Indian Autos blog

With 3/4 citizens of this generation lurking full time on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter et al, auto companies are now seeing these hubs as their potent tool to woo prospective customers.

Almost all of the major players have doubled their investment so as to market their products via sites like these. Manufacturers also believe social media will play crucial role for brand-building in the coming years.

A senior marketing official of a top auto manufacturer was heard saying “You cannot avoid social media anymore, with increased sales of smart-phones and internet penetration all over the country, no marketer can afford to ignore it..”

It was that time of the year again when Supercars run wild and free on the streets of Mumbai, except this time it was wilder and freeer in every sense of the word! The fourth edition of the Parx Supercar show organized by the Super Car Club in association with Autocar India kicked off from a much glamorous (and bigger) venue – the Mahalaxmi Race Course in Mumbai.

The sensational Parx supercar parade is an event that every petrolhead Mumbaikar (like moi) wait for with bated breath. Conceived in 2009, the idea of the event is to get a common man acquainted with these super expensive beauties not in some dreary auto show, but right on the streets where they belong. We had a blast last year around and we were expecting the same this time. Boy, were we in for a surprise!

Indian Autos Blog extends warm wishes to its readers and their families for a prosperous and delightful 2012! Have we said it right?

2011 by far is the best year in terms of subscribers, scoop count, traffic, recognition, etc. We’re willing to work harder this year to make 2011 our second best year. In 2012 we’ll push for more scoops, exclusives, spyshots, reviews and feature articles so that you don’t have to look anywhere to satisfy your cravings for cars.

Image by Eagle FX

As you may have assumed, we’re gearing up for the Delhi Auto Expo and rolling out regular updates even on this grand new year weekend (someone wrote to me that this was a dream job, whose dream I ask?!).

I have to say that the spyshots, renderings and the build up to the Auto Expo is keeping us warm and we’ve stacked up some terrific content for New Year’s Day such as

• Mahindra Xylo facelift – IAB’s edition
• Peugeot 508 – Spied again!
• Another Chinese manufacturer knocking on Indian doors? – We have the scoop shots
• Collection of photographs of the Godzilla from the Nissan Innovation Drive
• More announcements from companies on their Auto Expo pavilions

We owe to keep our sister sites indianmotosblog.com and steeringnews.com, which recently received a makeover, updated regularly in 2012 so you know what’s happening to our favorite foreign cars and two-wheelers.

If you haven’t subscribed to IndianAutosBlog.com on its new social media channels, you must be kidding me!

Follow us on Twitter – http://twitter.com/indianautos

Follow us on FaceBook for exclusive scoop shots – http://facebook.com/IndianAutosBlog

Our new friends at THE ESTD, distributors of exotic brands such as Koenigsegg, Ariel and Gumpert in India, have shipped us a selection of images of the mid-engined Agera supercar finding its way carefully through some rough patches of Indian road. The word Agera in Swedish means “to act.”

The Agera, made using lightweight materials such as carbon fiber, is priced at a cool 12.5 crore rupees (ex-showroom Delhi) and is easily the best alternative to the Bugatti Veyron available in India for a sum of 16 crore rupees.

The Agera is more than just a fine interplay of speed and horsepower. Nothing represents the essence and meaning of Koenigsegg better than this model.

But if you aren’t interested in anything else, then here you go – A 5-liter twin-turbocharged engine develops 910bhp and 1000Nm making it possible for the 0-60mph sprint to finish in under 3.5 seconds.

click through to see some fascinating images of the Agera on Indian soil!

DC Design, a very famous design house that carries the torch of car designing for India, has some major plans at the 2012 Auto Expo. The company plans to transform itself from being just a designing company to a full fledged production house by introducing a supercar in India.

Being a design house, the company openly admits that the car will be comparable to other supercars like Ferrari and Lamborghini only in terms of design and not in terms of firepower.

