Indian Autos blog

The new engines make both the VWs eligible for chief Indian metros

The new VW Passat’s 1.8 L TSI makes 160PS and 250Nm, and is coupled to a 6-speed manual transmission. The Passat is priced at Rs 19.20 lakhs, ex showroom New Delhi.

The Jetta’s 2.0 L diesel Comfortline is priced at Rs. 15.92 lakhs, ex showroom, New Delhi. It uses a 2.0-liter common rail diesel engine that makes 110PS and 250Nm of torque. The engine is coupled to a 5-speed manual transmission.

click through for press release

The Volvo XC60 crossover is the best looking Volvo till date

Volvo’s XC60 has reached ARAI recently to get homologated for a mid-2010 launch, but Autocar claims the Swedish brand recently taken over by Chinese auto manufacturer Geely, is planning shock pricing for its smallest Crossover.

The Volvo XC60 crossover, like every Volvo, is touted to be one of the safest cars among classmates. The XC60 will be offered in India with both petrol and diesel engines. The 3.0-liter T6 petrol producing 285bhp and 407Nm will be the first variant. This will be followed with the 2.4-liter D5 diesel that outputs 175bhp and 427Nm.

Paul de Voijs, MD, Volvo Auto India -

We will strengthen our position in the year 2010 and the launch of Volvo XC60 is a step in that direction. The XC60 is charged with more emotive form and more energy than any other Volvo. The company has elevated its design DNA to an entirely new level by literally turning up the visual volume.

What we think is even cooler is the 40-lakh rupee price tag which should keep traffic levels high at Volvo outlets in India.

click through for Volvo XC60 Image Slideshow

The current Mercedes Benz A-Class was not conceptualized for a market like India, but the one that’s coming up the next few years could have been/could be designed for countries like India where the chance for premium hatchbacks to blossom is burgeoning.

Rumor has it the new Front and Four Wheel drive MFA (Modular Front antrieb) platform that underpin the next generation A-Class, will also form the basis for on an entry-level Infinity if the Renault-Daimler deal comes through.

The A-Class is a sub 4-meter hatchback with engine displacements of 1.5-liters and above. Autobild reports the next generation A-Class will be longer and lower (read as more leg room) to help lower the centre of gravity which in turn will aid handling. If this bit of news is true, we’ve lost hopes of the A-Class qualifying as a small car in India and availing excise benefits.

What we are happy about though, is the A-Class being more driver-centric. It also looks like a proper hatchback (and unlike a plump Smart Fortwo). The car, according to the Autobild report will be launched in October 2012.

Micheal Vaughan tries flat-batting a colored cricket ball to paint a Chevrolet Cruze!

This isn’t some kinda April Fool’s joke.

Believe it or not, former English cricketer and captain of the historic 2005 Ashes campaign has nothing useful to do after he retired from international cricket. So he’s dug out his old bat, picked up a few cricket balls and paint and headed straight to a wall. He’ll then try creating the outline of the Chevrolet Cruze using his stroke play.

Michael Vaughan on his artwork -

Creating art with cricket balls is completely different, modern and new. It changes the rules of art because it’s instinctive and raw – covering a ball in paint and whacking or throwing it against canvas. A few of the other players initially took the mickey, but they are now “artballing” fans – and have had a go themselves

I have no idea what he just said.

Somebody give this man another job.

Press Release of this historic event attached after the jump!

Three months after General Motors and its China partner SAIC Motor signed a deal to form a 50:50 joint venture for the Indian market, individuals representing SAIC will join the GM India team today.

Three people from SAIC, China’s largest automaker, including a member of the senior management will join GM India. They will not be reporting to Karl Slym, President and Managing Director of GM India. Instead, they will report directly to the Joint Venture directors, who we assume work out of the China office.

By the end of 2011, SAIC-GM will bring out commercial vehicles to counter the massive hits Maruti Suzuki Omni and Tata Ace mini truck. GM also plans to launch SAIC’s micro car in the Indian market in the next few years that will cater to the entry-level segment buyer.

GM India plans to put in place an exclusive distribution network for the vans and trucks though it may sell the micro car out of its passenger car dealer network.

Thanks to auto.ifeng.com we’re able to show you first clear images of the next generation Hyundai Verna (Code : RB) that’s coming to India next year.

Its nose has clearly drawn inspiration from the Hyundai Sonata YF, and the design cues have been borrowed to the tune of the tail light’s shape. The flowing lines, twin creased bonnet and well executed grille bring the i20 to mind.

All in all, this is a minimized Hyundai i40 which relies on its big brother for identity. This naturally means the i40 will come before the RB to get all the buzz and people talking about its spectacular design. The only sore point would it be its price (and rightly so) which the RB will try fixing by offering something similar, but smaller and at a much lower price point. This is more like the Honda Civic-City story which clicked for the Japanese. Will it work for the Korean?

The Hyundai RB could compete with the hugely popular Honda City, but what to us will make the big difference is the diesel engine under this baby’s bonnet. It doesn’t make sense for Hyundai to develop an all-new engine, so they should stick with the same engine, probably the block (engine displacement) will remain the same and items like turbochargers and heads and valves could be tweaked for better performance.

What we don’t know is where Hyundai will position this car. Will they sell both the Verna and RB in the same price bracket? Or could Hyundai get a little greedy and go a step above for the 10-12 lakh price range? If its got the looks it could always be a costly car in India.

Tata Nano ready to roll out from the mother plant in Sanand in the coming weeks

After operating from a makeshift plant for more than a year, Tata Motors will finally breathe a sigh of relief when the mother plant in Sanand, Gujrat will begin rolling out Nanos next month.

Tata will attain the initial capacity of 250,000 units per year in a gradual manner. It can produce up to 500,000 Nanos a year without breaking into a sweat.

Presently the Nanos come out of Tata’s Pantnagar plant in the state of Uttarakhand where it also manufactures its Ace mini truck. Due to the lack of infrastructure and the load of meeting heavy demand of the mini truck, only a maximum of 4,000 Nanos could be produced a month.

Trial production of the Nano began in December last year in the Sanand plant which costs 2,000 crore rupees to construct.

The Sanand plant also comprises of a vendor park and the company says that all the 56 vendors have agreed to shift to Sanand from Singur, where a farmer strike forced Tata to vacate the premises.

More than 25,000 Nanos are plying the roads of India, roughly 1/8th the number of bookings registered last year. Tata Motors will finish completing the deliveries by the end of 2010.

Can the next generation Fiat Linea look even better?

Fiat’s next big launch is the small car using an existing Fiat platform, scheduled for launch in 2012. After the small car, Fiat will launch the next generation Linea in India which will use the current gen car’s platform.

Fiat India CEO, Rajeev Kapoor -

The Linea will go through a lot of changes as we plan to re-create a new Linea on the same platform

Could this mean the future Grande Punto will also rely on the current car for its components?

We expect the future Linea to have advanced technology like Multiair engines. It could be slightly bigger but how could they make it look better than the existing model?