A short while back, Honda announced a discount of up to 1.7 lacs on the Jazz. High price was the only factor that stopped customers from buying it and once the price fell, cars began vanishing from every Honda showroom in the country. It is being rumored that the heavy discount was more of a stock clearance sale and the refreshed Jazz will follow soon.
The new Honda Jazz is a minor facelift. People who’ve recently bought the Jazz have nothing to worry about as this is a cosmetically updated product.
The new Jazz comes with redesigned bumpers said to reduce air drag, new grille and headlights, rear lights with modified lenses and a choice of 2 new exterior colors – Deep Sapphire Blue and Ionized Bronze.
Inside, the new Jazz sports a darker color scheme, new seat fabrics (leather upholstery is optional), chromed trim pieces and orange dash lighting. Suspension was also worked on by engineers.
As Honda sold the current 1.2L engine at a high price we do not expect a 1.5L or an automatic transmission though many people who have bought the car have complained of it being underpowered. The same 1.2L i-VTEC engine will perform duties on the Jazz facelift.
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You knew that this one was coming. After we brought you news that the Audi Q6 will be the first rival of the BMW X6, how can Mercedes just fold up their hands. AutoBild Germany is reporting of the Mercedes MLC – a coupe crossover from Mercedes to rival the likes of BMW X6.
The inspiration of the MLC comes from the strong sales of the BMW X6 and Range Rover Evoque. It will be based on the M-Class four-wheel drive platform but the design will be elegant and very coupe-like form, inspired by the new CLS. It is expected that Mercedes will sacrifice practicality for looks and design because that is what attracts people in this segment.
Sources suggest it will get the regular range of fuel efficient engines, including diesels and a range topping AMG version with 544 hp. It will not have any extreme off roading capability and will have a seven-speed automatic transmission to shift cogs. So far only these details are available.
Mercedes should be able to debut this coupe crossover by the end of 2014. Till then, we will keep you posted on further developments on this new vehicle that has come to the surface.
The moment we all have been waiting for with baited breath has dawned upon us. The official word is out – Maruti Suzuki will launch the new Swift on August 17. The car will mark the dawn of a new era for our very own little hatchback which transformed the B and B+ market segments for good.
Maruti Suzuki launched the Swift in India way back in 2004, since then it has dominated the hatchback market like no other car. It almost became a byword for a hatchback. It was affordable, practical and very fun to drive. Adding to that, the MSIL’s excellent sales and service network made sure that it ticked every box on the Indian car buyer’s list.
But over the years, new competitors came in and the Swift became a bit old. It still showed strong sales figures but the market demands more from the product. So Maruti Suzuki began testing of the new Swift in late 2010.
The new car is slightly bigger so that the passengers get enough space at the back (old Swift’s Achilles heel). Slight modifications have been done to the head lamps and the tail lamps to make them flow well with the design. You can still see the glimpses of the old Swift in the new one but somehow the new one looks more progressive and is definitely a step forward.
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Car and Bike show fan Rohit Anand recently caught the Honda Brio testing on the Greater Noida Expressway. According to Rohit, the car is similar in size to the Chevrolet Beat.
The Brio is equipped with the Jazz’ 1.2-liter petrol engine, detuned to match the car’s dimensions. Rohit chased down the Brio using his Alto and even when driven aggressively, he could easily close the gap to the mule. Will the Brio trade acceleration for that extra bit of fuel efficiency?
It’s not fair to judge without actually driving the car but thanks to ballooning fuel prices, manufacturers are forced extract as much as possible from their engines giving them a sluggish nature. We won’t be surprised to verify Rohit’s claim upon the Brio’s launch.
The Brio is on sale in Thailand, we’ve discussed the brand ambassadors and their Indian counterparts (if Honda goes the celebrity way) in an earlier post.
What we can tell from seeing images of the car is that Honda appears to have taken a few pages out of the 2010 Auto Expo concept’ design book. If the glass hatch is an India first, a Honda for 5 lakh rupees is another.
