Nokia Wants to Put $150 million More Investment in Venture Capital Arm for Emerging Markets Like India and China

Nokia, one of the global mobile phone makers, has decided to scale up their investment in the emerging markets like India and China through Nokia’s Growth Partners. In order to increase the investment in the emerging markets, Nokia has kept additional $ 150 million in its private equity and venture capital sections. The company will also increase the amount of investment for the U.S. and European markets.

The mobile phone maker will also focus on innovation in software and services. Nokia wants to create innovative applications and services that will lead to rapid mobile solutions. The mobile phone maker is also interested to mobile payments, mobile advertising, music and entertainment.

Nokia is one of the leading mobile phone manufacturers in the world and they have a huge market share in many emerging countries. Now, the company seems to be interested to invest more in the emerging markets like India and China so that they can continue winning market shares in these markets in future.

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Hyundai India to Begin Third Shift in the Second Plant ahead of its i20 Launch

Hyundai Motor India Ltd is planning to open up a third shift at its second plant in Chennai after seeing tremendous success in its small car i10, which has seen a growing demand both in domestic and export markets. In fact, more than 100,000 units of Hyundai i10 has been sold in the last six months and that gave enough ground for the company to launch its second plant in February. So far, there have been two shifts in its second plant, but three shifts have already been underway in its first plant.

However, with growing demand of i10 and a possible launch of i20, another launch from Hyundai in small car segment, there is no doubt, Hyundai India has enough justification to begin a third shift in its second plant as well. With this expected move, it is pretty much sure that Hyundai India is firmly going to hit its 2008 production target of 530,000 cars, which will be extended to 600,000 by the next year. Even that could be extended further up to 630,000 cars, by running one or two shifts on Sundays. However, still there will have scope to increase its production in India thanks to the growing demand of Hyundai’s small segment cars in India as well as in abroad.

The Hindu business line reported:

Some stretching — such as working a shift or two on Sundays — would enable to Hyundai to raise capacity to 630,000.

But with the growing demand for the i10 and the proposed launch of i20 (a car like the ‘Hyundai Accent’) by the end of this year, even that capacity would not be enough.

For beyond next year, the company will need to expand capacity further, Mr Lheem said.

According to Mr Lheem, there is scope for adding capacity for another 100,000 cars — incidentally, the capacity with which Hyundai began its show in India 10 years ago — by putting up a body shop and a paint shop in the vacant space behind the Plant-II.

Hyundai i10 was launched in India last year and instantly created a boom in the market. The car is produced from Hyundai’s two plants currently running in India. The increasing demand of Hyundai i10 has boosted up Hyundai’s sales growth in India this so far this year. In the first two months of the current fiscal year, Hyundai India saw 49 per cent of sales growth compared to the sales margin of the same period previous year. In the first quarter of the year, Hyundai India’s sales increased to 120,444 cars (including sales in both domestic and abroad market), 48 percent growth compared to last year.

The South Korean company is opening production plant in other growing markets like in Russia. However, it is expected that it would not affect the growth of Hyundai India Ltd. India one of the growing car market in the world and it is a price sensitive market as well. Naturally, small cars are quite popular in India. So, it is pretty much certain that Hyundai India has already made a strong ground in the small car market in India thanks to its i10 cars.

Hyundai i20 is expected to be launched in the festival season in India this year. The small car already attracted many people with its eye-catching features and stylish look. It is needless to say that the launch of i20 this year would only further boost up Hyundai’s sales this year, making its presence more vibrant in the small car segment in India.

LG finished building the largest solar power plant in South Korea

Famous South Korean multinational company, LG, finished building the largest solar panel of the country to produce electricity.LG Solar Energy, a subsidiary of LG Group, in collaboration with the local government, built the energy plant in the western coastal region and the facility has already started to produce electricity. The project cost LG 110 billion won. It will produce 14-megawatt electricity that will meet the power needs of 8000 households around the country. The facility has been built on about 300,000 square meters of land. This will make LG the first South Korean company to launch full scale solar power operations. The Korea Times reports:

The first plant was built on 193,821 square meters of land with a nine-megawatt production size, while the second plant was constructed on a 108,154 square meter lot with five-megawatt capability.

