Sam Bird To Join Panasonic Jaguar Racing for Formula E Season

Formula E

Leading Formula E driver Sam Bird joins the British team from season seven and the new world championship era of Formula E

Briton Sam Bird is the only driver to have won a race in each Formula E season

Multiple race winner Sam Bird joins Mitch Evans in one of the strongest driver line-ups in Formula E

Season seven starts in Santiago, Chile on 16 January 2021

23 July 2020, Whitley, UK: Briton Sam Bird has today been announced as the new Panasonic Jaguar Racing driver joining the race-winning team for season seven of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship.

The 33-year-old has competed in every Formula E race since the ground-breaking series started in 2014, securing nine wins to date. Bird, who started his successful racing career in 2002, went on to forge a successful record of results in the sport’s junior categories before a number of key Formula 1 roles including testing duties for Williams and reserve driver for Mercedes AMG Petronas from 2011 to 2013. In recent years Bird has tasted success in the FIA World Endurance Championship with Ferrari and the G-Drive Racing squad. 

In FIA Formula E, Bird is the only driver to have won a race in each season and has an impressive record of nine wins, 18 podiums, five poles and five fastest laps in 63 starts. The Poole based driver will get his first taste of the new Jaguar I-TYPE after the current season concludes next month in Berlin. His first race for the team will be on 16 January 2021 in Santiago, Chile.

James Barclay, Panasonic Jaguar Racing Team Director:

“On behalf of the entire Panasonic Jaguar Racing Formula E team and everyone at Jaguar we would like to welcome Sam to the family. Since the start of Formula E Sam has demonstrated that he is one of the very best drivers in the championship and we believe that together we will form a great partnership. With Mitch and Sam we believe that we have arguably one of the strongest driver line-ups on the grid. With extremely close competition it is clear that to be successful in Formula E you need two drivers who can be competing for podiums at every race. We now have two proven race winners that are capable of enabling us to challenge for both team and driver championship titles next season.”

Sam Bird:

“I am really looking forward to a new chapter in my Formula E career with Panasonic Jaguar Racing. I have watched Jaguar’s growth and progress in the series and am very proud to be driving for an iconic British brand with such a successful racing DNA and joining an incredible list of drivers that have raced for the brand. I am incredibly hungry for success and I believe that together with Mitch we can achieve great things for the team and ourselves. I want to thank Envision Virgin Racing for everything we have achieved together and wish them well for the future. After Berlin, I can’t wait to test the Jaguar I-TYPE and be in the best place possible for season seven and beyond.”

ABOUT PANASONIC JAGUAR RACING

Jaguar returned to racing in October 2016, becoming the first premium manufacturer to join the all-electric ABB FIA Formula E Championship street racing series. In 2019 the team won the Rome E-Prix – Jaguar’s first international motorsport victory since 1991.

Formula E is a real-world test bed for Jaguar to make fearless progress in the future of electrification.

As an official manufacturer team in Formula E, Panasonic Jaguar Racing designs its own powertrain, which includes the motor, transmission, inverter and rear suspension. To control costs the carbon fibre chassis and battery are common components and the same for all twelve teams. This allows the focus to be on developing electric vehicle powertrains which are efficient and lightweight which will improve the performance and range of future Jaguar Land Rover electric vehicles.

This is the second year teams will be racing with the futuristic Generation 2 racecars. Teams have two racecars, one per driver, which will be used for the full race distance.

Beyond its all-electric concept, Formula E is unique in the world of motorsport for its choice of venues. The championship takes place on temporary street circuits in the centre of the world’s major cities.

Tata Motors Provides Holistic Support to Truck Drivers and Fleet Operators for Seamless Supplies

Tata Motors, India’s largest commercial vehicle manufacturer, has been comprehensively supporting the transport ecosystem to ensure all necessary supplies remain uninterrupted and seamless, nationwide. Closely working with truck drivers, small transporters, mid-size transport operators and fleet owners amidst the unprecedented times, Tata Motors identified the existing and emerging pain points in every link of the transport value chain and partnered it to address them in the most effective and efficient manner. 

