Hyundai has for the past few years been quietly working on a hatchback that will be placed under the Santro to fulfill the growing needs of developing countries such as India. Autobild has re-created the car on a photo editor, and it doesn’t look all that bad.
Archive for the ‘Small cars’ Category
The revolutionary T.25 that we had featured a few days ago, is just a few weeks away. The car which aims to revolutionize the way we drive will be shown for the first time as a prototype very soon.
Well, sticking with the present conditions, we all know that the Tata Nano and Smart ForTwo are some of the smallest cars on the planet.
The Toyota IQ, Japan’s answer to the Mini, Fiat 500 and the Smart has scored an amazing overall score of 79 percent at the recently conducted Euro NCAP crash test.
The Italian Auto major -FIAT has said that India will play an important role in the launch of FIAT’s low cost car brand which is expected by year 2010.
Earlier, Fiat had plans of confining the low cost brand to the European markets. Now though, FIAT is considering India as a key hub for its new brand chiefly for supply of cheap yet durable components.
Hyundai’s boxy yet once best selling car, the Santro Xing, which was sidelined after their next gen hatchback ‘i10′ was launched, seems to be back in action.
The Hyundai Santro sales figures have risen to an extent that, Hyundai is now looking to generate almost equal numbers from both, the Santro and the ‘i10′, in 2009. This comes at a time when manufacturers are cutting production and processing pink slips to their staff.
HS Lheem, Managing Director, Hyundai Motor India, said, “The Santro is doing much better than our expectations. In 2009, we are looking at almost the same overall sales number as last year or around 2.3 lakh units. Of this, Santro and ‘i10′ are expected to contribute 85,000 units each.”
At the 4th Vibrant Gujarat Global Investors’ Summit (VGGIS) 2009, held on 12th & 13th January 2009 at Science City, Ahmedabad, the ‘World’s Cheapest Car’ – Tata Nano was on display- in a bid to manifest one of its greatest achievements (by being home to Tata Motors’ mother plant) till date. Ratan Tata’s Rs 1 lakh car Nano, was among the 227 stalls which were a part of the exhibition.
Ahead of the Bajaj ULC launch, it appears like Japanese Automaker Mitsubishi will cook up a Tata Nano challenger. Mitsubishi, who came under the spot light in India after cars like the Lancer and Pajero, had earlier this year announced plans to board the low cost car territory in markets like India and China.
Mitsubishi will be able to develop this car in a short period of time as its underpinnings will be borrowed from the i-car, a sub compact which is sold in the Japanese market.
