Indian Autos blog

Valentine’s day is just around the corner. Your partner’s expectations are touching new highs. Roses, chocolates and champagne are just too bourgeois for your liking? Want to make your valentine feel really special? We have just the thing for you!

Tata Motors Goa dealer Auto Industries has launched a special Tata Nano Valentines Edition in Goa. Essentially, it’s a Tata Nano CX with some added features such as:

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Not so long ago, people made fun of Hyundai-Kia for their boring looking cars with atrocious quality. But today the Koreans are have taken the industry by storm through eye catching designs and low cost manufacturing.

At the start of 2011, the group set a target of 6.3 million units and much to their joy, Hyundai-Kia together sold 6.6 million units worldwide in 2011. This means they were just 2 million away from being in the list of top three automaker of the world.

Well, that day wouldn’t be very far either as group chairman, Chung Mong-Koo announced that he plans to sell 7 million units worldwide in 2012.

In order to achieve the target, the company plans to spend almost $4.4 billion in R&D to accelerate the development of eco-friendly and fuel-efficient vehicles. Hyundai-Kia is one of the most active group when it comes to CAFÉ regulations. Another $2.6 billion will be used to build new manufacturing facilities in South Korea and other some overseas facilities.

In a bid to become one of the ‘Global 3’, the automaker is shifting its focus from volume to quality to make sure that the customers are satisfied with their vehicles.

In recent times, Hyundai-Kia has improved its quality ratings in developed nations, and is providing that better quality in emerging economies as well.

Increasing rate of interest, sky high fuel prices and dwindling stock market & economy are creating tough days for Automobile Industry. Foreseeing the tough and competitive times Mercedes has introduced the Self lease program, dubbed Star Lease. This is the first time such kind of program has been introduced in India.

There have been few companies who have entered the lease business but have been operating under corporate lease programs. Mercedes is the first one to have jumped on the opportunity of self lease.

Mercedes reasons its introduction of Lease in India as

• Negative sentiments in market
• Increasing rate of interest
• Sky high fuel prices
• Lack of capital or cash for down payment
• India is market of opportunities

Benefits of Self Lease:

• In some cases there’s no down payment, vehicle is handed over depending on your credibility & plan
• No need to expose your capital for initial down payment
• Hassle free ownership as Mercedes Benz India maintains the vehicle for you
• Tax benefits as the leased car doesn’t come under your asset but as an expense

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Volkswagen has chosen to not wait until the Frankfurt Motorshow to unveil the VW UP. So here we have the first official images of the VW Up which is going to be VW’s cheapest car in India ever. Of course, it will also be launched in Europe and America because fuel efficient cars are very much in demand over there as well. The UP is an entry level hatchback that  [ Read More ]

Indian Autos Blog will resume posting on Tuesday (4th May 2010)

We realized one thing while we were on our holiday- We can’t holiday for very long. All we could think of in the past few days is when we could get back to our blog. We’ve got a ton of emails and comments to reply to, so we’ll finish that first and then put posts online. Yes, the games can begin!

The Indian Autos Blog team is on vacation and will be back on the 29th. We’ve been doing a lot of posting in the last month and postponed our vacation indefinitely. But the time has come to take some time off and enjoy doing things that we otherwise don’t do. We’ll be back on the 29th with the BMW X3 review and the third part of the Skoda Superb 1.8  [ Read More ]

Battery-powered lightning promises 0-60mph in 4sec and ten-minute recharges. This looks like a particularly neatly executed GT car – which is exactly what it is, aside from the fact there’s no engine under that long, power-bulged bonnet.  It has the classic sports car layout with a long bonnet and short tail. What the bonnet lacks is an engine !