Indian Autos blog

Skoda Auto India has launched the Laura RS at a price of 1,519,906 rupees (ex-Showroom Maharashtra). There are many differences between the Laura and the RS edition such as -

• LED position lights
• The 1.8 TSI petrol engine with a power output of 118 kW
• 16” Draconis Alloy wheels
• LED position lamps

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After being on a house hunt for nearly a year, Peugeot Citroën has finally found its ‘Home sweet Home’. Unsurprisingly, it’s Sanand in Gujarat which is touted to be the next Motown for India. The French automaker will set up 4,000-crore facility at Sanand in Gujarat which is also home to our beloved Tata Nano and the new Ford factory.

Before finalizing the decision, the automaker was in talks in with Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh but those discussions fell through and Gujarat grabbed the opportunity. This will be Peugeot’s re-entry in India after a decade.

Earlier they had a JV with PAL India but because of mutual disagreements they had to pull out of India. Now, the company is back in India and has plans to create one of the largest automotive factory over here. For now, this plant will manufacture a mid-sized sedan (possibly the 507) with an annual capacity of 3 lakh cars.

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Recently we brought you the latest details of the India bound Up from VW. VW did not wait till Frankfurt where this car was supposed to be first unveiled. Instead, they released all the information pertaining to Up in a massive global press release. Internationally, the VW Up replaces the aging Fox hatchback and in India the Up will be the cheapest offering from VW till date.

Autoweek has some sypshots of the three door version caught testing in Wolfsburg. As of right now, the VW Up will be tested on the European roads because this car will make its debut in Europe first where it will compete against Toyota Aygo and Fiat Panda. The India debut, although confirmed, is not anytime soon.

The VW will use 1.0-liter three-cylinder gasoline engine generating 60 or 75 hp. However, if the need arises, a diesel or a natural gas powered one can also be introduced.

In India, the VW Up will compete against established brands such as i10, A-Star and the likes.

It will be interesting to see Maruti Suzuki’s (the king pin of the Indian small car market) stance when VW launches the Up because it will compete against many Maruti Suzuki products. Considering VW owns 19.9% stake in Suzuki and their relationship has now gone a bit sour, the situation will be a spectacle to watch.

VW is expected to launch the Up in India in 2013 or 2014. But make sure you visit IAB during the Frankfurt motor show as we will get you live updates about the Up

IndianAutosBlog.com readers would have seen dozens of images of the Sunny from the Mumbai preview. We brought you many images from its official unveiling at the 8th China (Guangzhou) International Automobile Exhibition last year.

But for those who can’t have enough of the Sunny, here are two studio shots released via Sunny’s new dedicated Facebook page.

A quick recap – Nissan will launch the Sunny in India in late September with a 1.5-liter petrol engine. A diesel (1.5 from Micra/Fluence) is in the pipeline, but at launch there will be at least three variants with the top-end model fabricated using many Micra components. Production of the Sunny has started at Oragadam with 85% local components.

The interiors especially will draw plenty of components from the Micra. Nissan is targeting young families with the Micra-based Sunny sedan. The Micra and the Sunny is developed for emerging as well as developed nations. The sedan is already out on the American and Chinese markets.

Do you like the Sunny?

We’ve brought scores of Tata Safari Merlin spy shots and featured it yesterday on our video discussion post asking if its the pick of the festival season launches. Some of you said it was going to rob the Scorpio of its numbers and mark the comeback of the Safari nameplate.

A recent spotting by IndianAutosBlog.com fan Anant Prakash from Pune reveals a very important design feature. The headlights are L-Shaped and the proportions are flat and a bit boxy. Not sure if the Range Rover has influenced Tata Motors a bit too much.

Anant’s image also shows the elevated fog lights lurking beneath the camouflage. The top-end model will have indicators on the outside mirrors and the alloy wheel design is inspired by the Aria.

The Safari Merlin will use many components of the Aria. There is a chance that the vehicle will come out in October. If not, it will take until January’s Delhi Auto Expo for it to arrive.

Nissan Motor India Pvt. Ltd. announced that it began production of the Sunny sedan at the Oragadam plant in a press release issued today.

This is Nissan’s second car to be completely made in India and the second car to roll out of the V-Platform.

The Sunny was previewed to the Indian media on August 3 and will be launched by the last week of September. 85% of the vehicle is localized out of which 40% is sourced from Chennai. This promises a low price, a key factor if the Sunny has to succeed.

Nissan is pitching the Sunny to young families with plenty of rear seat comfort and an additional AC vent. Click through to read the press release.

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Back in July, Fiat India made a statement that they will be bringing a CBU to India by the year end. We asked Fiat India whether it would be the Freemont, a SUV based on the Dodge platform. Fiat’s Mumbai representative responded that it will not be the Freemont because this mysterious new CBU will be ‘a complete Fiat product’.

Sure, we made some predictions whether it will be the MPV Doblo or Qubo but no information has surfaced yet. Yesterday, while casually browsing through Fiat India’s website, we stumbled upon a section which had loads of information on the Fiat Bravo.

Is the Fiat Bravo the ‘complete Fiat product’ that Fiat India is contemplating on bringing to Indian shores?

Fiat Bravo is a supermini by Fiat which is much larger than the Grande Punto. It is more on the lines of the Chevy SRV that was launched by Chevrolet India which was also much larger than conventional hatchbacks. On the design front, the Fiat Bravo takes a lot of styling clues from the Punto.

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Although Mahindra and Mahindra has bought the rights to the old Logan from Renault and rebranded it to Verito, internationally the Logan still belongs to Renault and Dacia. It is a very successful model in the eastern European countries such as Romania and Slovakia and western European countries such as France. The key USPs of Logan over there are: Cheap sticker price and very affordable to maintain.

However, in the first half of 2011, the sales of Logan have taken a heavy beating because of an outdated platform and obsolete design.

So Dacia has gone back to the drawing board to bring a brand new Logan which will be revealed at next year’s Paris Motor Show. But Dacia has promised that the key USP’s will be not touched and the Logan will remain a cost effective runabout.

There are rumors circulating in the market that in order to keep the development cost low, Renault and Dacia will use the Fluence platform.

As a result, the Logan will grow in its dimensions compared to the earlier models. Point to be noted that the Logan is already a very spacious car, growing it in size will only add more space inside. This is certainly a welcome move.

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