Archive for November, 2009

India bound VW Polo is European Car of the Year 2009!

The Polo is the European Car of the Year 2009. It will debut locally at Expo ‘10

I haven’t known a car that’s held the honor of being the European car of the year as well as carrying ‘Made In India’ tag. Well, my wish is going to come true next year as the Volkswagen Polo was officially chosen as the 2010 European Car of the Year.

The Polo didn’t win it hands down. It narrowly escaped defeat by scoring slightly more than the Toyota iQ for the award.

The cars that went till the last round were the Opel/Vauxhall Astra, Skoda Yeti, Mercedes-Benz E-Class, Peugeot 3008, and the Citroen C3 Picasso.

VW’s Polo despite being 7.5 percent lighter than the previous model, holds a five-star safety rating, a bigger body and slightly larger boot. Six different engine options are offered on the Polo in Europe.

click through to read the press release

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Entry posted on November 30th, 2009 and filed under Awards, Volkswagen

Ratan Tata – Tata Motors working on hybrid powertrain for Nano

Ratan Tata conveys Nano hybrid will be cheap to buy and cheap to run

Chairman of the Tata Group, Ratan Tata, revealed a definite variant of the Tata Nano to a South Korean newspaper. Tata said the company’s engineering team is working on a hybrid powertrain for the Tata Nano.

Ratan Tata -

Low-priced goods would create stronger demand than high-end products in India, and the so-called low-price revolution would continue across the world

Obviously, Mr.Tata is trying to convey that the Nano hybrid will cost less, despite having a complex engineering side to it. Earlier this year, sections of the Indian media carried stories on Tata Motors testing start-stop technology on the Nano. If not for the shutdown of the Singur plant, we could have seen a lot more variants of the Nano by now. Due to the unfortunate incidents in the now defunct West Bengal plant, Tata can only produce limited Nanos out of their existing facilities, and they have clearly stated their concentration and efforts are presently going towards meeting the demands of the waiting Indian customers.

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Entry posted on November 30th, 2009 and filed under Tata Nano

Honda City crosses 50k mark in sales in India

The City is a big hit in India with over 2.8 lakh sold since 1998

Honda City is one of the most popular cars in India. Don’t agree? Just look at the sales figure projected by Honda in a recent press release – it has crossed sales of 50,000 units in just 12 months.

The third generation Honda City was launched in September last year and ever since its fuel efficiency, refined engine and performance has been appreciated by the masses. The third generation Honda city employs a 1.5 litre 4-cylinder iVTEC engine that produces 118PS power and overall fuel economy of 16kmpl. The Honda Jazz has also played its part by acting as a bait to bring in new customers into Honda showrooms.

Masahiro Takedagawa President and CEO Honda Siel cars India -

We are very pleased with this milestone and would like to thank our customers for their trust and confidence in our product. Since its launch in 1998 the three generations of Honda city have sold around 2.8 lakh units in the country making it Honda’s best seller in the country.

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Entry posted on November 30th, 2009 and filed under Honda

Fiat Palio hatch ‘Sporting’ to follow pickup and sedan?

fiat-strada-sporting-pickupThe Fiat Strada Sporting comes with special paint and tweaked suspension

Fiat is seriously bringing on some heat in Brazil. They’ve just revealed a sport version of the Palio pickup truck (name: strada sporting) in Brazil with masked headlamps, special red paint, body kit and 16-inch alloy wheels.

Don’t think the ’sporting’ version is all show. The suspension has been lowered and as a result, you get tighter handling. The interiors have a rush of uniqueness with red stitching on steering wheel, drilled pedals and red safety belts.

The Strada Sport comes with a 1.8-liter engine good for 115hp.

click through for sedan sporting

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Entry posted on November 30th, 2009 and filed under Fiat

Rendering – Honda’s small car (Exclusive)

Honda_Maza_2CV-mainHonda’s small car might not even be close to this, but a brief inspection of the competition led us to this image

Our photoshop master SRK was handed the task of compiling a drawing of Honda’s upcoming small car meant for the Indian market. Codenamed 2CV, our sources tell us the the upcoming small car might use a 1.1-liter petrol engine, with no diesel in the equation. We were also informed that the engine could share commonalities with the 1.2-liter unit on Jazz. The use of Honda’s cutting-edge VTEC technology was not confirmed.

