FIAT PALIO THE CAR OF THE YEAR 2002" AT THE CNBC AUTOCAR AUTO AWARDS

FIAT PALIO THE CAR OF THE YEAR 2002" AT THE CNBC AUTOCAR AUTO AWARDS

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News from CNBC India

FIAT PALIO THE CAR OF THE YEAR 2002" AT THE CNBC AUTOCAR AUTO AWARDS

Pune, feb, 2002: Indias leading corporate & business channel - CNBC India in association with Autocar -- the magazine for the auto industry, Good Year -- the worlds largest tyre manufacturer & Amaron Hi Life Batteries announced the various winners for the CNBC Autocar Auto Awards at a grand ceremony held at the Taj Palace, New Delhi on January 14, 2002.

Mr. Manohar Joshi, Union Minister for Heavy Industries was the chief guest for the occasion and The Brand Ambassador for Fiat Palio -- Sachin Tendulkar was present at the event.

CNBC anchor, Mini Menon, hosted the event. Among the different categories presented, the award that evoked the most excitement was the Car of the Year" Award. Fiat Palio emerged as the winner of the night with two awards to its name. Palio not only won in the Best Car Of The Year" category but also the Best Value For Money Award."

The winner in the category Best Drivers Car" and Best Looks & Styling" went to Ford Mondeo. Mercedes C-Class surfaced as the Most Technologically Advanced" car, amongst the eight others. The award for the Most improved car of the Year" was given to Tata Indica. Maruti 800 was felicitated in the Auto Awards Hall of Fame" category. Hyundai Motors Pvt. Ltd. won the Manufacturer of the Year"

Mr. Patrick Fuller, the International publisher of Autocar, U.K. made a presentation on The International Auto Awards". This was then followed by the felicitation of the Jury -- Dilip Chhabria -- Leading Car Designer, Manvendra Singh -- Leading Historian on Automobiles in India, Navaz Bhathena -- Indias Leading lady Driver, N. Leelakrishnan -- Indian National Rally Champion, Hormazd Sorabjee -- Editor Autocar India, Shapur Kotwal -- Associate Editor Autocar India & Rajeev Khanna who appraised the eight cars at the occasion.

Mr. Manohar Joshi, the chief guest gave a speech on the occasion before the final category awards could be announced. Music band Indian Ocean" enthralled the audience with their renditions. The event ended with a successful note and is now a part of the Annual Auto Expo in Delhi.

About CNBC India
CNBC India is a tribute to Indias growing importance on the international business radar. A service of Dow Jones and NBC brought to India by the joint venture between Television Eighteen and CNBC Asia, the channel is the new Indian face of the worldwide leader in business news. CNBC India has carved out a strong niche that is growing everyday, fuelled by a growing corporate and business culture and the burgeoning community of active investors. The channel has inherent content development capabilities and a number of firsts that are yet to be emulated -- coverage of stock markets from the opening trade to the closing quote, the live 24-hour stock market ticker, corporate result exclusives, Hindi business news bulletins.

About Autocar
Autocar India, now over two years old, has set the pace for automotive journalism in India. Autocar UK, is a 105 year old magazine, which is as old as the car itself! Autocar UK belongs to the Haymarket Group UK, publisher of over 100 titles worldwide including the world's first car magazine. Autocar India has consistently been the first publication to break stories and has become a 'must-read publication by giving the reader information they simply cannot find elsewhere, every month. Autocar India has come to be recognised as an authority on road testing. Our verdicts are the benchmark by which cars are judged. Our testing standards conform to those of Autocar (UK) which incidentally invented the road test concept 75 years ago. Autocar India is also privileged to be the only publication in India to be given exclusive first rights to analyse and publish all the JD Power Reports on Customer Satisfaction, Sales Satisfaction, Initial Quality and consumer finance.

About Goodyear India Ltd.
Goodyear is the largest tyre manufacturer in the world. Today, Goodyear develops, manufactures tyres as well as engineered rubber products and chemicals in more than 90 facilities in 30 countries. Goodyear has marketing operations covering almost every country around the world.

Goodyear in India today manufactures and markets radial and bias tyres for most applications. With plants at Aurangabad (Goodyear South Asia Tyres Pvt. Limited) and Ballabhgarh (Haryana), Goodyear is a leading player in passenger segment both in OE and replacement segments. Goodyear India's range of products produced in both plants is marketed through a chain of exclusive Goodyear Tyre Centres and loyal multi-brand dealers.. And currently Goodyear is the first and only tyre company to manufacture, sell tubeless radial tyres for the small, mid-size and luxury cars produced in India. In the passenger radial segment Goodyear currently enjoys an estimated share of over 16 %.

About Amara Raja Batteries:
Amara Raja Batteries Limited (ARBL), an Amara Raja-Johnson Controls Company with 26% equity from Johnson Controls is the technology leader in the Indian storage battery industry and the leading player in standby VRLA batteries. In India ARBL is the preferred supplier to major telecom MNCs, like Siemens, Lucent, Alcatel, VSNL, and Indian Railways, besides a host of companies in segments like power, oil & gas and UPS systems. In the automotive segment ARBL supplies batteries exclusively to Ford, General Motors, DaimlerChrysler; and preferentially to Hindustan Motors,Telco, Mahindra & Mahindra, Ashok Leyland, Telco and Swaraj Mazda. The ARBL scrip is actively traded on BSE, NSE and HSE.

For Further details contact:

Sameer Ranade
9823066106