Indian Autos Blog is proud and excited to announce its association with IIT Madras for its dazzling annual engineering tech fest Shaastra where the best of young minds in India come together to celebrate the spirit of engineering. Shaastra 2011 is held between September 28 to October 2 at the IIT Madras Campus situated in Adyar, Chennai.
In the capacity of Online Partner, Indian Autos Blog will provide comprehensive coverage of automotive events on the front page. Here is a brief introduction in the words of the organizing committee to these events. Don’t miss the videos filmed at previous editions of Shaastra.
Junkyard Wars
Theoretical knowledge, practical skills and the ability to make the best out of what is available sometimes can be the best ingredients needed to make an event a big success. And when Junkyard Wars has all of that and more, why wouldn’t anyone be here?
Sources have told IndianAutosBlog.com that Tata Motors is working on a CDRI (DICOR in Tata’s dictionary) engine for the Ace truck. The 750kg payload mini lorry is Tata Motors’ biggest success story as it not only sold by the thousands but also created a new segment and lead the way for products like the Force Trump, Mahindra Maxximo and Ashok Leyland Dost.
Tata created the Ace in the view to improve operator lifestyle, perception and self esteem. A driver in a 4-wheeler is seen as a truck owner. This upgrades his position in society which leads to the upliftment of his business, reflecting growth and thereby inducing many changes in his life. He’s able to get his daughter married with relatively less ambiguity, he’s able to charge higher fares for the same distance and travels in better comfort and safety compared to a 3-wheeler operator. Some of these results come from Tata Motors’ own customer study program.
The Ace DICOR we are told is a twin cylinder 800cc engine equipped with a turbocharger. It is expected to land in the market within the next six months to take on the Mahindra Maxximo which has caught on like forest fire. Interestingly the Maxximo is among the few or perhaps only CRDI engine that is not assisted by a turbocharger.
Following the Ace DICOR the Magic passenger mover is also expected to receive the same engine.
Here at IndianAutosBlog, recent days have been all about the 2012 Honda CR-V. First we got you some spyshots straight from Europe which revealed that the new CR-V will not be very different than the CR-V concept. Then we got you some image from the patent office in USA completely exposing the Honda’s new baby. Finally, we have a video for you to see the new CR-V is all its glory.
The recent unwanted exposure of the new CR-V has forced Honda to completely reveal the beast. In this video, Honda’s Sr Product Planner James Jenkins explains philosophy behind the new the design language of the 2012 CR-V. Be sure to have a look at the video and tell us what you think.
Entry posted on September 23, 2011 by
siva;
Read More on Maruti Suzuki
The car that had a lot of eye brows raised on the benefits of the lower tax rates due to the under 4 metre length, the 2012 Swift Dzire is now under test runs in the Manesar Factory of Maruti Suzuki.
The factory which has faced a lot of labour protests in the recent past and had been producing the Swift hatchback, A-Star hatchback and the SX4 sedan, is now testing the under 4 metre Dzire built based on the swift platform. This means that the car could be released much prior to the Delhi Auto Expo. Factory workers are calling it the Swift 3.99 where the latter denotes the sedan’s overall length.
The car is speculated to have a 90 bhp engine in both its variants. The manufacturers could have taken a bite off the boot space due to the reduction in car length. The existing Dzire , now in the big car category has brought upon excise duty of 22% compared to the newer model which is getting a 10% reduction in tax.
With the designers of the new Dzire going “Honey! I Shrunk the Car!”, the Dzire will be a direct competitor to the Toyota Etios and the Tata Indigo sedan. Tata themselves took benefit of the tax reduction by introducing the Indigo CS which made the car around Rs.50,000 cheaper. Mahindra is working on two sub-4 meter vehicles using the Verito and Xylo as donor cars.
In the post titled “Honda City crushed Volkswagen Vento in August” IAB had a wishlist for the Volkswagen Vento. We asked for a better music system, steering-mounted controls and parking sensors along with electrically adjustable mirrors.
Guess what? Volkswagen India was listening! Or IAB and VW India are on the same page.
Volkswagen has updated the Vento Highline model in India with five important features – rear parking sensors, steering mounted audio controls, leather wrapped steering wheel and USB socket situated in the glovebox. With these new features, price of the Highline trim climbs up by close to 20k rupees.
Entry posted on September 22, 2011 by
Shrawan Raja;
Read More on Tata
Tata Motors has dispatched the mildly different Grande SUV to its dealers which minor cosmetic modifications. The vehicle gets fancy graphics along its length and acrylic treatment around the rear windshield. The interiors remain the same and the mechanicals are left untouched. Vehicles began arriving at dealers in the last couple of days.
The Sumo brand is no where to be seen both on the car and the brochure. Prices of the Grande have not been changed. IndianAutosBlog.com is the first to bring you the brochure and details!
Back in late 2009, Premier launched its mini SUV Rio in India and with limited dealers, lack of a BS4 variant and brand visibility, its no surprise that Rio has not found too many homes. To pep things up, Premier is working on a facelifted edition of the Rio fitted with a Multi-jet diesel engine.
The petrol will be a 1.2 L engine producing 77PS and 104nm of torque while the existing diesel displacing 1.5 L engine producing 65PS and 152 Nm of torque is expected to carry on.
Note – Image used in the Zotye EV using the Rio as the donor model.
When we asked Premier about the Rio’s BS4 plan, this is what they had replied -
Mumbai-based Premier Automotive spokeswoman to Indian Autos Blog -
At this moment, we are in discussions with various engine manufacturers, including FIAT, for a Euro IV engine for the RiO. The outcome of these will be known shortly. Preliminary tests are currently being conducted to determine engine compatibility for the RiO. The current situation is that we are in a pre-production mode and a few vehicles have been seeded in the market to gauge initial market response. The feedback has been very positive, and based on this the product has now been fine tuned to meet customer expectations.
The Multi-jet Rio could give Premier access to crucial BS4 markets where a compact SUV concept is unheard of. If priced right, the Rio could experience a surge in sales. Premier has to work out a marketing campaign pulling into the frame factors like lack of parking space, high fuel cost, advantages of a high seating position, the Rio’s looks, features and the fuel efficiency of the award-winning Multi-jet diesel engine.
Top Gear, BBC’s controversial auto show known more for its comedy than consumer advice is all set to set foot in India in the first week of October to film their Christmas special. As excited as we are, what can we expect from the man who once called Indian roads as a “warzone” , Jeremy Clarkson?
Top Gear has been known for doing extra-ordinary, unusual and absurd things right from lighting up a car on fire cause they think its ugly, to blowing up a car just to see how much it withstands the impact. Maybe this time in India, they can do a performance test of the Nano with the Stig driving it down the hill? why not? Or maybe put Stig to the Ultimate test by making him race against Rajnikanth?
Considering how the men of Top Gear have angered various nations like Malaysia when Clarkson said that the Perodua Kelisa was built by men in jungles wearing leaves for shoes or when Richard Hammond used the words “lazy, feckless and flatulent” to describe Mexicans, we sure hope there is nothing bitter when they leave India. But knowing Clarkson well, there’s a good chance something he says will not go down well with India.
Hopes are high as the three stooges are getting ready to set foot in Indian soil for their Christmas special. This will be Clarkson’s first visit to India after he filmed for his MotorWorld program showing Indian roads as ones infested with cows.
Top Gear as expected has no kindness, soft corner or understanding for Indian products. They termed Indica (CityRover) as the worst car tested on the show and compared the Nano’s front-end to cartoon character Pokemon. During the same part of the show Clarkson remarked that the base Nano variant (costing less than 2,000 UK pounds) would have a mule (pulling) in front.
