MOTORING NEWS - ALLIANCE
The Renault-Nissan Alliance is creating a light commercial vehicle business unit to expand its global presence in this growing segment. By unleashing the potential of Renault's van expertise and Nissan's truck know-how in key markets, the alliance intends to grow its light commercial vehicle sales worldwide.
In the spirit of the alliance, partners will leverage complementary markets and products while maintaining their own brand identity, sales and revenue."The combination of Renault, Nissan and the early collaboration with Mitsubishi Motors in a single Alliance LCV Business Unit will boost sales and deliver greater synergies," said alliance chairman and CEO Carlos Ghosn.
"With this move, we plan to expand our market leadership by accelerating our performance in current and new, high-growth markets, based on each company's core products and market knowledge, and driven by customer needs."
The Renault-Nissan LCV Business Unit will be led by Ashwani Gupta as Alliance senior vice president. He will report to Carlos Ghosn.
VOLVO'S WIDER FOCUS
Volvo Cars has announced a range of updates to its global connected services programme and the award-winning Sensus in-car user interface, starting with the all-new XC60 and the existing and new 90 cluster cars.
Volvo Cars' innovative In-car Delivery service which launched in 2015 as part of the Volvo On Call smart phone app, allows one-time digital key access for deliveries to be made directly to the car and is set to expand to five additional countries during 2017.
"This is just the start. Our roll out of one of the most comprehensive and customer-relevant services in the industry is now shifting up a gear and you will see more convenient and time-saving services offered to Volvo Cars' customers in the coming months," says Björn Annwall, senior vice president of global consumer experience at the Volvo Car Group.
MERCEDES-BENZ GROWTH
The Mercedes-Benz South Africa (MBSA) group of companies has announced that its revenue for the year ended 2016 increased by 10,8%, to R73,4bn. Earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) of R5,6bn was achieved for the same period, an increase of 27.3%.
The figures released are unaudited and preliminary for the 2016 financial year. EBIT for the previous financial year, up to 31 December 2015 excludes the impact of a once-off reporting item from the sale of Atlantis Foundries, while the 2016 figure excludes the once-off impact from the sale of some of MBSA’s own retail dealerships.
The revenue gains were, as in the preceding year, in large part due to higher production volume out of its East London plant, as well as the concurrent increase in export revenue generated from that facility.
“The group showed resilience in a continuously changing landscape by remaining true to the vision we have set ourselves. This landscape included fluctuating exchange rates; a subdued local market for both passenger and commercial vehicles; as well as increasing global uncertainty. We remain steadfast in our goal of sustainable growth through our product offensive, steadily increasing production and by collaborating with all stakeholders to actively build our company and also the South African economy. And in all of this, our customers remain our top priority,” says Arno van der Merwe, CEO and executive director of manufacturing, MBSA.
The company also continued its investment into the East London plant with a total of R461m invested during the period. Included in this amount, was the preparation for the introduction of the C 350 e plug-in hybrid into the production line as well as other projects to ensure consistent quality and boost productivity.
VW MoU WITH TATA
The German manufacturer Volkswagen has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with India's Tata Motors to boost budget car sales in the Indian subcontinent. Volkswagen CEO, Matthias Mueller, said the MoU would help “achieve sustainable and profitable growth in very different parts of the world."
The signing of the MoU comes as VW has fallen behind its rivals like Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai.
"We strongly believe that the companies, by working together, can leverage each other's strengths to create synergies and develop smart, innovative solutions for the Indian and overseas market," said the Chief Executive and Managing Director of Tata Motors, Guenter Butschek.
GIULIA DEBUT
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles in South Africa has launched Alfa Romeo’s D-Segment offering, the Giulia and Giulia QV, following its international debut. The Alfa Romeo Giulia is described as the most authentic expression of the Alfa Romeo spirit, combining distinctive Italian design, high-performance engines, perfect weight distribution, unique technical solutions and supreme weight-to-power ratio.
The Giulia places the driver centre stage in the cockpit delivering high performance and a controlled dynamic driving experience. Other unique characteristics of the Giulia include the outstanding weight distribution across the two axles, the sophisticated suspension and the most direct steering in its segment.
In addition, Giulia combines extraordinary engine performance and the use of ultra-light materials, like carbon fibre, aluminium, aluminium composite and high quality plastics, in order to obtain the best weight-to-power ratio.
Such has been the demand for the new Alfa Romeo Giulia that the first 46 launch and Race Edition models were snapped up within three days of the order book opening at local dealerships.
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