Motor-bike powered by compressed air!!

A motorcycle that is powered by compressed air has been developed by researchers at the National Central University in Taiwan.

Yu-Ta Shen and Yean-Ren Hwang, the researchers behind this discovery, say that such motorcycles may prove very helpful in fighting air pollution.

They have revealed that the current prototype can hold a little more than two and a half gallons of compressed air, which would carry the bike and driver about three-quarters of a mile.

Hwang said that the tank size will be increased three to four times in the future, and the maximum pressure that it can hold will be increased so that the motorcycle could go almost 20 miles without a refill, "which would be adequate for usage in the city. We would need an air compressor to refuel, most likely at a fuelling station."

A research article published in the journal Applied Energy suggests that researchers elsewhere are also working on vehicles that would run on compressed air rather than gasoline or diesel fuel.

"We have a vehicle that will address that market, but it's not a motorcycle," Discovery News quoted Shiva Vencat, Executive Vice President of MDI, Inc. in Newport, N.Y., and CEO of Zero Pollution Motors, as saying.

Though he said that he could not release any more information, he did reveal that it would be a small vehicle.

He said that they Zero Pollution Motors is also planning to bring a six-seater air-powered car to the U.S. market after competing in the Automotive X Prize race in September 2009.

The car will run on compressed air only when travelling under 35 miles per hour.

Vencat expects that fueling stations will arise as the car gains popularity.

"The good thing is you could put a compressed air station on campuses, in malls," he said. "You don't have the security situation that you do with gasoline."

ZPM plans to start a plant to manufacture the cars by late 2010.

Bajaj in a tough position.

It's going to be a tough ride for Bajaj Auto, one of the oldest two-wheeler makers of the country. While the company has drawn up an ambitious plan to roll out a Tata Nano-type low-cost car, for time being, it needs to fight out a constant erosion of market share in bread-and-butter motorcycle segment.

And it's a matter of concern for Bajaj Auto, considering the fact that bigger rival Hero Honda is gaining ground.

Bajaj, which at one time was closing in on Hero Honda, has seen its grip on the bike market going down by close to 6% in just 15 months. Its share slipped to 28.7% at the end of 2007-08 and further down to 26% at the end of the first quarter (April-June) of 2008-09, from 31.7% in 2006-07.

Hero Honda strengthened its hold in the same period, growing from 48.1% in 2006-07 to 54.5% by 2007-08 and a significant 57.2% by the end of April-June 2008, according to Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (Siam) data. So what ails Bajaj Auto? Analysts appear unanimous in their views that a premature shift of focus from the crucial sub-125cc segment to heavier ones, is the prime reason, even though Bajaj Auto's 2-wheeler CEO S Sridhar refused to buy the argument.

While Bajaj has only the Platina as its main product in the segment, Hero Honda has four models - Splendor, Passion CD Dawn and CD Deluxe.

"Just as Bajaj is focussing on higher-cc bikes, it is not refreshing its entry-level models around 100-cc engines. This is among the reasons behind the decline in its market share," Vaishali Jajoo, auto analyst at Angel Broking, said.

Another analyst said 100cc still promises a good market and ignoring it may not be good in the short-term, though it could work in the long-term.
A look at sales numbers of the companies makes similar revelations. While Bajaj sold 12.64 lakh units in the sub-125cc category in 2006-07, the numbers came down to 7.35 lakh units in 2007-08, showing a fall of 41.7%, though a part of it can also be attributed to the downturn in the industry.

And, it could not make up for this loss in the 125cc-plus segment where its sales in the same period increased from 8.14 lakh units to 9.22 lakh units, a growth of 13.1%, despite introducing a new 125cc model XCD, from which it expected big volumes. This could well explain the loss of 3% market share in just one year.

On the other hand, Hero Honda managed to beat the downturn as its sub-125cc segment saw a marginal 2.4% fall in 2007-08, on a bigger base. It sold 29.66 lakh units last fiscal against 30.41 lakh units in 2006-07. Importantly, the company's 125cc-plus portfolio grew 67.7% to 1.77 lakh units, though on a lower base.