The project will make LG the first South Korean firm to launch full-scale solar power operations.

In an effort to cut carbon dioxide emissions, the government is offering incentives to promote solar power generation. Thanks to this initiative, annual sales from the Taean solar facility will reach at least 13 billion won by selling the electricity to KEPCO for 677 won per kilowatt.

In a press briefing, Dennis Ahn, CEO, LG Solar Energy, said that they had engaged in talks with some foreign companies to construct a solar cell plant on a turnkey basis. He said that they are expecting to make $285000 in 2008 and consume 12000 tons less of carbohydrates on a yearly basis.

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Toyota launches Verso multi purpose vehicle in the UK

Toyota Motor Corporation (TYO: 7203) has launched its mid-sized multi purpose vehicle in England. The car is available in four categories: T2, SR, T Spirit, T180.

Dimension:

• Overall length: 4370 mm
• Overall width: 1770 mm
• Wheel base (front/rear): 2750mm
• Wheel base (between two front wheels): 1495mm
• Wheel base (between two rear wheels): 1505 mm
• Maximum speed: 206 km/h
• Acceleration: 0-62 mp/h within 8.8 seconds.
• Weight: 2140 kg.
• Acceleration: 62 mph in 8.8 seconds

Toyota Verso T2:

• The Toyota Verso T2 has 6 speakers.
• The Toyota Verso T2 comes with audio, integrated unique fit with LCD.
• The Toyota Verso T2 has single disc CD player that supports both MP3 and WMA.
• The Toyota Verso T2 has color keyed door handles and mirrors.
• The Toyota Verso T2 has ventilated front disc brakes.
• The Toyota Verso T2 has color keyed front & rear bumper
• The Toyota Verso T2 comes with front seatbelts with electronic sensing, pre-tensioner and force limiter. They can be adjusted according to hight.
• The Toyota Verso T2 comes with child seat fixings.
• The Toyota Verso T2 has ABS, electronically controlled with Electronic Brake Force Distribution.
• The Toyota Verso T2 comes with driver and front passenger airbags with hybrid inflators.
• The Toyota Verso T2 has headrests in all five seats that can be adjusted.

Price: ₤ 15005

Toyota Verso SR:

• The Toyota Verso SR comes with 6 speakers.
• The Toyota Verso SR steering wheel mounted audio controls.
• The Toyota Verso SR comes with roof mounted radio aerial.
• The Toyota Verso SR has audio system with LCD display.
• The Toyota Verso SR comes with Anti-lock Braking system, electronically controlled with Electronic Brake Force Distribution.
• The Toyota Verso SR has ventilated front disc brakes.
• The Toyota Verso SR has brake assist system.
• The Toyota Verso SR comes with de-coupling brake pedal mechanism.
• The Toyota Verso SR has side impact beams on all side doors.
• The Toyota Verso SR comes with head impact protection structure.
• The Toyota Verso SR comes with driver and front passenger airbags.
• It also has front knee airbag for driver.
• The Toyota Verso SR comes with energy absorbing crumple zones in front and back.
• The Toyota Verso SR has dual zone climate control.
• The Toyota Verso SR comes with MP3 enabled CD player.
• The Toyota Verso SR has rear privacy glass.
• The Toyota Verso SR has rear spoiler.
• The Toyota Verso SR comes with 16” alloy wheels.
• The Toyota Verso SR has cruise control.
• The Toyota Verso SR has front and rear parking sensors with a dashboard proximity indicator.

