DUBAI: An Indian businessman has paid a whopping $9 million to buy a single-digit car registeration plate in Dubai, adding another coveted number plate to his collection.

Balwinder Sahani bought number plate "D5" for 33 million Dirhams at the Roads and Transport Authority's number plate auction on Saturday.

Sahani, also known as Abu Sabah, is the owner of RSG International, a property management company, with interests in the UAE, Kuwait, India and the US.

"I like collecting unique number plates and I am proud to have got this number. I like number nine and D5 adds up to nine, so I went for it," Sahani was quoted as saying by the Gulf News.

He said that last year he bought the vehicle number plate O9 for 25 million Dirhams.

"I have collected 10 number plates so far and I am looking forward to having more. It's a passion. This number will go to one of my Rolls Royces," he added.

The number generated great interest among the participants with the bid starting at 20 million Dirham.

More than 300 bidders participated at the live auction which takes place every two months, witnessing fierce battle between bidders for some unique numbers.

Source : Indian businessman pays $9 million for unique car number plate in Dubai

NEW DELHI: Nissan Motor Co Ltd plans to launch eight new car models in India by 2021, a senior company executive said on Thursday, under a new product strategy expected to boost sales and market share in one of the world's fastest-growing markets. 

The launches will include cars from Nissan's global portfolio and new Datsun-brand cars developed in India - a shift in strategy for Nissan where it has largely sold cars shared with its global alliance partner, Renault SA. 

"Maybe we have not differentiated enough in the past," Christian Mardrus, Nissan's chairman for Africa, Middle East and India, told Reuters in an interview in New Delhi. 

"The strategy now is more common platforms, common modules, common technology ... No more cross-badging now as we may have done in the past," he said. 

The company has been working on tweaking its strategy as seen in Nissan's and Renault's most recent launches. The Datsun small-car Redi-Go and Renault's mini-SUV Kwid had more than 50 per cent of parts in common, helping keep costs low, but the car design and some of the features were different. 

"In the future we want to develop more Redi-Go and Kwid stories," Mardrus said. 

Sport-utility vehicles (SUVs) and crossovers - a mix between a sedan and SUV - are likely to dominate the new launches in India, said Guillaume Sicard, president, Nissan India, adding that the focus will be on car design, technology and cost. 

The push to launch products from its global portfolio and differentiate comes at a time when Nissan's market share in India, expected to be the world's third-largest car market by 2020, is just 2 per cent. 

Even that share could be under threat because Nissan is likely to face more competition from new entrants in the future. 

South Korea's Kia Motors Corp, an affiliate of Hyundai Motor Co is mulling plans to build cars in India, while Toyota Motor Corp is setting up a company with subsidiary Daihatsu to build cars for emerging markets like India. 

"We may have common ideas ... the difference is execution. We have to do it better than the others. This is our challenge," Mardrus said, adding that Nissan already has a strong engineering and manufacturing base in India it can leverage. 

Nissan also plans to make India an export hub for Africa and the Middle East, and will develop some of its future Datsun cars in the country with an intention to export them, Mardrus said. 

Source : Nissan to launch 8 new car models in India by 2021: Executive

New Delhi: Automobile industry body Society of Indian Automobile Manufactures (SIAM) on Thursday said that it has suggested to the government that a standard GST (Goods and Services Tax) rate should be applicable on small cars.

"Standard GST rate should be applicable on small cars, MUVs (multi-utility vehicles), two wheelers, three wheelers and commercial vehicles. Cars other than small cars should attract a GST rate which is 8 per cent more than the standard rate," the industry body said in a statement.

"A lower GST rate for electric vehicles, hybrid electric vehicles and other alternative fuel vehicles, which should be at least 8 per cent less than the standard rate."

According to SIAM, it has studied the draft GST law in detail and given detailed feedback for consideration of the government.

On September 30, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said that GST rates, service tax assessments and the states` compensation will be decided in the GST Council`s next meet on October 18-20.

The target roll-out of GST will depend on the passage of the Central GST and the Integrated and GST (IGST) bills in parliament and the respective state GST bills by each state.

The central government is following the roadmap to implement the Goods and Services Tax (GST) by the targeted deadline of April 1, 2017.

The GST is a single indirect tax that proposes to subsume most central and state taxes like the Value Added Tax, service tax, central sales tax, excise duty, additional customs duty and special additional customs duty.

Source :  Standard GST rate should be applicable on small cars: SIAM

PARIS: Renault Nissan's global CEO says there isn't much support in India, but China is keen on driving electrification of cars   Electric cars are the future for Renault Nissan, and the company's research and development base in Chennai will contribute to its affordable electric project, global CEO Carlos Ghosn said.

“Electric car is going to be part of the future of our industry . We will develop low-cost electric cars based on knowledge coming out of India, but deploy it in China, because that is where the market exists. Government support is very important and the Chinese government is very keen on driving electrification of cars. In India, there is not much support for electric cars,“ Ghosn told ET on the sidelines of the Paris Motor Show.

Ghosn added that he had expected the United States to take the lead in the development of electric cars for the future, but it is happening in China instead due to the aggressive play by local manufacturers and the Chinese government's support. As a result, Nissan, a leader in the space, is feeling the heat, he said.

“The Chinese market is booming, and we are losing our leadership to a number of local players who are coming out with cheap electric cars.So we are working towards bringing in our own affordable electric cars for the Chinese market to make sure we don't end up being overwhelmed with what's coming in,“ said Ghosn.

On the future of autonomous cars, Ghosn said that all the car makers are working towards the solution, but it will take another three-four years to see substantial progress in that direction.Responding to a query on whether self-driving cars could be a reality in emerging markets, Ghosn said: “You need to have drivers respecting the rules. Autonomous car is going to stop at the red light -would a user in Mumbai or Rio De Janerio stop? It will be first seen in disciplined driving counties like US, Japan and Europe before one starts expecting it in emerging markets.

“ Appreciating the performance of the Indian operations, Ghosn said that he is very happy with the initial response to the Kwid, adding that the company's first priority is to ensure that it becomes a “solid success“ and the second is to bridge the gap between Kwid and Duster.

“There is a lot of enhancement that we are doing on the project. Our first obligation is to make sure that Kwid is perfectly fit for India. This car is going to go into many emer is going to go into many emerging markets, so the intention is to not limit ourselves to the present success of Kwid -we will be launching many new products in the future on CMF-A platform,“ said Ghosn.Renault plans to launch at least one new product every year in the next five years and a significant part of it will be in the sub`10-lakh market. Riding on the success of Kwid, Renault has more than doubled its market share in India at nearly 5% and share in India at nearly 5% and expects volumes to more than double by the end of the year to over 1.5 lakh units.

Source :  Electric Cars Designed in India, for China

MUMBAI: Mahindra & Mahindra's Farm Equipment Sector (FES) has sold 29,035 units in September 2016 in the domestic market, as against 17,052 units during September 2015.

Total tractor sales (domestic + exports) during September 2016 were at 30,562 units, as against 18,087 units for the same period last year. Exports for the month stood at 1,527 units.

Commenting on the month's performance, Rajesh Jejurikar, President and Chief Executive - Farm Equipment and Two Wheeler Division, Mahindra & Mahindra said, "In September 2016 we had a strong growth of 70% over September 2015, with sales of 29,035 tractors in the domestic market."

He further added, "We expect the good momentum to continue with the upcoming festive season and the effect of a good monsoon. In the export market, we sold 1,527 tractors with a growth of 48% over September 2015."

Source : Mahindra tractor domestic sales jump 70% in September