However, Sridhar maintained the trend is "not worrying" as the share of 100cc bikes in overall sales was decreasing. "It used to be around 91-92% at one time, but has come down to around 65% last fiscal. So we are not worried as we are losing market share only in a declining segment and gaining ground in the 125cc-plus segment, which is a growing market."

Maintaining the company's strategy of low focus on 100cc, he said there was "no question of making investments in a segment that was not profitable and declining." Sridhar said Bajaj expects its numbers to increase significantly when the company introduces three new variants on the XCD platform later this fiscal.

Anil Dua, marketing Head of Hero Honda, said the company would continue to focus on the 100cc segment, while also concentrating on executive and premium market. "We feel that all the segments would grow, including entry-level. Our new launches will cater to all the segments," he said.

New HONDA CITY to be expected in September!!!

Honda is planning to change the rules of the sedan game with the launch of its next-generation City, the most popular mid-size car in India. The New City-2008, loaded with a host of jazzy features, will hit the market by mid-September. Sources, however, say that the new avatar will be costlier than the current version.

Honda’s largest selling car till date in India, City’s third new avatar will have a newly-designed and shaped G-CON structure sporting a toned new line-up of powertrain. As far as the new features are concerned, Honda is likely to introduce paddle shift gear option (where you don’t need to use the clutch pedal) on steering —a first in the segment—multi-airbags, integrated music system with steering mounted controls, anti-lock brake system (ABS), temperature control and electronically adjustable front seats.

Honda is looking at standardising such advanced features on all products. “We are looking at standardising the G-CON body, ABS, I-Vtec engines and few other technical features in all our future cars. It’s part our commitment to provide world-class products to the Indian market,” Honda Siel Cars India president and CEO Masahiro Takedagawa had told ET at the launch of 8th generation Accord in May this year.

When contacted, the Honda spokesperson clarified that there are no such plans. “The so-called news of a new City is mere media speculation and we would not like to comment on it. The current Honda City is the only model available globally, and is doing very well in the Indian market. The Honda City ZX continues to maintain its leadership position in the premium sedan segment, even in the current slowdown,” the spokesperson said.
According to sources in the vendor industry, the local market launch will follow the City’s launch in Thailand, expected sometime in early September. The new City will be priced much higher than the current model and could be available in three-to-four trims at different price points carrying different configurations.

However, the competitively priced current City model will complement the new car for some time. “Honda is following a two-pronged strategy. It will continue to sell the current model, which will serve as its entry-level premium car, while the new City will cater to the upper premium sedan market,” said a vendor source. Honda has sold 2.3 lakh units of the current City model in India.

The new City will be pitted against the yet-to-be-launched Fiat Linea, Hyundai Elantra and Toyota’s new Corolla, which is also expected to hit the market soon. The new City is expected to reinforce Honda’s top slot in the 2.25-lakh mid-size car market in India.

Chrysler accuses M&M for design copy.

Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M) and Chrysler are embroiled in a dispute over the front grill design and shape of the Scorpio. Chrysler alleges that M&M copied the design from its automobile marquee Jeep. There is speculation that Chrysler could initiate legal action against M&M.

The two companies were also locked in an unrelated dispute in South Africa in June this year. The South African arm of Chrysler disputed an M&M ad saying it owns the trademark to the world’s oldest sport utility vehicle, jeep, which is World War II vintage. M&M insisted that it used the word ‘jeep’ with a lower case to denote the generic name for the kind of multi-purpose vehicles it makes. The Advertising Standards Authority of South Africa was later reported to be looking into the matter.

Sources in Mahindra said it had launched a heritage campaign in South Africa focused on the Willys Jeep, a famous utility vehicle which was used in the 1940s. Chrysler contacted M&M and was firm that M&M could not use the word, Jeep. Chrysler pointed out that till 1994, M&M could use the word, Jeep. But after 1994, it belonged only to Chrysler.

