The Thai-made Micra-based Nissan Almera (Sunny) sedan will grace Australian dealerships towards the end of 2012, CarAdvice.com.au has reported. The website briefs readers that the lightweight sedan, developed in Thailand under the eco-car program, is a sensible alternative to cars such as the Honda City, Toyota Yaris sedan and Ford Fiesta sedan.
The Almera opens the door for Nissan to this important segment. To make customers feel safe, six airbags and ESP are part of the standard equipment. Nissan is taking safety seriously even in India where a passenger side airbag is a standard feature on its cheapest offering, the Micra. Surprisingly ABS brakes don’t find a place even on the top-end variant!
A 1.5-liter petrol engine is discussed in the article married to a CVT as a choice of powertrain, but the exact details will gain clarity only at the time of launch.
Force Motors has recently made waves in the Indian automotive scene with the launch of their new passenger vehicle – Force One. After launching the 4X2 version, the company promised to launch the 4×4 version of the Force One at the 2012 Delhi Auto Expo.
Force Motors will also showcase a hybrid version of their popular people mover – the Traveller at the Expo. Force Motors has collaborated with a UK company to develop this technology. Interestingly, the technology will utilize solar energy as well as has regenerative exhaust systems.
IndianAutosBlog.com readers have already seen a fully undisguised Traveller facelift testing in Pune. Could it be related to the hybrid Traveller?
Placed parallel to the hybrid version will be the CNG version of the Trump. We presume that the CNG version will be production ready and launched shortly after the Expo.
The company also has plans to launch a new 26-seater monocoque bus for inter- and intra-city traveling needs. A luxury edition of the new bus seating 10-18 people is on the anvil. Unlike the Force One and Traveller, these buses are developed in-house and have no relation to the Daimler agreement. The buses will come out by April 2012.
This year has been exceptionally difficult for the Japanese manufacturers. The earthquakes, the floods and the recalls have wrecked havoc on their cash registers since the start of 2011.
Well it seems that the recall ghost is back to haunt Toyota as the company has called back all Etios and Liva models manufactured before October 8, 2011 for replacement of faulty filler hose pipe.
The filler hose pipe is responsible for supplying fuel to the nozzle from the tank. Any cracks on the pipe leads to fuel leaks and erratic fuel supply.
The company will recall about 40,000 units of its Etios sedan and Liva hatchback cars for possible cracks in their hose pipe and fuel pipe. The recall represents more than half of 70,000 Etios cars on the road in India. This is a second recall from Toyota India as back in 2008, Toyota had announced a recall of around 20,000 units of Innova.
The recall is called “special service campaign” and Toyota dealers will get in touch with customers on the dates. The company says that the repairs will take no longer than 45 minutes and will be free of cost.
Find out what happens when you add large LCD screens, oversize wheels, a big sound system, some wings, some more wings, multi-color neon lights and a red gear shifter to a perfectly good Fabia.
Russian website ZR’s image department has taken up the upcoming Renault Logan as their next project, expected to break cover in late 2012. Codenamed X57, the next gen Logan, according to media reports, has been put through a comprehensive makeover.
Two versions are presented by ZR, one showing the Renault version and the other depicting the original from Dacia. Shedding its low cost attire the Logan wears a more expensive suit and a sophisticated look inspired by its distant cousin Fluence. The well groomed Logan is said to have moved up a segment featuring a cozier cabin, bigger boot, more gadgets and lower NVH.
The exterior design was plain and simple. But what about the interiors? Being the best selling nameplate, the Corolla definitely has to please owners. After all, most of your time will be spent inside the car. So has the facelift revitalized interiors? Let’s find out:
As long as you have the keyfob in your possession, there’s no need to press buttons. Just walk up to Altis and pull the handle, the car automatically unlocks. A mere glance at the interiors and you recognize that it is a mixture of black and silver with cool blue lighting (a la Chey Cruze). Sticking to the KISS philosophy, the interior is simple and conservative.
The German giant Volkswagen owns a lot of companies such as Audi, Skoda, Seat, Lamborghini, Porsche, Bentley and so on. Owning multiple brands means that your research cost on new products would be astronomically high. Thus, to keep cost low, multiple brands from the VW portfolio share platforms and components. But that’s not enough.
With the launch of the new Audi A3, the German czar will kick start the biggest tech overhaul in its history. The Audi A3 will be the first of 40 models that will kick off VW Group’s new strategy of using a standardized set of components, from steering columns to complete platforms, in cars manufactured by VW, Audi, Seat and Skoda. The company hopes to lower cost by more than $6.5 billion a year.
The idea will go a long was as VW plans to manufacturer as many as 3.5 million compact and mid-sized cars annually thus getting closer to its goal of becoming the world’s biggest and most profitable group by 2018.
And they are not alone. BMW said it lowered the cost of building the new 3-Series sedan by 7-9 % by using components from the 1 Series compact and midsize 5 Series.
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If there is one manufacturer that has been insanely bullish in the recent months, Hyundai is the name. The company just has been dropping bomb after bomb of good products in India. It all started with the new i10 which showed us a glimpse of the new design language. Then came the Verna showing us the full monty. Santa Fe and EON also joined the battle along with the Avante,
i20 facelift and the i45 sedan spotted around the country.
The car that India will expect next is the new Tucson/ix35. At the Santa Fe launch in Udaipur last year, a top Hyundai official said they had no plans for a second SUV and the ix35 not being a seven seater was viewed as a drawback.
The new Tucson was unveiled in the August of 2010 sporting a 2.0L Theta II gasoline engine (166 horsepower) and the 2.0L R-diesel engine (184 horsepower) mated to a new 6-speed automatic transmission. The petrol was available with two wheel drive and the diesel was available in both two and four wheel drive configurations.
Mahindra’s XUV500 mostly definitely exposed the potential of the SUV market in India. Having told the media that it wants to play across segments, Hyundai is secretly cringing on the fact that it does not have an SUV in a 10 – 15 lakh price bracket. With Ford and Renault preparing for SUV onslaught in the Indian market, Hyundai cannot fold its hands and watch.
The Thai-made Micra-based Nissan Almera (Sunny) sedan will grace Australian dealerships towards the end of 2012, CarAdvice.com.au has reported. The website briefs readers that the lightweight sedan, developed in Thailand under the eco-car program, is a sensible alternative to cars such as the Honda City, Toyota Yaris sedan and Ford Fiesta sedan.
