Bentley Motors, the British luxury carmaker unveiled its flagship grand tourer on Saturday. Bentley Motors launched the Rs 2.90-crore Mulsanne and announced plans to introduce two models priced over Rs. 1 crore to take care of the high-end super luxury car market in India.

Automobile major, Ford India, plans to launch more global products in the Indian market, a top company official said. “We are going to bring more global products into the Indian market. We will look at options for Indian customers’ needs out of our global stable,” Ford India’s Managing Director and President, Michael Boneham, told on Wednesday.

Tata Motors’ parent Tata Sons and Citigroup’s Mauritius investment arm, which mainly operates through the PN route, were the top buyers in the 5.34% stake sold by Daimler in Tata Motors. Daimler in a media statement on Tuesday said that it is in an excellent position to capitalise on the growth potential of the Indian auto market.

Hyundai Motor India Ltd. (HMIL), the second largest car manufacturer and the largest passenger car exporter, in a bid to provide convenient finance options for its customers, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with UCO Bank, one of the fastest growing nationalized banks in the country.

Ford India has recently announced that it will launch its compact car Figo, which is colloquial Italian for “cool”, in the second week of March 2010. Ford Figo will be launched in petrol and diesel versions and will have four variants. The petrol Ford Figo will have a four-cylinder 1.2 litre, 16 valve Duratec engine that will give a maximum power of 70 bhp at 6,250 rpm and maximum torque of 102 nm at 4,000 rpm.

Tata Motors saw a 58-per cent growth in sales in February due to the revival in the commercial vehicles market and its expanding passenger car portfolio. The company registered vehicle sales at 69,427 units, up from 43,811 units last February. It has sold 5.67 lakh units so far this fiscal, registering a growth of 28 per cent over the same year-ago period.

Car manufactures in India will be hiking the prices of their models. The price hike is a result of the increasing input costs and the need to switch to stricter emission norms from April next.

The 1997 world champion, Jacques Villeneuve, could be one step closer to a return to F1, after being linked to a drive with Stefan GP. Stefan GP still hasn’t been granted an entry to the Formula One championship this season but will test its car next week with, according to Autosport, Villeneuve at the wheel.

The automobile industry fears that Budget 2010 may make cars, both big and small, more expensive by anything between Rs 2,000 and a lakh. According to top auto CEOs, the government may roll back part of the stimulus package that helped boost car and SUV sales through 2009-10. Also expected is an upward revision in service tax as well as a 2 per cent hike in Cenvat.

Volkswagen AG will make India a low-cost manufacturing hub catering to select export markets as Europe’s largest carmaker tries to emulate the success of global rivals Hyundai Motors and Suzuki Motor Corp.

Mahindra and Mahindra is set to roll out a new Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) in India. This upcoming SUV will be exported to other global markets as well.

Car sales entered the New Year on a strong note as low interest rates and positive customer sentiment continued to fuel demand for new vehicles. Fear of price hikes following withdrawal of stimulus incentives in the Budget also contributed to higher purchases in January.

German luxury carmaker BMW on Wednesday said it is eyeing double-digit increase in sales in 2010, on the back of the expected growth in the high-end market. The company, which launched a limited edition of its Gran Turismo priced at Rs 63 lakh, also said it will ramp up dealership network in the country to 22 outlets, from 12 at present.

The Volkswagen Group has affirmed plans to move to the top spot in the world’s automotive industry ahead of Toyota in another eight years. To achieve these ambitions the Group intends to boost vehicle sales across its lineup of marques by 60 per cent.

Maruti Suzuki has declared to come up with a facelifted version of the SX4 on 13th October. The car company has temporarily halted the production of the SX4 and now is all geared up to relaunch the sedan with a BS-IV compliant engine. The new Maruti Suzuki SX4 will be tweaked on the exteriors and interiors. Moreover, the new SX4 will now have automatic transmission gearbox as an optional feature.