M&M and Chrysler are understood to be in discussions to sort out the dispute over the Scorpio design. A source in M&M said “this is nothing of significance and nothing legal. We had one casual conversation with some official in Chrysler. They said the Scorpio grill and the Jeep Wrangler grill look similar. So, can you do something about it?”

With M&M gearing up for the launch of its SUV Scorpio in the US market, any legal action by Chrysler could hold up its plan. M&M wants to cash in on the sale of diesel-powered vehicles in the US as petrol-guzzling SUVs are facing a tough time right now. While Chrysler officials refused to comment on the issue, an M&M spokesperson said they are in dialogue with Chrysler. “While we don't agree with Chrysler’s claims, both companies are looking to address the concerns,” the spokesperson said.

M&M’s ‘Jeep’ connections are decades old. When M&M founders, brothers JC Mahindra and KC Mahindra, started out in 1945 just after the war, they began by assembling completely knocked-down (CKD) Willys Jeeps imported from the US. Back then, the local content was minimal. But by the time M&M approached the government for a licence manufacturing Jeeps, the localisation levels had gone up substantially.

By 1954, the Willys CJ3B, a civilian version of the famed military vehicle, was being made under licence in India. M&M wasn’t the only company to bag the Jeep licence.

Hero Honda to raise prices of some bikes.

Hero Honda Motors Ltd, India's top motorbike maker, has raised prices of some models to partially offset rising costs of raw materials, the company said.

Prices of its entry-level 100 cc motorbikes have been raised by up to 850 rupees ($20), it said in a statement that did not give details of price increases on other models.

Japan's Honda Motor Co and India's Hero Group hold 26 per cent each in Hero Honda.
Vehicle makers in India have recently raised prices by up to 3 per cent to offset higher costs of materials such as steel, even as rising interest rates and high fuel prices have slowed sales in Asia's third-biggest economy.

Indian riders still don't prefer super bikes!!!

Superbikes may be fast. But in India, speed doesn’t matter. After big-ticket bike makers such as Ducati and Yamaha failed to make an impact with their much-hyped superbike launches, it is now the turn of domestic biggie Bajaj Auto to shy away from the fat cat segment of the two-wheeler market.

Sample this: In the last seven months, India Yamaha Motor managed to sell only 73 of its superbikes that are priced at around Rs 10.5 lakh. And for the Japanese bike maker, superbikes barely contribute around 1% to its total revenues in India. Similarly, Italy’s Ducati Motor Holding that hit Indian shores with its full range of motorcycles — priced between Rs 15 and Rs 50 lakh — has just managed to snap up around 22 bookings in the last three months.

And going by what Bajaj has up its sleeves, it may have got its strategy right. Bajaj Auto GM (marketing & Probiking) Amit Nandi says, “India is still not ready for superbikes. We don’t foresee a major market shift towards large-capacity bikes for another two years. And even then we are interested in launching only middleweight machines that will be priced in the lower price bracket of Rs 5-10 lakh.”

This is what Ducati Motor Holding CEO Gabriele Del Torchio had to say on the issue. “Our bikes are expensive because of the high quality components that go into making them. So, we don’t see big volumes for a long time to come. Around 50 odd units annually are what we are looking for at the moment”, he added.

But volumes are important. Ask any two-wheeler maker. And with almost all the players such as Honda Motorcycle and Scooters India and Suzuki Motorcycle India planning to join the fray to launch large-hearted motorcycles here, bike makers have to tread carefully on the thin line separating ambition and practicality.

Case in point: India’s second largest bike maker Bajaj Auto’s fascination with the mass-premium category, which it plans to tap into with the Kawasaki Ninja 250cc shortly. And here too, it plans to play safe with pricing, as the Ninja will be imported as a CKD unit (completely knocked down) to dodge steep import duties of around 114%. “It will be very competitively priced,” emphasises Mr Nandi. And if this is anything to go by, it’s time for close competitor Hero Honda, which sells the 220cc Karizma, to change gears fast.

