Brand

First it was cigarettes that got stubbed; now it’s the turn of SUVs to face an endurance test. By becoming a tinkerer’s playpen, the goods and services tax (GST) is emerging as a fresh source of uncertainty for business.

The GST Council on Monday recommended an additional levy of 10 percentage points on luxury cars and sports utility vehicles, taking the total to 53 per cent. The change comes barely five weeks after the value-added tax replaced a plethora of federal and state levies. Last month, a similar bump in cigarette taxes spooked investors.

Bajaj Auto and British niche bike maker Triumph today announced a global partnership for design, development and distribution of mid-range motorcycles.

Luxury car manufacturers on Monday hit out at the government move to hike cess on large cars, sports utility vehicles (SUVs) and luxury cars to 25 per cent, saying they would be forced to re-evaluate their business plans in Asia’s third biggest car market.

The revolution in electric vehicles set to upturn industries from energy to infrastructure is also creating winners and losers within the world’s biggest metals markets. While some of the largest diversified miners like Glencore Plc argue fossil fuels such as coal and oil still play a crucial role supplying energy needs, they’ll also benefit the most from a move to electric cars, requiring more cobalt, lithium, copper, aluminium and nickel.

Thane-headquartered Vedroop Products Pvt Ltd, makers and marketers of herbal products under Vedroop brand, is betting big on the growth prospects of herbal beauty and healthcare products-both in India and globally. The five year-old company, which has so far been banking on online channels, will now focus on physical retail presence to tap the actual potential of the market more aggressively, top company officials said. The company has its corporate office in Kolkata and manufacturing facility in Himachal Pradesh.

German executives are preparing to announce a new home for a lithium-ion battery plant designed to rival the output at Tesla Inc’s Gigafactory.

BMW, India’s second biggest German luxury maker by sales, on Thursday introduced new BMW 320d Edition Sport to take on market leader Mercedes-Benz, Audi, Jaguar Land Rover and Volvo brands in Asia’s third biggest car market.

With a price band of Rs 38.60 lakh at pan India, the BMW 320d Edition Sport will compete against rivals such as the Audi A4, Mercedes-Benz C-Class, Jaguar XE and Volvo S60 in the country.

Italian superbike maker Ducati today launched Scrambler Cafe Racer model at a starting price of Rs 9.32 lakh (ex-showroom).

Honda’s India connection is set to become the world’s biggest.

Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India, the second biggest two-wheeler maker by sales in the country, added 6 lakh capacity production line at its Narasapura green factory near Bangalore. It makes it the biggest Japanese Honda plant globally.

For 10 years, California-based Zero Motorcycles Inc has been carefully breaking into the broader bike market, offering powerful emission­free motorcycles. Its newest bike, the Zero DS ZF6.5, is the two-wheel equivalent of the much­anticipated Tesla Model 3: cute, reasonably priced, and superb for day-to-day use.