The 2 percent hike in excise duty announced last week may lead to an increase in tyre prices sometime soon. According to Mr AS Mehta, Director – Marketing, JK Tyres, it is only a matter of time before the increased excise duty is passed on to consumers. The tyre industry is disappointed with the budget, [...]

A number of auto companies in the country have hiked car prices following the announcement of Budget 2010-11 last week, which increased the excise duty on all non-oil products from 8 percent to 10 percent. The excise duty on bigger cars, which stood at 20 percent earlier, has also gone up to 22 percent. The [...]

The recently concluded India Auto Expo attracted fewer visitors this year than it did in 2008, when the Tata Nano was unveiled. Approximately 1.2 million people attended the show this year, compared to 1.8 million in 2008, said Mr Vishnu Mathur, one of the show’s organisers. The lower turnout is being attributed to the restrictions [...]

Luxury car company Audi launched a special edition version of the A6 this week, as part of its centenary celebrations. The car, priced at Rs 37 lakh (ex-showroom, Mumbai), will be available at dealerships across India starting from January 1, 2010. It is powered by a 2.7 litre V6 diesel engine, and runs on turbo-diesel [...]

The Institute of Quality at the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Shell India signed a joint pact last week to make Indian roads safer. The new initiative, called ‘Safe Fleets’, will promote the adoption of a voluntary code of conduct for road safety. It aims at developing a culture of road safety in the [...]

Delhi’s transport department is readying a plan to replace the city’s auto-rikshaws with a safer vehicle, possibly a small car. Officials at the department say that while auto-rikshaws will continue to ply in residential colonies and congested areas, they will be not be allowed  to run on arterial and radial roads. The transport minister has [...]

In marked contrast to last month’s Tokyo Motor Show, the Delhi Auto Expo to be held in January 2010 is attracting automakers from all over the world. Media reports say that though there are still two months left for the Expo, the venue – Pragathi Maidan – is already fully booked. The Auto Expo will [...]

JK Tyre completed the expansion of its manufacturing facility in Mysore last week, increasing its capacity to produce radial tyres to 8 lakh units per year. The company has so far invested Rs 315 crore in the plant’s expansion, and will put in another 200 crore to further scale up its production capacity by 2 [...]

Italian luxury-bike manufacturer, Ducati, has opened its first showroom in India in the country’s financial capital, Mumbai. The company plans to begin operations in the National Capital Region by the end of the year, and in the rest of India thereafter. It is targeting a sales figure of 100 units in its first year in [...]

Automaker Premier Limited launched a compact Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV), the RiO, this week. Placed between mid-sized passenger cars and larger utility vehicles, the RiO is priced at Rs 5.25-5.95 lakh (ex-showroom, Pune). Chairman and Managing Director of Premier Ltd, Mr Maitreya Doshi, said at the launch ceremony that the vehicle was targeted at fun-loving, [...]