Nissan Introduces Terrano SUV in India

October 10, 2013

Nissan_Terrano_SUVNew Delhi, Oct 10: Nissan Motor Co. 7201.TO +2.57% Wednesday introduced its first compact sport-utility vehicle in India to tap demand for such products and challenge existing players like Ford Motor Co. F +0.73% , Renault S.A. RNO.FR +3.70% and Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. 500520.BY +1.05%

The Japanese auto maker said it has received about 6,000 customer orders for the Terrano since the vehicle was unveiled in late August. The Terrano is based on the Duster SUV of Renault, with which Nissan has a global alliance. It is produced at a joint plant of Renault and Nissan on the outskirts of Chennai city.

The Duster—which is also made at the same plant—is the most-successful vehicle for Renault in India with sales of more than 60,000 units since its introduction in July last year.

The Terrano is offered in seven versions with the option of either a 1.6-liter gasoline or a 1.5-liter diesel engine. The diesel engine is further offered in two options of 85 horsepower and 104 horsepower.

Prices start at 959,999 rupees ($15,500) at dealers in New Delhi, extending to about 1.24 million rupees for the top-end version.

The Duster starts at 7,99,000 rupees.

"Terrano is an important product for us and will set the pace for future product launches slated for 2014," said Kenichiro Yomura, president of Nissan's India unit. He didn't say which are the other vehicles that Nissan plans to introduce in India.

SUV sales in India grew 52% in the fiscal year ended March 31, compared with a 6.7% decline in the sales of cars.

But, demand has waned since companies raised prices from earlier this year to pass on a three-percentage-point increase in factory tax on locally assembled SUVs to 30%. Rising prices of diesel—the fuel used to run most SUVs in India—also affected demand. Sales of SUVs during the April-to-September period this year fell 4.8%.

The Terrano would compete with models such as Ford's recently introduced EcoSport, Tata Motors Ltd. 500570.BY +1.77% 's Safari Storme, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd.'s XUV500 and Scorpio and the Duster.

Nissan expects that the Terrano would help revive its India sales that fell 43% during April-September 2013 to 12,343 vehicles. The introduction of the SUV comes during the festival season in India when the country's majority Hindus consider it auspicious to make new purchases.

The Terrano is the fourth vehicle that Nissan produces in India—it currently manufactures the Micra subcompact hatchback, the Sunny compact car and the Evalia van.

Nissan also assembles the Teana premium sedan from imported parts at the same factory. It also imports the X-Trail SUV and the 370Z sports car in India.

The company plans to start selling the Datsun Go from early 2014. It is the first model in a line of low-cost vehicles developed for emerging markets such as India under its revived Datsun brand.

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Agencies
June 26,2020

Facebook will introduce a new notification screen on its platform that will warn users if the article they are about to share is over 90 days old, the company announced on Thursday.

“We’re starting to globally roll out a notification screen that will let people know when news articles they are about to share are more than 90 days old,” Facebook wrote in a blog post.

The social media platform had previously introduced a context button in 2018 that provides information about the sources of articles in the News Feed. Building upon that, the new feature will inform users about the timeliness of the article.

“To ensure people have the context they need to make informed decisions about what to share on Facebook, the notification screen will appear when people click the share button on articles older than 90 days, but will allow people to continue sharing if they decide an article is still relevant,” Facebook said.

The social media giant stated that timeliness is important in understanding the context of an article and curbing the spread of misinformation on the platform.

“News publishers, in particular, have expressed concerns about older stories being shared on social media as current news, which can misconstrue the state of current events. Some news publishers have already taken steps to address this on their own websites by prominently labelling older articles to prevent outdated news from being used in misleading ways,” Facebook added.

Apart from this, the platform will also be testing a similar notification screen for information related to the global Covid-19 pandemic. The notification screen will provide information about the source of the link shared in a post if the link is related to information on Covid-19. It will also direct people to its previously introduced Covid-19 information centre for “authoritative” health information, it said.

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Agencies
June 22,2020

New delhi, Jun 22: As consumer sentiment runs high amid growing chorus for boycotting Chinese goods in the country, the fluid market situation offers new opportunities for various smartphone makers, especially the non-Chinese ones like Samsung, Apple, Nokia, Asus and others, to realign their strategies and regain the lost market share in the face of fierce Chinese competition.

The challenge here would be not to look "opportunistic" and leverage the current explosive situation on just riding on the anti-Chinese sentiment but to offer real challenges in the form of top-end devices with solid internals at affordable price points, feel industry experts.

"The current market conditions in India are fluid and open up new opportunities for smartphone original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to focus and leverage," Prabhu Ram, Head-Industry Intelligence Group, CyberMedia Research (CMR), told IANS.

