Indian Autos blog

Here is a rendering of what the Renault-Nissan-Bajaj ULC small car could possible look like. Though the car looks very close to the Maruti Suzuki Ritz, the rendering depicts a small hatchback with simple lines carrying Renault’s design theme.

The ULC project is on track and the MoU has been signed between Bajaj and Renault-Nissan. The Ultra Low Cost (ULC) small car would be designed and manufactured by Bajaj but Renault-Nissan would be branding & selling the car in India and foreign markets.

The Renault-Nissan-Bajaj ULC is expected to be priced around 1.17 lakh Rupees in India and launched by 2012. Renault could be taking the car to European markets in 2013 to compete against the Tata Nano Europa. The European version of the ULC could cost 5000 Euros (3 lakh Rupees) for the added safety equipment and features for the European market.

The Renault-Nissan-Bajaj ULC small car would be the only one to challenge the Tata Nano with GM India withdrawing its Tata Nano rival project and planning to build a Maruti Alto rival instead.

Skoda India is readying to launch the new revamped Skoda Fabia hatchback by the 3rd quarter of 2010. The Skoda Fabia didn’t live up to the hype surrounding it and is managing dismal sales figures.

Skoda India would be looking to increase the appeal of the Skoda Fabia by launching the updated version and some revised strategies (pricing). We had even brought you spy shots of the facelifted Skoda Fabia.

The new facelifted Skoda Fabia would be getting new headlamps, tail lamps, slight changes to the interiors and entirely new engines from the Volkswagen Polo. There would be no price cuts and the new Skoda Fabia could be priced between 5.5 to 7.5 lakh Rupees.

New engines -

> 1.2 liter petrol – 74 hp, 110 Nm
> 1.2 liter TDI diesel – 74 hp, 180 Nm
> 1.6 liter TDI diesel – 103 hp, 250 Nm (could come on the top end Fabis vRS )

Changes –

> The changes are not merely cosmetic. The frontal structure, engine bay and floor pan have been re-designed to accommodate these new engines.

> New front headlamps look sleeker and sportier.

> The lines on the bonnet and the grille have been sharpened making the Fabia look smarter.

> The vertical slats in the lower airdam give way to horizontal slats on the new bigger and wider airdam.

> New fog lamps are bigger and fill up the lower part of the bumper neatly.

> Rear tail lamps are the same but have been slightly freshened.

> Interiors get a new audio system, chrome finishes on the A/C vents and gear lever.

> New steering wheel that looks like the Laura’s. New back-light for instrument console.

click through to see the image gallery

Nissan is presenting answers to the toughest questions in the form of electric vehicles, but knows the transition from combustion models to electric powertrains can never happen overnight. It needs years, decades if I may, for consumers to shift from the everyday automobile to an electric vehicle.

Nissan is focusing sharply on cutting emissions and boosting fuel efficiency of its vehicles. It has issued a press release listing a number of innovations to achieve that task. As part of that list, Nissan talks about the 1.2-liter 3-cylinder petrol engine (HR12DE) that features on the Nissan Micra hatchback. It also speaks about the add-ons this engine will receive and the automatic transmission it will be coupled to.

image – Nissan Micra 1.2-liter 3-cylinder petrol engine

The Nissan Micra will be launched day after tomorrow evening (Wednesday) in Delhi

click through to read the press release

On the pages of the latest edition of AutoBild magazine, information and an artist rendering of the Tata Dolphin has appeared. The Dolphin project that attempts to fill the gap between the Nano and Indica Vista in Tata’s product portfolio following the demise of the Indica from major metros.

We earlier speculated using our own rendering on how the vehicle will sport Jaguar styling and won’t look like a bloated Nano. But AutoBild (which has the habit of illustrating vehicles with startling accuracy well in advance) suggests a different image.

The car in contention looks very close to the concept which Tata unveiled many years ago (the car on the right, we’re still looking up the name of this concept, which hasn’t featured on the company’s concept car page).

The Dolphin will probably have a 1.0-liter petrol engine and an oil burner displacing a similar volume. It is very early in the game to predict anything else, but we’ll keep an eye out for more details.

Uncertain about how different the Corolla Altis diesel will turn out to be, we proceed to bring you spy shots of the vehicle in a facelifted form from Thailand.

The Corolla Altis diesel should come with the 1.4-liter 4-cylinder CRDI borrowed from the Yaris. Estimated to produce about 90bhp, the primary agenda of this engine will be to deliver high on fuel economy. The car will be launched during the third week of this month.

The models caught here have single slat grille, chrome rails on the grille, redesigned tail lamps and even a body kit. Will this how the Indian model look like? Or will we see only a mild makeover?

click through to see the image gallery

A combination of computer graphics, good camera work and a slippery car amounts to a neat video of the new Hyundai Avante which could sail to Indian shores by the end of 2011 to take on the Toyota Corolla Altis, Chevrolet Cruze and Skoda Laura.

Initiatives have been taken on joint development programmes for engines, vehicles and platforms, which would leverage skills of the company (Tata Motors) and JLR, resulting in synergies in operations of the company and its subsidiary. These would yield substantial savings in the operations of the company and its subsidiaries.

Tata Motors has been quoted saying to PTI regarding the synergies between JLR and Tata Motors.

Maruti Suzuki is losing its market share in India steadily and for the first time in 25 years, Maruti Suzuki’s market share has dropped below the 50% mark. Currently Maruti Suzuki’s market share stands at 47%. Maruti has lost 6% of the market share as compared to lat year.

Maruti Suzuki has been the market leader in the Indian car scene for ages and a 47% market share is in no way ignorable but is the drop in the market share the result of new competitive players like Ford and GM offering better products and from now could Maruti’s share steadily decline?

The Ford Figo and Chevrolet Beat with faster delivery times are considerably eating into Maruti’s small car sales and the Nissan Micra, Toyota Etios and the Honda NSC small car would soon join the assault party.

Maruti’s bestseller Alto would also be challenged soon with Hyundai, GM India and Nissan planning to take on the Alto soon. The Alto would also face stiff competition from Ford and Peugeot who could also enter the Alto’s segment in the future. The Tata Dolphin if launched could kill the Maruti Alto.

With strong threats from so many manufacturers would Maruti be able to hold its fort?

Cars that has threatened Maruti -

> Ford Figo
> Tata Nano
> Chevrolet Beat

Future cars Maturi should lookout for -

> Tata Dolphin
> Hyundai H800 small car
> Nissan small car with Ashok Leyland JV
> GM-SAIC small car
> Toyota Etios
> Ford B156 small car

Click through to read more