The biggest launch from Maruti Suzuki this year is going to be the Swift on August 17. The next biggest is going to be the R3 – an MPV to rival the Toyota Innova and Mahindra Xylo.
The R3 has been doing its test rounds in the northern parts of India for the last few months. We have many spyshots in our archives. We also have our very own rendering to predict what the MPV might look like.
We are also told that the R3 will use a different name on the market.
Now Carwale/AutoBild has presented their own rendering of the R3. Their rendering shows that the R3 will have a familiar face like the Swift or the Ritz. The rendering shows a familiar honeycomb grill and a steeply raked bonnet. The R3 concept presented at the Delhi Auto Expo 2010 had suicide doors but the production version will have conventional ones.
On the inside, we know for sure that the dashboard and many soft components are taken from the current Swift. Carwale is speculating that the R3 will get electric ORVMs, climate control, steering mounted controls, ABS and airbags as well.
The R3 will be available in petrol as well as diesel variants. The petrol will be the 4-cylinder K-series engine and the diesel would don 1.3-litre DDiS engine. Maruti is expected to price the R3 between 5-7 lakh rupees.
IndianAutosBlog.com covered the Nissan Sunny name announcement which is exactly when we shot this video. Nissan did not allow journalists to shoot interior pictures and kept the door locked throughout the event. But fret not as very soon, Nissan will reveal the Sunny sedan at a media program.
Nissan will not strap the Indian Sunny with the 1.6 petrol. They instead are introducing a new 1.5 paired to an MT. The petrol variants will precede the diesel. The latter’s under-hood elements come off the Micra and is also found under the hood of the Fluence. At least two variants of the Nissan Sunny (XL and XV) will have AC vents for rear passengers.
Can the Nissan Sunny hack into the domain under the regime of the Honda City, VW Vento and Hyundai Verna?
Since the VW- Suzuki partnership has been on the rocks for quite sometime, there were rumors about the possible break up between VW and Suzuki. However Reuters hasconfirmed that the partnership is still going strong and there are no plans of parting ways.
The two car companies joined hands together in 2009 when VW bought 19.9% stake in Suzuki. There many talks about how the Japanese counterpart can help VW establish a strong presence in the small car market. The partnership was especially beneficial for India because Maruti Suzuki knows the market dynamics like the back of their hand. VW, a relatively new entrant, would have benefited immensely with that knowledge.
However, since the last 3-4 months, there has been a media war between the two companies. VW went on wires to confirm that they were not getting enough co-operation from the Japanese counterpart. In return, Suzuki’s head honcho made a blogpost that VW was not giving due respect to Suzuki and the two groups needed to go back to the drawing board on their partnership. Suzuki did not want to be viewed as a group company of Volkswagen and reports of a rejig in the stake-holding pattern also came to the surface.
Maruti has posted the first official image of the new Swift on its Facebook page. The new Swift gets all new interiors, similar exteriors and retains the same powertrains.
The new Swift, in its third generation, with bigger headlamps, has 50mm additional wheelbase and is manufactured in Hungary since June 2010.
Entry posted on August 9, 2011 by
Shrawan Raja;
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The cycle of Fiesta hatch spyshot/spy video -> Internet rumor -> intense forum/comment box speculation -> Ford warding off questions has started again. AutoBILD/Carwale.com carries a report that Ford is planning to introduce the Fiesta hatchback in India next year.
If we visit our archives, we can show you an IndianAutosBlog.com exclusive video of the Fiesta hatch testing in Chennai. Ford wasn’t interested in answering questions related to their next seven products by mid-decade but they did tell us that B- C- and CD-Platforms were heading to India. The Fiesta hatchback is based on the B-Platform.
Ford is quite surprised by the response the Fiesta hatch has generated among netizens and enthusiasts in India. Ford is worried about the confused positioning the hatch’ introduction will create in India. They are satisfied with the Fiesta Classic sitting between the Figo and Fiesta and concluded that the Figo was the hatch they wanted to sell.
VW has broken its mum and officially confirmed that the UP will premiere in 12 days. The reason why we are interested is because the UP is the small car expected to sit under the Polo. The VW UP will be the cheapest offering from the German czar till date. There are rumors, which some say are more than just rumors, that the UP will be prices in the 3.5-4 lakh price bracket.
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.
Originally, the UP was displayed at the 2007 Frankfurt Motorshow in its concept form. At that time, it was a rear-engine, rear wheel drive car on the lines of the Beetle. But the production version will be a conventional front wheel drive configuration with the engine mounted in the front. It is expected to go in production sometime in 2012.
For a car that sells every 2 minutes, the Maruti Suzuki Alto really needs to introduction. For more than a decade, this little warrior has fought every competitor to retain the crown. Some competitors were fierce such as the Tata Nano, some were rather meek like the Chevy Spark and others never went into production.
But the best selling car in India refused to budge from its No. 1 position.
Now the Alto faces a new competitor – Hyundai HA. The Koreans have decided to challenge the Japanese at their own game. Back in 2008, Hyundai started working on the prototype of the HA. Our readers Sarun Selvanesan and Rohan Patil have caught the HA on different occasions during testing this year.
Hindustan Motors is pulling up its socks and is starting the new-look operation with gusto. The first launch has been conducted today – VEER – the pickup version of the Amby has been announced for the Kolkata market. The vehicle will join other markets in phases.
Talking about the vehicle, the 800kg payload pickup is available in BS3 (diesel) and BS4 (CNG fuel) versions. The vehicle can also be ordered as a drive-away chassis (DAC).
The diesel model is priced at 3.30 lakh rupees in Kolkata.
The VEER is a spiritual revival of the HM Porter pickup that was sold in the 80′s. It will compete with the likes of the Tata Ace, Mahindra Maxximo and Ashok Leyland Dost.
We wish HM good luck with the Veer and the other immediate launches.
click through for the press release revealing all the details.
