Driveblog

The year 2010 was a great year for the Indian automobile industry.With small car accounting over 70% of the sales there was lots of small cars making their debut as various companies sought to tap the world's second-fastest growing car market. Volkswagen polo, Chevrolet beat,Ford Figo,Nissan Micra, Alto k10 were some of the launches which made a stiff competition, while consumers were spoilt for choice. The Chevrolet beat was the first to launch in the year. The car had a very aggressive styling a 1.2 litre Engine with a decent fuel economy. The car was positioned above spark with an attractive price tag starting from 3.34lakh.The Company sold about 33,845 since its launch the company also plans to launch a diesel variant early next year. Volkswagen dream of becoming the world's largest automaker by 2018 would not be possible without Indian market. The company launched polo which is the biggest volume model for Volkswagen with a price tag st...

Hyundai India the country's largest car exporter says that it is ready to sacrifice export market to increase sales in India as it  looks at new models and start a new Diesel engine factory. The plant will have a capacity of 1.5lakh units and company will invest Rs400 crore. The plant will get ready by second half of 2013 and will churn out 1.1 liter,1.4liter,1.6liter engines.The company's highest selling model i10 would be the first to benefited with locally produced diesel engines

Mahindra  REVA Electric Vehicles Pvt. Ltd. ( Mahindra REVA ), one of the pioneers of electric vehicle technology in India, announced that its  REVAi  vehicle will be available at 4 Mahindra dealerships in Pune. This is one of the major initiatives announced by the company post its acquisition by the US $ 7.1 billion Mahindra Group in May 2010. “We are delighted to launch the  REVAi  in Pune where there is already a great deal of interest in our vehicles. With issues such as climate change and carbon footprint taking centre stage globally, eco-friendly transportation has become the need of the hour. The electric vehicle market is hence, poised to grow rapidly. Mahindra’s extensive distribution network, coupled with our unique finance plan will help us make significant inroads into the local market,” said R. Chandramouli, Chief of Operations, Mahindra REVA. Mahindra REVAi  is a technologically advanced  car  equipped with a `boost’ mode for accel...

The Countries Market leader in Passenger Cars Maruthi-Suzuki said today it will introduce a diesel variant of its premium sedan with a 1.3 litre turbo charged engine early next year. The Engine technology is sourced from Fiat where it already sourced engines for Swift and Ritz.The production of Engines have already began and it will start assembling it in SX4 once the plants are reopened after annual weekly maintenance shutdown. The car will roll out Early next year and will compete with premium sedan like Volkswagen Vento, Hyundai Verna,Fiat Linea which already offer diesel engines in its range.

The Indian Market leader in utility vehicles Mahindra & Mahindra Today Launched its 4x4 off-roader the Thar CRDe. The 4x4 BS IV variant priced at Rs 5.99 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi) and Thar DI BS III variant priced at Rs 4.47 lakh (ex-showroom Jaipur). The Thar will be launched in Delhi, Chandigarh, Bangalore, Mangalore and Jaipur by December-end and the rest of India by January 2011. It is Targeted at off-roading Enthusiast, retro look seekers & people wanting to make a unique style statement The Thar is Powered by 2.5 liter Turbocharged Common-Rail Diesel Engine that produces 77kw (105 BHP) and drive by wire technology which is capable of providing it variable speeds and acceleration. It is available in four colors – Fiery Black, Toreador Red, Mist Silver and Rocky Beige. Overall with its Unique styling and aggressive pricing Thar is a potential product for Indian market.

      Tata's first electric car, the Indica Vista EV will be manufactured in the UK Tata Motors  is now very close to completing work on the lithium-ion battery-powered version of the Indica Vista, which will be manufactured in the UK and which will go on sale in Europe early next year. The Vista EV, Tata Motors’ first production-spec  electric car , has been developed by the company’s UK subsidiary, Tata Motors European Technical Centre (TMETC) and will go into production at Tata’s West Midlands facility in the UK, later this month. The car, a fully electric four-seater hatchback that has a range of 175km and a top speed of 114km/h, will be offered in select European markets in 2011 and will be launched in various other markets (including, perhaps, India!) in 2012

  The 140bhp Yamaha FZ1 is now available in India, for a mere Rs 8.70 lakh! India Yamaha Motor Pvt. Ltd. has launched its naked sportsbike – the FZ1 – in India. Fitted with a 998cc four-cylinder engine that produces about 140 horsepower, the bike carries a price tag of Rs 8.70 lakh, ex-showroom Delhi. ‘India is one of the key markets for Yamaha and we have been constantly shifting gears to transform the market from utility to pleasure and lifestyle,’ said Hiroyuki Suzuki, CEO and Managing Director, India Yamaha Motor.

