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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.

Premier Ltd. has now introduced launched its first ever sport-utility vehicle model. The new model from Premier is an SUV. It is christened RiO. Premier will partner with China's Zotye Holding Group for manufacturing this new SUV.

Premier was once a famous car manufacturer of India and has produced the famous Indian car, Premier Padmini.

RiO has a 1.5-liter turbo-diesel engine RiO and Premier will import it from Zotye. RiO will be assembled at its factory in Pune.

Premier RiO has a first-generation Daihatsu Terios foundation. And it is powered by Premier’s own engine that is principally a downsized Peugeot TUD5 diesel engine. The 1490cc engine RiO delivers a 65 bhp of peak power.

Premier is taking all the needed steps that RiO will meet the new emission norms of the government that will be effective from April 1, 2010.

The company is expected to start delivering RiO in the month of December. It was expected that theat the mini SUV will be launched during Diwali.

The RiO will be available in three variants, the EX, priced at Rs 5.25 lakh, the DX at Rs 5.50 lakh, and LX at Rs 5.95 lakh.

It has been some time now since the Italian car maker, Fiat, launched a new car in the Indian car market. Grande Punto was the last car that came from Fiat’s stable. Now, Fiat is planning to launch new cars in India.

Fiat is expected to come out with its small car in 2011-2012. It is also supposed that the upcoming small car from Fiat will be priced at Rs 3-4 Lakh. Fiat at present is looking for the many engine options for its small car. The engine options ranges from 900 cc to 1200 cc. This mew small car will be positioned between Tata Nano and the Grande Punto. And it will have a strong competitor in Ford Figo, the upcoming small car from Ford..

Fiat is targeting to sell 2,00,000 cars by 2012 with an aim of reaching a 7-8 per cent market share. Fiat is also planning to bring in LCVs and premium to India. It is expected that the company will launch Light Commercial Vehicles (LCV) in 2012-2014. The company will go on with constructing its network and manufacturing capabilities to produce its own market in India and also a sturdy base for exports of small cars.