2 Koch Industries
Last year Koch was the only company to bump Cargill off its sales throne in the past decade, but is back at #2. There’s no business too unlovable for Koch. Its portfolio includes refining, chemicals, plastics and textiles. The cleaner side designs, manufactures and sells pollution-control equipment.
3 Chrysler
It’s been a rough year for Chrysler, which had a brief stay in bankruptcy protection in 2009. Italian automaker Fiat holds a minority stake that could increase. The Auburn Hills, Mich. automaker still generates more than $47 billion in sales.

4 GMAC Financial Services
Subprime supergoat GMAC became a bank holding company to receive a chunk of the $700 billion federal bailout package in December. The Geithner stress test also compelled it to raise $11.5 billion of capital. The former General Motors financing arm is busy in remodeling mode. It has been heavily marketing its online bank called Ally.

5 Bechtel
The largest privately held heavy-construction firm has been run by the Bechtel family since it was founded a century ago. Current projects include a 13-mile rail tunnel under London and a 1,180-megawatt nuclear plant in Tennessee.

6 Mars
The snack food giant behind M&M’s, Snickers and other sweets also makes Uncle Ben’s rice and Pedigree pet products. Mars bought Wrigley’s chewing gum business for $23 billion in 2008 with $4.4 billion in debt from Berkshire Hathaway.
7 HCA
The Hospital Corporation of America runs 163 hospitals and 112 outpatient facilities. Medicare and Medicaid programs account for half of its $28 billion in revenue. Obamacare will expand the customer base but will likely curtail its prices.

PricewaterhouseCoopers
The international number crunchers at PricewaterhouseCoopers had the largest slide in our top ten, falling three places to #8. PwC cites foreign-exchange fluctuations for the 7% sales decline.

Publix Super Markets
The largest employee-owned supermarket chain in the U.S. operates 1,000 stores in the Southeast. The $24 billion (sales) company opened one outlet a week in 2008.

Ernst & Young
The 13% year-over-year sales loss was not enough to boot the New York accountancy out of the top ten, but it did drop in position–the second of two companies to do so.

Returning to London again, Shah appears to have no boundaries as a producer and director, shifting genre’s like a chameleon to showcase his creative expertness. London Dreams, might be the most rewarding wait for movie audiences this year.

The story takes two childhood friends who want to be rock stars to London obviously. Start a band called London Dreams, the two friends, played by Salman Khan and Ajay Devgan, act out a drama the drama that often unfolds when love, ambition, sacrifice and the world become part of life’s equation. Their friendship is ripped at more so by them both falling in love with a dancer in their band, played by Asin, than from all other conflicting frictions of life in the fast lane. From the trailer, it is easy to see the film is being painted with the broad stroke of passion and intense conflict that can only happen between people who really care about one another.

London Dreams stars on location

Other news reveals that T series, India’s music giant, has acquired the rights to the soundtrack of London Dreams to add to their massive collection. The production crew has also created a Facebook aspect where people can view the cast on location and catch some inside info about the making of the movie. Also, rumors of Khan wooing the affections of co-star Asin abound obviously, even to the point of his buying her a flat, but nothing has as yet been confirmed.

Regardless of the natural gossip and hype destined to surround the film before release, one thing seems certain, the all star production should entice millions to view its opening, which apparently has been postponed several times. For the record, this film will probably propell Asin past many of her competing actresses in popularity in my opinion. As for Kahn and the others, their positions seems solidified.

As a branding and PR move, the Murati obviously intends a re-brand for the improved version of the popular vehicle. Nothing like fresh makeup when releasing a newer product is there? The 998 cc, three cylinder engine of the new Estilo makes for far better fuel efficiency plus boosts the car’s performance and emissions numbers as well, according to the company. Dropping the “Zen” designation was apparently the result of some research into how young people in India identify with the car company and names in general. If that is true, Suzuki is not only hitting the engineering drawing board hard, but the customer psychology as well.

Estilo’s are to be manufactured at the Gurgaon plant where Manutu Suzuki’s “A-Star” and “Ritz” models are currently manufactured. These highly successful lines of cars for India, represent one of the most profitable automotive ventures of this year, in an industry hit hard by the economic downturn. Suzuki technology seems determined, with these new, highly efficient small engines, to take internal combustion dynamics to the next level, in India and across their global operations.

The smaller 3 cylinder Estilo engines are the latest examples of research and development by the company to “push the limit” as far as it can be. The new car is purported to dliver economy along the lines of 18.2 km per litre. The company has also grabbed more land to build what is reported to be a stand alone research and developmnt center near the existing plant. Some 3 to 4 thousand units are expected to be sold per month to start with, and incremental production increases are slated to meet what is expected to be a very high demand for the powerful little model. Last year’s sales disaster for the company would be ancient memory if the India market takes off in a love affair with these highly advanced, inexpensive models.

If India is being used as a test market for the new Suzuki models, this would show that at least one Japanese car company has put their thinking cap on. The company said it plans to export the new models once demand in India helps ramp up production and the prospectus for overseas markets. As a final note, unlike some PR firms we have reviewed in the past, hehehe, Maruti Suzuki seems to take their online branding pretty serious too. I looked for some images of the new car and found a really cool and usefull website designed specifically for this line of vehicles. The reader should check it out. The image below shows me paining my new Estilio with splashes of color from my umbrella drink no less, subliminal messages for young Indian couples?

SERVER2

SERVER 3