboratory and top notch product evaluation techniques. While giving his address , Honourable Minister said  this inauguration of the Lube Blending plant in Kolkata  is another chapter in the history of Eastern India’s development under the vision of Honourable PM Shri Narendra Modi. “Kolkata’s Lube blending plant will cater  to the growing demand for lubricants in the eastern part of the country ,the existing plan

Volvo Cars will assemble electric motors at its powertrain plant in Skovde, Sweden, and plans to establish complete in-house e-motor production by 2025. It will invest 700 million SEK to this end in coming years. The company is committed to becoming a premium electric car company and aims for its global sales to consist of 50 per cent fully electric cars by 2025, with the rest being hybrids. Volvo Cars announced earlier this year that it is investing significantly in the in-house design and development of e-motors for the next generation of Volvo cars. With the planned investments in Skovde, it now takes the first steps towards in-house e-motor assembly and manufacturing. In a first stage, the Skovdefacility will assemble e-motors. At a later stage, the company intends to bring the full manufacturing process for e-motors in-house into a facility in Skovde.

The Aprilia SXR 160 is one of the last and most awaited offerings of 2020 in the two-wheeler segment. The model is scheduled for launch in few days from now and the maxi-styled scooter has now started arriving at dealerships across the country. Earlier this month, we told you about Aprilia India accepting bookings for the SXR 160 for a token amount of ₹ 5,000, while deliveries are promised by the end of this month or by early January 2021. The images shared by dealerships show the production-spec SXR 160 all set to hit the roads and will be kick-starting the India’s own maxi-scooter segment in the premium space.

Maserati has announced the opening of a new market in Asia Pacific as the brand enters Cambodia. Maserati is represented in Cambodia by HGB Group. The showroom is situated in Cambodia’s capital Phnom Penh. The facility includes a showroom of 610 sqm displaying the Maserati product line-up and a workshop of 1.760 sqm equipped with 3 work bays. Bernard Loire, Chief Commercial Officer Maserati, said, “Selecting the right partner and having great products are the foundations for success across the region. Maserati is entering in a period of intense changes with revolutionary new cars, innovations and projects. Now for us, the focus is strongly on the future, including hybrid and electric models.” Maserati’s complete range will now be available in Cambodia in addition to more than seventy markets internationally. The company already has partners in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Indonesia in the South Asian market.

It was earlier this year that the Suzuki Jimny was showcased at the 2020 Auto Expo to assess the response from the consumers in the country. Since then, there have many speculations regarding the arrival of the off-roader SUV in the Indian market. It is one of the highly awaited models in the country right now. The Maruti Suzuki Jimny Sierra SUV was captured on camera testing on Indian roads near its manufacturing plant in Manesar earlier and now, a new image of the Suzuki Jimny has surfaced on the internet featuring three units of the SUV spotted on the roads of Gurugram. Similar to previous spy shots, the SUVs spotted without camouflage are three-door versions, suggesting the launch could be imminent. But the carmaker hasn’t confirmed any launch details of the vehicle in India. The Indo-Japanese carmaker reportedly has commenced the production of the SUV at its Manesar facility. The carmaker is assembling the Jimny SUV for the export markets as production at the Kosai plant in Japan

tate-run oil marketing companies kept the petrol and diesel rates unchanged for the eleventh straight day on Saturday, December 19. In the national capital, the price of petrol remained unchanged at ₹ 83.71 per litre, and diesel was constant at ₹ 73.87 per litre — the same level as Friday, according to Indian Oil Corporation, the country’s largest fuel retailer. Whereas in Mumbai, petrol and diesel rates were at ₹ 90.34 per litre and ₹ 80.51 per litre respectively. The fuel prices in Mumbai are the highest among the four metros in the country.

Honda Cars India is reportedly ending vehicle production at its Greater Noida plant and will move its entire production unit to its Tapukara plant, in the Alwar District of Rajasthan. The report published by ET Auto claims that in December 2020 there has been no production at the Greater Noida facility. Until last month, the plant produced models like the Honda City sedan, CR-V SUV, and the Civic sedan. We did reach out to the company for an official statement, however, Honda has refused to comment on this matter right now. Honda employed about 2,000 workers in the manufacturing department, at the Great Noida facility, however, now the number of permanent employees has come down to 1,000. Reportedly, most of them have opted for the voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) while others have been transferred to the Tapukara plant. Interestingly, the company has already floated VRS for its permanent employees, which will be effective from January 28, 2020. The company’s corporate office and R&am