Price: ₤ 17,895

Toyota Verso T Spirit:

• The Toyota Verso T Spirit has 6 speakers.
• The Toyota Verso T Spirit has steering mounted audio controls.
• The Toyota Verso T Spirit comes with roof mounted radio aerial.
• The Toyota Verso T Spirit has audio system with LCD.
• The Toyota Verso T Spirit comes with AM/FM radio with preset settings.
• The Toyota Verso T Spirit comes with single disc CD player with MP3 and WMA compatibility.
• The Toyota Verso T Spirit has fully trimmed boot.
• The Toyota Verso T Spirit has luggage load hooks in boot.
• The Toyota Verso T Spirit has interior tailgate pull handle.
• The Toyota Verso T Spirit comes with removable rear tonneau cover.
• Toyota Verso T Spirit has twin DVD screens.
• Toyota Verso T Spirit comes with cruise control.
• Toyota Verso T Spirit has dual-zone climate control.
• Toyota Verso T Spirit has leather-trimmed steering wheel with audio controls.
• The Toyota Verso T Spirit has child seat fixings.
• The Toyota Verso T Spirit has driver and front passenger airbags with hybrid inflators. It also has front knee airbag for driver.
• The Toyota Verso T Spirit comes with adjustable headrest on all five seats.
• The Toyota Verso T Spirit supports de-coupling brake pedal mechanism.
• The Toyota Verso T Spirit comes with side impact beams on all side doors.
• The Toyota Verso T Spirit has head impact protection structure.
• The Toyota Verso T Spirit comes with energy absorbing crumple zones in front and back.
• The Toyota Verso T Spirit has child proof locks on rear doors.

Price: ₤ 19,990.

Toyota Verso T 180:

• The Toyota Verso T180 has rear Privacy Glass
• The Toyota Verso T180 has rear Chrome license plate garnish.
• The Toyota Verso T180 comes with color keyed door handles and mirrors.
• The Toyota Verso T180 has anti-lock braking system, electronically controlled with electronic brake force distribution.
• The Toyota Verso T180 has ventilated front disc brakes.
• The Toyota Verso T180 comes with brake assist system.
• The Toyota Verso T180 comes with color keyed front and rear bumper.
• The Toyota Verso T180 has trip computer with fuel consumption & average speed display.
• The Toyota Verso T180 has fuel indicator with low fuel warning.
• The Toyota Verso T180 has water temperature indicator.
• The Toyota Verso T180 has engine temperature warning.
• The Toyota Verso T180 has engine management warning.

Price: ₤ 21,905

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SprintS hits gold with Samsung M800 Instinct

Samsung’s latest “iPhone clone,” Samsung M800 Instinct was launched by SprintS on June 20^th. The good news is that Samsung M800 Instinct has been very successful. Sales have been so well that Sprint is facing a hard time to keep up with the demand. The quick sales resulted into temporary shortages at some of the locations in the USA. In a company statement, SprintS said that the company has been working diligently to increase inventory in all sales channels. Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (SEO: 005935) has increased its effort to deliver more Instinct phones and its manufacturing plants are operating at full capacity.

The shortage shows that American consumers are now growing an appetite for smart phones. According to SprintS, Samsung M800 Instinct is the ‘fastest selling EVDO handset’ in the company’s history. e flux Media reports:

Sprint Nextel needed the sales boost in order to get back in the front line, as its reports for the past year showed some rather upsetting figures. Even though the phone’s reviews mixed about its capacities and market potential, once released, it managed to break the company’s record for the biggest first week sales of any high-speed Evolution-Data Optimized (EVDO) portable device.

Samsung M800 Sprint is a full touch-screen mobile phone that uses Sprint's broadband network and EVDO Rev. Major weaknesses of the phone set includes: lack of instant messaging and WiFi, poor call quality, troublesome internet browser, small memory, and poor camera.

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June US auto sales: GM takes the leading position

The month of June has been terrible for the American automakers as they observed their sales further went down. Interestingly, GM took the leading position in the USA in car sales over Toyota Motor Corporation (TYO: 7203). Still, sales of GM dropped by 18.2%. Another good news is that GM observed more than 2% rise in its share prices on July 1^st after hitting their lowest point in the last fifty years on 30^th June. GM (NYSE:GM) reported that it sold 262,329 vehicles in June compared with Toyota’s 193,234. In June GM’s car sales fell 21% and in the first six months, overall sales went down by 16.3%. On the other hand, Toyota’s sales fell 6.8% in the first six months.

