Archive for December, 2005
Volkswagen Case: CBI Wants To File Petition In Court
Volkswagen case: CBI wants to file petition in court
K.T. Sangameswaran
Hopeful of coming out with another major breakthrough soon
CHENNAI:
In a major step in the investigation relating to the controversial “Vasisht Wahan” project in Andhra Pradesh, the CBI has written to the Union Government seeking its permission to file a request for Letter Rogatory (LR) before the jurisdictional court.
Even as this process is on, the investigating agency is awaiting the issue of the red corner notice issued by the International Police Organisation (Interpol) against two persons wanted by the police in connection with the case, a top CBI officer told The Hindu .
The letter seeking the Government of India’s permission would go through the CBI headquarters.
The investigating agency had written to the Centre, and upon getting its nod, would file a petition in the jurisdictional court seeking issue of a letter of request to the competent authority for investigation in a country or place outside India.
The evidence so collected from the foreign country, following the issue of LR, could be used in the court in India.
The sources said that the investigating agency was hopeful of coming out with another major breakthrough in the case in the next few days.
In all, a sum of Rs.11.67 crore was allegedly misappropriated. Of this, Rs. 5 crore had been recovered from a person from Bangalore.
Even as an intensive investigation was continuing, warrants had been issued against Jagdish Alagar Raja, a former director of the proposed project, and Mr. Schuster, who was the Volkswagen representative in India till he quit after the scam surfaced.
Hindu On Net
Car Monthly expenses
Monthly Installment = X
RoadTax = R/12 = T
Carpark = C
Petrol = P
Insurance I/12 = S
Hybrid Cars Race Ahead In 2005
NEW YORK : Helped by sky-high fuel prices and celebrity endorsement, US sales of hybrid cars more than doubled in 2005, but Japanese rather than home-grown auto makers are cashing in on the boom.
Hybrid engines powered by electricity and petrol have been around for years. But it took a kick from rocketing gasoline prices to encourage large numbers of Americans to see their fuel-efficient appeal.
Toyota began selling the Prius in North America in 2000. It is now the best-selling hybrid in the United States, helped in no small part by the sight of Hollywood stars such as Brad Pitt and Cameron Diaz behind the wheel of one.
Up to the end of November, Toyota said it had sold 99,000 Prius cars this year compared to 47,700 over the same period of 2004.
According to research firm Global Insight, total US sales of hybrids are set to more than double to 200,000 this year and mushroom to 500,000 a year by 2010.
Toyota has led the way with the Prius and the four-by-four Highlander, designed to appeal to Americans’ taste for sport utility vehicles (SUVs). Its Japanese rival Honda has three hybrid models and lies second in sales.
US giants General Motors and Ford are now ramping up their own hybrid production but came late to the game. The Ford Escape Hybrid made its debut in mid-2004 as the first US-made example of the genre.
GM and Ford remained wedded for too long to petrol SUVs and pick-up trucks, whose sales have slumped this year as Americans shun gas-guzzlers.
An average SUV consumes about 20 litres of petrol over a 100 kilometre trip, compared to a hybrid which will sip just four to five litres of gasoline.
Ford’s chairman blames Japanese government intervention for the sales advantage enjoyed by Toyota and Honda.
“Nearly a decade ago, the government offered subsidies to their domestic auto suppliers to build hybrid batteries, which are one of the most expensive components of today’s hybrid vehicles,” Bill Ford said in late November.
“That gave them a head-start.”
Arguing that hybrids will help the United States lessen its reliance on Middle East oil, the Ford chairman has been pushing the government to adopt tax breaks for buyers and fiscal incentives for manufacturers.
Federal and state incentives are in the offing. But hybrids will remain comparatively expensive. Rebecca Lindland at Global Insight said a hybrid is on average 3,500 dollars dearer than its equivalent petrol-powered model.
The electric batteries that lie at the heart of a hybrid engine are made primarily of nickel, whose price has rocketed this year in line with the hybrid boom.
“And the owner experience is not as positive as the media may show it to be,” Lindland said.
“If you are commuting on a highway you’re not getting the good gas mileage. The hybrid is not the saviour of the automotive industry,” she added.
Among alternatives to gasoline, diesel engines have not gained widespread acceptance in the United States because of tight emission standards and consumer perceptions that they are smelly, loud and slow.
Fuel-cell vehicles, which are powered by hydrogen and emit nothing but water from the exhaust pipe, are still years away from being commercially viable.
Japan’s second-largest automaker, Nissan Motor, has remained wary of jumping on the hybrid bandwagon. But most analysts see the boom continuing.
Sales of hybrids and clean diesel autos are on course to take 11 percent of total US sales by 2012, from 4.8 percent this year, according to JD Power-LMC Automotive Forecasting Services. - AFP/de
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