Tata Motors has issued a press release this afternoon stating that the Indigo e-CS VX sedan now returns a mileage of 25kmpl. How did they achieve the lofty figure?
- Smart ECU (marketing gimmick or serious talk?)
- Innovatively designed engine block
- Drag Reduction
- Low resistance tires
- Reworked driveline
Will they be able to work on the eV2 further to push the figure close to 30kmpl? Tata will face price constraints as the Indica sits in a lower segment.
Will the added mileage bring more customers to Tata’s showrooms? Besides mileage, what else should Tata Motors work on with their Indica platform cars?
click through to read the press release and find out more
If you have been tracking our updates you’d know by now that construction of the new Ford plant is on at Sanand, Gujarat, literally a stone throw away from the manufacturing plant of the Tata Nano.
IndianAutosBlog.com was among a handful of people invited to witness this event which was conducted in a traditional manner. Ford India’s MD Michael Boneham and his team tilled the soil to signify that construction of the plant is underway.
It marks Ford India’s entry into the second phase and they need the gods to shower them with blessings if they are to catch up with Hyundai and Tata Motors.
Here are some of the facts we were provided with at the press conference
- Ford chose Gujarat because it liked the state’s transparency in corporate dealing. Ford says positioning the plant closer to North India, where it registers huge numbers, gives it a strategic advantage in logistics. The Mundra port, the diagonally opposite position of Gujarat from Chennai are other important reason for this billion dollar investment.
- Like Sanand, Ford is constructing seven manufacturing plants around the world. Construction is underway in Thailand and China, while the other five are farther away from India.
- Many of the cars to be built in this plant are going to be where 70% of the market is – 3.5-6 lakh rupees.
- Engine manufacturing begins in late 2013 while cars roll out from early 2014.
- Ford India says engines made at this facility will meet demands from an export perspective. An EcoBoost engine is a definite candidate.
- By 2020, Ford expects India to be only behind America and China in the list of world’s largest markets as many families will break the threshold of car ownership.
- Ford is investing 4,000 crore in this facility.
- Engines as well as cars will be marked for exports. Vehicles are expected to be more or less 80% localized
- Ford’s main markets for its Sanand-made cars (outside of India) will be Mexico, South Africa, North Africa and the Middle Eastern countries.
- This plant can manufacture 240,000 cars annually but Ford says it will take a while for it to utilize complete capacity. Ford is not willing to share the exact numbers, but says more than 50% of the cars produced will be for domestic consumption.
On this special Monday morning, Ford India is going to open a new chapter in its India story. Ford has just finished the ground breaking ceremony of its second plant in India in Sanand, Gujarat. The construction of the new plant will commence shortly and the plant will be fully operational by 2014. The manufacturing plant will be built on 460 acres and the site is adjacent to Tata’s Nano [ Read More ]
After the Aria 4X2 and the Vista upgrade, the next big launch from Tata Motors is going to be the Safari Merlin. Ever since the Safari was launched in 1998, it has achieved a cult SUV status like the Scorpio from Mahindra.
The Tata Safari was always an aspirational product from Tata Motors. You didn’t buy the Safari because it fitted your budget, but because you wanted one badly.
It was also a popular car for the who’s who of the country such as the politicians and film stars. But over the years, the Safari aged and the sales started dwindling. So Tata Motors has decided to breathe new life in the Safari with the Merlin.
Kapil Jagtap, an ardent IAB reader and a Tata Safari fanboy from Pune has sent us some kickass images of the new Tata Safari Merlin completely revealing the interiors.
can’t wait for the images? click through to see a bunch of them
August 2011 has been an astonishingly amazing month for Honda Siel India. First, the Honda City has reclaimed its top position in the B+/C sedan market.
The news sounds even better when you know that this little sedan is not offered in a diesel option and its competitors have diesel variant. In a market where diesel is cheaper than petrol and gains advantage every now and then with a petrol price hike, a petrol car outselling the diesel rivals certainly talks volumes of Honda’s brand pull.
Just when we thought the news couldn’t get any better, we had a look at the Jazz’s sales figures and we were surprised to know that the Jazz sold 600 units in August. The last time we saw Jazz selling 600 odd units was way back in September 2010. Since then the sales of the Jazz were always below par, languishing at the bottom with the Chevrolet Aveo U-VA.
click through to read on
Just when you thought that the Tata Motors has completely solved the ‘Nano catching fire fiasco’ and all cars are road safe now, news comes in from Gujarat that another Tata Nano has caught fire. This Tata Nano belonged to Hafsa Mohd Iqbal Kathadi, whose husband was driving it along with his friends.
While on the road, they observed smoke coming out of it, after which they got out of the car and parked it along the roadside. After sometime, fire broke out and engulfed the entire car.
Thankfully no one was injured in the accident. The reason for the fire is completely unknown and investigations are underway. What is more surprising is that this is a second incident in just 3 month. Back in June, Tata Nano caught fire in Subanpura locality of Vadodara district – again in Gujarat.
These 2 incidents have been reported after Tata Motors made the announcement that additional fire proofing material will be installed in all Nanos. Has the fire proofing material solved the problem for good?
click through to read more
According to media reports Nissan will end production of the Teana in Japan this year due to low demand in the Japanese market. Due to the stronger Yen, margins on export models have also dropped. Nissan will move production of the D-Segment sedan out of Japan into the US while continuing sales in the domestic market through imported vehicles.
Instead of the Teana, Nissan will produce the Note, a compact MPV that enjoys strong demand in Japan. The next generation Teana is a couple of years away while a cosmetically revamped Teana is rumored to reach Indian shores shortly.
Land Rover’s next offering for the Indian market is the Evoque – a fully imported 3/5-door luxury SUV that will cost about 50 lakh rupees taking on the likes of the Audi Q7 and the Mercedes ML Class.
Due to the 110% excise duty, the Evoque will not be able to take on rivals of its size. Instead it will gun for a spot among the big SUVs which puts it in danger of being noncompetitive and overpriced.
We expect Land Rover to unleash this beast during Diwali time or just after. There are some forums and enthusiast groups that say bookings have started at select dealerships.
Land Rover will have to highlight the style of this SUV and its moderate off-roading capabilities if it has to convince customers.
Seen testing here is the 3-door Coupe avatar, invariably with a 2.2-liter diesel engine lurking underneath the bonnet. The engine produces between 150 and 190PS power with features like hill descent control, start-stop technology and regenerative brake system.
The Evoque is based on the LRX concept showcased in early 2008 and many of the concept’s expressions have made it to the production car.
Image Credit – Siddharth Devasthali of NDTV Car and Bike Show Facebook Page.
