Indian Autos blog

After Maruti’s Alto K10, WagonR and A-Star, it is Toyota that plans to take its Etios and Liva to Indonesia. Here we have some spyshots of the hatchback Liva being tested on the highways in Indonesia. The Indonesian auto markets display similar characteristic to the Indian market. Hence most cars that are launched in India, sooner or later find themselves on the Indonesian roads. We presume that both cars will  [ Read More ]

Our friend who is a South East Asian car industry expert (authors a sound blog – autoindustrie) was kind enough to help with this series of translations.

Yesterday night one of our readers from Indonesia sent us a few links. When we opened it, we could not understand a thing. We knew this was something big, so we used google translator, and that did not help in any which way.

So we got our good friend to help us out since he knows Indonesian, and here’s Tata Motors’ plans for Indonesia -

http://oto.detik.com/read/2009/08/10/162952/1180663/648/tata-punya-kans-besar-di-ri

Well this is saying that Tata has high potential for expansion in Indonesia if they get the product positioning correct. It says Tata is a conservative company that is reluctant to expand overseas unless it is fully confident of its product quality. Tata is honest to admit that there are still many short falls in its product. The author likens Tata today facing the same challenges faced Hyundai did in North America just a few decades ago.

The earliest Tata entry into the Indonesian market is expected by 2010 – with the Xenon Double Cab pick-up truck, Sumo Grande SUV. There is also a possibility for the Nano to be introduced.

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What is the Corolla Altis Dual VVT-i about?

The Indonesian market has a firm relation with Toyota vehicles and Japanese manufacturer has dropped yet another variant of the best selling Corolla Altis in the market.

The 2.0 Dual VVT-i variant features only a new radiator grille, but only when you open the bonnet you find the rational explanation to the word “Dual” on the badge.

Who the heck is Dual VVT-i? Is this the same case as Hero Honda Splendor and Splendor+ with fuel tank stickers seperating the two?

Generally, the term dual on a car is implied as a dual-fuel engine that is capable of handling fuels of different nature. But not this one though.

The Dual VVT-i is two VVT-i meaning both the inlet and exhaust valves obtain variable valve timing capabilities. The regular Corolla Altis, like the one sold in India is equipped with VVT-i only for the intake valve, so only the volume of mixture entering the engine can be controlled by altering the duration of valve in open condition.

According to you, what could be the advantages?

With the Dual VVT-i technology, the flexibility is enormous, and the regulated delay and advancement of the exhaust valve timing improve throttle response and minimize fuel wastage and emissions brought about by it. At lower revs, the valve shuts sooner and at higher revs it is otherwise. The driver will be able to feel the change.

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