Honda launches ‘Dream Yuga’, its cheapest bike
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Honda Motor Co launched the lowest-cost motorbike in its line-up on Tuesday for sale in the India market, aiming to double India’s share of its motorcycle revenue by the end of the decade while racing to catch up with rivals in fast-growing emerging markets.
Honda, the world’s largest motorcycle manufacturer and Japan’s third-biggest carmaker, has struggled to make major inroads in high-growth, price-sensitive markets such as India, where a former joint venture deal once excluded it from the key commuter motorbike segment.
Commuter bikes account for around 70 percent of India’s motorcycle market, which grew 14 percent over the last financial year to 10 million sold and is second only to China.
“It’s very positive for Honda that they can finally compete in the mass market here,” said Vineet Hetamasaria, automotive analyst at PINC Research in Mumbai.
“The pricing is in the right area … and given Honda’s brand equity, the bike is definitely going to make a dent in the market shares of others.”
The motorcycle is Honda’s cheapest worldwide, Keita Muramatsu, president of Honda Motorycle & Scooter India, said at the bike’s launch in New Delhi.
Honda, the top seller of scooters in the Indian market but lagging in larger commuter bikes, has been steadily raising production and sales across the two-wheeler segment since it ended a 26-year joint venture with Hero MotoCorp (HROM.NS: Quote, Profile, Research) in March of last year in an $851 million deal.
Honda low-cost bike for India steps up emerging market drive
NEW DELHI, May 15 (Reuters) – Honda Motor Co launched the lowest-cost motorbike in its line-up on Tuesday for sale in the India market, aiming to double India’s share of its motorcycle revenue by the end of the decade while racing to catch up with rivals in fast-growing emerging markets.
Honda, the world’s largest motorcycle manufacturer and Japan’s third-biggest carmaker, has struggled to make major inroads in high-growth, price-sensitive markets such as India, where a former joint venture deal once excluded it from the key commuter motorbike segment.
Commuter bikes account for around 70 percent of India’s motorcycle market, which grew 14 percent over the last financial year to 10 million sold and is second only to China.
“It’s very positive for Honda that they can finally compete in the mass market here,” said Vineet Hetamasaria, automotive analyst at PINC Research in Mumbai.
“The pricing is in the right area … and given Honda’s brand equity, the bike is definitely going to make a dent in the market shares of others.”
The motorcycle is Honda’s cheapest worldwide, Keita Muramatsu, president of Honda Motorycle & Scooter India, said at the bike’s launch in New Delhi.
Honda, the top seller of scooters in the Indian market but lagging in larger commuter bikes, has been steadily raising production and sales across the two-wheeler segment since it ended a 26-year joint venture with India’s Hero MotoCorp in March of last year in an $851 million deal.
Honda aims to double India’s share of its motorbike revenue
NEW DELHI, May 15 (Reuters) – Honda Motor Co launched its first mass-market motorcycle for India and its cheapest motorbike worldwide on Tuesday, as it aims to tap low-cost emerging markets including more than doubling India’s share of its motorcycle revenue by 2020.
Honda, which ended a 26-year joint venture with India’s Hero MotoCorp in March of last year in an $851 million deal, has announced fresh investment worth 20 billion rupees ($373 million) since then as it looks to chase down its former partner, the current market leader.
Honda’s 110cc Dream Yuga motorcycle, its first in India’s 75-125cc commuter segment, will start at 44,642 rupees ($830) and will compete with Hero’s Splendor brand, India’s biggest-selling bike.
Honda expects India to account for 30 percent of its global motorcycle revenues by 2020, up from 13 percent currently, said Keita Muramatsu, president of Honda Motorycle & Scooter India at the bike’s launch in New Delhi.
“Our long-term target is to be the number one in India by 2020,” said Yadvinder Singh Guleria, marketing head for Honda India. He said the company targets sales of 300,000 Dream Yugas in the current financial year that ends in March 2013.
Entry-level commuter bikes account for around 70 percent of the domestic market in a country that sold over 10 million bikes in the last financial year, second only to China.