What can a car maker provide for 5 lakh rupees?
For 5 lakh rupees, car makers can’t produce an exceptionally well built, well refined, spacious and fuel efficient car. They have very little to work with. Restricting the overall length to under 4 meters puts a cap on cabin space and the displacement rule of under 1.2-liters (as Honda has no diesel engine) means you can’t expect any punch or kick when you pin the accelerator.
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Days ago, we brought you a slick report on the next generation Santa Fe from Germany’s AutoBILD explaining how it will shed the Santa Fe name for the ix45 monicker.
Now GMotors.co.uk has presented a spy pic of a large ix35ish SUV which it claims is the successor to the “mid-size” SUV Santa Fe. The angle at which the picture is taken and the heavy camouflage make matters worse but we’ll vouch for GMotors’ claim as the ix45 has been confirmed by multiple news reports.
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Way back in 2008, Tata Motors bought the iconic British marquee Jaguar-LandRover for 2.3 billion dollars and then managed to turn things around in less than three years. The Indo-Brit partnership is now ready to take things on the next level. In the company’s 66th annual report, 2010-11, Mr Ratan Tata announced that Tata Motors Ltd and Jaguar Land Rover will jointly develop engines in the future.
The idea of this co development program is to optimize the synergetic strengths between JLR and Tata Motors in India and United Kingdom. As JLR currently gets their engines from Ford, this will be the next step of back-end integration for it and the Indian owner. It will help in cutting costs on manufacturing the vehicles and making them cheaper for price-sensitive markets such as India.
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Buying a car is very difficult. First you have to short list a few cars from the myriad choices available. Then you have to do some internet research to see which will fit in your budget to narrow the choices. Later, you have to take test drives to find if there is room for luggage and other occupants.
Once you have narrowed down on a single car, then you have to choose which variant has the best possible features for the best possible price. After all this malarkey, comes color choice. Should I opt for funky color or play it safe? Would I get better resale value if I get the most common color? Which color is readily available in the dealer’s yard?
So many questions when it comes to color choice. Of course, even manufacturers know the importance of color hence they try to jazz it up in the most unfathomable terms – Coral Red, Squeeze Yellow, Pearl White et all.
So what is India’s favorite color? If, like me, you think it is black then oh boy you are so wrong.
Turns out, India’s favorite color of choice, according to Dupont Automotive Color Popularity Report, is ‘White’. Over 53% of the cars in India are white followed by Silver (23%). Considering white is a heat reflective color and India is quite hot, it seems to be the sensible choice. Also, a lot of commercial fleets prefer their cars in white.
My favorite color ‘Black’ comes 5 in the rankings with only 8% of the cars painted black. Down the scale, less than 1% of the cars painted pink (for obvious reasons I guess).
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We have brought you many stories of the new S class doing testing rounds in Germany. However, for the first time someone has snapped a clear picture of the interiors of the new flagship sedan from Mercedes Benz and as you would imagine it, the interiors are completely space age!
Inspired by the Jaguar XJ and the latest Range Rover, the new S class gets a rectangular LCD screen instead of physical dials. The screen is split in 2 parts, one part shows the speedometer and the tachometer and the other part is for infotainment.
In this spy image, one can see a mobile phone-like keypad which means that the screen can be operated by touching making it simpler, quicker and more familiar too. The new S Class will get a technology that will read gestures made by the driver on a pad on the center console and superimpose an image of the user’s fingers on the screen.
If you observe the image carefully, below the command section you will see ‘Online’ and ‘WWW’ which suggest that the new S class will have wireless internet service just like the Audi A8.
The new S class is expected to make a debut in 2013 – 2014, until then we will keep you posted on the development process.
More interestingly, many people say that the Mercedes S class is a glimpse into the car of the future. So do you think that LCD screens are a better option as opposed to the physical dials?
The new Honda Jazz is a minor facelift. People who’ve recently bought the Jazz have nothing to worry about as this is a cosmetically updated product.