Partnering truck drivers and transporters:

* For frontline hero truck drivers transporting goods across the country, supplies of food, masks and sanitisers have been arranged at numerous ‘Saarthi Aaram Kendras’, across the entire Tata Motors operations network, and many other Indian Oil facilities located on the busiest national and state highways across the country. Several thousand truck drivers benefitted from the facilities and services offered.

* During the lockdown, a dedicated, 24x7 helpline 1800 209 7979 was set-up for truck drivers and transporters across the country. To speedily address the requests received, 900 emergency response teams were created and meticulously located in key transport hubs and corridors. These teams were manned by 4,000 trained and experienced technicians selected from Tata Motors extensive network of 1400 workshops nationwide and supported by 21 well-stocked warehouses with spare parts quickly accessible for fast turnaround of vehicles. Over 10,000 requests received for vehicle related assistance were promptly addressed to keep the wheels of supplies running.

 

* To provide requisite repairs and servicing support, workshops were made operational at the earliest possible with a new set of standard operating procedure (SOPs). These defined minimal interactions, maintaining prudent social distance, vehicle contact and sanitisation etc. while engaging with customers.

* Warranties of commercial vehicles expiring during the period of national lockdown have been extended. Similarly, timelines of Tata Suraksha annual maintenance contracts have also been extended for the benefit of customers

Speaking about the initiatives undertaken, Mr. R. Ramakrishnan, Global Head - Customer Care, CVBU, Tata Motors Limited said, “Truck drivers and transporters are frontline heroes as they have played a stellar role in ensuring that the wheels of the nation are kept running with seamless transportation of all supplies. Being India’s leading commercial vehicle manufacturer, a majority of them use our vehicles and we are their first port of call for assistance.  In these unprecedented times, we are the committed partner, providing all possible support to them and their vehicles. We have focused our efforts with a holistic approach to making their tough tasks and lives a little easier” 

Partnering supplier, dealers and fleet owners:

With the entire logistics sector hit hard due to a significant reduction in overall economic activity, Tata Motors Finance (TMF), a subsidiary of the Tata Motors Group engaged with 3,000 of its customers, across segments and vehicle applications, to understand the key issues being faced by them and accordingly extend assistance. Getting stranded vehicles operational, low fleet utilisation and challenge of operational viability due to minimal cash flow, emerged as the major areas of concern.

Understanding their difficult situation and cognizant that these were exacerbated by the unprecedented disruption caused by COVID-19, TMF extended the RBI moratorium on payment of EMIs to all its retail and corporate customers who opted for it. While it was amongst the first financiers to do so, additionally TMF has also developed and is offering a rich portfolio of customised options for its customers to avail basis their need and ability. These include:

Opex Funding to maintain liquidity in the value chain by taking care of fixed expenses for 3-4 months and service claims financing for dealers and suppliers.

Restructuring of loans of retail fleet customers for benefit from flexible EMIs by reducing current EMIs to a level in line with their current income levels and with provisions to step up EMIs once business normalises over next 6-9 months. This is for customers who come within the definition of MSMEs and are eligible under the prevalent scheme of RBI.

Working capital solutions for large fleet operators meet their obligations for the next few months. Funding is made available against collateral of their free vehicles or any other tangible collateral already available with TMF.

Bill Discounting Solutions for fleet operators to take care of increase in payment cycle from an average of 45 days Pre-COVID days to an anticipated level of 90 days going forward.

Developing Credit solutions that will be of immense benefit to retail fleet operators by providing much needed plying time liquidity and credit support. Customers can buy fuel, recharge their fastags, pay for scheduled expenses like vehicle service, insurance, permit-road tax etc.

New vehicle loans with low EMI levels for first 12 months. Also, bundled working capital loans with new vehicle loans with requisite collateral. Customers can navigate easily through the initial few months taken for the operations of a new vehicle to stabilize.

Speaking about the novel financing solutions being offered, Mr. Samrat Gupta, CEO, Tata Motors Finance said, “Being one of the large NBFCs operating in the country and as a committed captive commercial vehicle financer, our primary focus is to ensure economic success of all our stakeholders, especially our customers. In the aftermath of COVID, we have extensively engaged with them to understand their immediate challenges better and accordingly develop a range of solutions to address their need of liquidity for immediate survival and near term sustenance. This partnering amidst crisis has strengthened our relationships with our customers for the longer term.”

