Archive for June, 2010
If something about the 2012 Fiat Palio is becoming clear, it certainly is its resemblance to the Punto.
The 2012 Fiat Palio, according to reports, is based on the Novo Fiat Uno’s platform. It will come with fuel efficient Multiair petrol engines and award winning Multi-jet diesels.
Fiat will introduce a low cost car in 2012 in India. We think this is the car they’re talking about. Spyshots of the 2012 Palio testing doesn’t give away too many details, but it is evident that the vehicle will be the Palio replacement globally.
Fiat revived the Uno last year with the Novo Uno, and it is about time the decade old Palio finds another car, suited to modern tastes, to pass on its lineage.
Image Artist – Ricardo Antonio da Silva
Hyundai Motors India Limited (HMIL) has confirmed that the Santa Fe SUV would be launched in October 2010 and the new Elantra is being developed and could soon be launched.
Y K Koo, Senior Director, HMIL -
Santa Fe may be launched in the month of October and its price can be in the range of Rs 20 lakh to Rs 22 lakh which will be very competitive. The market for premium segment in which Elantra fits in is just 3 per cent of total market size of cars in the country. But this market is growing.
Hyundai has chosen to bring the Santa Fe SUV at a very crucial time as the premium SUV market is growing rapidly and the only a few strong contenders to compete with are the Ford Endeavour and Chevrolet Captiva wth their diesel engines while Toyota has temporarily stopped bookings for the Fortuner and Honda CR-V’s exorbitant price is shooing customers away.
Hyundai’s new SUV could bring in a lot of new buyers as the Santa Fe has got the right looks and presence and moreover the Hyundai Santa Fe would be a refreshing new option for buyers in this segment.
Hyundai plans to relaunch the Elantra in India with the latest generation 2011 version. The new 2011 Hyundai Elantra sports Hyundai’s ‘Fluidic Sculpture’ design language and comes with a 1.6 liter direct injection gasoline engine mated to a 6-speed automatic transmission. This engine produces 138 bhp and 167 Nm of torque.
The Elantra for India could also come with a diesel option to take on the Toyota Corolla Altis Diesel to be launched later next month. The Hyundai Elantra when it comes could be the most futuristic looking car in the segment. We expect Hyundai to bring the new Hyundai Elantra by mid-2011, probably after the new Hyundai Sonata’s launch.
I could hardly believe what I was reading. I thought this was a joke on DNA Newspaper, but as I progressed through the article, I found details and company official quotes that makes for a valid claim.
Tata Motors and Jaguar Land Rover are jointly developing a concept car, which if at all sees a production line, might be priced between 20 and 30 lakh rupees, reports DNA.
The vehicle is at DR0 stage, the first of the five stages in the life cycle of a new vehicle. DR5 is the stage when the product is ready for a showroom floor. DR2 is when the company decides if it has to go ahead with the project.
Tata has expressed on several occasions that it is looking to merge synergies for the benefit of both companies. This project could be the first time both teams are coming together.
The car’s platform will be developed in India. The interiors could be put together by JLR, which will ooze quality.
PM Telang, Managing Director, Tata Motors -
We are trying to combine the synergies of both the companies. We have certain strengths in understanding the requirements of emerging markets and we also have cost competency. JLR, on the other hand, has the strength in product innovation and developing new-generation vehicles.
The concept car could be a sedan since the source mentions it will not fall under the price bracket that consists of Jaguar cars. Jaguar only makes luxury sedans, don’t they? Perhaps the platform could be utilized to design vehicles of different body styles.
Tata Motors would soon begin exporting the Tata Nano to Nepal from next month onwards, reports Indian Express. The Nano however would not be as cheap as it is in India, as Tata could price the vehicle at 7 lakh Nepali Rupees (NPR) which equates to 4.36 lakh Indian Rupees.
The cost of the Nano is tripled in Nepal, thanks to the 300% excise duty. The price the Tata Nano, at which it would be sold for in Nepal is in fact much more than what the Tata Nano Europa could cost.
Sipradi Trading Company would be Tata Motors’ distributor in Nepal. Sipradi Trading’s CEO, Shambhu Prasad Dahal said the company will receive the first lot of 5 Tata Nanos by July end. These 5 Nanos would be put for a test run in Nepal before Tata starts exporting large volumes of the Nano.
