Auto Sector

Ferrari based ‘flying car’ to take to the skies in 2 years

London, Nov 3: A car, based on Ferrari, could be flying its passengers to their desired location, within just two years time.

According to a report in the Telegraph, known as the ‘Autovolantor’, the car is based on a 200,000 pounds Ferrari 599 GTB, and is being developed by “Moller International”.

It will have the ability to take off vertically and hover, thanks to eight powerful thrusters which direct air down for take off. Vents then tilt so the car can fly forward.

The car is expected to be able to do 100mph on the ground and 150mph in the air. The calculated airborne range is 75 miles and ground range is 150 miles.

Tata Motors net dips 34%

Tata Motors net dips 34% The net profit of Auto major Tata Motors declined 34 percent in the July-September period. Its net profit stands at Rs 346 crore which was Rs 526 crore last year. The company has to pay for high input cost, high interest rates and world financial crisis. The sale of auto major increased 7% to Rs 7029 crore in the same period. But its operating margin fell to 8.13% which was earlier 9.2%.

Porsche to temporarily halt production because of slump

Porsche to temporarily halt production because of slump Stuttgart - Porsche joined other German carmakers Saturday in announcing a temporary halt to production because of dwindling sales triggered by the global economic crisis.

A spokesman for the sports carmaker in Stuttgart said the company was extending the Christmas holiday period for workers by three days.

He said the company's main plant at Zuffenhausen would remained closed from December 22 until January 9, 2009.

Nissan halves profit forecast for fiscal 2008

NissanTokyo - Nissan Motor Co sharply cut its earnings forecast for the full year that runs through March 2009 on the yen's rise and slow overseas sales, the company said Friday.

Japan's third-largest automaker lowered its net profit projection by 53 per cent to 160 billion yen for the full year from an initial forecast.

Nissan halved an operating profit forecast at 270 billion yen for the full year and lowered sales by 7.2 per cent to 9.6 trillion yen.

For the second quarter through September, the automaker saw its net profit fall 38.8 per cent to 73.5 billion yen from a year before.

Toyota all set to launch its small car for US$ 5,000 by 2010

Toyota all set to launch its small car for US$ 5,000 by 2010 It was recently made official that the Indian arm of Japanese auto major Toyota Motor Corporation would be launching a global small car by 2010-11. The car would also be exported to overseas markets in both developed and developing countries, other than being launched in the domestic market. 

This strategy adopted by Toyota is quite similar to other auto majors. The main motive of all these companies is widening their market share tremendously through the launches of their own small cars. 

Mitsubishi revises down operating profit on lower demand

Mitsubishi MotorsTokyo - Mitsubishi Motors Corp on Thursday lowered its earnings forecast for the fiscal year that ends on March 31 because of slow auto sales and the yen's recent rise against other major currencies.

The Japanese automaker dropped its operating profit projection to 50 billion yen (514 million dollars) from an initial 60 billion yen. Such profits would represent a 54-per-cent drop from last year.

The company also cut sales for the full year as the global financial crisis roils credit and stock markets and has sent sales down.

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