Defending World Champion Jorge Lorenzo riding the factory Yamaha claimed a sensational victory at the Italian GP at Mugello. After having been stuck behind Andrea Dovizioso’s Repsol Honda for a long time, Lorenzo managed to overtake Dovizioso and set out to hunt down runaway race leader Casey Stoner on the other Repsol Honda. Lorenzo reeled in Stoner, overtook him in style and put enough gap between himself and Stoner. In the meanwhile Dovizioso also harried Stoner and finally overtook him on the last lap to claim second place. Stoner had to remain contented with third. Ben Spies on the other factory Yamaha took fourth place while Marco Simoncelli on the factory spec San Carlo Gresini Honda took fifth place. Valentino Rossi who started from 12th on the grid on his factory Marlboro Ducati rode impressively to get to sixth place ahead of Hector Barbera who finished seventh and Dani Pedrosa on the third Repsol Honda returning after a three week break due to injury finished in eighth place, the position in which he started the race. The second Marlboro Ducati of Nicky Hayden finished tenth after Hayden lost momentum when he went into the run off area gravel trap.
Yearly Archives: 2011
Car sales in the month of June seem to have not improved substantially over May 2011. The Alto has sold 23,240 units, a far cry from the thirty thousand units that it sold just a couple of months ago. The Wagon R has sold 12215 units, lower than the 15k units that it had been selling. The A Star’s sales have dipped below the 1000 mark to 905 while the Swift and Ritz are doing their usual steady numbers selling 9468 and 5239 nos. The Estilo has sold 1532 units while the Dzire has managed to move 2486 units, a drop in sales. The Omni still sells well and has managed sales of 6683 nos while the Eeco sold 5499 nos. The SX4 could sell only 713 units while the Kizashi managed to sell 32 units. The Gypsy and the Grand Vitara sold 182 and 3 units respectively.
Hyundai’s i10 sales have come down to the 10k+ levels from the 15k levels that it used to sell but the Santro is still going well at 7114 units and the i2o sales have improved to reach the 7152 mark. The Hyundai Verna has sold 4102 units and seems to have become the king of segment for June with both the Honda City and VW Vento selling less than it. The Accent managed to sell 941 units while the Sonata sold 24 and the Santa Fe 100 nos.
The Chevrolet Beat sales have nosedived to just over 1,600 units while the Spark holds steady over the three thousand mark with sales of 3318units. The Aveo Sedan sold 160 units while the U-VA hatchback has dropped below the 100 mark to 95 units. The Cruze also came in with slightly lower numbers at 860 while the Tavera has sold over 1700 units. The Optra and the Captiva sold 241 and 161 nos respectively
The Honda City has sold over 2800 units while the Civic has sold just 175 units and the Accord sold 103 units. The Jazz continues to not sell with sales in June being only 361 units. The CRV sold just 14 units. Honda’s reducing the price of the City has not yet generated the results that Honda wants.
Mahindra’s efforts with the Verito have yielded some results with the car selling 1510 units while the Scorpio and the Xylo have sold 3645 and 2573 units. Their best seller continues to be the Bolero with sales of 7558 units.
Ford’s Figo also sees lower numbers in June, selling only 5698 units while the Fiesta Classic has sold 1077 and the Endeavour has sold 248 units.
Fiat’s Linea sold just 350 units while the Punto could only manage 1150 units with the Palio having sold 6 units.
HM’s Ambassador has sold approximately 250 units while the Mitsubishi Pajero and the Montero sold 107 and 8 units respectively. The Outlander sold 41 while the Cedia could do only 7 and the Mitsubishi Evo did not sell even a single unit.
Nissan’s Micra sold 1609 units in June, holding steady at around the usual numbers that it sells despite having diesel engine in its line up. The Teana managed to sell 5 units and the 370Z only 2. The X-Trail sold 16 nos.
