Indian Autos blog

By Ragav Ramesh

As we all know, Tata Motors have always lacked refinement and uniform quality control in all their cars which are currently manufactured. According to a top official at Tata Motors, Tata Motors would seek Jaguar–Land Rover’s engineering expertise to build refined cars.

Mr Telang, MD Tata Motors -

We know we need to improve our car operations in terms of fits, finishes, noise, vibration and design elements. That’s where Jaguar Land Rover can help us.

Though he refused to comment on its future models, they certainly are looking at a small car to be placed between the
Nano and Indica Vista, which would directly take on the Maruti Suzuki Alto.

Since the inception of Tata motors, it has been really not able to overcome the refinement and uniform quality control issue. We are merely hoping that the synergy between Tata and JLR would just help Tata to become a much better car maker than what it is currently.

By Ragav Ramesh

Hyundai has been delaying the launch its famous SUV Sante Fe in the Indian market for unknown reasons. The previous failures of SUVs like the Tucson and Terracan hasn’t kept the Korean company, primarily known for its fuel-economical hatches, from bringing out the Santa Fe finally to India.

Hyundai Motor India, marketing & sales Director, Arvind Saxena -

We will launch Sante Fe in October-November, ahead of the festive season. If volumes pick up, then we will consider assembling the vehicle here”. The seven-seater would be placed at Rs. 22-24 lakhs price bracket and will be powered by a 2.2 litre diesel engine. Initially the car would be imported as a completely built unit (CBU).

Considering the 6-8 month waiting period for Toyota Fortuner which dominates the premium SUV market currently, would the Sante Fe attract waiting customers from outside Toyota showrooms?

By Ragav Ramesh

One of the most popular auto-rickshaws, the Force Minidor, which has been a well-known name in the three wheeler circles for years now, has met its end. The vehicle that was a monopoly for years, also called as ‘tum-tum’ or ‘share auto’ at some parts of the country will end after 15 years of existence.

Force motors (erstwhile Bajaj Tempo) chairman Mr. Firodia confirmed this to the reporters yesterday. He further added that this definitely is not an exit from the three wheeler segment, since Force motors only gave a name to this segment decades ago.

So, to make their shift and investment focus to other platforms and to mark a strong footprint there, Force motors have decided to put a halt to its Minidor and start focusing on their bigger plans of launching it’s inter city coaches and SUV vehicle.

If you thought BMW was the brand with cars of weird shapes and sized, think again. Mercedes Benz, which has conducted over a dozen launches over the last 18 months, is gearing up for the launch of the R-Class this diwali, bookings for which have already opened.

Before you look at the image and dismiss it for a Toyota Innova alternative, I should tell you this is somewhat an Innova, yes. Except that it’ll be powered by a 3.5-liter petrol engine that develops 272bhp power and 357Nm torque. It’s not going to cost less than 60 lakh rupees. That’s about the price of five well-equipped Innovas.

The R-Class MPV will be launched in long wheelbase form. It is for the family which wants to travel long distances. Or it is for the the urban-dweller who can’t wants a flat which he can drive around.

Being a CBU, Mercedes will bring the fully-loaded R-Class that has features like bi-xenon headlamps, steel spring suspension in front and AIRmatic (Adaptive Intelligent Ride control) system featuring self-leveling air suspension in the rear. There’s a lot of other things I can talk about but let’s just say the R-Class is a really large, really comfortable and fast MPV that you think should cost not more than 15 lakh rupees.

The list of Mercedes cars in India is getting longer all the time. There are cars like the E-Class cabriolet, SLS AMG, SL63 AMG which are probably the least practical cars for the Indian market. Despite lacking good roads, consistent fuel quality, consistent speed bump heights (highlighted), basic road manners, and traffic law enforcement, our country has attracted a decent number of exotic imported cars.

I’m sure there are more than a handful of people out there wearing black shades, who will paint their R-Class black, fit it with large alloy wheels, add a loud stereo and use it as their bling mobile.

Autocar India is reporting that Mercedes Benz will launch the M-Class with all the bells and whistles and price it aggressively so that SUV buyers don’t have to go anywhere for a value-for-money SUV.

