TOKYO: Toyota Motor is set to announce its withdrawal from Formula One racing after this year, Japan's Mainichi newspaper reported on Wednesday.
The world's largest carmaker will hold a news conference at 0800 GMT in Tokyo on Wednesday with company president Akio Toyoda and team principal Tadashi Yamashina also in attendance.
Toyota's reported withdrawal comes as the auto industry starts to stabilise following a sales crunch in the wake of the financial crisis.
If confirmed, Toyota's pullout would be another major blow for Formula One after Japan's number two carmaker Honda quit the series last December to cut costs.
It would also continue the drain of Japanese companies from motor sport, which has seen Subaru and Suzuki withdraw from the world rallying championship and bike maker Kawasaki scrap its MotoGP team in the grip of a severe market downturn.
Japanese tyremaker Bridgestone announced on Monday they would not renew their supply contract with Formula One after the 2010 season.
In July, Toyota's Fuji International Speedway circuit gave up the hosting rights for the Japanese Grand Prix in 2010 and beyond to reduce costs amid the global economic downturn.
The pull-out of Japanese companies from F1 began with Honda-backed Super Aguri, who left for financial reasons early last year.
Toyota are the only remaining Japanese team in F1, but have no drivers signed for next season and were dropped as Williams' engine partner for 2010.
HUGE BUDGET
Toyota have failed to win a race since entering Formula One in 2002 despite an estimated annual budget of around $300 million.
Their departure from the sport would leave just three manufacturers -- Ferrari (FIAT), Mercedes and Renault. It would also open the door for BMW-Sauber's new Swiss owners to take their place as the 13th team on the grid.
Toyota signed the concorde agreement earlier this year committing themselves to F1 until at least 2012, so a pullout could also have legal ramifications.
The Yomiuri newspaper said Toyota had raised its global production plan for the year to March 2010 by 13 percent to about 7 million vehicles from 6.2 million units forecast in February.
Toyota has forecast an operating loss of 750 billion yen ($8.3 billion) on revenues of 16 trillion yen. It is scheduled to report second-quarter results on Thursday.
ASHOK KUMAR
PGDM IST SEM
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Royal Enfield launches two bikes
NEW DELHI: Eicher Motors Group company Royal Enfield today launched two bikes, Classic 350 and Classic 500, priced at Rs 98,086 and Rs 1.25 lakh
(ex-showroom Delhi) respectively.
The Classic 500 is powered by a single cylinder 500 cc unit-construction engine (UCE) supported by electronic fuel injection.
"Royal Enfield has an extremely rich heritage of practical leisure motorcycling for over 100 years. We will use this philosophy and the UCE platform to design and introduce a wide range of motorcycles over the next three years to span a variety of motorcycling genres such as classic sports and touring," Eicher Motors Managing Director and CEO Siddartha Lal told reporters here.
RAKESH KUMAR
PGDM IST SEM
(ex-showroom Delhi) respectively.
The Classic 500 is powered by a single cylinder 500 cc unit-construction engine (UCE) supported by electronic fuel injection.
"Royal Enfield has an extremely rich heritage of practical leisure motorcycling for over 100 years. We will use this philosophy and the UCE platform to design and introduce a wide range of motorcycles over the next three years to span a variety of motorcycling genres such as classic sports and touring," Eicher Motors Managing Director and CEO Siddartha Lal told reporters here.
RAKESH KUMAR
PGDM IST SEM
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Soon, web addresses in Hindi too!
The nonprofit body that oversees Internet addresses approved Friday the use of Hebrew, Hindi, Korean and other scripts not based on Latin characters in a decision that could make the Web dramatically more inclusive.
The board of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers — or ICANN — voted to allow such scripts in so-called domain names at the conclusion of a weeklong meeting in Seoul, South Korea's capital.
The decision by the board's 15 voting members was unopposed and welcomed by applause and a standing ovation. It followed years of debate and testing.
The result clears the way for governments or their designees to submit requests for specific names, likely beginning Nov. 16. Internet users could start seeing them in use early next year, particularly in Arabic, Chinese and other scripts in which demand has been among the highest, ICANN officials say.
