Following the release of the new Swift’s side profile, an image of the Swift’s dashboard has appeared on the official Swift Facebook wall. The new Swift will greet Indian lens-men on the 17th of this month and IndianAutosBlog.com will be on the launch floor as usual to bring you live updates, stats, facts and high quality pictures/videos.
For new readers – Have you seen the Maruti Swift ZDi variant demo vehicle spied at the dealers?
The new Swift, with the all important diesel engine, is important to set sales charts afire. With close to 40k pre-launch bookings, the new Swift is hotter than an iPhone or an upcoming Shahrukh Khan flick (Don 2 and Ra. One combined?).
It also prompts the argument whether the Swift is the strongest automotive brand India, perhaps second only to the Alto. Unseen levels of response in the Swift Facebook page has been recorded that has all other automotive pages at its feet with 160k fans.
Maruti hopes to sell enough Swifts a month to reach the No.2 spot in the rankings for best selling cars in India. Currently that title is held by another Maruti, the Wagon R, which has sold more than 10 lakh units since the launch in the late 90′s.
For further reading, check out the new Swift variants and equipment post from last week.
Sources with direct knowledge on the C-Class facelift India chapter told IndianAutosBlog.com that a launch is scheduled either on the second or third week of September. Images and information on the new C-Class is already in the public domain as the company is retailing the updated C-Class in Europe and USA.
The features/changes of the new C-Class will be given more importance than the powertrains or power. This will be first volume product to leverage on the Daimler Financial Services.
In the first week of August, IndianAutosBlog.com brought readers 16 spy pictures of the new C-Class from a local dealership. Powertrain options are likely to be retained and the objective of the facelift is to stimulate interiors and provide freshened exteriors. Mercedes Benz is aware that Audi is prepping an A4 facelift while the BMW F30, the next generation 3 Series is ready to rock and roll come Q1 2012.
Changes on the Mercedes Benz C-Class facelift
- 2,000 new components have been brought into the C-Class compared to the existing model
- New pull-back headlamps
- Light-weight aluminium hood is installed in the view to improve fuel economy and use less muscular energy at the garage
- Rear bumper and one-piece jewel case type tail light have been redesigned
- New dashboard built using finer materials
- New safety systems like Attention Assist, Adaptive Highbeam Assist, Park Assist incl. PARKTRONIC, Lane Keeping Assist and Blind Spot Assist are featured
The indication at the moment is the prices will not see a downward revision
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A source privy to the developments of Renault’s next launch, the Koleos, tells IndianAutosBlog.com that the company is looking at a September 3rd week launch, much before the original launch plan of October.
What’s also made available is Renault will bring out a diesel engine and has scrapped plans for petrol citing minimum or no demand. A 2-liter 4cyl turbocharged CRDI that produces not less than 150PS will sit under the hood.
Renault launches the facelifted Koleos in India right after its international premiere in Frankfurt in the middle of September making ours the first to receive it. Renault has given India the top priority (ahead of European markets) even though this isn’t a volumes model, and that’s good to see.
Testers have been driving the 5-seat crossover since early 2011 around the Oragadam car plant. IndianAutosBlog.com has repeatedly informed readers of the Koleos’s premium nature – it will not be a stripped down product and is part of Renault India’s top-down strategy.
We were the first on the internet to feature a spyshot of a white Koleos caught on the outskirts of Chennai by our reader Ragho (left). In fact we brought our readers an international scoop by snapping official images of the Koleos facelift from Renault’ surprise presentation.
Renault will load up the India-spec Koleos with all the gizmos from the European model. It will be priced at just over 20 lakh rupees.
CarWale.com/AutoBild have posted images of a Maruti R3 caught totally undisguised. There is an image from every angle that reveal the car completely. What does Maruti have on its mind? Will it shock everyone with a Diwali release? Or will it bring it to Auto Expo 2012, the same stage where the concept avatar was unveiled two years ago?
