LML launches four-stroke scooter variant
Though this may come as a big surprise to some, scooters with two-stroke engines are actually still on sale in India! Due to increasingly strict emissions norms, two-stroke engines died a gradual death more than a decade ago.
However, Kanpur-based LML (which had a tie-up with Vespa till 1999) is still making a few scooters that are fitted with two-stroke engines. Also, while the scooter market has shifted to CVT-type transmission, LML scooters still have manual-shift gearboxes.
While it continues to produce 125cc and 150cc two-stroke scooters, LML has now launched a new scooter with a 150cc four-stroke engine. There is no information available on where this new engine has been sourced from, but the scooter has been launched in Delhi and Ghaziabad, where it's priced at Rs 40,000.
LML ran into major financial trouble in 2005 and had to stop production for almost two years. The company started operating again in 2007, when it re-started production of geared two-stroke scooters at its Kanpur facility.
Operating under the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR), LML manages to sell around 1,500 units in and around Delhi, Punjab and Haryana. With its new four-stroke scooter, the company plans to tap the scooters market in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Assam.
LML has also found an unlikely outlet for its two-stroke scooters, which have found a lot of fans in Europe. The company exports up to 5,000 units per month to Italy, UK and France, where these scooters are sold under the LML Star Deluxe brand. LML scooters are also sold in Nigeria, Sudan, Japan, Australia, South Korea and Egypt, under the Stella brand.
[Via: indiaautomotive]
TVS Motors Cuts Two-Wheeler Prices
TVS Motor Company has cut its two-wheeler prices on its various products under various categories by up to Rs. 2000. The move comes following the 4 percent reduction in CENVAT announced by the government last week.
According to H S Goindi, Senior Vice-President of Sales, TVS Motors, "The overall range of price cuts varies between 700-2,000 rupees for all scooters and motorbikes. We have passed on the benefits (of the excise duty cut) to the customers." The prices are effective from Wednesday and are applicable across India.
[Via: cartradeindia]
TVS Motor scales down investment plans
India's third-largest two-wheeler manufacturer, TVS Motor Company Ltd. is scaling down its investment plans in India, owing to weaker demand and tight availability of consumer finance.
TVS, which was earlier planning to invest about Rs 1 billion per annum on expansion, will now only invest about Rs 750 million per year for the next two years. 'We have seen low growth and will only invest for new models and R&D projects now,' said Venu Srinivasan, Chairman and Managing Director, TVS Motor. 'There is no significant investment in capacity. Given the turbulent conditions, we would trim our investments,' he added.
TVS Motor had recorded a 19 percent increase in total two-wheeler sales in September this year, but the company expects growth to slow down in the near future, primarily due to lack of availability of finance. 'We don't expect improvements till the end of 2009, as the global economy is slowing down. The crisis in the west is affecting us here, nobody is really willing to lend,' said Srinivasan.
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