Indian Autos blog

The Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee presented the 2012 Union Budget in front of a rather chaotic parliament. There were numerous positive and negatives for the Indian Auto Sector. Here is a snapshot of its impacts:

Do I have to pay more a diesel car?

No. The speculation of additional duty on diesel cars was indeed ‘a speculation’. The Finance Minister steered cleared of imposing any taxes on diesel cars.

So does that mean that there are no changes in the price of the cars?

Ahh! Here comes the tricky part. The government has increased the excise duty on cars. Excise duty is a percentage of the cost of your car and is different for different body-engine combination. Here is the list of increase:

click through for all the details

you’d be missing out on loads of fun! That’s right, besides updating our blog from dawn till dusk, throughout the day we’re updating our Facebook and Twitter pages with content such as

1) Exclusive galleries from launches – We posted a truck load of images from the launch of the Volvo D3 range and will use it in future launches as well.

2) Exclusive spyshots – They aren’t copies of what you see here on front page – We recently posted Sushil’s snap of the i20 facelift and Fenin’s spyshot of the Chevrolet MPV that you wouldn’t have seen anywhere else.

3) Exclusive updates on the auto industry – we upload pictures and short stories that you don’t see here.

4) Question of the Day contest – We’re having fun asking our fans wacky questions and leave them stunned with our facts! We’ve had so many participants when we organized it on our blog, and so we’ve moved it to a sharable, likeable platform.

5) Interacting with other fans of IAB – Do you know who else is just like you?

So if you aren’t our Facebook fan or Twitter follower yet, you get to lose out on half of the fun.

Like us now! – http://facebook.com/IndianAutosBlog

Start following us on today on Twitter – http://twitter.com/IndianAutos

A recent report in TheEconomicTimes has highlighted a fundamental shift in the Indian automotive market.

It seems that for the first time in the history of the Indian automotive scene, the overall share of the entry level hatchbacks has fallen below 50%.

The entry level hatchbacks are the bread and butter for most manufacturers. Although this segment is dominated by Maruti Suzuki’s Alto, other competitors such as the Eon, Santro, Spark and Nano easily cross the 1,000 units marker each month.

click through to read more

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?