A few weeks back, Volkswagen launched a boquet of images into the internet of the three-door Up with preliminary details. Following this development, we asked Shoeb to provide us a rendering of the five door model.
At the ongoing Frankfurt Motor Show VW displayed five more concept car variations of the production-ready Up small car. The fifth and final concept is very interesting as it is the only one with five doors. Volkswagen will not sell cars with three doors in India as rear seat is of paramount importance in any segment due to our back seat travel habits.
The Cross Up! is a concept car but it shows us how five-door car will look like. The Cross variants have rugged bumpers, padded wheel arches and added under-body protection. If you remove them and the Cross Up signatures, adorn it with slimmer tires, you have the regular hatchback that we expect in India next year.
Tata Motors is planning to penetrate Eastern Europe, Latin America and Indonesia with local assembly lines it was made known at Tata’s Annual General Meeting last week. It inaugurated an assembly line in South Africa in July that covers and area of over of 34,500 square metres rolling out medium and heavy commercial vehicles. Tata began exporting commercial vehicles to South Africa in 1998.
The new factories in overseas locations could begin functioning as early as next year starting with Indonesia, according to a report on Hindu Business Line. Tata has shortlisted the Nano and Ace to be assembled at these locations.
Volumes of the Nano have fallen to a fraction of the target set initially and the company is looking at markets outside of India to make up for the deficit. Currently Nano is exported to Nepal and Sri Lanka. As these countries have a high duty structure for imported vehicles the numbers are not going to improve markedly.
Tata is also working out plans to introduce another small car based on the Pixel concept showcased at the Geneva Motor Show earlier this year.
Suzuki will start selling the Swift Sport in Europe from October. The sporty avatar is distinguished by a new bumper at the front, new side skirts and a roof-mounted spoiler. A sport-tuned suspension, dual exhaust system, HID headlamps and 17 inch aluminium wheels other differences. Step inside and you are greeted by the sports seats, new instrument cluster and sporty pedals.
The 1.6-liter petrol engine produces 134 hp and 160Nm of torque which is delivered to the wheels through a 6 speed manual transmission.
The suspension setup of the Sport is stiffer to provide the car with better cornering ability. Amazingly the car still remains quite frugal and returns 37 mpg.
Doesn’t Maruti Suzuki see a business opportunity for the Sport model as a large number of Swift buyers go for performance mods on their cars? If not the full monty, Maruti must introduce a 5-door sport variant better suited for the Indian market.
Mercedes has showcased the 2012 B-Class at the ongoing Frankfurt Motor show. The new design language on sheet metal is finally seen on the B-Class. This gives the car the ability to be more sculpted as well as efficient both in terms of overall weight and aerodynamics setting a ‘new benchmark in its segment.’
Direct injection technology has also made it to the B-Class for the first time. The gasoline engine options include B180 with 122 hp and B200 with 156 hp. The common-rail diesel will produce 109 hp and 136 hp in two different states of tune. Transmission options are either a 7G-DCT dual clutch automatic or a six speed manual.
Other firsts on the features list include Pre-Safe, Blind Spot, Lane Keeping Assist and Distronic Plus.
Will Mercedes Benz India drive the B-Class to India late next year?
Czech company Skoda Auto has showcased the ‘almost production ready’ MissionL concept at the ongoing Frankfurt Motor Show. The MissionL is based on the Vision D concept which Skoda showcased at the Geneva Motor Show in March 2011.
The MissionL concept is a blend of lines and sharp cuts keeping it true to the new Skoda family design language. At launch the MissionL will fill the gap between the Fabia and the Octavia (known as the Laura in India).
India should be happy as Skoda has announced that the Mission L will first make it to India with units arriving here by the end of 2011 after which the car will head towards the European, Russian and Chinese markets in 2012.
Skoda is intensely testing a similar sedan touted as the sister to the Volkswagen Vento caught numerous times on the roads but with a Fabia face and strong resemblance to the Vento from the rear. What India gets is a variation of the MissionL and not the MissionL itself.
IndianAutosBlog.com has the distinction of providing unknown and unseen details of the Nissan Sunny and continuing the barrage of posts is the brochure update that gives away every detail of the Nissan Sunny sedan for the Indian market.
Click past the break to learn about the features in every variant along with standard specifications. Are you considering the Sunny sedan when you head out to buy the next set of wheels?
You can also more on the Sunny by visiting our Nissan Sunny – First Look post page.
jump past the break for the brochure
We managed to click photographs of important powerpoint slides that describe the Micra-based Sunny sedan in explicit detail. These slides were aired to brief us and fellow scribes on the Sunny project during the media program. They contain details which you won’t find on the internet or at dealer showrooms.
Click past the break to browse through the powerpoint slides uploaded on our Flickr account. Every image is available in high resolution so that you don’t miss out on any detail.
IndianAutosBlog.com will drive the Sunny tomorrow to bring you a comprehensive review.
click past the break for the slides
Nissan’s Sunny sedan comes out on the 20th of this month with a newly developed petrol engine (HR15DE) that returns an ARAI-approved 16.95 kmpl.
Nissan straps the Sunny with an older 1.6-liter petrol engine in China and USA. They justify the switch saying overseas customer wants more power. Fuel prices are frequently revised in India and the cost-conscious customer will appreciate the new 1.5-liter with 22% better fuel economy.
Nissan has added features like the rear comfort fan (two vents that circulate fresh air into the rear of the cabin) and a manual transmission which are India-specific. They have also tweaked the suspension to suit our adulation-heavy road condition.
Nissan will use the services of the more popular Bollywood movie star and Nissan brand ambassador Ranbir Kapoor to propagate the characteristics and attributes of the Micra-based sedan to Indians. Nissan called us to clarify that Ranbir Kapoor will not feature on Nissan Sunny advertisements.
As we stated before, brown will be the product communication color.
