India’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India is looking to introduce a green car in the Indian market. Speaking to ET, Maruti Suzuki MD and CEO Shinzo Nakanishi said: “We stand a chance to have the eco-car in the Indian market.”

“It fits well into our product mix and we could utilise the Indo-Thai trade pact to bring in components at low taxes, thus making the car price-competitive for Indian customers,” he added. The huge potential for the fuel-efficient green model in the domestic market has prompted Maruti to bring the eco-car it’s parent company, Suzuki Motor (SMC), has developed for Thailand to India, he said.

SMC has been vying to produce a small car with a Euro IV engines of up to 1,300 cc under the Thai government’s special eco-car programme, delivering efficiency of 20 km per litre of fuel and under 120 grams of CO2 emissions per km. Such cars would attract huge excise benefits and concessional tax sops.

The company had earlier planned to set up capacity to manufacture 1.38 lakh eco cars (Cervo and other models) per year in Thailand, with $280 million investment.

The global slowdown put brakes on that plan. Under the Thai government’s plan, majority of these green cars were meant for exports and SMC had earlier planned to sell 10-15% of its total production in Thailand and export the rest to ASEAN and Australia.

Source : http://economictimes.indiatimes.com

The Board of Investment plans to reduce import duties on materials and parts for eco-cars, to reduce prices and encourage buyers.

“We’d like to see eco-cars priced Bt100,000 cheaper than petrol or diesel-driven models. That would encourage car buyers to choose to purchase energy-saving and environmentally friendly cars,” said Industry Minister Charnchai Chairungrueng, who chaired a meeting of the BOI subcommittee on eco-cars yesterday.

The move will probably be approved under Article 30 of the Investment Promotion Act, which allows the BOI to cut import duties up to 90 per cent, but these incentives must be approved on a yearly basis.

BoI secretary-general Atchaka Sibunruang Brimble said the incentive scheme had not yet been finalised but it can be either increase the reduction of import duty for eco-cars to the maximum 90 per cent or extend the period of tax incentives more than one year.

The plan is expected to be approved by the BoI’s board at its monthly meeting tomorrow.

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Nissan Motor Co.Ltd., on March 31 introduced its range of eco-friendly – the Nissan ECO Series – in anticipation of Japan’s new preferential tax scheme for environment-friendly vehicles, effective April 2009 1.

The Nissan ECO Series offers a diverse choice of thirteen models to choose from, and will officially go on sale from April 23, 2009, nationwide 2.

The new preferential tax scheme favors clean-emission and energy efficient vehicles in the form of tax breaks for:

automobile acquisition tax (from 50% to 100% tax break),

automobile weight tax (from 50% to 100% tax break), and

automobile tax one year after registration (from 25% to 50% tax break).

Vehicles that deliver 25% improvement over the 2010 Fuel Economy Standards qualify for 75% tax breaks in automobile acquisition and weight taxation. This includes seven vehicles: Cube, Note, Tiida, Tiida Latio, Wingroad, X-TRAIL and Serena. Whereas vehicles that deliver 15% improvement over the 2010 Fuel Economy Standards receive 50% tax break in the automobile acquisition and weight taxation.

The Nissan X-TRAIL Clean Diesel qualifies for maximum tax break at zero tax.

“The Nissan ECO Series offers our customers a fleet of environment-friendly cars that are also gentler on the pockets as each of these cars deliver significant improvements in fuel economy,” said Takao Katagiri, corporate vice president of Marketing. “This green portfolio underscores Nissan’s strong commitment to the environment. By employing a wide-range of environment technologies, we are delivering real-world fuel-economy and CO2 reductions, that our customers can appreciate.”

The Nissan ECO Series features technology advancements such as Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT) and engine modulation, alternator regenerative energy system, improved aerodynamics and eco-driving support.

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Mitsubishi Motors (Thailand) has proposed that the government relax some requirements of the eco-car project to better suit the sluggish global consumers spending.

According to Takeo Sakurai, Mitsubishi Motors’ corporate general manager, the relaxation of some rules for the small, fuel-efficient vehicles will push forward investment even in face of the global economic slump.

“As we all know, certain manufacturers have announced a review of their eco-car projects as they think committing a lot of money now may not be a good idea. This does not mean that such an investment is impossible — it could be done if the government provides more incentives to the investors,” he said.

Mr Sakurai said minimum annual output and local content figures were the two areas where carmakers with Board of Investment incentives had earlier requested the Industry Ministry make changes. However, the ministry had turned down the proposal.

“Even though we have a very strong intention to produce eco-cars in Thailand, these requirements together with the downturn of economy have forced us to review the investment and put off the timing of the production,” he said.

The global slump has taken its toll on local vehicle production including Mitsubishi, which recently cut its output to 1,100 units a month from 1,800 normally. He expects February’s number to be much worse.