Under the joint venture agreement, Honda was banned from directly competing with Hero Honda vehicles.
Air India risks losing bailout as pilots agitate
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – State-owned Air India risks losing a $5.8 billion government bailout, India’s civil aviation minister said on Thursday, as industrial action by pilots disrupted flights for a fourth day.
The national airline, which has been surviving on taxpayers’ money, is scheduled to get $1.3 billion in fresh equity from the government in the current fiscal year but this is linked to its performance.
“Pilots need to understand that if Air India does not meet the performance yardsticks set in the plan, that money will not reach them. It’s not a one-time deal,” minister Ajit Singh told Reuters in an interview.
India’s civil aviation industry is suffering under high fuel costs, low fares and a combined debt of $20 billion. Five of the country’s six main carriers are losing money.
Cash-strapped Air India was forced to cancel at least 30 flights on Thursday alone, after more than 150 pilots did not report to work, demanding exclusive rights to fly new Boeing (BA.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) Dreamliners.
“The government is not going to keep on pouring money into Air India anymore,” the minister said. “Nobody is indispensable.”
The carrier has sacked three dozen pilots since the “calling in sick” agitation began on Sunday night and a court has declared the action illegal.
PETA offers Kingfisher a vegan lift
One of the many benefits of vegetarianism, so animal rights activists say, is that it cures impotence. To that end, the global rights group PETA is offering a way to give flagging Kingfisher Airlines a lift.
The airline, once the flashiest in the Indian aviation industry with well-groomed hostesses and gourmet food, is struggling to stay upright after running up a debt of about $1.3 billion. It has been wooing investors, pleading with banks and sounding out anyone who could help.
Now, help is being offered from an unlikely quarter.
PETA has made a “tempting offer to help keep Kingfisher Airlines out of its financial crisis and flying sky-high”, the group said in a statement. Condition: The airline — whose advertisements once featured tastefully served lobsters and baked chicken — covers its planes with anti-non-vegetarianism slogans.
“Want Good Times? Go Vegan. Meat Consumption Leads to Impotence,” the slogans would say if Kingfisher accepts the proposal.
Impotence affects more than half of India’s males aged over 40, and this condition can be “prevented or even reversed” with a pure vegetarian diet, PETA says.
It’s certainly an innovative form of promoting PETA’s case, which “operates under the simple principle that animals are not ours to eat, wear, experiment on or use for entertainment.”
Assam ferry tragedy not newsy enough?
On Monday, India’s remote northeastern state of Assam saw probably its biggest tragedy in recent memory, when an overloaded ferry carrying about 300 people sank in the Brahmaputra river, killing at least 103 people.
However, the bigger tragedy perhaps was the minimal coverage it got in the national media. Apart from The Hindu, which had the accident as its top story, none of the leading dailies in the country gave it much coverage beyond a mention on the front page.
Considering that the news first surfaced at around 6 p.m. on Monday, newspapers had ample time to give it more space if they so wished before they went to print, again putting the spotlight on the much-discussed question of whether the northeast is ignored by the national media.
“Has #Assam ferry tragedy been ignored on Twitter/ television? We’ll be RTing all responses,” the New York Times tweeted on Tuesday to a massive response.
What was even more interesting was to see prominent journalists posting tweets even as news channels kept speculating on a bail plea for a dentist accused of killing her daughter in New Delhi, and even more far-fetched speculations on India’s next president.
“Assam n northeast doesn’t mean anything to us! We r a nation obsessed with big cities n their celebs!” Twitter user Ambreen Zaidi wrote.
The recent tragedy is not an isolated instance. The same debate creeps up every time a major event happens in the remote northeast region, and the Indian media is accused of not giving it enough coverage.
Corrected: India to urge airlines to boycott EU carbon scheme
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India will urge its airlines to boycott the European Union’s carbon charge scheme, raising the prospect of a global trade war over a law requiring flights in and out of Europe to pay for their greenhouse gas emissions.
A senior Indian government official told Reuters that India would soon ask local airlines not to buy carbon credits from or share emissions data with the bloc, which says other countries are not doing enough to tackle this source of greenhouse gases.