In June, car sales of Toyota fell 9.4% and truck sales dropped 38.8%. Ford sales dropped 28% and Chrysler 35.9%.

In 2007 Toyota Motor Corporation almost caught GM in car sales but took over in vehicle production. In the first quarter of 2008 Toyota took the sales lead.

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Honda Motor Company Limited : The new hero of Japanese auto-Industry

You can call it a windfall gain or simple luck but like it or not Japan’s second largest automaker Honda Motor Company is now at its peak. Where car makers around the world are grappling with rising cost of fuel and raw materials, Japan’s second largest automaker is making profits. What is the secret behind this success? Well, there is nothing. The whole situation just went to Honda’s favor. In this series I will be focusing Honda Motor Company, its background and major products.

Company Background:
Honda Motor Company Limited (TYO: 7267) is a multinational corporation. Headquartered in Japan, the company is an engine manufacturer and engineering company. Honda is the 5^th largest auto-maker in the world and the second largest in Japan. Every year, the company produces more than 14 million internal combustion engines. Its products include: cars, motorcycles, trucks, scooters, robots, jets and jet engines, All Terrain Vehicle (ATV), water craft, electrical generators, marine engines, lawn and garden equipment, and aeronautical and other mobile technologies. Along with these products Honda has now started producing luxury cars and mountain bikes.

Shares:
Honda shares are traded around various stock exchanges around the world. For example, Tokyo Stock Exchange, New York Stock Exchange. Other major stock exchanges include: Osaka, Nagoya, Sapporo, Kyoto, Fukuoka, London, Paris and Switzerland.

Head quarters and joint ventures:
Honda Motor Company’s main head quarter is situated in Tokyo Japan.

The United States of America:
American Honda Motor Co. is situated in Torrance, California.

Canada:
Honda Canada Inc. is situated in the Scarborough district of Toronto, Ontario. The company is building its new headquarters in Markham. The manufacturing facility is situated in Alliston, Ontario.

India:
Honda has a joint venture with the Hero Group of India. Currently, Hero Honda is the largest two-wheeler manufacturer in the world. Honda has also other joint ventures in India such Honda Siel Cars India Ltd,

Soichiro Honda:
The story of Honda Motor Company would be incomplete with Soichiro Honda, the founder of Honda company, the man who single handedly change the history of two-wheeled vehicles that you ride today.

Born on November 17 1906, at Komyo Village, which is now known as Tenryu City, to Gihei Honda and his wife Mika. Soichiro Honda had a fascination about machines since childhood. Gihei Honda was a blacksmith and his wife was a weaver. Despite poverty, Gihei instilled the ethic of hard work and love for machines into Soichiro. There was a rice mill in Yamahigashi that ran on a small engine. As a child, the sound of the motor fascinated Soichiro. Since his childhood, he used to work with various mechanical tools.

At the age of 15, without any formal education, Soichiro Honda came to Tokyo and obtained apprenticeship at a garage in 1922. It was a hard time for him. He moved around here there. Finally, at the age of 22, he started his own auto business. In 1937, Soichiro started to produce piston rings for small engines. In 1948, he established Honda Motor Co. Ltd. to build small capacity motor cycles. From there, he turned Honda Motor Company into one of the biggest auto-makers in the world. Soichiro Honda died from liver failure in 1991.

Honda wining Japanese auto market:
Till now, Toyota Motor Corporation used to be the top automobile seller in Japanese auto-market but the reign of Toyota is coming to an end. For the last eight month, Honda Motor Company has remained in the top position in passenger car sales. Honda’s Fit compact is now the most popular passenger career. According to the data of Japan Automobile Dealers Association, In June, sales of Fit compact rose 77% to 14,702 units. Toyota’s Corolla made it to the second and third position with Toyota Corolla and Vitz. Bloomberg reports:

Demand for the Fit and new Freed minivan boosted Honda's domestic sales, excluding minicars, by 4.1 percent last month. The latest version of the Fit, introduced in October, helped Tokyo-based Honda end the Corolla's four-year reign as Japan's bestselling car model in the year ended March 31.

