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 Auto makers Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra are closing plants for up to 6 days in December as demand for vehicles is hit by tight financing in a slowing economy. The country's top vehicle maker Tata Motors plans to shut its heavy vehicle plant in Jamshedpur for six days, a spokesman said. It said earlier this week it would to shut a commercial vehicle plant in Pune for three days. Tata Motors', India's top bus and truck maker, November vehicle sales dropped  30% to 32,696 units. The country's biggest utility vehicle and tractor maker Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) said most of its automotive plants will be shut for up to 6 days in December due to easing demand.

Mahindra & Mahindra said on Wednesday its consolidated profit declined 4.92 per cent to Rs 373.30 crore for the second quarter ended September 30 on the back of increasing material cost and global economic crisis. The firm had a net profit of Rs 392.60 crore in the September quarter of last fiscal, M&M said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange. The company said increase in material cost and the economic downturn, which resulted in appreciation of the Indian cu rrency and rising interest rates, have exerted pressure on the operating margins and profits. The revenues and other income rose 19 per cent to Rs 7,741.40 crore for the quarter under review, from Rs 6,502.6 crore in the year-ago period. For the six months ended September 30, M&M reported a consolidated PAT of Rs 782.9 crore, a 13 per cent growt h over the year-ago period. The firm had a PAT of Rs 692.2 crore in the first half of fiscal 2008. During the first six months M&M's revenue and other income rose ...

Mahindra and Mahindra’s net profits (standalone basis) for the quarter ended March 2008, dipped by 3 per cent excluding extraordinary items. On a sequential basis, the fall was more pronounced, at 11.25 per cent. No fall in demand? The fall in profits cannot be attributed to a demand slowdown as net sales grew by 14.5 per cent year-on-year and about 7 per cent quarter-on-quarter. The company, being a leading player in the utility vehicles segment, was relatively better off as it was the two-wheeler and medium and heavy vehicles segment that bore the brunt of the auto slowdown. Though farm equipment sales for M&M did decline, a growth in utility vehicles backed by the re-launched Bolero and a new Scorpio variant helped the company close with reasonable sales growth. Growth in the company’s engines business also helped, making up for the decline. At the end of the year, the company’s market share in the domestic utility vehicles segment stood at more than 50 per cent. Sales of utilit...

One-time gain of Rs 157 cr boosts Mahindra net 67% (The Hindu Business Line 31th Jan 2008)A one-time gain of Rs 157 crore has enabled Mahindra and Mahindra to report a 67 per cent increase in the third quarter net profit at Rs 405 crore against Rs 242 crore in the year-ago period. Excluding this exceptional income — arising out of the merger of subsidiaries — the profit increased only three per cent to Rs 249.5 crore. Total income rose 14 per cent to Rs 2,980 crore from Rs 2,617 crore. Despite higher sales, profit was lower mainly on account of higher expenses. Mr Uday Phadke, President Finance, Mahindra and Mahindra, said the company’s margins were under pressure on account of higher finance cost due to the recent large acquisitions, increased R&D expenses and a rise in staff cost. More

M&M pulls out of joint venture with Renault, Nissan (The Hindu Business Line 9th Jan 2008)It is now official. Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) will go its separate way and what was to be a three-way joint venture involving Renault and Nissan for car production on the outskirts of Chennai has become just a Franco-Japanese venture involving Renault and Nissan. In a statement issued to the press in Mumbai today, M&M said that it is deferring its investment in the car plant, capable of producing up to 400,000 cars annually, that was to have come up in Oragadam, a village just off Chennai. The announcement thus effectively ends speculation, rife for some time now, that M&M is pulling out of the project. More Ashok Leyland to unveil concept bus at Auto (The Hindu Business Line 9th Jan 2008)Ashok Leyland will be unveiling a concept intra-city bus at the Auto Expo. Christened iBUS, it was developed in 10 months by a Cross Functional Team (CFT) of 25 young engineers of the company....

M&M to acquire Italian design house (The Hindu Business Line 8th Jan 2008)Car maker Mahindra and Mahindra on Tuesday said it plans to acquire Italian auto design firm G R Grafica Ricerca Design Srl (GRD) for an undisclosed amount. Through this acquisition, the company intends to develop a global design centre for the group and cater to the global auto original equipment manufacturers, M&M said in a statement to the Bombay Stock Exchange. "The synergies resulting from this acquisition will not only help us strengthen our existing design capabilities but will also help us emerge as a global auto design powerhouse," said M&M Automotive Sector President, Mr Pawan Goenka. More

The Hindu Business Line Today's Pick: Geometric (Rs 85.55) We recommend a buy in Geometric. It is evident from the weekly chart of Geometric that it had been on a long-term downtrend from June high of Rs 131 to November low of Rs 70. The stock found support at Rs 70 and began moving higher. During this ... More The Economic Times Mahindra & Mahindra CMP: RS 823.55 Target price: RS 939 Jaiprakash Hydro-Power CMP: RS 125.60 Target price: Tata Chemicals CMP: RS 386.20 Target price: RS 444

Tata bids $2.05 bn for Jaguar-Land Rover (rediff.com 18th Dec 2007) Jaguar and Land Rover, two iconic auto brands in the United Kingdom, are set to see a change of ownership in the new year, with their current American parent Ford Motor looking to finalise a winner by the end of 2007 or early 2008. The bids from leading Indian conglomerates and the front-runners for the deal, Tatas and Mahindras, are worth over $2.05 billion and $1.9 billion, respectively, sources close to the development said. While no official confirmation could be obtained, another suitor, a private equity firm led by former Ford CEO Jacques Nasser -- OneEquity -- is still in the reckoning, but Ford is understood to be preferring a buyer directly involved in the auto manufacturing business.

M&M launches bio-diesel compatible tractor (Business Standard 14th Dec 2007) Automobile and farm equipment major Mahindra & Mahindra today launched a bio-diesel compatible tractor Arjun International 75757 targetted at the Maharashtra market.Sanjeev Goyale, senior VP (sales & marketing), M&M's Farm Equipment division, said the new range of tractors will be able to use a fuel mix that has up to 5% bio-diesel, which has been enabled by the new fuel injection system developed by the company's R&D team.The tractor can also be run without bio-diesel.

Tata, M&M may revise Jaguar, Land Rover bids (Business Standard 11th Dec 2007)Tata Motors and Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M) are close to submitting revised bids for acquiring the Jaguar and Land Rover brands. One Equity Partners, a private equity firm, is the other bidder. However, it is not known whether One Equity will also follow suit. According to sources close to the developments, the two Indian companies may revise their bids to $2.2 billion in the higher end of the band. An analyst from Merrill Lynch had valued the two companies at $1.5 billion. Another marriage of frugal engg with high tech (The Hindu Business Line 11th Dec 2007) It is yet another marriage of frugal engineering with high technology. The joint venture announced on Monday between Swedish multinational, Volvo A.B., and Eicher Motors follows the same pattern as three other partnerships that were forged in the recent past — Ashok Leyland-Nissan Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra- ITEC, and Force Motors-MAN...