What keeps auto sector buzzing in the week that was
Economics Times: Faburary 7,2008
New CEOs at Nissan and Toyota India, new dealerships from Audi and a brand new manufacturing partnership from Volvo Buses...things have never been more hectic in the auto industry. Check out what kept the sector buzzing in the week that was.
BANGALORE: Toyota Kirloskar Motor celebrated its 10th anniversary in India with a high-profile visit from Katsuaki Watanabe, president of Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) to India. At a dinner to mark the occasion, Mr Watanabe talked about TMC's global business, vision and business interests in India.
The Ambassador of Japan to India, Mr H Domichi, attended the dinner along with the officials from the government of Karnataka, senior public personalities, Toyota dealers, suppliers and business partners. Mr Watanabe described Toyota's Global Vision 2020 through which Toyota tries to harmonize the "Cycle of Industry" with the "Cycles of Nature".
Toyota constantly seeks to create new value in all their endeavors to bring the dreams of their customers and society to reality. This will be implemented in the areas ranging from the evolution of the car to the further improvement and learning's derived from the car.
Toyota aims to enhance hybrid technology and apply it on all Toyota vehicles. It will also implement advanced driving assist systems and realize next generation mobility through the creation of new market values. Toyota will also focus on creating a pool of workers with global skill levels in India.
The Toyota Technical Training Institute (TTTI) and the Toyota Technical Education Programme (TTEP) are among the many initiatives by the company in this regard.
“We have a belief that our company can grow only in harmony with the local community.
So our desire is to make a continuous growth with the community here as a global citizen and to be regarded as "the most admired company in town,” said Mr Watanabe.
The Toyota Safety Education Programme (TSEP), launched in Bangalore last year, aims to promote road safety through awareness campaigns targeted at school children. Mr Watanabe also conducted the changeover of the management of TKM and TKAP.
H Nakagawa replaced A Toyoshima at TKM, while H Suzuki replaced T Ito at TKAP. Mr Watanabe also met with the Prime Minister of India, Dr Manmohan Singh, the FM P Chidambaram and the commerce minister Kamal Nath in New Delhi on January 28th. The leaders discussed various issue of mutual interest during their interactions.
During the meeting, Mr Watanabe described Toyota's basic policy of being always mindful of the environment protection, energy conservation and safety in the automobiles and similarly in its development and production practices. He emphasized that Toyota will steadily practice this policy in India.
BANGALORE: Volvo Buses recently inaugurated a new body plant in Bangalore. This means that the company gains a base for production of complete buses for India and other strongly growing markets in Asia.
Since the first introduction in India in 2001, Volvo Buses has manufactured chassis together with Volvo Trucks in an own plant in Bangalore.
The bodies were produced by an external body builder, Jaico Automobiles. Now, when Volvo Buses takes the step to start its own body plant adjacent to the chassis plant, it is to increase flexibility with regard to production capacity and to further improve quality.
The body plant is being operated in a new joint-venture company with the cooperation partner Jaico Automobiles.
The company is named Volvo Bus Body Technologies India and Volvo Buses holds a 70% ownership interest. The new plant has a capacity of 1,000 buses annually and the company expects to have about 600 employees at the end of this year. The plant will primarily build Volvo Buses for the Indian market, but the company expects to be able to export complete buses to other markets in Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa.