Skoda’s Laura sold 693 units, the Fabia 1461 and the Superb 325 units and the Yeti sold 132 units.
Volkswagen’s Polo sold 2679 units while the Vento did 2457 to fall below the Honda City after selling more than that for two months. The Jetta and the Passat sold 59 and 197 units respectively while Beetle and the Phaeton managed only 3 & 2 respectively.
Toyota’s Innova sales are still strong at 4665, while the Corolla Altis and the Fortuner pulled in 629 and 990 nos. The Etios Sedan has sold 5002 units with the Liva coming in with 737 nos while the Camry and the Prius sold 9 & 2 units respectively.
Tata’s Nano’s sales have fallen further to 5452 while the Indica sales have risen again to 8188 while the Indigo managed to sell 4882 units. The Sumo sold 1470 nos while the Safari has surprised with a sale of 1223 units. The Aria sold 356 pieces and the Venture 423.
Sales figures courtesy: Team-Bhp @ team-bhp.com
Soaring high on the consistent success of its product portfolio and innovative marketing strategies, India Yamaha Motor registered a sales growth of 30% in June 2011 with sale of 36,595 units vs. 28,155 units in June 2010. In domestic markets, the sales grew 28.9% year-over-year at 27,263 units in June 2011 vs. 21,157 units sold last year. The export figures stood at 9,332 units in June 2011 while 6,998 motorcycles were exported in June 2010, a growth of 33.3%.
Speaking on the results, Mr. Jun Nakata, Director – Sales & Marketing, India Yamaha Motor, said, “We are very delighted with the consistent sales growth that we’ve been witnessing this year. The launch of the new variants of FZ series is driving our sales in both domestic and export markets. We plan to reach out to customers in tier II and tier III cities and are expanding our sales & service network. Our efforts towards enhancing our relationship with our esteemed customers through various initiatives like the Yamaha Safe Riding Science, R15 One Make Race Championships and the Sales & Service camps have also been very fruitful.”
The brand had also set its eyes on the game of Football as it exclusively organized the Yamaha ASEAN CUP U-13 Football 2011 for the first time in India. The tournament winner – Team Kolkata is representing India Yamaha Motor at the third Yamaha ASEAN Cup U-13 Football Finals to be held in Thailand from July 15-17, 2011. They will be competing against teams from 5 Asian countries namely – Thailand (2), Indonesia, Vietnam & Malaysia.
About India Yamaha Motor Pvt. Ltd.
Yamaha made its initial foray into India in 1985. In August 2001, Yamaha India became a 100% subsidiary of Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd, Japan (YMC). In 2008, Mitsui & Co., Ltd. entered into an agreement with YMC to become a joint-investor in the motorcycle manufacturing company “India Yamaha Motor Private Limited (IYM)”.
IYM operates from its state-of-the-art manufacturing units at Surajpur in Uttar Pradesh & Faridabad in Haryana and produces motorcycles both for domestic & export markets. With a strong workforce of more than 2,000 employees, IYM is highly customer-driven and has a countrywide network of over 400 dealers. Presently, its product portfolio includes VMAX (1,679cc), MT01 (1,670cc), YZF-R1 (998cc), FZ1 (998cc), Fazer (153cc), FZ-S (153cc), FZ16 (153cc), SZ, SZ-X & SZ-R (153cc), YZF-R15 (150cc), SS125 (123cc), YBR 125 (123cc), YBR 110 (106cc) and Crux (106cc)
Crash.net has put up a video of Daniel Pedrosa refusing to shake hands with Marco Simoncelli at Mugello. The video clearly shows Simoncelli extending his hand for hand shake and Pedrosa withdrawing his own hand and saying no to him. In the background you can see Casey Stoner flashing a dazzling smile, unusual for someone who usually sports a grim look or is just expressionless. While it is understandable that Pedrosa is angry that his world championship challenge has gone for a toss due to Simoncelli’s ill thought out over taking manouevre, one still cannot help but feel sorry for Simoncelli. It was not something done by design.
