Indian Autos blog

The Tata Penguin 0.5 tonne mini truck has been spotted again. The small truck which would slot under the Tata Ace is based on the Tata Nano platform. The Penguin truck shares its platform with the passenger moving vehicle, the Tata Magic Iris. it also borrows the whole front cabin from the Magic Iris.

The mini truck appears compact yet rugged. Strangely the headlamps remind me of the Ford Figo. The Tata Penguin compact truck would be a direct rival to the Mahindra Gio, which is India’s first 4-wheeled compact truck. The Mahindra looks intimidating compared to the soft rounded cute Tata Penguin.

Details of the engines for the Tata Penguin are not clear but the Penguin could get the direct injection 611cc twin cylinder diesel engine which produces 11 bhp and 31 Nm of torque. This CRDi engine has been developed by Tata in conjunction with Greaves. The Tata Penguin could be priced at around 1.8 lakh rupees.

We also speculate the 611cc diesel engine has very good chances of finding its way under the bonnet rear seat of the Tata Nano diesel which we speculate could be launched within a year.

Click here for Indian Autos Blog’s exclusive rendering of the Tata Penguin compact truck.

There is no doubt about the fact that the Tata Nano is the world’s cheapest car. But, if you want to have the title of owner of the world’s cheapest Tata Nano, then you definitely have to get yourself one of these.

This is a 1:18 scale replica of the World’s Cheapest Car, the Tata Nano. It is a replica scale model with the exact same details as a regular Tata Nano. It has opening doors and cool looking alloy rims.

The price of this scale model is not known as of now, but given the Nano’s World’s Cheapest Car price tag, shouldn’t this be the world’s cheapest scale model of a car.

Actualidadmotor is reporting that Tata Motors will launch the Ace EV in Spain by the end of 2011. The Tata Ace was launched in India back in 2005, and it was an epic hit. There were also talks about the Ace EV sailing to America with the help of Chrysler, but there have been no notifications since from both parties.

With a top speed of 40kph and a range of 72km, the Ace EV is expected to be priced extremely competitively. The truck will retain the dimensions of the model sold locally. The cabin and other facilities are expected to remain the same.

Steadily increasing commodity prices has forced General Motors India to hike the prices of its car models by 2 to 3%. The price hike would be in effect from the 1st of next month, July 2010.

P. Balendran, Vice-President, General Motors India -

We will increase prices across all eight models by two to three per cent from the first week of July. Prices of commodities like steel and rubber have risen sharply since the second quarter of last year. So, we have been forced to increase prices.

This financial year has been quite turbulent for car manufactures as they have made three price hikes in this year itself, the first price hike came in January owing to rising input costs, the second price hike came when a 2% excise duty increase in the Center’s Union Budget and the third price hike coming after the introduction BS4 emission norms.

Other car makers, Toyota, Ford and Fiat also announced that if the commodity prices continues to rise a price hike would be imminent.

Sandeep Singh, Deputy Managing Director, Toyota Kirloskar Motors -

We are reviewing the situation this time and will take a call by this month-end. Commodity prices have gone up sharply in recent days.

Ford is planning to increase the price of its successful small car Figo by 2%. Now carmakers have to put up a balancing act by coping up with the increasing input costs while not losing customers because the price hike.

Toyota Kirloskar Motors (TKM) India has been aggressively promoting its ‘concept’ car, the Etios all over India. The Toyota Etios has been touring the length and breadth of the country creating awareness about Toyota’s new small car’s impending arrival. Toyota is banking on the Etios twins (hatchback and sedan) to increase its volumes in India in the coming years. The Etios would be launched in January 2011, the company has hinted.

TKM has invested Rs. 3200 crores for setting up its second plant in India, near Bidadi, Karnataka. This plant would have an annual capacity of 70,000 units and the first car, the Etios hatchback would roll out of this plant in December 2010.

Sandeep Singh, Deputy Managing Director, Toyota Kirloskar Motors -

Etios, which is now a concept car, will be marketed from early 2011.

The Toyota Etios hatchback would take on the likes of the Nissan Micra, Volkswagen Polo, Ford Figo, Fiat Punto, the next generation 2011 Maruti Swift and the upcoming Honda’s small car for India. The Etios sedan would take on the Maruti Swift Dzire, Ford Fiesta, the new Hyundai Verna Transform and the future Nissan Micra sedan. Toyota would initially be launching the Etios with petrol engines only and diesel engines might be offered in the future.

Toyota also revealed its future plans for India. Not much has been announced regarding future models but Toyota clearly said the Etios Hatchback would be driving Toyota’s sales in India, as Toyota is targeting a sales figure of 1,50,000 in 2011. Toyota hopes to sell 3,00,000-3,50,000 cars by 2015.

