Indian Autos blog

Launched days back in Korea as the GM-Daewoo Matiz with a 4-cylinder, 16-valve DOHC engine with a displacement of 1,000 cc that delivers 69 hp, the new Chevrolet Spark, as it will be called in India, was caught testing at an unknown location. The new Spark will co-exist alongside the existing Spark as a premium offering.

The Indian Spark will be powered by a 1.2-litre, 82bhp Chevrolet Family-B petrol engine. At a later stage, it will be joined by a 3-cylinder 936cc, 57bhp Multijet diesel from Fiat. With close to 140 Nm of torque, this is going to be an exciting drive in the city.

Before going in for that explanation let me take you 5 years back. Year 2004 – engineers from Thailand and Japan conceived a skeleton called IMV (Innovative International Multi-purpose Vehicle) to have 3 offsprings but all of different attitudes and behavior.

Now you must be wondering why I am discussing about what has been formed by Thailand and Japan in 2004, because 2 of the siblings were destined for our very Homeland, which will turn the market around and set new benchmarks.

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Answer to the previous lolly pop question – Maruti Suzuki Swift Dzire

Winners – sivakumar, rohan kumar, ?ushk@r, Kunal, Gurudatta Nayak, Amritaksha Deb, Ikveer Singh, Jean Johny, sudarsanan, Shishir, rupeshp, Lalit, Amit Bhalla, Naveen, deepam, Jishnu Sasidharan V, Adithya Arikere, Happy, Monty Singh, Rahul Shekhar, nipun dhingra, Shoeb, harsh, Hapinder Harry, Harish Kumar, Felixx, Motorbeam.com, Karan, Fiat Fan, The Automotive India

Today’s cracker – So, do you know which car this is? It is sold in India too.

Clue – click on the image for a larger version

Click on this post’s title and enter your answer in the comment box below. Come back on Monday for a new challenge along with this answer.

Today while driving back home, I caught a black Korean beauty on my camera. Usually, if I see a flashy new car, I instantly capture it on my camera which always lies in my glovebox.

After coming back home, I opened the file and to my surprise, it was a Hyundai Azera or Grandeur. The car had a massive road presence on the damp Delhi lanes, I was stunned by its looks. The rolling multi spoke alloys was an absolute eye feast.

Hyundai Azera is a luxury sedan manufactured and marketed globally by Hyundai Motor Company. The Azera shares its platform with Sonata, which is sold in India. Till the introduction of the Genesis sedan, it had been the flagship sedan of Hyundai outside of Korea, China, and the Middle East where the Equus or Centennial as Flagship Car.

As expected it had a Chennai registration plate, where the Hyundai is grounded in the Country. Whether it was being tested for India or not cannot be said as of now. We are not interested in speculating either.

As people here in India haven’t accepted the Sonata Transform very well, the response from our market will not be very stong. If they ever offer this beauty in India, it could be bullying the likes of A (Audi), B (BMW) & M (Mercedes) german machineries.

The next generation Mitsubishi Outlander was snapped in a Carlifonia parking lot. It could have been easily mistaken for the Outlander GT concept shown at the New York show in April this year.

The next generation Outlander will stay true to its concept and sport the EVO’s grille. The production car is essentially the GT Concept without the chrome. The front bumper is partly left black and so is the rear bumper. The brake lights have a transparent housing, unlike the concept’s which were red.

Interiors are going to be largely the same. It seems the steering wheel is new and a high quality audio system was fitted to this car.

More details are expected in the near future.

The first official image of the Chevrolet Agile looks stunning. No seriously, let us remind ourselves this no luxury sedan. It is merely a replacement for the low cost Aveo, and for that price, it looks slithery and well built.

When the Argentinian division of GM got in touch with us, they confirmed the first job was to ensure demands are met in the South American markets. They told us there were no immediate plans to bring it to Asia, but in the future, it could happen.

From the outside, the triple creased bonnet, sharp edged headlamps and puffed up wheel arches are so unlike a low cost car. The interiors however, leave a lot to be desired as the steering wheel and center console are low rent.

More information on the Agile is expected in the coming days. We’ll keep an eye out for any major developments.

Note – In India, this car will be sold as the new Chevrolet Spark with a different grill and bumper.

We brought you spy shots of the GM-Daewoo Matiz in Korea, we thought it would be named Groove from its badge. Turns out the badge is the trim level.

The GM-Daewoo Matiz Creative, as it will be called, will be available in three variants – Pop, Jazz and Groove. It has taken 27 months to develop with an investment of $236million. In the next few years, it will be sold in 150 markets around the world including Europe and America.

The new Matiz Creative benefits from a newly developed S-TEC II engine – a 4-cylinder, 16-valve DOHC engine with a displacement of 1,000 cc that delivers 69 hp and 92 Nm.

The new model goes on sale from September 1. A 3-cylinder CRDI diesel engine is said to follow shortly.

No, it isn’t as dramatic as the title implies, this special edition Grande Punto is confined to cosmetic upgrades and a slightly altered suspension setup – the new Punto has a rear spoiler, 16 inch alloys, new headlamps and skirts.

Inside the Fiat Grande Punto NeroBianco, you get steering mounted controls, central locking which now is remote controlled, sun roof, mp3 player etc. The car is available with the 1.4-liter petrol engine that coaxes out a modest 77hp.

At 15,795 Euro, the Fiat Grande Punto NeroBianco is special. Only 200 of these fine pieces will ever reach customers.