The office, which is located in Chennai, will act as the nodal hub for Nissan’s operations in India. Spread across an area of 10,000 square feet, the facility will house the 56 employees of NMIPL, which is expected to increase to over 100 employees by next year. The office will house the functions of Programmes Management, Corporate Planning, Communications, Finance, Human Resources, After Sales and Exports team. The Mumbai office will act as the regional office with key members of product planning team and homologation of NMIPL and sales and marketing team of Hover Automotive India Private Ltd, which is the strategic alliance partner for NMIPL in India.

Nissan with its global alliance partner Renault is setting up the manufacturing plant at Oragadam in Chennai, which will manufacture the first locally made compact car built on the global V-platform in May 2010. The Chennai plant will also be the sourcing hub for the global compact car for over 100 countries, especially Europe and Middle East. Nissan, which aims to introduce nine new models to India by 2012, will have five locally produced at this plant. Chennai also plays host to the Renault Nissan Technology and Business Centre India Private Ltd (RNTBCI) which is contributing to Nissan’s global operations in the key areas of Advanced Research and Development, Advanced CAE (Computer-Aided Engineering), Product Development, Digital Vehicle Development, Information Systems Development, Indian and Global Parts Sourcing.

The new service facility has the capability to service 16 cars daily and has an additional eight bays for accidental care. This is a step in the right direction, considering that Audi India’s sales have grown at an impressive rate - a 64 percent increase for the period of January to October this year, as compared to last year’s figures. Benoit Tiers, Managing Director of Audi India, Martin Freudenhagen, Head, After-Sales Audi India and Mr. Raghav Chandra, Managing Director, Audi Delhi were present to inaugurate the new facility.

At the signing ceremony, Mr. Prashant Prabhu, President, Michelin Africa-India-Middle East, said, “With the accelerating development of road and highways infrastructure and the number of ongoing road development projects, India is on course to offer customers the opportunity to extract the full value from radial tyres. We believe that India holds tremendous potential for the Michelin Group in terms of establishing a world class manufacturing facility.”

The manufacturing facility will focus on a range of radial truck and bus tyres. The plant will start operations in 2012 and will focus on the growing Indian market. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in this regard was signed today by the Michelin management and the Tamil Nadu Government in the presence of Chief Minister Mr. Karunanidhi.

The airbags on the Xylo are available as an option on the E8 variant. In October 2009, Mahindra sold 2700 units of the Xylo.

BlueEFFICIENCY technology in the new E-Class includes light, aerodynamic wheels, lower rolling resistance from the tyres, a closed underbody, reduced ride height, a redesigned front end that lowers drag by 7% and a power steering pump that is active only when the steering is turned. We aren’t sure how effective BlueEFFICIENCY tech will be during rush hour in our cities where we’re sure most E Classes will spend a major chunk of their time, but we’re eager to find out.

Among the other changes to the Special Edition are ‘medium stone’ interiors, a cubic finish on the fascia, gear shift and parking brake and metallic accents to the interior trim. This variant has ABS with EBD as standard, which makes it very good value for money. The Special Edition variant is available only with the 1.6-litre Duratec petrol engine.

Ratan Tata, the Chairman of the Tata Group handed over the keys of the Nano to Mrs. Treadell. The Nano LX has the British Union Jack flag on its roof.

This year this special prize presented for the first time by publisher Axel Springer in 1976 was awarded not “just” by the German Sunday newspaper Bild am Sonntag, but rather by a group of publications including the Auto Bild Motoring Journal and its European sister publications, making this coveted award even more significant than ever. Michael Macht, the President and Chief Executive Officer of Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, received the trophy on Wednesday evening from Bernd Wieland, Editor in Chief of Auto Bild, at the headquarters of the Axel Springer AG in Berlin.

SMC Brokerage Pvt Ltd., a leading financial services provider in India, has been appointed as the exclusive broker for Honda Assure Program. The business partners for this program include leading insurance companies in India such as National General Insurance Company, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Company, Royal Sundaram General Insurance Company, Iffco Tokyo General Insurance Company and Universal Sompo General Insurance Company (Regional Partner-West). For effective working of the program, HSCI has made a pre-set service level agreement with partner insurance companies to ensure quick turnaround time for survey and disbursal of claims and will also allow self survey for windshield glass and rear view mirror etc.

Speaking on the occasion of the agreement signing with the partner insurance companies, Mr. M. Takedagawa, President, Honda Siel Cars India Ltd. said, “We are pleased to announce the launch of the Honda Assure program for our customers in India. A pilot project of Honda Assure has been operational in Delhi and NCR region for the past one month and we have generated more than 1500 policies during this period.”