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Volvo Cars has come out with the first official pictures of the production-ready S60. The company claims the S60 to be sportier and vibrant than all the earlier Volvo models. The S60 that is produced at Volvo’s plant in Ghent, in Belgium will be showcased at the Geneva Motor Show in March 2010.

The Volvo S60 is expected to be equipped with the groundbreaking safety feature of Pedestrian Detection. It is a safety feature that can sense pedestrians in front of the car and brake automatically.

Volvo Cars India (VCI) thinking hard on the launch of its compact executive sedan S60 in the country in a year’s time. And this will be after its reintroduction in the European car market.

The company has established its charisma in seven cities in India and is now is planning to further develop its approach and stretch its dealership base to Goa, Coimbatore, Kolkata, and Ahmedabad.

The Ultimate Motors of Dubai is bringing in new cars to India. And by the end of this year we will see three new cars in India.

Three brands of Super Hyper Cars (SHCs) will be launched to grace the Indian roads before the start of 2010. This year we are getting to see some major car models in India.

We were all since some time anticipating the launch of Ultimate Aero, the world’s fastest car. Ultimate Aero is one among the three cars that Ultimate Motors is preparing to be launched in India. The Ultimate Aero has a speed of 413 kilometres per hour (257 mph) and produces 1,183hp. It can accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in 2.78 seconds.

Ultimate Motors is one of the leading distributors of interesting and extravagant sports cars in the world. Ultimate Motors will launch three brands of commercial SHCs namely Shelby, Zenvo, and Arash.

Arash has an exclusive road car aerodynamics. And the Zenvo comes with full carbon body and steel chassis.

Volkswagen, Europe’s largest car maker, will launch the Beetle in India by December. Volkswagen is expected to import the car from its Mexican plant for sale in India.

Beetle is one of the unbeaten models that Volkswagen has ever produced. The car has made history, although it was criticized widely and predicted to be a complete failure due to its peculiar styling, underpowered motor, rough ride and noisy engine.

Volkswagen currently sells luxury sedans Passat and Jetta in Indian market. The company is planning to launch its small car Polo by early next year.

VW has two facilities in India at Aurangabad and Chakan, which assembles cars of its three brands, Skoda, Audi and Volkswagen.

VW had earlier announced a target of 8- 10 per cent share of the Indian passenger car market in the next 6 years. It will also consider integrating after- sales service of its three brands in India for better synergy.

The limited edition of Fiesta has been launched by Ford India. The Ford Fiesta is a popular mid-sized car. The new Ford Fiesta will be available in a 1.6-litre petrol engine.

The new limited edition of Ford fiesta has been equipped with Electronic Brake-force Distribution (EBD). The main attraction of the new Fiesta is its new leathered interiors. The car also has a warranty period of 2 years per 100,000kms.

Ford also offers the customers an optional “extended warranty” scheme that protects car against all breakdown/failures related to mechanical/ electrical engineering during its extended warranty time.

The Fiesta is among the best models of the Ford. And during the festival season the car had registered remarkable sales during the festive season. The ford fiesta is available at a price tag of INR 6.44 lacs (ex-showroom, Delhi).

Maruti Suzuki A-Star known outside India as Suzuki Alto, has a new mileage record to its credit. The car has successfully completed a mileage marathon in Australia. And achieved a record, a mileage figure of 25km/l overall. The car had a remarkable mileage of 50km/l in city. And these numbers helped the car to become the most fuel efficient car among all the vehicles that took part in the marathon.

The marathon, Global Green Challenge, ran from Darwin to Adelaide in Australia. The competition was between conventional and alternative fuel cars in a 3,040km real world test. The winner of the challenge was the vehicle judged to have recorded the biggest progress over its official fuel burning figure. The 'Light' and 'Small' car categories were won by the Suzuki Alto. It also topped the 'Best urban cycle' category.

The Maruti Suzuki A-Star utilizes a simple combination of aerodynamic efficiency, lightweight design, and a small and efficient 1.0-litre petrol engine.

Toyota will be the second major Japanese car maker to quit F1. It has been anticipated since long that Toyota would quit F1.

Toyota Motor Corporation has now publicized its policy to leave the FIA Formula 1 World Championship at the end of the 2009 season. And this is because of the company’s current economic crunch. This withdrawal by Toyota will be a blow to the Formula One.

Toyota's connection with Formula One began in 2002. Toyota has been racing for eight seasons. The Toyota F1 team participated in 141 F1 races and accomplished 13 podium finishes. The team never won a race in spite of having an annual budget of around US$300 million. But the Toyota F1 team was fifth in the 2009 Constructors' Championship.

