It is a season of festivities for Honda Siel India after a long time. The start of this year has seen Honda struggling with many atrocities including dwindling sales and natural calamities. However, the company boffins kept their head cool and stayed focused of the long term plans. Now, the dawn has finally arrived for Honda India and things are looking good.
The company first foray in mass market hatchback segment can be considered a successful one because the Honda Brio has clocked 5,000 bookings since its launch.
The Brio project was delayed due to September because of the Tsunami and Earthquake crisis in Japan. Despite of a delayed launch and the fact that it is only available in petrol, the Brio has worked wonders Honda India so far.
On the other hand, the steep price reduction on the Honda Jazz may not have set fire to the sales charts but has definitely aroused a lot of curiosity in the market. The two hatchbacks are ringing the sales register so rapidly that the company is planning on injecting more funds in their India operations to ramp up production.
The company is planning to increase production by 20% at their Noida plant to churn out 120,000 units annually by the end of the current financial year in March.
Having said that, the fun isn’t over yet. Honda Siel plans to launch a face lifted Honda City before December 2011. The company has also officially gone on wires to confirm that a new diesel engine is in the making at its Japan headquarters that will soon make it to Indian shores.
After being spied countless number of times in all its body shapes, BMW has finally taken the wraps of the new BMW 3 series and oh boy is it a looker or what! Finally, after such a long time, BMW designers have pulled a rabbit from their hat. The recent styling efforts of the 7 series and the 5 series have been on the conservative side to appeal to the masses. But that is not the case with the new 3 series. Its back to its roots (and the Chris Bangle era) – Love it or Hate it.
BMW has adopted a very aggressive design for the new 3 series. The most important task for the design team was to get the new 3 series DESIGN in line with its elder cousins, but at the same time make it look like the sportiest sedan in its segment. However, while doing so the designers have inadvertently made the best looking 3 series ever!
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BMW India invited IAB for a one of a kind event in Gurgaon, New Delhi. The essence of the event was to showcase the ‘X’ drive technology – BMW’s automated all-wheeled drive system.
The X drive technology was introduced by BMW in the 2003 with the X3 and has been constantly improved upon ever since. Currently, BMW offers the X drive in the X3, X5 and X6 in India. The X1 has remained and will remain for sometime as the 2WD crossover in the Indian lineup.
Techy stuff alert! The X drive is an all wheel-drive with 60-40 power split. This means that the on board computer sends 60% of the power to the front wheels and 40% to the rear ones. However, during hardcore off roading, the on board computer can even send 100% of the power to the wheel that has maximum traction. The X drive also encompasses other technologies such as Anti-lock Braking System (ABS) and Traction Control System (TCS) of and Dynamic Stability Control (DSC).
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While on our way to the BMW ‘X’perience, we saw a 330D convertible showcased for all journos present at the event. Considering BMW India does not sell the 3 Series in any other body shapes other than a four door sedan, we dug a bit deeper. Turns out that BMW India is planning to launch the 3 Series convertible in India very soon.
The model is question has a 3.0-litre, six-cylinder diesel with a single turbocharger to generate 245bhp power output and 520Nm of torque. We would get the 7 speed automatic double clutch gearbox with paddle shifters behind the steering. This power mill can hurl the convertible from 0 to 100 kmph in 7 seconds and on to a top speed of 245 km/hr. BMW is smart enough to get only the diesel convertible in India.
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The MUV market is lately seeing a lot of action from different manufacturers. First Mahindra refreshed the king of segment Bolero and added more creature comforts to the proposition. Then, we saw some spy images of the soon-to-be-launched Tata Sumo Gold (a facelifted Sumo). However, we never heard from the third popular rival – Chevrolet Tavera – i.e until now.
GM India confirmed to Indian Autos Blog long back that it is in the process of revamping the long forgotten Tavera. We were the first to bring you details on the mechanicals, the list of cosmetic changes, but we didn’t know how it would look.
But thanks to Motorbeam.com, the puzzle is complete!
GM India is not only considering to make the Tavera’s engine BS4 compliant but is also giving a small facelift before the actual launch.
And by ‘a small facelift’ we really mean a very tiny one. The spyshot only unveils a new crystal clear headlamps and a wider grill for the Tavera. They could possibly make minor changes to the tail lamps as well. The engine, of course, will be a major change for the new Tavera. It will be BS4 compliant, 2.0-liter, 100 bhp common rail diesel motor that will be sourced from ICML, the makers of the Rhino MUV.
GM India told IAB that the Tavera facelift will be launched in the last quarter of 2011.
Do you think the facelifted Tavera is game enough for the Mahindra Bolero and Tata Sumo Gold?
BMW has launched the 2012 6 Series Coupe in India. The company launched the convertible version in the month of March and for those waiting for the hard top version, the waiting has come to an end.
So the new 6 Series variant will be available in both petrol and diesel, the 650i and the 640d respectively. The 640d Coupe starts at 74.99 lakhs and the 650i Coupe starts at 84.99 lakhs (ex-showroom prices). For those looking for roof-less motoring, the 650i Convertible is available at 95 lakh rupees (ex-showroom price)
The coupe edition is available in a wide range or colors (Alpine White and Imola Red are non-metallic colors and in the following as metallic paintwork – Titanium Silver, Black Sapphire, Havanna, Space Grey, Deep Sea Blue, Mineral White, Vermilion Red, Orion Silver) and plenty of optional extras which cost over 20 lakh rupees if every box is ticked.
The press release issued to announce the launch of the 6 Coupe, without diving into the details, states that it is also available with the ‘M Sport’ package.
Force Motors is testing a refreshed Traveller van decorated with LED lights and a mildly adjusted front fascia. In the passenger vehicles segment, the Traveler is Force’ bread winner. Back in the 70′s, it began life as the Mercedes Benz Bremen Transporter van after which Bajaj Tempo acquired the license to manufacture it in India.
Powered by a 2.6-liter TCIC (Turbocharged InterCooled) engine, it produces 82hp@3,200 RPM.
The trend in the Indian commercial vehicle space is moving from TDI to CRDI and through this facelift, Force could jump on the bandwagon. Could they use the Force One’s 2.2-liter diesel engine mapped for commercial application?
For seating capacity, there are a range of options to choose from and this facelift could be applied to the smaller vehicles as well.
Stay tuned for more details on the Force Traveller facelift.
It has been a long time since we had an update on the 2012 Mercedes S Class. But a fresh set of spy shots have come to us straight from the Nurburgring where the so called ‘Time Machine of the automotive industry’ is doing its testing.
James May will not be happy man 
These new spyshots reveal a lot of interesting stuff about the new S Class. The front fascia will ditch the old design language to adopt the new one which will be on the lines of the F800 concept.
The new design language is already being adopted on other models such as the CLS and SLK. The headlamps will be more rectangular and the front grill will be more wider and brawnier. Expect a generous dollop of LEDs to grace the front. Overall, it will much more classier than the model it replaces.
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The company first foray in mass market hatchback segment can be considered a successful one because the Honda Brio has clocked 5,000 bookings since its launch.
