Renault India launched its second offering among the five it has promised by the end of 2012. Renault launched the first car in end of May 2011 which was the Fluence and now comes a premium SUV we’ve been waiting for since Auto Expo 2010 – the Renault Koleos.
Here are the some pointers from today’s launch.
- Renault started the event reminding us of its 113 year long history and promises to be a long time and committed player in India.
- The company plans to launch 5 new products by the end of 2012 out of which the Fluence and the Koleos have already been launched, the Duster, a hatchback on the V-Platform and a sedan will follow.
- Renault targets to be among the top 3 international car brands in India by 2013.
- Renault says India falls among their high priority band which includes Brazil and Russia.
- After the launch of the Fluence, Renault was the 7th most searched keyword on Google and recorded half a million hits on the Renault India website.
- Renault sold 700 Fluence cars in about 3 months which is above their expectation of 200 cars a month.
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Update – More images added after the break.
IndianAutosBlog.com is coming to you live from the third launch of the day. India’s best selling SUV that accounts to half of Mahindra’s UV sales and 30% of the Indian UV market, has been given a cosmetic makeover.
The facelift was launched by Dr Pawan Goenka, Mr Rajan Wadhera and Mr Rajesh Jejurikar who are the architects of the Bolero’s revival.
Mahindra&Mahindra launched the Bolero facelift just moments ago between 6.19 – 6.96 lakh rupees ex-showroom Delhi.
It is available in three variants SLE, SLX and ZLX. The prices for both versions of the car (BS3 and BS4) are provided in the image below.
One can find countless facts and statistics of this highly successful Utility Vehicle to talk about as it has become the ultimate utility vehicle for rural India. It is the country’s best selling SUV for 5 years in a row and the 6th best selling automobile in India.
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Mercedes Benz India launched the CLS Class at 67.67 lakh rupees (ex-showroom price Mumbai) this afternoon. We’re going to upload live images from the launch floor along with the car’s specifications and the official press release.
We will bring you another post consisting of high quality images and a close look at the car’s interior and features.
Engine and performance
Cylinder arrangement/number 6/V
Displacement (cc) 3498 2996
Rated output (kW [hp] at rpm) 225[306] at 6500
Rated torque (Nm at rpm) 370 at 3500-5250
Acceleration 0-100 km/h (s) 6.1
Top speed (km/h) 250
Fuel and Consumption
Tank capacity/with reserve (l) 80/9
Fuel consumption, urban (l/100km) 9.1-9.5
Fuel consumption, extra-urban (l/100km) 5.4-5.6
Fuel consumption combined (l/100km) 6.8-7.0
CO2 emissions (g/km) combined 159-164
Chasis (standard) and Wheels
Front tyres/wheels – 245/45 R 17
Rear tyres/wheels – 245/45 R 17
Dimensions and weights
Kerb weight/payload capacity (kg) [4] 1735
Perm. GVW (kg) 2220
Boot capacity (VDA) 520 liters
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The day has finally arrived when Fiat has decided to part ways with Tata Motors and establish its own showrooms in India. Fiat India has confirmed it will no longer sell its cars from Tata Motors’s showrooms. Tata Motors dealers will set up stand-alone Fiat showrooms in 20 cities across India in the next one-and-a-half years.
The Tata Fiat partnership promised huge strides for both the companies in the Indian market. It was a 50-50 venture where Tata Motors was supposed to provide Fiat its own channels of distribution and Fiat was expected to bring in the technology aspect.
However, Fiat cars were given step motherly treatment in Tata showrooms. The result was that despite of having brilliant products, Fiat sales started dwindling.
The relationship was questioned over and over again by the media. Even Sergio Marchionne, the CEO of Fiat, showed his concerns for the defunct partnership. Finally, Fiat India decided to part ways with Tata Motors and play the the game alone..
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Moments ago Renault India launched the much awaited Koleos crossover at the Taj Palace Hotel in New Delhi. This also turns out to be the international premiere for the car which will be shown to Europeans at the Frankfurt Motor Show next week.
The single-variant Koleos is priced at 22.99 lakh rupees (ex-showroom Delhi).
By the time the car is shown in Europe where it is a highly sought-after crossover, deliveries would have begun in India. Renault India, despite knowing that the Koleos won’t set sales charts on fire, has to be appreciated for launching an internationally absent model as we seldom enjoy the privilege of “India first.” Its stable mates Santa Fe and Fortuner took years to arrive here post launch at overseas or home markets.
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Many auto manufacturers in the world are testing various alternative fuel technologies that could power their future. Indian manufacturers are also in the race to find out what would power the car of the future. Tata Motors has definitely settled on electricity and has bought a test facility in Coventry, UK to research on EVs.
Another Indian manufacturer, M&M also believes that electricity is the future. However, instead of creating their own facility, M&M chose to acquire Maini Motors – the parent company of Reva (popularly known as G-Wiz). News comes in from the Bangalore based Mahindra Reva Electric Vehicle, a joint venture between Mahindra & Mahindra and Maini Motors that it plans to launch a fully functional EV based on one of Mahindra’s existing model in the next 18 months.
Mahindra Reva Electric Vehicle Chief of Technology and Strategy Chetan Maini -
In the next 18 months, we will launch an M&M product with electric vehicle technology in India.
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Mercedes Benz India launched the new CLS Class in India at 67.67 lakh rupees (ex-showroom Mumbai) at the Grand Hyatt hotel this afternoon.
At the C-Class facelift press conference last week, Mercedes’s management hinted that at least two more launches were lined up in the following weeks and the first one has turned out to be the four-door coupe which is yet another brand shaper.
Today Mercedes Benz announced that it will launch two vehicles in India in the next few months.
IndianAutosBlog.com saw this one coming months in advance. In late August we speculated on an October release. We weren’t all that far away from the actual date!
The marketing tag line or slogan for this jaw dropper is “Sense and sensuality.”
Only a single variant is launched – the CLS 350 BlueEfficiency Avantgarde model which comes with a 3.5-liter V6 petrol paired to a 7 speed AT. It produces 306hp@6500 rpm and 370Nm@3500 – 5250 rpm.
We’ll list all the details in a post later today, but here are some other specifications- 17 inch tires, 80 liter fuel tank, 520 liter boot capacity and 1,735kg kerb weight.
In another IndianAutosBlog.com special, we bring you spy shots of the Nissan NV200 testing near Bangalore. These images were sent in by IAB lover Shreyas S.Sreedhar, who in his teens knows his cars.
Nissan has so many different variants of the NV200 in Europe and UK. It was recently chosen as New York’s 21 generation taxi cab replacing the Crown Victoria. In our eyes, we can broadly classify the NV200 into two categories – family MPV and a cleared-out variant that is panel van for traders and small businesses.
We compared Shreyas’s snaps of the test mule to theNV200 variants from the UK market. The silver highlights on the dashboard and the pro-economy manual transmission are the only notable differences. Notice how the gear lever is planted – it is on a part of the dashboard and is so like the Hyundai i10. It serves the purpose in providing cost advantage to the manufacturer and good ergonomics to the driver.
Plastic quality isn’t all that great, the dual tone dashboard constructed using hard plastics reminds us of the A-Star. There will be plenty of storage spaces around the cabin. We can also see controls for manual AC and a dual color scheme on the seats.
With a cabin that can seemingly fit an universe of objects and the service of the fuel-efficient 1.5-liter diesel motor, Nissan will hope to capture some of the Innova’s market share. Being an internationally acclaimed product we believe the NV200 has a better chance of giving Innova some headaches if they get the pricing right.
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