http://www.articlealley.com en-us editorial@articlealley.com A recent press release that landed in my inbox was from Lamborghini about the Gallardo featuring in the Tom Cruise starrer Mission Impossible: 3 quite prominently. Apparently, the movie's cast arrived in ten Gallardo's to the movie's premiere in Rome. ... http://www.articlealley.com/article_210094_31.html 02nd September 2007 I am just back from a media event organised by Hyundai. No, it was not the launch of a fancy car. It was, instead the launch of H S Lheem, the new Managing Director and CEO of Hyundai Motors India to the Indian media. It was a necessity as the post-Subbu ... http://www.articlealley.com/article_206567_31.html 26th August 2007 I was recently in China for the Beijing Auto Show. Having roamed around the New Delhi Auto Expo a number of times, the Beijing show is a pleasant surprise in the sense that it is housed in about one-fourth the area of the New Delhi show. At the same time,... http://www.articlealley.com/article_206036_31.html 24th August 2007 One of the most interesting things about China is the relationship between the western industry and local Chinese suppliers. IP laws are a challenge so anything remotely sophisticated or technologically advanced needs to be guarded well and yet the market... http://www.articlealley.com/article_205345_31.html 23rd August 2007 The Zen Estilo is a cute car, though not cute as a rabbit like the Matiz. It is more of a warped cuteness. It's more like a cross between Drew Barrymore and the Mogwai from Gremlins. To put it in perspective, I loved it, my wife hated it. It should have b... http://www.articlealley.com/article_204725_31.html 22nd August 2007 A few days back I was participating as a panelist in a group discussion jointly organised by Rothschild and SupplierBusiness. The other men around the table were some of the top guys and promoters of leading mid-size auto component manufacturers. Also chi... http://www.articlealley.com/article_203064_31.html 17th August 2007 I was reading with interest today's news story on Hindustan Motors shutting down operations at its Uttarpara, West Bengal plant. That another plant in the Communists ruled state of West Bengal is facing labour unrest is nothing to be surprised of, but, wh... http://www.articlealley.com/article_201272_31.html 14th August 2007 As a small kid, in the early 1980s, I grew up in the suburban town of Gurgaon - then more known for growing wheat and vegetables than rampaging Toyota Qualises ferrying sleepy teenagers. Things changed in 1983 when the government set up Maruti, in col... http://www.articlealley.com/article_199976_31.html 09th August 2007 I was at the launch of the Chevrolet Spark yesterday. It's a good car, perhaps the most credible and promising product to have come out of GM India ever. The looks are smart and cute and the specs are promising. GM guys seemed to be gung-ho about the prod... http://www.articlealley.com/article_198137_31.html 07th August 2007 Automotive reporting done by daily newspapers seems to be getting absurder by the day. Most of our reporting relies on 'getting a byte from some senior executive' and then 'weaving a tall tale around it'. There is very little research, no understanding ab... http://www.articlealley.com/article_196672_31.html 02nd August 2007 As a marketing weapon, that is. The TVS Star returns 102kpl, the Hero Honda Splendor - last I checked - returns 85 kilometers to a liter of fuel; the Bajaj CT 100 is a 101kpl bike. To borrow a cliché from The Cranberries "Ode to my famil... http://www.articlealley.com/article_193959_31.html 27th July 2007 The upcoming movie” Tara Rum Pum” has some in-movie-advertising of GM in the form of brand Chevrolet. The movie's star, Saif Ali Khan, is a stock car racing champion for the Chevrolet team. Sure enough, one can make out Aveo stickers on the racing mac... http://www.articlealley.com/article_192714_31.html 26th July 2007 Visualise this. Amitabh Bachchan, playing a simpleton, just retired from service, walks past a car showroom with his wife when he stops to admire one of the cars parked outside. He knows that he cannot afford it, but hey, there are no costs for admiring a... http://www.articlealley.com/article_191996_31.html 25th July 2007 Forewarning: These are just my Sunday morning musings on the upcoming Tata small car and not entirely supported by facts. The prototypes are undergoing testing and the small budget car is reported to be only 20% off its price target. This is a commenda... http://www.articlealley.com/article_191083_31.html 25th July 2007 The buzzword in the automotive supplier industry is "bundling." That is the clubbing of requirements of a platform over many production plants to create greater volumes for a supplier and drive down costs. That along with global sourcing means that you ge... http://www.articlealley.com/article_189965_31.html 24th July 2007 I recently bumped into a Project Manager of Strategic sourcing at BMW. The person was responsible for sourcing from India. While the sourcing from India is in the nascent stages only, BMW is gung-ho (isn't everyone?) about India. And to think of it, they ... http://www.articlealley.com/article_189408_31.html 24th July 2007 Some of the most outrageous exchanges between automotive hacks and company execs during press launches of cars and bikes: Don Juan: “How much stake do you (Ford) own in Suzuki?” - Jac Nasser: “Left Detroit three days back. None at that time. Le... http://www.articlealley.com/article_188527_31.html 23rd July 2007 The other day, Ratindra Puri of Lear India made me sit up and take notice. The event was a conference organised by Worldwide Business Research (WBR) and Mr. Puri was giving a presentation on Lear's success in India. Lear has been here now for almost a... http://www.articlealley.com/article_188088_31.html 23rd July 2007 If what the Financial Express reported today is true, then we are witnessing the second phase of the Tata-Fiat relationship. According to a news story today – Tata will focus on the lower end of the market and Fiat at the upper end. So the Tata One (sma... http://www.articlealley.com/article_187601_31.html 23rd July 2007 Bellsonica Auto Component Pvt Ltd., the Maruti-Suzuki joint-venture with Bellsonica Corp., is expected to reduce the contribution per vehicle of Maruti's existing sheet metal suppliers. The joint-venture was set up in July last year and is setting up ... http://www.articlealley.com/article_187166_31.html 20th July 2007 A recent comment on SupplierBusiness caught my attention. The comment is about the payment terms of French carmakers - it seems they are bringing the payment gap down from an astronomical 105 days to a more respectable 90 days. That left me wondering abou... http://www.articlealley.com/article_186769_31.html 19th July 2007 While discussing the potential of the Indian supplier industry in the global context with one of my European colleagues, I pointed out to him that most Indian suppliers are home-bred entrepreneurs, who have realized the opportunity window and mostly used ... http://www.articlealley.com/article_186200_31.html 13th July 2007 Bellsonica Auto Component Pvt Ltd., the Maruti-Suzuki joint-venture with Bellsonica Corp., is expected to reduce the contribution per vehicle of Maruti's existing sheet metal suppliers. The joint-venture was set up in July last year and is setti... http://www.articlealley.com/article_184830_31.html 11th July 2007