BANGLAORE: Hyundai Eon, the new small car launched by the Korean auto major on Thursday, has set the small-car segment in India on fire. With its attractive price, ranging between Rs 2.69 lakh and Rs 3.71 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi), the car seems to be pitted against other brands in this segment, namely Maruti's Alto and A-Star, Honda Brio, Chevrolet Spark and Tata Indica.

Sensing the competition, Maruti Suzuki recently introduced limited editions of its highest-selling brand Alto, under the new name Alto Xplore. It loaded the car with new features such as an advanced double-din stereo with USB and Bluetooth, new body graphics, outside rear view mirrors (ORVMs) and sporty roof spoiler.

Alto is priced between Rs 2.32 lakh and Rs 3.17 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi) and is the best selling car, averaging about 20,000 units a month.

The Alto, with 3.47 lakh cars sold last fiscal year, accounted for around 16% of all cars sold in India and is the top selling car model on the planet, having edged Volkswagen's Gol & Golf and Fiat's Punto. Hyundai aims to sell 1.5 lakh units of the Eon in a year, an ambitious target in a tepid car market and also given that the Alto took almost four years after launch to reach this level of unit sales.

Eon has been launched in six variants - D-Lite, D-Lite (O), Era, Magna, Magna (O) and Sportz. The top-end variant comes with features such as music system, driver airbag, central locking, air conditioning, power windows and power steering.

Hyundai has invested Rs 900 crore on the development and production facilities of the latest entrant in the small car segment.

Hyundai's most ambitious launch to date comes at a time Maruti has temporarily stopped Alto's production because of a longstanding labour issues, now running into its third month, and which has left the country's biggest carmaker dependent on a slender inventory to drive sales during the bumper festive period.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks opened higher on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 on track for its sixth day of gains in the past seven, on optimism Slovakia would reach a deal to expand the euro zone rescue fund.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> gained 65.13 points, or 0.57 percent, to 11,481.43. The S&P 500 <.SPX> added 8.87 points, or 0.74 percent, to 1,204.41. The Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> rose 20.61 points, or 0.80 percent, to 2,603.64.

Internet firm Yahoo is moving close to offloading stake in its Japanese business, Yahoo Japan, ahead of the conclusion of its wider strategic review, possibly within weeks, a report said.

"Yahoo moving closer to shedding its stake in Yahoo Japan," the Financial Times has reported.

Yahoo’s 35% stake in the Japanese business, which has a market value of about USD 19 billion and net cash of USD 2 billion, is seen as an asset the company could dispose of relatively quickly, simplifying its strategic alternatives.

Various advisers are helping Yahoo consider its options including how the company could sell its Japanese stake.

"Goldman Sachs and Allen & Co are advising Yahoo in considering its overall options. But other advisers, including UBS, are exploring how the company could sell its Japanese stake," it noted.

A deal to divest the stake in Yahoo Japan could facilitate a sale of the remainder of the business. The transaction could happen ahead of the conclusion of the broader strategic review, possibly within weeks, with the sale of the Yahoo Japan stake seen as removing one complication around the parent company, the daily noted.

Yahoo is less likely to sell its Yahoo Japan stake to US investors, according to the Financial Times. It would explore a different structure that would allow
the company or the Japanese telecommunications and media company Softbank that owns about 40% of Yahoo Japan, to raise money against the stake and buy out Yahoo in a tax-efficient manner, it added.

With takeover speculation swirling around Yahoo, which dismissed previous chief executive Carol Bartz last month, discussions with potential buyers of the whole company have begun.

Last month, an internal memo sent by Yahoo chairman Roy Bostock and co-founders David Filo and Jerry Yang to their employees had sparked rumours about a possible sale of the Internet company.

In the memo, Yahoo said that a "strategic review" process was on to bring the company back to robust growth path and multiple parties have "expressed interest in a number of potential options."

Last week, the media report cited Chinese internet company Alibaba Group's head Jack Ma as saying he is "interested" in buying Yahoo. Yahoo holds nearly 40% stake in the Chinese Internet group.

Besides, the US company is being approached by private equity firms such as Silver Lake for a potential deal. Earlier, there were several failed attempts by technology giant Microsoft to acquire Yahoo

NEW DELHI: The decision to acquire 111 planes by Air India through debt was "a recipe for disaster" and should have raised alarm in the government, the Comptroller and Auditor General has said. 

Terming the move for getting of a "large number" of planes as "risky", the CAG said the aircraft acquisition had "contributed predominantly" to the airline's massive debt liability of Rs 38,423 crore as on March 31 last year. 

In its latest report tabled in Parliament today, the public audit body also called the merger of two erstwhile state-run carriers--Air India and Indian Airlines-- "ill-timed" and said that "the financial case for the merger was not adequately validated prior to the merger". 

"The entire acquisition (for both Air India and Indian Airlines) was to be funded through debt (to be repaid through revenue generation), except for a relatively small equity infusion of Rs 325 crore for Indian Airlines.

"This was a recipe for disaster ab initio and should have raised alarm signals in Ministry of Civil Aviation, Public Investment Board and the Planning Commission", the report said. 

Significantly, the CAG recommended, among other measures, "a total hands-off approach (by the government) with regard to the management of the airline". 

The report dealt with several aspects of the ailing national carrier's losses, fleet acquisition, merger, huge debt burden, delay in joining the global airline grouping Star Alliance and its financial and operational performance. 

Noting that the fleet acquisition process took an "unduly long time", the CAG said the initial proposal was made in December 1996 and its examination continued "in fits and starts" till January 2004 when a plan was made to buy 28 planes, which was revisited and later a decision taken to acquire 68 aircraft. 

It said the revised plan saw "a dramatic increase" in the number of planes to be purchased and maintained that the sequence of events up to November 2004 clearly demonstrated that the pre-merger AI "hastily reworked" its earlier plan. 

"This increase in numbers does not withstand audit scrutiny, considering the market requirements obtaining then or forecast for the future, as also the commercial viability projected to justify the acquisition. The acquisition appears to be supply-driven", the report said. 

Commenting on the "speed" at which the acquisition process for 68 aircraft proceeded, it said while the first plan took eight years to decide on 28 planes, "between August 2004 and December 2005, the proposals were formulated by AI, approved by the Board, examined and approved by the MoCA, the Planning Commission, the Department of Expenditure, Public Investment Board, empowered Group of Ministers and also the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs". 

Observing that many assumptions for the revised plan were "flawed", the CAG said the negotiation process was "irregular and adversely affected the transparency of the process". 

Maintaining that "no benchmarks" relating to comparable prices and commercial intelligence were set, it said, "Consequently, in the absence of such benchmarks, the effectiveness and efficacy of negotiations and the reasonableness of the price arrived at is difficult to ascertain".