Isn’t it a hatchback? Frankly, what would you call a vehicle without a boot, less than 4 meters in length, has a sub 1.5-liter diesel/1.2-liter petrol engine and seats 5 with little luggage space?
Our image manipulator SRK was excited ever since he saw what Autocar describes a “5 seater Mahindra Xylo.” He set about working on the Xylo, trying to shorten the overall length by altering the rear window design and D-Pillar.
This is the best he could do!
We have heard from our friends in the media that Mahindra could change certain body panels on the hatchback to maintain some distance from the bigger Xylo. Sources have told IAB that Mahindra might also tinker the shell to better its looks and handling.
The Xylo hatchback is at least 12 months away from Indian roads. It’ll offer terrific value for money if it can be priced between 5 and 6 lakh rupees. Mahindra targeted cars like even the Swift Dzire with the Xylo, so we’re pretty sure that the Suzuki Swift, Tata Indica Vista, Hyundai i20 is where their bullseye is with this model.
click through to see a higher resolution image
Renault India would continue to supply engines to its erstwhile partner Mahindra & Mahindra for the Logan even after the two companies snapping up ties with each other. Mahindra had acquired exclusive rights for the Logan from Renault and would be selling the Logan without the Renault badge hereafter, but Renault would be receiving a royalty for every Logan sold.
Ashish Sinha Roy, VP (Communications & Corporate Affairs), Renault India -
We have already said earlier that we will be setting up a full-fledged powertrain unit at its facility in Chennai with Nissan. Once our engine plant goes on stream, we will locally supply the engines and transmissions for the Logan sedan. This will obviously bring down the cost of the Logan substantially and make it more competitive, as the engine and transmission unit accounts for 35-40 per cent of the total cost of the car.
Renault would be associated with the Logan till the end of 2010, implying that Mahindra wouldn’t re-design/re-engineer until the beginning of 2011 (thank god!). Beginning 2011, Mahindra engineers would begin partying with the Logan platform in their hands.
The Logan could face a slew of changes, possibly a new body-style (probably a sub-4 meter Logan), interiors and engines. Considering Mahindra’s reputation of developing not-so-good-looking cars recently (the Xylo is a case in point) and proudly developing uglier looking cars out of them (the future 5 seater mini-Xylo), what would become of the Logan in the future is a bit scary for us.
The only good news, though, is that Logan would be serviced at Mahindra dealers across the country.
In the market place, the Logan’s sales went up by a meager 5% last month compared to the same month last year, thanks to heavy price-cuts of up to Rs. 80,000.
Honda Siel has introduced a new variant of the popular Civic model. Available as the Honda Civic SMT, it comes equipped with a steering mounted cruise control system, ORVM turn indicators and back up sensors that come in handy while reversing, especially in the dark.
The rest of the equipment remains unchanged. The Honda Civic SMT is priced at Rs.12.2 Lac.
click past the break to read the press release
Have you seen the Chinese Electric Bugatti Veyron that’s built using 1000s of cigarette packs?
Click here to see the Chinese Electric Bugatti Veyron built using cigarette packs
Click here to see the Chinese Electric Bugatti Veyron built using cigarette packs
Click here to see the Chinese Electric Bugatti Veyron built using cigarette packs
Volkswagen India recently crossed the milestone mark by rolling out the 10,000th car produced at its Chakan Plant in Pune. Coincidentally, VW India began its production in India last year on the same day. Both the VW Polo and the Skoda Fabia are manufactured at this plant.
Joerg Mueller, President & Managing Director, Volkswagen India Private Limited
With the remarkable figure of 10,000, we have proved that the cars built at the Pune plant demonstrates the excellence created when German engineering prowess interacts perfectly with Indian skills.
The company also plans to introduce a second shift to meet the growing demand for the Volkswagen Polo. The plant has an annual capacity of 1,10,000 vehicles. Currently, there are 1,500 employees working in the plant and this number would be increased to 2,500 by the end of this year, the company’s press release stated. VW invested Rs. 3,800 crores in the Chakan facility which is the largest investment ever made by a German manufacturer in India.
The soon to be launched sedan, Volkwagen Vento would also be built in this Chakan plant and the trial production of the Vento has already began.
click through to read the press release
It’s true that we are looking at (launching) cars in various different segments, but I don’t think it’s fair to say we are trying to launch a Nano.
President and Managing Director of GM India Karl Slym when someone asked him if his company is going to launch a Tata Nano competitor in India.
Inside Line is reporting that the next generation Hyundai Verna (RB), which arrives in India next year, is very likely to be based on the Hyundai i20 platform.
Hyundai will launch the next generation Verna in Russia in January after an official unveiling in September, and we expect to see it by the end of June 2011. Inside Line also adds the Russian Verna will come with a 1.6-liter Gamma direct-injection gasoline engine that makes 122 horsepower or a 1.4-liter, 107-hp engine that will be more fuel efficient.
The new model will be priced in the range of six to seven lakh rupees in Russia. Indians however can’t expect it to be below 11 lakh.
General Motors India has announced that it would be introducing a new 1.0l diesel engine for the Chevrolet Beat. The diesel Chevrolet Beat would be launched by the first quarter of 2011.
The new engine would be manufactured at its Talegaon facility, which has an annual capacity of 1,60,000 engine units. The 1.2l petrol engine currently doing its duty in the Chevrolet Beat is also manufactured at this facility.
Ankush Arora, VP (Sales & Marketing), General Motors India
The one-liter diesel engine will be rolled-out from Talegaon early next year for our small car, Beat.
General Motors India has been taken aback by the success of the Ford Figo diesel. That is why GM is readying the frugal diesel Beat hoping to slaughter the Ford Figo and the Maruti Swift. We expect this diesel engine to be a Fiat 1.3l Multijet based 3-cylinder 936cc engine, producing around 57 bhp.
The 1.0-liter diesel engine is going be a very potent weapon in GM India’s arsenal as this engine could be possibly used in GM India’s future vehicles: the low cost LCV range from GM-SAIC, the Tata Nano rivaling small car and also could be used on the stripped down Chevrolet Spark to rival the Maruti Alto.
The company official also announced that the company would be boosting the monthly production of the Chevrolet Cruze from 600 to 900 units and the Beat from 3300 to 4000 units to meet demands. The Chevrolet Cruze is the existing segment leader in India.
