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| Sunday, 10 October 2004 |
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Biz Motors Global brand automative batteries No. 1 in Sri Lanka by Elmo Leonard For the 17th successive year the Global brand of automotive batteries continued to hold its position as market leader in Sri Lanka, being a claim made at the 2003 Global battery dealer convention, held recently. Today, the cost of batteries imported into the country had increased by 30 percent due to three reasons, the first being that the price of lead which is a raw material in its manufacture had gone up in price in the past few months from $600 to $1000 per tonne. The other reasons are that the Sri Lanka rupee was losing value and freight charges were increasing. Douglas and Sons Ltd. (DSL) sole agents in Sri Lanka for Global tyres had absorbed a large part of the increased price, minimising the burden on the consumer, DSL Chairman, Saroj Perera said. The Global brand of batteries comes from Korea, Philip Han, a representative for the manufacturers, Global Battery Co. Ltd. said in a message read out. The Korean company had increased its output to 4 million batteries per year to meet expanding demand. End-2003, Global batteries had obtained international recognition conforming to automotive quality systems standards specifications which align with those accepted in USA, Germany, France and Italy. Besides, the Korean industry had acquired other automotive quality systems, standards within the global automotive industry, it was revealed at the dealer convention. Saroj Perera said that the Korean manufacturers had introduced a maintenance-free battery called "Fit and Forget" which was popular with the world becoming increasingly busy. The DSL chairman thanked the dealers present for making that category too, said a market leader. Had it not been for the untiring work of the dealership, such striking results would not have been achieved, it was mentioned. DSL had for a number of years also been market leaders in imported tyres. Perera said that was due to the incentive scheme his company extended to its dealers. DSL was the first to introduce such incentives to its dealership with the strategy of ploughing back profits to dealers, he said. Ceylinco brings electric car technology Ceylinco Consolidated signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Maini Group of India to introduce environment-friendly, high-quality, technologically-advanced products to the Sri Lankan market. The joint venture which involves incorporation of a new company with initially focus on introduction of the REVA electric car to Sri Lanka. The REVA electric car, launched on May 11, 2001, is an outstanding Indian innovation that has been successfully established a presence in foreign markets such as the United Kingdom, Japan and Hong Kong. The introduction of REVA electric cars to Sri Lanka presents a unique opportunity to escape from the inevitable consequences of declining world oil reserves which can be expected to result in high fuel import bills. The REVA electric car is a pollution-free vehicle which will also help mitigate the impact of adverse global trends such as global warming. The REVA electric car is an EU-certified car which attests to its quality, durability and roadworthiness and which has also enabled the REVA electric car to gain widespread international acceptance, particularly in developed markets. The Maini Group, from its humble beginnings as a firm manufacturing automotive components, has grown over the years to become a widely diversified, manufacturing-based conglomerate which is associated with leading global brands such as General Motors, Bosch and Volvo. |
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