The little autobot from Transformers has taken the Indian market with a storm. Its radical design coupled with Chevy’s unbeatable 3 year warranty means oodles of value for money for the prospective buyer. However, Chevy is celebrating its 100 birthday and on that occasion the company has decided to show a new Beat and announce ambitious plans for an EV variant as well.
As one can see, there are not many startling changes. The front fascia now features a polygon with a wide grill. This design trait we saw on the first on the Chevy Sonic and then on the new Captiva. Two chrome ducts on each side of the front bumper to integrate foglamps add a sporty touch to the front. The alloy wheel design is the most eye catching facet of the facelift. A rear spoiler along with some LED tail lamps also make it to the facelift.
The interiors have also received tiny touches. A new LCD screen and optional cruise control makes it to the new model. The overall interior quality has also been worked upon. New 1.2L ecotec engines will power this Beat. On the occasion, Chevy also confirmed that it will be launching the Beat EV, which was designed and developed by their Bengaluru research center, in the States.
Of course, this event was held in the US and thus was more US centric than India centric. The redesigned front-end could well be to meet pedestrian safety standards that are less stringent or absent in APAC region.
Considering Chevy USA plans to launch the new Beat in the US by 2013, there is a strong possibility that Chevy India will also the update the Beat in 2013.
AutoWeek.nl has reported that in the coming years, Volkswagen will launch a high fuel efficiency Polo hatch with a plug-in hybrid powertrain. A plug-in hybrid allows you to charge the batteries using an external power source. In a normal hybrid, the electricity generated by an on-board apparatus involving the engine to charge the battery pack. The plug-in option makes it similar to an EV.
Volkswagen boss Martin Winterkorn in an interview with German auto magazine AutoZeitung said it is ‘necessary’ to have at least one plug-in hybrid model. Either the Golf or the Polo are the likely to debut with this technology first.
Last year Volkswagen said that work on the next generation Polo is underway. The next generation Polo uses the company’s new MQB kit architecture.
Plug-in Hybrid vehicles are ideal in reducing mid-term CO2 emission and fuel consumption. Pure electric technology needs the infrastructure that countries such as India lack. Until an infrastructure is put in place, plug-in hybrid technology can lead the way to a cleaner and greener automobile.
Image – Volkswagen Polo BlueMotion used for illustrative purpose.
Bookings for the Mahindra XUV500 has surpassed 8,000 units Mahindra notified fans, existing customers and waiting list customers through its fan page network on Facebook. This is the exact message sent out by team Mahindra -
With over 8,000 bookings in only a week or so, a heart-felt “Thank You” to all of you is in order.
Rest assured, every effort is being made to confirm a delivery date to all customers. Any inconvenience caused is truly regretted but we have received an unanticipated, huge number of bookings especially for the Pearl White colour and AWD model in W8.
Action: We are offering those customers the option of changing their booking to an alternate colour or to the W8 2WD model which will help reduce their waiting period. We are also trying our level best to ramp up production at the earliest to ensure deliveries to customers. We will not be opening any more cities for now which will also help in meeting delivery dates. Many thanks for your patience and understanding.
Mahindra is said to have pushed back the launch of the XUV500 in overseas markets. We were expecting them to come out with the Automatic transmission variant next year but that looks unlikely taking note of the current situation and the demand. The Global SUV should first secure its position locally before wading into new waters.
Is the Mahindra XUV500 the new Toyota Fortuner? Or will the hype fizzle out?
The cab market wants a product that offers unmatched leg room, fuel economy close to 25kmpl (the more the better), good level of comfort, large luggage space and easy maintenance. Vehicles in the market today don’t offer the perfect mix. There are some cars which provides plenty of luggage space but fuel economy, aesthetic appeal and negotiating traffic aren’t very good (Ambassador). The Verito for example is an excellent choice – it has the largest boot, the widest rear seat, an excellent engine but the diesel variants are expensive.
B+ segment hatchbacks like the Swift, i20, Fabia and Polo are not rear seat cars and for several reasons including the manufacturer’s decision of not selling a yellow board variant, they are not preferred by cab companies.
The Tata Indica XL then has the advantage over the others – the 1.4L CR4 engine delivers the highest fuel economy (only the Prius can beat it), the stretched wheelbase gives rise to extra leg room and additional boot space.
The Indica XL can be priced between the Indica and the Indigo CS. Tata Motors has refreshed the Indica range (brought in a new LPG variant, eV2 CR4 with new features and better fuel economy and refreshed the Vista) but for the cab market contributed to a large chunk of Indica sales, justice hasn’t been done. With the XL Tata honors the need of the cab market and keeps them from drifting away to rival brands.
