Explore Business Standard
Don’t miss the latest developments in business and finance.
Xiaomi, a well-known maker of smart consumer electronics in China, is joining the country's booming but crowded market for electric cars with a sporty high-tech sedan. The tech company began accepting orders in China via an app on Thursday night, after founder Lei Jun wrapped up a more than two-hour presentation on the SU7 car by announcing the much-awaited price range: 215,900 yuan to 299,900 yuan (about USD 30,000 to USD 40,000). Xiaomi said that it received 50,000 orders for the SU7 in the first 27 minutes after sales opened at 10 p.m. Beijing time (1400 GMT). Government subsides have helped make China the world's largest market for electric vehicles, and a bevy of new makers are locked in fierce competition. Most of the industry's sales have been domestic, but Chinese makers are pushing into overseas markets with lower-priced models, posing a potential challenge to European, Japanese and American auto companies. Lei wasn't bashful about that challenge, saying that Beijing-based
Car care services start-up Park+ expects to turn profitable by the January-March 2024 quarter and close the current fiscal with over Rs 200 crore, a senior company official said. Park+ Founder and CEO Amit Lakhotia said that the company at present has operations in about 30 cities and plans to expand to over 100 cities by 2024. The Epiq Capital backed company has raised USD 55 million till date to fund its operation which is sufficient for the company to fund operations as well as planned expansion. "We want every service related to cars and car owners to be available on our platform. We are providing parking, car cleaning and repair services etc through the app. Roughly every 4th car in India is on Park+. We expect to turn profitable by the January-March 2024 quarter," Lakhotia said. He said that Park+ has services now available at over 7,000 locations in 30 cities and there is no user acquisition cost now for the company. "We expect to post revenue of Rs 200 crore this fiscal. W
Maruti Suzuki India on Friday said it has launched CNG trims of its compact SUV Brezza priced between Rs 9.14 lakh and Rs 12.05 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi). Brezza S-CNG trims come mated with five-speed manual transmission and deliver a fuel efficiency of 25.51 km/kg, the auto major said in a statement. "We are confident that the Brezza will once again disrupt the segment with the S-CNG version," Maruti Suzuki India Senior Executive Officer Marketing & Sales Shashank Srivastava noted. The company's S-CNG models currently account for 24 per cent of the overall sales, he added. "And CNG sales for models such as the Ertiga and WagonR account for as high as 57 per cent and 41 per cent of total model sales, respectively," Srivastava stated. Moreover, with the government's initiatives aimed at the proliferation of CNG pumps across the nation, these numbers are likely to see a surge in the coming years, he added.