HONG KONG: Chinese automaker Geely said on Wednesday its first-half net profit rose nine percent year-on-year, as strong exports helped to offset a domestic slowdown in the world's biggest car market. One of China's largest private car makers and the owner of Swedish nameplate Volvo, Geely said its net profit for the six months to June stood at 1.02 billion yuan ($159 million), up from 937.65 million a year ago. Revenue rose six percent to 11.18 billion yuan, the firm said in a filing t ...

WASHINGTON: The US government said on Wednesday it plans to complete rules "soon" that significantly boost automobile efficiency, despite calls from some Republicans for further evaluation of the regulations. The Obama administration had planned to finalize standards last week that would require companies to reach an average fuel efficiency across their US fleets of 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025, but the release of the regulations was delayed. While declining to provide a spec ...

SEOUL: South Korea's top automaker has given a 1.6 billion won ($1.4 million) reward to the archery squad which won three golds and a bronze at the London Olympics, a spokeswoman said Thursday. Hyundai Motor chairman Chung Mong-Koo gave 250 million won to Ki Bo-Bae, gold medallist in both the women's individual and team matches, and 200 million won to men's individual champion and team bronze medallist Oh Jin-Hyek. Lee Sung-Jin and Choi Hyeon-Ju, who won a gold in the women's team event ...

FRANKFURT: German carmaker Opel, a loss-making unit of US giant General Motors, said Thursday it will reduce working hours at two key plants as demand in the European car market slumps. "In consultation with the works' council and the IG Metall labour union, Adam Opel AG will introduce short-time work at its plants in Ruesselsheim and Kaiserslautern from September. It was agreed that 20 working days would be cut between then and the end of the year," Opel said in a statement. ...

NEW DELHI: Japanese-owned Maruti Suzuki may double capacity at its planned car plant in India's Gujarat state, a report says, as it reviews strategy following deadly labour unrest at another major factory. The Gujarat plant -- due to open 2015-16 -- will be the first for India's biggest carmaker outside the northern state of Haryana, where a riot by workers last month at its Manesar factory led to the death of a manager and injury to 96 supervisors. Dow Jones Newswires, quoting an unnam ...

ISLAMABAD - The auto manufactures on Thursday told the sub-committee of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) that the import of re-conditioned vehicles was cancer for auto industry. The PAC sub-committee met here under the chairmanship of Hamid Yar Hiraj to discuss and prepare a policy for reduction of prices to affordable level for the general public, including deletion programme related to manufacturing of cars, buses, tractors and motorcycles. Hamid Yar Hiraj said auto manufacturers got pr ...

NEW DELHI: Maruti Suzuki, India's largest car maker, will restart production at its Manesar factory on August 21, more than a month after a deadly riot shut the plant, costing the company tens of millions of dollars in lost output.

The 550,000 vehicles-a-year factory in Manesar in north India, where the unit of Japan's Suzuki Motor Corp makes its best-selling Swift hatchback, has been idle since the July 18 clash between workers and management.

ISLAMABAD: The anti-trust watchdog has launched an inquiry against Indus Motor Company on charges of unfair trading, which is tantamount to fleecing the consumers as the booking orders are arbitrarily changed in favour of the company.

Speaking to media on Wednesday at an iftar-dinner held for journalists, Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) Chairperson Rahat Kaunain Hassan said that the CCP has received complaints against Wi-Tribe (Qatar Telecom Group), Wateen Telecom, ...

LAHORE: The auto parts manufacturers, appreciating the State Bank’s move to reduce discount rate by 150 basis points, urged the central bank to bring it down to single digit, as banking spread at 10.5 percent policy rate is still high after including KIBOR, making undue profit at the cost of industry.

The Paapam Chairman Nabeel Hashmi in a statement on Tuesday said that at present the situation is compounded because the credit of private sector is going up whereas reluctan ...

MUMBAI: India's top vehicle maker Tata Motors on Tuesday appointed General Motors' former India head, Karl Slym, as managing director, as the company battles falling domestic sales. Slym, a car industry veteran, will head the India operations and the markets of South Korea, Thailand, Spain, Indonesia and South Africa.

Slym succeeds Prakash Telang who retired in June as the head of Tata Motors, part of the giant Mumbai-based steel-to-tea Tata conglomerate.

Tata's British ...