Mahindra to take full control of JV with Renault

Mahindra the Utility vehicle market leader in India announced the acquisition of remaining 49% stake from Renault in its JV “Mahindra Renault Pvt Ltd.,” that had started in 2005.

In March M&M had pulled some of its management from JV (link) indicating the relationship reaching an end. Renault is making its own plans to launch the cars in India by 2011 having its plant ready in Chennai. Renault also is planning its own dealership network.

The relationship with Renault ended in 5 years that saw the failure of Logan car in an otherwise very upbeat Indian market. Logan is the only brand that saw declined sales for 200910 from over 16 OEMs.

Mahindra will keep the Renault logo on the car till the end of 2010 and reposition with a new logo from then on. THE technology from Renault would be bought as license basis.

Sumitomo hikes stake in Swaraz Mazda

Sumitomo the majority holder with 53.52% stake in Swaraz Mazda increased its stake by another 1.11% through rights issue. With the LCV market clocking robust growth in last 2 months, the move would help consolidate its financial position to meet its capacities needs. Swaraz Mazda that is a minor player in LCV (transport and passenger) domain with about 5% share is seeing tough competition from the CV makers TATA and M&M with new models entering the market.

Swaraz Mazda started with Punjab tractor, Mazada and Sumitomo consortium and going public in 1985. Later Both Mazda and Punjab tractor sold their 15% stake to Sumitomo.

India ended the 200910 on a healthy note

Indian auto market ended the year 200910 with a healthy note as anticipated. The month of February saw in increase in the vehicle prices due to the hike in excise and also the new euro IV standards in 13 cities. However that has not affected the numbers since the growth has again led my the small car category.
The stars of march however are Ford Figo and Chevy Beat.

The CV market is making a steady move since last 3 months growing steadily for all CV makers indicating the confidence in Indian economy being pretty stable by now.

	Mar-10	Mar-09
Hundai Motors
growth	19.02%
sales	55035	46159
domestic	31501	24754
export	21405	23534
Maruti suzuki
growth	11.00%
sales	95123	85669
domestic	79530	73855
export	15593	11814
GM
growth	200%
sales	11330	5001
TATA motors
growth	38%
sales	75151	54452
cars	43.70%
sales	29868	25430
exports	4105	1799
lcv	22438	16620
M&HCV	20847	12335
cvs	43285	29050
M&M
growth	20.25%
sales	31698	26360
three wheeler
	7695	4043
utility vehicles	24.18%
	20914	19973
logan	351	962
cv growth	89.80%
cv sales	984	770
exports	1754	461
Ashok Leyland
growth	97%
sales	10067	5099
domestic	9299	4428
export	768	671
Honda
growth	-19.54%
sales	5928	7368
Audi
sales	220	162
Toyota
growth	90%
cars, SUV	6905	3643
Ford
growth	203.00%
sales	9478	4669
Eicher
growth	81.50%
sales	3814	2101
domestic	3649	1935
exports	165	166
BMW
growth	26.60%
sales	605	478