The new Suzuki Swift’s advertisement is loosely based on the promotional clip they released a while ago. The new Swift‘s features and capabilities are highlighted very well in this new ad. Maruti Suzuki is silently working on it and in the next few months, we expect to see it on Indian roads.
Archive for September, 2010
We are working on engines with capacity of less than 2 liter for the petrol range. This is essential as the company is present in overseas markets as well.
A Mahindra official is quoted saying on Business Standard newspaper. During the Xylo’s launch last year, a senior official told Indian Autos Blog that Mahindra was working on the petrol Xylo.
We brought you an interesting rendering of the 2012 Dacia (Renault Logan) (code – X52) and now here is yet another picture indicating the way the car could look.
We said it earlier and we say it again – the car is heavily inspired by the Renault Fluence, which is expected in India next year. It definitely looks a much better than the present Logan with the swept back headlamps and the neat lines. The rear, though a little boxy manages to look good.
Another thing worth noticing is that the car is much bigger than the present Logan. Dacia is obviously a brand that provides more for less. The size of the car (even from the previous drawing) clearly suggests that it will have phenomenal cabin space. The car is expected to carry much better interiors with better finish in its new avatar.
Knowing for a fact that it is a Dacia and is sure to be a low cost car, India does seem like a sensible market for this car. Stay tuned to IAB for more details on this.
The utterly gorgeous Audi A7, revealed last month, is one important car for Audi. Audi has ambitious plans to overtake BMW & Mercedes Benz to become the world’s no. 1 luxury car maker by 2015. The car has gone on sale in Europe and the company says that it is a highly profitable car and VW’s mass production facilities has helped it price the A7 competitively.
Now the A7 is expected to hit the Indian shores sometime next year and the car is expected to be priced upwards of 65 lakh rupees. The thing is that the A7 is a driver focused car. It is as Audi puts it ‘a family car with sportiness.’ The car seats 4, and is not a limousine like the A8 or might not be as comfortable as an A6.
When people in India use even a 1 lakh rupee Tata Nano as a chauffeur driven car, it is very well known that people spending 65 lakh on a car will occupy the backseat. Very few people purchase such an expensive car to enjoy its drivability. This is why Audi will sell the A8 in the long-wheelbase form only in India.
The BMW GT, the chief competitor of the A7 has sold in minuscule numbers in the Indian market. Audi knows that the A7 too will be a niche product and will find very few buyers in a market like India.
Nonetheless in order to achieve the global no. 1 position Audi needs to have presence in a growing market like India. It constantly needs to add a unique product or two its portfolio to keep it interesting. The A7 is one car that falls under that category.
The Wuling Hong Guang which will come to India next year has been launched in China. Priced between 3.07-4.17 lakh rupees, the new kid on the blocks appears to beat much of the competition black and blue.
This “compact business vehicle” in China is sold with two petrol engines – 1.2-liter and 1.4-liter engine. These engines are lifted from Chevrolet’s line-up and are seen on the Beat and the Aveo here in India. The Hong Guang is a product of the three-way joint venture between Wuling Auto, SAIC (Shanghai Auto) and General Motors.
The Hong Guang’s chassis was adjusted and optimized by Lotus Engineering in the United Kingdom. They laid emphasis on comfort and safety, two compulsory requirements of any SUV/MPV sold anywhere in the world.
The Wuling Hong Guang is expected in India with the 1.3-liter Fiat Multijet engine in the second half of 2010. The vehicle is expected with Chevrolet’s bow-tie and Tavera brand name.
If the Chinese market prices are anything to go by, we should have a Wuling Hong Guang diesel at an ex-showroom price of not more than 5 lakh rupees.
The Skoda Fabia is much like the Suzuki Swift and the Volkswagen Polo. The only major difference is these two have received boots and the value-added products have been reserved only for India, the latter for Russia as well. The Swift Dzire’s blazing trail has attracted another automobile manufacturer to join the bandwagon.
Over the last few years, the Fabia’s platform has been utilized to make a selection of vehicles. The Fabia hatchback is followed by a station wagon and a MPV (Roomster). The platform the Fabia sits on belongs to Vokswagen and the group companies use it on vehicles for many international markets.
The previous generation Fabia saw a sedan variant which was discontinued in 2007. Nothing official has come from Skoda, but we hear the company is interested in exploring all possible options on the current generation Fabia’s platform. Immediately after the Fabia facelift, the Roomster and the Fabia sedan are the sure-shot vehicles if this is the case.
Surprised by the stiffening competition, Maruti Suzuki has charted some exciting plans to retain its dominance in India. Yahoo finance carries a report that Maruti Suzuki will introduce a 2-cylinder engine on the Alto next year, and it is expected to cost up to 25% lesser than the current model.
Codenamed “YP3″, the 2-cylinder Alto will plug the gap between the Tata Nano and the Alto K10.
The Alto K10 was launched in India last month with a 1.0-liter 3-cylinder K-Series engine which finds a place in almost seven out of ten Maruti products sold in India.
The report adds the company has initiated the sourcing process for the tiny engine which helps in lowering costs substantially.
Top component-maker with direct knowledge of the development -
Maruti’s strategy is to explore every price category in the small car segment. The Nano launch forced it to sit up and explore this segment once again.
Maruti has been upgrading its cars to meet Bharat Stage IV emission norms. One of the casualties of this stringent emission norms was the Maruti 800 which the YP3 aims to replace.
In the above video, the head of Audi Design, Stefan Sielaff, talks about revolutionary design of the all-new Audi A7 which hits Indian shores in 2011.
