On his way to Bangalore on the Bangalore-Mysore road on Friday morning, our friend and regular reader Pappu Hatela spotted the Etios twins testing with taped badges. Both the cars are being driven, perhaps for last-minute adjustments.
The silver hatch looks more appealing than the concept car showcased through the year at various Q World events while the white sedan is so very reminiscent of the Mahindra Logan and suffers a lackluster appeal.
The subdued styling and measly use of curves on the sedan is intentional as Toyota wants to price this car aggressively. As we reported in the morning, the Etios sedan precedes the hatch but both models will debut simultaneously in the presence of the company’s chairperson Mr.Akio Toyoda on the 1st of December in Bangalore.
The Etios sedan will make use of a 1.5-liter petrol engine, while the hatch makes do with a smaller 1.2-liter petrol unit.
click through to view other Etios spyshots
The internet is an unforgiving place.
Joke For Blog has published the patent drawings of the upcoming Nissan Sunny (in India, name is still undecided). We posted a couple low-resolution brochure shots earlier in the month and now we have outline drawings of the vehicle.
Nissan will launch this model in India by Diwali 2011 with a 1.6-liter petrol engine and a 1.5-liter diesel motor. The petrol engine debuts on the V-Platform sedan while the diesel heart is borrowed from the Logan and has also been introduced in the Micra recently.
The V-Platform sedan will bare little or no resemblance to the Micra. Interiors however is largely based on the Micra. Air-conditioning vent for the rear passengers and a mildly redesigned center console will be the changes.
Stay tuned for more information or visit our Nissan Micra category page to catch previous updates on the V-Platform sedan and the Micra hatch.
click through to see the drawings
Managing Director of Toyota Kirloskar Motor, Mr Hiroshi Nakagawa told Business Standard that Toyota’s Brazilian subsidiary is working on the Etios as well.
Managing Director of Toyota Kirloskar Motors, Mr Hiroshi Nakagawa -
A project is presently undergoing development in Brazil. So, we communicate to various markets that the Etios is the world’s first and not just India’s first, and that our development experience and techniques can be extended to overseas markets. Currently, the Brazilian subsidiary of Toyota is also working on the Etios and will launch the car in two years.
Toyota is expected to localize the Etios to the maximum possible extent in Brazil. Toyota needs to engineer the car to work with gasoline blended with alcohol, as Brazil retails E25 (E25 contains 75% gasoline and 25% of ethanol) at the pump.
We expect Toyota to make a hybrid vehicle on the Etios platform. We also feel Toyota will not stop with sedan and hatchback bodystyles on the Etios platform. A mini MPV, SUV and station wagon models will be exciting additions for developing markets.
Toyota has revealed that its Etios sedan will be launched before the hatchback. Both the vehicles will debut in Bangalore on December 1st in a ceremony graced by the chairman of TMC, Mr.Akio Toyoda.
Deliveries of Etios sedan will begin in January 2011 and following that, the hatchback will be dispatched to dealers.
The Etios hatch will be powered by a 1.2-liter petrol engine and the sedan will have in it a bigger 1.5-liter petrol unit. There are no chances of the diesel variant in 2011 on both the forms.
Toyota aims to sell 70,000 Etios twins in 2011.
IAB brings this first to you!
As we speak, journalists in Delhi are bracing for the launch of the much-awaited Skoda Yeti. The car will be available in two trims. Ambient and Elegance.
The Yeti comes with a 2 litre TDI CR (Common Rail) mated to a 6-speed manual transmission featuring an advance real-time four-wheel drive system.
Prices (ex-showroom Maharashtra)
Ambient – 14.98 lakh
Elegance – 16.18 lakh
Stay tuned for more information.
After countless times of speculating on the “Come Alive” teaser website few of the front-running answers Kizashi, new Swift and old Zen with K-Series engine are all wrong.
Note that we were the first to check the source code of the teaser website and post on the Zen connection from the flash file’s name appearing on the front page.
One of team-bhp’s members Sidindica gained access to the brochure which gives the answer away. The Zen Estilo is coming back to life apparently.
Maruti Suzuki is to be informed no one killed it.
Like how the Wizer campaign worked for WagonR, Maruti is going to promote the Zen Estilo in a never-before-seen fashion.
Using a pair of crash test dummies as mascot, it will advertise the Zen Estilo that failed garnering any major market share since its re-introduction last year. It still isn’t clear if the company is going to supplement safety features to variants, but that is highly unlikely. Its safety features like ABS, Airbags (not available across the range) could be reaffirmed in this campaign.
Would you buy a Zen Estilo if a crash test dummy asks you to?
We were the first to report on the possibility of the Indigo Manza CS that will tuck in under the 4 meter length barrier and sit between the Vista and Manza.
The sub 4-meter Indigo could be a developement encouraged by the success of the original Indigo CS which is pure value for money. The current Indigo CS has rough edges, a slightly unrefined motor and outdated interiors.
Now that Tata Motors can utilze the 1.3-liter Mult-jet motor (labelled as Quadrajet in Tata’s case) and the next generation Indica/Indigo platform, it will make a cracker of a deal if it introduces the lower excise Indigo. Much of the Tata vehicles sold in India come with the diesel heart.
Customers have preferred the diesel Indica/Indigo over the petrol model and this trend is expected to continue on the Manza CS as well. Tata could use the Vista’s 1.2-liter SAFIRE engine with a higher state of tune for the petrol-loving customer.
The interiors will largely be the same and comfort will not be sacrificed due to the car’s shorter overall length, thanks to the unaltered wheelbase. The rear overhang will be trimmed to bring the Indigo to a sub 4-meter overall length and the only trade-off in this process is the boot volume.
1) Yamaha has kicked off an interactive program to boost its brand image and serve existing customers. The three-day affair even has Japanese safety personnel to teach kids something we often forget to excercise – motorcycle safety.
Head over to Indian Motos Blog for full details.
2) Honda CBR250R will come to India in the first half of 2011 for an affordable price. If you can’t enough of the bike, head over to Indian Motos Blog to see the official video.
On his way to Bangalore on the Bangalore-Mysore road on Friday morning, our friend and regular reader Pappu Hatela spotted the Etios twins testing with taped badges. Both the cars are being driven, perhaps for last-minute adjustments.