Honda has not spoken about the car’s specification, so the above is purely speculation.

The Honda 2CV will be is engineered to outrun the Swift and Ritz from the Suzuki stable, which command a high market share in its segment.

SRK designed the Honda 2CV after going through some of its competitors which includes Suzuki Swift, Hyundai i10, Fiat Punto, Tata Indica and Suzuki Ritz/Splash.

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Entry posted on November 30th, 2009 and filed under Honda, Renderings

New White-Black color scheme for Honda CBF Stunner in Europe

2010-Honda-CBF125-white-and-black-1The Honda CBF Stunner gets a new color scheme in Europe. Perhaps it will await us at the Expo ‘10?

Honda, earlier in this month, launched a new white and black color scheme for its CBF 125 (known as CBF Stunner in India) in the European market. The CBF 125 was launched last year to replace the old CG 125 in the Europe.

The White-black paint scheme looks attractive and it wouldnt be a bad move to launch this color scheme in India as well. As we all know that the CBF-Stunner in the 125cc segment, is popular among the youth. This color scheme would provide another reason for the people to go for this bike in its segment.

So lets wait and watch if this color arrives in India as well, may be we’ll see it in 2010 Auto Expo?

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Entry posted on November 30th, 2009 and filed under Honda Motorcycles

Royal Enfield Bullet 500 Enduro by Oberdan Bezzi

Royal Enfield Bullet 500 EnduroOberdan Bezzi, who is an expert motorcycle designer, has thought of an idea for a Royal Enfield Bullet 500. He calls it the Enduro and as per him, the bike is not only traditional but also qualifies to be an enduro motorcycle by providing a decent mileage and less maintenance. The reason being that the motorcycle is powered by a single cylinder engine which can be as reliable as they were a few decades ago.

The idea of reviving the old Royal Enfield looks really exciting and testing it off road would be an amazing experience.

The Royal Enfield Bullet Enduro 500 is just a computer generated sketch. From a Bulleteer’s perspective, translating it in the real world, and into a work of art, can be easily done by finding help from bike builders who are rapidly rising in number, here in India.

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Entry posted on November 30th, 2009 and filed under Royal Enfield

Volvo’s not coming to Expo but has two vehicles and mega plans for India

Volvo_XC60_SUV_IndiaThe Volvo XC60 SUV will come to India next year

Swedish car manufacturer Volvo Cars which has rechristened its firm’s name to Volvo Auto India Private Limited will not be participating at the Delhi Auto Expo in January 2010 but has plans for India next year.

The Swedish firm plans to launch the 2010-spec S80 luxury sedan in India priced at around 40-lakh rupees and is likely to hit Indian shores by January 2010. The company is also drawing up plans to unleash the XC60 compact SUV in the first half of 2010 and the S60 saloon which should boost sales of the brand in India.

Volvo Auto India sold 900 cars last year and is confident that it will beat the 10 per cent increase it had earlier projected for the current year.

Volvo is also keen on setting up an assembly unit in India, if its annual figures touch 2,000 units. After opening outlets in Delhi, Mumbai, Chandigarh, Hyderabad, Cochin, Chennai and Pune currently in India, the company is now looking to expand its base to Goa, Kolkata, Bangalore and Ahmedabad and Coimbatore.

click through to view Volvo XC60 Image Slideshow

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Entry posted on November 27th, 2009 and filed under Volvo

New Chevrolet Spark/Beat scores high in Euro NCAP crash tests

The next generation Chevrolet Spark (which will be launched in India as the Chevrolet Beat in January next year) performed well in the Euro NCAP crash tests conducted recently. The Spark a five-star rating for child protection and a four-star rating overall. An overall score of 69 out of a maximum 100, meant the Spark did not come home with a 5 star rating, but still, it is a commendable score in this segment of vehicles.

In adult protection, the Spark recorded the maximum score of 8 points in the side impact crash test against a moving deformable barrier. A score of 7.35 points out of 8 in the side pole test, indicates solid passenger protection in the event of a more severe side collision.

In child protection, the Spark bagged maximum points in child restraint system dynamic performance tests, which evaluate child protection from possible injuries in various types of crashes. Crash test dummies representing 18-month old and 3-year-old children were properly contained in their restraints by the Spark’s protective shell during side impact tests.