Toyota mentioned that would keenly contribute to other developments of motorsports by supporting grassroots races and setting up events in which it is easy for people to participate. Now, the world's largest car manufacturer will concentrate on its core business of making hybrids and electric cars.

Honda Siel Cars India has launched a facelifted CR-V. This well-liked Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) is equipped with a re-sculpted hood, new two-step front grille, a re-sculpted hood, a new front bumper design and an oval shape fog lamp. It also has new rear bumper that accentuates the stability of the car. The new CR-V is 45 mm longer than the previous model but maintains the same width, height, ground clearance and head clearance. The existing 7-spoke alloy wheel design is replaced by a new sleek 10-spoke alloy wheel design and gives the SUV a more sporty look.

The Honda CR-V will be available in 2.0 L MT 2WD, 2.4L MT Real-time 4WD and 2.4L AT Real-time 4WD, but the 2.4 L models now come with a steering-mounted Cruise Control system with illuminated controls that guarantee comfort and convenience for the customer with one-touch operation.

The interior of the Honda CR-V has also received changes. The overall interior colour scheme has been brightened. The centrally located LCD meter display is now blue in colour, the vanity mirror has light to assist visibility during darkness. The music system of the SUV now features a new USB port in the upper glove compartment.

The safety features have also been upgraded. It now has Dual SRS Airbags, six airbags, Side-Curtain airbags and Side Airbags with Occupant Position Detection System (OPDS).

The 2.0L MT version is priced at Rs. 21,92,000, the 2.4L MT at Rs. 23,37,000 and the top-end model 2.4L AT comes for Rs. 24,12,000 (all prices, ex showroom New Delhi).

The new car from Skoda is sure to invite all excitement. Skoda might launch its popular MUV (Multi Utility Vehicle), the Skoda Roomster in India next year. The Roomster is a much-loved five door MUV from Skoda. Skoda is expected to launch the MUV in March next year.

The Roomster will pose tough competition for the upcoming Hyundai Santa Fe, Honda CR-V, Ford Endeavour, and Toyota Fortuner.

It is expected that the Skoda Roomster will be available in three different engine options such as 1.4-litre, 1.6-litre and a 1.9-litre. And it will have both petrol and diesel trims. The petrol variants of the Skoda Roomster will be available in 1.4-litre and 1.6-litre engines. And the diesel variants of the Skoda Roomster will be available in 1.4-litre and 1.8-litre engine options.

The Roomster will be spotted with a long suspension that has a high ground clearance, which makes it capable of off-roading. The Roomster will be imported to India as CKD from its parent company and it will be assembled at the company’s Aurangabad based manufacturing plant.

The advanced safety features in Roomster will include ABS (Antilock Brake System) with EBD (Electronic Brake-Force Distribution), Dual Front and Side Curtain Airbags, ESP and many more advanced features. The colour options of the car are not available.

Roomster will be priced in the range of Rs. 16 to 18 Lakh.

Nissan is planning to launch more cars in India. Colin Dodge, Nissan's executive vice-president for Africa, the Middle East, and Europe, now has good news for the Indian car lovers. Dodge has announced this new plan during an official tour. Nissan is developing a brand new platform. And the new platform is codenamed ‘V’ where ‘V’ stands for versatile.

Nissan will be using this new concept even for its new small car that the company has planned to launch in Thailand, China, and India. It is still not clear to us as to which variant of this new platform will be launched in India, petrol or diesel. Nissan will produce three cars on this platform, but they will launch only two in India.

The first car will be launched in May 2010, after it is launched in Thailand. Compared to a normal small car from Nissan, the new V cars will have 18 per cent fewer parts, when compared to a normal compact car from Nissan. The first model will be a next-generation Micra.

The V-platform will be roomy, compact and light weight. It will have a 3-cylinder, small engine and a small fuel tank of 41 litres.

Finally, we can expect that Hyundai’s SUV, Santa Fe, will be launched in India. Yes, Hyundai has been announcing the launch of the SUV in India since a long time now. The growing demand of SUV’s in India can be a reason why Hyundai might have seriously thought about the launch. For the past few months there have been an increasing number of SUVs launches in India.

Premier RiO is a very recent example of this.

Apart from Santa Fe, Hyundai also has plans of bringing a small car to India by 2011. This new small car will be an 800cc car.

Santa Fe is expected to be launched petrol as well as diesel models in the Indian car market. It will be available in 2.7-litre petrol engine and 2.2-litre diesel engine. We still don’t know the pricing of Hyundai Santa Fe. Anyways this new model from Hyundai is sure to create a tough competition for Honda CR-V, Toyota Fortuner, and Chevrolet Captiva.