Go sportscar concept is an old example from the house of DC

Dilip Chabria, the person responsible for many famous designs and modeling such as Tarzan – the wonder car, Ambyrod and even the Chevrolet Beat concept has big ambitions for this supercar. The car will be assembled in their Pune plant and the deliveries will begin in 2013. Initially, the company will only manufacture 300 units a year. Later, the production capacity will be expanded to 3,000 units annually.

Like all supercars, this DC Design supercar will be mid-engined. A turbocharged V6 petrol engine sourced from Honda will stoke 400 horses when you put your foot down. If you think ‘Yea, that’s pretty alright”, well the car only weighs 1,560 kg. So expect a power to weight ratio of 257 bhp/tone and let’s face it – that’s pretty awesome!

The company planned to call this supercar ‘The Buddh’ after India’s first F1 track. However, the response to this name has been very dull (with all due respect to the circuit, I can imagine why). However, the astonishing part is that this supercar will not have a supercar price tag. It will cost one’s wallet just 30 lakhs to own it.

We can’t wait to see the prototype model and to get behind the wheel. Can you?

One of IndianAutosBlog.com’s die hard fans Gokulraj Kanagaraj, who if you remember sent us a spy video of the Mahindra XUV500 during its testing stage and tipped us on test mules in Chennai, introduces a new online store, ZapStore.com, retailing electronic gadgets such as mobile phones, digital tablets, music players and cameras.

An ambitious Gokul and team have toiled non-stop from late May to reach fruition. I met Gokul several times during the lead up to the launch and we spent so many evenings discussing online media, eCommerce and visitor behavior.

An avid car enthusiast, Gokul had the confidence in his project to turn down a high paying job offer in a US based automotive company.

Gokul on ZapStore [16 second video]

Here’s a short video I recorded on the sets of the commercial shoot. Gokul talks his mind on the concept of his business. He has no idea I’m uploading this!

ZapStore video commercial – Strip the price [35 seconds]

click through to read on

If you ask me whether I have driven a SanStrom, I would say a resounding YES. Interestingly, not many people can say the same. Where the big daddys of the business like Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai sell nearly 50,000 cars in a month, a little known company called San Motors in Goa sells a modest 2 or 3.

So yes, I have driven the SanStorm. Not the most pleasurable moment of my tiny life but still a memorable one nonetheless. After all, it was my first go at some wind-in-your-motoring.

The company is called San Motors and they make only one car called the Storm, hence the name – SanStorm – a two seater, soft-top convertible for a price of little under 6 lakhs.

The SanStorm is not the most refined product or powerful for that matter. It is powered by 1.2L engine from Renault which produces 60PS of power @ 5250 rpm and 94 Nm of torque @ 2500 rpm. The engine is mated to a 4-speed transmission which powers the front wheels.

Now, news comes in from Zigwheels that San Motors is planning an all new Storm with some more…..you guessed it right POWER! The engine will be sourced from Renault (as it always has been) and the body panels will be made in their own factory in Bangalore. The company is also planning to set up a few dealership countrywide to encourage sales.

What are your inputs for the new San Storm?

Since posting began back in July 2008 we have kept the topics and headlines strictly related to the auto industry. But this development is as exciting as say a set of unseen spyshots for curious followers of IndianAutosBlog.com who write in frequently asking us to share background information, details of authors, our traffic statistics, reach, and what follows when we put out an exclusive or scoop.

An unsuspecting IndianAutosBlog.com team uploaded two screen captures of the men-at-work Ford EcoSport micro site on Sunday night. We received the screen grabs and the momentarily working link from our reader Mallik Kslikiri who in his note said he was searching for information on Ford products when he accidentally stumbled on what would become an international sensation.

The site did not reveal any vital information besides the EcoBoost technology and the two images of the unreleased car were tightly cropped.

Brazil’s most happening auto magazine Quatro Rodas picked up IAB’s story.

About 48 hours later hundreds of websites from all corners of the web have used our text and photographs. This isn’t the first time our story is making an international splash. When Renault projected two images of the Koleos facelift for the first time at the Fluence key-handover ceremony and presentation in New Delhi late June this year, little did they know that they would find no use in holding back the rest of the images 24 hours later.

click through to read the full story