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Toyota–Maruti Realignment Reshapes Auto Future
Aditya Kondejkar The recent strategic announcements from Toyota and Maruti Suzuki mark the most significant supply-side shift in India’s auto sector in years. Both companies—already deeply linked through product sharing, technology exchange, and electrification strategies—are now doubling down on India as a long-term manufacturing hub.
Their parallel yet complementary decisions signal three major structural shifts: India’s rising importance in global automotive supply chains, the pivot toward future-ready platforms, and an attempt to stabilize costs amid global supply volatility.
Sources: Reuters Read The Article Read the Article
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Ashok Leyland Takes Major Step Toward EV Leadership
Aditya Kondejkar Ashok Leyland’s move to develop and assemble its own battery packs marks one of its most strategically significant announcements in recent years. As India transitions toward a cleaner, multi-fuel commercial mobility ecosystem, this decision places the company at the center of the country’s electric commercial vehicle (ECV) transformation. The implications extend across technology, cost structure, competitive positioning, and long-term industry dominance.
At the core, battery packs account for 35–45% of an electric vehicle’s total cost, making them the single most influential factor in pricing and margins. By internalizing battery pack development, Ashok Leyland is aiming to break its dependence on third-party suppliers, reduce bill-of-materials cost, and secure tighter control over the EV value chain. This is crucial as global cell prices fluctuate and supply chains remain vulnerable to geopolitical shifts. In-house pack assembly gives the company cost stability, greater design flexibility, and freedom to optimize packs specifically for Indian duty cycles—ranging from stop-and-go urban e-buses to long-haul e-LCVs and future heavy-duty platforms.
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First Country To Ban Sale of Gas Cars Doing Fine
In 2024, Ethiopia made history by becoming the first country in the world to ban the sale and import of new internal combustion-powered vehicles. The decision was based on several factors, but, surprisingly, environmental reasons were quite low on the list.
The major reason for this seemingly bizarre action was economics. As a poor country with no oil reserves, Ethiopia was importing US$ 4 billion of refined fuel every year – US$ 4 billion may not seem like a big number, but to a country whose total budget is only US$ 14 billion, it’s massive.
The second major reason behind the decision was the completion of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) which brings in massive amounts of energy to this energy poor country (it doubled the country’s generating capacity).
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Tesla Committing Automotive Suicide
Guy Youngs Following its Q4 2025 financial update, Tesla appears to be pivotally shifting away from its identity as a traditional automaker. By phasing out the Model S and X to focus on ‘Transportation as a Service,’ leadership is betting heavily on an autonomous-first business model.
And instead of building on that success, expanding into new segments, addressing affordability, and competing with the flood of new EVs from legacy automakers and Chinese competitors, the company that revolutionized the auto industry is walking away from it.
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India–Indonesia Auto Relationship Gains Strength
Aditya Kondejkar The evolving automotive relationship between India and Indonesia is increasingly defined by structured, government-linked procurement and industrial collaboration rather than routine export activity. Recent transactions involving Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, and Ashok Leyland signal a measurable expansion of India’s commercial vehicle footprint in Southeast Asia’s largest economy.
Indonesia’s infrastructure expansion, rural logistics formalization, and cooperative-based distribution programs have generated concentrated demand for light and medium commercial vehicles. Unlike fragmented retail-driven sales, these programs are characterized by bulk institutional procurement, creating predictable order pipelines and scale efficiencies for suppliers. Indian manufacturers, with established competencies in cost-optimized, durable vehicle platforms suited to emerging market operating conditions, have been able to secure sizeable allocations.
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