Indian Autos blog

Nissan is betting big on in the Indian market. It has invested big money (close to a billion dollars) on its Chennai plant. The company’s volume player- the Micra has reached showrooms & advance bookings have already begun with the car slated for a July launch.

Now the next big thing from Nissan will be an entry level sedan based on the Micra platform i.e the V platform. This sedan is in development stage & is internally known as the ‘Affordable Sedan’ (code : L02B).

The sedan would share the platform with the Micra hatch which would give Nissan huge cost savings which would result in a competitive price tag. The car will look significantly different from the Micra. It is expected to come with a 1.6 litre XH series petrol engine & a more powerful version of the 1.5 litre K9K diesel engine (from the Logan/Micra). It might also get a CVT option, which the Micra will also receive.

The car would be pitted against established vehicles like the Swift Dzire & Indigo Manza, with certain variants aiming for the Honda City. It could hit the Indian market in the 2nd Quarter of 2011. It would be manufactured in India as well as Thailand, where it might get the same 1.2-liter petrol engine which should make it even cheaper.

This car sounds promising & Nissan needs to get the pricing right to make it a success. Not to forget that Nissan will also be bringing a MPV which will also be based on the V-Platform (next generation Nissan Note).

Stay tuned to IAB for more on that!

Tata Motors is organizing a 15,000 km drive across India for customers of Tata Nano. Interested customers can register for the drive via the internet from May 26 onwards.

Dubbed “Nano superdrive” there will be a total of nine winners who will be announced on the company’s website later this week. The drive will be flagged off at the car’s mother plant in Sanand, Gujarat on the 2nd of June.

The nine winners will be grouped, and the three teams will travel three different routes viz., Saffron Route, White Route and the Green Route. The drive will be completed as the cars drive back to Sanand on June 28 after traveling 15,000 km through 36 cities for a period of 29 days.

The Saffron Route will cover the north India covering Sanand, Pali (Rajasthan), Haryana, Amritsar, New Delhi, Aligarh, UP, Bhind, Gwalior, Kota and back to Sanand.

The White Route will cover the central India and Eastern India covering MP, Chhatisgarh, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra.

The Green Route will be see entire South India including Ahmedabad, Vadodra, Mumbai, Goa, Mysore, Ernakulam, Chennai, Bengaluru, Nashik and back to Sanand.

This contest will bring lots of smiles on the faces of Nano customers. It will also help Tata Motors prove the point that its small car is just like any other – trustworthy and equally capable. If the Nanos can displace 15k kilometers without any major glitches, then it will douse the flames set off by Satish Sawant’s Nano.

Activities at Nissan’s dealer network across the country is buzzing with activity as hundreds of people lined up outside dealer showrooms to check out the Micra.

Indian Autos Blog visited Sherif Nissan today and fiddled around the sparkling blue Micra which looked a little out of place as it was parked next to a yacht-like Teana and mountain-like X-Trail.

The officials at the dealership had all the answers to beamed questions, including speculative prices and launch dates.

The dealership official mentioned Nissan had set the tentative launch date as the 14th of July. Prices in Chennai could start at 3.8 lakh rupees and go up to 5.5 lakh (ex-showroom) for the fully loaded model. Nissan will hand out test drives from the 14th of July, if the car is launched on that day.

The showroom staff also had knowledge on the future plans for the Micra. He said initially there would be only a petrol model and by December, the diesel model could be available. A 1.4-liter CRDI engine could be the powertrain in contention. An automatic transmission model is also in the pipeline lined up possibly for 2011.

When Indian Autos Blog contacted Nissan, the company spokesperson echoed what the dealership official had to say -

We have a plan for diesel. We will launch it subsequently.

When we asked Nissan’s spokesperson about the launch date, this is what he had to say -

We will launch the Micra in July. Further details will be communicated shortly.

We don’t know how many cars Nissan wants to sell in India initially, but we find the Micra a cute, yet solid hatchback that will attract plenty of buyers, especially in the metros.

Ford India is on high spirits following the success of its latest small car offering, the Figo. There have been various reports and speculation in the media about the future direction and product line of Ford India.

Apart from the Figo, the rest of Ford India’s line up needs a major revamp as they have been in their present avatar for long. The Fiesta especially has been without any refurbishment for long, while the Endeavour’s recent update has failed to create any drastic rise in the sales numbers.

When indianautosblog inquired about the new car and updates for the current models to the company spokesperson, the official stated clearly there would be no updates for the current lineup.

But as Ford India is continuously monitoring the models, we can only expect ‘value packs’ in the current line up. That means we can soon see a horde of ‘Special Edition’ Fords at the showrooms offering attractive goodies and gifts and probably discounts too.

Even though these ‘value packs’ attract a decent number of customers, we feel Ford India needs to give a major revamp to its existing line up from time to time to keep up the good numbers.

There is always a difference between buying a good car and making a good deal when buying a car. What customers would be expecting from Ford is freshened up interiors, more engine and tranny options (like the Ecoboost engine paired with semi-automatic gearboxes) and premium features.

We’re not surprised by Autocar India’s report on the new Verna’s Indian journey next year. Ask our regular readers and they’ll tell you how we have been behind this car since October last year, writing about every spyshot that appears online and sharing our views on this model continuously.

