Indian Autos blog

When I opened the fridge to make some cold chocolate milk shake, the shape of the bottle reminded me of something else.
Right- Milk bottle from local grocery store. Left – Mahindra Xylo‘s tail lamp

When world class designers say they gain inspiration from things they see in everyday life, this is what they mean.

Mahindra has been working on its upcoming World SUV, codenamed W201 for quite some time now. There are millions of spy pictures of the World SUV test mule doing their rounds in the internet making the upcoming Mahindra SUV a hot favorite for bloggers and social-networkers to discuss.

There have even been some theories being generated on various forums stating that the Dacia Duster is being tested, camouflaged as a Mahindra. But that is false. We at Indian Autos Blog had a tryst with a Mahindra test mule recently. We made quite a number of vital observations of the standing mule from close quarters.

Pawan Goenka, President, Mahindra and Mahindra Automotive sector -

We will be launching the vehicle in the first quarter of FY 12.

The Mahindra W201 would be sold at as a ‘Premium SUV’ and could be priced between Rs.12 to 14 lakhs. As the new SUV is being developed with the international market in mind, we can expect the new Mahindra to come fully loaded and a number of safety features as standard.

The new SUV is said to be a monocoque and that directly implies it will be a very decent handler. Mahindra could also be working on a V6 engine, possibly petrol, the presence of twin-exhaust pipes justify this speculation. But one extremely inquisitive IAB reader had a chance to look under a Mahindra World SUV mule and found two exhaust pipes running all the way from the engine to the rear. This is clearly a sign of a V6 under the hood.

From what we could make out from the test mule, we expect the car to be handsome with lots of design cues borrowed from the Jeep Cherokee.

Click here for IAB’s exclusive rendering of the Mahindra World SUV.

The only thing I’d be interested to photograph running with stripes on a Tuesday morning is a Bengal Tiger.

So I thought as a Ford Figo test mule was overtaking me on the GST road. As it passed by me, I thought I don’t have to bother, it could be a data-logging run early in the morning. I’m almost sure that Ford isn’t bringing the 1.6-liter Figo to the market and they don’t have any other diesel engines in their kitty for this vehicle in the near future.

As it passed by me, I noticed something weird. The rear tail lamps looked akward. A Dumbbell shaped clear patch of plastic was present on them instead of the production version’s quadrilateral indicator pod.

We compared the defunct Ford Fusion‘s stop lamp with the Figo’s and understood they were different. So the customers suggesting the rear of the Figo is similar to the phased out Fiesta prompting Ford to take corrective measure is ruled out as a possibility.

Vendors are usually requested several designs of components and perhaps the stop lamp on the Figo mule was an early prototype from the tail light supplier? Or is Ford changing the stop lamp’s design for unknown reasons?

With new entrants in the small car segment like the Ford Figo, Chevrolet Beat and the Volkswagen Polo, the market share of Maruti Suzuki was at stake. But Maruti proved that it is the King of the small car segment by having its market share intact even after a number of competitive new players.

Yesterday, we had discussed about Ford Figo’s impressive sales in a 14 week period. Though the Ford Figo is a huge success it hasn’t affected Maruti’s market share.

Mayank Pareek, Executive Officer (Marketing & Sales), Maruti Suzuki India -

We have always been able to provide the lowest cost of ownership in cars and now, even in the styling aspect we have matched competitors

Reports say that the new entrants in the segment are eating into the sales of Hyundai and Tata Motors.

Even though Maruti is offering low-cost cars and is mostly preferred brand for first time buyers, I feel that Maruti should offer ‘affordable quality motoring’ than just ‘affordable motoring’ to the typical Indian car buyer.

Garagemdojoao has posted a computer-generated drawing of the 2011 Hyundai H800 small car on it website. The rendering should be extremely accurate given its printed on the latest edition of Auto Esporte, a highly sought after magazine in South American regions.

Said to be priced at around 2 lakh rupees, the Hyundai H800 is supposed to come out in 2011 with a 800cc engine. There should be a 5-speed manual gearbox offered initially. Based on the demand, this baby Hyundai will receive further upgrades including diesel engine and possibly even an electric powertrain.

It is very clear from Garagemdojoao’s rendering that Hyundai will use the same design language featuring on cars like ix35, Sonata YF, new Verna etc.

The next generation Suzuki Swift would soon be launched in India following its international launch scheduled for the Paris Motor Show in October 2010. As of now the car has been unveiled only in Hungary.

Suzuki has revealed the engine options for the 2011 Swift, a new 1.2l VVT engine petrol producing 93 bhp and the existing Fiat sourced Mutijet 1.3 DDiS diesel would be powering the Swift. CVT automatic transmissions would also be offered.

For India, the 1.2l K-series engine producing 84 bhp and the 1.3l DDiS diesel would stay. Maruti Suzuki India could also bring the VVT 1.2l engine. Maruti would be skeptical about offering an automatic tranny on the new Swift but we expect it could follow months after the car’s launch.

When Indian Autos Blog inquired about the new Swift selling alongside the current model, Maruti Suzuki didn’t reveal anything but hinted that the newer generations would be replace the old.

Going by BS Motoring’s report, we expect Maruti to launch the 2011 Swift in India by the first half of 2011. But considering strong threats from the Ford Figo and the upcoming Chevrolet Beat diesel, we expect Maruti Suzuki to bring in the new Swift by March 2011.

Jaguar XJ is a very special car to me. When I first caught a glimpse of the test car without any badges in Silverstone, UK back in July 2009, I thought the mighty Jaguar would be taking on the Rolls Royce Phantom and the Bentleys. Only when the car was officially launched as an XJ, I realized this car is going to compete against the best of Germany- the S-class, 7-series and the A8.

The presence of the Jaguar XJ is immense, the car is longer than a 7-series, wider than a Rolls Royce Phantom and sexier than a Maserati Quattroporte. The car is typically a Jaguar, pure British charm.

Tata’s ownership of Jaguar popularized the brand even more and the Jaguars always had a market in India. Till now Jaguar has been selling only XFs, XKs and now Jaguar would begin deliveries of the XJ for its customers.

Tata brought Jaguar and Land Rover to India in June 2009 and it is more than happy with Jaguar’s performance in the Indian market. Tata claims Jaguar is doing better in India than its German rivals from Mercedes, BMW and Audi. Tata is also planning to increase the number of Jaguar dealers from 2 to 8 in the coming months.

The car would be a CBU import and would come with a 5.0l naturally aspirated V8 petrol engine producing 385 bhp and 515 Nm of torque. The car comes with a 6-speed automatic tranny with paddle shifts. This car is extremely opulent and is loaded to the gills.

click through to read the press release

Zigwheels is reporting that Suzuki will launch the new Suzuki Swift this September. It is not clear if they are talking about the Indian market or European/Japanese market, but what this news essentially does is confirms the new Swift’s journey in India.

The report goes on to add that a new 1.3-liter diesel engine can be expected. Perhaps Suzuki could make the Multi-jet more efficient by playing around with the settings and upgrading the mechanicals?

It will add dual variable valve timing to the 1.2-liter petrol engine so that power and torque figures paint a different story – 94 PS @ 6000 rpm and a maximum torque of a 118 Nm @ 4800 rpm is much more than what the current Swift manages. It will go on to become the most powerful 1.2-liter engine in India, surpassing the Jazz’s 90hp engine.

Apart from being more powerful, spacious and comfortable, the new Swift will also be more efficient, consuming less fuel and exhaling fewer emissions. The new Swift could be pricier by a few thousand bucks, but for the additional value it offers, I don’t think anyone would think twice before signing on the dotted line.