"This represents one small step for ICANN, but one big step for half of mankind who use non-Latin scripts, such as those in Korea, China and the Arabic speaking world as well as across Asia, Africa, and the rest of the world," Rod Beckstrom, ICANN's CEO, said ahead of the vote.
Domain names — the Internet addresses that end in ".com" and other suffixes — are the key monikers behind every Web site, e-mail address and Twitter post.
Since their creation in the 1980s, domain names have been limited to the 26 characters in the Latin alphabet used in English — A-Z — as well as 10 numerals and the hyphen. Technical tricks have been used to allow portions of the Internet address to use other scripts, but until now, the suffix had to use those 37 characters.
That has meant Internet users with little or no knowledge of English might still have to type in Latin characters to access Web pages in Chinese or Arabic. Although search engines can sometimes help users reach those sites, companies still need to include Latin characters on billboards and other advertisements.
Now, ICANN is allowing those same technical tricks to apply to the suffix as well, allowing the Internet to be truly multilingual.
Many of the estimated 1.5 billion people online use languages such as Chinese, Thai, Arabic and Japanese, which have writing systems entirely different from English, French, German, Indonesian, Swahili and others that use Latin characters.
Manish Agrawal
PGDM 3rd Sem.
Sec-B
The board of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers — or ICANN — voted to allow such scripts in so-called domain names at the conclusion of a weeklong meeting in Seoul, South Korea's capital.
The decision by the board's 15 voting members was unopposed and welcomed by applause and a standing ovation. It followed years of debate and testing.
The result clears the way for governments or their designees to submit requests for specific names, likely beginning Nov. 16. Internet users could start seeing them in use early next year, particularly in Arabic, Chinese and other scripts in which demand has been among the highest, ICANN officials say.
"This represents one small step for ICANN, but one big step for half of mankind who use non-Latin scripts, such as those in Korea, China and the Arabic speaking world as well as across Asia, Africa, and the rest of the world," Rod Beckstrom, ICANN's CEO, said ahead of the vote.
Domain names — the Internet addresses that end in ".com" and other suffixes — are the key monikers behind every Web site, e-mail address and Twitter post.
Since their creation in the 1980s, domain names have been limited to the 26 characters in the Latin alphabet used in English — A-Z — as well as 10 numerals and the hyphen. Technical tricks have been used to allow portions of the Internet address to use other scripts, but until now, the suffix had to use those 37 characters.
That has meant Internet users with little or no knowledge of English might still have to type in Latin characters to access Web pages in Chinese or Arabic. Although search engines can sometimes help users reach those sites, companies still need to include Latin characters on billboards and other advertisements.
Now, ICANN is allowing those same technical tricks to apply to the suffix as well, allowing the Internet to be truly multilingual.
Many of the estimated 1.5 billion people online use languages such as Chinese, Thai, Arabic and Japanese, which have writing systems entirely different from English, French, German, Indonesian, Swahili and others that use Latin characters.
Manish Agrawal
PGDM 3rd Sem.
Sec-B
Google offers A new faster, easier Orkut
New Delhi: Unveiling its plans on Friday to offer users a whole new experience, Google announced the launch of a new, faster and easier to use Orkut™.
Sporting a refreshing look and built entirely on the more efficient Google Web Toolkit (GWT) infrastructure, the new Orkut™ comes bundled with a host of exciting features and user interface enhancements.
The Orkut™ experience that is launching will include the ability to discover friends automatically, video chat integrated with Google Talk, ability to upload photos in bulk very quickly, add/view photos and videos in-line, and a more interactive activity stream.
Fun features like posting video testimonials, changing the colors of the content boxes and expressing user personality with prominent applications on the profile page enhance the personalization aspects of Orkut™.
The adoption of the cutting-edge Google Web Toolkit platform and the evolution of the interface come after a series of innovations and improvements on Orkut™ through the year which include features such as built-in simultaneous chat, photo tagging with automatic face detection, private sharing of photo albums, safety features, and Orkut™ for iPhone™, S60 and J2ME-based mobile phones. Google sees this as the beginning of a new direction for Orkut™ where users will be able to increasingly share and communicate with groups of real friends from their lives.
