The Volkswagen Up! will make its world premiere on the 22nd of August at the Paris Grand Palais on the Champs-Elysees, a prestigious venue in France according to some reports that have appeared on the internet. According to vwup.blogspot.com, the premiere will kick off at 8PM. The Up’s the most anticipated in recent years and will give access to the segment here in India ruled by the Maruti Wagon R and Hyundai i10.
We have no confirmation from Volkswagen yet, though these reports claim that it was Volkswagen that made this announcement. All along we were in the belief that VW will bring the Up! to the Frankfurt Motor Show in September. Sister brands Skoda and SEAT will build their versions of the Lupo that are likely to be christened Skoda Youngster and SEAT Arosa, according to media reports that have emerged in the last few months.
TKM is discussing with its Japanese headquarters to finalize the time frame and configuration of the facelifted editions of IMV platform derivatives Innova and Fortuner it was revealed to Indian Autos Blog yesterday.
Mr Sandeep Singh, DMD of Toyota Kirloskar Motor -
As of now there is no need (for Innova and Fortuner facelift) as both the products are doing well. We are in discussion with TMC (Toyota Motor Corporation) for when we can get those cars. TMC launches products in phased manner. If you see today, Innova and Fortuner are doing very well we will introduce them (facelifts) at the right time because changes are not big in terms of features. Changes are only cosmetic.
Speaking exclusively to Indian Autos Blog on the sidelines of the Etios Liva launch in Delhi, Mr Sandeep Singh, Deputy Managing Director of Toyota Kirloskar Motor said the company is not interested in bringing Yaris hatchback or Yaris sedan to India.
Mr Sandeep Singh, DMD of TKM -
If you look at Yaris, it is full of features. It is an expensive vehicle even in Europe. The alternative to Yaris we brought in India is the Etios. If you look at the size (of the two vehicles), it is almost same. We have no plans (for Yaris). I don’t think we will ever bring the Yaris to India. It is not meant for India.
The new Yaris was launched in Japan and recently in Europe with a sedan variant in the pipeline for 2013. The Yaris sedan, called Vios, is a hot seller in many parts of the world. The Yaris brand forms the entry point of the American lineup where it competes with the Nissan Versa, Chevrolet Sonic (Aveo) and Honda Fit (Jazz).
How can a SUV (which is not really an SUV) from a very premium manufacturer compete be the top 3 best selling SUV in India. Whereas the Fortuner dominated the sales charts with 4,485 units from Jan to May, the Endeavour came in second with 1,404 units. The third was the Skoda Yeti with which managed to sell about 1,100 units in the same period. However, and here is the surprise, the BMW X1 sold 947 units and that too when the booking were shut for a period of 3 months. Simply Astonishing!
What is about this Bimmer that makes people stick to it like ants on sugar? Partly, because it is the cheapest BMW money can buy and yes a lot of people aspire to the badge. But is it just a badge game? Or is there substance to this rather unusual vehicle? We just had to find out. So we borrowed a test vehicle from BMW – the diesel one to be specific – and got cracking!
Now that the Etios Liva has entered the fray, the competition will pull up their socks and do what it takes to cut down delays in bringing their challengers to the market. A hotly anticipated product in this case is the Honda Brio (rhymes with Leo), here by the start of the festive season.
Seen here is the promotion campaign featuring Thai stars Mark Prin and Yaya Urassaya Sperbund. Mark drives around with his dad who feels at home in the Brio while Yaya goes shopping with her folks highlighting the excellent usable space for shopping bags. Honda should use Imran Khan and Anushka Sharma in their campaign if they are going the celebrity way to promote this mini car.
Honda is testing the Brio around Greater Noida as we write this. It will look at the Thai market’s reaction to this product to add finishing touches to the Indian spec car. The Brio hit a speed breaker as Honda was forced to halt production in Japan due to the calamity caused by the earthquake and tsunami in early March. Bookings had to be stopped just a month after the launch due to components shortage from Japan. Honda’s recovered quickly and it hopes to ramp up production to reach maximum capacity by September.
Yesterday morning Toyota launched the Etios Liva amidst a group of select media representatives in New Delhi. Like most launches in 2011, IAB was on row one bringing you the prices.
We discussed the variants and technical specifications last week and uploaded a few official images sent in by a reader yesterday, so there was nothing new from the launch except prices.
But how wrong we were!
At the launch Yoshinori Noritake saan, Chief Engineer of the Etios and Etios Liva presented a deep dive into the Liva giving us every insight into the building blocks. TKM’s higher officials shared their view of the Liva’s segmentation, features and target group which we’ll discuss today on IAB.
At long last, we’ve seen the Maruti R3 through the form of spy shots posted a few weeks back. As any fan of Maruti Suzuki will know, the two-tone interiors are heavily inspired (or shall we say copied?) from the new Swift which is expected during Diwali.
The R3, though even with three rows of seats, is not the biggest and baddest MPV on the circuit. It will be smaller than Innova with compact petrol and diesel engines. The R3 will rely on Fiat power to take it places. The 1.3-liter Multijet engine with a VGT is the engine we’re expecting on this 7-9 lakh rupee car.
The production model will not be called R3. The R3 will boast of features like steering-mounted audio controls, CD player and power windows. Gear lever, door locks, steering wheel, dashboard, plastic door trim, arm rest, rear view mirror and the hand brake have been stolen from the new Swift’s inventory.
The transition from concept to production has been a tough journey for the R3 as the futuristic and funky styling has lost its way. The creativity and liveliness of the concept has been drowned and what we’re going to see is a MPV that blends the design of the new Swift, Kizashi’s grille and Ritz.
Yesterday Tata Motors launched the Tata Nano in Nepal. This is the Nano’s second overseas adventure. Last month it was put on sale in Sri Lanka where it began replacing 3-wheelers. The Nano will be sold through 14 outlets of the company’s distributor Sipradi Trading Pvt. Ltd. Sipradi is confident that the country wide dealer network will attract buyers as the Nano has the good maneuverability and excellent in-city performance.
The Nano’s price in Nepal is NPR 7.98 lakhs (1 Nepalese rupee = 0.62 Indian rupee). Tata is adoption a similar booking strategy in Nepal with the first phase, open from yesterday, for a period of 10 days. The Nano Standard can be booked for NPR 10,000, the Nano CX for NPR 20,000 and the Nano LX for NPR 30,000. The EMI is set at NPR 11,111.
