The Chevrolet Beat has a good ride. The gearbox could have been better
Engine
The Beat comes with 1.2 litre S-Tec II engine, it develops 79bhp at 6200rpm and max torque of 108 NM comes at a high 4400rpm. What’s the deal with this as every manufacture offers a 1.2 litre engine to save money through excise cuts.
Start the engine and you ask yourself whether its running or not; the engine is as silent as a ghost at night but the silence ends the moment you start revving the engine. It gets pretty coarse the more revs you gain the more louder and harsher it gets.
It is not as rev friendly as the motors offered in Japanese duo of Ritz and Swift but it can be a fair match to the Kappa if not slightly better. The engine has a good low end grunt, which eases your day to day need in bumper to bumper traffic but once past the early perk it lacks the mid-range punch and delivers a feeble final punch at higher revs. It doesn’t possess the sound to provide you with an adrenaline rush and neither does it beg to be revved until the red line.
To summarize, this engine feels at home at exactly where it should be doing duties 90 percent of the time in the hands of its international customers – that’s in city runabouts. It is designed for start-stop traffic.
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The new Nissan Micra was shown to us for the first time. It is solid and attractive
The Renault Nissan plant at Oragadam Chennai was inagurated today in the presence of the chief minister and deputy chief minister of Chennai. The plant is 650 acres in size and can produce up to 400,000 cars a year.
We’ll discuss in depth about the visit in a post later today. For now let us show you live pictures of the new Nissan Micra on Indian soil for the first ever time!
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We assume we’re hours away from seeing the new Nissan Micra at the Oragadam facility in Chennai. While high anticipation prevails in camp IAB, another part of the world is getting ready for the launch of this small car. We’re talking about Thailand which will get the Micra (they call it March) before anyone else in the world.
Here are a few images from the press kits issues by Nissan in Thailand.
The Linea is expected with a 1.6-liter diesel engine by end of July 2010
We like this.
Fiat India is starting to get aggressive after the Linea and Grande Punto have registered in the minds of Indians. It is planning to expand the range further by adding the Punto sports and Linea 1.6 diesel by July this year.
Fiat India, which has done a comeback of sorts in the Indian car market, is leaving no stone unturned to be in the minds of the people. The company officials recently said that they plan to introduce Linea 1.6 MultiJet and Punto Sports in July-August 2010.
Ravi Bhatia, vice president – Commercial Fiat India -
We have been getting a lot of requests from consumers asking for the Linea 1.6. Keeping that demand in mind, we will be launching the same in July. We would also be introducing Punto Sports sometime that period although work is still on the same and so any exact timeline is difficult
The Punto Sports on the other hand is a more powerful version of the hatchback which will be on the costlier side. Carwale speculates it will be around 7.5 lakh rupees, almost 3 lakh costlier than the entry-level model.
Fiat is working on new models but this year we will only see variants of the existing models Punto and Linea.
The Mahindra World SUV is coming to India next year from the Pune facility
The World SUV from Mahindra (code : W201) will be launched in India next year. The large SUV will be built at the company’s recently inaugurated plant in Chakan, Pune.
Dr Pawan Goenka, president – Automotive Sector, Mahindra & Mahindra -
We are looking at significant share of the new SUV manufactured here to be exported into the US market. We are planning to come out with the new SUV next year
The new SUV could be Mahindra’s next international vehicle, the first one being Scorpio. Mr.Rajesh Jejurikar, Chief of Operations, Automotive Sector, during the Auto Expo told IAB that Xylo will not go to the United States.
The new SUV built on a monocoque frame could get the same 2.2-liter mHawk engine from the Scorpio. The state of tuning could be different to match the vehicle’s larger dimensions. Features such as climate control are expected on the new SUV.
The Japanese magazine’s representation is light years away from the concept shown in January
Thanks to Autoten, we’re able to show you a possible look of the Honda New Small Concept scheduled that could come out next year.
Codenamed 2CV, the compact car will sit under the Honda Jazz and take over the mantle of the entry-level model in many countries. While initial reports suggested the car would not be sold in Europe, the Japanese magazine reports the company’s Indian plant will manufacture cars for exports.
The magazine has also published details on the dimensions of the product – approximately 3700*1680*1550 (L*W*H) in dimension. The base petrol engine would be a 3-cylinder 1.0-liter engine for the European market. The 1.2-liter engine is for the Thai market. We assume the 1.2-liter engine will be offered on the Indian version.
The magazine reports the small car will hit the Indian market first by Q1 of 2011.
Mr.Carlos Ghosn addressing the media today at the Trident Hotel in Chennai discussed the future of the brand in India. Here’s what he had to say.
On his visit to India –
Ghosn spoke to Ashok Leyland’s executives on some of the projects the companies have embarked on. He could also meet Hoover Automobiles, the distributor of Nissan’s cars in India. Apart from these parties, Ghosn said he interacted with the staff of the Nissan-Renault’s operations in India.
On the Mahindra Renault Logan –
Ghosn said the Renault Logan will continue to sell in India. Customers will enjoy the service of the company. He wants the car to have a completely normal lifecycle. He however accepted that he’s not satisfied with the evolution of the Logan in India and he’s speaking to Mahindra to reposition the product.
On the ULC –
“The ULC is moving along” says Ghosn. His company is working out a contract with Bajaj. It will not be assembled in the Chennai plant. He hinted the product will cross the Indian border.
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The new Nissan Micra is expected at the opening ceremony of the Chennai plant tomorrow
Nissan will inaugurate their Chennai plant tomorrow in Oragadam, Chennai. The plant has a maximum capacity of 400,000 units per annum. In the first two years, Nissan will ramp up production to 200,000 units. By 2014, they expect to reach full capacity.
Along with the opening of the plant, the India-spec Nissan Micra could be shown to the media for the first time. IAB will be present on ground zero to bring you all the details.
Our sources tell us Carlos Ghosn, CEO of Renault-Nissan will go for a spin in a Tata Nano at the plant tomorrow. This will of course not be in front of the media. Ghosn could drive the Nano to get serious inputs on how the ULC should work. It needs to be better in all aspects to appeal to buyers.
