COMMENTARY
INTERVIEWS
SPECIALS
CHAT
ARCHIVES

Daewoo Motors hails SC order; Matiz exports postponed; Cielo Executive emerges as basic mid-size model

Daewoo Motors India Limited Managing Director S G Awasthi had hailed the Supreme Court order on auto emissions and the ban on polluting cars in the National Capital Region. He termed it good for the industry.

''Automobile emission is a major social concern that needs to be addressed. The apex court's decision is in the interest of the people at large and lays stress on environment protection. Industry has to respond to such situation,'' he said.

''The technology used in all Daewoo products in India and elsewhere is futuristic. All our products currently in the market -- Matiz, Cielo and Nexia -- meet the Euro-II emission norms,'' he added.

Contrary to its initial projections, the company has faltered on the export front with its 796cc Matiz.

The company, which had initially planned to commence exports of completely built units of Matiz from India by March-end, is now looking at doing the same only by the end of July.

''Matiz has not been exported from India as yet but we are looking at commencing despatches this year itself,'' Anuj Pattnaik, general manager (marketing) of Daewoo Motor India, said.

He stated that the delay has been on account of several tests being conducted on the car ''to see if it meets all the required norms in the foreign markets''. The first lot would be despatched to parts of Europe and Africa.

DMIL, Pattnaik said, has also set a 30,000 unit export target with the Matiz for the current fiscal. An additional 30,000 units has been projected to be sold in the domestic market. The company had, while launching the small car, stated that it intends to make India an export base for Matiz with a major chunk being earmarked for foreign markets.

But, the company now seems to have changed its strategy and is placing equal trust on the domestic market. Pattnaik, however, refused to elaborate on the reasons for the shift in focus.

It may be recalled that faced with sagging sales figures, Daewoo had recently launched three stripped down versions of the Matiz -- Matiz Standard SS priced (ex-factory) at Rs 250,778, Matiz Deluxe SD at Rs 285,963, Matiz Executive SE at Rs 327,630 and Matiz Premium SP at Rs 346,148.

The company has lined up an ambitious sales plan for Matiz. Daewoo had sold around 5,000 units of Matiz from its launch in October to March this year, expects to sell around 30,000 units of the car in the domestic market and another 30,000 in the export markets in the current fiscal. Besides, the Nexia and the Cielo Executive together will account for around 10,000 units during the year.

Meanwhile, DMIL has stopped production of the GLE and GLX versions of its mid-size car the Cielo.

The models have now been taken out of regular production and replaced with the recently launched the Cielo Executive.

''The brand Cielo is not being phased out. The Cielo Executive is the basic Cielo version with the best features of both GLE and GLX. Besides, the Nexia that was introduced last month, is an upgraded version of the Cielo,'' Patnaik said. With this new strategy, the company now seems to be on a correction course.

Incidentally, the Cielo is marketed in Europe under the Nexia brand name.

The Supreme Court order on auto emissions and its impact on industry

UNI

Business news