Maruti Suzuki has a reason to smile. The car maker announced that there is an over three-fold increase in its quarterly net profit. The net profit is at Rs.687.53 Crore in the third quarter of the current fiscal ending December 31, 2009, against the same quarter of previous fiscal year, while its net sales went up by over 62 per cent to Rs.7,334 Crore.

Italy on Wednesday sought investments from Indian car-makers and said it would encourage Tata Motors and Mahindra and Mahindra to take over Fiat’s unprofitable car unit in Sicily that is teetering towards a shutdown.

The distribution of Prima range of World Trucks from Tata Motors has begun. It was unveiled in May this year. The first product, the Prima 4028 S, is a 40-tonne 266-PS (Cummins ISBE engine) tractor with a 9-speed ZF transmission, and a matching trailer with new generation brakes, ABS and specialised axles for heavy duty and high speed application. The 4028 S tractor-trailer is ideal for carrying freight, such as steel, cement, and containers, up to 40.2 tonnes of Gross Combination Weight.

JK Tyres has revealed that it is holding exploratory talks with Honda Siel Cars India and Nissan India to supply tyres for their small cars, which will be rolled out in the country in near future.

Honda Siel Cars India revealed on Thursday that it will marginally hike prices of its models from January to offset rise in input costs and fluctuating foreign exchange. Earlier, Honda Siel had declined to raise the prices of its products.

Audi India is targeting to sell 1,500 cars this year. Compared to last year, this will be an increase of over 450 units. Already in a very comfortable position in the Indian luxury car market, the company is also anticipating to capture 15 per cent share in the domestic luxury car market.

Maruti Suzuki reported a sales growth of nearly 8-10 percent in the domestic market for the month of May this year. In 2008 May, the car manufacturer had reported a sale of 69,001 cars and this year the sales nearly reached 76,000 cars. This is for the fifth consecutive year that Maruti Suzuki will be cross 70,000 units in sales. The export sales too have risen more than 50 percent with the addition of Maruti Suzuki A-star.

Audi India has posted a sales growth of 12 per cent for the month of November. The German luxury car manufacturer has sold 101 cars for the month of November 2009 compared to 90 cars in November 2008. With sales of 101 cars for the month of November 2009, Audi India has successfully managed to surpass the annual target of 1,500 cars.

Mercedes-Benz India on Tuesday announced a sale of 325 units of passenger vehicles in October 2009. This is an increase of 132% as compared to their October 2008 performance (140 units in Oct 2008) and takes their cumulative numbers to 2640 units of passenger cars for the period January 2009 up to October 2009.

Rolls-Royce said that the market for its super-luxury cars was picking up at a high pace across Asia as the effects of the global financial crisis recede.

The small car exports by Indian small-car manufacturers namely Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai Motor have started to decrease as a result of the lapse of scrappage schemes in various European markets by year-end. The Indian car producers witnessed a 35 to 40 per cent rise in exports the last few months as a result of the incentives offered by the United Kingdom, Germany, and France.

Tata Motors is posting total sales, including exports, of commercial and passenger vehicles in October 2009 of 53,404 vehicles, a growth of 34 per cent over 39,729 vehicles sold in October 2008. The company's domestic sales of Tata commercial and passenger vehicles for October 2009 were 50,552 units, a 40 per cent growth over 36,168 units sold in October last year.

Maruti Suzuki is India's number one car manufacturer. And the company on Monday, November 2, 2009, reported a 32.45 per cent jump in total sales at 85,415 units in October compared to the same period last year.

Volkswagen Group, European auto giant, on Thursday said it has recorded a jump of 38.18 per cent in cumulative sales in India during October at 2,023 units. The group, which has three brands namely Volkswagen, Audi, and Skoda, had marked sale of 1,464 units during the same month of 2008, it said in a statement.

Indian vehicle sales rose in November due to robust demand and a low sales base last year, company figures showed Tuesday, pointing to a strengthening economy. Japanese-controlled Maruti Suzuki India, South Korea's Hyundai Motor and India's Mahindra and Mahindra all announced higher sales of cars and sports utility vehicles.