Honda winning the USA auto market:
The USA is the biggest auto market in the world. After price gas rose to $4 per gallon, consumers started to shift their attention to small fuel efficient car where Honda is the pioneer. Even its major Japanese competitor Toyota Motor Corporation is incurring losses in the USA. SF Gate reports:

The No. 2 Japanese automaker, with the most fuel-efficient model lineup in the industry, never put both feet into the U.S. truck market, focusing instead on slow-but-steady growth with popular cars such as the Civic and the Accord.

It paid off in June. While its major competitors reported double-digit declines in sales and burgeoning truck and sport utility vehicle inventories, Honda had a modest 1 percent sales increase. Its car sales were up almost 20 percent from the same month last year; the Civic and the Accord were among the industry's top sellers.

John Mendel, Honda Motor Company’s executive vice president said that they were not geniuses but they were consistent. Auto industry analysts pointed out two reasons behind Honda’s success. One, they have a good line-up of small fuel-efficient vehicles and their factories are very flexible. They can produce more vehicles if necessary.

Poor conditions of American manufacturers:
When it comes to American manufacturers, three come to mind: General Motors, Chrysler, and Ford. All these companies produce large vehicles like pickups, SUVs which are now shunned by the US-consumers. More than half of the factories owned by these three companies produce trucks. With the rising price of oil, the US car market now consists of 56% cars and 44% trucks. This has resulted into huge sales drop. Now the three companies are planning to shut down many of its factories. Their condition is so bad that they could not even switch to producing large amount of small fuel efficient vehicles in the short term. Share prices of the companies dropped as well. Now, they have nothing but to prepare to accept a huge loss in their business.

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Nokia-Navteq merger gets green light from Europe's competition authority

On Wednesday, Finland mobile phone giant, Nokia, received green light from Europe’s competition authority to acquire Navteq, a US-based digital map producer. The deal is worth $12.1 billion. Two months ago, Tom Tom, the largest car navigation device producer, took over Tele Atlas, another digital map database provider. The took over cost Tom Tom €2.9bn. Chicago Tribune reports:

The case is the second acquisition of a digital map company to receive EU clearance this year. The commission approved plans by TomTom, Europe's biggest maker of car-navigation devices, to buy Tele Atlas NV on May 14.

"Navteq will play a key role in our Internet services strategy," Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, Nokia's president and chief executive, said in a statement.

The European competition authority concluded that Navteq-Nokia merger would not have any negative impact in Europe. Because of Tele Atlas, Navteq-Noqia merger would not gain monopoly over map database industry in Europe. Nokia-Navteq would not shut down supply of such databases to competitors because the loss made in sales of maps can not be offset by sales of mobile phones.

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Chung Mong-Koo donated 30 Billion Won to charity foundation

As per his promise, Chung-Mong-Koo, ex-chairman Hyundai Motor Company (SEO: 005387) donated 4,80,000 shares of Golvis Co., worth 30 billion KRW ($28.7 million), to the Haebichi Foundation. The foundation has been established by Chung Mong-Koo in 2007 when he received orders from the court of donating money to various charitable organizations. Though the order was dismissed by the appeal court but Chung Mong-Koo decided to keep his promise. The Korea Times reports:

The 71-year-old CEO made the contribution of the Glovis stake, which is currently worth 30 billion won ($28.7 million), to the Haebichi Foundation, the automaker said Thursday.

``This is a decision to show how he is loyal to his promises,'' the company said.

The foundation said it aims to put forward various cultural and art projects, as well as charity activities including a special scholarship for the young from low-income households.

Chung Mong-Koo received three year prison sentence on the charge of embezzling company funds through fraudulent accounting. Later, an appeal court dismissed the verdict for it would degrade the image of South Korean economy and gave him three-year suspended sentence.