It’s time to bid adieu to the current BMW 3 Series because there will be a new kid on the block this Friday. BMW has been testing the F30 (a.k.a new 3 series) for a while and we have brought you all the information right from its conception stage.
Now, BMW has confirmed that it will pull the wraps off the 6th generation 3 Series this Friday.
Rumor has it that with the new 3 Series, BMW has gone the Audi way – it has brought the 3 Series design and interiors on par with the 5 Series. This is the same strategy Audi has adopted wherein lot of components are shared between its portfolio.
The new 3 Series will feature a similar exterior design to the 5 Series. Spy shots have revealed that a lot of interior components of the new 3 Series are taken from her elder sister.
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After all those months prior to the name announcement ceremony that IAB speculated on Nissan toying with the Almera name for the Sunny in India in the belief that rights to Sunny name lay with Bajaj, Nissan decided to deploy the Almera brand for the Thai market.
Nissan India must have reached a settlement with Bajaj to secure the Sunny name as even late last year we heard from one Nissan official privy to the matter saying that the Sunny name was practically ruled out for the car codenamed L02B no one in Nissan liked being called Micra sedan.
Now that the case is settled we can move on to how different the Sunny in Thailand is. The Almera is strapped with a 1.2-liter 3-cylinder engine putting out 79 horsepower (borrowed from the Micra). It’s available in either manual or the XTRONIC-CVT. Start-Stop system is standard which pushes fuel economy to 20kmpl in their country’s driving cycle and carbon dioxide emissions per kilometer stands at a tree-hugging 120 grams.
The rear spoiler is a nice cosmetic touch India will also appreciate. Note that the communication color is same in Thailand and India.
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Volkswagen is conducting a special press conference in Mumbai this evening to celebrate the association of the German brand with the upcoming SRK (for once its not Shoeb R Kalania !) flick RA. One.
An overwhelmed Volkswagen India presented keys to a new brand new Phaeton model to Ms Gauri Khan, producer of RA. One and SRK’s better half. A new Phaeton costs over 80 lakh rupees and competes with the likes of the BMW 7 Series, Mercedes S-Class and Jaguar XJ.
It was revealed today that King Khan drives a yellow VW Beetle in the movie and the Touareg SUV plays an important role as well. It features on the trailer where G-One (SRK’s character) arrives in time to save the heroine (Kareena Kapoor) and a child from a Touareg spinning out of control. The Volkswagen carlines are a prominent feature throughout the movie.
Shahrukh Khan is undoubtedly the brand ambassador of Bollywood and when he’s not shooting, he’s usually found relaxing in the rear seat of his BMW 7 Series. Recently Shahrukh and Gauri where spotted driving out of their home in Bandra in a BMW 650i. Shahrukh could not pose with the car as he is Hyundai’s brand ambassador in India.
Once the buzz around RA. One settles down, Shah Rukh will start promoting his next movie Don 2 which hits the box office during Christmas.
As you can see from the images below sent in by our reader Kaushik, Hyundai is testing the LPG edition of Eon. Our longtime followers will recollect our posts right from mid-2010 speculating on the dual fuel variant standing alongside the petrol model on launch day.
This is unlikely to happen but nevertheless the LPG variant does seem to be in the vicinity. Notice the “Blue Drive” badge under the front indicator light of this test mule. Blue Drive is Hyundai’s way of saying BlueMotion or PureDrive. It connotes Hyundai’s eco-friendly technologies and being environmentally responsible by building cars that pollute and consume less.
Rumor has it that Hyundai has been working on a LPG kit for i10 for the good part of 2011 which could be introduced in 2012. While setting up a car to run on LPG, there are several engineering challenges to overcome and the testing schedule will have to be thorough to ensure there are no safety niggles. The i10 LPG like the Accent and Santro variants, will be a factory-fitted type.
Hyundai will launch the Eon day after tomorrow with a 3cyl 814cc petrol engine producing 56 PS @ 5,500 RPM and 75 Nm @ 4,000 RPM. The Eon is likely to be priced between 2.5-3.5 lakh rupees ready to set off fire crackers much before Diwali.
As one can see, there are not many startling changes. The front fascia now features a polygon with a wide grill. This design trait we saw on the first on the Chevy Sonic and then on the new Captiva. Two chrome ducts on each side of the front bumper to integrate foglamps add a sporty touch to the front. The alloy wheel design is the most eye catching facet of the facelift. A rear spoiler along with some LED tail lamps also make it to the facelift.
