Entry posted on June 25, 2010 by
Naveen;
Read More on Kia
We had earlier reported that Hyundai’s subsidiary Kia Motors would be making an Indian foray soon. Kia Motors which has been growing steadily in foreign markets over the past few years would be looking to storm into the booming Indian car space and gain a foothold here. Kia is looking to set up a plant near Chennai soon.
Kia Motors has been producing ‘value for money’ cars over the years and very recently it started making a move towards producing more upmarket, good looking cars with its ‘Tiger Face’ design language. Kia has an impressive range of good looking compact cars like the Ceed hatchback, MPVs Venga and Soul and the stylish compact sedan Forte (pictured). A hatchback version of the Forte sedan has been launched recently. All of these cars make good sense for India.
A Kia spokesperson stated -
We are conducting a feasibility study to select a site for the plant near Chennai. Based on data from Hyundai Motor which entered the Indian market in 1998, we are estimating costs and time to build the plant, as well as examining demand forecasts and Hyundai’s sales figures.
Though Kia is under Hyundai, Kia would be coming to India as a separate entity and could get very little help from Hyundai India like sourcing suppliers and dealers.
It would be interesting to see how the Korean carmaker makes its entry into India, either as a ‘Value’ brand targeting the value conscious Indian customer or as ‘Premium foreign brand’ targeting the increasing number of young buyers looking for sporty looking premium compacts.
Earlier Maruti Suzuki offered the best products in the small car segment and almost enjoyed monopoly. But now with the a number of highly competent new players like Ford and General Motors entering the segment, Maruti is threatened and has started losing customers who can’t wait long enough for a Maruti and rather pickup a Ford Figo or a Chevrolet Beat for example
Maruti looks to correct its mistakes and reduce the waiting time on its products by setting up regional car stockyards all over the country. The first of these stockyards would be set up near Bangalore within six months.
A company official stated -
The intention is to set up at least one stockyard in each of the zones, North, South, East and West. Such a concept is important for a vast country like India and will reduce the waiting period for the customers. Very often there is a mismatch between the variant and color of a particular car that a customer wants and the car that is available at the dealership. Setting up regional stockyards will increase availability of the cars and reduce time of transportation.
Maruti Suzuki India has earmarked Rs. 200 crores for setting up these stockyards all over the country. These yards would be spread over 25 acres and this would also considerably bring down the working capital of dealerships who would not need to maintain a large fleet of cars.
The Hyundai Getz, which was launched back in 2004 as an upgrade from the Santro, has not been accepted very well by customers. Some blame Hyundai’s shortfall in marketing this product. Others said it was very expensive and the all-important diesel engine didn’t come at the right time or at the right price.
The Getz managed to clock decent numbers when it was launched, but it didn’t continue to dazzle thanks to its competition, especially the Suzuki Swift which was more affordable and came from a brand called “Maruti Suzuki.”
Hyundai only managed to sell 1,600 units of the Getz in the past six months. In many international markets, the i20 is the Getz’ successor. Hyundai also did not make an investment on the Getz to upgrade its emission standards for sale in chief metros.
The VW Polo Bluemotion uses technology that saves fuel and decreases emissions. It does this by using Stop-Start system, energy recovery by regenerative braking, aerodynamically designed underbody panels, 15-inch alloy wheels with low rolling resistance tyres, etc.
VW will not bring all these features to the Indian Polo as it will make it expensive and the car’s price advantage will be lost.
GM South Africa has launched the new refreshed Chevrolet Spark in SA which is now called the ‘Spark Lite’. This refreshment comes as the last change that GM gives the aging Spark as the car would soon be replaced by the new Chevrolet Spark (Chevrolet Beat in India) in the South African market.
The main distinguishing change in the new Spark Lite is the new blacked out lower half which gives the car a rugged look and makes it look taller (like the Volkswagen Cross Polo). New big fog lamps and a revised lower air dam on the front end give the cute looking Spark a meaner look.
Entry posted on June 24, 2010 by
Naveen;
Read More on Tata Nano
The owner of the Tata Nano which caught fire just after few hours of taking delivery, Satish Sawant has issued a legal notice to Tata Motors demanding a compensation of Rs. 15 lakhs for the mental stress and trauma he and his family had to go through with this fateful accident (incident). The deadline given to Tata Motors to respond was June 8, 2010.
Sathish Sawant’s notice to Tata Motors -
If you (Tata Motors) fail to act upon within a period of two weeks from the date of this letter, we will be free to take the appropriate course of action or approach the appropriate authority for the same.
Tata Motors had already refunded to Sathish Sawant the full cost of the Nano LX and the interest amounts for the loan he had taken in response to the latter appeal. Satish Sawant was informed by Tata that the reason for the fire was because the Tata Nano he took delivery was a ‘pre-production or demo’ Nano.
The deadline has been passed and Tata Motors haven’t reacted and issued a statement that all the settlements made have been final. So a dissatisfied Sathish Sawant with the help of his lawyer Archana Sabnis, would be filing a case with the District Consumer Forum at Parel in Mumbai.
The 2012 Fiat Palio will be based on the Fiat Novo Uno’s platform. The 2012 Palio, which has been given the internal codename of Project 326, would be borrowing a lot of design and styling cues from its elder sibling, the Fiat Punto. The car will be one size smaller to the Punto and will therefore be priced lower as well.
The engine options in the car could range from a 1.0 litre Multiair petrol engine, with advanced variable valve timing to the now familiar 1.3 litre Multijet oil burner.
Fiat could consider re-launching the car in India, given that the erstwhile Palio did reasonably well enough in the Indian market, before Fiat killed the car with its awful after sales support. The car, if launched in India, will be priced in the 3-4 lakh price bracket and will also be backed up by a growing number of Tata-Fiat service stations.
If Fiat does launch this car in India, it will be betting big on it, since the Punto has not yet met the expected sales targets and Fiat after discontinuing the old Palio in metros, does not have a car in the high-potential 3-4 lakh price segment of India’s small car market.
A 3 door (2 front doors + rear boot lid) version of the Hyundai i20 has been spotted in Indore thanks to our reader Neeraj Setpal. The i20 being tested was a left hand drive model and the destination sticker on the left butterfly window of the car reveled that it was destined for Switzerland.
The car being a left hand drive and a 3 door may just be another case of an extremely devoted car manufacturer testing cars in India which are never going to come here. Hyundai might be testing a new component on the car or it could be a routine test for quality from a lot of cars.
However, if Hyundai launches a right hand drive 3-door i20 as special edition model like the 2003 Maruti Suzuki Zen 3-door Carbon and Steel edition with a limited production run, we guess Hyundai would get an image boost and the i20 would start looking glamorous.
