Posts (page 2)

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.

The new Maruti SX4 has been launched. The SX4 has an engine equipped with an advanced variable valve timing (VVT) technology.

A 4-speed automatic transmission variant was also introduced by Maruti. The VVT technology ensures that there will never be wastage or power shortage and as a result there will be better engine efficiency, optimized fuel consumption and less carbon dioxide.

The SX4 is among first cars in the A-3 segment that abide by the BS IV regulation of emission.

The SX4 has a more efficient engine that has a fuel efficiency of 15.6 km per litre of petrol. The 1.6 litre engine turns out a maximum power of 104.68ps @5600 rpm and a high torque of 145Nm @4100 rpm. The new SX4 has a honeycomb grille and 10-spoke 16 inch alloy wheels and dual tones interiors and plush upholstery. The SX4 also has auto climate control system, windshield antenna, illuminated key insert, windshield antenna, and variable instrument illumination.

The new SX4 comes with a two-tone beige colour interior. The steering mounted controls are illuminated at night for effortless handling. On the dashboard of the SX4 there is a new provision of USB connectivity.

Manual and automatic are the two variables available of the SX4. The two variants in manual transmission are VXi and ZXi. Seven metallic colouring option of the SX4 is available .

The SX4 VXi manual is priced at 6.68 lakh, SX4 ZXi manual at 7.37 lakh, SX4 ZXi leather at 7.71, SX4 ZXi 4-speed automatic at 8.02 lakh, and SX4 ZXi leather 4-speed automatic at 8.36 lakh.

German luxury car maker Audi, has been quite a hit with the Mumbai’s film-star community. With clients like Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan and Bipasha Basu in Audi’s sales book, Audi now is looking at a 50 per cent growth in India this year.

Martin Birkner, marketing head of Audi in India is quite ecstatic that Bollywood stars like Salman Khan, Katrina Kaif and Amitabh Bachchan amongst others have had an Audi car parked in their garage. Though he knows it very well that Bollywood stars are not the only clients who own an Audi, which makes a difference, he still vouches that Mumbai filmdom is still an important market for Audi as it gives that extra boost for Audi’s market in India.

Salman Khan is the latest star who bought an Audi A8 for himself, while Neil Nitin Mukesh owns Q7, a recently launched SUV by Audi. Audi Q7 can cost anything from Rs.63 lakhs to Rs.76 lakhs while an Audi A8 starts from Rs 71 lakhs and can go up to Rs 1 crore in India. Amongst the popular actresses Bipasha and Katrina have pampered themselves with the luxury vehicles from the brand.

The company currently offers a bouquet of seven cars, including sedans, SUVs, coupe and sports cars. It is considering launching more models in the coming years.

To promote the brand, Audi India has been partnering with Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week (WIFW) for the last four seasons.

Birkner, who has come from Mumbai to attend the event, said WIFW provides an ideal platform for them to meet “right and influential” people who can become potential buyers.

“Such events provide a perfect platform to meet people who are interested in premium cars. So we get a chance to build the right contacts here,” he said.

Earlier this month, Audi organised an amateur golf tournament called Quattro Cup. This was the second tournament sponsored by the company and the finals were held in Hyderabad and the winners will be taken to Sydney in December.

Nissan-Renault Alliance had earlier joint hands with Indian auto makers Bajaj Auto, Mahindra & Mahindra and Ashok Leyland. But now, the Head of Nissan-Renault, Carlos Ghosn, says that he is keen on continuing partnership with only one of these auto makers.

French car maker Renault already has a joint venture with SUV maker Mahindra & Mahindra. Renault has 49 per cent in the venture, while M&M occupies the rest.

Renault is also working with Bajaj Auto, along with Nissan to launch a small car in India. But no formal joint venture agreement has been signed so far. It also has a partnership with Ashok Leyland through Nissan for light commercial vehicles in India.

The Head of Nissan-Renault also commented that if things did not work out, it can sever ties and may even drive in its new products in India with a different partner. Nissan-Renault wants to strengthen its position in India.

The Renault-Mahindra partnership could not do well. Their child, Logan, has failed to live up to expectations and sales have been falling steadily. In September alone, 510 units of the car were sold against 1,752 units in the same month last year. In the first six months of this year, the joint venture sold just 2,901 units of Logan compared to 9,217 units in the same period last year. The Renault-Mahindra joint venture posted a loss of Rs 490 Crore in the last financial year.

Mahindra was the first to express dissatisfaction over the working of both Renault and Nissan when it exited a planned three-way venture in January last year. Renault-Nissan, however, went ahead and set up a mega car plant with capacity of 400,000 units in Chennai.

Although Renault has postponed its production plans from the plant for the time being, Nissan has stated that its first car will roll out in May 2010.

