Hyundai to launch Sonata in July
New Delhi: Hyundai is planning to launch the revamped version of its luxury car Sonata in the Indian market by July 1. One of the best selling cars in South Korea, the upgraded Sonata is likely to be priced between Rs 13 lakh and Rs 15 lakh. This will be the third product from the Hyundai stable to hit Indian roads, after Santro and Accent.

The South Korean company is also planning to introduce various other models — including the Sportage and Eqqus — in India once the government’s new auto policy is announced.
The price of Sonata will depend on the tariff and non-tariff measures that will be implemented between now and April 1, when free import of cars will be allowed. Minor modifications will be made to the Sonata XG — a revamped version of the luxury car, which was relaunched in South Korea on January 2 — to suit Indian conditions.
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Leyland, TVS and Irizar form tripartite alliance for bus bodies
Chennai: Ashok Leyland and Sundaram Industries have together signed up with Irizar of Spain to float a joint venture company, Irizar TVS, to manufacture bus bodies in India. The two bus body factories, of TVS Coach, the erstwhile joint venture between Sundaram Industries and Ashok Leyland, will form the physical asset base of Irizar TVS, in which all the three partners will have equal shareholding.

Irizar is an established bus body builder of international repute and part of the Mondragon Corporation Cooperativa Group, the eighth biggest in Spain. Founded in 1889, Irizar is a unique co-operative of the employees of the company and is Europe’s second largest producer of bus bodies. It caters to Volvo, Iveco and Mercedes among others.

The market for buses in India is estimated at about 25,000 per annum and is growing by 3-5 per cent. The Indian market is demanding longer life and better features from bus bodies and even state transport undertakings have been seeking safer and better designs. During 2001-02, the joint venture company expects to produce about 500 buses for the domestic and export sectors and has targeted a Rs 20 crore turnover.
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Pepsi to invest Rs 100crore in Aquafina plants
New Delhi: PepsiCo has announced that it would invest Rs 100 crore to set up 12 plants for manufacturing its international purified, bottled water brand Aquafina in India, in two phases of six plants each. The company, which launched this brand in the country in July last year, is planning to commission the first batch of six manufacturing plants by April this year.

Each of the six plants will have manufacturing capacity in the range of 160 bottles per minute. The plants will be set up in Bazpur and Kosi (Uttar Pradesh), Kolkata, Roha in Maharashtra and in Bangalore in the first phase. Aquafina is PepsiCo's premium water brand across the world but the product is not priced at premium rates in India. The company will also be soon launching one litre economy packs apart from the 750 ml ones available at present.
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Scheider-Legrand merger to impact Indian switchgear market
Mumbai: The global merger of Schneider Electric and Legrand is expected to impact the Indian industrial switchgear and low voltage sector. Legrand’s 100 per cent Indian subsidiary - MDS Switchgear Ltd., controls 30 per cent share of the domestic industrial switchgear market. Schneider Electric too is involved in the Indian switchgear market, through its subsidiary- Schneider Electric India, which recently bought Crompton Greaves' low tension control gear division in July last year.

The switchgear market is presently divided into industrial switchgear segment and the residential and small applications segment. Schnieder Electric has its presence both in electrical distribution and industrial control and automation segments. Schneider' is shortly expected to bring four international brands -- Merlin Gerin (electrical distribution), Modicon (programmable logic controllers), Square D (electrical distribution and industrial control equipment) and Telemecanique (industrial and automation equipment) in to India.

The worldwide merger, to be cleared by the European Commission, is expected to create a euro 12.4 billion (Rs 54,188 crore) combined entity and a total staff strength of 94,000 employees. The combined entity will have a 54 per cent share of the world market. Schneider Electric is the world's largest player in the low tension business with a global turnover of about $10 billion.
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TVS Suzuki sales up 7 percent in January
New Delhi: TVS Suzuki has reported that its January sales grew 7 per cent to 71,536 units from 66,957 in the same month last year. The January sales included 31,151 motorcycles, 10,446 scooters and 29,939 mopeds.

Motorcycle sales grew 16.1 per cent in January, scooters grew 3.5 per cent and moped sales were flat. The company has said that sales of the Suzuki-Fiero, its 150-cc four-stroke motor cycle had grown by 16 per cent in January 2001.

Sales in the first 10 months of 2000/01 (April-March) grew 7.9 per cent to 733,457 vehicles from 679,469 in the same period last year. The April-January sales included 297,397 motorcycles, 124,162 scooters and 311,898 mopeds.
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Marconi to set up 100 per cent subsidiary in India
New Delhi: Marconi, the London-based company, which provides key technologies, equipment, and services for the Internet, enterprise networks and telecommunication systems, is planning to set up a wholly-owned subsidiary. A $50-million investment plan is on cards, with an initial investment of $5 million and the additional investments to be made over a period of time.
The proposed subsidiary will also undertake installation and support services for software and hardware companies. Besides operating in the IT and telecom sectors, the subsidiary also plans to develop its proposed India centre, as a global software hub for its various international operations. Marconi will focus on leading edge technical developments, in addition to software application development.
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Bell Labs sets up yet another R&D centre in India
New Delhi: Bell Laboratories, the research arm of Lucent Technologies, has opened a new research centre in Hyderabad focused on wireless software. The centre is Bell Labs' second research and development facility in the country after it set up first such centre in Bangalore.

The new Hyderabad centre is an extension of Bangalore R&D centre and has about 50 people.Bell Labs plans to increase the number of people at its Hyderabad centre in due course and consider opening more such development centres in Chennai, New Delhi and Pune.

Bell Labs' Bangalore centre set up in 1997 has nearly 450 engineers working on frontline telecommunications technologies. Bangalore centre is involved in most of Bell Labs' work on providing data capabilities on code division multiple access wireless technology and additional feature development for traditional GSM networks.
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Titan likely to foray into high precision equipment
Bangalore: Titan Industries Ltd., a Tata group company, is looking at leveraging its strength in manufacturing high precision items to make sophisticated components for the medical and aerospace industry.

The company is reportedly talking to Accenture (formerly Andersen Consulting) to suggest a suitable strategy for an entry into the field. The consultants for the proposed foray has however, not yet been finalised.

Titan has also been planning to enter segments like pens, sunglasses, crystal, leather products and such other items as a part of its brand extension plan and position itself as a "personal adornment" company. The company wants to extend the expertise gained in making watches for over a decade and half to make components for other sophisticated industries, which require a similar skill set.
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