VW class B compact sedan definitely is the Polo sedan marked for India in H2 2010
Thanks to our friends in Caredge Russia, we’re able to bring you the first official sketch released in Russia of a new VW sedan, which to us is simply a ‘booted’ VW Polo hatchback. This model will be built in VW’s newly installed Pune facility which at present manufactures the Polo.
Our Russian is not at its peak, so with help from Google’s translation service we figured the design of the Polo sedan, spied recently, was penned by Walter De Silva who is credited with designing some of the modern VWs as well as the forthcoming VW Golf.
The VW Polo sedan will be launched in India in the second half of 2010, as per a statement issued by VW India’s board member Neeraj Garg to the press last year in October -
The hatchback version of Polo will be launched in H1 2010 while the sedan version will be introduced in the second- half. The Volkswagen Polo, which is undergoing testing at the moment, would have both petrol and diesel versions.
According to sources, the VW Polo sedan will be named after a kind of wind (breeze, gale, storm, hurricane or typhoon). It will be positioned in India to take on contenders like Honda City, Ford Fiesta and Hyundai Verna.
The website reports that an official presentation (we assume launch) will be held in the month of June 2010. The design of the Polo sedan, which will be built here in India by the end of next year, is very much based on the new generation Polos and Golfs.
Could the A-Class provide stiff competition to MINI and Audi A1?
Mercedes Benz is planning to launch its A-Class hatchback in India in the next two years. The company has been planning for over a decade but due to the poor demand for expensive hatchbacks it has not taken a call.
Peter Trettin, president and CEO of Daimler, Central and Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia -
This (A-Class) will be lower priced in line with competition.
Apart from the Audi A1, which is definitely coming to India shortly, could Mercedes be referring to BMW or the MINI brand? Even BMW stressed that the demand does not justify the introduction of their 1-Series or MINI range in India, but never ruled out the possibility of selling them in India in the future.
It is no surprise that the starting price of the A-Class model in India would be between 16-20 lakh rupees.
The last two and a half days has seen no updates as team IAB headed out on a brief vacation. During the break, thought it sounds almost impossible, we were away from our computers and mobile phones for a change. During this period, we tried meditation, admired nature, tasted varieties of food and not to forget some hardcore partying!
But vacation time has ended and that only means the gates to action will be reopened tomorrow with test drive reports, artist renderings, spy shots and all other developments in the auto industry continuing to flow on the front page of Indian Autos Blog.
Stay tuned!
The Octavia has served well, both India and the Skoda brand for almost ten years
Unlike the Laura and Superb, Skoda India has taken a stand to not upgrade the decade old Octavia to meet the stricter BS IV emission standards.
The 1.9 TDI Pumpe Duse diesel engine which it currently works on will not be upgraded on the Octavia either. VW is also phasing this engine out on the Jetta, which will get a new 2.0-liter CRDI engine.
Skoda Octavia will thus be available only in Bharat III cities.
The details of the small car project with Bajaj will be announced in due course of time. We have announced that the car will be launched sometime in 2012
Nissan Motor India Pvt Ltd MD and CEO Kiminobu Tokuyama said when bombarded with questions on the Nissan-Renault-Bajaj ULC.
Looks like the cat’s moving in for the kill
Tata’s big cat is showing signs of crawling up the table as it opens its second dealer showroom in Delhi.
Jaguar-Land Rover plans to follow it up with a third in Hyderabad within the next two months. It will then open shops in Ludhiana follow it with one in Bangalore and Chennai. After Chennai, Tata will choose one more location and the option is between Cochin and Pune. The company claims all these outlets should be up and running by the next fiscal.
Rajiv Dube, president (passenger car sales) of Tata Motors -
We had a target of selling around 250 cars in nine months ending this March and we are very much on track. The fact that these vehicles are imported adds to the exclusive appeal of the JLR brand. We have seen that the moment an international luxury carmaker starts manufacturing its vehicles here, its brand exclusivity takes a dip.
Brand exclusivity can take a hit, but what a car stands for need not necessarily depend on the location where the car is being manufactured. More than the location of manufacturing, what is manufactured, and how well it is manufactured matters more.
The company will also source more components from India in the future and expects sales to rise once the new XJ is launched the country during July-September quarter this year. It also believes the smaller 3-liter diesel engine on some of the Jaguar models in the future would make it more popular.
We don’t think the Hyundai Santa Fe will do well in the long run in India
We’ve been hearing the story of the Hyundai Santa Fe and its Indian escapade since the 2008 Auto Expo. It seems like Hyundai is content manufacturing smaller cars and wasn’t willing to take another chance with a SUV. The previous attempts proved futile as the Korean giant struggled to sell the world famous Tucson and Terracan to Indian buyers.
While many people in India believe the competition has the better of them with superior products, a visit to a local Hyundai dealer shows why Hyundai’s bigger cars never found success in India. Forget floor display, many dealerships don’t even have a vehicle like the Sonata or the Tucson allotted for test drive requests. Even an interested buyer has to go by his instincts, test drive reports online or a friend’s recommendation. Such is the scenario with bigger Hyundais in India.
Could this culture be reversed with the Santa Fe? We certainly hope so.
Multiple reports on local newspapers confirm the car will be brought in through the CKD route and launched in the month of October this year. After the immense popularity of the Toyota Fortuner with 7,000+ bookings within a few months of the vehicle’s launch, other players want to capitalize on the waiting period of these customers and lure them into buying their product. The demand for SUVs are only going be higher with vehicles like BMW X1 being raring to go later this year.
The facelifted Santa Fe was shown at the Frankfurt Motor Show last year and it was powered by a new 2.2-liter CRDi turbo unit producing 197 horsepower and 422 Nm of torque between 1,800 and 2,500 rpm. This is what we Indians will hopefully get albeit lower power and torque ratings.
This engine is coupled to a 6-speed manual transmission and allows to do the zero to sixty run in 9.5 seconds, with a top speed of 190 km/h.
The 2.4-liter petrol unit is also offered that develops 174 horsepower and is mated to a manual transmission (a 6-speed automatic gearbox offered as an option) which might not appeal to Indians as much as the diesel.
Nissan Teana could go from CBU to CKD in India very soon
Nissan India, which sells Teana (sedan) and X-Trail (sports utility vehicle) as completely built units (CBU) is considering local assembly of these vehicles to bring down the price and gain market share.
Nissan had sold only 200-300 cars last year and during the joint venture press conference in Chennai a couple of weeks back, Carlos Ghosn, CEO Renault-Nissan said he was not surprised as these cars were not locally sourced or manufactured. He also said the high duties levied on imported models did not help one bit.
Gilles Normand, corporate vice-president, Nissan Motor Company (India, Africa and Middle East Region) -
We are considering the possibility of producing or locally assembling Teana and X-Trail in India soon. If we want to increase our share in the market we will have to reduce the price of our products and gain volumes.
DNA Money reports the cost of Teana will come down from Rs 25 lakh at present to Rs 18 lakh if Nissan adopts the CBU route. The X-Trail’s price would come down by up to 28%, the report adds.
click through to view image slideshows of Teana and X-Trail
