JokeForBlog has posted images of what it claims is the headlamp of the VW Up! rumored to premiere in France on the 22nd of August. Judging by the style of headlamps shown here, we assume each one resembles VW Group cars SEAT, Skoda and the VW’s version of the Up! The Up! brand will give birth to a line of compact vehicles which should include a MPV. Its official debut could be at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September.
Buyers shouldn’t be surprised to find the Polo’s 1.2-liter diesel engine providing motive force to the Up! backed by a five-speed manual transmission. If the images shown here are indeed accurate, then you can expect to see them on cars that closely resemble the VW Up! concept cars.
The Up!/Lupo will be smaller than Polo in length, but the tallboy design brings with it the ease in ingress and egress. The build and quality, especially the interior outfitting is going to be a point of keen interest to us. Can Volkswagen produce an Etios with a quality of a Polo?
Volkswagen India hasn’t confirmed the Lupo for India but sources in the company told Indian Autos Blog that rebadging Maruti products is out of question. We don’t know of another small car under Polo in the works (VW India ruled out the Fox), so we’re assuming this is what Volkswagen India mean when they say they are working on a car below Polo.
This is what VW India’s spokesperson told me when I visited their plant last year -
No, the Fox is not our small car. We’re discussing the “Up!” internally. We still don’t know whether it is going to be Up! or another small car. Our next step is certainly a car below the Polo. It will have attributes of bigger Volkswagens like the Jetta or the Passat. Don’t mistake me, we will not build a Nano. For safety and quality reasons, we’ll not build one. We’re looking at making a car a segment higher than the Nano.
We’ll have the full details when VW is interested in sending it our way.
Fiat India after a disastrous June, is trying to get back in the right gear by rolling out thoughtful marketing initiatives.
Buyers of Linea and Punto this month will get three months of free fuel. In addition to that, by owning a Fiat, you are eligible to win a year’s worth of free fuel. If you get lucky, you’ll never have to visit the pumps again till mid 2012.
Fiat is also organizing car exchange schemes. You can exchange your old car for a Fiat Punto or Linea and get a 20k rupees exchange bonus. There are also discounts on first year’s insurance. Another contest that you automatically register when you book a diesel Punto or Linea is the ‘diesel at the price of petrol’ contest. Winners get to drive away a diesel Punto/Linea for the price of the equivalent petrol variant.
Will you buy a Punto/Linea diesel this month?
click through to read the press release and learn more
India does not have any history with the iconic Datsun brand, but that won’t really matter if the price is the talking point of its cars. Nikkei reports that Nissan is planning to revive the Datsun brand for emerging markets (India, Brazil and Russia are some well known emerging countries) and manufacture low cost cars under its banner.
Datsun cars will come out “with a price tag of around 5,000 dollars (2.22 lakh rupees)” according to the Japanese media report which does not quote its sources.
Nikkei emphasizes that the Datsun brand is brought back after its doors were closed by Nissan in 1986, to sell cars in emerging markets. It will not be a performance division (like AMG is to Mercedes or M is to BMW) or a luxury brand (like Infiniti is to Nissan or Acura is to Honda).
According to our source, Nissan is working on a car below Micra, but it may not see daylight before 2013. This will almost certainly be a Nissan branded product. Even if the Datsun project gets a go-ahead, we are not going to see it for at least another three years.
The Datsun brand could be used by Nissan to build what Japan terms as kei cars. Sister brands are not unfamiliar to India. Skoda and Volkswagen sell car made using the same components. Nissan and Renault will cooperate at the back-end on most future products including a car in the B+ Segment next year.
Will Datsun re-engineer phased out kei cars for emerging markets? Or will it work on a line of new small cars using a common, highly low-cost platform?
The 2012 Toyota Camry has been teased by President Akio Toyoda and it is now time for a youtube user, who has had a first hand look at the car, to do the same.
This video was uploaded on July 1st and it looks like a preview of a new Camry to a large gathering (American Toyota dealers?). The video is taken at a good distance from the stage where three new Camrys roll in (2 petrol and a hybrid variant).