Automotive Component Manufacturers Association of India (ACMA) has announced the findings of the component industry performance review for the first half of fiscal 2020-21. The overall turnover of the automotive component industry stood at ₹ 1.19 lakh crore for the period April 2020 to September 2020 which is a registering a decline of 34 per cent over the first half of the previous year. Exports in the auto component sector in the same period declined by 23.6 per cent at ₹ 39,003 crore as compared to ₹ 51,028 crore in the first half of 2019-20. Europe accounting for 31 per cent of exports, saw a decline of 28 percent, while North America and Asia, accounting for 30 per cent and 29 per cent respectively also registered decline of 28 and 30 per cent respectively. Automotive Component Manufacturers Association of India (ACMA) has announced the findings of the component industry performance review for the first half of fiscal 2020-21. The overall turnover of the automotive component indus

Shares of sports utility vehicle and tractor maker — Mahindra & Mahindra — rose as much as 3.8 per cent to hit an intraday high of ₹ 745.55 on the BSE, a day after the company announced its plan to increase prices of passenger and commercial vehicles across models with effect from January 1, 2021. The Mumbai-based automaker said that the move has been necessitated due to the increase in commodity prices and various other input costs. The quantum of price increases across different models will be communicated in due course, Mahindra & Mahindra added. In a separate development, Mahindra & Mahindra’s South Korean unit SsangYong Motor Co has defaulted on loan repayment of about 60 billion won ($55 million), the company said in a statement to the stock exchange on Tuesday. Of the total payment that was due on December 14, about 30 billion won was owed to Bank of America, 20 billion won to JP Morgan Chase and 10 billion won to BNP Paribas, Mahindra said.

Automaker Mahindra & Mahindra’s South Korean unit Ssangyong Motor Co has defaulted on loan repayment of about 60 billion won ($55 million), the company said in a statement to the stock exchange on Tuesday. Of the total payment that was due on December 14, about 30 billion won was owed to Bank of America, 20 billion won to JP Morgan Chase and 10 billion won to BNP Paribas, Mahindra said. Shares of the automaker fell as much as 1.5 per cent on Tuesday to their lowest since November 23, while those of Ssangyong fell up to 7.72 per cent. Mahindra has since June been looking for a buyer for all or most of its 75 per cent stake in the South Korean sport-utility vehicle (SUV) maker, which it bought from near-insolvency in 2010 but has struggled to turnaround.

German car maker Daimler will begin serial production of the EQB electric model in Hungary in the fourth quarter of 2021 after investment of more than 100 million euro ($122 million) investment, factory director Christian Wolff said on Monday. The compact SUV vehicle will be the first fully electric car produced in Hungary, whose economy is dependent on car manufacturing, with German luxury brands Daimler, BMW and Audi all building or expanding manufacturing capacity in the country. Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on his Facebook page that the government had contributed 15 billion forints ($52 million) to the investment to secure the 4,400 jobs Daimler has filled in the central Hungarian town of Kecskemet. Hungary’s economy imploded in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, falling by an annual 13.6% in the second quarter. The government expects a 5-6% fall in 2020 before a modest rebound in 2021

Indian ride-hailing firm Ola, backed by Japan’s SoftBank Group, said Monday it planned to invest ₹ 24 billion ($326 million) to set up a factory in Tamil Nadu to produce electric scooters. The plant will have an initial annual capacity to produce two million scooters and will create nearly 10,000 jobs, Ola said in a statement, as it gears up to launch electric scooters over the coming months. The Indian government has been pushing automakers to move to cleaner fuel technology, especially electric, in an effort to reduce its oil import bill and curb pollution in major cities. While carmakers have been slow to launch electric vehicles (EVs), mainly due to the expensive batteries and weak demand from buyers, sales of electric scooters and rickshaws have picked up pace and are leading India’s electrification drive. The country needs an investment of over $180 billion in vehicle production and charging infrastructure until 2030 to meet its EV ambition, according to the CEEW Centre for Energ

Fuel demand fell 5.0 per cent in November compared with the same month last year. Consumption of fuel, a proxy for oil demand, totaled 17.83 million tonnes, data from the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) of the oil ministry showed. Sales of petrol were 5.2 per cent higher from a year earlier at 2.67 million tonnes. Cooking gas or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) sales increased 3.5 per cent to 2.35 million tonnes, while naphtha sales surged 7.3 per cent to 1.35 million tonnes.

