Indian Autos blog

The Indian car market doesn’t really like the idea of a premium sophisticated hatchback. Example being the Honda Jazz, There were little faults with the car, but the price was too high for the Indian consumer to digest. Proof that even a good car can fail if not priced well.

The Hyundai i20 is another very capable car and hasn’t been doing well because of its high price tag. Though Hyundai has really raised the bar with this car in terms of equipment and safety, the typical Indian consumer simply won’t fall for that.

It has been reported that Hyundai is re-working on the Hyundai i20 platform to develop a car for the Brazilian market, that is relatively more cost-effective than an i20. Hyundai’s Brazilian arm is developing this car to mainly to beat Ford to become the country’s fourth largest car-maker by 2011, represented in the images above.

click through to read more

Could the representation shown here be the cheaper Mercedes Benz SUV based on a cheaper, smaller platform?

There is a price war raging in the luxury car market that was previously unheard of. Both Mercedes Benz & BMW are trying to outdo each other by launching stripped down, cheaper variants of their cars. Now Mercedes is going in a completely new direction.

Autocar reports that the company will now move to a new, front wheel drive architecture or MFA (Mercedes Front Wheel Architecture) for all its cars. This would make the cars more fuel efficient & would also save costs for the company. All Mercs will be based on this architecture as it can support a wide range of wheelbases & configurations.

This platform can also support greener technologies like a fuel cell powertrain. A wide range of future Mercs would be based on this platform & we could see a Mercedes cheaper than the A class too. Dr Bharat Balasubramaniam , Vice President, Group & Advanced engineering, Daimler AG told ACI that MFA platform would be more suitable for India as Mercs would be more affordable.

Mercedes might finally be able to bring the A-Class to India at an affordable price. But more importantly the company is contemplating on the introduction of a mini SUV by 2013 in the Indian market that would be a direct competitor to the BMW X1 & the Honda CR-V.

This new direction by Mercedes Benz would mean that Indian customers would get feature packed cars at an affordable price & not stripped down versions of the same.

Could this be the Maruti Suzuki Eeco Flexi? A passenger vehicle with blacked out windows and seats vacated to turn it into a high-utility carry van?

Sources have told Indian Autos Blog that the Maruti Eeco Flexi (the suffix is our suggestion) could come with a LPG/CNG option apart from the petrol fuel powering the 1.2-liter engine, that makes 73bhp and 101Nm torque and is tied to a 5-speed manual transmission. Maruti already offers the Omni as an utility van (Omni Cargo and Omni LPG) which has penetrated cities quite phenomenally.

The Eeco was introduced to offer the Maruti Omni customer wishing to upgrade. Many of these Omni customers use their vehicle to deliver supplies, and since the time they bought it, their business could have developed requiring a bigger and a more versatile vehicle. The Eeco Flexi could just fit the bill for those buyers.

click through to see higher resolution image

If you’re marriage was arranged and you know little about your wife, then the Maruti Alto, with its peppy engine and decent comfort and air conditioning can act as great platform for you to mingle. So suggests this new advertisement which went air only last week.

If you have a girlfriend, knew a lot about her and wished to propose a life-long partnership, we suggest you both go for a spin in a Ford Fiesta 1.6S or the Skoda Laura TSI which will for the thrill seeker, offer a roller-coaster experience and get you married sooner or later.

If you want to get rid of your partner, then well, you’ll have to buy yourself a ________, I’m afraid.

Go ahead, fill up that blank by entering your answer in the comment box after clicking on “Read More”

We had already posted disguised as well as undisguised spy photos of the India bound MPV based on the commercial vehicle platform developed by the General Motors-SAIC merger. Its now official that GM would be looking to introduce these LCV’s by 2011. The MPV would be pitted against the Maruti Eeco

Karl Slym, President and Managing Director, GM India-

After the partnership with SAIC, GM in India has a wider menu to choose from with products from SAIC also available. By the end of next year or early 2012, we plan to launch LCVs in one-tonne capacity, which could be simultaneously followed by passenger cars.

GM has hinted developing 3 vehicles out of this platform. One is the pictured MPV, one could be a panel van derivative of the MPV and the third could be a sub 1 tonne pickup truck. The new range of LCV’s could come with the Fiat Multijet engine manufactured Talegaon.

GM would be manufacturing the new LCV’s at the Halol plant which has an annual capacity of 85,000 units. GM also plans to export these LCV’s to developing markets like South-America and South East Asia.

While the passenger car from SAIC would be given the ‘Chevrolet’ badge, GM hasn’t revealed anything regarding branding the new range of LCV’s. GM could give the commercial vehicles the ‘Tavera’ brand also considering the popularity of the name in the Indian market.

Ford has hit the purple patch with the Figo, which is turning out to be the new star of the segment. The Ford Figo is a huge success, the main reason being its killer value for money pricing. Ford has got it spot on with the Figo, but today, we’re expecting an announcement from the company regarding a price hike..

Nigel Wark, Executive Director (Marketing and Sales), Ford India

We can’t defy gravity for ever. The general industry cost is rising, steel prices are up, components are costlier and there has also been an increase in transport cost.

The price of the Figo was its main selling point, and now with the impending price hike, would buyers be willing to pay more from their pockets to get their hands on the Figo?

Now Ford has to put up a balancing act and has to cope up with the increasing input costs while not losing customer to the price hike. How much is the price rise going to be?

Vince Burlapp has posted images of an undisguised Polo sedan (VW Vento) inside what looks like a production line. The Polo sedan will reach VW showrooms in India within the next three to six months.

The Polo sedan will get the twin slab chrome grille from the hatchback. As the Indian Polo is marginally different compared to the European Polo, we are unsure if the bumper will have integrated slabs instead of the mesh that’s present on the hatch. The rendering posted by Autocar India had slabs in it, but that was only a sketch and not a photograph.

The wheelbase, slightly longer on the sedan, permits the rear seat passenger to stretch his legs. The rear seats will be be touch comfier. The addition of a boot and a 1.6-liter petrol-diesel combo under the hood will catapult the Polo into the territory of the Honda City.Perhaps the Honda City buyer, who misses a diesel badly, could opt in for the Vento.

There will also be considerable more equipment on board. The dashboard is no different compared to the hatchback. VW is adding a coat of shine to certain areas or is it just a protective layer of polythene?

Perhaps VW will add more variants after gauging the initial response of the Indian customer.

click through to see the rest of the images

Naveen’s Take -

This was the first time in India an event has seen so many people coming together in the name of car. The Maruti Suzuki Swift has an immense fan-following and we can even say it has attained cult status. Maruti Udyog India Ltd. expected to bank on this and give itself a little image boost through this publicity stunt in the form of a ‘record breaking’ run. The Swift customers responded to the company’s call and turned out in huge numbers only to be disappointed by the poor management.

Early in the morning the Swift owners were excited to see the sea of Swifts and happily exchanged views. There were a wide variety of modified Swifts in the premises. There were cars which had complete over-haul to the front & rear bumpers, white nappa leather interiors and ear drum-wrecking audio systems.

With increased restlessness among participants and an excellent mismanagement strategy by the organizers, frankly, hell broke loose when enraged drivers demanded to call off the rally and give them fuel coupons soon, so that they can leave home to escape the scorching heat.

click through to read more and see the image gallery