The Indian market is hotting up in the premium hatchback segment. With two of the world’s most renowned manufacturers, Honda and Fiat, launching their vehicles in a gap of less than a fortnight, we could be heading for a war for the best car in the premium slot.
And now in comes Suzuki with a premium limited edition Swift known as the Swift Douglas in Europe. Based on the Swift GLX model, the Swift Mac Douglas hosts many features.
Could this special edition of the vehicle in collaboration with Mac Douglas, the leather brand, be an attempt by Suzuki to keep the sales figures up even when the customer is being offered a lot of other options?
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Mercedes Benz‘s full size SUV, the Mercedes Benz ML which we we enjoyed driving, will undergo an extreme make over to end up as a sporty, muscular, angular and mean looking design. We’re talking about the next generation Mercedes Benz ML which will arrive during the start of the next decade.
Features that were popular among customers in the the existing version will be maintained like the C-pillar or the flared wheel arches. Although it will have more curves this time instead of sharp edges, it will look like a muscle car.
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Honda Australia have confirmed it will offer stability control as a standard feature in the City and Jazz. In Honda’s terms, it is known as Vehicle Stability Assist. These two cars will have an advantage over others in the range, as it offers skid stopping technology.
The feature is not available anywhere in this segment not even as a cost option. The Jazz in UK is already updated with a VSA in the higher end models and you have to spend some extra to get the feature in the base model.
The Jazz has already achieved a 4-star ANCAP safety rating and the City is yet to be tested. The Jazz earlier received a 5 star rating from Euro NCAP.
What brings smile on Honda customers’ face is that the company plans to bring this feature across the range with no extra charges by late 2010.
The more important regions of the world in Mercedes’ view have already received the new E-Class. India is yet to register it and we are informed it will arrive here in the next few months.
But before she bids farewell to us, we craved to have her company for one last time. One last chance to roam around town and indulging in the luxuries she had to offer, experiencing the Mercedes quality, comfort and panache.
Mercedes Benz loves Indian Autos Blog, and grants us our wishes every time. We were provided the special edition E-Class for four days and at the end of it, we thought of hiding it in our garage and pretending to know nothing when they came back to collect it.
Honda is targeting a market of multiple car owners in the country for its newly launched Jazz. Honda has a customer base of around 3.75 lakh out of which 70 % are the people who own multiple cars who may like to add the Honda jazz to there fleet of cars, Honda claims.
That makes a lot of sense as these are the people who already trust the Honda brand and are more likely to be interested in a new product from the Japanese house.
And also it sounds like a good idea because Honda Jazz is not a car which will be bought by an individual looking for his first car or a person who wants to buy a small car because, as he would be repelled by the Jazz’s obscene tall pricing.
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Fiat is gearing up for the launch of globally successful Grande Punto in India. The release date has been finalized for the 17th of this month. And now, the site for the Grande Punto has also been put up to initiate interest among the prospective buyers.
Fiat India brought out the Linea just a few months ago. Just like the Linea, the Grande Punto will come in three variants – Active, Dynamic and Emotion. The car is being assured with the Tata–Fiat dealership network.
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Suzuki has come out with a new set of alloys for Swift owners in Great Britain.
Designed specifically for the Swift, the alloy wheel and tyre packages available in three variations; 16-inch “Bremen”, 17-inch “Frankfurt” and 17-inch “Leipzig”.
The Suzuki Swift has grabbed attention world wide all these years, and in 2008 alone, sales of over a million vehicles globally are recorded. Produced in Hungary, the Swift developed with style and safety at the forefront of the design even served the Dzire with its platform.
It is only a wait for the Indian consumer before we get the new accessories for Swift. Why is it that still most manufacturers prefer to launch new limited editions as well as quality accessories on foreign shores without giving a thought for our own customers.
Suzuki Swift GB Alloy wheels Image Gallery
Japanese tuning legend Mugen might just lay its hands on the Honda Civic and what might come out of this is anyone’s guess, a sheer powerhouse Mugen Honda Civic RR expected to rip the roads off.
Mugen will be striping extra weight off the car and boost the power to 240hp that pretty much will do the trick, if not then the big 18-inch alloys, upgraded Brembo brakes, Recaro sports seats and specifically re-tuned suspension ought to do it.
Of course all this high end tweaking doesn’t come cheap. The Mugen Honda Civic RR is expected to cost Rs. 27 lakhs. But befoe all we Indians get excited about this, it will be sold only in the European market.
Like how the 270 bhp Accord made it to India, the Mugen-treated Honda Civic could serve as a limited edition. After cars like the Honda Civic Hybrid, we infer the company isn’t necessarily against experimenting, which gives us confidence to say there is a chance for such a car.
With BMW selling its M models in the country and Mercedes with its complete AMG lineup, why can’t Honda ship Mugen cars and cash in on the performance market?
