SKF India, the largest supplier of automotive bearings, has announced the postponement of its new manufacturing facility at Haridwar, which was to be set up at a cost of Rs 150 crore. 

Rakesh Makhija, Managing Director, SKF India stated “We have decided to postpone work at the Haridwar plant due to a slowdown in market demand. However, there is not much impact on the demand for industrial products and our Rs 300-crore investment in the other plant at Ahmedabad, which will make equipment for the industrial sector, is on track. The plant will be operational next year.”

Berlin - Automobile manufacturer Opel said Friday it was seeking credit guarantees from the German government, following a sharp downturn in orders.

Sources told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa the company was looking for some 200 million euros (252 million dollars) in support from Berlin and the four German states where it has factories.

An Opel spokesman said the company would only make use of the guarantees if the situation of its parent General Motors (GM) deteriorated to the effect that production and project development at the German subsidiary was affected.

Brussels - The European Commission on Friday threatened to refer the United States to the World Trade Organization (WTO) over Washington's plans to subsidize its ailing car industry.

"Of course, if it is illegal state aid, we will act at the WTO level," Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso told French radio station Europe 1.

Berlin  - The German government threw down a gauntlet Thursday to both luxury carmaker Porsche and the European Commission, with Parliament in Berlin passing new legislation to cement state rights over Volkswagen.

Porsche has announced it will own just under 75 per cent of the giant car manufacturer when options fall due next year. A German state, Lower Saxony, owns just over 20 per cent of Volkswagen.

Washington - Democratic leaders in Congress said Thursday they do not expect to pass an immediate bail-out for the struggling US auto industry, citing opposition from Republican legislators.

Christopher Dodd, a Democratic senator from Connecticut who chairs the Senate Banking Committee, said his party did not have the support for legislation to help the nation's three largest automakers, which are struggling to remain afloat amid a sharp downturn in car sales.

Berlin - German premium-car rivals BMW and Daimler are mulling plans to combine more of their parts purchasing operations, including industrial buying in China and the United States, a news report said Wednesday.

Together, the two companies can exert heavy pressure on supplier companies to obtain lower prices for components.

In its Thursday issue, the newspaper Handelsblatt was to quote BMW chief purchasing officer Herbert Diess saying, "we are talking about bundling our purchasing activities in certain markets such as China and the United States."