In a statement issued in India later in the day, Renault said Ghosn’s comments were related to the Renault-Nissan alliance operations in India and they should not be construed to be referring only to Renault India’s operations.

The small car venture with Bajaj Auto also has not gained much momentum ever since the companies jointly announced in end-2007 their plans to put the car on the road in early 2011.

The German Car maker, Volkswagen is getting ready to launch the popular cars from its stable, Volkswagen Polo and the iconic Beetle in India

VW is expected to launch the hatchback model of Polo in the first half of 2010, which will be followed by the sedan version of Polo in the second half of the year. The car has been tested for Indian conditions and is now all set to adorn the Indian roads.

In India, Volkswagen Polo will be available in both petrol and diesel models at Chakan near Pune, which has an annual production capacity of 110,000 units. The company has so far invested around Rs 3,800 crore in the plant.

Apart from this, 50 per cent of Polo’s components and parts will be sourced from the domestic market. And it will be later increased provided the quality of the materials is of superior standard.

Volkswagen currently sells premium sedans such as Passat and Jetta in India. And now it will be launching the Beetle sometime by the end of this year or early next year.

Suzuki is moving forward to the future with a furore. This Japanese auto maker is leaving no stone unturned in its way of exploring the better way to drive in to the future. Come this year’s Tokyo Motor Show and Suzuki has big plans to make the show its own and how? Suzuki is unveiling a Swift with a Plug-In hybrid and a Suzuki SX4-FCW hydrogen drive under the slogan: “Small Cars for a Big Future” at the Tokyo Motor Show.

The Swift Plug-In is designed for short city trips with a petrol-driven generator in addition loading the battery of the electric engine. The battery can also be connected to an electric household socket that gives the car a range of 20 km on one charge. Now that’s a swift action by Suzuki on Swift. What say?

Suzuki is also showcasing the SX4-FCV (Fuel Cell Vehicle) with a fuel cell unit designed by General Motors. The high-pressure hydrogen fuel tank has been designed by the Japanese manufacturer with additional energy coming from brake regeneration.

Suzuki, which has ridden on the back of these two successful models in gasoline variants, has done all right with the proposed plans of producing the hybrid versions of these cars. Suzuki is currently carrying out field tests with the SX4 for possible serial production. Let’s all hope that Maruti Suzuki brings in these models to the Indian car market.

Hyundai Motors India Limited is considering to launch its premium SUV Santa Fe in India next year. Earlier it had planned to import the model as completely built unit but now it does not find it feasible due to 104 percent import duty on CBUs. Instead, the company now plans to assemble model in India by importing it as CKD units.

“Yes, we are studying Santa Fe for the Indian market, as premium segment is doing pretty well in the past few years. However, it is still in the investigation stage and we will decide its roll out in the medium term. We have yet not decided whether it would be assembled or imported. But Tucson is not going to get discontinued,” says a senior Hyundai official speaking to reporters.

The new Hyundai Santa Fe will also be fitted with brand new 2.4L four-cylinder petrol engine to lend it better performance and make it competitively priced in India. The car will compete with Honda CRV and Maruti Suzuki Grand Vitara. The company will take a final call on the car after assessing its feasibility in the Indian market. The car is expected to launch in India by mid-2010.

The tie up between Reva, the only electric car company of India, and the US auto maker, GM, happened soon after Reva showcased its NXR and NXG at the Frankfurt Motor Show. And so many days got over since the companies agreed on the tie up and you must be just wondering as to what are the future products that will emerge out from the tie up of these two companies.

The companies are preparing to launch an electric version of the small car Spark in India. The launch is expected to happen within the next 12 months. Even though 12 months is not a long time, the companies should manufacture the car in a way that it should be good enough to compete with the cars that will be available in the Indian car market at that time. As electric cars are getting a boost in sales with more people becoming environment conscious, we expect the car that comes out of the combined effort of these two world class brands will surely meet the expectation of the customers..

It will be Reva that will provide the technology and GM will engineer and manufacture the new Spark.

BMW has launched the much awaited roadster Z4 in India. The Z4 will be imported to India as a CBU and the car will pose a tough competition against Mercedes-Benz SLK, Audi TT, and Porsche Boxster

The 6-inline engine on the Z4 has a capacity of 2993cc. The twin turbos of the roadster produces 306 bhp. The Z4 can also go on to an electronically limited top speed of 250 km/h.

The German car maker BMW is working towards becoming the number one luxury car maker of the country. BMW is having a tough competition with Mercedes-Benz these days and wanted to be replaced in its position.

The BMW Z4 is dominant and elegant. It has a seating position close to the rear axle, rear-wheel drive and a fully-automatic retractable hardtop..

The new BMW Z4 is available in the petrol variant, BMW Z4 sDrive35i , is available in India priced at Rs 59,00,000 (Ex-showroom, New Delhi).