Archive for the ‘automobile’ Category

Bring Home a NANO!!!

Thursday, April 9th, 2009
Bank schemes for Nano

Bank schemes for Nano

Just as the Tata Nano promises value for money with its low pricing, so do the various schemes of banks which are the preferred lenders for the car. As the schemes are almost uniform in their charges and interest rates, quick and efficient service is perhaps what can help a bank score over its competitors.

The Nano loan schemes are led by public sector banks, with the big daddy, State Bank of India along with its associate banks setting the trend in terms of interest rates and down payment. Other PSU lenders include Central Bank of India, Union Bank of India, Indian Bank, Corporation Bank and Punjab National Bank. The private sector players include ICICI Bank and Kerala-based Federal Bank.

For SBI, a potential Nano customer is an employed professional drawing Rs 75,000 a year or a self-employed person making Rs 1 lakh a year.

SBI is offering a Nano booking loan product with a one-time upfront booking fee of Rs 2,999 for the base model (which has an ex-showroom price of Rs 1.2 lakh in Delhi), Rs 3,499 for the intermediate model (Rs 1.40 lakh) and Rs 3,999 (Rs 1.70 lakh) for the high-end model.

The eligibility criterion has been relaxed keeping in mind that the Tata Nano is designed to meet the demands of low-income customers, an SBI official said.

In case the customer is allotted a Nano, then the booking loan can be converted to a SBI Nano car loan. The loan would be provided up to a maximum of seven years at 11.75-12 per cent interest. The margin requirement for the loans would be 15 per cent. That is, for Rs 1 lakh loan, the customer would have to pay Rs 15,000 upfront to get the bank to give a loan for Rs 85,000.

In case of Union Bank of India, for the booking amount, the minimum down payment for the base model is Rs 2,950, for the second version it is Rs 3,459 and for the higher end version it is Rs 3,952.

If a customer wants to avail himself of a car loan for the Nano, the bank’s auto loans rate is 11 per cent for three years and 11.25 per cent for three to five years.

An official from the bank said, “We expect very good response from rural and semi-urban areas.”

Corporation Bank is also charging Rs 2,999 as down payment for the booking amount of the base model, Rs 3,744 for the second version and Rs 4,231 for the third version. The bank is offering 11 per cent in case the customer goes in for a car loan once he or she gets allotment.

At these rates, the monthly repayment works out to Rs 3,274 per lakh for a three-year loan, Rs 2,187 on a five-year loan and Rs 1,739 for a seven-year loan, said an official from the bank.

ICICI Bank is hoping to capitalise on its online booking facility through both the bank’s Web site and ICICI Direct.com, said Mr N.R. Narayanan, General Manager, retail loans, “We are very bullish about the Nano booking online as it offers huge convenience to our customers. ICICI Direct also has a lot of customers who log on for share trading,” he said. The bank offers car loans at 13.5 per cent for three to five years.

[SOURCE]

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Forget Nano, Chinese car maker eyes Bengal

Wednesday, November 5th, 2008

Nano may have veered off Singur, but there’s a sliver of hope for the troubled land yet.
Representatives of a Chinese automobile major met chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Tuesday, seeking 600 acres — about the same amount that is ‘undisputed’ in Singur — to set up a small car factory in Bengal.

While the government hopes the company would slip into the Nano site vacated by Tata Motors, it will also showcase other locations at Kalyani, Kharagpur and Haldia.

China’s First Automobile Works (FAW), in collaboration with Ural India, an Indo-Russian joint venture, wants to set up a Rs 1,500-crore automobile manufacturing unit in Bengal. And, the first vehicle to roll out of the plant in 2010 will most likely be a small car priced at a cool Rs 1.6 lakh.

A tie-up between Ural India, in which the state government has 11%, and FAW will be formalized through an MoU in the first phase. J K Saraf, chairman of Ural India and Ren Diansheng, vice-director of FAW, led the five-member delegation of the company that called on Bhattacharjee.

The company is expected to start manufacturing small cars and then go on to buses. “We plan to price the small car at Rs 1.6 lakh to keep it competitive,” Saraf said. However, Ural is yet to decide on the name of the car.

