Indian Autos blog

We expect the next generation Hyundai Verna (code – RB) to arrive in India by the end of 2011. The Hyundai RB can only be locally assembled at the Chennai plant, and should also be in Hyundai’s export plans. The RB is based on the i20 platform (unconfirmed) and the interiors, especially, look similar to the i20′s.

Hyundai could borrow the Verna Transform’s diesel engine for the RB with tweaks for power and torque gains. Pricing is expected to be on the other side of 10 lakh rupees. This then is Hyundai’s answer to the Cruze/Corolla Altis/Laura/Civic.

Suzuki UK has launched a ‘Special Edition’ Alto (the Maruti Suzuki A-Star in India) for the British market. Only 500 numbers of this ‘super-exclusive’ Alto edition would be made and that’s not surprising at all. The car is christened the Alto SZ-L.

Drastic changes to the car’s exteriors include new wheel caps, black fog lamp surrounds and the SZ-L badge on the tail gate and side-strips. On the inside the car gets SZ-L mats, silver surround on the AC vents and body colored finish around the AC control switches and door handles. The car comes only in two colors Superior White and Bright Red.

Could this special edition Maruti Suzuki A-Star come to India? No. Not now. Maybe later.

Maruti Suzuki is currently concentrating only on launching special editions of the Zen Estilo. After it realises that the Zen Estilo wouln’t really take off and only a replacement could do good, Maruti Suzuki would find time to understand the A-Star needs a facelift and then would toil hard to launch a ‘never seen or heard before’ special edition of the A-Star.

With competition heating up and arch rival Hyundai readying the facelifted i10, we guess Maruti could have plans for a ‘facelifted’ A-Star for India. Possibly with the automatic transmission we were speculating about.

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Motoroids is reporting that Aston Martin is going to officially land on Indian shores by the end of this year. The cult British car maker is looking to start with a dealership in Delhi and Mumbai, the two sure-shot markets for exotic vehicles.

The company will be introducing the V8 Vantage, DBS and the recently unveiled four-door saloon, the Rapide. The company might not launch the V12 version of the Vantage in the Indian market.

The prices for the cars is expected to begin at around 1.25 crore rupees for the V8 vantage and could go upto 2.95 crores for the top of the range DBS.

With Aston Martin also set to officially make its India entry, the two boxes that aren’t checked are Ferrari and Maserati.

Here’s a gadget which has been specifically designed to aid front seat passengers. Its a flexible reading lamp which allows passengers to read a book or search for something which has accidentally fallen on to the car’s floor, without switching on the overhead interior lamp and disturbing the driver.

The flexible reading lamp has a 30-centimetre long stem which can bent in all possible directions. The lamp can be powered by plugging it into any 12v-port or the car’s cigarette lighter socket. The price of the lamp is $ 14.95 (Rs. 700).

We had already reported that French carmaker Peugeot is planning to enter India. Sify has reported that the company is planning to invest 700 million Euros (4100 crore Indian Rupees) for setting up its India plant. The website also reports the new plant is likely to be setup in Andhra Pradesh and not in Tamil Nadu as we had expected.

Peugeot along with its partner Citroen had revealed plans to develop small cars and compact sedans for developing countries like India, China and Brazil.

Peugeot & Citroen along with Mitsubishi would be developing a new small car dubbed the ‘Global small car’ and a compact sedan internally codenamed ‘M3 or M4′ on the likes of the Chevrolet Sail and Renault Logan. These cars are expected to reach Indian shores by the fiscal year 2013-14.

Peugeot’s first innings during the 90′s was bitter and the company was forced to stop operations and leave the country. But the Indian market is growing too rapidly and Peugeot just can’t ignore the Indian market.

Peugeot-Citroen would be looking to make sure their re-entry into India is successful using their prowess to make smooth torquey diesel engines which would be an instant hit with the Indians.

It is to be noted that the lovely 1.4 TDCi diesel engine powering the Ford Fiesta was developed by Peugeot-Citroen.

Toyota Kirloskar Motors (TKM) India is betting big on its upcoming Etios hatchback. Toyota has developed the Etios exclusively for the Indian market and which would come in both hatchback and sedan versions and would be launched by the end of 2010.

Toyota Kirloskar Auto Parts Pvt Ltd (TKAP) a subsidiary of Toyota is setting up a new engine and transmission plant in Bangalore with an investment of 500 crore Rupees to manufacture powertrains for the Toyota Etios.

The plant would take 24-30 months to be commissioned and till then the Etios would get imported engines and transmissions. This means when the Toyota Etios is launched by the end of the year it would sport imported engines and transmissions.

Sandeep Singh, Deputy Managing Director, TKM -

The new plant will aggressively push up the localisation content. The cost savings would be the import duty (around 7.5%) and the logistic expense. However, since the volume is not too high, the savings may not be too high. But there will be some savings.

The plant would produce 1,00,000 powertrain units annually of which 70,000 would be fitted on the Toyota Etios for the domestic market while the remaining 30,000 would be exported to Toyota’s plants in Thailand and Argentina.

Hiroshi Nakagawa, MD, TKM -

We are setting up the second engine plant with an installed capacity of 100,000 units per annum for our Etios compact car, which will enter the Indian market in December.

Having locally made powertrains and transmissions would help Toyota India price the Etios hatchback competitively and the Etios should battle it out against the Nissan Micra, Ford Figo, VW Polo, the soon to be launched next generation 2011 Maruti Suzuki Swift and the upcoming Honda small car for India.

Nissan will unveil its first locally made car, Micra, in a function that will be held on the 14th evening in Delhi.

Nissan has put the Micra on display in showrooms since the end of May and is gauging customer response. It has registered over 1,500 bookings for the car and hasn’t yet allocated test drive vehicles.

It is early days for Nissan who as a company is learning the likes and dislikes of the Indian compact car buyer and has expressed that it will make necessary changes to its products to suit our tastes better. The Nissan Micra is an international model and will be sold in 160 countries across the world.

Volkswagen now owns a 19.9% stake in Suzuki and now the German car maker could benefit from Suzuki’s frugal engineering and packaging techniques which appeal greatly to developing markets especially.

Volkswagen which is a new entrant into the Indian car market made a bold move by investing 3,500 crore Rupees in its Chakan Plant, Pune. While Maruti Suzuki already has a strong presence in India with more than 55% share in the Indian car market.

Christian Klingler, Management Board Member, Volkswagen -

Of course, there is a possibility of developing products together, (but) I cannot confirm it. Suzuki is very strong in the Asian market, including India and Japan. They have knowledge in the small car segment, which is pretty unique. They make small cars and make money. Lot of manufacturers make small cars, but they don’t make money. Suzuki has lot of interest on the technologies that we have. There are lot of discussions going on about synergies and one synergy could be at the suppliers’ level as well.

The Volkswagen-Suzuki partnership could develop products globally and this partnership could extend to a partnership with Maruti Suzuki in India and thus VW would benefit hugely from the Japanese company’s cost-effective manufacturing techniques and its Indian arm’s strong supplier base.

Suzuki could have access to VW’s modern TDI diesel engines, TSI petrol engines and the DSG transmissions. The next gen 2011 Suzuki Swift could be benefit from these and could come with VW diesel engines and DSG transmissions.

The Suzuki Kizashi could also use VW engine when it comes to India while the next generation SX4 and the next gen Grand Vitara could share their platform with Volkswagen models.

Volkswagen UP, global small car is being developed by VW and a partnership with Suzuki seems to be coming at a right time as Suzuki’s prowess could really help VW package the UP cost effectively.

Click here for detailed product plans of the Volkswagen-Suzuki partnership.