Talking about Bajaj’s association with KTM Power Sports— Europe’s second largest bike maker—in which his company holds a 25% stake, Mr Nandi reveals that the association will not go beyond developing smaller capacity machines together, perhaps 125cc-250cc motorcycles.

Skoda to upgrade technology for Fabia!!

Czech automaker Skoda said on Saturday that it is upgrading its technology in two petrol variants of Fabia car for better fuel efficiency. "We have decided to upgrade our current technology in two petrol variants of Fabia so that our customers get better fuel efficiency from our cars," Skoda said in a statement.

Skoda said it is going ahead with the technology upgradation because of "fuel inconsistency" faced by the country. "We at SkodaIndia always believe in keeping our customers' interests at the forefront of our decision making," the statement said. There has been a report in the media that Skoda is withdrawing petrol version of the Fabia hatchback to rectify a technical glitch affecting the car's fuel performance.

The company said it is "not recalling the Fabia petrol cars". "We are only improving the engine performance and fuel consumption through a software enhancement. This will happen at the time of routine service or earlier if the customer chooses," it said.

India to get its first bio-diesel pump in September.

In winter 2005, Chief Minister Narendra Modi was at the Gujarat Agriculture University campus in Navsari, riding a tractor with a difference - it ran on bio-diesel. Come September, that bio-diesel will be available at a pump for the first time in India.

The bio-diesel production, from Jatropha plants, is the brainchild of 40-year-old Dharmendra Parekh, chairman and managing director of Aditya Aromedic and Bio-Energy. Since April, the firm has been producing bio-diesel from the jatropha plant.

Registered in 2005 and set up with a capital outlay of Rs 5 crore, the company produces 17,000 litres of bio-diesel per day at its 140,000-sq ft plant located in Tarsadi village on the Navsari-Bardoli highway in Navsari district.

The bio-diesel is sold at Rs 38.90 per litre while the price of regular diesel is Rs 39.20 per litre and that of premium diesel Rs 40.40.
The firm has been pre-selling its entire output every day since April. "We don't have to do any marketing. On the contrary I take a deposit of Rs 5,00,000 from all my customers and everyone irrespective of the quantity purchased has to pay the full amount in advance. And the delivery is done only after 20 days," says Parekh.

"I have at least five customers waiting in the queue, each of whom has a daily requirement of over 500 tonnes of bio-diesel." Right now, the fuel is supplied from two depots - one at Navsari and other at Mehsana in north Gujarat.

The clientele is spread over Ahmedabad, Nadiad, Vadodara and north Gujarat, Mumbai and Delhi.

Importantly, diesel vehicles do not need to modify their engines to use bio-diesel. "I have been using my own bio-diesel in my Tata Indica diesel car for the past nine months and it runs very smoothly and also gives me a mileage of 21 to 22 km on the highway," says Parekh, a graduate in computer science and master in bio-informatics. "There is no problem at all even if you keep on changing the fuel from regular diesel to bio-diesel."

Parekh also claims that his bio-diesel was much better in quality than most of the premium diesel brands being hawked by the oil majors.

Heavy discounts from car companies to attract customers.

It’s raining discounts in Motown. Fighting sluggish demand and rising interest rates, car companies are doling out huge rebates to lure customers into their showrooms. In fact, the discounts are now no longer seasonal and continue right through the year.

Maruti Suzuki is offering a discount of up to Rs 47,000 under its ‘Freedom on Wheels’ package. Its top-selling hatchback Alto comes with a rebate of Rs 30,000 in August while the newly launched Maruti 800 Duo (the LPG variant) comes with a Rs 18,500 discount.

