The one lakh wonder, the Tata Nano will be made available to prospective customers without any advance booking from the month of August this year, quoted a senior officer from the company.
Manoj Arora, Senior Manager, Tata Motors -
From this August-September, customers will be able to walk into our showroom and drive out in a Nano
Mr. Arora has said that, with the inauguration of the Nano’s mother plant in Sanand (Gujarat), Tata Motors will now be able to produce and roll out more Nanos per month than it was able to earlier. The Nano plant in Sanand has the capacity to manufacture 2,50,000 Nanos per year currently and this can be scaled up to higher levels as and when required.
The company has already delivered 35,000 cars of the first selected one lakh customers and expects to complete deliveries to the remaining customers very soon.
The company will now also begin the process of targeting the first time car buyers in the country with a new marketing and advertising campaign, since the car has met all the demands of the customers and has performed satisfactorily in the market.
Premier, which launched the Compact Diesel SUV “RiO” last year in an unveiling at Mumbai and registered over 2,000 bookings, is busy taking the vehicle to different parts of India. Earlier this week, Premier launched the RiO in Bangalore. The Premier RiO is a sub-4 meter SUV, sourced from China and fitted with Peugeot’s diesel engine in Premier’s Pune plant. Its 1489cc turbo diesel engine delivers a maximum of 65 bhp.
Avniesh Goel, general manager, Marketing, Premier Limited -
We have re-entered the Indian market with India’s first ever Compact Diesel SUV. With the luxurious comfort in Rio along with its unbeatable pricing strategy, we are optimistic of redefining Indian customer’s perception about an SUV. The Company currently has 60 dealers, and will expand to 200 in the next 12 months. We will be offering a 3-year warranty for the RiO.
Priced at 5.6 lakh ex-showroom Bangalore, the RiO is available in 5 colors (red, white, silver, black and blue) and can be bought with or without air conditioning. The top-end model comes with mp3 player, power windows, ABS and alloy wheels.
The Nissan Micra has met with moderate success as 400 bookings were registered within two weeks of the car’s debut at showrooms. Before you compare this achievement with Figo’s or Fortuner’s number, remind yourself that Nissan sold about 300 cars last year and is recognized in India only as a small commercial vehicles manufacturer (Alwyn-Nissan trucks).
Add to that the fact that Nissan only has 11 dealerships across India compared to 100+ Ford or Toyota outlets.
With heavy localization, the prices of locally-manufactured spare parts should stay within limits. The only worrying factor is the number of dealerships. 11 dealers for a car having potential 5000+ monthly sales isn’t a pleasing sight. Nissan better ramp up their dealership network or else they could find themselves under a lot of pressure.
Thanks to our friends at Indiancarsbikes, we’re able to bring you two TV commercials featuring Ranbir Kapoor and his new associate – the Nissan Micra. Have you seen this ad on TV?
An official from Maruti Suzuki, speaking to Wheels Unplugged, clearly states there are no plans of launching Suzuki Cervo in India. A few days ago, a report published in sections of the media that a Cervo-based small car is likely to emerge in the following weeks.
Senior Maruti Suzuki Official -
We are planning to launch some models but any plans to launch Cervo are not on the drawing board of the company. We’ll make an announcement as and when we roll out the models.
When asked about the chances of a 1.0-liter K-Series Suzuki Alto for India, which in all likelihood is the confused with the “Cervo-based” small car, the official nodded. The 800cc Alto was upgraded to meet BS4 emission norms, currently in effect in main cities across India. It was previously believed that the 1.0-liter Alto could phase out the 800cc model and begin at a lower price point, but that differs heavily from the truth.
Senior Maruti Suzuki Official -
Both the cars (800cc, 1,000cc) would be sold as the current one caters to a different segment and the 1.0 Litre Alto would is earmarked for a slightly higher segment. Ergo, the higher spec Alto will be slightly pricier
The Tata Nano must feel lonely after this development.
Maruti Suzuki, according to multiple reports, has decided to build the R3 MPV, shown as a concept at the Auto Expo in January this year. India’s largest car manufacturer found little success with its first MPV “Versa.” The re-engineered “Maruti Eeco” introduced earlier this year at almost a fraction of the Versa’s cost has got of to a very brisk start.
Encouraged by the success, Maruti will compete with the likes of the mini Xylo, Chevrolet’s Wuling vans and the junior Innova when it comes out next year. Based on the elongated SX4 platform, naturally it will share many vital components which should lower costs and development time.
Now the interesting bit is the R3 could come with VW’s diesel engines. For cars like the Swift and Ritz, Maruti uses the Fiat 1.3-Multi-jet engine. Due to unavailability of extra engines at the manufacturing site, Suzuki could use the 1.6-liter diesel engine that will feature on the VW Vento.
The 1.6-litre common rail diesel engine makes 105 bhp, which should be sufficient to power this seven seater. The 1.2-liter K-Series engine and the 1.6-litter VVT engine that powers the SX4 could be the petrol options. The former was designed for cars of smaller sizes, and it wouldn’t make the R3 a very engaging drive. The latter could be transplanted with ease, saving time, since its home is the engine bay of the SX4.
Maruti is yet to finalize details for this vehicle as it waits for the customer feedback to be processed.
Suzuki could take the Indian-engineered R3 MPV to markets like Brazil where it could produce it in VW plants. The Suzuki R3 knocked-down kits from the Manesar/Gurgaon plant could be exported to European and Latin American countries where it will be assembled.
General Motors has added a souped up, limited edition Spark (Beat in India) in the Chilean market. Termed the Spark GT, the car features defogger, driver’s airbag, an MP3 music system with USB input, a height adjustable steering wheel and fog lamps. The limited edition GT variant of the Spark will be on sale for the next two months.
GM in India already has its hands full with the process of expanding production output of the the Beat and the Cruze, due to an increased demand for both the products. Due to this reason, special editions and one-off vehicles wouldn’t be on their agenda any time soon.
Both the Beat and the Cruze have proven to be very successful for GM in India, with good sales figures. This has led to the company recording good growth figures as compared to previous years.
The Swift has been a big hit for Suzuki Motor Corporation (SMC) all over the world. With a load of attitude and flair it has attracted a lot of buyers even in China, where it is about to receive a facelift with key cosmetic changes.
The facelifted Chinese Swift (pictured) gets a radiator grille with a wider opening, a new bumper with wider air intakes and new rounded fog lamps. The sides of the car have been embellished with side skirts to enhance the sporty looks of the car. At the rear, there is a new bumper with a diffuser sort of integrated into it along with mud flaps. This looks of the new vehicle is right in the middle of the existing Swift and the next generation Swift.
Shouldn’t this have been Maruti’s Swift when the car went through a subtle change a couple of year’s back? The refreshed Swift in India only had a different tail lamp and the rest of the car was untouched.