IndianAutosBlog.com brought you a rendering of the car’s front end that matches the spyshots very closely. Last week we asked if the R3′s tight dimensions will be Achilles’ heel on its journey to topple the Innova as segment king.
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Photographs of the 2012 Toyota Camry have been leaked on the internet. The full frame exterior shots come from the annual edition of the Canadian Auto Guide revealing an edgier styling of the latest rendition of America’s longstanding best seller.
The Camry is losing out to the Sonata, but with the replacement model due this fall, Toyota will hope to gain back some advantage along with consumer confidence. Toyota has not evolved the model using full-blown sporty credentials as that has never been part of Camry’s history or legacy. The new Camry is tasked with the burdening procedure of rebuilding customer confidence and serving as a safe, fuel efficient and comfortable family car.
Back here in India, Toyota will continue importing the new Camry. IndianAutosBlog.com has informed its readers that the new Camry breaks cover around July 2012 in India and prices will not be different compared to the outgoing version.
Following recent entries like the A1, A5, A6, A7 and A8, Audi turns focus to the A3. The next generation A3, for the first time, will spawn a sedan variants which comes to India in 2013 to take part in the D Segment shootout. IndianAutosBlog.com had brought you a spy shot of the A3 mule from Argentina on a previous occasion.
Though the A3 mule seen here is wearing a black suit of plastic armor, one need not try very hard to see the final outcome. Just scale down the A4 and you’ll know what it looks like!
From the images are you able to identify that the front-end will receive an A5-esque headlamps and a lower mounted hexagonal Audi grill?
Powertrain configuration likewise needs no crystal ball to predict as the existing VW Group diesel and petrol mills will be matched to 6- and 7-speed manual and automatic transmissions. Turbocharged high displacement petrol engines could also be in the mix, but it will find few takers in India as diesel is taking over the passenger car market.
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The Hyundai i20 made its first appearance at Paris 2008 and come December 2011, it’ll be three years old. It’s time they sent it under the surgeon’s knife to keep it focused and fight the new Swift. If you are a regular reader, you’ll recollect us asking when the i20 facelift will break cover. Looks like Hyundai heard our calls!
As we suspected, changes on the 2012 Hyundai i20 will be to make the car even with the i10 and the new Verna. The Fluidic Scupture design vocabulary will be pronounced on the facelift with new headlamps, bumpers, grille and reflectors. The wheel caps sport a new design too. Interiors will not get any more glam or glitz, Hyundai could provide a highly useful Bluetooth pairing feature instead.
We hope Hyundai considers the following points on the facelift. There’s nothing alarmingly wrong with the model, but a few improvements will make this a better car -
- Turbolag has to be minimized. The diesel engine has to be on boil (around 2k RPM) at all times for quick response. Can they bring it down by a few hundred RPMs? Can they work out a different gear ratio combination?
- The power steering needs better torque feedback. They need to bump up feel as while driving, one feels like there is a longer delay between steering and the car moving.
- Can they provide all variants with the top-end model’s steering wheel? The i10′s steering wheel for the starting variants (Era and Magna) feel inadequate. Hyundai should keep the driver controls same for all variants and cut back on equipment.
- The ride needs to be re-looked for the Indian market where road quality is poor in most places.
- NVH levels can be brought down on the diesel model. An improvement there can never lead to negative feedback.
- Can the door handles operate softly? Less effort can go into opening the doors. The operating mechanism, instead of spur gears meshing has to operate with a spring or lever like feel.
Do you have inputs Hyundai should take into consideration while making the i20 facelift?
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While you always related Ford to America, Ford completes 100 years of existence in Britain and consumers get a gift – nothing for free but something for a premium!
On the occasion of these remarkable celebrations Ford launched a special edition Fiesta hatchback suffixed as Centura. The special edition, obviously, boasts of a few more features over the standard car like -
Special Panther Black paintjob
1.25-liter Zetec Engine
Chrome mirror caps
Daytime LED lights
Rear View Camera
16 inch alloys
While Britain gets a special edition, we hope the hatch version of the Fiesta hits Indian shores soon.