   The country's largest car maker Maruti Suzuki India's ''completely made in India car'' will hit the roads by 2012 and the company is likely to finalise the design within the next six months. According to people in the know of the project for the car, the company will finalise the design, engine size and how to position it in the market within the next six months. "It is likely that the made in India car will be positioned along with MSI''s its best selling model Alto," a source said. Internally MSI has set 2012 as the launch target, the source added. At present MSI still depends on parent Suzuki for its future model design and development programme. It is, however, spending around Rs 1,500 crore over the next 3-4 years at its R&D centre at Rohtak - Suzuki's only such significant centre outside Japan -- to scale up its vehicle development programme and become self reliant. When contacted an MSI spo...

Today Nissan unveiled the global sedan at   the 8th China (Guangzhou) International Automobile Exhibition.The car would go on sale on January 2011 in China and then Progressively across 170 Countries in different brand names. It will also be Launched in India in the second half of 2011 and it will be manufactured in company Oragadam plant near Chennai. This car is also based on Nissan's versatile "V" platform the same platform in which the Nissan Micra is also built.  

In US,Government offer incentive to Electric Vehicles Such as Nissan leaf  Chevy volt etc. India to follow this. The Union ministry of new and renewable energy’s (MNRE) recent decision of 20% financial incentive on ex-factory price of electric cars and scooters sold in India will enable manufacturers to lower the prices and boost sales of green vehicles in India. Higher incentives from the government in the form of free insurance, registration cost, 0% duty on import of components, rebate and subsidy to OEMs will boost penetration of electrical vehicles (EVs) in India, said Frost & Sullivan. India is currently is in introductory stage of EV market it is more likely to enter the growth stage 2020 onwards. Shoot up in fuel prices may force consumers to Switch to alternative source of energy. EV in all segment including two wheelers is the best alternative . The running cost of two wheelers is unbelievable rs 1 per 100kms. However, infrastructure and operat...

Europe's Second largest Car maker Peugeot-Citroen is planning to built Factory in India. It would announce the plans early next year. The booming Indian market has increased the demand for cars with Global players Such as General motors, Toyota, Volkswagen already there in the market with aggressive plans. PSA's Peugeot Brand which had joint-venture with Premier automobiles earlier failed to establish due to various reasons. PSA  is set to come back for its second innings.

After 85% of sales drop in November 2010 to only 509 units the people's Car is back with a touchy Tv commercial to promote the car. The car also comes with a 4 year warranty/60000kms.  There is also a Upgraded nano coming out next year.

ET-Zig Wheels Award For the year 2010 Over all winner for the Car of the year-   Ford Figo Over all winner for the Bike of the year- Yamaha Sz-x   Winners in Various segment includes  Entry Level minicar- Maruthi-Suzuki Wagon-R  SUV- Skoda Yeti Premium Hatchback- Ford Figo MPV- Tata Aria Premium Compact Sedan- Volkswagen Vento Other Awards includes Cars Imported to India in CBU Sportscar-  Mercedes Benz SLS AMG Sedan- Jaguar XF SUV- Porsche Cayenne Green Car- Toyota Prius 

One of the India's Oldest And Successful joint ventures finally got separated today.Hero group India and Honda motor japan had  26 years old Joint venture gets separated for their own individual ambitious plan.  Most of the terms are finalized.  Hero Honda is the market leaders till today in two wheeler segment with half the market share. We all know that Honda has a separate two wheeler division (Honda motorcycle scooters india) which it would concentrate to increase market share which is already dominating in scooter segment with its flagship product Honda activa.   The question haunting in our mind is what is hero group going to do after Honda stops technical support after 2014. This question remains unanswered in the mind of the customers.

Have you imagined  that you Could buy a BMW SUV was a price of 22 lakhs. Yes you can now because BMW india is going to launch its new baby Suv named X1. The X1 will be available in showroom early next year is built in the Chennai plant. The price of the vehicles will start at 22 lakhs for the base version of the petrol and will go up to 32L for the top end diesel version. This is actually the volume segment for BMW in the market  you will see a lot BMW on roads in  the year to come.  Lots of C segment buyers would be aiming to buy one  if they could stretch their budget. BMW (the ultimate driving machine) Has been a dream for lot of people in India with X1 in the market you could even Drive home one.                      And within days of launch, the number of booking has shoot up to 1000 and for further more booking people nearly have t...