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Entry posted on November 26th, 2009 and filed under New Chevrolet Spark

New Chevrolet Spark exports begin in Korea – Will sell in 150 nations

New Chevrolet SparkThe new Chevrolet Spark will begin its Indian escapade as ‘Beat’

GM Daewoo Auto & Technology Co., the Korean unit of U.S. carmaker General Motors Co., has begun exports of the next generation Chevrolet Spark to European markets. The new Spark will sell in more than 150 countries and India is also among the nations.

GM Daewoo began selling the new Spark in the South Korean market from September 2009 under the name of Matiz Creative. Fitted with a 1-liter gasoline engine and a four-speed automatic gearbox, the new Spark can return a mileage of 17kmpl.

Hwang Woo-seong, Head of GM Daewoo’s plant -

Given its performance, design and quality, the Matiz Creative is expected to satisfy the needs of customers around the world

By the end of 2010, GM Daewoo is eying an export figure of 20,000 units. The new Spark will be sold in India as “Beat” starting January 2010.

click through for image slideshow

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Entry posted on November 26th, 2009 and filed under New Chevrolet Spark

Press Release – Bajaj to launch ‘All new sub-150cc Pulsar’ on Dec 9th

The Bajaj Pulsar 135cc is getting launched on the 9th of next month

Just as were closing a story on the new 135cc Pulsar, Bajaj has unleashed a press release which confirms the same. The bike will be launched on the 9th of next month. Read the following press release to learn more.

Bajaj Auto to launch “All new sub-150cc Pulsar” on 9th Dec, 2009

* Brand strategy is to democratize performance
* Target 1 million Pulsars sales in 2010

Pulsar has already seen a tremendous 80% jump in sales over the last 6 months. The Q2 2009-10 sales were 45000 units as compared to 25000 units in H2 2008-09 and have reached an overall share of 50% in the sports segment.

This can be attributed to launch of the Pulsar 2009 edition and a marked change in the marketing paradigm where Pulsar has made a conscious effort to be a part of the youth culture and thus the “Fastest Indian” was born.

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Entry posted on November 26th, 2009 and filed under Bajaj

Suzuki APV – Versa replacement to take on Tavera and Xylo

Suzuki_APV_MPVThe bulky Suzuki APV could be altered to obtain excise cuts

Our good friends over at India Automotive report Maruti Suzuki will introduce the Suzuki APV as a replacement for the Versa whose production recently was halted. Maruti is looking at pitching this MPV as a contender in the ring that is seeing hot battle between Mahindra Xylo, Toyota Innova and Chevrolet Tavera.

The Suzuki APV is already flooding the market in Pakistan, Indonesia and even Australia, where it comes with a 1.6-liter engine and dual front airbags. The Indian version is most likely to come with a 1.2-liter K-Series engine along with the established 1.3-liter Multi-jet engine.

The overall length of the vehicle is a little over 4 metres and it would be a good idea to tinker it to under 4 metres for added cost benefit.

Further details are not available at this point. Our sources add Maruti is looking at the Auto Expo as a good platform to let this one loose.

We’ll keep a close eye on the APV.

click through for APV images

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Entry posted on November 26th, 2009 and filed under Maruti Suzuki

Hyundai’s Santa Fe touches 2 million sales mark

Hyundai_Santa_Fe_white2 million and still accelerating – India bound Santa Fe’s a global leader

Hyundai Motor Company’s mid-size SUV model Santa Fe, has reached cumulative sales of two million units worldwide.

The sub-20 lakh SUV from Hyundai will be launched in India during the course of next year. Auto expo appearance? a high likelihood.

Two million unit sales across the globe is a big achievement, but a quarter of that number comes from the Korean market alone. The Santa Fe is a global leader in its segment. It will come to India as CBUs, and assembling here will help avoid high duties.

Here’s an interesting fact from Hyundai – If the delivered cars are lined up bumper to bumper, the length is equal to eleven trips between Seoul and Busan. If the cars are piled up, your head could bump into one of the orbiting satellites – 390 times the height of the Everest mountain.

What creative minds Hyundai’s got. Even if they could have used a fraction of all this intelligence, we would not be exposed to the ugliness on the new Verna. Where were they that time?

Since its launch in June 2000, it has received so many awards and accolades including the Top Safety Pick from Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (2008) and Strategic Vision’s Total Quality Award (2008).

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Entry posted on November 26th, 2009 and filed under Hyundai
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