More…

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Tata faces new challenges

Friday, March 28th, 2008

A day after announcing the biggest deal of his career at Tata Motors, for Ravi Kant top of the agenda is integrating the two iconic brands Tata now owns into its fold. Tata already has some big changes in mind from the way Ford ran these two companies. “The difference would be the kind of latitude and freedom we may give them. It may be different from what they were used to. It will be an important business and very large size business. It will look for its well being and sustained growth,” said Ravi Kant, MD, Tata Motors.

With JLR’s combined sales, Tata’s overseas business will now cross its domestic passenger vehicle sales and Tata has clarified that JLR revenues will be consolidated into the balance sheet of the listed Tata Motors.

Ravi Kant also shared with NDTV that while for the Ford Motor Company, JLR was a very small part of its overall business, for Tata its a much larger division. So, the stress will be on growth of the two marques while maintaining their individual identities.

Tata Motors has come a long way since Telco began making heavy trucks introducing its first car at the turn of the century and today the most talked of car in the world, the Nano. With Jaguar and Land Rover – it enters a new arena it is not used to doing business in but it says its ready for the next step in its evolution.

[source]

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Maruti Swift DZire @ Rs 4.49 lakh

Wednesday, March 26th, 2008

With plans to further consolidate its position in the big-car segment, Maruti Suzuki on Wednesday launched its new entry level sedan Swift DZire with an introductory price ranging from Rs 4,49,000 to Rs 6,70,000 (ex-showroom Delhi).

The DZire, the seventh model Maruti Suzuki has launched in the last three years, comes in both in diesel and petrol variants powered by 1.3 litre engines.

The petrol variant will cost Rs 4,49,000 to Rs 5,90,000 and the diesel Rs 5,39,000 to Rs 6,70,000.

“It has a special place in our product strategy. Millions of Indians own compact cars. With growing incomes and better lifestyle, many of them want to upgrade to a sedan. But on Wednesday, they are not able to find an entry level sedan that offers style, features and performance. The DZire offers all this, and at an attractive price,” Maruti Suzuki India Managing Director S Nakanishi said.

The DZire, which offers features, including integrated stereo, steering mounted audio controls, automatic climate control, power windows and dual airbags, has come as replacement of MSI’s earlier mid-size sedan Esteem.

It is being launched at a time when the company has managed to race past competition in the mid-sized sedan segment (A3) selling nearly 41,000 units in the April-February period of this fiscal.

While continuing to lead India’s small car market, Maruti Suzuki has emerged as the market leader in the A3 segment as well during 2007-08.

[source]

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Tatas seal Jaguar, Land Rover deal

Wednesday, March 26th, 2008

Homegrown auto major Tata Motors has clinched the Jaguar and Land Rover (JLR) deal estimated to be valued between $2-2.5 billion.

According to sources close to the development, the deal was signed last evening and is estimated to have cost the Tatas between $2-2.5 billion.

When contacted a Tata Motors spokesperson said the company would make an announcement at an “appropriate time”.  Ford on the other hand has been insisting that they would make public the deal only after it has informed its employees.

The sources said the formal announcement of the deal is  likely to be made at 5.30 pm IST.

The deal has taken almost nine months to finalise as both  Ford and Tata and their financiers sought to iron out issues seen as crucial to the future of the two British marques.  It is expected to cover long-term supply of engines to both brands from Ford.

[source]

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TATA nano.. rs 1lakh car is here…

Friday, January 11th, 2008

Ratan Tata on Thursday delivered on the promise he made four years ago with the launch of the “people’s car”, even if buyers will have to fork out a little more than the much-talked about Rs 1 lakh price tag for the basic model.
Tata Speak: Diesel version to follow”We have always been a diesel company, and I assure you that a diesel version will follow,” Ratan Tata, chairman, Tata Motors, said at a press conference following the launch of the Rs 1 lakh Nano at the 9th Auto Expo in New Delhi.When asked about the profit margins that the company expects from the car, Tata said, “The margins will be spread over the entire spectrum of variants.”
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