In the first quarter (January-March) this year, Samsung's shipments were driven by its upgraded A and M series (A51, A20s, A30s, and M30s).

According to Counterpoint Research, Samsung managed to hold third position in Q1 2020 due to launches across several price tiers, especially in the affordable premium segment (S10 Lite, Note 10 Lite).

The South Korean smartphone maker last week announced a Rs 4,000 price drop on its popular Galaxy Note10 Lite smartphone that will now cost Rs 37,999 (6GB variant).

Earlier this month, Samsung launched two new smartphones, Galaxy M11 and Galaxy M01, with powerful batteries under Rs 15,000 in India.

Galaxy M11 comes in two variants. The 3GB+32GB will be priced at Rs 10,999 while the higher 4GB+64GB variant will be available for Rs 12,999.

Samsung has also launched an affordable Galaxy A21s smartphone with quad-camera system and 5,000mAh battery at a starting price of Rs 16,499.

Also read: Boycott China? OnePlus 8 Pro sold out within minutes of going on sale

On the other hand, Apple grew a strong 78 per cent YoY driven by strong shipments of iPhone 11 and multiple discounts on platforms like Flipkart and Amazon in Q1, according to Counterpoint.

Apple has also brought its cheapest yet powerful new iPhone SE that costs Rs 38,900 (64GB) in India with a special offer from HDFC Bank. The new iPhone SE is powered by the Apple-designed A13 Bionic, the fastest chip in a smartphone and features the best single-camera system ever in an iPhone.

According to Tarun Pathak, Associate Director, Counterpoint Research, consumer sentiments are running high and a section of users will look for alternatives, benefitting global and Indian brands.

"However, we do not think non-Chinese brands will run aggressive campaigns based on the situation as it might look like being opportunistic," Pathak told media.

It may actually let brands of Chinese origin try to run aggressive campaigns on their presence and scale.

"Some of these Chinese brands have been active in scaling up local value addition, creating jobs and investing in research and development," Pathak noted.

On Saturday, market leader Xiaomi said that it is "more Indian" than any other smartphone brand.

The company's India head Manu Kumar Jain said that the company's mobile phone R&D centre and product team is in India, it employs 50,000 people in the country, the entire leadership team is Indian and that the company pays its taxes in India.

Earlier, Realme India CEO Madhav Sheth who is also very active on social media said that Realme is an Indian startup.

In his latest episode of Ask Madhav' series on YouTube, Sheth said: "I can proudly say Realme is an Indian startup, which is now a global MNC (multinational corporation)".

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Agencies
April 17,2020

New Delhi, Apr 17: The Indian Railways turned 167 years old on Thursday and for the first time ever, its trains did not carry any passengers on its birthday and instead stood idle in the yards waiting for the nationwide lockdown to end.

On this day 167 years ago, the wheels of the first passenger train in the country from Mumbai to Thane started rolling.

In 1974, Indians experienced life without trains for the first time. In May 1974 during the strike of the railways that lasted for around three weeks, drivers, station masters, guards, track staff and many others went on 'chakka jam' demanding fixed working hours for train drivers and an across-the-board pay hike.

"I can recall those times vividly. I remember that our leader George Fernandes had almost secured a deal with the then railway minister, but it fell through when it was taken to the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi," All India Railwaymens Federation General Secretary Shiv Gopal Mishra, who was an apprentice in the railways at that time, told PTI.

"Fernandes was arrested in Lucknow. The workers went through a lot at that time. But those were days that angry workers had refused to give in and took great risks to get their demands met," he said.

However, just like this time, four decades ago too freight trains carrying essential supplies were run and the unions agreed to let some passenger trains run on the trunk routes like the Kalka Mail from Howrah to Delhi.

"Never ever in its history, there has been such a long interruption of services. Not during the World Wars, not during the 1974 railway strike, or any other national calamity or natural disaster," a railway spokesperson said.

The first Indian Railways passenger train was flagged off on April 16, 1853, from Mumbai to nearby Thane.

On Thursday, the Railway Ministry wished the railways a happy birthday on Twitter - "Today, 167 years ago with the zeal of 'never to stop' the wheels of the first passenger train from Mumbai to Thane started rolling. For the first time, passenger services are stopped for your safety. Stay indoors & make the nation victorious," it said.

Railway has suspended all passenger services since March 25 till May 3 due to the coronavirus outbreak. Around 15,523 trains run by the railways have been affected including 9,000 passenger trains and 3,000 mail express services which are run daily. It caters to over 20 million passengers every day.

According to the Union health ministry, the death toll due to coronavirus rose to 414 and the number of cases to 12,380 in the country on Thursday.

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