If you have been following IndianAutosBlog.com, you know that Audi is testing the refreshed A4 sedan in Mumbai. Sporting psychedelic camouflage, the A4 could have new body panels with design cues of bigger Audi sedans.
The new A4 could debut simultaneously in India as the C-Class facelift is out on the market and four variants of the next generation 3 Series is expected to come out before mid-2012. How often do we see an unreleased overseas OEM model testing in India? The luxury car market in India is booming and looks good to shatter the 20k cars/year barrier in the next few years.
In a recent interview to a television channel, a higher official in Audi said its target in 2012 is 7,500 units in India. This is a massive number and cars like the A4 and the more affordable Q3 crossover will have to work overtime to reach that number. Chances are if Audi reaches the target it will surpass Mercedes Benz which doesn’t have a crossover competitor at that price point.
Brief video of the A4 facelift testing in Mumbai
Mechanical changes on the A4 replacement is minimum. The 3.2-liter FSI engine is likely to be replaced by a smaller 3-liter TFSI V6 outputting 272PS. Other variants could have improvements based on the inputs given by A4 customers in the last three years.
Will Audi work out a different pricing strategy for the A4 to appeal to a larger customer base?
We’d like to thank our readers Suraj and Aditya for sending in footage of the mule.
Hyundai is aggressively testing the 2013 Santa Fe across USA for good measure. We have brought you the spyshots right from its initial testing phase in Korea. Now, a Carscoop reader from Italy on his recent US trip has snapped up a Santa Fe prototype hot-weather testing in California’s Death Valley.
The idea of the 2013 Santa Fe is quite clear – to endow it with Hyundai’s latest fluidic design language. The current Santa Fe that we see on Indian streets is the second generation one. It was launched way back in 2007 and is in desperate need of a revamp.
As you can see from the spyshot, the design of the new head lamps has a distinct Fluidic characteristic. The new fluidic design will make it more daring and sharper. The prominent grill on the test mule reminds us of the Hyundai Equus.
Reports have suggested that the New Santa Fe will sport a new generation 2.0-liter, four-cylinder engines engine mated to a manual transmission. It may be turbocharged or naturally aspirated. The interior will sports a double binnacle design for the instrument panel.
Hyundai is expected to display the new Santa Fe next year with sales to starting either towards the end of 2012 or early 2013. Now that the demand for the Santa Fe is strong, the international launch may correspond with the Indian entry.
Recently, we have been observing a surge of supercar entries in India. And why not? India is shining and people have loads of moolah to splurge. So when Bugatti launched the Veyron in India, it decided to put a 16 Crore price tag on it.
Aston Martin decided to top that by bringing in the super exclusive One-77 at a mindboggling price of 20 crores – Yes that’s 20 with 7 zeroes fish tailing it. Tata Motors decided to top Aston Martin (ahem!) by converting the cheapest car in India into the most expensive one.
Yes, ironically, this Tata Nano is the most expensive car in India. Why you ask? Because it is made with gold and silver, and studded with precious stones. Isn’t that the perfect way to celebrate the Diwali spirit
This initiative was taken by by Goldplus Jewellery, part of Titan Industries, to celebrate 5,000 years of jewellery making industry in India. The car’s body is made with 80 kg 22 carat solid gold, 15 kg silver, precious stones such as diamonds, rubies emeralds and other expensive gemstones. The level of detailing on the on the body work is absolutely exquisite and is a true tribute to the fabulous art of jewellery design.
But if you are a wealthy businessman and want to buy this Nano, I am afraid you have to settle for the Veyron or the One-77. Unfortunately, this Nano will not be sold and will be only used for promotional activities across Goldplus showrooms at 29 locations around the country.
The Nissan Sunny will be launched tomorrow in Mumbai and IndianAutosBlog.com will be at hand to bring you the prices. We have already published a blog post consisting of the Sunny’s brochure.
Sources have asked us to be prepared for a shock pricing. Our guess is it will start at around 6.5 lakh rupees. Nissan said it will price the Sunny between the Toyota Etios and the Hyundai Verna, so that will give you an idea of the price band and positioning.