As the cars roll in Katy Perry’s “Firework” song, that climbed to the top of the billboards late last year, is played in the background. This is one more reason to believe that this indeed is the 2012 edition.
Toyota executives held a meeting with 1,223 Toyota dealers in Las Vegas last Wednesday where it was revealed that a massive media campaign will be used as part of the new Camry’s launch. Up to 40 commercials of the new Camry will be aired on TV.
We’re still unsure where the video was captured by last week but on close inspection, we can promise you that this is an unseen Camry. Toyota, in a press release issued after the close of the dealer event said the Camry was “designed to meet the changing needs of the 21st Century driver, the new Camry will provide technologically advanced features, a contemporary design inside and out, improved performance and refined ride and handling.”
The Camry is America’s best selling sedan and with this new model that has tail lamps inspired from the Accord and boomerang fog lamps is fighting to regain full customer confidence. In India, the new Camry is expected in mid-2012 and will continue operating through the CBU route.
On two previous occasions we speculated on variants of cars weeks before their launch and got them right. We’re talking about the Hyundai Verna (part one and part two) and Toyota Etios Liva (part one and part two), if you are new here.
Today we’re attempting to get three on three with details on the new VW Jetta expected in India in August. With a few weeks to go for the launch, Volkswagen can change its mind on the equipment. So we’re going to classify this information as speculation.
The quality on the new Jetta is expected to inch closer to Audi levels and one can sense by just looking solid improvement of finish and material usage compared to the current model. The new Jetta like most other Volkswagens will be offered in three trims – Trendline, Comfortline and Highline. Three options are provided on the Highline variant’s interiors with base color as Black – Beige, Black or Plum.
Feeling the heat from VW Vento, mid way through the month, Honda Siel slashed the prices of the Honda City by Rs 44,000-66,000 depending on the model. The move seems to have been worked in favor of Honda, although only marginally.
In May, the Honda City only sold 1,828 units whereas the arch rival Vento sold 2,403 units. However, things are a bit different this month as City has managed to ship 2,802 units and the VW Vento has only managed 2,457 units. So the Honda City may not have dented VW Vento’s sales but has definitely hurt the SX4 (713 units) and Fiat Linea 350 units (no typos there).
However, don’t jump for joy Honda boys as the City did not reclaim its top position in the C+ Segment. The title of the king goes to Hyundai Verna which managed to ship an astonishing 4,102 units in June. That’s nearly double of what the nearest competitors have managed.
The Hyundai has managed to capture the fancy of the Indian market with its tonnes of features and rational pricing. It doesn’t seem like the Verna would let go of its segment crown very easily as it has already clocked 20,000 bookings.
However, July will see the entry of a new contender – the Global Fiesta from Ford. The Fiesta is expected to create a shakedown in the now Hyundai dominated territory. Honda Siel, in its efforts to regain its top position, is planning to give the City a small facelift in the near future.
As Tata Aria and Tata Safari Merlin become the ‘talk of the town’ vehicles from the Tata Camp, we forget the humble Indica Vista which is the bread earner for the company. Unfortunately, the Vista has not managed to capture the fancy of the Indian consumer as Tata Motors would have hoped.
As a result, we learnt from our sources and reading AutoX magazine that Tata Motors has started work on an Indica Vista facelift model. SRK envisioned the Indica Vista facelift on the first week of June with a Tata Manzaish front end with double barrel headlamps and a chrome grill.
Little did we know that Tata Motors was also thinking on the same lines.
Readers Sree Ganesh and Thangavel P caught the Nissan Sunny/V-Platform sedan/Global sedan on test in Chennai city traffic. Sree who is always on the lookout for new cars wrote us an email with all possible details of the catch -
Car Spotted: Nissan Sunny (logos and lights taped with black duct tape)
Number of cars: 2
1st car – Red / Maroon : This is the base model with no alloy wheels, sporting black door handles.
2nd car – White : This would be the top-end variant with alloy wheels and body colored handles. This was the lead car. In my picture you will be able to see the red car with a very vaguely visible white car in front. I saw beige interiors on this variant.
What we deduce – Top-end variant will have alloy wheels and beige interiors.