“We have increased discounts on our cars. Alto now comes with an additional exchange bonus of Rs 10,000 while the rebate on Zen Estilo has been increased by Rs 4,000 over July,” said an MSI executive. The South Korean car major, Hyundai Motor India, has launched ‘Freedom for Life’, offering customised packages of up to Rs 30,00 in rebates.

Its largest selling car Santro carries an exchange bonus of Rs 15,000, along with a free insurance package. Hyundai’s senior V-P (sales and marketing) Arvind Saxena said,”These price discounts are basically cushioning the high interest rates, which has almost doubled in the past 10 months. These cash discounts make huge value to customers and make the price attractive for them.”
Tata Motors dealers have increased the discount by Rs 10,000 over the last one month. They are now offering Rs 30,000 cash discount on the Indica hatchback and Indigo sedan range. A token discount of Rs 5,000 also comes on the recently launched Sumo Grande.

The basic idea to increase discounts comes from the fact that car sales remained flat in July for the first time this fiscal, forcing car makers to start new marketing initiatives to offload their piling inventories. Special price discounts on Spark, which started a few months ago, still continue.

“We plan to sell Spark at the discounted price of Rs 2.66 lakh till the end of August. The basic idea is to offer greater value to customers. Besides, we are also continuing with other standard discount packages on our entire range,” said General Motors vice-president (sales and marketing) Akush Arora.

JD Power: Toyota's Lexus is most dependable vehicle!!

Lexus once again stands alone atop a closely watched list of vehicle dependability after Buick slipped from the No. 1 spot it shared with the Japanese luxury brand last year, J D Power and Associates said Thursday.

It's the 14th straight year Toyota Motor Corp's high-end brand has held the highest ranking in the annual study, which measures problems experienced by the original owners of vehicles after three years. Lexus had 120 problems per 100 vehicles, down from 145 last year.

"That's a pretty good track record," said Dave Sargent, J D Power's vice president of automotive research. ``They benefited to some degree ... where a couple of their very important models in their second year on the market the ES and the RX, which together account for over two-thirds of Lexus sales both improved significantly.''

Ford Motor Co's Mercury brand ranked second, followed by General Motors Corp's Cadillac. Toyota was fourth, and Honda Motor Co's Acura luxury brand was fifth. Land Rover, which Ford sold this year to India's Tata Motors Ltd, was the worst-performing brand, with 344 problems.
The industry average improved to 206 problems per 100 vehicles, from 216 a year ago.

Buick, owned by GM, fell to sixth place in this year's study with 163 problems, although its now-discontinued Buick Century was the top-ranked vehicle in the midsize car segment.

"The lower score is largely due to vehicles that are no longer in the marketplace," Sargent said. "The vehicles are still out there, so the study is still relevant. But obviously they had some problems."

GM's Saab brand was the most improved in this year's study, improving to 254 problems from 319. More than 60 percent of the 38 brands in the study improved from last year.

The No. 1 problem cited in the study, based on responses from more than 52,000 original owners of 2005 model-year vehicles, was wind noise, followed by noisy brakes, pulling to the left or right, dashboard issues and window fogging. The study weights all problems equally.

Vehicle dependability has been steadily improving across the industry overall, Sargent said. Since the 2005 study, the industry average has improved from 237 problems per 100 vehicles to 206 this year. That equates to slightly more than two problems per vehicle.

Furthermore, the types of problems reported have trended toward "soft" problems, like funny noises or aesthetic wear, in place of "hard" problems such as major technical defects, Sargent said.

BMW v/s MERCEDES in top luxury segment.

The luxury car market is heading for a German finish. The two luxury marques—Mercedes-Benz and BMW—are racing against each other to get the coveted top slot in the segment.

BMW India, on the back of 70% growth in sales, is vying to clinch the top slot from Mercedes-Benz, it’s worldwide bete noire, to emerge as the leader of the luxury car market in India. BMW has reduced its sales gap with Mercedes to 411 cars in the January-July period this year from 1,104 cars in 2007.