Announcing the launch of the re-designed Orkut™, Vinay Goel -- Head of products, Google India -- said “Orkut is an integral part of Google’s larger social web strategy which allows users to interact, engage and collaborate. We are committed to evolve our offerings to ensure the best user experience on all our platforms. The new Orkut experience is built from scratch on one of the latest, fast and flexible technology platforms which will enable us to roll out exciting new features during the next few months.” The new Orkut™ will be rolled out through invites which will be shared with select users and communities and will soon be available to all other users. With continuous innovation and the launch of new exciting features, Orkut™ is committed to take social networking to the next stage of its evolution and continue to delight its millions of loyal users.
Kapil Jagga
PGDM 3rd Sem.
Sec-B
Sporting a refreshing look and built entirely on the more efficient Google Web Toolkit (GWT) infrastructure, the new Orkut™ comes bundled with a host of exciting features and user interface enhancements.
The Orkut™ experience that is launching will include the ability to discover friends automatically, video chat integrated with Google Talk, ability to upload photos in bulk very quickly, add/view photos and videos in-line, and a more interactive activity stream.
Fun features like posting video testimonials, changing the colors of the content boxes and expressing user personality with prominent applications on the profile page enhance the personalization aspects of Orkut™.
The adoption of the cutting-edge Google Web Toolkit platform and the evolution of the interface come after a series of innovations and improvements on Orkut™ through the year which include features such as built-in simultaneous chat, photo tagging with automatic face detection, private sharing of photo albums, safety features, and Orkut™ for iPhone™, S60 and J2ME-based mobile phones. Google sees this as the beginning of a new direction for Orkut™ where users will be able to increasingly share and communicate with groups of real friends from their lives.
Announcing the launch of the re-designed Orkut™, Vinay Goel -- Head of products, Google India -- said “Orkut is an integral part of Google’s larger social web strategy which allows users to interact, engage and collaborate. We are committed to evolve our offerings to ensure the best user experience on all our platforms. The new Orkut experience is built from scratch on one of the latest, fast and flexible technology platforms which will enable us to roll out exciting new features during the next few months.” The new Orkut™ will be rolled out through invites which will be shared with select users and communities and will soon be available to all other users. With continuous innovation and the launch of new exciting features, Orkut™ is committed to take social networking to the next stage of its evolution and continue to delight its millions of loyal users.
Kapil Jagga
PGDM 3rd Sem.
Sec-B
India, China small car sales cheer auto companies at global level
MUMBAI: Consumers in emerging markets have saved the day for top global auto makers grappling with the after-effects of the steepest fall in global
output since the Great Depression. On Monday, Japan’s Suzuki Motor said that its annual operating profit would be four times more than previously forecast because of strong sales in India, according to a Reuters report.
Auto majors such as Suzuki and Hyundai Motors, South Korea’s biggest automobile maker, have seen growth buoyed by sales of small car in emerging markets. According to international media reports, Hyundai recorded about 55% of sales from China and India while Toyota saw around 31% of sales coming from emerging markets.
Hyundai, the second-largest carmaker in India, exported Santro cars and Accent sub-compacts made in India to over 100 countries, said company officials. Analysts say that small cars have emerged as a source of competitive advantage for these companies, giving them an edge over other big carmakers such as Ford and General Motors (GM), which have taken a hit in numbers.
When contacted, RC Bhargava, chairman of Maruti-Suzuki, said: “We will produce over one million cars this year and will certainly boost the consolidated balance sheet of Suzuki. A good-performing subsidiary always helps the parent company.”
Indian advantage
Suzuki’s 50% share in the rapidly-growing Indian market provides it an unusual advantage, at least in the current circumstances, compared to its much bigger rivals like Toyota and Honda who are more exposed to the US and European markets. India makes almost a quarter of Suzuki’s global production, company officials say.