Dubbed Mercedes Benz M-Class Grand Edition, it gets features like 19-inch alloy wheels, LED daytime running lights, thermal insulation glass, dark-tinted headlamps, AMG radiator grille and underguards, and aluminium roof rails, new wood trim parts and Artico man-made leather upholstery.

The price of the Grand, with all these features will be five lakh more than the current vehicle. The M-Class is a solid SUV with good off-roading credentials and is up there with the best SUVs money can buy today.

Though this seems like a mouth-watering offer, one must also remember that the next generation M-Class could debut anytime now. We have no proof of it coming to Paris later this month or an unveil by the end of 2010. There are publications out there speculating a mid-2011 launch for the new M Class while some others maintain there could be a Paris unveil after all.

Mercedes Benz performed a similar exercise before the launch of the new E-Class last year. They introduced a special edition E-Class on the outgoing E fitting it with heavy equipment.

By Kaustubh Shinde

The entire motor industry has got it into their mind that humans aren’t fit to drive and that cars should be more safer. With auto majors loading their cars to the brim with sci-fi safety technologies like automatic Braking, Infrared night vision, Emergency brake assist, we are only years away from not driving at all!

A new technology developed by John Morrell, an Associate Professor at Yale School of Engineering, warns the driver of a vehicle approaching his car by vibrating the seats. It is done by attaching a lot of cell phone vibrator motors to the seat which receive information from the sensors that are attached to the body of the car.

For example : If a vehicle approaches from the left, the sensors relay this information to the vibrator motors and the left side of your seat starts vibrating. The vibes get stronger as the car gets closer.

Now look, this technology is fine on the expressways and highways where cars are wide apart from each other and an occasional vibration will not disturb the driver. But in cities, where most of the time we drive in bumper-to-bumper traffic this could get a bit irritating.

Although, coming to think about it, who wouldn’t mind a full body massage after a stressful day at work. Bring it on we say!

By Kaustubh Shinde

As you are reading this, Mahindra is celebrating its 10 years of successful run of the Bolero. The utilitarian cousin of the Scorpio, was a major hit in the tier II and tier III town way back in 2001 when it was launched. But after its relaunch in 2007, the Bolero too has witnessed a rising demand from the cities as well.

As result, the company, despite of selling 70,000 units each year, is facing capacity constraints with the waiting list extending from 4 to 6 weeks. As a birthday gift to the Bolero, Mahindra could be planning a product re-launch (or re-re-launch to say) and capacity expansion in the Chakan plant so the rising demand can be met. The Bolero CRDe was the last major addition to the Bolero line-up and this was back in 2008.

On the occasion, Vivek Nayer, senior vice-president of marketing, automotive sector -

The Bolero’s re-launch done by the company in 2007 attached an aspirational imagery to the brand post which it has been showing consistent growth for the auto major in the country. It has out-performed the category and increased its market share from 19 to 29 per cent since 2006-07. About 75-80 per cent of the sales volumes are from smaller towns and the remaining 20-25 per cent from metros.

Named after slow-tempo Latin music, the Bolero is powered by the 2500 cc, 4-cylinder diesel engine that delivers maximum power of 72.5 hp. Its robust chassis and rugged looks has made it a distinct product in the Indian Market.

Happy birthday Bolero!

By Kaustubh Shinde

After exporting the Alphonso Mango to the US, I guess the next thing on charts is our very own home-bred SUV Scorpio. The motoring website Jalopnik, has posted a few pics of a left-hand drive AT Scorpio with no camouflage being tested in Tennessee. “It was pulling a trailer (something it never really did back home) and was followed by 2 non Mahindra trucks” said the on-looker.

Launching the Scorpio is SUV land (read Amercia) was always on cards for Mahindra until it ran into lawsuit with its US distributors Global Motors. But just last week, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued its official certification that allows M&M to sell compact diesel pickups in the U.S. M&M plans to start off with the TR20 and TR40 pickups. We are guessing the next in line to get a US visa would be the Scorpio.