Hiroshi Nakagawa, MD, TKM

India will grow in the range of 10% against the global growth rate of 5%. Our small car Etios will drive our sales volumes in India in the coming days. To achieve this scale of volume, we have to enter India’s rural markets in a big way. We are aggressively expanding our dealership footprint in India and quite a significant portion of this will be in country’s heartland. By end of 2010, we plan to have 150 dealers across the country.

Toyota is also considering exports of the Etios from India. TKM is also contemplating on setting up a new engine plant in India. Toyota is planning to set up a world class R & D unit in India.

Tata Motor‘s High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV) called the Light Specialist Vehicle (LSV) has been spotted in Leh. Tata’s new tactical high mobility vehicle would be on the lines of India’s first HMMWV, the Mahindra Axe. The vehicle was first showcased at the 2008 Defence Expo in New Delhi.

Tata has been developing vehicles for the Indian Armed Forces since 1958 and is India’s largest manufacturer of defense vehicles. Tata has an impressive line up of tough all terrain armoured vehicles. Tata Motors’ current range of High Mobility Vehicles are based on trucks and are mostly 6-wheeled and 8-wheeled vehicles.

The new Tata 4-wheeled LSV has been supplied to the Army as well as the newly formed Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS). The Tata family itself has borne the brunt of Mumbai’s terrorist attack. Tata’s LSV satisfies the need of a high mobility armoured vehicle which is capable of transporting troops and artillery in case of counter insurgency operations.

Tata’s LSV is capable of carrying a 1.2 tonne payload and its joint platform can be altered for diverse missions reconnaissance and counter insurgency operations for special forces. The LSV has an adaptive automatic transmission with a top speed of 105 kmph. Tata’s LSV is capable of 60 percent gradeability, 45 degree approach and departure angle and 300 mm vertical climbing. The LSV massive 255 mm ground clearance helps its all terrain capabilities. The LSV can operate in very harsh climatic conditions and can withstand temperatures ranging from -20C to 55C.

Tata Motors’ Defense Solutions also builds armoured Safaris and Sumos and other mine protected vehicles. Tata’s ownership of the Land Rover can only add to the strengths and capabilities of the Tata’s Defense vehicles.

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Recently there were leaked official drawings of the body panels of the 2012 Fiat Palio. Based on these pics and the numerous spy shots we had posted previously, our in-house photoshop editor SRK has come up with renderings of the next generation 2012 Fiat Palio which would be coming to India sometime in the first quarter of 2012.

The 2012 Palio, according to reliable reports, has been built on the Novo Uno platform. The new Palio, codenamed Project 326 would slot under the Fiat Punto in the Indian market. The Fiat Palio would borrow styling cues from its big brother, the Grande Punto. The headlamps, vertically oriented tail lamps and the silhouette of the 2012 Palio are all inspired by the Punto and that is a good thing.

The 2012 Palio is expected to come with a small efficient Multiair petrol engine probably in a 1.0 liter guise. These engines are immensely powerful for their size thanks to advanced Variable Valve timing. The Palio could also come with the 1.3 liter Multijet diesel engine found on the Punto and Maruti Swift.

Fiat India’s attempted comeback with the Linea and the Punto hasn’t really gone extremely well with the latter’s sales falling well below expectations. Fiat would be looking to soar higher by gaining a strong foothold of the Indian small car segment with the 2012 Palio. We’re not ruling out the possibility of platforms being shared between Fiat and Tata Motors, so this vehicle could form the underpinnings to the compact hatch which Tata will launch in the coming years to fill the gap between the Nano and the Indica Vista.

Fiat will be launching a new variant of its Punto hatchback in the Portuguese market. The new variant has been dubbed the Adventure and it is powered by a 1.6 litre, 16-valve, E.torQ Petrol engine, which can also run on a blend of Petrol and Ethanol. The engine produces a peak power of 117 bhp and a peak torque of 16.8 Nm.

The Punto were earlier being offered with a 1.8 litre, GM sourced, Petrol engine producing 115 bhp and 18.5 Nm of torque as the highest spec engine offering. The new 1.6 litre engine has a higher power output but a lower torque rating than the old 1.8 litre unit, and it also produces its peak torque at a higher rpm in the rev range compared to the older unit. The new 1.6 litre unit also delivers better fuel efficiency than the old 1.8 litre engine.

Fiat in India is unlikely to offer such a high power output Petrol engine in the Indian Punto, and so we will have to make do with the current engine offerings and the soon-to-be launched 1.3 litre 90 bhp Multijet motor in the Punto.