Maruti Suzuki, India’s largest carmaker, also posted a 32% growth in domestic sales at 85,415 units in October 2009. Hyundai Motor India’s total sales for October 2009 stood at 51,736 units, up 11%. Tata Motors and M&M — the two largest companies owned by Indian entrepreneurs — saw growth rates in excess of 20% in October. Crucially, Tata Motors has seen a smart recovery in sales of commercial vehicles, a bellwether for economic growth.
India is the world’s fifth or sixth largest maker of passenger vehicles, depending on definitions. Sales of cars and utility vehicles is expected to be around 1.8 million units for the year ended March 31, 2010.
Despite the brisk growth rate in India, they palled compared to the eye-popping 9.6 million units sold in the first nine months of 2009 in China. The sharp contraction of consumer demand in the US has propelled China into the position of the world’s largest automobile market.
Government incentives
Domestic growth rates have been boosted by Indian government’s efforts to combat the fallout of the financial meltdown in the second half of 2008. As a result, taxes on small cars — defined according to length and the size of the engine — as well as trucks were cut to 8%, the lowest level in many years.
This is true for countries worldwide. China has halved taxes on small cars, while developed markets have sought to boost sales by encouraging consumers to bring forward purchases of new cars. The most famous of these is the ‘cash for clunkers’ programme introduced in the US that encouraged car owners to purchase a more fuel-efficient one by trading in a less-efficient car.
Both Germany and France have had similar schemes, popularly known as “scrappage schemes”. Exports of small cars from India to European countries have benefited from these.
output since the Great Depression. On Monday, Japan’s Suzuki Motor said that its annual operating profit would be four times more than previously forecast because of strong sales in India, according to a Reuters report.
Auto majors such as Suzuki and Hyundai Motors, South Korea’s biggest automobile maker, have seen growth buoyed by sales of small car in emerging markets. According to international media reports, Hyundai recorded about 55% of sales from China and India while Toyota saw around 31% of sales coming from emerging markets.
Hyundai, the second-largest carmaker in India, exported Santro cars and Accent sub-compacts made in India to over 100 countries, said company officials. Analysts say that small cars have emerged as a source of competitive advantage for these companies, giving them an edge over other big carmakers such as Ford and General Motors (GM), which have taken a hit in numbers.
When contacted, RC Bhargava, chairman of Maruti-Suzuki, said: “We will produce over one million cars this year and will certainly boost the consolidated balance sheet of Suzuki. A good-performing subsidiary always helps the parent company.”
Indian advantage
Suzuki’s 50% share in the rapidly-growing Indian market provides it an unusual advantage, at least in the current circumstances, compared to its much bigger rivals like Toyota and Honda who are more exposed to the US and European markets. India makes almost a quarter of Suzuki’s global production, company officials say.
Maruti Suzuki, India’s largest carmaker, also posted a 32% growth in domestic sales at 85,415 units in October 2009. Hyundai Motor India’s total sales for October 2009 stood at 51,736 units, up 11%. Tata Motors and M&M — the two largest companies owned by Indian entrepreneurs — saw growth rates in excess of 20% in October. Crucially, Tata Motors has seen a smart recovery in sales of commercial vehicles, a bellwether for economic growth.
India is the world’s fifth or sixth largest maker of passenger vehicles, depending on definitions. Sales of cars and utility vehicles is expected to be around 1.8 million units for the year ended March 31, 2010.
Despite the brisk growth rate in India, they palled compared to the eye-popping 9.6 million units sold in the first nine months of 2009 in China. The sharp contraction of consumer demand in the US has propelled China into the position of the world’s largest automobile market.
Government incentives
Domestic growth rates have been boosted by Indian government’s efforts to combat the fallout of the financial meltdown in the second half of 2008. As a result, taxes on small cars — defined according to length and the size of the engine — as well as trucks were cut to 8%, the lowest level in many years.
This is true for countries worldwide. China has halved taxes on small cars, while developed markets have sought to boost sales by encouraging consumers to bring forward purchases of new cars. The most famous of these is the ‘cash for clunkers’ programme introduced in the US that encouraged car owners to purchase a more fuel-efficient one by trading in a less-efficient car.