The company has also increased its sales target to 2,800 from the earlier 2,000 cars for 2008, and aims to surpass Mercedes-Benz sales in India by 2010.

BMW India president Peter Kronschnabl told ET: “Our success in the first year has propelled us to increase our sales target. We have set a mid-term aim to gain leadership position in the Indian luxury car market. We have surpassed all our sales targets, and from the initially projected sales of about 1,000 cars for 2007, we sold 1,387 cars last year.” Mercedes-Benz, which has been operating in India for the past 10 years, has set a target of 3,000 cars for 2008. Its sales increased 33% to 2,174 cars in the January-July period from 1,454 cars sold in the same period last year. The company had sold 2,491 cars in 2007.

Mercedes-Benz India head (corporate affairs) Suhas Kadlaskar said: “Despite a decade-long presence, we are maintaining a healthy growth in sales. It is normal for a new player to gain good numbers initially. We have a deep penetration in the market with a large distribution network spanning 28 cities to take care of any competition in the luxury car segment.”

GM to spend $900 on restructuring.

General Motors Corp said on Friday it expects to spend $900 million over the next few years to adjust its manufacturing capacity, including closing plants and reducing output.

The No. 1 US automaker, in its quarterly report filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, said it plans to spend $100 million in 2008, $200 million in 2009, and $600 million after 2009.

GM, which posted a $15.5 billion net loss in the second quarter, announced in July that it planned $10 billion of cost cuts, including eliminating white-collar jobs, retiree health-care coverage and executive bonuses for 2008.

The company is realigning its North American production to reflect a US auto market reeling from an oil shock being compared with those of the 1970s.
GM plans to close four North American truck plants and add shifts at two US plants that build more popular cars that get better mileage.

GM also said it expects to spend $300 million in 2008 on buyout programs to cut its white-collar costs by 20 percent.

Bajaj Renault deal only for ultra low cost car!!

Bajaj Auto has expressed disinterest in partnering the Nissan-Renault alliance in the mainstream car business. Bajaj Auto MD Rajiv Bajaj told that it was not an area he felt his company had any expertise in, hence the decision. So, the Bajaj-Renault-Nissan partnership will be limited to the ultra low-cost car project.

Mr Bajaj said: “We are not interested in participating in the mainstream car market as we do not believe that we can bring sustainable value to bear upon an existing auto major.” That’s the reason why, he said, Bajaj is not interested in expanding its partnership with Nissan-Renault beyond the ultra low-cost car project.

Last week, Renault had initiated talks with Bajaj to extend their partnership to cover the greenfield plant in Chennai (that will manufacture Renault and Nissan cars) as well as the marketing and distribution of Renault cars made in the plant. This, even as Renault is negotiating with Logan project partner Mahindra & Mahindra for a wider distribution arrangement. M&M pulled out of the Chennai plant in January this year.

While Renault has officially denied it is in talks with Bajaj Auto to partner in the Chennai project, two persons familiar with the development confirmed that Renault had made overtures to Bajaj for car distribution should the talks with M&M fail and had offered it a stake in the company that is setting up the manufacturing plant in Chennai.

Hyundai to launch small car by 2011 in India.

Come 2011, and Korean automobile behemoth Hyundai Motor would roll out its small car in India. However the company has said that it is not aimed at competing with Tata’s soon to come Nano.

According to Hyundai, the car might sport a price tag of around Rs 1.45 lakh. The low priced car, which is currently under development at Hyundai’s research and development centre in Korea, would also be exported to other countries from India. The company has also said that it doesn’t have immediate plans to fight with the Nano from the Tata stables. The new small car would be manufactured in its Chennai plant.

Smal cars seem to be the in thing among car makers as well as car enthusiasts ever since January when Tata Motors had launched the world’s cheapest carfor Rs 1 lakh. Joining the bandwagon, the country’s second largest two-wheeler maker Bajaj Auto also joined hands with Renault-Nissan to launch a small car in India by 2011 that would be priced at the same level of the Nano.

