Archive for July 2008

Bosch Rexroth acquires majority stake in Chinese pneumatics company Easun

Lohr, Germany / Cixi, China. Bosch Rexroth is set to acquire a majority stake in Zhejiang Easun Pneumatic Technology Co. Ltd. (Easun), based in Cixi, China. The purchase agreement was signed on June 30 in Cixi. Both parties have agreed not to disclose the purchase price. The acquisition is subject to approval by the authorities.

Easun is one of the leading pneumatics companies in China. Under the brand name Easun, it develops, produces and sells pneumatic cylinders, valves, maintenance units and accessories for the local market. The Chinese pneumatics specialist employs around 900 people.

“With this acquisition, we are strengthening our position in the growing Chinese pneumatics market and offering an extended pneumatics range that is specially tailored to the requirements of Chinese customers,” explains Dr. Albert Hieronimus, Chairman of the Executive Board of Bosch Rexroth AG. “The move is a continuation of our ongoing strategy of regionalization,” adds Hieronimus.

Bosch Rexroth has been represented by its own companies in China since the 1970s, offering its customers the complete range of drive and control products and manufacturing at three locations. In 2007, Bosch Rexroth generated sales of around 350 million euro in China with a workforce of more than 2,000 associates. In 2007, the Bosch Group as a whole achieved consolidated sales of around 1.8 billion euro in China and employed more than 17,000 associates.

mjunction to expand regional language consumer base with the launch of Hindi versions of Coal Insights and Steel Insights

  • mjunction re-launches mjunctionedge with a renewed focus on knowledge exchange
  • Corporate site www.mjunction.in launched in Hindi as a client / customer connect initiative
  • Other initiatives include digitisation of magazines, launch of specialty reports on steel and coal

mjunction services, India’s largest eCommerce company, announced the re-launch of its content and conference division as mjunctionedge along with the launch of its premium industry magazines namely, Steel Insights and Coal Insights in Hindi language. The launch was followed by unveiling of mjunction’s corporate portal (www.mjunction.in) in Hindi language. The magazines and the corporate portal were unveiled jointly by PS Bhattacharya, chairman, Coal India and Viresh Oberoi, managing director, mjunction services.

The company’s decision to launch the Hindi version of the magazines and the corporate portal was based on feedback it had been getting from its pan-India customer and subscribers base to incorporate a regional preference. While the primary aim of the regional versions of the magazines will be to reach out and engage to a larger segment of target audience who adhere to the coal and the steel industry within the Hindi speaking community in northern India and parts of western and eastern India, the launch of the corporate portal in Hindi will endeavour to position the portal from a mere transactional to a high–end information exchange platform.

Unveiling the Hindi edition of the magazines and the corporate portal, Mr Bhattacharya said: “Such initiative from mjunction will not only benefit the huge base of the buyers and sellers from the steel and coal industry but also act as a knowledge sharing platform between the stakeholders and contribute to the overall development of the coal and steel sector. It also creates a sense of responsibility in terms of efficiency and transparency from mjunction to all its users and ushers confidence in them for the eCommerce sector in India.”

Addressing the conference, Mr Oberoi commented: “The launch of these magazines in regional languages only strengthens our commitment of adding more value to our services. We are optimistic that such initiative will provide us with an opportunity to provide our share of knowledge about the industry back into the system and thereby enlarging the community that mjunction serves. High-end specialty reports catering to the steel and coal industry are also in the pipeline. This apart, we have also planned several conferences from varied industry verticals like steel, coal, shipping, logistics and many more.”The Hindi language edition of the magazines will be an exact replica of its current English versions and will start with a print run of 1,000 copies to start with and has a target of increasing the figure to 5,000 copies by 2008 end. mjunctionedge also has firm plans to launch its ‘Insights” magazines in other regional languages like Bengali, Gujarati etc in the future.

mjunctionedge will focus strongly on becoming a leading knowledge exchange platform for its businesses in steel, coal and sourcing to educate and engage and thus enlarge its consumer base of mjunction facilitating its business objectives. mjunctionedge also plans to digitise the publications as its businesses and customer base grows beyond India.

