Murugappa's Tube Investments plans to set up truck body building plants

TMT bars & Truck Body Building businesses are more like venture capital investments at the incubatory stage, says management.

Tube Investments of India, the flagship company of the Murugappa Group, plans to set up plants to build truck body parts, aiming to shift from the outsourced model with its own manufacturing.

The company believes in a business battling weak vendors, a depressed market and the goods and services tax (GST) it can do better with manufacturing facilities in Chennai, Bawal, Chakkan and Kolkata.

Vellayan Subbiah, managing director of Tube Investments, said truck bodybuilding and TMT steel bars were like venture capital investments that need time to grow. They will "not have any significant impact either on our top line or bottom line in the near term.”

The company’s three main verticals are engineering, metal-formed products and bicycles and it caters to automotive, railways, construction, mining, and agriculture. 

"Over the next 3-5 years' timeframe, there is a lot of opportunity for TII in the present mix of business it is in and some of the businesses that we intend to get TII into in the future as well. Growth will have to come from both organic and potentially inorganic means over that time period," said Subbiah, in a communication to shareholders.

TII's revenue in 2019-20 was Rs 2,258 crore as against Rs 2,896 crore in 2018-19. It started an optic lens business and aims to increase production by next year.

Volkswagen has just 'one shot' to survive in the digital era game: CEO

Diess's warning comes as the car industry is grappling with tough new EU emissions rules that came into force in 2020.

International News : Volkswagen needs to make urgent changes to become more of a tech company as the industry enters the digital era, CEO Herbert Diess said Thursday, warning that the German car giant had just "one shot" at staying in the game.

"The time of the classic car manufacturer is over," Diess said in a speech to senior executives, as the industry undergoes "radical transformation" to make cars greener and smarter than ever before.

"Volkswagen's future lies in becoming a digital technology company," Diess said. He singled out US tech firm and electric car pioneer Tesla as an example of the kind of fierce and unorthodox competition the company was up against.

Diess's warning comes as the car industry is grappling with tough new EU emissions rules that came into force in 2020, pushing automakers to accelerate their costly switch to hybrid and electric cars.

At the same time, companies are pouring billions of euros (dollars) into new technologies like self-driving and internet-connected "smart" cars -- just as carmakers are smarting from weaker global demand.

To master the challenges, Diess said the group needed "a shared understanding of the radical nature of the changes" and be prepared to "slaughter holy cows" -- a possible nod to future cost cuts.

"We have exactly one shot at securing our future. Let's use it," he added.

The 12-brand VW group, which includes Porsche, Seat, Skoda and Audi, has set itself the goal of selling 32 million electric and hybrid vehicles by 2029.

The group is investing some 30 billion euros ($33 billion) in electrification over the coming years and is pinning much of its hopes on the "ID.3", VW's first mass-market, all-electric car.

Diess said Volkswagen had to avoid the fate of cult mobile phone maker Nokia, which "went under in the battle against Apple" because it failed to read the sign of the times.

"This exact scenario is repeating itself in the auto industry," he warned.

Maruti Suzuki launches Ertiga 2018 today, price starts at Rs 744,000

The model would compete with the likes of Honda CR-V, Mahindra Marazzo, among others in the multi-purpose vehicle space.

The country's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) Wednesday launched a new version of its multi-purpose vehicle Ertiga priced between Rs 744,000 and Rs 109,000 (ex-showroom price Delhi).

The petrol variants, including two automatic trims, are priced between Rs 744,000 and Rs 995,000, while diesel variants are tagged between Rs 884,000 and Rs 109,000.

The petrol variants of the new Ertiga are costlier by up to Rs 71,000 from the outgoing model. Similarly, the diesel versions are costlier by up to Rs 20,000.

The model would compete with the likes of Honda CR-V, Mahindra Marazzo, among others in the multi-purpose vehicle (MPV) space.

"The next-gen Ertiga has been designed with thoughtful features and great attention to detail, keeping in mind the requirements of our ever-evolving customers," MSI MD and CEO Kenichi Ayukawa told reporters here.

The company is offering the latest K15 petrol engine option with progressive smart hybrid and lithium-ion battery in the new Ertiga, he added.

"I am confident that our customers will appreciate best in fuel class efficiency, which has increased by nearly 10 per cent for the petrol variant," Ayukawa said.

He added that as a leading automobile manufacturer of the country, MSI will continue to pursue Make in India.

"We are further investing in our research and development centre to introduce latest technologies and higher level of localisation," he noted.

Ayukawa added that through new technology like CNG, hybrid and electric vehicles the company aims to bring down emissions and give environment-friendly vehicle options to its customers.

The next-gen Ertiga is conceptualised on fifth generation HEARTECT platform to ensure enhanced safety and noise, vibration and harshness (NVH) performance by making it stronger and more rigid.

While the new Ertiga features a new 1.5-litre petrol engine with smart hybrid technology, the diesel options come with the familiar 1.3-litre engine.

MSI said the petrol versions of the model with manual transmission comes with a fuel efficiency of 19.34 km/l while the automatic trims will give a fuel efficiency of 18.69 km/l. The diesel options would offer a fuel efficiency of 25.47 km/l.

Designed especially for India, Ertiga was first launched in India in April 2012 and the company has sold over 420,000 units cumulatively since its launch.

Business Standard