Indian Autos blog

The Skoda Superb has won ‘Car of The Year 2009′ award in its home turf Czech Republic. It has won the first place in ‘Middle and Upper Middle class’ Category, beating 42 competitors.

The Skoda Superb is a very popular car amongst locals. Every Skoda is a class topper in Czech to be exact. It also won the towcar awards earlier last year, and then came Sky’s Best Gadget award for its Parking Assist.

After the recent launch of all new 7 series, BMW has now launched its refreshed 3 series in India. When BMW means all-new, they mean all-new.

The changes in new 3 Series are major. Refreshed front, side view, and rear section along with a completely new iDrive and interiors are the updates. Little is carried over from the outgoing 3 Series.

Regardless of the lethargic sales of passenger cars in India and a forecast that’s even more cloudy, Ford has announced it’s small car plans remain undisturbed.

“We have a strong plan for India, and we intend to go forward with it,” said Nigel E Warke, executive director, marketing, sales and service, Ford India.

Ford’s new small car will be based on the Verve Concept, a sub four meter, 3-door hatch shown at the 2007 Frankfurt Motor Show. Earlier, reports claimed this small car would be produced in Ford’s other international plants such as the one in Brazil. The car will be available in both hatchback and sedan variants, meaning a platform would be developed to derive a range of vehicles.

Fiat Linea – A car that had been launched internationally two years back has finally hit the Indian market and Fiat seems to be banking on Linea sales for a complete image transformation. But when are the other Fiat models joining the troop? Does the Grande Punto have to do Linea’s job of enhancing Fiat’s reputation? All your Fiat questions answered. Read on!

We’ve pulled this off the shelf, just as it appeared. Business Standard reports that GM’s third hatchback in the country will be the Chevrolet Mini, better known as the Chevrolet Beat. The Chevrolet Mini will be positioned in the luxury hatch segment with cars like the Hyundai i20 and the Skoda Fabia (5-7 lakh rupees) proving tough classmates.

IAB readers will be aware that the Mini is taking longer to come as GM India postponed the small car’s launch to December due to the economic meltdown.

The Chevrolet Mini was originally intended to be assembled in India, with CKDs imported from overseas, but that plan has been dropped in favor of making it here. GM is rushing to equip it’s Talegoan facility in Maharashtra

Pantnagar’s Tata facility we hear, is bustling with activity these days. Reports suggest that, Tata Nano is ready and likely to hit the dealer networks by February 2009 end. Both the “base” model and the “fully loaded” model will be available at the dealer showrooms mid-to late February. Tata Motors is keen to drive the Nano into dealer showrooms for potential customers to look at and get a feel of the car, which is expected to be a volume grosser for the company eventually.

There’s so much AMG related content on IAB today. First there was the AMG pack for the upcoming E-Class. Then the shiny C63 AMG, and now this.

Mercedes Benz India Limited has sent us a few images of the drive that preceded the AMG launch, which was held at the DLF Golf and Country Club in Gurgaon last year. It was a glitzy launch function, but all we got to see until now was a small image with a car and 2 unidentifiable women on either sides.

Enjoy the images

Undeterred by the slowdown and poor sales (or rather bitten by it), Bajaj has drawn up a serious plan to get back to where it belongs-at the top. The home grown manufacturer has drawn up a schedule coming up with a host of launches back to back in the coming year. Read on to find out more.