Indian Autos blog

After writing the article on the need for cruiser bikes in India, I felt the desire to evaluate an Indian cruiser bike. Luckily my good friend Ifti had bought a Bajaj Avenger a few days back and it couldn’t have been a better opportunity for me to evaluate this bike. So I pocketed the keys to his bike for one day and the turn of events err..turned out to be enjoyable. Here’s what I observed in this bike.

Looks -

You can’t explain its looks better than this – It got everything that a typical cruiser has.

The design of the bike is fluid and flawless. Low-rise seat, wide handle bars, forward foot riding, nice positioning of the rear view mirrors, wide rear tire and the overall chrome styling of the bike all of this adds to the cruiser’s uniqueness.

The foot pegs are pretty ordinary and if they could have been in finished in metal, that would have enhanced its look, or should I say masked its ugliness? Overall the motorbike has all the looks to turn eyeballs you definitely get the attention of people when you are cruising along, feeling like god.

click on the title of the post to read the full review

If you cannot see the slideshow above, you can view the images directly at the New Audi Q7 Image Gallery

Launch Location: The Grand, New Delhi

Representatives at the function: Benoit Tiers (MD Audi India) and Raghav Chandra (MD Audi Delhi)

New Features on the 2010 Audi Q7: New 40 Gb MMI, New Carpets, New door fabrics, Kinetic Energy Regenerative system, New Alloys 18″ now instead of 17″ earlier, New Chrome Grill and LED’s in front & rear, more sporty bumpers, slightly better FE because of energy saving LED’s and Kinetic energy system.

Launch Price (ex-showroom Mumbai): 53.40 INR (3.0 TDI), 55.20 INR (3.6 FSI) – Homologated
42,696 EUR (4.2 FSI) – Non Homologated

Price Difference to last model:- Rs. 1,10000

Another launch function highlight: Announcement of the biggest premium showroom in India (Delhi), 15 cars at display at a time, workshop with aluminium repair works, possible opening 2nd quarter of 2010.

Q7s Sold Last year: 350 vehicles

Expected target this year: 450 – 500 units

click through for press release

Bajaj will launch the Ninja 250R soon, the Bajaj Pulsar 220 just underwent a minor surgery and HH Karizma is coming out with new features and possibly with FI technology. With a heap of motorbikes in this category, Yamaha should bring in the Fazer 250, shouldn’t they?

They don’t think so.

Is this wait and watch strategy or is the company keeping developments under wraps and away from prying eyes?

- Yukimine Tsuji, managing director and chief executive officer, India Yamaha Motor -

“We are not thinking of launching a bike in that (225-250 cc) range this festival season”

- Sanjay Tripathi, division head of product planning and brand management of Yamaha -

“We will launch a bike that would not only be the fastest in India, but it would be the fastest in the world.”

Both the above gentlemen operate out of the same office. I think. The fastest bike in the world could be the Yamaha R1, but haven’t Yamaha already launched this motorcycle in India? Or could it be a new version?

The company, according to Tripathi, will launch two new models by the middle of September, but he refused to divulge more details.

A Bajaj official has said the company will introduce two motorcycles in India which will have engine capacities of over 125cc by the end of this fiscal. Apart from this addition, Bajaj is also looking at revamping one product in its existing portfolio.

Sources say this new motorcycle is codenamed Sprint with engine capacity of around 135cc. The report also says Bajaj will revamp the Pulsar and Discover line-up this year. I’m not sure what they would change, but the DTSi 2.0 series of engines could be installed on the bikes.

Another report in the media says Bajaj is planning new variants and models in the 100 cc category once Discover sales touch 80,000. Last month, Bajaj was able to sell 65,000 and the 80,000 mark is spitting distance away taking into account the purchasing mood of people in the festive season that has begun to gather steam.

Contradictory to earlier reports of a 1.4-liter 68hp diesel engine, new reports claim Ford’s small car will employ a 1.5-liter diesel engine apart from the 1.2-liter petrol. Another report claims the company casually hinted it will in fact be named Splash in India.

Ford has increased the number of suppliers to 180 from 150, and will source the some components from multiple vendors. Critical components will however be sourced from one vendor.

Ford is also negotiating steel rates with Tata Steel. Earlier it imported cut steel from its Thailand plant.

Ford’s new small car will have high paint quality. It will benefit from the three wet high solid process that Ford is installing for the first time in its plants.

As Hyundai transfers a major chunk of i20 production to Turkey, we’re not confident if the ix-Metro will call the Chennai plant its home. Nevertheless this is a new Hyundai and anything under the ‘i’ convention is eye candy and is fit to go on our front page.

You don’t have to wait very long to see live shots as the Frankfurt Motor Show which starts in less than two weeks from now, will have the Hyundai ix-Metro on display. The name Metro has already been taken by someone else and reports say this car will don the ix25 tag.

Sweet.

Autoweek says this model will use the i20′s architecture and is among the nine new Hyundais that arrives in 13 months, starting from October 2010.

Press release and more images expected on press days at Frankfurt. We’ll keep a close eye on this car.

Another ray of hope for true bike lovers in India, one of the most awaited bikes, the Kawasaki Ninja 250R, was on display at Bajaj’s pro biking showroom at Pune recently. This means the wait for this monster is about to come to an end and a confirmation would be out in the near future.

The bike was parked at the showroom only for a limited period and it was only for Bajaj and Kawasaki officials to see the amount of space the bike would take and also to decide the ways and means to display to the customers. Like banners nearby or on raised platform, decorations, so on and so forth.

The bike will brought in as completely knocked down units and assembled here at Bajaj’s plant. This bike has two versions, carbureted and fuel injected. In India we will get the FI version which is the similar to the one sold in Europe.

The Ninja develops 33ps of power at 10,500 rpm and a torque of 22Nm at 9500 rpm. It has 6-speed gear box and a top speed of around 160 kmph. The bike will be available in two colors which are black and the trademark green.

The only noticeable change so far is the front number plate and the exhaust. The bike has an analog console which is a little bit of a disappointment to me. Although not confirmed, the bike is expected to cost somewhere between 2 to 2.5 lakh.

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