Indian Autos blog

We’ve already seen how good a car the Micra diesel is, it’s practical and has useful features that makes it a value for about 7 lakh rupees.

But there are a few things that cannot be overlooked. Some of these are minor irritants, while a couple of them compromises safety.

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By Kaustubh Shinde

We all know December is the best time to buy cars. Many people wait for this month just because of the massive discounts that they can avail. And Yes! Even car manufacturers are aware of this trend and they also comply.

Its no Santa Claus knocking on your door; the basic funda is that once the stock enters the new year, it loses 1 year of depreciation and the resale value also drops with it.

Let’s straight go to the exciting part – What are the Discounts that you can avail of by buying a car right now:

• Maruti Suzuki is offering discounts ranging from Rs 20,000 on an Alto K10 to Rs 60,000 on an Estilo or an A-star to maximum value of Rs 40,000 on the SX4. The company is also offering exchange bonus up to Rs 25,000.

• Hyundai is offering a saving of 33,000 on Santro and Rs 40,000 new i10. It is also offering benefits worth Rs 45,000 on the Verna.

• General Motors has discounted the prices of Chevrolet Spark from Rs 3.22 lakh to Rs 2.73 lakh and for Beat from 3.53 lakh to 3.32 lakh.

• Ford is offering a huge discount of Rs 71,000 on the Fiesta. It also offering only 8 per cent rate of interest for Ford Endeavour and and Ford Figo

• Buy a Mahindra Xylo or a Scorpio before December and you can get a discount of Rs 50,000.

• Fiat is offering Rs 55,000 worth of benefits on the purchase of its Linea and Punto.

• Honda Siel is offering discounts on Jazz worth Rs 60,000

• Tata Motors is offering discounts on all models ranging from 50,000-100,000

• Volkswagen has issued a warning. It will raise Polo prices by 2.9% from January 2011. Current prices last only till December 31.

Remember, these discounts will not be given to you upfront but will be disguised in some ‘marketing’ jazzed up language like freebies, cash back etc. So make sure you haggle big time with your car dealer.

Do you have any discounts that we haven’t shared? Let us know we will include it

On his Twitter account, Autocar India editor Hormazd Sorabjee has posted the prices of the BMW X1 for India. The vehicle will be launched in Delhi on the 23rd of this month.

BMW X1 prices (ex-showroom Delhi)

Base 1.8Si petrol – 22 lakh
Base 2.0d – 23.90 lakh
2.0d Exclusive – 29.90 lakh
2.0d Cool Elegance – 32.5lakh

click through for X1 details

Goa on Wheels is reporting ex-showroom Hyderabad prices of the Mahindra Thar.

As we reported two days ago, the Mahindra Thar will be launched this month in India. It will come with a 2.5-liter CRDI engine producing 105hp@3800 RPM, 247Nm@1800-2000RPM. and a plenty of off-roading gear.

Mahindra has commenced exports of this model and the Indian’s reception to the Thar has been amazing. Since its display at the Auto Expo, people have been awaiting it.

Mahindra Thar DI 4X2 BS3 – Rs. 4,42,000/-
Mahindra Thar DI 4X4 BS3 – Rs. 4,90,590/-
Mahindra Thar DI 4X4 BS4 – Rs. 6,17,933/- (all prices ex-showroom, Hyderabad).

Having spent a couple of hours driving around the city on the Nissan Micra XV diesel, I’ve understood this car stands up to its marketing tag line – Drive simpler, live better.

Let me explain why -

1) The auto folding mirrors are a boon, especially when you’re parking in a tight spot. They automatically close when you lock the car, and comes in handy in tight parking spaces. If you’re not interested in this feature, it can be turned off. The mirrors are also electrically operated, which is very handy when it’s raining or too dusty to roll down the window.

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Honda sells as many as 6 variants of the Civic in North America including coupe body style and natural gas variant. For America, the Civic is a very important model.

For India, Civic is no less important, if Honda is to resume growth and silence critics.

Honda has previewed the next generation Civic in the form a sketch. The company will display a concept model showcasing all the design elements of the new Civic at the Detroit Motor Show in January next year. Note that Honda will only showcase a concept and not the production model.

Honda has announced that by spring 2011, the new Civic will go on sale. We’re expecting Honda to launch the new Civic in India in 2012.

Earlier this year, the new Honda Civic was spied largely undisguised while hot weather tests were being carried out.

The Nano sales numbers has sounded a siren and companies have second thoughts of entering this segment. But one man is still going strong – Rajiv Bajaj Managing Director, Bajaj Auto. Instead of going back to the drawing board or backing off a little, he is in fact on full throttle with his low cost car.

His words exude aggression and confidence in his plans. Here is his press statement

Rajiv Bajaj, MD Bajaj Auto -

We are actually emboldened by what we have been seeing so far with the Nano and believe that our own brand strategy is spot-on. I am very upbeat about our car’s prospects despite what the doomsday prophets say

The Bajaj ULC is a part of a joint venture with Renault-Nissan, which is scheduled to be launched in 2012 with a base price of about Rs 1.5 lakh and going upwards. The head honcho also confirmed that the ULC will not sport a Bajaj badge neither will it have a Renault or a Nissan badge.

The ULC will instead have a new brand created for itself and the key USP will be its fuel economy. Bajaj is targeting a mileage of at least 30 km to a liter (Forget the Nano, it is actually more fuel efficient than a some bikes currently running on the streets.)

Tata Motors has faced plenty of speed breakers since the unveiling at the Auto Expo. An unusual booking process, cars catching fire and an unprecedented shift in plant location are a few dampeners in the Nano project.

Is Bajaj Auto being hopelessly optimistic about this project? Or has Rajiv Bajaj sunk his teeth so deep in the project that it is very difficult pull out now? Or are we really missing something? Is there still value at the bottom of the pyramid that he is able to see?

What do you think?

We always complain that most cars come in India years after their global launch. Well that trend is changing gradually and more and more companies are trying to get their products in the Indian Market first, especially compact cars.

Companies like the General Motors which showcased the Beat in the transformer movie and then immediately launched it in the Indian market. And sure, they have been rewarded as well; The Chevrolet Beat is currently doing reasonable volumes in the India and is expecting strong future growth with the arrival of the diesel engine.

The Chinese sadly couldn’t say so – well at least till now. Chevy didn’t introduce the Beat in the Chinese market as the Spark was still a capable small car fulfilling their requirements. But with competition making moves, finally the day has arrived and the Beat is all set roll on the streets of China. For that, it has also been given a Chinese name – (Si Pa Ke), a phonetic translation of its English name Spark (note the Beat is sold overseas as Chevrolet Spark).

What about the good old Spark you ask? We think that the Wuling brand will absorb that car under its umbrella.