Meanwhile, Hyundai Motor has clarified that pricing wouldn’t be the company’s first priority as it looks at offering an affordable product to the Indian car buyer.

The impact of rising fuel prices on its sales, however is seen as impacting the car maker as is the case with any other player in the industry. However, as Hyundai’s models are known to be fuel efficient, the impact might not be huge, it hs been pointed out.

Toyota's new COROLLA !!!

The Toyota Corolla has seen declining market share since the launch of the Honda Civic in India, and now is a bit long in the tooth. The company has been offering dsicounts and low-end variants for months now, slowly diminishing its existing stock.

The new Toyota Corolla is currently being tested in India - people have caught spy snaps of the car in several areas.

There are two new versions of the Corolla - the Altis and the Axio.
From the spy pics, it will be the Altis which will come to India.

The Japanese giant would pocket a higher market share in India, whch currently stands at 3 per cent. The new vehicles will be both imported and locally manufactured at the Bangalore facility.
While the next generation Corolla is to be available in the Rs 12-14 lakh range, the Fortuner SUV will come at a price band of Rs 15-19 lakh. The company will position the Corolla against against the newly launched Volkswagen Jetta and Honda Civic, and the Fortuner is expected to fight it out with the Maruti Grand Vitara, Honda CRV, Ford Endeavour and GM’s Captiva in the Indian marketplace.

Besides the new-gen Corolla and the Fortuner, the car maker is also mulling over more products across more segments in the Indian car mart. These are likely to include the luxury model Lexus and the compact car Diahatsu. If plans work out as scheduled, these two new models will be available in the country in a matter of a few years. And that’s not all. With the small car market also holding promise, Toyota is also expected to introduce its small-car aiming at more volumes. The small car from the Toyota stables might debut in year 2010.

Car sales suffer; two wheelers are still better.

The slowdown has hit Motown. Rising inflation and interest rates, and lower availability of finance have pushed auto demand into skid row as sales for most car companies remained flat in July.

Maruti Suzuki India Ltd., car market leader, saw its sales increase by 0.1% to 52,911 in July this year against 52,839 in the same month last year. Sales of Maruti’s M800 hatchback and Omni minivan, which account for a fifth of total domestic sales, fell 15% to 11,206 from a year earlier. The company managed to remain positive on the sales chart, with a 37% increase in sales in the mid-size car segment on the back of huge demand for the newly launched sedan Dzire.

South Korean major Hyundai Motor India also posted marginal growth of 0.4% to 15,066 in July against 15,003 in the same month last year.

HMI senior V-P (marketing and sales) Arvind Saxena said: “It has been a challenging month for the entire industry with the combined effects of increase in interest rates, hike in fuel prices and inflationary pressures affecting sentiments. This quarter is expected to be a tough period.”

Tata Motors posted a decline of 14% to 14,652 in July this year against 17,629 units in July 2007. The sales of Indica declined 32% to 7,525 cars, and the utility-vehicle range of Sumo and Safari dropped 21% to 2,640 compared to July 2007. Utility major M&M reported a 6% decline in July sales at 17,302 this year against 18,407 in the same month last year.

American major General Motors India posted a 25% increase in July sales to 5,706 against 4,570 during the same month last year. The company is offering huge discount on its small car Spark of around Rs 50,000, which increased its sales chart in July. Honda Siel Cars India saw sales dipping 4.27% to 4,339 in July 2008 against 4,533 last year. Skoda India posted a 83% increase in sales to 1,550 units in July 2008 against 845 units in July 2007.

Two-wheeler major Hero Honda reported a 39.8% jump in sales in July at 2.81 lakh as against 2.01 lakh in the corresponding month last year. Two-wheeler maker Bajaj saw total two-wheeler sales during the month increase 4.4% to 1.69 lakh from 1.62 lakh in the year-ago period. TVS Motor reported a 10% jump in two-wheeler sales to 1.16 lakh.