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Hyundai Motor Company: Doing well in abroad but poorly in South Korea

South Korean auto maker, Hyundai Motor Company (SEO: 005387) posted 11.4% rise in sales in June. So far, it is the company’s best monthly sales. Till now, Hyundai sold 1,481,152 units around the world. This is a 14% increase on overall sales on year-on-year basis. Though concerned about the rising fuel cost, the company is on its track of achieving 3 million sales target. High demand in emerging markets like China, India, Russia and the Middle East contributed to the sales growth.

In the USA, Hyundai Motor Company sold 50,033 units for the month of June. Compared to June 2007, the sales rose 1.3%. However, its overall sales decreased to 231,066 units from 236,595 units in 2007.

Interestingly, Hyundai did well in foreign market but it observed a sales drop in its domestic market. On June 1, 2008 the company announced that sales in South Korea decreased 14.6% in June. The company sold 48,301 units.

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South Korean automakers posts sales growth in the USA automarket

Where the big Detroit three are grappling with downward sales Japanese and South Korean automakers are registering exceptional growth in the USA auto market. The rise of fuel-efficient vehicles has kept the auto sales from falling sharply. The combined sales of South Korean automakers in June registered a 9.2% annual rise. The strong demand of South Korean brands is making up for lower sales in their domestic market. Analysts are expecting that the new trend of fuel efficient cars will continue in the second half of 2008.

In June, the five South Korean automakers: Hyundai Motor Co.(SEO: 005387), Kia Motors Corporation (SEO: 000270), GM Daewoo Auto & Technology, Ssangyong Motor (SEO:003620) and Renault Samsung Motors sold a total of 490,342 units. In 2007, their combined sales in the USA was 449,043. CNN reports:

Domestic sales fell 7.2% on year to 97,591 units from 105,169 units, while exports rose 14% to 392,751 units from 343,874 units.

Increased overseas capacity at Hyundai and Kia, which together form the world's fifth-largest car manufacturer by sales, will help boost overall sales of South Korean carmakers in the second half, said Hyundai Securities analyst Cho Soo-Hong.

In 2007, the Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group emerged as the world's No. 5 carmaker (up from No. 6 in 2006) with global sales of 3,961,629 units, according to Automotive News' 2008 Global Market Data Book issued Monday.

Jeff Lee, an analyst at Hana Daetoo Securities Co. Ltd. estimated that Hyundai is going to export about 50,000 units in 2008 in the USA. Last year, they imported 49,000 units accounting 4% of the total auto sales in the USA. Overall, in these six months, the five South Korean car makers posted an 8.7% increase in annual sales from 2.61 million a year ago, to 2.83 million.

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Japan observes lower vehicle sales for the second month as fuel price has risen

The downward trend in auto sales is continuing for the second consecutive month in Japan as the price of gasoline has risen. According to The Japan Automobile Dealers Association, in June, excluding minivehicles, sales of new cars, trucks and buses, fell by 3.6% to 281,261 units. In May, it rose by 6.1%. In June, car sales went down by 1.8% to 242,792 units, buses 3.5% to 1,198 units, and trucks 13.7% to 37,271 units. Forbes reports:

For the first half of 2008, sales of new vehicles fell 0.9 percent to 1.77 million units. Car sales rose 1.0 percent to 1.55 million units, sales of buses fell 2.8 percent to 8,715 units and truck sales dropped 13.1 percent to 213,503 units.

Separately, the Japan Minivehicle Association said that domestic sales of new minivehicles fell 2.8 percent to 165,730 units, marking the 15th consecutive month of decline.

Eight of the 12 Japanese automakers registered lower sales in May. Japan’s largest auto maker, Toyota Motor Corporation (TYO: 7203) observed a rise of 0.5% to 124,866 units. Sales of high-end lexus fell to 2095 units. Honda Motor Company (TYO: 7267) is the only exception among all the automakers that has been seeing a rise in sales for the 8^th consecutive month.

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Forbes