Is this good news or bad news? We really can’t say.
The Toyota Fortuner has surpassed all expectations in India. Prior to the launch, TKM claimed 2,500-odd bookings were recorded and merely days after its launch, it says bookings are shut, thanks to the earth-to-moon long queue.
Toyota says it has received 3,100 orders for the vehicle, a lot more than the monthly manufacturing capability of 550 vehicles in Bidadi, where it also makes the Corolla and Innova.
The CKDs arrive in India from Thailand and Toyota does not have a second plant to shift assembly. It says it will be working to touch the monthly mark of 600 Fortuners to restart bookings as early as possible.
Honda announced a new special edition CR-V in Germany. Before you assume this is just with leather seats, badges and special paint, let me tell you this is an all-new model.
Because until now the CR-V was offered with the 150 hp two-liter engine, and this special edition Honda CR-V comes with a 2.4-liter version with 166 hp.
That’s not it – the special edition is also fitted with an automatic transmission. The nearly 30 Nm torque advantage will make it easy to drive in the city. The 18-inch alloy wheels are eye-catching.
New things on the 2.4-liter special edition Honda CR-V -
- Xenon headlights with automatic washing system.
- interior draped in leather with heated seats
- dual-zone automatic climate controls
- multifunction steering wheel
- cruise control
- parking sensors for front and rear
- MP3 player and six CD changer
The special edition CR-V 2.4 Exclusive Edition costs 35,400 euros.
You’ve got to hand it to Maruti Suzuki. When they say refresh, they mean new headlamps, bumpers and wheels. Take for example the new Estilo – it looks entirely different when viewed head-on.
Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the new Santro. It looks like a school kid in his art hour was locked into the Santro and asked to decorate it – the silver A.C vent is so much like content in a 4th grader’s art book.
Then there’s that front grill – Economic times reports “the new Santro has many added features to raise the bar for cars in this segment.” The next sentence, it goes on to list the body colored radiator grille!
I have an idea to seriously raise the bar – why not paint the front windshield in body color?
No, we’re not trying to pick up a fight, Hyundai. See the gorgeous Hyundai i40/Sonata YF we spoke about this morning – we truly believe this is Hyundai’s best looking product till date.
And glance at what the Indian division can come up with – a Santro with a one-of-a-kind body colored radiator grille and silver A.C vents. What was Hyundai thinking when they made this car? Why did they just not leave it with the i10′s front seats and rear parcel tray?
Good luck!
The question mark over the the Suzuki Kizashi’s local launch date is getting larger, but a close relative is preparing to get smaller and move further away from the real world.
The images above show where the three Kizashi concept cars have ended up – at the crushers in Japan!
If you remember the Kizashi 1 (there were 3 concepts in all), the red color car sitting on top of the white one, was displayed at the Suzuki stand in the Delhi Auto Expo last year.
This image answers a frequent question from car lovers – where do concept cars end up?
The three Kizashi concepts were static. Other than the wheels, they did not have moving parts and as you can see some of the parts have been removed (stolen?) before it reached this location.
The Kizashi concepts will live in our memories and the internet forever.
We were just talking about platform utilization a couple of posts before and how Mahindra is using the Xylo for different purposes and this news entered our inbox – Mahindra will use the Scorpio‘s platform to manufacture a compact SUV with a diesel engine.
At a later stage, a four cylinder clean diesel engine will be transplanted into the mini Scorpio and probably manufactured in the U.S as well.
Mahindra is also planning to export CKDs of its Scorpio Getaway pickup into the U.S and assemble it there. To make this possible, Mahindra could buy a US factory to avoid the 25% import duties on its Indian made pickup trucks.
Note – we had earlier carried a VW Polo spy video here
Someone who knows his VWs captured this Polo while it was testing in an unknown location. The newest iteration of the immensely famous Polo is going to be manufactured right here in India in its newly constructed facility in Pune. The Skoda Fabia is presently manufactured there and later on, several VW cars including the Up! and the Polo sedan will roll out from there.
The VW Polo will be officially launched in India at the upcoming Auto Expo (2010).
The Mahindra Xylo is slipping into an avatar of a distance load hauler for South Africa. The Xylo is among the chart busters in the Indian Automobile market this year and during its launch in January, Dr.Pawan Goenka, President of Mahindra’s Automotive Sector told us it will wear different costumes to take on many segments in the future. He also said they were looking at export markets and a petrol engine was taking shape for the same reason.
Utilization of the Xylo’s platform to make commercial vehicles is Mahindra’s next target. In the pipeline is a single cab pickup truck (which we’ve already shown you), a dual cab variant and this cargo van which has already been OK’d by the ARAI.
The Xylo cargo will have windows ‘blanked out’ to and no other alterations will arise to its exterior. The front seats will remain and the remaining will be vacated to open up a world of space.
Images of the 2011 Hyundai Sonata has leaked on to the internet. Expected to come with i40 badges in Europe, the i40 is arguably the best looking Hyundai to this date.
Its profile is somewhere in between a sedan and a coupe. Inspired by the sexy Mercedes CLS, you can’t point out one design element that’s common between the two. In India, the i40 will take the Accord-Camry segment to an all new level. If they price it in the Laura-Jetta segment, it is so going to be a steal for that price.
The 2.4 liter Theta II engine with GDI (gasoline direct injection) technology produces about 200 hp. A 2.0 liter petrol engine should be powering in the entry-level model.
Whether or not the 2.2 liter ‘R’ with 204 hp and the Euro 5 emissions standards busting diesel engine will make it to India is anyone’s guess. Even a Lambda V6 engine giving out about 250 hp is in the rumor mill. This could be a perfect candidate to eat into the Skoda Superb V6′ and Honda Accord V6′ pie.
6-speed manual or automatic transmissions will be available. A level of equipment is going to be up there – panoramic glass roof, stop-start technology and paddle shifts on the steering wheel will be bestowed on the new Sonata.
The Hyundai Sonata YF/i40 goes on sale in Korea in October andh in the North American and European markets by early 2010.
click through for press release
