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With a view to establish the Etios brand under which the company will be selling its hatchback in the Indian market, Toyota has announced that it has partnered with the Indian Golf Union to sponsor the National junior Golf Tour as the Toyota Etios Tour 2010.

The company has globally been a supporter of Golf but in India this is the first time the company has entered into sponsoring sports events. In fact, it is believed that this junior tournament will also play a major role in discovering potential Olympians to represent India at the 2016 Olympic Games.

The domestic market leader that sells one in two cars in the Indian market has missed the forecast for the fourth quarter after being hit by lower margins and higher input costs.

In fact, the company has filed a net profit of 6.56 billion rupees ($148.1 million) for the fourth quarter ended March which is decent enough as compared to the 2.43 billion rupees earned a year earlier.

However, analysts were expecting even more surge as far as the net profits of the company are concerned. The company has even filed a fall in the operating margins of the company by around 200 basis points.

After the government has initiated its trial process of the Unique Identification program in the country, over 12 companies matching the likes of Tata Consultancy Services, Bartronics, Mahindra Satyam, Spanco and Geodesic, have shown interest and filed their Expressions of Interest (EoIs) pertaining to implementation of biometric solution for the UID project.

With a view to make India as its hub for small car exports, the Japanese carmaker Nissan has begun trial exports of its global compact car Micra from its plant at Chennai. Notably, the company inaugurated its new plant in the southern region last month in the presence of its global chief Carlos Ghosn.

Moreover, after Hyundai announced its plans for making India small car hub, Nissan will be the second global automaker to do so in the domestic market.

Following the 20% stake that Volkswagen group picked up in Suzuki Motor Corporation last year, it has been reported that the European automaker may just start making use of the deal in the Indian market.

The recent media reports claim that Volkswagen may use the Ritz and the new WagonR platform of Maruti Suzuki with a view to produce cars under the Volkswagen or the Skoda brands in the domestic market. In fact, sources believe that the company may also be looking at sourcing DDIS (diesel) and K-series engine (petrol) for the products from thee domestic market leader.

After the Consumer Complaints Council (CCC) of the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) has upheld objections towards the six advertisement, namely, Dabur Chyawan Junior, Maruti SX4, Shanti Badam Amla Hair Oil, Tata AIG Insurance, IMS CAT Approach Program and Mahindra Flyte Power Scooter, it is believed that the changes will be made accordingly.