Both Germany and France have had similar schemes, popularly known as “scrappage schemes”. Exports of small cars from India to European countries have benefited from these.
JK Tyre to double exports from Mexican plants
MYSORE: JK Tyre and Industries is aiming to double exports from its Mexican subsidiary, Tornel, within a year, and is looking at the Central and
Southern American markets for expansion.
The tyre major had acquired Tornel in 2008, and currently about 75 per cent of Tornel's annual production of 66 lakh units is sold in the Mexican domestic market.
"Currently, only 25 per cent of Tornel's annual production is sold overseas. Our target is to increase the share of exports to 50 per cent within one year," JK Tyre and Industries Vice Chairman and MD R P Singhania told news agency.
He said the three plants of Tornel presently have a capacity utilisation of around 85-90 per cent, and the company is looking at further enhancing it.
"We are looking closely at the markets in Southern and Central American countries. We are already selling some products of all our three brands -- JK Tyre, Vikrant and Tornel -- in those countries and now we are looking to increase our exports to these countries from our three plants in Mexico," Singhania said.
He said the Brazilian market would be one of the major targets for expansion.
"In the region, our main focus will the Brazilian market. Brazil is one of the three countries along with India and China, which witnessed growth during the recent economic recession," he added.
At present, JK Tyre has 230 dealers across the Central and Southern American region.
"Our next goal is to strengthen the supply system to these dealers and strengthen our position in these markets," Singhania said.
Southern American markets for expansion.
The tyre major had acquired Tornel in 2008, and currently about 75 per cent of Tornel's annual production of 66 lakh units is sold in the Mexican domestic market.
"Currently, only 25 per cent of Tornel's annual production is sold overseas. Our target is to increase the share of exports to 50 per cent within one year," JK Tyre and Industries Vice Chairman and MD R P Singhania told news agency.
He said the three plants of Tornel presently have a capacity utilisation of around 85-90 per cent, and the company is looking at further enhancing it.
"We are looking closely at the markets in Southern and Central American countries. We are already selling some products of all our three brands -- JK Tyre, Vikrant and Tornel -- in those countries and now we are looking to increase our exports to these countries from our three plants in Mexico," Singhania said.
He said the Brazilian market would be one of the major targets for expansion.
"In the region, our main focus will the Brazilian market. Brazil is one of the three countries along with India and China, which witnessed growth during the recent economic recession," he added.
At present, JK Tyre has 230 dealers across the Central and Southern American region.
"Our next goal is to strengthen the supply system to these dealers and strengthen our position in these markets," Singhania said.
Monday, November 2, 2009
BlackBerry launches two new unlocked handsets in the Indian market
Research in Motion announced the launch of network
independent BlackBerry Curve 8520 and BlackBerry Storm in the Indian market to be made available through its distribution partner Redington across 38 cities in India.
“Since pioneering what has become the smartphone market a decade ago, Research In Motion has been consistently empowering people with industry leading solutions for mobile connectivity and communications,” said Frenny Bawa, Vice President, India, Research In Motion. “These two competitively priced, network independent smartphones at Redington retail outlets across the country are supported by a wide range of pre-paid and post-paid options via our carrier partners, and make wonderful gifts during this festive season.”
BlackBerry Curve 8520 is priced at Rs 14,990 while the BlackBerry Storm is priced at Rs 20,500.
The Storm model is 3G ready and also has a 3.2 mega pixel camera, built-in GPS, supports full HTML browsing, advanced multimedia capabilities as some of the prominent features. It has a SurePress feature enabling even the slightest touch to be recognized by the touch screen.
The QWETRY keypad Curve 8520 has a trackpad making scrolling and selection easy for users for a enhanced navigational experience. Dedicated media keys at the top of the handset offer users an easy and convenient way to control their music as well as videos. It also supports Wi-Fi, full HTML browsing and powerful multimedia features.
Kaushal kumar
PGDM,3rd sem
section :- B
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