The Tata Nano is a perfect car for developing countries and Tata would look at many similar export markets which need low cost cars and where there are no stringent safety regulations.
But with Tata Motors having an order backlog of more than one lakh Nanos, the export of Tata Nanos to foreign markets could anger customers who have been waiting for their Nano patiently right here in India.
General Motors India has taken the Indian market very seriously with launches like the Chevrolet Beat and the Chevrolet Cruze to make its presence felt in India. Furthermore, GM India with its Chinese partner SAIC is readying a wide range of low-cost vehicles like a small car (Tata Nano rival), a low cost MPV and a number of LCVs for India.
With the market needing practical yet compact MPVs, a majority of car manufacturers in India are looking to launch new mini-MPVs and MPVs in the future. Hyundai is readying its ic25, a mini-MPV based on the i20 platform, Maruti would soon be launching a stylish mini-MPV based on the R3 concept it showcased at the 2010 Auto Expo, New Delhi, Mahindra is developing a mini-Xylo 5-seater MPV and looking to utilise the Logan platform to develop a mini-MPV next year and Ford could bring the Fusion replacement, the Ford B-Max mini-MPV in the future.
With competitors gearing up to launch mini-MPVs and gain a foothold in what could be one of the most lucrative segments in the Indian market in the coming years, we think GM India would have already chalked out plans for its contender. The most probable option for GM would be the Chevrolet Orlando MPV which is based on the same platform as the Chevrolet Cruze.
The Chevrolet Orlando is a 5-door compact MPV which can seat 7. With the Chevrolet Tavera being discontinued, chances of the Orlando filling in for the Tavera are very high. The Chevrolet Orlando could come with diesel engines and could compete against mini-MPVs like the Hyundai ic25, Maruti R3,Ford B-Max and MPVs like the Toyota Innova, Xylo and the forthcoming Nissan MPV.
During the Nissan Micra media drive that concluded yesterday afternoon, officials in Nissan India revealed that the sedan based on the V-Platform (which the Micra’ based on) will be launched in India in 2011.
The powertrain options are being discussed and decisions will soon be made. The vehicle will share a large percentage of its components with the hatchback but to the naked eye, both the cars will be miles apart.
Nissan will install the V-Platform sedan with different body panels much like the Honda City-Jazz connection. The vehicle is expected to have longer wheelbase and a big boot. It has been said that in Thailand, the V-Platform sedan will come with the hatchback’s 1.2-liter 3-cylinder engine adjusted for gain in weight, but we expect Nissan to bring in a 4-cylinder petrol engine.
Nissan will use a re-worked 1.5-liter diesel engine from the Logan for the diesel model. Could the vehicle look like a scaled down version of the Teana?
Tata could soon begin assembling Land Rover’s compact SUV, the Freelander in India. The compact crossover SUV, Freelander could be assembled in India at Tata’s now idle Pimpri facility which was assembling Mercedes Benz cars in the past. The facility has been idle since Mercedes Benz shifted to its own plant at Chankan, Pune.
A Tata Motors Official was quoted saying-
Trial production will begin by December. At this point, it’s not clear whether JLR will use the factory to address markets outside India.
Tata would begin trial production by the end of the year and would be rolling out Land Rover Freelanders from this factory by mid-2011. Tata has reportedly earmarked 150 crore Rupees to begin the Frelander’s assembly. The company is looking to assemble about 20 Land Rover Freelanders a month.
The Land Rover Freelander which come as a CBU attracting 110% excise duty, is now priced at Rs. 34.7 lakhs (on-road Mumbai) for its base variant is a direct rival to the BMW X3 and Audi Q5. Land Rover sold around 242 cars between 2009-10.
If Tata can assemble the CKDs in India, the cost of the base variant can be brought down to Rs. 23.5 lakhs (CKDs attaract only 40% excise duty), the Freelander would be in the soon-to-be launched X1 territory and with diesel engines, the premium compact SUV could do some very brisk sales. The possibility of a Land Rover Freelander at the price of a Honda CR-V would be very very exciting.