The re-launch of the contents and conferences division is part of mjunction’s “Vision 2008-13” through which the company plans to achieve five fold growth to Rs50,000 crore in terms of transaction value. It closed FY 2008 with a transaction value of Rs10,314 crore.

Volkswagen Group with new delivery record for the period January to May 2008

WOLFSBURG—The Volkswagen Group sold 2.69 million vehicles worldwide from January to May 2008. This represents an increase of 6.6 percent compared with the same period last year and is yet another new delivery record. Group deliveries increased by 2.0 percent to 553,400 vehicles in May. As a result, the development of deliveries by the Group was significantly better than developments on the world market, where deliveries were down 2.9 percent in May and up 2.3 percent for the period January to May.

“Once again, the enormous model diversity of our eight brands has proved itself in an ever more difficult market environment. Both for the month of May and for the period January to May, demand for our cars has developed significantly better than the total industry on European markets, where overall demand is weakening,” said Detlef Wittig, Executive Vice President, Group Sales and Marketing, commenting on the Group’s delivery figures.

In Europe, the Group delivered 1.55 million vehicles (+2.0 percent) to customers, while the Group’s eight brands sold 432,700 vehicles (+4.1 percent) in Germany. In Western Europe (excluding Germany), 886,000 vehicles were delivered to customers (-2.5 percent), while 229,500 vehicles were delivered to customers in Central and Eastern Europe, an increase of 18.6 percent compared with the same period last year.

The Volkswagen brand, the Group’s highest volume brand, delivered 1.57 million vehicles (+6.7 percent) from January to May. Audi delivered 426,200 vehicles (+1.5 percent) and Skoda delivered 301,500 vehicles (+18.4 percent). Seat delivered 170,100 vehicles (-5.9 percent). Deliveries by Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles totaled 216,400 units, a rise of 13.4 percent. Bentley delivered 4,000 models to customers, Bugatti 25 and Lamborghini 1,100.

BMW Motorrad wins major Police motorcycle contract

Company’s new Navigation Radio System provides seamless integration of radio, GPS, iPod/MP3 player, Bluetooth® phone, CD/DVD entertainment, and more

VAN BUREN TOWNSHIP, Mich., July 1, 2008 — The Visteon Navigation Radio System – a fully integrated replacement in-dash entertainment system featuring GPS navigation, iPod/MP3 command and control, Bluetooth hands-free phone operation with audio streaming, DVD video, and other premium functionality – is now available for North American passenger vehicles.

The innovative Visteon system, available through automotive dealerships and mobile electronics retailers, dramatically expands on the functionality and convenience of original equipment (OE) radio head units. Featuring a striking 7-inch color digital LCD touch-screen monitor, the new system combines dozens of advanced capabilities within a single unit that fits in most vehicles with a double-DIN radio opening. The Visteon system is compatible with existing steering wheel controls on most vehicles, plus rear (backup) cameras and satellite radio modules.

“This powerful new in-dash system enables vehicle owners to enjoy the most sought-after mobile electronics functionality – from high-quality audio to GPS navigation to seamless command and control of their iPods – in a single, affordable unit that fits precisely in place of the factory radio,” said Mark Boyle, director of sales and marketing, Visteon Mobile Electronics.

Key features of the Visteon Navigation Radio System include:

  • Convenient GPS navigation via high-resolution 7-inch color TFT-LCD touch-screen mapping and video monitor (System includes GPS antenna and Tele Atlas map database with more than 10 million points of interest)
  • Command and control for iPod
  • Bluetooth hands-free phone operation with streaming audio
  • Multimedia disk player for audio CDs and video DVDs
  • Premium AM/FM tuner
  • Compatible with steering wheel controls
  • Satellite Radio capable
  • Includes USB port, SD Card slot and RCA jacks for audio/video inputs
  • Integrated 4×45-watt peak power amplifier and 5.1 channel surround-sound pre-amp outputs
  • Rear backup camera video input

The unit’s integrated GPS navigation system provides an intuitive graphic interface combined with touch-screen controls and voice guidance. The 480×800-resolution digital LCD display ensures precise map detail as well as exceptional picture quality.

The Visteon system’s button backlights can be customized to the dashboard control colors for a true “factory” appearance