Indian Autos blog

While strolling around at a nearby Tata dealership to have first-hand updates of the Tata Nano and the Limited edition Indica – release and the lot, my eyes inadvertently came across a rather strange looking red car, that demanded a second glimpse.

Got closer and walked around the car, I couldn’t help but notice its compact size and the nostalgic Italian roots for, its as Italian as Pasta. Side on, you just cant ignore the multi-spoke alloys and the way it blends into the entire car’s exterior appeal. Boy, the Italians always get it right! Somehow it had the charm and appeal, none of the other cars in the stable had.

Obviously, I just couldn’t keep staring at the car from outside, so i decided to hop in. Open the door and you are welcomed by the trademark ‘Fiat door opening thud’ noise. The entire six foot one inch of me could get into a car effortlessly.

Porsche has revealed that it is planning to introduce its new Diesel variant of its sports utility vehicle Cayenne to India.

The new Porsche Cayenne Diesel is not likely to come anytime soon to the Middle East and Asia, but talks are underway with the Germany’s Porsche executive panel to attempt to secure the vehicle for India, Porsche said in a statement.

Porsche has already begun the production of Cayenne Diesel at Leipzig in Germany and would be initially available in only selected European markets from February 2009.

* The Cayenne diesel will come with a powerful 3-litre V6 Turbo diesel engine with power of 240 Bhp (176 kW) and a peak torque of 550Nm.
* Engine is provided by subsidiary company Audi AG.
* The Cayenne diesel uses 9.3 liters Diesel per 100 kilometers and its CO2 emissions are 244 Grams/Km. Average mileage is 10.7 Kmpl. (Comparable to any fuel efficient SUV!)

This is IAB’s coverage of the mega event-Baja SAE India 2009. We will feature all the teams that are going to take part in the competition. Schedule and Coverage Format of the event is discussed in this post.

The Tata Nano, as we all know has faced a King’s share of political reality in the recent past. In a rare first, the Tata Nano made itself visible to a group of people residing in the hilly town of Gopeshwar in Chameli district, to taste road reality! Residents of Gopeshwar got a rare glimpse of the Rs 1 lakh Tata Nano car parked on a roadside.

Here’s solid proof that will confirm the Fiat Linea’s presence in Tata Motors’ dealerships in the country. Information was sketchy until now, and a lot of uncertainty on whether or not Lineas had arrived to the showrooms existed, which is cleared by this video.

You can see a Red colored Fiat Linea with stickers on the doors. It’s probably the demo car which will be displayed at the showroom where it was spotted a few days from now.

The 2nd edition of BAJA SAE INDIA will be held from Jan 30th to Feb 2nd at NATRAX (National Automobile Test Tracks) facility of NATRIP (National Automotive Testing R&D infrastructure project) in Peethampur, Indore. There is a dedicated facility and a separate dirt Motocross track where the ultimate Endurance Race takes place. (Very similar to Le-Mans with 58 buggies but lasts only 4 hours!).

The best part is that, IAB will feature all the teams taking part in the competition and the main event itself.

“Baja SAE India consists of competitions that simulate real-world engineering challenges. Students as a team are tasked to design, build, test, promote and race an off-road vehicle that will survive the severe punishment of rough terrain.

The vehicle must be safe, easily transported, easily maintained and fun to drive. The objective of the competition is to provide SAE student members with a challenge that mirrors the steps involved in introducing a new product into the Marketplace”.

We have got news that Nissan is developing an all new sedan for developing markets like India, China and Asean markets. This will slot in the B-segment competing with cars like the Honda City, Toyota Vios (still not reached India), Ford Fiesta etc.

The sedan will share its A-platform with the upcoming Nissan Micra/March. It has been codenamed L02B. We had earlier carried an article on the Renault Thalia/Symbol which is also expected in India around the same time. The possibilities are that this might be its sister car considering the two companies come under the Renault-Nissan alliance.

The Chevy Matiz is quite popular in Germany and a German company called ‘Farhrmitgas’ (means Drive on Gas) has come up with a concept of a Chevy Matiz that has been converted to run on LPG. They claim that this cute car is capable of travelling 100Km (62miles) on just 3 Euros worth of gas!