It was just a few days ago that MV Agusta teased this new motorcycle and now, we finally get to see it. MV Agusta has joined forces with Alpine, the iconic French manufacturer of racing and sports cars, for the design and production of a 110-units limited series bike inspired by the Alpine A110. The Superveloce limited edition draws on the common passion of both MV Agusta’s and Alpine’s fans. Both companies also share a glorious history in competition, and an aspiration to create unique emotions for their customers through innovative, forward-looking solutions yet remaining true to their roots. The Superveloce Alpine features MV Agusta’s signature inline 3-cylinder engine, with 147 bhp at 13.000 rpm for top speeds of over 240 kmph, and comes with a host of dedicated accessories. The graphic design, the detailing and the accessories will bear the mark of Alpine. Timur Sardarov, CEO MV Agusta Motor S.p.A., said, “Many Alpine customers are also big MV Agusta fans, and vice-versa. The Supe

India’s fuel demand fell 5.0 per cent in November compared with the same month last year. Consumption of fuel, a proxy for oil demand, totalled 17.83 million tonnes, data from the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) of the oil ministry showed. Sales of gasoline, or petrol, were 5.2 per cent higher from a year earlier at 2.67 million tonnes. Cooking gas or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) sales increased 3.5 per cent to 2.35 million tonnes, while naphtha sales surged 7.3 per cent to 1.35 million tonnes. 0 Comments Sales of bitumen, used for making roads, were 25.1 per cent up, while fuel oil use edged up 4.4 per cent in November.

Petrol and diesel prices remained unchanged for fifth day in a row on Saturday (December 12) after being hiked for seven consecutive days. In the national capital, the price of petrol remained constant at ₹ 83.71 per litre with effect from 6 am on Saturday, and that of diesel was unchanged at ₹ 73.87 per litre, according to Indian Oil Corporation, the country’s largest fuel retailer. In Mumbai, petrol and diesel rates were at ₹ 90.34 per litre and ₹ 80.51 per litre respectively. In Delhi, petrol prices were hiked by ₹ 2.65 per litre and diesel prices have risen by ₹ 3.40 per litre in the last 20 days alone. The fuel prices in Mumbai are the highest among metros. The oil companies align the domestic fuel prices with global benchmarks by considering the changes in the foreign exchange levels. Domestic petrol and diesel prices vary across states due to value-added tax (VAT). The state-owned oil marketing firms Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum, and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation,

Tesla, the U.S. automaker, will send delegations to Indonesia next month to discuss potential investment in a supply chain for its electric vehicles, the government said on Saturday in a statement. President Joko Widodo has touted Indonesia’s nickel reserves on a number of occasions, telling Reuters last month that “it’s very important because we have a great plan to make Indonesia the biggest producer of lithium batteries and we have the biggest nickel (reserves).” The president and Luhut Pandjaitan, the coordinating minister for maritime and investment, were on a call with Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Friday to discuss “investment opportunities from electric vehicles company Tesla in Indonesia,” the ministry said. Tesla did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Luhut told Reuters last month that “there is a really good chance” that companies will want to invest in Indonesian nickel processing to cut costs.

·         Organised a comprehensive session on “Technology & Safety Features of Two & Three Wheelers” New Delhi, December 11, 2020:  The tri lecture series on Active & Passive Vehicular Safety Standards conducted by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) concluded today with a lecture on “ Technology & Safety Features of Two & Three Wheelers ”. The lecture series emphasized on creating a sustainable road safety roadmap with due emphasis on engineering, education, enforcement and emergency care through technological breakthroughs and policy implementation. The automotive sector, over the years, has made significant investments in embracing new game-changing safety features and technologies. Added to this, despite the safety measures being set by the government for two and three-wheelers many of them being India unique, the real life application witness a challenge in adoption at ground zero. All participants consensually agreed to the fact that sensiti

Passenger vehicles in the domestic market rose 12.73 per cent to 2,85,367 units last month, industry body Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) said on Friday. Total sales across segments — including passenger and commercial vehicles — came in at 19,09,372 units in November, marking a growth of 11.02 per cent compared with the corresponding period a year ago. The latest data shows a rebound in the auto sector following months of weak demand on account of the coronavirus pandemic-related restrictions. The rise in sales was primarily on account of the festive season, SIAM said in a statement. Two-wheeler sales also increased, marking a growth of 13.43 per cent to 16,00,379 vehicles in November.

The Tatas on Wednesday countered in the Supreme Court, the accusation of mismanagement of Tata Sons and said that even according to the claim of Shapoorji Pallonji (SP) group, valuation of their 18.37 per cent stake in the company rose from 58,000 crore in 2016 to ₹ 1.75 lakh crore in 2020. The Tata firms told the top court that unless the losses were so enormous and there was a lack of probity which left no other option but to remove the majority shareholders of the company, the NCLAT could not have reached the conclusion including that of restoring Cyrus Mistry as executive chairman. A bench of Chief Justice S A Bobde and Justices A S Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian was told by senior advocate Harish Salve, appearing for the Tatas that in the cross appeal which they have filed in the top court, SP Group has claimed their value of shares as ₹ 1.5 lakh crore. He said that according to an application filed by them (Mistry side) in which they have sought 18 per cent in all downstream Tata