It is true that General Motors will introduce a few Chinese vans in the Indian market in 2012. These products will be sourced from the SAIC stable. We have caught the HongTu, the EECO challenger on test in Vadodra. While that will take care of bringing volumes from the goods transportation sector, here’s a more interesting vehicle that will give the Xylo a run for its money.
The GM-Wuling Hong Guang was snapped by Auto Bild/CarWale.com reader Mr. Sidh while it was parked in an overnight stay. Earlier this year, the Chinese van, sporting less camouflage, was previous spied in Bangalore. The new images throw light on the interiors.
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In October 2010, Tata Motors forayed in the luxury market with the launch of the Aria – a crossover between an MPV and a 4×4 SUV. However, Tata Motors marketed it as a cross between a sedan and an SUV.
Thus you can see the confused state of the product. Is it an MPV? Is it an SUV? How is it a Sedan? So many questions were asked at the press conference during the product launch. But Tata Motors management was adamant that the Aria will be a unique segment in itself.
Sadly, things did not work out for Tata Motors. The marketing communication just couldn’t convince the prospective buyers of the uniqueness of Aria. Adding to that, the hefty price tag of 15.5 Lakhs made the consumers move to the established luxury brands rather than a brand that is trying to be one.
The monthly sales of the Aria started dwindling until there came a point when even shipping 100 units per months was looking like an unconquerable mountain.
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Nissan India has only managed to send a few ripples in the market with the Micra. But India, as a market, is an ocean and you need to have some kind of presence in every segment. Nissan agrees with this and having ticked off the hatch segment, they are moving in to attack the sedan and MPV markets. The launch of the so called ‘Micra Based’ Sedan is to achieve this objective.
The reason we say it is Micra based is because it is built of the same ‘V’ (read Versatile) platform as the Micra. Testing began soon after the international unveiling in China. Spy shots started flooding the internet and IndianAutosBlog.com has been at the forefront of the action bringing its readers many sets of spy pics and even a video over the last one year.
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Let’s do a quick recap – the Nano is sold in India, Nepal and Sri Lanka. Pakistan and Bangladesh are due to receive it shortly. Taiwanese company TECO has shown interest in selling a slightly modified Nano in their country. A Nano EV has been shown in the concept form, while the mash-up of the Pixel and Europa concepts is the future Nano for Europeans.
Like India many countries do not subscribe to the idea of allowing imported goods to have a free run. A local industry protecting duty structure always make them look worthless.
The Nano, designed to provide an all weather form of transportation with the lowest possible procuring and running cost, won’t look attractive when the price is drive up by 300% even with the help of a Lamborghini-like rear air intake and bean shaped outline.
The only way to counter-attack this problem is assembling the cars at strategic locations to lower the duties. Tata Motors has said that SAARC, ASEAN and Latin American regions are important markets for the Nano where assembly lines could be setup.
Tata will send the Nano out in the CBU form and based on the image the Nano paints, it will study the option of assembling the vehicle in these markets.
Post the mini Xylo (see 10 comprehensive spyshots) and the sub- 4 meter Verito, Mahindra will bring out a Nano SUV priced between 3.5-4.5 lakh rupees, Business Standard has reported. Designing a car that’s under four meters long drags down the excise duty from 22% to 10% giving the product a new value proposition.
The new SUV (codename – S101) will duck under four meters. A few years back there was a talk in the public domain of a Scorpio junior and Mahindra, it seems, has listened closely.
The mini Xylo expected in the next few months will sport a 1.5-liter 3cyl diesel engine producing 70hp/160Nm. This engine will carried over to the S101. The S101 could also be strapped with a compact petrol engine displacing under 1.2-liters.
Mahindra will sell the regular Verito and the compact Verito in the market. Both these models will receive cosmetic overhauls to pose as new products. After the acquisition of REVA, Mahindra has the option of doing EV variants of these cars. Though India is not ready for these vehicles in the near term, it could look at countries that are developing the infrastructure for electric cars to export them.
Mahindra is also finalizing plans to launch the two Ssangyong products Korando C and Rexton in India. These will be assembled in India using kits shipped from Korea.
The Mahindra office must be an ant hill where everyone is busy all the time!
While the Mahindra Scorpio hybrid remains India’s first and only hybrid SUV, Indian designers are coming up with all kinds of ideas to provide alternate propulsion to vehicles that can handle long distances, low fuel quality and potholes without twitching a muscle. One such designer is Sunil Konjaril who has proposed a SUV concept with interesting features.
1) The hybrid powertrain uses a combo of internal and external combustion engine (think steam engine) to drive the wheels.
2) Heat generated by the working engine, brakes as well as the vehicle’s environment is harnessed by a stirling engine to replenish the Li-Ion battery pack that moves the vehicle from standstill and in low speeds.
3) The heat trapped from the different systems is passed on to warm tubes consisting of molten salt that is another source of power while the liquid nitrogen charges the on board batteries.
4) Like a normal hybrid car, the batteries power the vehicle at low speeds while the internal combustion engine kicks in when hard acceleration is needed.
Sunil has styled the vehicle to keep it abreast with modern utility vehicles. He has shortened the overhangs and the lowered the height to better handling and decrease fuel consumption.
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The Sri Lankan police force will now look butch and flaunt a new style statement as 137 brand new examples of the Mahindra Scorpio have joined its fleet. The Lankan police force has picked up 485 units of the LX model which will be delivered in phases.
[Image - Mahindra Scorpio special edition from IndianAutosBlog.com's Auto Expo 2010 image collection]
Dr Pawan Goenka, President of Mahindra’s Automotive and Farm Equipment Sectors -
We are delighted that the Scorpio LX 4W is the SUV (Special Utility Vehicle) of choice for the Sri Lankan Police Force as well as for the Ministry of Defence (MoD). I am sure it will prove to be an asset to the police and the MoD in their day to day operations.
The Scorpio has created a niche for itself in the Sri Lankan market with a combination of style and robustness. Around the world, the Scorpio variants are serving military and security forces in different outfits. The new Scorpios are joining duty all around Sri Lanka replacing vehicles of the former police fleet. It will be powered by the same 2.2-liter mHawk diesel engine mated to a five-speed manual transmission.
Update – We’re still not very sure about our Peugeot and can be forgiven as they are a new company. The car in the image is the 207 hatchback and not 206 as we wrote earlier.
NDTV Car and Bike Show fan Ritesh Rasane caught the Peugeot 207 and 508 parked in a basement of a building in Pune. Since the snap was taken at night, the images aren’t all that clear. IndianAutosBlog.com has already brought you crystal clear images of these two cars testing in Pune earlier this week.
The Peugeot 207 looks like an able competitor to the Hyundai i20 and Volkswagen Polo. We’re not sure where this car will be built given Peugeot is still in the process of identifying a location for its plant. To avoid any further delays, Peugeot can launch one or two CBU models and build a rudimentary dealer network. This was Volkswagen’s and Nissan’s strategy in India until their mass market products were ready.
Peugeot 207 Petrol Engines
1.4 vti 95 bhp
1.6 vti 120 bhp
Peugeot 207 Diesel Engines
• 1.4 litre 70 hp
• 1.6 litre HDi with intercooler producing 90 or 110 hp
The second car spotted in the parking lot is the 508 – a D segment product that can be assembled locally/imported to lock horns with the Honda Accord and Skoda Superb. It is fitted with a 2.2-litre turbodiesel engine generating 201 bhp, mated to both manual and automatic gearboxes.
Apart from style, what else can Peugeot add to the Indian auto industry?