“Close to 90 percent of our production is for the export market, where orders have plunged. Until now, we are still uncertain about the demand in the second quarter, especially in Europe and Africa,” he said.

To adjust to the lower output, Mitsubishi will have to reduce the number of work shifts to only one from two, which could result in terminating the employment of 1,100 sub-contract workers.

“We now employ 3,700 full-time workers. What if the industry sinks even further? I don’t know… We have no plan yet. We just hope things will get better,” he said.

The Japanese carmaker Toyota Motor is reviewing its investment plan in Thailand, which may prompt the automaker to delay its eco-car project amid the alarming global market slump.

However, Toyota Motor Thailand (TMT) would continue another project, hybrid car production, which is due to begin in the middle of next year, said TMT vice-chairman Ninnart Chirathirapinyo.

”We are reviewing capacity expansion plans and have to set the priority for these projects’ implementation,” Mr Ninnart said yesterday.

”Some projects may be suspended depending on the situation, including eco-car production.

”The hybrid would not be delayed as the model is a response to the current market demand from consumers who prefer fuel-efficient vehicles.”

TMT, Thailand’s biggest carmaker, had planned to invest 4.6 billion baht in the eco-car project to make 100,000 units a year of the small, fuel-efficient cars, half of which would be exported.

The company earlier announced that it would reduce production volume by 20-25% or 40,000 units between December and April next year and cut total 2009 volume from 500,000 to 400,000 units due to weaker demand from abroad.

Mr Ninnart said the global vehicle market was expected to drop from 72 million units this year to 69 million in 2009. The US market alone would see a drop of 16% to 13.5 million units next year.

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Tata Motors (Thailand) is planning to make substantial investments for its eco car project following approval from the Board of Investment (BOI) in April. The company is working with the BOI to finalise the project details.

The government’s eco car policy mandates all manufacturers to meet stringent emission and safety requirements, including the Euro 4 emission norms and crash compliance. Tata Motors is in the process of developing the vehicle to meet these requirements as well as local customers’ preferences.

The company is evaluating land options with several industrial estates as a 500 rai plot will be needed for the construction of the manufacturing facility.

According to the regulations, all manufacturers should start their eco car productions within 66 months of project approval. Tata Motors plans to start production within this timeframe.

Japanese automakers insist they will move forward with eco-car manufacturing as planned despite their failure to obtain changes in some specifications.

According to an automotive industry source, the Japanese carmakers expressed disappointment that Industry Ministry officials had turned down their requests, but confirmed the project would continue.

“The first eco-cars will be introduced into the market as planned,” he said.

The manufacturers had asked the ministry to relax some of the strict and potentially costly environmental conditions set by the Board of Investment (BoI) when it approved their investment privileges.

“Even though the board approved privileges for the six automakers last year for their eco-car manufacturing projects, some of the firms were lobbying to see if some conditions could be altered,” said the source.

Representatives from Toyota, Nissan and Mitsubishi discussed their request with Chakramon Phasukvanich, the permanent secretary for the Industry Ministry, last week.

But the source said Mr Chakramon turned them down, saying that the cabinet had already approved the conditions for investment promotion.

The Japanese companies also asked if their eco-cars allocated for export need to abide by BoI requirements.

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Honda and Nissan is the first of eco-cars war in thailand early 2010 that move to joined in small cars market around the world.

Honda is prepare for assemble in ayuthaya plant,this model based on Small Global Platform use as Jazz and City will mounted new 3-cylinder 1.2 litre .Nissan ecocars is the first of sub-B segment of the world will use new engine xh-5 codename is very fuel consumption,based on new A-platform cost competitive

Japan’s Mitsubishi Motors says it is developing a low-priced car to be sold in China and Thailand as well as in the European market.

The car, expected to be priced at below one million yen ($9,650), would be based on a 660cc platform that is currently used only in Japan, Reuters quoted the company’s President, Osamu Masuko, as saying at the Beijing Auto Show.
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Thailand Wednesday approved granting tax privileges to automobile-makers Mitsubishi, Toyota and Tata to invest a combined 16.6 billion baht (536 million dollars) to produce more than 300,000 eco-cars for the domestic and export markets.

Thailand’s Board of Investment (BoI) Secretary General Sathit Chanchouwakul said the three companies would be ready to begin operations within two to four years.

Volkswagen, which has also submitted a proposal to produce eco-cars in Thailand, was not included among the approvals granted by BoI Wednesday.

The Mitsubishi project promised to invest 4.7 billion baht to produce 107,000 eco-cars in Thailand, 88 per cent for export, while Toyota will invest 4.6 billion baht to make 100,000 units by 2012, 50 per cent for export, and India’s Tata Motor has pledged to invest 7.3 billion baht to make 100,000 units by 2010, of which 52 per cent will be exported.

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