Audi to start selling premium A3 Sedan in India from mid-2014

March 23, 2014

Audi_A3_SedanIngolstad (Germany), Mar 23: German luxury auto brand Audi will begin selling its premium A3 Sedan in India from middle of the year and the much-awaited car will be rolled out from the company's production facility in Aurangabad.

The brand with the four rings said it has decided to assemble A3 in India from the launch stage itself expecting that it will become a driver of growth for the company. India will be among very few countries where the luxury sedan will be produced locally.

The sale of A3 Sedan has started in only a few countries in Europe. It will be launched in the US next month.

Audi Group CEO Rupert Stadler said that India is a "strategically important market" for the company as the country has huge growth potential for luxury car segment.

Stadler said the company was struggling with depreciation of the currency in India and was looking forward to economic reforms, particularly in the taxation system by the new government after the parliamentary election.

In January, Audi India had reported 11 per cent growth in its 2013 sales at 10,002 units in India, thus becoming the first luxury car maker to cross the 10,000 milestone in the country. The company had sold 9,003 units in 2012.

Audi started local production in September 2007 with the Audi A6. It currently produces the Audi A4, Audi Q5, new Audi A6, Audi Q7 and Audi Q3 at its production facility in Aurangabad. Over 24,000 cars have been produced in Aurangabad in Maharashtra since the start of production in September 2007.

Asked about Audi's expansion plan for India, the CEO of the Audi Group, which has been one of the most successful car manufacturers in the premium and supercar segment, said the company would like to know the new government's policy initiatives on the economy.

"It depends on certain framework. First of all we would like to listen to the new political regime. We would like to see how the economy gets back to the next growth pattern," he said, expressing confidence about rolling out of certain reforms in the economy.

Stadler said he was looking for structural reforms in the India economy, including policy initiatives in the financial sector.

Member of the Board of Management of Audi Luca de Meo said the company has "decided to go for local production of A3 in India in the middle of the year because we see potential for it in the luxury car segment."

The Audi A3 is expected to compete with the Mercedes A-class and B-class and BMW's 1-series.

Audi India CEO Joe King said the company would like to bring every single luxury car to India but decisions in this regard will be taken based on consumer demand.

He said 92 per cent of the car deliveries by Audi in India last year were produced in the Aurangabad plant.

Audi group delivered over 1.5 million Audi brand cars in 2013 across the world.

The company has decided to invest between now and 2018 around 22 billion euro in innovations and new technologies as well as in expanding its worldwide manufacturing structures.

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Agencies
January 12,2020

Washington D.C., Jan 12: A recent study has claimed that people end up wasting almost an entire day when they take a vacation.

This can happen while standing in a queue or searching for places to visit, people do not keep a count of the time they have actually utilised during the trip. As a result, they end up doing much lesser activities than they originally had planned.

According to a recent report in Fox News, the study has also shared the fact that people try to justify time waste with planning and scheduling activities whereas the truth is that these things can be done well ahead to save time during the trip.

The average time waste according to the study commissioned by Sykes Holiday Cottages also said the people taking a seven days' trip waste a minimum of 17-and-a-half hours to figure out various factors.

But there are other causes involved as well. When one visits any crowded location, the real-time spent to enjoy the location is lesser than the time spent on reaching and trying to get involved. For instance, if one visits an amusement park, the activities take lesser time than the preparatory and other phases.

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News Network
March 13,2020

Bengaluru, Mar 13: In the wake of fresh cases of Covid-19 reported in Karnataka, Infosys Foundation chairperson Sudha Murty has urged the Karnataka government to take steps to shut malls and theatres, saying the coronavirus multiplies in air-conditioned areas.

In a letter to the government, she said preventive measures should be taken to control the spread of coronovirus before it gets worse.

Murty, who also leads the State government-constituted Karnataka Tourism Task Force, said she has discussed the current situation with Chairman and Executive Director of Narayana Health, Devi Prasad Shetty.

She suggested closure of all schools and colleges with immediate effect, malls, theatres and “all air-conditioned areas where the virus multiplies”, and allow only essential services like pharmacy, grocery and petrol bunks.

“It is not scientifically proven that the virus dies in high temperature,” she said pointing to spread of the virus -- despite heat -- in peak summer in Australia and Singapore, which have “summer all 12 months”.

“I request you to vacate one government hospital with at least 500 - 700 beds for this purpose (to deal with coronavirus cases), which requires oxygen lines and pipes,” she said.

“Infosys Foundation, the philanthropic and CSR arm of software major Infosys, would do the civil work and Devi Shetty has agreed to share resources like medical equipment,” she added.

“We would like to work with the government proactively so that we can prevent this as early as possible,” Sudha Murty said.

The total number of confirmed coronavirus positive cases in Karnataka is five, including the 76-year old man from Kalaburagi who died on Tuesday night.

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Agencies
January 4,2020

Washington D.C: One of the greatest spectacles of modern art is still thriving in the Australian outback as confirmed by satellite imagery of NASA. The Marree Man is a massive geoglyph depicting an aboriginal hunter, that spans over 2.6 miles in the Southern Australian region.

Discovered by a pilot in 1998, its origin still remains a mystery even to this date.

The Marree Man was given a new lease of life in 2016 when a group of people from the neighboring town of Marree plowed its lines to avert its fading due to erosion.

After NASA shared the image of the art-work that was taken in June, the efforts of the good samaritans turned out to be a total success, reported CNN Travel.

The restoration team believes that the refurbished Marree Man would last longer than its original version.

According to NASA, "They [the team] created wind grooves, designed to trap water and encourage the growth of vegetation. They hope that eventually, the man will turn green."

In a previous article, CNN reported that an entrepreneur by the name of Dick Smith took upon himself to unravel the geoglyph's mystery in 2016. His team combed through all the available evidence but couldn't find anything conclusive.

In 2018 he even offered a 5,000 Australian dollar reward for anyone who knows the identity of its creator.

Nobody turned up with an answer but it was speculated that unknown artist lives in Alice Springs or even might be an American.

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