Can’t see the video above? Head over to the Youtube video page to see it.
Sorting out the price is Nissan’s work after accumulating and studying the feedback from the Indian customer.
Can’t see the video above? Head to the Youtube Video page directly to see it.
Our job was to review the car which we did. Additionally we now have two real time videos of the Nissan Sunny’s interiors. These will give you a fair idea about the roominess of the cabin. We prepared these two videos without a script. The agenda was to show you the features and bring out its connection to the Micra.
The Nissan Micra managed to establish the Nissan brand in India quite effectively. The earlier attempts by the Teana and the X Trail proved too niche for the Indian market. As a result the brand was restricted to the cities and that too for people with deep pockets. The Micra made the Nissan brand available for the masses.
Sure, the hatchback was comparatively overpriced with respect to its competitors. But the quirky looks and interesting features kept the customers walking into the showrooms. The hatchback now has stabilized to around 1,500 units every month. Having said that, the competitors such as the Swift, Polo and i20 are selling much more! An interesting point to note is 80% of the Micras sold in India are diesel variants. When such is the case, we found Nissan’s strategy to bring the petrol first quite confusing.
Zigwheels.com is carrying official sketches of Hyundai’s assault on the Maruti Suzuki Alto – the 800cc Eon hatchback expected in mid-October. Seasoned automotive journalist and Zigwheels’ editor Mr Adil Jal Darukhanawala was invited to drive the Eon in Namyang, Korea. He writes that the acceleration in every gear is seamless, credit to 56 PS @ 5,500 RPM and 75 Nm @ 4,000 RPM from the 814cc SOHC 3-cylinder petrol engine (one cylinder deleted from the i10′s IRDE engine).
The report adds that the platform has no connection to existing Hyundai vehicles. Though there are certain parts shared with the i10 and Santro, the exterior form takes the attention away from the common parts.
Hyundai is likely to price three variants of the Eon range (Era, Magna and Asta?) between 2.5-3 lakh rupees (ex-showroom). This puts it bang in the middle of the Alto dominated territory where higher variants of the Tata Nano, Maruti’s new 800cc car are expected to land.
In a surprising move, Jaguar’s global brand director Adrian Hallmark has informed CAR & DRIVER that it plans to ditch its rear wheeled drive philosophy and adopted all wheel drive on majority of its models in the next 3 years. The last all wheeled drive Jaguar was the X type which was not really a bespoke Jag because it was based on the Ford Mondeo platform.
This surprising move is because Jaguar is continuously losing its market share to the Germans in its prime market – USA. In order to stay afloat, the leaping cat needs to change its core philosophy and change with times.
The Jaguar XF (5 Series competitor) and XJ (S-Class rival) will the first ones to adopted the AWD architecture and the time frame given is the next 3 years. Converting a rear wheeled drive car into al all wheeled drive one is very expensive and almost cost prohibiting. But Jaguar is ready to dump its funds and take the risk. The XK will not be touched for now.
The XJ is doing well internationally against the other vehicles in the segment, but there is still a lot of room for improvement. The XF hasn’t done well since its 2008 launch in the international markets. The addition of all-wheel drive should help boost sales numbers and improve ratios against brands like Mercedes, VW and Audi.
Today, some really awesome developments have come to our table. Out of the blue, some interesting spyshots of the XUV500 have surfaced on the internet. You might say “What so interesting about that? There are so many available on the internet, one can make a 100 page photolog out of it”
No sir! For the first time, a member from The Car and Bike show Facebook page has snapped interior shots of the XUV500 revealing all the goodies that Mahindra has stored for us. The XUV500 (codenamed W201) has been on test in India since ages now. But these teaser images are making us drool as the launch is getting closer. The interior shots just make us go WOW!
The interiors of the XUV500 are symbolic of a huge leap that Mahindra is about to take in the SUV segment. The company that started of making utility vehicles and vans, has come to a stage where it can showcase a global product with interiors that can rival international products such as the Toyota Fortuner and the Hyundai Santa Fe.
