Indian Autos blog

Smart car sales have been witnessing the downward trend for quite sometime now. In an attempt to revive the brand and push the sales, parent company Mercedes Benz has declared that they will be launching a 5 door Toyota Yaris size hatch, in the United States by the end of 2011. This hatch is being developed by Nissan as a part of the strategic cooperation between Daimler AG & the Renault-Nissan Group.

The company announced that this US specific B segment car will be based on a vehicle from the Nissan stable and reveled sketches of the same. What is clearly evident from these sketches is that this new Smart car is essentially the Nissan Micra.

Roger Penske, Chairman of the Penske Automotive Group, the brand’s exclusive distributor in the States -

We are faced with continuing customer demand for a smart car with more seating capacity. Sales and service of the five seater will be carried out exclusively by our approximately 75 smart dealerships in the United States. Together with Nissan, we will bring to market a fully equipped small car for our customers and dealers in the USA. It will fit in well with the smart brand

The entire structure of the car looks very much like the Micra, with the headlamps and the tail lamps being given a ‘smart’ car look. The drawings look deceiving with the body of the car elongated and squashed down to look a bit different from the Micra.

Before I even begin this article, let me first appreciate the Tata Motors communication team for somehow managing to assemble their display cars at the last moment even after the truck that was carrying them met with an unfortunate accident.

The Aria, unveiled at the Delhi Auto Expo 2010, is finally out of the bag. Touted as a cross between a sedan and a SUV, the Aria is the most expensive car that has ever come out of Tata’s gates.

The concept of Crossover is not new to the Indian Market. Ford has tried this concept earlier with the Fusion (a cross between a hatch and a SUV) and failed quite miserably.Vehicles like the Chevrolet Captiva and the Mitsubishi Outlander are others cases in point which haven’t really set the ball rolling.

So will the fate of Aria be the same?

click through to learn

Tata Aria’s prices were revealed in an event today evening. The basic model costs Rs 12.9 lakh rupees, the middle variant sets you back by 14.5 lakh rupees and the top-end Aria is priced at 15.5 lakh rupees (ex showroom New Delhi).

The Aria is being launched in three trim levels, all with selectable Adapterra 4×4 – the Aria Pride at the top end, the Aria Prestige and the Aria Pleasure.

The prices of the Aria (All prices are ex-showroom in ` Lakhs)
Variant Delhi Bengaluru Chennai Kolkata Mumbai
Aria Pride (Leather upholstery) 15.50 15.58 15.45 15.52 15.85
Aria Prestige (Leather upholstery) 14.50 14.57 14.45 14.52 14.82
Aria Prestige (Fabric upholstery) 14.13 14.19 14.08 14.15 14.44
Aria Pleasure (Fabric upholstery) 12.91 12.96 12.86 12.93 13.18

stay tuned for more updates

Our sources tell us Tata will not be completely revamping the Safari VTT. In fact during the presentation conducted in Pune last week explaining the Aria to the electronic media, the company officials admitted the next generation Tata Safari is in the works and will soon be launched.

The next generation car and the current model are not very different from each other. The next generation model is more like a Safari VTT Mk2.

The engine is the same, we’re told Tata Motors has worked to make the 4-cylinder 2.2-liter DICOR engine more silent during operation. The suspension receives tweaks and so has the steering system.

The vehicle’s gearbox has gone through major changes for smoother gear engagement and friendlier gear ratios.

SRK tried to diagram the front-end where the car’s cosmetic changes will be concentrated on. The car will get pulled back lamps, heavily worked bumper, grille and fog lamps. The interiors will also have minor tweaks. The vehicle though not entirely not an all-new model, it’s going to be better in crucial areas where customers seek refinement.

At the launch of the Fiat Linea T-Jet on Saturday, our man Kaustubh managed to capture the advertisement of the new T-Jet as it was played on the screen. The playback quality is not very good, until we get our hands on the original footage, we have to make do with this.

At a recently held Auto-Parts show in Beijing, Zotye Motors showcased the ‘5008 EV’ presented in Police uniform. This car is essentially the Daihatsu Terios which is also sold as the Premier Rio here in India.

This little SUV is powered by batteries that have a range of 200 km & the car has a top speed of 100 kmph. Now this got us wondering. What if Premier decides to bring this into India?

Its high time that the Suzuki Gypsy & the Mahindra Jeep get a replacement. Sure the replacement should be something flashy and worth upgrading, and not just another old Gypsy (read ‘olden goldie’).

But if you come to think of it, the Rio is not a bad looking car, has the perfect size for our congested cities and the electric motor could power an experimental fleet to see its performance and user-friendliness.

Since there is no viable option currently out there for our Police (the Boleros, Innovas and Sumos are a little too big and bulky), the Rio should work out just fine. But knowing the fact that bringing this car would require huge investments and seeing the lackluster approach by Premier for the Rio which is yet to receive a CRDI engine, we honestly do not expect this to come to India.

Update – We’ve misread UK mpg as US mpg and the conversion was incorrect. The New Swift returned 24.1 kpl as opposed to the previously published figure of 29kpl.

The all new Suzuki Swift is making headlines in the UK. The Swift was a part of the 2010 MPG run organized by Fleet Magazine.

With a 1.2 liter VVT 94 PS Petrol engine under the hood, the car achieved a phenomenal figure of 68.10 MPG (24.1 kpl) which is an improvement of 20.5% over the official figure of 56.5 MPG. It was declared the winner of the class 1 ‘improvement’ category.

The marathon started at Ettington, Stratford upon Avon and had 34 competing cars on a challenging 380 mile route which was designed to reflect the normal city driving conditions. It included major roads, motorways & dual carriageways.

The Swift has been recognized as one of the most cleanest and safest small cars in the UK with emissions of just 116g/km.

We just can’t wait to have the new Swift in India. With its spruced up interiors and upgraded exteriors, this new Swift is sure to receive a warm reception in India. The interior room has improved slightly and the quality has gone up a notch too. What will this translate into when it comes to India next year?

Stick to IAB to get more on that.

Tata Motors conducted a strange press conference in Mumbai today where journalists from all over the world were invited to witness the product unveiling. To the disappointment of us and so many other journalists, Tata kept mum on the prices.

The conference however was conducted to shed light on the Tata Aria’s variants, features, specifications, development and the future of this product. This undoubtedly is the company’s most sophisticated and advanced product.

Attached past the break is the press release and images.