Insurance premiums for imported cars could cost 50 percent more than the premium for a locally manufactured vehicle of similar value, largely because of the cost of vehicle parts, according to research by short term insurer Mutual & federal (M&F).

However, Manny de Canha, the chief executive of Associated Motor Holdings (AMH), South Africa’s biggest vehicle importer, said there was “no truth” in the M&F claims.

De Canha said he had challenged the short-tern insurer on its view but he was not provided with anything to substantiate the company’s claims, according to media reports on the Internet.

He said AMH was doing a survey on its parts every year to make sure it was competitive, and this was supported by the independent Kinsey parts pricing survey.

“If this was the case, we would not gain market share and people would not buy our cars,” he said. “We [importers] are gaining market share and 40 percent to 45 percent of vehicles sold are imports.”

Keith Kennedy, executive general manager for claims at M&F, voiced concern about the rising costs of automotive repairs and the impact on premiums.

He said the effect of repair costs on motor insurance premiums could encourage car buyers to consider the total cost of ownership when buying a new vehicle.

A South Korean auto worker who misplaced his wallet last year while at work has been reunited with it after it turned up at a car dealership in New York State, according to a local report. Factory inspector J.W. Joh was checking the wiring on a vehicle at the Seoul assembly plant of General Motors and Daewoo several months ago when the wallet apparently fell under the back seat of the car.

By the time Joh realized his wallet was missing, the car was on its way to a container terminal, from where it was shipped to California.

It was then transported across the US to New York by Journey of more than 13,000km.

The market in India is slowly shifting from smaller to bigger cars.

The Maruti 800 used to have a 42% market share nine years ago in India.

It is now down to just 7% last year while the sales period increased from 17% to 27%.

Many who had bought small cars replaced them with bigger ones and still bigger and better ones a few years later.

This awareness, the sheer size and fast growth of the Indian auto market has triggered a dizzy rush of new car launches.

BMW inaugurated its new plant in March for their locally assembled 3 and 5 series of saloons.

This was followed by the setting up of Fiat’s new plant, in collaboration with Tata Motors for the Palio Stilo and Renault’s new plant with Mahindra and mahindra to make their Logan.

During this period, Maruti launched this period, Maruti launched this new Zen and more recently their SX4 saloon.

Porsche introduced their new Cayenne SUV and Nissan launched their luxury Teana model. It was almost a launch a week.

Nearly all the global auto makers are now in India and Nissan too will soon have a plant with Mahindra & Renault.

Among the smaller saloons, old models like Ambassador, Esteem, Ikon, Accent and Lancer are bigger and more comfortable saloons like the Chevrolet Aveo, Tata Indigo, Ford Fiesta and Verna which have sailed past many good older models.

The car market in India is very competitive and is keeping prices from rising and the new models are only expanding the market.

Undoubtedly, these new saloons will have more powerful and efficient engines. People do not want raw power but are learning that small is no longer beautiful and less shuffling of gears.

They also know that as bigger engines can drive smoothly in higher gear, they can actually use less fuel.

Electronics have made a big but subtle difference.

Modern cars have more chips in them and engines work at optimum efficiency responding to heat, oxygen levels, road and load and do not stall at low speeds.

As competition in India gets built up to unprecedented levels in the car market, one segment has remained untouched-that of entry-level small cars.

But that’s all set to change in 2009, with 6 cars priced about $3,000 gets ready to take off the design tables.

The first launch will be that of Tata Motors’ much-talked-about $2,500 car. Nissan and Renault are unveiling plans for a $3,000 car for Indian roads.

Hero Group, Bajaj Auto and Maruti Suzuki are also planning super cheap small car in India.

Russian logistic company Sunflower has signed a contract to buy 300 trucks from Volvo Trucks in Russia, according to recent media reports on the Internet.

The contract includes financing for all the trucks through Volvo Financial Services and contributes further to the rapid sales growth in Russia.

Sunflower is one of the biggest transport companies in the Russian car transportation, forwarding, storage, and customs clearance. Sunflower is expanding its fleet in order to meet the fast-growing market for passenger cars in Russia.

This far-reaching order shows that Volvo Trucks is the most attractive business partner for advanced transport companies in Russia.

Last year, Volvo trucks sales in Russia almost doubled to 2,500 new units and the strong growth has continued in 2007.

By tradition, there has also been a considerable import of used trucks from Western Europe (about 5,000 used Volvo trucks were imported in 2006), but Russian customers are now increasingly demanding new vehicles.

Today about 31,000 Volvo trucks roll on Russian roads, corresponding to 23 percent of the total foreign-make heavy trucks fleet. This makers Volvo by far the largest foreign brand in Russian market.