Autocar has written the new Verna could be priced between 12-13 lakh, and that isn’t the best thing we’ve heard this year. As we move from one generation of cars to another, especially in India, we simultaneously move to higher segments.

With the launch of the new Verna, Hyundai will be selling three generations of the car (Accent, Verna, new Verna) under one roof. Rumor has it that the Verna Transform (facelifted Verna) will be launched in India by the end of this year, so it definitely is going to stay on for the next few years. The Accent likewise (unconfirmed) will be sold in India, with a petrol engine till 2014.

The Verna at its birth place (Chennai) costs 6.50-9.00 lakh rupees. Selling the replacement model at almost twice the cost (with possibly 1.6-liter twins) isn’t a wise idea, and I don’t have to explain why. Competing with the likes of the Toyota Corolla, Chevrolet Cruze, Skoda Laura and the Honda Civic with a Verna that’s a Sonata wannabe is playing with fire – make no mistake, you will get burnt.

Let us for a moment consider this as the actual price. If the new Verna at 13 lakh is brought in to fight the Civic, what segment will the next generation Hyundai Elantra (Code : MD, in the case of it reaching India) compete in? Is that the Accord/Superb slayer? Then what about the Hyundai Sonata YF? Is that going for the BMW 3 Series?

Isn’t someone telling Hyundai that it’s about to show everyone what “digging my own grave” means?

This rendering is slightly confusing as the outgoing Fusion resembles the Figo and is also based on the same platform.

The Ford B-Max is a derivative of the Ford Global B-Platform will be the Figo mini MPV, if it ever makes it to India. Ford has mentioned to sections of the media that it is developing a SUV, but hasn’t elaborated. Our hunch is Ford could be using the Figo’s platform for this SUV.

Coming back to the Fusion replacement, the vehicle could use design cues from the iosis MAX concept unveiled several months ago. If the MPV is thoroughly redesigned and not just a Figo in high heels, then we can expect a complete interpretation of the Kinetic Design language seen on the European Fiesta bumper to bumper. The shape of the car will be similar to the Euro Fiesta, and the update will also result in better interiors.

Fiesta hardware doesn’t include the engine as reports of a new generation of smaller capacity Ford turbo petrol engines – 1.0 litre with outputs from 90-110bhp could find their way under the B-Max’s bonnet.

We hope Ford will talk about this model in detail in the coming months as the vehicle could be produced in Romania and even in America in the next couple of years.

Maruti Suzuki Swift has sold more than 4.5 lakh units in the last five years. The Swift has been one of the biggest success stories of Maruti Suzuki India Limited. The arrival of the Swift was highly anticipated and even before its launch on March 25, 2005 Maruti Suzuki registered 16,000 confirmed bookings.

The high demand for the Swift forced Maruti to produce the Swift overtime at both the Gurgaon and Manesar plants. The funky looks and Maruti’s brand image were the main driving factors behind the brisk sales of the Swift. When Maruti introduced the 1.3L DDiS diesel engine sales numbers shot up through the roof. Maruti has been regularly adding something new to car and also recently plonked in the 1.2L K-series engine into the Swift.

Thanks to all these factors, the Swift frenzy among car buyers hasn’t come down a bit with the Swift selling close to 10,000 units per month even with a waiting period of 3 months for the petrol variant and 4 months for the diesel variant.

Maruti Suzuki then launched the exclusive for India, ‘booted’ version of the Swift, the Swift Dzire which is now rooling the roost in the lower C-segment. The Dzire sold a lakh units within a span of 18 months since its launch.

The next generation Suzuki Swift is being tested in Europe and we expect Maruti Suzuki India would launch the next gen version in India Soon after is International launch. The new Swift will grow up having bigger dimensions, newer technology and more powerful engines.

Could this be the first spyshot ever captured of the 2012 Fiat Palio?

VRUM Brazil has posted images of the 2012 Fiat Palio, which is likely to replace the existing Palio even in India. Sources told IAB what Fiat India means by small car is the next generation Palio, which uses an existing Fiat platform (new Uno or existing Palio’s platform).

Along with the arrival of the 2012 Fiat Palio, Multiair technology could also make its first appearance in India. Fiat could use a 1.0-liter or maybe even a twin cylinder 900cc engine that’ll deliver fantastic fuel economy, an essential part of a Indian small car.

There is a possibility of the 1.3 Multi-jet diesel making the cut, but we think Fiat will develop a smaller and lighter diesel engine for this particular vehicle. General Motors will launch a 1.0-liter 3-cylinder Multi-jet engine on the Beat in the coming months, which essentially is a cropped 4-cylinder Multi-jet used on the Indica Vista and Swift. There is a high chance of this engine taking charge under the new Palio’s bonnet.

Fiat might not invest in electric technology, which was noted by Mr.Rajeev Kapoor, CEO of Fiat India. He told Indian Autos Blog that there were no plans as such for electric vehicles. This is interesting as by 2012, Tata, General Motors and possibly Maruti could have electric cars on the road.

Could Fiat enter into an agreement in the future allowing them to borrow the Indica Vista EV’s powertrain for their small car?