Casey Stoner on his Repsol Honda stormed to pole position at the Mugello race track in Italy for tomorrow’s Italian Grand Prix. There was a threat of rain with dark clouds hovering over the circuit and all riders made a dash to the circuit to try and get in their best lap times in the dry. The rain did come about forty minutes into the one hour qualifying session. Casey Stoner took pole and in the dry it was Yamaha’s Ben Spies who took second place and Marco Simoncelli on the factory spec San Carlo Gresini Honda took third place on the grid. Fourth place went to Stoner’s Repsol Honda teammate Andrea Dovizioso and fifth on the grid will be Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo who could not repeat the speeds that he had shown in the free practice in the morning. Colin Edwards and Cal Crutchlow of the Monster Tech3 Yamaha took sixth and seventh and Dani Pedrosa returning from an injury after three weeks could manage eighth on the grid on the third Repsol Honda. Ninth place on the grid went to Nicky Hayden on the factory Marlboro Ducati while tenth went to Hector Barbera on the Mappfre Ducati of team Aspar while Karel Abraham took eleventh on the Cardion AB Ducati while Valentino Rossi on the other factory Ducati could only manage twelfth with no end in sight for his qualifying miseries. The non factory spec San Carlo Gresini Honda of Hiroshi Aoyama took thirteenth while Alvaro Bautista on the lone Rizla Suzuki finished in 14th place ahead of Pramac Ducati’s Randy De Puniet in fifteenth and Tony Elias sixteenth and last on the LCR Honda.
Its official. Narain Karthikeyan has been replaced by Red Bull Racing contracted driver Daniel Ricciardo in the Hispania Racing Team. The Hispania Racing Team is undergoing an overhaul of sorts with Colin Kolles, the present team Principal being shown the door, though he will be with the team till the new team Principal, rumoured to be the son of team owner, Jose Ramon Carabante, is ready for the take over. Daniel Ricciardo has been loaned officially to HRT by Red Bull Racing and he will become their racer from the next GP at Silverstone. Narain Karthikeyan continues to be contracted to the team but will not be racing, a situation in which Karun Chandok found himself last year. The question now is will Narain drive at least during the Indian GP and will Tata continue to sponsor the team now that Narain will not be driving full time for it? Tata seems to be the only sponsor of the team so far.
Indiancarsbikes.in has quoted certain Probiking dealers as having said that they have temporarily stopped taking bookings for the Kawasaki Ninja650R since they are overwhelmed with too many bookings and the waiting period is stretching to 135 days. Therefore acceptance of bookings has been withdrawn temporarily. However, we are not sure of the veracity of this news. If you are a prospective buyer we advise you to go to your nearest Probiking dealer to get the full and correct picture.
Volkswagen is giving its entire range of cars the once over so that they all feature the new face of the company which features the grille that was first featured on the Scirocco. Overdrive has caught the new Touareg with the new grille testing near Pune. Here is the image.
Picture Courtesy: overdrive.in
The response to the Toyota Etios Liva is mirroring that of the response to the Etios Sedan. It is well known that Toyota received in excess of 20,000 bookings for the Etios sedan and is still in the process of clearing those bookings. Just three days ago, Toyota launched the hatchback version of the Etios called the Etios Liva and in these three days Toyota has already garnered 1,005 bookings. The figure is pan India. This essentially means that prospective customers have to wait for a while before they can lay their hands on the Liva, just like they had to wait for the Etios sedan. The brand value of Toyota is so high in this country that people don’t seem to mind waiting however long. Good for Toyota.
Autocar India has done it again. It has managed to get hold of a picture of the soon to be launched Mahindra W201 SUV with minimal camouflage that has nothing but black and white zebra stripes. The shape and size of the car are clearly visible. We are posting a picture from Autocar India but we suggest you head there for more information.
Picture Courtesy: autocarindia.com
