Indian Autos blog

We always knew that Ford was planning something with the Ikon which was long in the tooth. It was not discontinued even though its sales reached an all time low and even its larger sibling,the Fiesta outselling it.

With the lower midsize hotting up with the advent of the Tata Indigo CS,the Swift Dzire which have got off to a great start,Ford is vying for a piece of the pie as well.So what better way to do it than renew the Ikon?

The big news however comes in the form of an all new 1.4 diesel which has carved out a niche for itself in the Fiesta and has a great reputation for outstanding fuel economy.Also,the reason for the shelving of the Fiesta 1.4 seems to be lucid now.Ford wants the Ikon to cater to those who want a smaller engine.

It is still not clear whether the Ikon will get the 1.3 ROCAM or the Fiesta’s 1.4 DuraTec petrol. The Ikon’s party piece was its on road dynamics and these are expected to remain intact which is great news for enthusiasts. Its likely to be priced at around Rs 5 lacs which would surely give stiff competition to its rivals.

We will bring you the road test as soon as the car is launched.Till then, bookmark www.indianautosblog.com and visit regularly.

BMW is planning a grand revival plan for the 7series with the all new model to be launched soon internationally.The earlier E65 has recorded lowest sales ever and this makes for a strong point to launch the new 7 series soon.The all new & series is based on the BMW CS concept which was unveiled to the public at the Shanghai motor show in April this year.

Though the show car was a stunner,the 7 sports toned down styling (as all the concepts nowdays bear a few like the Scirocco,Ford Fiesta).The controversial ‘Flame Surface’ styling used in the 4th gen 7 which left the cash registers at Mercedes Benz ringing,has been toned down in the all new 7.The good news is that,BMW is planning to bring in the all new 7 to India early next year.

Toyota Kirloskar Motor said that it would double its investment in India to INR 2,800 crore as part of the launch of strategic small car in the country by 2010. Toyota Motor’s Senior Managing Director Akira Okabe said at the foundation stone laying ceremony of its second plant here that “We will double the investment in the future, which will go up to INR 2,800 crore from INR 1,400 crore”.  [ Read More ]

Kinetic motors to form a joint venture with Mahindra & Mahindra for manufacturing two wheelers. Kinetic motors have been going under losses for quite a few years now. This quarter they incurred a net loss of INR 18 crore which is marginally less than the last quadrant of the previous year which is INR 19.75 crore. The Mumbai based auto major has been in talks with kinetic motors for quite  [ Read More ]

At a time when Car makers are cutting costs and development times in designing new cars and going virtual, BMW has done the unthinkable! They have spent some time in their Wind tunnel designing Crash Helmets!! Many would know that some minnows in the F1 grid lack such facilities and borrow others’ wind tunnels for development work!! The aerodynamic outer shell, EPS inner shell, aero-acoustic liner, visor quality, chin strap  [ Read More ]

Daihatsu, which was known for making small cars, had released a SUV sometime back and has even updated it. Well, to my eyes atleast, it looks like a blatant rip off. The front looks like the parts of the Toyota RAV4 have been taken and fixed and coming to the side profile and the rear section,it looks like Suzuki Grand Vitara!! Earlier this year, Shuanghuan was banned for selling its  [ Read More ]

India’s leading commercial vehicles manufacturer Ashok Leyland will be renamed Hinduja Motors, a long time after the Hinduja group took ownership of the company in early 1987. However, when the change will occur is not clear yet and we expect this to happen very shortly. This is a big turnaround of sorts as the name bears historic significance. Some news from Ashok Leyland- Hinduja Group flagship Ashok Leyland on 28th  [ Read More ]

The SX4 was first developed as a compact car jointly by Suzuki and Fiat and was introduced at the 2006 Geneva Motor Show. The car began production at the Japanese company’s Hungary plant. Fiat simultaneously sells the same car, rebadged as the Sedici, in several global markets. According to sources in Fiat India, the SX4′s success in this market has meant that Fiat is not looking to launch the Sedici  [ Read More ]