China said in February its airlines were barred from participating in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) unless they got government approval. Beijing has also suspended the purchase of $14 billion worth of jets from European maker Airbus (EAD.PA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz).
India does not yet plan to ask airlines to cancel Airbus purchases, but that is possible if the dispute escalates, said the Indian official, who has direct knowledge of talks between the EU and other countries on the issue.
If the European Commission then stopped Indian airlines from flying to Europe, India would retaliate with similar moves and consider charging an “unreasonable” amount for flying over India, the official said on Monday.
“We have lots of measures to take if the EU does not go back on its demands. We have the power of the economy; we are not bleeding as they are,” the government official said, adding that Europe’s position would harm its own economy and airlines.
The Indian government is awaiting formal approval from several ministries to implement the order to airlines, which it expects soon, the official said.
India to urge airlines to boycott EU carbon scheme
NEW DELHI, March 20 (Reuters) – India will urge its airlines to boycott the European Union’s carbon charge scheme, raising the prospect of a global trade war over a law requiring flights in and out of Europe to pay for their greenhouse gas emissions.
A senior Indian government official told Reuters that India would soon ask local airlines not to buy carbon credits from or share emissions data with the bloc, which says other countries are not doing enough to tackle this source of greenhouse gases.
China said in February its airlines were barred from participating in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) unless they got government approval. Beijing has also suspended the purchase of $14 billion worth of jets from European maker Airbus .
India does not yet plan to ask airlines to cancel Airbus purchases, but that is possible if the dispute escalates, said the Indian official, who has direct knowledge of talks between the EU and other countries on the issue.
If the European Commission then stopped Indian airlines from flying to Europe, India would retaliate with similar moves and consider charging an “unreasonable” amount for flying over India, the official said on Monday.
“We have lots of measures to take if the EU does not go back on its demands. We have the power of the economy; we are not bleeding as they are,” the government official said, adding that Europe’s position would harm its own economy and airlines.
The Indian government is awaiting formal approval from several ministries to implement the order to airlines, which it expects soon, the official said.
Govt to infuse 67.5 billion rupees in Air India by FY13
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Debt-laden national carrier Air India will receive an equity infusion of 67.5 billion rupees in the current fiscal year and will spin-off two of its units as part of a financial restructuring plan approved by the federal cabinet.
The airline will also go ahead with a plan to buy 27 Boeing Dreamliners, which will be put on lease and saleback, Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh told reporters on Thursday.
The new financial lifeline has been approved after high fuel costs and intense competition severely impacted the country’s aviation industry, leaving only one of the six airlines in the country profitable.
“There are many checkpoints between now and then. If the airline meets some milestones, then only money will be released,” Singh said.
“A committee of officers will monitor this with the aviation ministry.”
The cash infusion this fiscal year will include 12 billion rupees approved last year. This will be part of the government’s total infusion in Air India to the tune of 300 billion rupees by 2020, Singh added.
The new plan will also lead to Air India spinning off its transport and maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) units and moving 19,000 staff to them.
India to infuse $1.3 bln in Air India by FY13
NEW DELHI, April 12 (Reuters) – India’s debt-laden national carrier Air India, will receive an equity infusion of 67.5 billion rupees ($1.3 billion) in the current fiscal year an d will spin-off two of its units as part of a financial restructuring plan approved by the federal cabinet.
The airline will also go ahead with a plan to buy 27 Boeing Dreamliners, which will be put on lease and saleback, Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh told reporters on Thursday.
The new financial lifeline has been approved after high fuel costs and intense competition severely impacted the country’s aviation industry, leaving only one of the six airlines in the country profitable.
“There are many checkpoints between now and then. If the airline meets some milestones, then only money will be released,” Singh said.
“A committee of officers will monitor this with the aviation ministry.”
The cash infusion this fiscal year will include 12 billion rupees approved last year. This will be part of the government’s total infusion in Air India to the tune of 300 billion rupees ($5.8 billion) by 2020, Singh added.
The new plan will also lead to Air India spinning off its transport and maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) units and moving 19,000 staff to them.
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