Will $1-b BSNL outsourcing deal impact 30,000 jobs?

Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) is planning to outsource the management and maintenance of its towers and cable networks to compete more effectively with private players like Bharti Airtel and Reliance Communications, which dominate the booming industry and also unlock the value of its assets, reports the Economic Times.

The deal, which could be worth more than $1 billion (Rs. 5,000 crore) over the next five years, might receive stiff resistance from about three lakh employees as it will impact close to 30,000 jobs. "The company plans to train and redeploy a significant section of these employees to marketing roles," informed two executives requesting anonymity, as many employees are expected to be transferred to the IT firms that win the outsourcing deal.

Through this deal, BSNL will outsource more than 50,000 towers and over one lakh kilometers of optic fibre cable. "The telecom company is in process of finalizing tender conditions for inviting bids for the contract," said these executives.

"The move will help BSNL unlock the value from its towers and passive infrastructure as the once monopoly tries to play catch up with private rivals," said BK Syngal, Senior Principal, Dua Consulting.

"Successful bidders for this contract can share company's networks with private players for a fee and this could result in a revenue boost for BSNL," added Syngal, who is also a former Chairman of VSNL (now Tata Communications).

Reliance Communications had formed a joint venture with Franco American networks major Alcatel-Lucent last year and outsourced the management of its GSM and CDMA networks and infrastructure such as optic fibre cable in a deal worth $500 million over a five year period. The deal had crossed $750 million mark in July 2009.

Bharti Airtel also entered into a $500 million joint venture with Alcatel-Lucent to manage its landline and broadband business in April 2009. Around 4,000 Airtel employees were transferred to this new venture, which is a front runner to bag another $500 million contract from Airtel to manage and maintain its 80,000 kilometers intercity optic fibre cable network.

BSNL had recently postponed plans to hive off its towers and other related infrastructure into a separate company. The company felt it would be difficult to unlock value by merely hiving off its infrastructure and listing it due to falling valuations for the tower sector, said the executives.

Agencies/Economic Times

Web 2.0 a hit with handset makers

Cell phone makers are increasingly pre-loading their handsets with social networking applications to woo Internet-savvy consumers.

LG Mobile has tied up with Mobile 2.0 service provider RockeTalk which will upload a social networking application on its phones. Similarly, Samsung Mobile has a tie-up with ShoZu, provider of mobile social media services, which has pre-loaded social networking software on select Samsung phones.

Says Samsung Mobile country head Sanjay Dutt: “Early next year, we plan to launch our own proprietary software for enabling social networking through mobiles. This will be preloaded on most Samsung multimedia phones. The idea is to enable users to stay connected while on the move.”

LG GSM business head Anil Arora: “Social networking is the next thing on mobile phones. In future, we plan to preload more mobile phone models with social networking application without any extra charge.”

The company currently pre-loads the application only on LG KT 610 and KF 750 cell phones.

According to handset marketers, social networking on mobiles is a hightraction feature in the urban market where youths form a big consumer group for handsets. Says Motorola India and South-West Asia senior director (sales) Lloyd Mathias: “Social networking is an important feature, especially in the urban market and can define the purchase decision. Today’s Internet savvy youths seek access to social networking sites on mobile phones.”

Motorola has social networking application pre-loaded on seven of its handset models, including all phones in the Moto Rokr and Moto Ming series.

Some handset makers are eagerly seeking a tie-up in the space. Says Meridian Mobile CEO Rajiv Khanna: “We see potential in this feature and are planning to make even our low-end phones internet-ready. Early next year, we will tie up with a local web 2.0 service provider and upload this feature in our phones at the shop-floor level.”

Service providers are spoilt for choice as manufacturers queue up seeking collaborations for pre-loading phones with social networking applications.

Says RockeTalk marketing director Sameer Agarwal: “Our application makes it easier for mobile users to send voice messages, pictures and videos. Social networking on mobiles is set to grow exponentially as mobile internet penetration increases.”

The US-based service provider claims to be in advanced stages of talks with handset makers--Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Samsung and Spice Mobile--for pre-loading web 2.0 applications.

Almost 10 million new handsets are sold in India every month, making it one of the biggest markets globally. No wonder, handset marketers like LG and Samsung are quick to adopt novel features to fuel sales.

Source: Agencies