General Motors may hike Chevy price

General Motors may hike Chevy price Hyderabad, Citing growing input costs,

General Motors India is considering hike in prices of its Chevy range of cars currently offered in the country, including its small car Spark.
The President and Managing Director of GMI, Mr Karl Slym, said the market conditions are tough and the input costs continue to go up forcing the company to consider hike in prices. A decision on price hike will be taken later this month for even Spark, which is now being offered at a big discount.
Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday to announce the launch of the automatic transmission-based Captiva, the luxury sports utility vehicle, Mr Slym said the Captiva sales far surpassed the expectations with the company selling 2,500 cars, as against initial expectation of 800-1,000 cars.
�The current business slowdown will not impact GMI plans for expansion and commissioning of new transmission plant in Maharashtra and launch of Chevrolet sedan Cruze by June this year and mini car by the end of 2009,� Mr Slym said.
The company is working on developing diesel engines in the capacity of 1 litre to 1.5 litres, to be offered in not just the new cars to be launched but also in some of the existing models, he said.
�The transmission plant is at advanced stage of implementation and we would be able to bring out engines by early 2010,� he said.
�Both the Cruze and Minicar options were showcased at the Paris motor show and suitable models factoring Indian conditions would be rolled out. We are currently in the process of testing prototypes of the car variants,� Mr Slym explained.
Mr P. Balendran, Vice-President, GMI, said the last two quarters in 2008 were extremely tough for the automotive sector in the country which resulted in a de-growth of about two per cent. Even GMI plans to sell 85,000 cars could not be achieved due to slowdown.�
Source : Business Line (Online Edition) (2/3/2009)

Buoyed by Hyundai Genesis Win, Korean Automaker Reports Strong January Sales

FOUNTAIN VALLEY, California � Hyundai got off to a quick start in January, announcing that it sold 24,512 vehicles, a 14 percent increase over 2008. The increase was attributed to the Hyundai Genesis' naming as 2009 North American Car of the Year and the rollout of the Hyundai Assurance program, which kicked off in January and allows consumers to return their new Hyundai if they lose their jobs.
At the same time, Kia and Subaru also announced sales gains for January. Kia reported January sales of 22, 096, an increase of 3.5 percent over January 2008 and described by the Korean automaker as "the second-best January in the company's history." Those sales were led by the Kia Sorento and Kia Sportage.
Subaru of America also announced an 8 percent sales increase for January over last year's results. Subaru said sales of the 2009 Forester broke records with 5,162 units sold in January versus 2,402 units in January 2008 � an increase of 115 percent.
In the meantime, Detroit was reeling as Chrysler, Ford and GM all recorded dramatic sales drops for January. Chrysler sales fell 55 percent versus January 2008, while GM said its sales slid 49 percent. Ford reported a decline of 40 percent.
Source : www.edmunds.com (2/4/2009)