The CarWale Daily Fuel - June 6, 2012

• The Eicher-Volvo joint venture in India that had rolled out at the beginning of 2009 has gone a step further by restructuring itself. The JV has merged its three profit centres - Eicher Trucks and Buses, Volvo Trucks and the powertrain unit - into VE commercial vehicles. After growing individually, the three firms have merged to form a formidable entity that will have better synergies and can target further growth.
• A study undertaken by Nielsen on behalf of Google has revealed that 50 per cent of the urban car buyers do their homework on Internet before going to a dealership to buy a car. It is also surprising to know that a large percentage of these people have changed their car of choice after their internet research.
• The study also reveals that Hyundai Eon, Honda BRio and XUV500 are among the top searches whereas SUV is the highest growing segment.
• Honda Siel India has kick-started the '5 lakh customers campaign celebrations'. Honda sales have taken a  hit after the spate of petrol price hikes in India. The campaign is aimed at regaining cutomer confidence in Honda to help the company recover its market share.
• The petrol price hike has not only hit the people of the country but the government also. Maharashtra government is finding it difficult by the day to cover the fuel costs of the official cars and are planning to convert them to CNG fueled cars. we hope atleast this would deter the government from hiking CNG prices at least.
• Ford may be compelled to prepone the Fiesta facelift as the new sedan has failed to generate popularity the Fiesta Classic enjoyed. The new car will be based on the current Fiesta but with revamped front fascia and tail.
• Mahindra has confirmed Petrol and Automatic versions of the XUV500 internationally. The Indian customers would certainly be interested in the automatic option if not the petrol.
• Toyota is looking forward to newer partnerships to deveop cars afetr the GT89 success with Subaru. The partnerships help companies share the cost of project as well as acquire technology and create a better product.
• The diesel variant of the new BMW 7 series will hit American shores before the rest of the line-up lands. The diesel 7-series will compete with te Mercedes S350 Bluetec and teh Audi A8 3.0 TDI.
• The globally loved Golf GTI will become even more powerful. Volkswagen is targeting 260BHP from a four cylinder petrol turbocharged engine. the hot hatch may get a four-wheel drive to help tranfer the excess power on the road.

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